> What's everyone else reading for excitement these days?

I recently read Timothy Zahn's Conquerors Trilogy, and then went on to read the first book in his "Hand of Thrawn" cycle, marking his return to the Star Wars universe. Zahn is one of only two or three authors who have turned out Star Wars novels with any real quality, and his "Heir to the Empire" trilogy still stands as the best in the series that I've read thus far.

I'm also slogging along through Don DeLillo's great opus, _Underworld_, which I bought over a year ago. It's over 800 pages long, which normally wouldn't be so daunting in itself, except that DeLillo's style and prose are fairly difficult, and he is long on characterization and extremely short on plot. Whenever someone asks me what the book is about, I have to say, "I don't know; it's sort of about the experiences of the Baby Boomer generation growing up in America." _Underworld_ is packed full of keen observations and DeLillo's trademark use of unusual modifiers; his descriptive writing is excellent. But it's not exactly what you'd call "gripping". I've got about 100 pages to go.

I'm also re-reading the _Lord of the Rings_, for what I think is the sixth or seventh time. I try to re-read it every year and a half or two years, especially since buying a nice hardback set a couple of years ago. Each time I read the series, I try to take it more slowly, and absorb more of Tolkein's careful and elaborate protrait of Middle-Earth.

After that, I want to get back into some more classic literature. I go back and forth with this; 1996 was the year of Thomas Hardy and T.S. Eliot, while 1997 was the Star Wars series year. I guess the latest round of sci-fi and fantasy has been stretched out long enough, and it's time to go read some meatier stuff, if you'll pardon my saying so--I don't mean to slight sci-fi and fantasy at all, of course.

Iss