what book are you reading

[SirTwist]

Well, we've got one of these in just about every other forum...

Simon R Greene - Shadows Fall

[StygiaN]

lol

Orson Scott Card - Red Prophet (book 2 of the Alvin Maker series)

[SirTwist]

sweet. Card==Good

I'm halfway through Shadows Fall... after this it's back to borrowing Diva's Lindsey Davis "Falco" books

[SOC]

The second Artemis Fowl book ... have just finished the first ... they're pretty good, too.:D

[Diva]

I read Artemis Fowl about 2 months ago :p yes, they are good books :)

I'm currently reading The Assassin's Apprentice (Robyn Hobb), A Clash of Kings (George RR Martin), Aces High (George RR Martin & co), several Ars Magica books (roleplaying game that I'm running) and my stamping mag that arrived yesterday (it is a 1/4ly subscription)

I reckon only boring people read one book at a time. or so my parents always told me :D

[SirTwist]

I reckon ppl with multiple personality disorder read more than one book at a time.

[Uncle_Fester]

I'm reading a book at the moment called "The techno pagan octopus messiah" by Ian Winn. It was recommended to me by a friend and as I've only just started it, I'm not sure if I like it or not. Its some dude's tale of his adventure's on the hippie trail (through Amsterdam, Egypt, Goa - India, etc), taking heaps of hallucinogenics and his spirituality.

Has anyone else read this?

http://www.octopusmessiah.com/

[Diva]

Originally posted by SirTwist
I reckon ppl with multiple personality disorder read more than one book at a time.

taking my cue from Lina

a big :p to you sir!

[StygiaN]

Originally posted by SirTwist
sweet. Card==Good


I am assuming == means doubley equals. Which is good ;)

I am only new to this reading thing but Card is one of my favourite writers. When he is telling a story i've noticed that the writing style changes imensely depending on which characters point of view that part of the story is being told from. It really puts you right into the story.

Thats why I like card.

Another writer I love is Arthur Clarke. Allways in so much detail. Especially scientific stuff. I love it ;)

Dave

[ersatz]

just finished Electric Sheep again and was going to start JGBallard's "Unlimited Dream Company" last night. Unfortunately the first page reads like Clockwork Orange so I put it down until I have more concentration.

Want to read the Illuminatus Trilogy again but some fucking backpacker stole it.

[MaDHatteR]

I'm reading The Secret Life of Laszlo, Count Dracula, by Roderick Anscombe. I didn't want to, as vampire stories aren't really my bag, but I started reading it while I was waiting for my van to be serviced and couldn't put it down.

Also in the pile are: The 80's Letters by Bob Jones (now Sir Bob), A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George, O-Zone (Paul Theroux) and a large pile of NZ PC Worlds and Netguides.

I can't read only one book at a time, any more than I can indulge in one hobby at a time.

[Turtle_Wrangler]

Just started re-reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson. An excellent series, though few have heard of it.

[kleph]

Originally posted by Turtle_Wrangler
Just started re-reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson. An excellent series, though few have heard of it.

are you kidding!?! this was required reading after one finished the lord of the rings and you were too old for the shanara bullshit. i even remember far enough back to when the second trilogy was being released. me and all the other little dorks were there, cash in hand, waiting for "White Gold Wielder" to hit the shelves... good lord it was pathetic.

[Poisonivy]

Equisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite :D

~ Poisonivy ~

[pleed]

I am reding "Lords of Chaos - The bloody rise of the satanic metal underground" It's a true story about heavy metal music how it has been effected by Satanism.

It explores how people commit Arson, Murder and Suicide becuase of influence of music. It delves deep into the murder of Euronomyous.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0922915482.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[Diva]

Originally posted by Turtle_Wrangler
Just started re-reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson. An excellent series, though few have heard of it.

heard of it, tried to read it, threw it away in disgust.

apparently the only thing worse than Thomas Covenant's incessant whinging is that the main character in the 2nd series is even worse, and makes you miss Thomas. :eek:

I don't know anyone who has read it who actually thinks it is good and recommends it. And I loathed the Mirror of Her Dreams series as well.

Currently I am reading Wild Cards (ed by George RR Martin). I'm reading the 2nd book Aces High, and I have the 3rd book Jokers Wild waiting for me once I'm finished :) They have recently been reissued, and I'm not sure how many there will be as there were originally around 13.

[Tyrany]

I am reading Lord of the Rings... again...

I have just finished reading Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II - the novels based on the game. Don't laugh, they were gifts...

Very ordinary books and it's obvious they weren't proof-read at all. In one fight, the minotaur's weapon changes from an axe to a sword, back to an axe and then he stabs someone with it...

In BG II, however, Imoen and Phaere (the drow priestess) have a lesbian fling. In GRAPHIC detail.

Well, not really in graphic detail, but how many of you just went from laughing about the books to actually wanting to read them? :D

[Turtle_Wrangler]

Originally posted by Diva


heard of it, tried to read it, threw it away in disgust.

apparently the only thing worse than Thomas Covenant's incessant whinging is that the main character in the 2nd series is even worse, and makes you miss Thomas. :eek:


Ack. whining? the guy was stricken with leprosy, lost his wife an kids, was hit by a car, and stumbled into another world, was threatened by a evil king... give em a break, eh?
Though... When you say "second series", are you referring to the second trilogy? (covenant was there...) Or another series? I dunno, never read past those 6 books, other than one SCI-fi space novel of Donaldsons hat sucked royally.

[Diva]

Turtle - I know all that. but there was nothing about the character, the story or the writing style that made me want to continue reading. It was as bad as reading the book of Job

yeah, I meant the 2nd trilogy.

[kleph]

well I liked it.

[Turtle_Wrangler]

okay Diva, thats coo, some books arent for everyone. One last point on it though. Covenent was the main charachter of the second trilogy.

[gIrLgEeK]

Reading `Barcelona Plates' by Alexei Sayle. Very good so far. Most comedians turned novelists don't do it for me (I wasn't much impressed by Adrian Edmonsons' `The Gobbler' ... don't mind Ben Elton's stuff though) but this is definitely quality writing.

[Minerva]

Consider Plebias - Ian Banks...damn fine read.

[SOC]

Originally posted by gIrLgEeK
Reading `Barcelona Plates' by Alexei Sayle. Very good so far. Most comedians turned novelists don't do it for me (I wasn't much impressed by Adrian Edmonsons' `The Gobbler' ... don't mind Ben Elton's stuff though) but this is definitely quality writing.

Heh heh - I'm currently reading The Man on Platform 5, by Robert Llewellyn (aka Kryten in Red Dwardf) ... we should swap when we're done!!!

[gIrLgEeK]

He's gone into fiction, eh? I thought his autobiography, `The Man In The Rubber Mask' was very good. I'll lend it to you once you've finished that one.

[SOC]

According to the info in the front of the book, he's written quite a few books ... and I was with Medusa when I bought it and she told me that a friend of hers had Llewellyn as an acting teacher, and he was real good ...

[Lina]

I'm readin' The Templar Revelation Secret guardians of the true identity of Christ. Haven't read enough to comment as yet...

[Lina]

Anyone read Paulo Coelho? I just finished "Veronika decides to Die" which I found nowhere near as brilliant and beautiful as "The Alchemist" which I have read more than a dozen times and give copies to everyone for their birthday :)

[gIrLgEeK]

Originally posted by SOC
According to the info in the front of the book, he's written quite a few books ... and I was with Medusa when I bought it and she told me that a friend of hers had Llewellyn as an acting teacher, and he was real good ...
When he wrote the biography (it's about eight years old) he had been going out with an Australian girl for years. Wonder if they ever got married? He seems to spend a fair bit of time here.

