currently reading....

[Unisaw]

The hunger games. Want to read the book before seeing the movie.

[U4EA]

Just started Dan Simmons' Ilium. Not enjoying it anywhere near as much as the Hyperion Cantos [which was fucking sublime], but I guess it simply hasn't taken off just yet.

[menkent]

finally reading The Wheel of Time. a bit into book 2, so far it's pretty good. i can really see its influence on Brian Sanderson's "The Way of Kings" (though i like WoK better so far!)

[Mat Linnett]

At the moment, Scott Sigler's new one, Nocturnal. He's got a great style that really pulls the reader along, having been described as the horror genre's Chuck Palahniuk. This one has got elements of Clive Barker's Cabal with a touch of Blade.

[Don Carlos]

Game of Thrones

After finishing that I am likely to start on "The book of Dave"

[seremtan]

Just started reading Idoru by William Gibson.

the whole bridge trilogy is good, though not as good as his sprawl trilogy

on a somewhat related note: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, and The Servile Mind by Kenneth Minogue

[seremtan]

After finishing that I am likely to start on "The book of Dave"

isn't that just full of writing that came out years ago, only under a different publisher?

[Don Carlos]

Dunno? All I know is that it's a Will Self effort that is mean't to be interesting and funny

[seremtan]

ok so that tv reference was missed

[Doombrain]

Anything by Alastair Reynolds at the moment. Can't beat a bit of epic space opera.

[Don Carlos]

ok so that tv reference was missed

I don't watch much TV

[Stoner]

Last 3 books I read.

Dispatches- "Dispatches is a New Journalism book by Michael Herr that describes the author's experiences in Vietnam as a war correspondent for Esquire magazine. First published in 1977, Dispatches was one of the first pieces of American literature that allowed Americans to understand the experiences of soldiers in the Vietnam War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispatches_%28book%29
http://www.amazon.com/Dispatches-Michae ... 0679735259

This was an amazing book, I really enjoyed it. Michael Herr co-wrote the screenplay for Full Metal Jacket, and he also contributed to the narration for Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now".

Band of Brothers- The book that the 2001 HBO TV Series was based on. The book follows Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden.
http://www.amazon.com/Band-Brothers-Reg ... 0743216458

I've watched the TV Series multiple times. This book is much more in depth compared to the TV Series. Very good read.

Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills- This is a story about Carlos Hathcock, a sniper in the Vietnam War who helped pioneer the role of the sniper in the Marine Corps sniper program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Hathcock
http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Sniper-93- ... 0425103552

This was another amazing book. This guy's exploits are almost unimaginable. While he had 93 Confirmed kills, he probably had another 200 Unconfirmed.

[Ryoki]

Ah, Dispatches
Has been on my to-read list for years (it's a large list).

[GONNAFISTYA]

Anything by Alastair Reynolds at the moment. Can't beat a bit of epic space opera.

lol star wars nerd, etc

[Stoner]

Ah, Dispatches
Has been on my to-read list for years (it's a large list).

I was watching a Documentary about Vietnam and the Siege of Khe Sanh. Khe Sanh was a remote outpost in the very northwestern area of South Vietnam along the DMZ. Anyways the Americans/South Vietnamese at Khe Sanh were under siege for 77 days or so. They we're surrounded and totally dependent on Air Support. In the Documentary their were quotes from Dispatches, and hearing them gave me the chills and they stuck with me so I had to read the book.

One of them went something like this:

"Colonel (I wanted to ask), this is purely hypothetical, I hope you understand."

"But what if all the gooks that you think are out there are really out there? And what if they attack before the monsoons blow south, some mist-clogged night when our planes just cannot get up there? What if they really want Khe'Sanh, want it so badly that they are willing to maneuver over the triple lines of barbed wire, the German razor wire too, over the barricades formed by their own dead, coming in waves, human waves, and in such numbers that the barrels of our 50.-calibers overheat and melt and all the M16's are jammed, until all of the death in all of the claymore mines on our defenses has been spent and absorbed? What if they are still coming, moving toward the center of a base so smashed by their artillery that those pissy little trenches and bunkers that your Marines half got up are useless, coming at you 20,000 to 40,000 strong? And what if they pass over every barricade we can put in their way, and kill every living thing defending or retreating and take Khe Sanh?"

[xer0s]

The Art of War

It was tough to get through, but a lot of it makes sense...

[Tsakali]

lol you're like a walking cliche

[Eraser]

Read the first few chapters of A Clash of Kings. Before that I read Monstrous Regiment by Terry Prachett. And before that I read A Game of Thrones.

[Ryoki]

The Art of War

It was tough to get through, but a lot of it makes sense...

Tough to get through, wtf? It's a list of non specific rules that require the reader think creatively and translate them into modern circumstance, how is it tough to get through? Try von Clauswewitz or Machiavelli, that shit is tough to get through.

The Art of War is the easiest to comprehend book on war ever written (and also by far the best). As i recall the only rule that doesn't apply anymore is one where he gets too specific on logistics, but even there the principle remains the same. The man was a genius and the world would be a better place if The Art of War was obligated reading material for everyone in a position to send poor bastards to their deaths in the name of some greater good.

Currently reading Letters of an Unteroffizier by Carl Heller, one of those ultradark WW1 accounts by some German born Dutchie who was crazy enough to volunteer for duty in the Imperial army at the start of the war and lucky enough to survive until it ended. Incredibly powerful stuff, and not badly written either. Also rereading On the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter Thompson, for the lulz.

Also this thread has reminded me once again to pick up Dispatches, maybe i'll actually go ahead and do it now...

[xer0s]

It was hard to get through because it was boring as fuck. I comprehended it just fine...

[xer0s]

Just finished Damned by Chuck Palahniuk. It wasn't too bad. Had the same non-conformist feel as Fight Club. But I guess that's justs Chuck's style. Had several funny parts too...

[Ryoki]

Just finished Pol Pot, the History of a Nightmare by Philip Short. A photocopied book i picked up in Thailand for less than a euro Really good read, well written and thoroughly researched.

And just as i finished it, one of the main subjects of the books dies: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/201 ... leon-king/

[xer0s]

I've started A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I'm on a bit of an early science fiction kick...

[plained]

Right now I am reading bruc Campbells if chins could talk

It's really good and funny

I always have multi biography s going at once

Finished up Nikkei Sixx Henon ddiary

His head is massive

[obsidian]

And just as i finished it, one of the main subjects of the books dies: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/201 ... leon-king/

I've been to his palace. It's quaint.