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Topic Starter Topic: Re: currently reading....
Memphis
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PostPosted: 01-20-2009 12:42 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


r3t wrote:
werldhed wrote:
Hoping to find The Restaurant or King's Dark Tower series soon.

If you start with the Dark Tower, make sure you have all 8 books on hand; once you start there is no stopping :)


I couldn't finish the first DT book. I damned near made it over 3 quarters through and just couldn't be arsed to pick it up again, though i've heard the series improves considerably. Duma Key i enjoyed thoroughly, but for fantasy, of which ordinarily avoided, i'll be sticking with Pratchett as he rolls the whole stale genre in witty tar and charming feathers. Just started Going Postal :)
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R00k
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PostPosted: 01-20-2009 07:36 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I read NightWatch. I think it's highly overrated.
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werldhed
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 11:46 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


BUMP

Thought I'd see how everyone's reading lists have come along in the last year...
Since I last posted the books I can remember (off the top of my head) having read:

  • 'Salem's Lot - Stephen King.. pretty good vampire book, but it didn't really add much to the Stoker myth. Enjoyable, anyway.
  • Dark Tower series - Stephen King... epic and rad. King has some troubles keeping his mythos in order, especially in the middle books, and LOTS of extraneous prose, but still some great ideas wrapped up in a great story.
  • Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder... Pure, useless shit.
  • Pride and Prejudice & Mansfield Park - Jane Austen... I admit I read Austen, just to see what the fuss was about. It turns out her stuff is really good. P&P was a bit uninspired, but it was witty and well written. Mansfield Park was fantastic though. Now I must eat some testosterone to regrow my testicles.
  • The Court of the Air - Stephen Hunt... I stopped halfway through this one. Some great ideas, but he has no skill in making them into a story. Too obtuse, overtly (and not insightfully) political, and he suffers from the "must invent new word for everything" disease. It sucked.
  • A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens... I had never read this before. I was hugely impressed. A really, really fantastic book.




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Don Carlos
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 11:49 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The Lost Symbol - just got it for my Birthday
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R00k
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 12:59 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


My reading tends to come in waves, and I've been in a bit of a downswing lately.

Aside from some studying, I've partially read two books:

The World Without Us - So far some really good research and a lot of interesting details picked out about what would happen to certain cities/areas if people disappeared. really interesting, and worth the read.

Why Evolution Is True - I just noticed this in the bookstore and decided to pick it up for some reason. More of preaching to the choir obviously, but there are a lot of details about the biology of certain animals (a lot on whales and humans) that I found very interesting. This is the only real reason I pick up books like this anymore: to learn things I didn't know before. And I'm hardly ever disappointed in that regard.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through both of them.
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R00k
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 01:00 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Sometimes I wonder if I should go to school for evolutionary biology. I'm such a nerd. =\
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menkent
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 01:58 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


been reading the Hitchhiker series
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Dr_Watson
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 02:06 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


90% through with Blackwater ... good book.
well researched, not opinionated, and super interesting if you like finding out about all the scary shit that went on largely ignored by the news.
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Fender
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 03:27 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


On The Origin of Species, 1st edition

in my queue: The Selfish Gene and Raising Freethinkers
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7zark7
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PostPosted: 10-12-2009 04:35 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just Finished..

The contortionists handbook.

http://www.amazon.ca/Contortionists-Han ... 1931561486

Fucking great book :up: Story about an identity thief/genius/drug addict. I highly recommend it. :up: :up:



Right now I'm reading:

" The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time "
http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Incident- ... 1400032717

Pretty cool so far.. written from the point of view of an autistic kid. Weird.. But I really like it.



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Ryoki
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PostPosted: 10-13-2009 12:19 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Ah, the book thread :)

Storm of Steel - Ernst Junger
The most brutally honest book on war i've ever read. Very interesting, in several ways. Will probably reread a couple of times.

Guns, Germs & Steel
Trying for the second time, last time i got halfway and put it down... got a little too dry and sciency for me. Bought it for my sister and she thought it was the shit, so now i feel obliged to reread it as well.

Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie - Hunter S. Thompson
One of those books you can pick up, open anywhere, read a bit and laugh.



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PostPosted: 10-13-2009 12:52 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I just got finished re-reading Animal Farm. I forgot how depressing that book was...



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Nightshade
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PostPosted: 10-13-2009 11:33 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Mr.Sparkle! wrote:
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell - Tucker Max.

So far so funny. :olo:


Read it last year, fucking hilarious.

I've read over the last year
Anathem - Neal Stephenson
The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks
Shooter: Autobiography Of A Top-Ranked Marine Sniper - Jack Coughlin
Generation Kill - Evan Wright
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie

Reading:
Chesty: The Story Of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller - Jon T. Hoffman
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
Men Of Mathematics - E.T. Bell
Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula: Cures Many Mathmatical Ills - Paul J. Nahin
The Blue Cliff Record - Thomas and JC Cleary
Matter - Iain M. Banks

Forgotten a couple others I'm sure. My nightstand has about 12 books on it at any given time.
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menkent
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PostPosted: 10-13-2009 06:25 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Ryoki wrote:
Ah, the book thread :)

Storm of Steel - Ernst Junger
The most brutally honest book on war i've ever read. Very interesting, in several ways. Will probably reread a couple of times.


there's one you don't see often. he was a bit of a nazi back in the day, but the book is supposed to be good.
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MKJ
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 12:20 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I hear Dawkins has a new book. comments thoughts etc?
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Fender
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 02:05 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


^ read rook's post a few up
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MKJ
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 02:11 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


oh. i skimmed over it :clownboat:
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Ryoki
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 06:40 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


menkent wrote:
there's one you don't see often. he was a bit of a nazi back in the day, but the book is supposed to be good.


