As I'm winding down the final stages of writing my own book, Programming Entity Framework, I've been making a mental list of books that I'd like to read in the near future and thought I would share it.

First, I was fortunate to get a copy of Charles Petzold's The Annotated Turing. I don't know if my sad little brain will be able to process all of the mathematics in this book, but Turing and Petzold both have fascinating minds, so I am definitely curious to see what I can absorb.

WIth all that I have been learning about Domain Driven Design since Entity Framework came out, one book that is high on my reading list is Eric Evans' "Domain-Driven Design" which Jimmy Nillsson, another DDD guru, says is "like poetry". I have read the first few pages (thanks Google) and can see what Jimmy means.

Any book which Jeffrey Richter claims is "an instant classic" is a must-read. In fact there are so many well-respected people raving about Brad Abrams and Krysztof Cwalina's book "Framework Design Guidelines" (the Second Edition was just released last month), it's time that I got my hands on it.

Sara Ford's compilation of her great MSDN blog series "Visual Studio Tip of the Day", that was also recently published, "Microsoft Visual Studio Tips" is also high on my list. Note that all author proceeds from the book are going to a college scholarship fund to assist Hurricane Katrina victims. Sara is from Waveland, Mississippi which was pretty much wiped out by the hurricane.

In the meantime, while I've been writing my book, I have soothed my own brain with lighter reading - completely non technical. Currently I'm having fun reading Karen Abbott's "Sin in the Second City" about  the celebrated early 1900's Chicago brothel which was the center of a major shift in American politics and sensibility in the early 1900's. Although it's non-fiction, it's as much fun to read as Devil in the White City, another history about Chicago's lurid past.