...right now. I thought I'd mention this because the contrasts are strange, and interesting (to me, at least).
1. (on unabridged audio) The Wolves of Calla. Stephen King. The fifth in the Dark Tower series. I had mixed reactions to the first four in this series, but I was interested enough in the characters to want to keep reading. I like this one a lot so far. King's mix of supernatural and fantastical along with very thoughtful characterizations has got me to the point where I'm thinking of reasons to go run errands (because the audio book is in the car, of course). King has created an entire universe which encompasses not just this series, but draws in many of his other books, and very successfully. There are (this will be no surprise) whole websites dedicated to the Dark Tower universe, for example here.
2. The Pope's Rhinoceros: A Novel. Lawrence Norfolk. This is a huge novel, very densely written. The first four pages recount the ice age in vivid terms, and thus make it clear that this is one of those novels you have to dedicate all your attention to if you want the payoff. Dig in, settle down, concentrate. The story is built up around a real event, when the Portugese tried to bring a Rhinoceros to Pope Leo X (this is set in the 16th century) by boat, unsuccessfully (boat and rhinoceros at the bottom of the sea). There's a good dose of Gabriel Garcia Marquez here, erudite, fantastical writing on top of a Simplicissimus kinda of framework. The main character is Niklot, born on an island in the Baltic Sea, who survives early trauma and goes off wandering. There's a city that sank beneath the North Sea with treasure to be recovered, animal sacrifice in Roman churches, and fine goings-on in the West African rainforest. Not for the faint of heart, this novel.
3. Cry No More. Linda Howard. I read most of Linda Howard's stuff, and I like some of it a lot. This is a bit of a stretch, very serious subject matter having to do with the kidnapping of babies in Mexico and their recovery. At first I worried that the subject was being trivialized, but I'm starting to think that maybe she managed to maintain some balance. And of course, there's a love story; this is Linda Howard. A good love story, too, it looks like.
Now I'm going to go write. Tomorrow, if all goes well, I'll write about what I'm writing.