anyhow... i read Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling. lovelovelovelovelove. i love Stirling's writing. i've had a craving for reading survivalist fiction lately, and this fit the bill nicely. all electricity and firearms in the world stop working, and the story is about what happens after that. he has believable, likeable characters and a way of making hundreds of pages seem pretty short. the only real complaint i ever have with his books is that the protagonists are generally pretty lucky, almost unnaturally so, but that's a complaint i don't mind so much. :) the next in the triology is due out sometime next year, according to his web site. gnar.
i killed two Star Trek books: Crisis on Centaurus by Brad Ferguson, which was... eh. it was one of the earlier ST books, according to Jeff, and showed in the language and slightly chauvanistic attitudes going on. there was a decent story that was hard to pay attention to because of the other stuff. the second was Spectre by William Shatner and a couple of co-writers. it's the first in a triology and every bit as fun as the last triology by him that i read.
current reading? i picked up Why do Catholics Do that (Kevin Johnson) yesterday, and i think it'll be interesting enough. i'm also "reading" A History of God, by Karen Armstrong, who is an ex-nun and exploring the development of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. it'll be interesting if i can ever stop falling asleep on it... it's way too dense for bedtime reading. and i'm reading the next Shatner ST book, but i'm too lazy to get up and look at the title.