[sagit]

goddamn, this "House Harkonnen" book I am working my way thru is big. 'bout the size of Rainbow Six, only easier to read.

[StygiaN]

Rainbow Six is an awesome book!

[Diva]

I'm currently reading book 3 (b) of the Song of Ice & Fire series.

*groan* I didn't realise that the one volume hardcover & trade paperback had been split into 2 for the mass paperback. stupid money grubbing publishers. :mad:

[biomechanic]

Currently reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

[ersatz]

time to get off my arse and start reading more than newspapers again. Probably start reading "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds (1842)" again. Definitely one of my favest books.

tulips=dotcom

Either that or re-read Titan (Stephen Baxter) just to check his predictions. Anyone read anything else by this guy? Heard Voyager's supposed to be good (alternate history where JFK sends people to Mars).

[The Avatar]

Just finished BattleField Earth for the 6th time. I love that book, even if it is from a dickhead author.

Anyone else read it?
Dont go and see the movie. It was soooo crap!!!

[Peach]

A Cuckoo's Egg - Cliff Stoll. Again!

[ersatz]

I think I had a Pern book yeeeeears ago.

Speaking of pulp, got given James Ellroy's "Cold Six Thousand" but haven't read it yet. Apparently it's like a sequel of American Tabloid, yet another one I could read again.

I own Battlefield Earth trading cards :eek:

[The Avatar]

OOOOoooo trading cards, are they any good?

[gIrLgEeK]

Originally posted by kleph
its a heap of Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern books. i've been burning through them at the pace of about one a day. ugh. they are even worse than i remembered but, dammit, i'm having a great time reading them again.

Blechhh ... I was once put in charge of designing a game based on one of her series of books which of course meant I had to start reading one of them. The writing is just appalling.

Frankly, I was quite glad when the project fell through because it meant I didn't have to finish the damn thing.

[ersatz]

PROMO trading cards at that! From Ozcon 4 I think.

[Lina]

Originally posted by Peach
A Cuckoo's Egg - Cliff Stoll. Again!

Ha! I just borrowed that book!

[gIrLgEeK]

No, not at all (in fact losing the project more or less cost me my job). At the time, it was poised to save the whole company. I was very proud of myself for convincing the powers that be that they thought of it. It probably would have been quite a good game, too.

But another game based on the same franchise came out and stunk so severely that the idea was dead in the water. I read one review in which it actually managed to blow up the reviewer's monitor because there were too many resolution switches. So that was that.

Now reading: `Smokes and Mirrors' by Neil Gaiman :)

[kleph]

Originally posted by gIrLgEeK
No, not at all (in fact losing the project more or less cost me my job). At the time, it was poised to save the whole company. I was very proud of myself for convincing the powers that be that they thought of it. It probably would have been quite a good game, too.

But another game based on the same franchise came out and stunk so severely that the idea was dead in the water. I read one review in which it actually managed to blow up the reviewer's monitor because there were too many resolution switches. So that was that.


well i just finished nine of the books in just under a weeks time. ugh. it really is just like cotton candy and i'm suffering from consuming too much. i think i'm done with mccaffery for another fifteen years.

in retrospect, this series would make a pretty damn interesting game if done right. there are a lot of levels the action works on and it could be a pretty interesting variant to the 'sword and sorcery' genre. it has dozens of rpg elements, flight simulator elements, 'Risk' elements, interesting plot lines for development and and open-ended potential if such a game could be a success.

and, of course, it also has a built in fan base that could be used as a foundation for the sales. i suspect the original group expected too much of this and churned out a crappy game to capitalize on the quick buck. of course with games, like movies, unless it's worth a shit -- people ain't gonna spend their money.

[sortius]

Red Mars (soon to be re-reading the others: Green Mars and Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson.

If you havent read anything by this guy, you are truely missing out. His books are always gripping to the last moment, with emotions, free thinking characters and independant points of view, he really seems to not only entertain, but reflect, and more often than not, inspire.

The Mars series (Red, Green, Blue, and The Martians) has shaped the mars program by nasa and takes a view not of a tragic tale in space, but the real, human side of martian life.

Kim's other books are great too, my personal favourite, although not full of as much content as the martian books, is Escape from Kathmandu.

[Turtle_Wrangler]

Originally posted by kleph


i know. i know. i find myself laughing out loud as i read some parts of the damned things they can be so badly written. but it's my one horrible trashy reading vice. i really can't explain it.

heh,. try reading "A Diversity of Dragons", her dragon "encylcopedia" sure some of the exceprts are good, but the actual parts she's written are absolute trash. The worst bloody thing ive read...

[kleph]

Originally posted by Turtle_Wrangler


heh,. try reading "A Diversity of Dragons", her dragon "encylcopedia" sure some of the exceprts are good, but the actual parts she's written are absolute trash. The worst bloody thing ive read...

i'll send you the book i was asked to review. i got three pages in by sheer force of will and told them they couldn't pay me enough to finish it.

[gIrLgEeK]

Originally posted by kleph
in retrospect, this series would make a pretty damn interesting game if done right. there are a lot of levels the action works on and it could be a pretty interesting variant to the 'sword and sorcery' genre. it has dozens of rpg elements, flight simulator elements, 'Risk' elements, interesting plot lines for development and and open-ended potential if such a game could be a success.
If you're talking about the Dragonriders of Pern - that's not the series I was working on. Though the company that did the howlingly awful game based on the series I was working on released a Pern game soon after. We were curious to see if they had learned from their mistakes. They hadn't. It was alarmingly ugly to look at (the avatars looked as if they'd been made with about ten polygons, they were boxy as hell) and very slow. We couldn't understand why the publishers had even bothered to release it, because we knew they had paid a shitload for the rights to all of Anne McCaffrey's books.

[Gargamel]

I'm about 100 pages into Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.

[The Avatar]

Shadows by Shaun Hutson

[Diva]

I've started on the Saga of the Exiles / Intervention / Galactic Mileau series by Julian May. I've read it before, but I was bored on the weekend.

[a|A]

I'm about to start Jeffery Deaver - The Blue Nowhere

My mum told me its good, I dunno though - we'll see ... its prolly no michael connoly.

[Asmodeus]

I'm about into the 3rd chapter of "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools", by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman.. really cool book on making a compiler. definitely worth a read if you're actually really into computers.

[ersatz]

Currently grokking Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein once again.

[annie]

now reading the second book in the Otherland Series (this ones called River of Blue Fire), by Tad Williams
its pretty good so far, but then again, in still got ages to go in this book... :) a lot of technical VR stuff in it.. i still like it tho

[Gargamel]

I enjoyed Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn Series :)

[gIrLgEeK]

Having finished Alexei Sayle's `Barcelona Plates' I must conclude he is not only funny but very disturbed. Definitely a good writer.

Now I'm back to Smoke and Mirrors (Neil Gaiman).

[annie]

just wondering, has anyone read Ian Irvine's series.. im not sure what its all called, but i wanna know if its good, because ive heard differnt opinions about it,
so if youve read it, can ya tell me about it?

[kleph]

H.T. Kane's "Louisiana Hayride"

it's an account of Huey P. Long's rise to power and assasination. it's a rather harrowing account of how a single man created a dictatorship (not virtual, but actual) in a state and came just a single bullet from doing it on the national scale (FDR was petrified of the man). but rather than stop there he intimately details what happened after his demise and the mad scramble and graft that flowed into the political vaccuume he left.

