What am I reading?

Here's what I'm reading these days. Note that I always read multiple books simultaneously; can't help myself. I'm not counting the several books I have going at any one time as I work on my dissertation. These are only the books I want to read, not the books I need to read:

• Book I read while eating (my wife is in Germany currently, so I read while eating my three meals a day): War and Decision by Douglas Feith [I am making my way through the massive stack of non-fiction works I have accumulated on Iraq and Afghanistan; note that I dislike Feith a great deal.]
• Book I read while riding my recumbent exercise bike (this has to be relatively mindless because, well, my legs are pumping as fast as I can comfortably pump them for a half-hour every day): Penetrator #16: Deepsea Shootout [I mainly read men's adventure novels while exercising; this one is turning out to be a pretty decent Penetrator.]
• Other books: TNT 4: The Devil's Claw [I am re-reading this completely over-the-top series because I'm writing an article on it for Men of Violence zine and loving every minute of it.]
• Currently on hold: Necroscope 3: The Source [there's nothing wrong with the book, and in fact, I've read it before, but I just don't have a lot of time currently to resume reading the entire Necroscope series; I'll pick it back up when I'm done with the TNT books.]

Recent Acquisitions

These are (hopefully) the last two new books I'll acquire for a while. On my wife's last full day in town, we hit a new/used bookstore in town and I couldn't help but pick these up.

• War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History 1500 to Today by Max Boot [good popular military historian]
• King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman [mix of autobiography and history of the international chess scene; hopefully a lot more on the latter than the former]

Recent Acquisitions

Bought a number of new books while out booking with my wife. A couple new ones (because I had a gift certificate and coupon from Borders) and a bunch of used ones from Edward McKay's in Raleigh. Here we go:

Mystery/Crime:

• The Beekeeper's Apprentice and A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King [been wanting to check this series out for a long time]
• Omnibus: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula / Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes by Loren D. Estleman [I am a sucker for Holmes pastiches]
• In the House of Secret Enemies by George C. Chesbro [these Chesbros are both hardbacks, though I've already read and own them in paperback]
• An Incident at Bloodtide by George C. Chesbro

Science Fiction:

• The Electric Church and The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers [these have sounded intriguing for a while now]
• In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker [the author just died and I've recently heard about the series]
• Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds [been wanting to investigate this series for a long time now]
• War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches ed. Kevin J. Anderson [love the original, plus I'm really curious to see what they say Teddy Roosevelt's reaction to the Martian invasion is]

Fantasy:

• Death's Master by Tanith Lee [I have been wanting to read this series for probably 20 years; I'm probably old enough to appreciate it now]
• Doc Sidhe by Aaron Allston [read it years ago and gave away my copy, but I think I may appreciate it more now]

Men's Adventure:

• Casca: The Barbarian (#5) by Barry Sadler [one of the few Cascas I don't already own]

Horror/Thriller:

• John Dies at the End by David Wong [been hearing great things about this one]

Non-Fiction:

• Poplorica by Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger [I love throwing historical trivia at my students, so this may supply me with some new material]
• Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile [been wanting to check this out for a long time, though I suspect that it seriously overestimates Wilson's importance; also curious what it says about Mike Vickers since I know and have worked with him]