Haha yes, it was also a bitch to find... thank the gods for the interweb.
Been reading a lot of stuff about WW1 lately, and his name kept popping up in other books. By far the most revealing eyewitness account i've read on the subject... and by now i've read a good number of them :)



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Ryoki
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 12:08 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Memphis wrote:
Just started Going Postal :)


Been meaning to get my hands on that, Mark Ames ftw!
What do you think about it so far..?



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R00k
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 02:33 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Fender wrote:
^ read rook's post a few up


Why Evolution is True is by Jerry Coyne.

I've been considering picking up Dawkins' new one too though (The Greatest Show on Earth), just because he's got such a great gift for describing things in a way that's easy to understand and still awe-inspiring.

I think the first few chapters of The Selfish Gene are still the best bit I've ever read on evolution and biology.
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R00k
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 02:52 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Apparently there is an excerpt:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 805656.ece
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Mat Linnett
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 03:14 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I'm on a Dostoyevsky binge at the moment.
Started with The Brothers Karamazov, am currently reading Crime & Punishment, and The Idiot's next.
Fantastic books, and incredibly interesting from an historical perspective too.
Crime & Punishment in particular is startling considering when it was written.
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Unisaw
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PostPosted: 10-14-2009 03:55 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just finished Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Ordered Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian by Paul Knitter.
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Whiskey 7
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PostPosted: 10-15-2009 12:58 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Thought I'd grab this off the shelf again ..

Image

Heavy going most of the time, even for me :smirk:



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Eraser
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PostPosted: 10-15-2009 04:46 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Ryoki wrote:
Memphis wrote:
Just started Going Postal :)


Been meaning to get my hands on that, Mark Ames ftw!
What do you think about it so far..?


Going Postal is one of the funniest books in the series if you ask me. It's the only book I read out of the order of releases. So far I've read everything up to Thief of Time (which I'm reading now), although I did read the three Tiffany Aching books (The Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith) as well. Terry Pratchett is a genius.

Memphis wrote:
Duma Key i enjoyed thoroughly


I read that and it left me a bit disappointed. While it was very easy to read, the book never got really scary or tense like I would expect from Stephen King. It worked to build up this uncomfortable atmosphere but it just got stuck there. It could've been much more intense than it was.

werldhed wrote:
  • Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder... Pure, useless shit.


You are kidding me right? That book is absolutely brilliantly written. It is aimed at children though, so the writing style might have put you off but I think it's a fantastic way to introduce people to the different philosophers through history.



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Ryoki
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PostPosted: 10-15-2009 05:08 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Eraser wrote:
Going Postal is one of the funniest books in the series if you ask me. It's the only book I read out of the order of releases. So far I've read everything up to Thief of Time (which I'm reading now), although I did read the three Tiffany Aching books (The Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith) as well. Terry Pratchett is a genius.


Oh i see, different book... same title. I meant this one, from that guy from exiledonline.com:

http://www.abebooks.com/docs/authors-co ... ames.shtml

I only ever read the first book in the disc world series, didn't really draw me in at the time :paranoid:



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werldhed
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PostPosted: 10-15-2009 05:13 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Eraser wrote:
werldhed wrote:
  • Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder... Pure, useless shit.


You are kidding me right? That book is absolutely brilliantly written. It is aimed at children though, so the writing style might have put you off but I think it's a fantastic way to introduce people to the different philosophers through history.


I know it was aimed at kids/young adults, so I took that into consideration. Also, I read a translated version, so I assume a lot of the bad writing was due to the translator.
Still, it was pointless, preachy, lacked any real insight, and was written like a textbook. If I wanted to introduce my kids to philosophy, I'd just teach them myself. Learning about philosophers alone is interesting, without all the useless "mystery" story.
He overreached with the book. I get the impression he thought, "look how clever I can be with this" and ended up just being obtuse and bland. I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anybody.
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Eraser
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PostPosted: 10-15-2009 05:26 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Ryoki wrote:
Eraser wrote:
Going Postal is one of the funniest books in the series if you ask me. It's the only book I read out of the order of releases. So far I've read everything up to Thief of Time (which I'm reading now), although I did read the three Tiffany Aching books (The Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith) as well. Terry Pratchett is a genius.


Oh i see, different book... same title. I meant this one, from that guy from exiledonline.com:

http://www.abebooks.com/docs/authors-co ... ames.shtml

I only ever read the first book in the disc world series, didn't really draw me in at the time :paranoid:


lol, ok. Well Memphis was talking about the Discworld series...
The first book in the series is arguably one of the weakest to be honest.



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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 08:50 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


pronto by elmore leonard
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seremtan
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 09:00 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


the bridge trilogy by william gibson

good shit

also, olde threade
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xer0s
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 09:32 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Pale Blue Dot - Carl Sagan
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Ryoki
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 09:58 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Céline - Journy to the end of the night

Bukowski - Women

Bukowski - Hollywood

All tragic yet funny :D



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duffman91
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 10:06 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird
Never read it in HS (lazy). I picked it up again on a hunch and have been enjoying it.

Other than that, tons of Microsoft Certification Material. Project Management bullshit.
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 11:42 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


duffman91 wrote:
Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird


The movie's better.



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xer0s
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PostPosted: 01-30-2011 12:21 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


No.
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