[Lina]

Originally posted by a|A
I'm about to start Jeffery Deaver - The Blue Nowhere

My mum told me its good, I dunno though - we'll see ... its prolly no michael connoly.

I quite liked it, easy reading for a rainy day I say :)

[Asmodeus]

out of curiousity, ince ive seen these threads before. who here habitually reads something besides fiction books.

[kleph]

Originally posted by Asmodeus
out of curiousity, ince ive seen these threads before. who here habitually reads something besides fiction books.

me. i tend to lean toward non-fiction now but, due to circumstances beyond my control, i've been back in the realm of imagination for most of the summer. my dive into the deep end of the sci-fi pool with anne mccaffery's books has seriously skewed my average but, i still think i'm at about 50/50 for the year.

[Shaneus]

Originally posted by Asmodeus
out of curiousity, ince ive seen these threads before. who here habitually reads something besides fiction books.
I only ever read fiction... i know all, so there is no need for me to read anything else ;)

ATM I am reading: Nick Hornby - About A Boy :)

[gIrLgEeK]

I read about 50/50 fiction/nonfiction. In addition to the Neil Gaiman book I mentioned earlier I'm also reading a biography of King Ludwig II (the one who built Neuschwanstein) and a history of the Mona Lisa.

Both of these are particularly dull books about particularly interesting things.

Generally if I read non-fiction it'll be a biography.

[The Avatar]

What is it with horror writers and thier fascination with killing babies and raping family members?!!
The Shaun Huston book i have almost finished has it in spades. Most of the scenes dont even fit in properly. Reminds me of Stephen King and his flashbacks to characters being raped as children!!! WHY!!!

I mean, I have read alot of horror and suspense novels, by far the best would be Dean Koontz. He doesnt resort to cheap shocks for his books.

Anyone else noticed this?

[ersatz]

Haven't read horror for a couple of years, went through most King books as a teenager. Try one of the following: Danse Macabre (King talking about horror writing) or Different Seasons (with The Body [Stand By Me] & Shawshank Redemption). Also liked the Bachman Books which had The Running Man (yes, the Arnie movie) and two other great stories: Rage (sort of like Columbine) and The Long Walk about a marathon-to-the-death. None of these are particularly 'Kingy' but a nice deviation from the norm.

[StygiaN]

Originally posted by The Avatar
I mean, I have read alot of horror and suspense novels, by far the best would be Dean Koontz. He doesnt resort to cheap shocks for his books.

Agreed 100%

Watchers is my Favourite Koontz book. If you haven't read it then drop everything right now and go read it!

Amazon link to the book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0425107469/qid=1029283104/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-9696956-0851136)

[ersatz]

Originally posted by Stygian
Watchers is my Favourite Koontz book. If you haven't read it then drop everything right now and go read it!

This is the only Koontz I've read, and thoroughly enjoyed. Started off one of his others, something about a hospital I think, but got too bored (my horror thing was sort of tailing off at that stage). Must have enjoyed Watchers for the GM-doggies battling to the death. ?

[The Avatar]

Yeah I loved that book about the cute widdle puppy!!!

But I felt sort of sad for the other one. I would have given it a nice home.(When they found it's lair, I felt so sorry for it, almost cried).

[Lina]

Originally posted by Asmodeus
out of curiousity, ince ive seen these threads before. who here habitually reads something besides fiction books.

I read an equal amount of fiction & non fiction. At present I am reading a book called "The jungles of randomness - mathematics at the edge of certainty"

[SOC]

Originally posted by ersatz
Also liked the Bachman Books which had The Running Man (yes, the Arnie movie) and two other great stories: Rage (sort of like Columbine) and The Long Walk about a marathon-to-the-death. None of these are particularly 'Kingy' but a nice deviation from the norm.

Bachman Books has 4 stories - you forgot about Roadwork.

[gingermeatboy]

Currently I'm reading
A big boy did it and ran away by Christopher Brookmyre
I just finished Dead Famous by Ben Elton which was extremely excellent

[boozer]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

nuff said

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Asmodeus
out of curiousity, ince ive seen these threads before. who here habitually reads something besides fiction books.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do, but they tend to all be about serial killers - had a fantastic book on Australian serial killers - more than you would actually think

[huwbacca]

Robert Crais - Sunset Express

Pretty good crime writer a bit like James Lee Burke

[kleph]

Originally posted by huwbacca
Pretty good crime writer a bit like James Lee Burke

i saw burke the other day.

[gingermeatboy]

I've got popcorn, but haven't read it yet, it's next on my list! Dead Famous was just a piss take of Big Brother

[Asmodeus]

Originally posted by boozer
out of curiousity, ince ive seen these threads before. who here habitually reads something besides fiction books.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do, but they tend to all be about serial killers - had a fantastic book on Australian serial killers - more than you would actually think

i've read my share of those. I remember coming across a book on australian serial kilers, i did notice quite a few. where i am seem to be where mos of them originiate in teh US (the midwest region)

[Asmodeus]

Originally posted by gIrLgEeK
Both of these are particularly dull books about particularly interesting things.

Generally if I read non-fiction it'll be a biography.

a somewhat interesting and entertaining read was teh biography of william gaines, the late editor of mad magazine.

[Asmodeus]

Originally posted by The Avatar
What is it with horror writers and thier fascination with killing babies and raping family members?!!
The Shaun Huston book i have almost finished has it in spades. Most of the scenes dont even fit in properly. Reminds me of Stephen King and his flashbacks to characters being raped as children!!! WHY!!!

I mean, I have read alot of horror and suspense novels, by far the best would be Dean Koontz. He doesnt resort to cheap shocks for his books.

Anyone else noticed this?

i havent really noticed it much, only thing i have noticed is that dean koontz books (at least a decent section of them) seem to all follow the same plat and set of characters. some of his early stuff was bad ass tho. i think he wrote the book 'demon seed' which was disturbing on many levels.. was cool

[Asmodeus]

Originally posted by Lina


I read an equal amount of fiction & non fiction. At present I am reading a book called "The jungles of randomness - mathematics at the edge of certainty"

oooh, me likee math books, i'll have to look that one up.. the last one i read on number theory was very very interesting.

as for my answerr, mine is about 75%-25% in favor of non fictiion.. mostly of a more technical bent.. math, science, computers, engineering and some history.. mostly of old weapon systems and armor

[huwbacca]

Originally posted by kleph


i saw burke the other day.

where abouts??

[RedMaN]

Currently reading The Lion's Game by Nelson Demille, about three quarters through and only started reading it last week! I haven't read any of his previous work as I got this book for free and I must say it's pretty decent for a free book....

I have no idea what to read next, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... :D

[The Avatar]

Originally posted by Asmodeus


i havent really noticed it much, only thing i have noticed is that dean koontz books (at least a decent section of them) seem to all follow the same plat and set of characters. some of his early stuff was bad ass tho. i think he wrote the book 'demon seed' which was disturbing on many levels.. was cool

Yeah true, I have also read demon seed. That was made into a movie. It was kewl.

I have read most of them. They are kind of similar. But Koontz books are hell better than some other horror writer out there.
I mean he kicks stephen Kings arse!

[kré]

for the first time in a long time i'm reading a book...

the two towers :o

damn it makes the train trips to and from work go fast :)

[Poisonivy]

At the moment I'm reading Cabal by Clive Barker (one of my all time favourate authors apart from Poppy Z Brite) and love it.

