Currently reading: Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse novels/True Blood TV series, which I have not seen)
I just got done with books 1-4, and am on to book 5. I actually really like this series, and when I think about it logically, it's totally better (in general) and better written than the Twilight novels. Still, somehow, in my mind, they both get put in the same emotional/mental category. I always get drawn in by dialogue, and while the dialogue in this series isn't as snarky as, say, Firefly (but really, what is?) it's still engaging and defines the characters well. The characters can be slightly clichéd, even two-dimentional, but then you get surprised by someone doing something unexpected. The mystery/whodunit elements in the books makes it fun as well, and sometimes the answer's pretty clever and/or unexpected. Sometimes the answer is very expected, but that doesn't usually make the books less fun.
Have read recently or have started and got distracted by southern vampire mysteries:
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy - fantastic book, as all of Maeve Binchy's books that I've read have been. I love the people dynamics in her books, and this one's no exception. There is never black and white: there are well-intentioned people and naive people and conflicted people and hurt people and insecure people and successful people and happy people and angry people, and sometimes those categories overlap, but the story that's told in the meantime sucks you in and ties all the millions of storylines together. It's like Ireland and America (in this book) are actually somehow part of the same tiny Irish seaside village where everyone knows everyone else. Great book. The only thing that could be counted as negative, though it really only makes me do a double take and giggle, is that whenever Maeve writes American characters, they will inevitably speak like a British person, have a look at something, or think that something is "brilliant."
Rubinroter Dschungel/Ruby Fruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown. I've read this before but a while ago, in high school. This time I read it in German, which was great for my colloquial and occasionally offensive German vocabulary. ^_^ I enjoyed it again, too. Molly Bolt is her very own person, and sometimes frustrating in that she is so determined to be her own person that it holds her back or begins a conflict. Still, she's the kind of person who sticks to her goal and works hard and figures out a way to get through whatever's thrown at her. It's the most well known of RMB's works, though not my personal favorite. That is Venus Envy, with Bingo coming in 2nd. I just like the characters better in those 2.
Das Zweite Blutfleck/The Second Stain by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm trying to read this in German, and it's hard because he uses Big Words, and while my German vocab is decent, sometimes the combination of Big Words and Complicated Syntax (due to the kind of old fashioned writing style) slows me down. The book is lying on my bed next to my German/English dictionary. I haven't gotten much past the introduction, but I will try and finish it after I'm done with Sookie Stackhouse. (who I still think has a silly name)
Ronja Räubertochter by Astrid Lindgren. This is a book by the author of Pippi Longstocking, which is the only of her books that (as far as I know) really got any sort of popularity in the States. And even that wasn't quite as widespread there as it is here. But this is a book about the daughter of the chief of a band of robbers who meets in the forest the son of their rival band of robbers and becomes friends with him. I've seen the movie version of this, which is supposed to be pretty faithful to the book, but I also saw it 5 years ago so I'm not sure I remember everything. In fact, I know I don't, which will make reading the book all that much more fun. And it's a children's chapter book, which means that I won't have to keep my G/E dictionary within arm's reach at all times.
Anyway, it's almost midnight here, so I'm off to sleepy-land. But I'd love to hear what the rest of you are reading, or what you think of my choice of reading material. Sometimes I think that I don't read as "sophisticated" of books as other people, but then again, all books (ok, most... ok, fine, many books) are just as valid, even if they're not by Charles Dickens (who puts me to sleep) or Jane Austin (who doesn't, and I do love her novels).