For those of you who don't know, the movie adaption of Cabal was retitled to Nightbreed.

~ Poisonivy ~

[Lina]

I read Chocolat at work yesterday. All of it. I was quite impressed with the effort :D

[kleph]

Originally posted by huwbacca
where abouts??

downtown. he lives in new iberia, where i'm at.

[StygiaN]

Originally posted by Lina
I read Chocolat at work yesterday. All of it. I was quite impressed with the effort :D

I've done that before.

With James Patterson's "Roses are Red". What a geat book it was too ;)

Dave

[The Avatar]

currently reading SHRIKE by Joe Donnelly.
Quite good so far.

[Lina]

I'm reading a book of poems by Dylan Thomas at this time

[Diva]

I've finished the Julian May Saga of the Exiles / Galactic Milieu books (8 in total). Now I've started the latest book by Elizabeth George who writes Scotland Yard police procedurals - tightly plotted and well contructed.

[gingermeatboy]

currently reading "Java2 The complete reference" for uni and Popcorn by Ben Elton

[MaDHatteR]

I’m presently reading The Ultimate Guide to Winning Scrabble, by Derryn Hinch, as well as Maintenance Planning, Scheduling and Coordination (Nyman & Levitt), while continuing on with Theroux’s O-Zone.

I’ve finished Elizabeth George’s A Suitable Vengeance. Can’t say I was overly impressed with it, I came away with the feeling that the plot was a secondary device, the main purpose of the book being to show off her character building skills. I released the book into the wild at a small town café.

[otaku]

"Feersum Endjinn" - Iain M Banks
"One Flew Over a Cookcoo's Nest" - Ken Kesey

and strangely enough

"Core Java 2"- Horstmann, C.S.

[ersatz]

finished Stranger in a Strange Land a couple weeks ago

now skipping between chapters in Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds again, just finished Cagliostro and a little of the Crusades. Someone stole my last copy of this, so have to carry around a mongy large-print reissue

[ersatz]

probably going to read Manchurian Candidate for a second time. Might rent the movie again too.

[Lujan]

Job by Robert Heinlen.

One of my favourite books.

[Cassa]

'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser

I think I need to get back into reading fiction

[The Avatar]

Just finished the doom novel based on the game.
It sucked, just like I knew it would. But I couldnt resist it damnit!!!

I think I will read the Dalai Lama's book next.
"An open heart"

[Diva]

Originally posted by MaDHatteR
I’ve finished Elizabeth George’s A Suitable Vengeance. Can’t say I was overly impressed with it, I came away with the feeling that the plot was a secondary device, the main purpose of the book being to show off her character building skills. I released the book into the wild at a small town café.

which one is that again? I've just finished reading her latest, A Traitor to Memory, and I thought it was Very Good. Damn good actually.

I think the one with the most impact is still the first one, A Great Deliverance. oooooh boy!

[MaDHatteR]

I think it's somewhere around no. 5.

The DI takes his new fiancee to Cornwall to meet his mother. While he's there a local jounalist is murdered. Investigations reveal drug dealing and cross-dressing.

Maybe I picked the wrong one to start with, and should start from the beginning.

[Diva]

ooooooh! no no no no no! wrong book to start with!

that one is actually a *flackback* novel, set - I dunno - about 5 years before the start of the series.

once you read A Great Deliverance (the first novel) you will find a different set of circumstances. I'm not giving anything away by saying the first time we see Lynley, he is a guest at the wedding of Deborah Cotter and Simon Allcourt-St. James. That leads to a whole complicated set of relationships between some of the ongoing characters, and A Suitable Vengance is one of the books that explains the backstory.

[JosieNutter]

I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It started out as something I had to do to write a scholarship contest essay, but I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit. My old roommate keeps teasing me about turning into an extreme right-wing nutcase, but that's not very likely.

[JessicaDV8]

I've been meaning to read Ayn Rand.

I just made the unpleasant discovery that my local library doesn't carry good romance novels, the ones chock-full of smut. They only carry the ones rated PG-13. So I'm on my way to the local used book warehouse to buy some girl's pr0n.

[kleph]

Originally posted by JessicaDV8
I've been meaning to read Ayn Rand.

i suggest "the fountainhead." it's less pretentious than most of her works and she actually took the time to work on character development rather than devote the whole thing to furthering the cause of objectivism.

i do think you will end up casting a critical eye to the whole randian philosophy but keep in mind while you are reading that alan greenspan was heavily influenced by objectivism. it is a nice way to keep your attention on the book when it starts to drag and makes you look at the country's economic policy in an entirely new light.

(side note: i went to an objectivist meeting once just to see what it would be like. i expected it to be a bunch of people wearing black turtlenecks each sitting at their own table. instead it looked like the rejects from a star trek convention. very sad)

i'm stocking up on books i've been desperately intending to read to take on the plane with me: james' "portrait of a lady," pynchon's "gravity's rainbow" and proust.

[StygiaN]

I'm reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I love the Harry Potter series so far. My kids will be read this (when I get married and have kids of course).

Dave

[MaDHatteR]

Presently reading Jonathan Kellerman's 'The Butchers Theatre'. Very well written, the story just sucks you into it.

[berserk]

Just finished reading Fergal Keane's "Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey". Over a period of 4 months in 1994, 1 million people were killed in Rwanda for being born to the wrong race. Very disturbing reading.

[royale]

Just re-reading 'Give War a Chance' by P. JO'Rourke, Thought is was really funny the first (3) times, but in light of recent events am finding in infuriating this time.

[StygiaN]

Birdman by Mo Hayder

Good book so far, here is a joke from it.

Question: Whats the Difference between a hooker and an onion?

Answer: You can cut up a hooker without crying.

It's terrible I know.


I ruined the joke with a typo

[=][=]

H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus 3

This is some cool shit

[Myspace]

im reading couple of books at the moment...

the two towers (yes, original i know)
the quest for the holy grail
and the macquarie thesaurus

[ersatz]

originally posted by =][=
H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus 3

This is some cool shit

Lovecraft rocks my nads in a big way

[otaku]

really ersatz???

never would have guessed!:D

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.

[SirTwist]

George R R Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire"

[=][=]

Hehe, just finished the "Call of Cthulhu" story.

This is teh shit

[Something Fast]

Merrick - Anne Rice

[=][=]

hehe, i restored this thread to being posted in.

just finished the alternate USA books by Harry Turtledove. Good shit, if implausable

[JessicaDV8]

I just read the sequel to Bridget Jones' Diary. I liked both books. Good fluff reads.

I just read Lovely Bones. A friend gave it to me, since it seems to be the hot book for people who are grieving. I was underwhelmed. It's just not my type of book, but I can see why others like it so much.

I also finished Shopgirl, by Steve Martin. I really liked this book. It was different, and interesting. It's short, so you can finish it in a few hours. Good for anyone who'd getting on a plane soon.

Right now I'm reading The Red Tent, which is okay but a little annoying with all its celebration of the glory that is menses.

[Diva]

I'm reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. They are damn funny :D only prob is they aren't long enough, I can finish them in about 2 - 3 hours. I read the first 3 of them in < 2 days, despite being at work both days.

I'm also reading the first book by Laura Joh Rowland, called Shinju, which is a mystery set in 16th century Japan. it is good so far (about 1/2 way through).

[SOC]

From A Buick 8, by Stephen King

[SirTwist]

It's almost time for my annual read of Lord of the Rings

[a|A]

Year of Wonders : A novel of the Plague - Geraldine Brooks

[ersatz]

reading through the following articles:

Playing Skittles With Saddam - The Guardian, Sep 3 2002 by Brian Whitaker

US Thinktanks Give Lessons In Foreign Policy - The Guardian, Aug 19 2002 also by Whitaker

Will the new Bush Team's Old Memories Shape its Foreign Policies - The New Yorker, Jan 22 2001 by Nicholas Lehmann

[StygiaN]

Originally posted by AequitasAngel
I'm reading Phantoms by Dean Koontz.

Phantoms is a good book, not as good as some of his other books though, such as Intensity or Watchers. Watchers is one of my favourite books of all time. My english teacher gave it to me in year 9 and I loved it then but forgot what it was called. You can understand how excited I was when I saw the blurb on the back of the book 6 years later and realised what it was. Great stuff.

Dave

[Something Fast]

Ulysses - James Joyce.
Damned wierd book.

[MaDHatteR]

I've just finished Jonathan Kellerman's 'Shrunken Heads'. Picked it up at a book fair, it turned out to have missing pages and a previous reader had corrected spelling mistakes and grammar. Still, it was a damn good read, even if the subject matter was a little unsettling.

Just started Grisham's 'The Partner'. No comment as yet.

[Nalixor]

Im currently reading two books, John Grisham's The Partner (I dont usually partake of this genre, but we are studying it in extension english this year, so I thought I better start reading in the genre) and Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice, I have decided to read the Vampire Chronicles again. :D

[utopian]

terry pratchett - pyramids

excellent book

assassins guild

[StygiaN]

The Bone Collector - Jeffery Deaver

[sagit]

Originally posted by StygiaN
The Bone Collector - Jeffery Deaver

On first glimpse I thought you typed "The Body Collector" by Jeffrey Dahmer.

:D

[StygiaN]

Originally posted by sagit
On first glimpse I thought you typed "The Body Collector" by Jeffrey Dahmer.


Tis that a good book?

[gIrLgEeK]

`Amerika' by Franz Kafka. I went to this great booksale on the weekend, $2 for a whole bag of books (BIG mistake ... like I need more books). I got a whole lot of good stuff. `The Castle' (Kafka), `The Double', `The Gambler' (Dostoyevsky), etc ...

Just finished reading a biography of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Never saw two people who were supposed to be having so much fun having so little fun.

Utopienne - did you know Terry Pratchett's coming to Australia? Check it out (http://www.dymocks.com.au/contentstatic/authorevents/auth_events.asp#terry_pratchett)

[angel_b]

"Children of the Dust" - Anderson McCourt

[gIrLgEeK]

Originally posted by Shaneus
I am currently reading...
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Good choice. :D

I should have known ... I might have been the only one who understood your brief `Electric Monk' period ;)

[Colonel Kurtz]

Red Rabbit - Tom Clancy

and some other thing about the the eastern front in WWII that I can't remember the title or author of

[imp]

War of the Worlds.


It's a 1972 unabridged version. And it rocks. :D

[sperm]

Does "People - Home girls summer edition" count as a book ? :D

[Colonel Kurtz]

Originally posted by sperm
Does "People - Home girls summer edition" count as a book ? :D

I think it's required reading at Broadmeadows tech.....:D

[ersatz]

went through a big Wells phase in uni (still do)... try the Island of Dr Moreau.

[Colonel Kurtz]

Originally posted by ersatz
went through a big Wells phase in uni (still do)... try the Island of Dr Moreau.

mmmmmm....vivisection.....

[Shaneus]

Originally posted by gIrLgEeK
Good choice. :D

I should have known ... I might have been the only one who understood your brief `Electric Monk' period ;) How did that couch get halfway up the stairs? ;)

I was actually quite fortunate, about 5 years ago I picked up a 2 in 1 book of the series... bundled with "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul", for $5 at The Reject Shop!!! Only just started reading it now, go figure ;)

[The Avatar]

Just finished Garden of Rama by Arther C Clarke

am starting...

Gridlinked by Niels Lextor

[Drakin]

Currently reading

Fools errand - Robin hobb (RECOMMENDED AUTHOR!)
Geomancer - Ian irvine
Sundiver triliogy - David Brinn
Deverry series - Katherine Kerr (One bloody book to go thats not out)
Schrodingers cat (Illuminatus sequel) - Robert anton wilson


And theres a couple of other series that im thinking of putting out a missing persons add for the author.

[StygiaN]

Originally posted by The Avatar
Just finished Garden of Rama by Arther C Clarke


You've gotta read Rama Revealed. The second best book in the series behing the first one. READ IT NOW! Great conclusion to the series.

Dave

[utopian]

terry pratchett - jingo

[Diva]

I've just started rereading George RR Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice books.

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords (2 volumes in paperback).

If you like your fantasy with low magic (no wizards running around with magic staves), intricate plotting and complex politics (inspired by, but not based on, the War of the Roses - that is between the Plataganets and the Yorks in England during 15th century) - then you will prob like this series. Infact, I am yet to meet one roleplayer who doesn't like it, plus numerous other non-gamers who thing it is one of the best modern fantasies ever.

[gIrLgEeK]

Originally posted by imp
War of the Worlds.

It's a 1972 unabridged version. And it rocks. :D

What was abridged in the versions previous to 1972 ???

[sagit]

"The Tin Man" - Dale Brown. Got really sick of the Agatha Christie "compendium" shit - twas boring me.

[boozer]

Chopper - From the inside

[tomsyman]

I've got 2 on the go at the moment:

Cryptonomicon - by some bloke
Stalingrad - a history of the battle in WW2

[elgrego]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Diva
[B]I've just started rereading George RR Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice books.

Not to mention it's one of the few sci/fi-fantasy books that has swearing in it!
A good reason to read it!

[The Avatar]

Originally posted by StygiaN
You've gotta read Rama Revealed. The second best book in the series behing the first one. READ IT NOW! Great conclusion to the series.

Dave

Why???!!!

Dude, this last book gave me the shits really bad. Too much bad human behaviour in it.

[StygiaN]

Originally posted by The Avatar
Why???!!!
Dude, this last book gave me the shits really bad. Too much bad human behaviour in it.

It's just a really good book. A great closing to the story. IMHO it's a much better book than the middle two in the series.

Dave

[The Avatar]

yeah, ill pick it up later....

[SirTwist]

Originally posted by elgrego
Originally posted by Diva
I've just started rereading George RR Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice books.

Not to mention it's one of the few sci/fi-fantasy books that has swearing in it!
A good reason to read it!

If that's a decent criterion, I could write a best seller with a copy-paste function and stile project

[troubadour]

I have been working my way through the Harry Potter books in the past few days (now halfway through the fourth). I've been meaning to read them for ages but have only recently borrowed them from a friend.

The other book I'm slowly finishing is "The Saxon and Norman Kings" by Christopher Brooke. I read lots of non-fiction like this. Probably too much, really - I recently read "The Silmarillion" and considered it a spot of "light reading". It's no worse than a Norse saga, really...

[utopian]

my maths textbook

[rayjay]

Originally posted by tomsyman
I've got 2 on the go at the moment:

Stalingrad - a history of the battle in WW2

his newie on berlin / eastern europe in 1945 is damn good, if not a little disturbing.
i'm reading the new suzuki book, good news for a change, and just finished the illuminatus trillogy the other day - what a weird fucking book. next on the list is 'dance of days' by anderson and jenkins on the history of washington dc punk in the early 90s (fugazi fugazi fugazi!), dante's inferno, the new rushdie and the last days of hitler by trevor-roper. thank god uni's nearly over...

[sagit]

finished The Tin Man this morning. Now what should I read next....

[elgrego]

Just finished The Right Stuff. By Tom Wollfe.

For only about the tenth time.

[tomsyman]

Originally posted by rayjay
his newie on berlin / eastern europe in 1945 is damn good, if not a little disturbing.

Yeah, I just finished that before I started Stalingrad. Some gorry (sp) stuff in that! Esp all the gang rape/killing of Germans - put a smile on my face.

[Diva]

I'm currently giving the Song of Ice and Fire a break, and I've moved onto historical mysteries again.

I'm reading Paul Doherty's Roger Shallot series, which are

'the journals of Sir Roger Shallot concering certain wicked conspiracies and horrible murders perpetrated in the reign of King Henry VIII'.

The narrator (Shallot) is in his 90s, looking back over his life and in particular his time working as an agent of Cardinal Wolsey. He is a liar, a thief and a knave, but they are damn good reads.

And the author was Medusa's headmaster at highschool. She said he used to do workshops talking about his stories and stuff, which I think is pretty cool :)

[utopian]

rudyard kipling - the jungle book

last time i read it, i was 9.

[sagit]

decided to start reading my Mario Puzo combo-pack - "The Godfather" and "The Last Don".

[LisaJ]

Reading Tami Hoag "A Thin Dark Line"...

[Myspace]

the disclaimer on a southern comfort can

[utopian]

Originally posted by strategist
the disclaimer on a southern comfort can
IS NOT A BOOK!

[Myspace]

close enough. it was in my eyes

actually im reading a brief history of time. difficult

[annie]

i am reading: the bitterbynde trilogy (3rd book)
the riftwar saga (3rd book)
and oh, can someone tell me what the "wheel of time" series is like, if its good or not etc etc?

[]-[Å®ÐRøçK]

Some shitty Danielle Steele novel...

Someone left it on my desk here at work and I was reall REALLY bored...

[Diva]

Originally posted by annie
and oh, can someone tell me what the "wheel of time" series is like, if its good or not etc etc?

don't start it unless you are feeling very masochistic!

book 10 is due out soon, and the series end isn't really in sight. While the main story is interesting, Jordan's writing style is crap, and he wastes pages and pages on useless descriptions (like clothing). There are also far too many characters, and it is a labour to read a lot of the time.

if you want to read a good fantasy series, try George R R Martin's 'A Song of Ice & Fire'. The books are:

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords (which is published as 2 volumes in paperback)

These books leave Jordan for dead- Martin is a much better writer, the story is a lot tighter. Some of the characters are still infuriating (Sansa anyone???), but they are a lot more realistic than those in The Wheel of Time. It is also going to be a 6 book series, not 12+, and when main characters die, it is shocking, brutal and they stay dead. (Unlike in WoT, when pretty much any main character - good guy or villain - who dies will be 'brought back' in a book or 2. Very tedious, and eliminates tension)

[biomechanic]

Just started "On Aggression" by Konrad Lorenz

[royale]

Originally posted by Diva
don't start it unless you are feeling very masochistic!

book 10 is due out soon, and the series end isn't really in sight. While the main story is interesting, Jordan's writing style is crap, and he wastes pages and pages on useless descriptions (like clothing). There are also far too many characters, and it is a labour to read a lot of the time.

So true. Kurtz gave me the first one, and at the time I didn't know it was a series. Read the first 8 in about 2 months, but 9 took 3 months; I just go so damn sick of them, but wouldn't surrender. Huge amount of fluff that ruins a good tale. Also hate the men v women comments that run throughout the series.

[troubadour]

I've started reading "The Nibelungenlied" (well, a modern English prose translation of the Old German poem) which was written by an anonymous poet around 1200).

For those familiar with Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, apart from the names of the main characters and a few items there is almost nothing in common between the original tale and Wagner's story. I don't think the original even has a magical ring in it (although it does have a cloak of invisibility, and a precious bar of gold which, along with a lot of other treasure, is thrown into the Rhine).

Still a good story, though, if you have the patience to read that kind of thing.

[ersatz]

about half way through Fellowship of the Ring.

[annie]

Originally posted by Diva

if you want to read a good fantasy series, try George R R Martin's 'A Song of Ice & Fire'.


i think ive seen those books, but im not sure.. they look good tho, if its the same book. i have a bad habit of judging the book by its cover.

I think that Ian Irvine is a really good writer! He doesnt waffle on about really descriptive stuff, and well, hes made a really good series, the "tale from the mirror" i think its called... im not sure anymore.

[Myspace]

my friend is reading the wheel of time series, which is literally massive, has anyone else here read it, and if so, any thoughts?

[Diva]

strategist, annie asked this on the previous page, this was my response:

Originally posted by Diva
don't start it unless you are feeling very masochistic!

book 10 is due out soon, and the series end isn't really in sight. While the main story is interesting, Jordan's writing style is crap, and he wastes pages and pages on useless descriptions (like clothing). There are also far too many characters, and it is a labour to read a lot of the time.

if you want to read a good fantasy series, try George R R Martin's 'A Song of Ice & Fire'. The books are:

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords (which is published as 2 volumes in paperback)

These books leave Jordan for dead- Martin is a much better writer, the story is a lot tighter. Some of the characters are still infuriating (Sansa anyone???), but they are a lot more realistic than those in The Wheel of Time. It is also going to be a 6 book series, not 12+, and when main characters die, it is shocking, brutal and they stay dead. (Unlike in WoT, when pretty much any main character - good guy or villain - who dies will be 'brought back' in a book or 2. Very tedious, and eliminates tension)

Basically, Wheel of Time is an interesting setting filled with dreadful characters and poorly written. Is it worth it in the long run? I would say probably not, but it is up the the individual.

[utopian]

isaac asimov - i, robot

[MaDHatteR]

Philip Norman - The Stones. It's been sitting round my house for about 15 years. I figured that if I was going to get rid of it I should read it first.

[StygiaN]

I am slowly getting through the Cryptonomicon. What a great book!

[utopian]

stephen hawking - a brief history of time

[Mrak]

Just finished Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.... rockin' straight into Stupid White Men by Michael Moore. Its all good, baby.

[utopian]

just finished i, robot

good book :)

[StygiaN]

Asimov - The End of Eternity

So far it's a great book.

[slaine1]

Originally posted by Diva
strategist, annie asked this on the previous page, this was my response:

<snip>

Basically, Wheel of Time is an interesting setting filled with dreadful characters and poorly written. Is it worth it in the long run? I would say probably not, but it is up the the individual.

I would add another dis-recommendation to to the WoT ledger. It is incredible how such drivel could have become popular enough to justify publication. Badly written, inbelievable characters, cop outs everywhere. In other words, it is crap. Don't bother.

[pedxing]

Kurt Vonnegut - Slapstick

I'm new to Vonnegut, but I have thoroughly enjoyed everything I've read of his so far.

Also reading D. Hofstadter's "Goedel, Escher, Bach" Slowly, but surely.

[utopian]

isaac asimov - the martian way

[geggle]

Currently: The Rise and Resurrection of the American Programmer, Edward Yourdon

Last Book: Contest, Matthew Reilly

Last Nostalgia* Book: The Peculiar Miss Pickett, Nancy R. Julian

* I try to re-read one of the books I used to read when I was younger every week or so.

[geggle]

Originally posted by Utopienne
isaac asimov - the martian way Not a bad book that, written for a younger audience than some of his IMHO. I must get my copy out and read it again.

Since you see to be a bit of an Asimov fan, you wouldn't also happen to have: Foundation's Fear (written by Gregory Benford), or
Foundation and Chaos (written by Greg Bear) would you? Yes, I realize that they are not really Asimov :)

[pleed]

Current Read : Terry Pratchett's Discworld - The last continent

[utopian]

pleed. that's a fantastic book. especially so if you're australian.

geggle. no, but you're right, it's not REALLY asimov :)

[StygiaN]

Now reading...

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

...and it's great so far.

[SOC]

I've been reading C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia since Christmas ... am currently on Book Six, The Silver Chair.

And no, I didn't read them as a kid ... yes, I know I should have, but I didn't ... it's OK, thought, cos I'm still a child at heart ... yes, really, I am ...

[Deimos]

I am currently reading a book called "The White Divers of Broome" by John Bailey - it is all about pearl diving in the early part of last century, and the latter part of the 19th century. It is really interesting.

[sagit]

Originally posted by SOC
I've been reading C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia since Christmas ... am currently on Book Six, The Silver Chair.

And no, I didn't read them as a kid ... yes, I know I should have, but I didn't ... it's OK, thought, cos I'm still a child at heart ... yes, really, I am ...

never heard of this stuff, so don't feel like an orphan there, soc.

[robotoverflow]

About to start reading 1984.

Hope it's as ++good as people say it is :)

[pliskin]

Originally posted by StygiaN
Now reading...

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

...and it's great so far.

just finished reading his new book "a cooks tour," is just as funny as his first book of kitchen non-fiction. have started to read "the hobbit"

[Deimos]

Originally posted by Peregrine
About to start reading 1984.

Hope it's as ++good as people say it is :)

I just recently read it, and it is absoloutely awesome. I still can't get it out of my head: it's fucking brilliant.

[robotoverflow]

Originally posted by Deimos
I just recently read it, and it is absoloutely awesome. I still can't get it out of my head: it's fucking brilliant.

See, the thing is - I'll read it, then I won't have any similar books to read afterwards.

Reccomendations people!

[Deimos]

Originally posted by Peregrine
See, the thing is - I'll read it, then I won't have any similar books to read afterwards.

Reccomendations people!

If you are looking for something similar to 1984 I would recommend Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (if you haven't already read it). Or for something slightly different, but just as good, Catch 22 is a decent read.

[utopian]

stephen hawking - the universe in a nutshell

[druid]

Originally posted by Utopienne
the universe in a nutshell

Is that an O'Reilly book? What animal has it for the cover picture?

[sagit]

2002 phantom christmas edition

edit: * note to self: go to project gutenberg site *

[utopian]

Originally posted by druid
Is that an O'Reilly book? What animal has it for the cover picture?
no idea, it's got a nutshell on it.

[robotoverflow]

Originally posted by Deimos
If you are looking for something similar to 1984 I would recommend Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (if you haven't already read it). Or for something slightly different, but just as good, Catch 22 is a decent read.
Thanks buddy. :)

It's a safe bet to assume that I haven't read most books, but i'm trying to correct that. :p Too much games and TV has screwed me over bigtime.

[utopian]

games haven't screwed me over. i can catch flies with my bare hands due to a lot of time improving my hand/eye co-ordination skills. ah... good ol' atari 2600.

druid. the cover of the copy of "universe in a nutshell" i've got has the universe inside a walnut shell.

[druid]

Originally posted by Utopienne
druid. the cover of the copy of "universe in a nutshell" i've got has the universe inside a walnut shell.

Hehe...twas just my restless moment of the day. O'Reilly books tend to have names like '<technology name> in a nutshell', 500+ pages long. For covers they have black and white drawings of different animals, like the legendary Perl camel.

http://www.oreilly.de/catalog/covers/perlnut.s.gif





http://www.somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/photoshop/variety3/SydBarrett_nuts.jpg

[gooey]

Originally posted by Peregrine
See, the thing is - I'll read it, then I won't have any similar books to read afterwards.

Reccomendations people!

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

brilliant!

[utopian]

hehe, that was a good photoshop phriday.

[hazza]

johnathan kellerman - the murder book



most recent book in the alex delaware series

[SamBo]

Needful Things
by Stephen King
Already read it, but I am re-reading all my Stephen King books at the moment

[ersatz]

LotR: Return of the King (book VI) and Isaac Asimov: End of Eternity.

Already read it, but I am re-reading all my Stephen King books at the moment

"Survivor Type" from Skeleton Crew is one of my favourites. If only they could make reality TV like that. or The Running Man or Long Walk :)

[utopian]

isaac asimov - the martian way

[gunhead]

Today I just bought The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson and 10,000 baby names (yet to start either).

[Christian]

"Fear And Loathing on the campaign trail '72" by Hunter S. Thompson

[annie]

"Ashling" by Isabella Carmody
and
"Rage of a Demon King" by Raymond E Feist
thats it i think..
oh and also 'the Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, which is very good also

[MisterBishi]

I've just ordered Vernon God Little (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0571215157/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/202-8148357-1936639) by D.B.C Pierre, I hope it's as good as the reviews I've read suggest.

There is a reader review on the amazon.co.uk link above (not available on amazon.com yet :confused: ), but it seems the guy was looking for sitcom humour after reading comments such as that below, and was somewhat surprised.

'You know what this terrific book is like? It's like The Osbournes invited The Simpsons round for a root beer, and Don DeLillo dropped by to write a new song for Eminem.'

I'll let you know if it's any good, fans of satire be prepared.

[sagit]

still working my way thru "the last don" by the late mario puzo.

unfortunately the puzo books seem to be very hard to read because they keep going backwards and forward in time. thank goodness FFC straightened out The Godfather (and split it into 2 movies).

[ersatz]

finished Return of the King (and some of the Appendices, mostly the Orc and Arwen bits).

read Call of Cthulhu yesterday, now reading various essays from Edward Said's "The End of the Peace Process" (revised edition).

considering re-reading the Manchurian Candidate.

[ersatz]

might put Manchurian Candidate on hold for a moment and read a bit of Titan by Stephen Baxter instead....

[gIrLgEeK]

I received your recommendation Misterbishi ... I'll definitely look out for it. I was hooked as soon as I read the review on Amazon: 'You know what this terrific book is like? It's like The Osbournes invited The Simpsons round for a root beer, and Don DeLillo dropped by to write a new song for Eminem.' :D

I've been reading a book called `Dancing Between Flames', about the Weimar Republic in Germany - that's the period between the end of World War I and the deposing of Kaiser-Wilhelm II, and the Nazi coup.

A very interesting time ... with lots of very unsettling relevancies to here and now. :(

[SOC]

Last week I finished the 7-book epic The Chronicles of Narnia (http://www.narnia.co.uk/discover.htm), which I had never read as a kid. Loved it (except for Book 6, The Silver Chair, which I found a bit dull).

Have just finished Ben Elton's new novel, High Society (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/059304939X/202-2033901-3050219) ... a terrific read and one of his best, about a British MP that introduces a private member's bill to legalise all drugs. An interesting concept.

Am now reading Welsh writer Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair (http://www.salon.com/books/review/2002/01/24/fforde/) ... it's been variously described by critics as "a detective thriller with an wonderful alternate history twist", "like a Jules Verne story told by Lewis Carroll", "a silly book for smart people: postmodernism played as raw, howling farce" and "a pop science fiction novel with brains and sass".

It's a clever idea - set in England in an alterantive-reality 1985 (no computers, but time travel is a reality) it's the story of literary detective Thursday Next who is called in when Jane Eyre is kidnapped from the Bronte novel. I'm about a third of the way through, and so far am really enjoying it - it's clever, witty and full of lovely literary references. It's in a very similar vein to the work of the late, great Douglas Adams. Once I finish it I'll probably go out and buy the next in the series, also about Thursday Next - Lost in A Good Book.

[Diva]

Originally posted by SOC
Last week I finished the 7-book epic The Chronicles of Narnia (http://www.narnia.co.uk/discover.htm), which I had never read as a kid. Loved it (except for Book 6, The Silver Chair, which I found a bit dull).


lol - I read the narnia books last week! I found the Silver Chair a bit boring to, but I did like how the creatures in the underworld appeared at the end of The Last Battle.

I have an all in one volume, which Twist is reading at the moment.

I've just finished The Hobbit again, and I'm reading The Fellowship of the Ring. My books are falling apart, I'll have to get new copies.

[MisterBishi]

Originally posted by MisterBishi
I've just ordered Vernon God Little (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0571215157/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/202-8148357-1936639) by D.B.C Pierre, I hope it's as good as the reviews I've read suggest.

There is a reader review on the amazon.co.uk link above (not available on amazon.com yet :confused: ), but it seems the guy was looking for sitcom humour after reading comments such as that below, and was somewhat surprised.

'You know what this terrific book is like? It's like The Osbournes invited The Simpsons round for a root beer, and Don DeLillo dropped by to write a new song for Eminem.'

I'll let you know if it's any good, fans of satire be prepared.

I finished this book yesterday and I recommend it wholeheartedly, especially to trained cynics like myself.

I can't review it properly because I lack the eloquence required to do it justice (I can review things that I hate easily), but it is a fantastic, frighteningly relevant and darkly hilarious read.

I don't know what to do next, I can't afford to spend £15 a week on books.

[druckfugged]

I'm reading Baudolino by Umberto Eco...cost me fifty bucks and it isn't that good.
My first post to anything..woohoo!
..now that wasn't that hard, was it?

[SOC]

Originally posted by MisterBishi
I don't know what to do next, I can't afford to spend £15 a week on books.

Libraries rock ...;)

[Diva]

has anyone read any books by Doris Lessing?

I haven't, because the cover blurbs didn't seem very interesting to me. but I heard the first part of 'The Grass is Singing' on bbc 'Off the Shelf' this morning, and it seems really interesting.

any recommendations or other?

[annie]

i have to read "Cold Mountain" by Charles Fraizer for school,
and im also reading "the Sky Warden and the Sun" by Sean Williams.
Cold Mountain isnt as bad as i thought it would be, but i still dont think its good enough to be made into a movie.

[SOC]

Have just finished Stupid White Men, by Michael Moore. I suggest everybody should read this - it's real food for thought, whether you think the guy is right or not...

[macboy]

Reading Manufacturing Consent , By Noam Chomsky and Edward S Herman.

Nice big heavy read on how the Mass Media controls what we see and how we see it.

If you like Michael Moore you will like this

[utopian]

Victor K McElheny - Insisting on the Impossible.

it's a book about the life of Edwin "Din" Land, the guy who created instant photography (and founded polaroid (i think)).

bloody awesome book, explains his views on a lot of things, especially education at MIT.

[]-[Å®ÐRøçK]

Taming The Black Dog: A Guide to Overcoming Depression

It's a good book/guide, and I recommend it to anyone that's even feeling a bit down...

[Drakin]

Electric kool aid acid test - tom woolfe


"Your either On the bus or your Off the bus"

[Diva]

I read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy again last week, and I'm currently rereading Smiley's People. It has been a very long time since I read them last, and I was in a Le Carre mood :)

[Buffalo]

"Children of Dune" - Frank Herbert

Not bad but a bit to metaphysical compared to his other ones.

[MaDHatteR]

Day of the Cheetah, by Dale Brown. Some kick-ass dog-fight descriptions, planes not canines. All in all, a good read if you like high-tech aircraft.

[dozer]

milan kundera - testament betrayed

interesting read if u like analysis and novels

[angel_b]

"Tales of the City" - Armistead Maupin

A great snapshot of 1978 - now *there* was a year. *sigh*

[ShadowNemesis]

Firestarter - Stephen King

[ersatz]

Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon, a classic thriller of mind manipulation. The movie was banned when JFK lost his brain.

[rascuache]

The cryptonomicon - neal stephenson

[annie]

the restaurant at the end of the universe- douglas adams

[ThreeChordMe]

I'm currently about to start "Neverwhere," by Neil Gaiman, as recommended to me by druid.

[KoinBahd]

Stupid White Men by Michael Moore

An awesome read... and I hate reading!

If you saw Bowling for Columbine and found it as hilarious and as confronting as I did, then you'll most probab-bob-bably enjoy this one.

[berserk]

Sen, Amartya (1999), Development as Freedom

As the author says "The premise of the book is that human freedom is not only the primary end of development, it is also the principle means. Development consists in enhancing the quality of human life and increasing the substantive freedoms we enjoy, and therefore freedom is constructive in development (that is, the process of development is the process of making our freedoms larger). "

Further reading for readers of Stupid White Men... perhaps

[angel_b]

Originally posted by berserk
Sen, Amartya (1999), Development as Freedom

As the author says "The premise of the book is that human freedom is not only the primary end of development, it is also the principle means. Development consists in enhancing the quality of human life and increasing the substantive freedoms we enjoy, and therefore freedom is constructive in development (that is, the process of development is the process of making our freedoms larger). "

Further reading for readers of Stupid White Men... perhaps
Nope, too many big words. :D

[Diva]

Originally posted by angel_b
"Tales of the City" - Armistead Maupin

A great snapshot of 1978 - now *there* was a year. *sigh*

I read the whole series last year, but the first one is still my favourite (I've read that about half a dozen times now)

[lego72]

The Game of Thrones - George RR Martin

A friend at work got me into it. Very different from the other fantasy stuff I have read.

I want a double middle name too

[Diva]

lol - I'm rereading AGoT at the moment too :)

The series just gets better & better. Book #4 is due out later this year, called A Feast For Crows. Plus there is a short story called The Hedge Knight in an anthology edited by Robert Silverburg, called Legends.

An excellent site is www.westeros.org - the guy who runs it runs an ezboard (Warning! don't go there until you have read all the books, lots of spoilers), plus he has done heraldry for all the major families and their bannermen. Martin approves all the artwork before it goes on his site, and they are in regular contact.

Also, the current issue of Dragon Magazine (#305) has an extract from A Feast for Crows, called Arms of the Cracken. It is about the Ironmen (Theon Greyjoy's family) , but I don't want to spoil it for you as you obviously won't know much about them yet (they come into the story more from the 2nd book, A Clash of Kings)

btw - A Storm of Swords is one book in hardback, but 2 books in paperback (UK edition only - it isn't in paperback in the US yet)

If you like Martin's work, you might also want to check out his Wild Cards books, which are currently being reissued. He is the editor and one of the contributors, but it is a shared world and lots of different writers have contributed characters. (It is superhero type stuff)