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Community => Entertainment and Television => Topic started by: Shane for Wax on January 04, 2012, 02:56:11 am

Title: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on January 04, 2012, 02:56:11 am
Trying to get through Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, myself.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Yaezakura on January 04, 2012, 02:57:45 am
At the moment, I'm reading Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium. A WarHammer 40,000 novel an ex-girlfriend got my for Christmas. Pretty good so far, though obviously wouldn't be everyone's cup o' tea.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Smurfette Principle on January 04, 2012, 02:59:13 am
A Room of One's Own.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: anti-nonsense on January 04, 2012, 03:11:14 am
currently reading Day of Battle a history of the Italian campaign in WW2. I shall soon be re-reading the entire Wheel of Time series in preparation for the release of the final volume at the end of the year.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Cloud3514 on January 04, 2012, 03:11:43 am
At the moment, I'm reading Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium. A WarHammer 40,000 novel an ex-girlfriend got my for Christmas. Pretty good so far, though obviously wouldn't be everyone's cup o' tea.

Relatedly, I've been meaning to get back into Horus Rising.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on January 04, 2012, 03:38:59 am
The Republic by Plato
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: VirtualStranger on January 04, 2012, 03:43:47 am
The last issue of DMZ (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/DMZ) just came out, so I'm reading them all the way through.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on January 04, 2012, 05:31:36 am
I'm currently reading the OHS manual for the new job I start tomorrow.
Or I would be, if I weren't on here  :-\
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Jebediah on January 04, 2012, 09:18:38 am
The Stand. I am a huge fan of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: sandman on January 04, 2012, 02:05:15 pm
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GakLeqrzL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Smilodon on January 04, 2012, 02:15:22 pm
I'm trying to get through The Golden Age by John C. Wright. I'm having some difficulty doing so though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Rabbit of Caerbannog on January 04, 2012, 02:25:44 pm
"White Like Me" by Tim Wise.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: clockworkgirl21 on January 04, 2012, 02:39:59 pm
The Other Boleyn Girl. Because it's historical fiction, one of my favorite genres, and has a lot of sex in it!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: disgruntledcolonel on January 04, 2012, 04:39:08 pm
Currently reading Joe Gores "Spade and Archer' a prequel for the Maltese Falcon, top read, Gores is a former PI and current crime writer, plus it has the approval of the Hammett family, so feels very much part of the world occupied by the orginal.  After that, it's gonna have to be the Falcon itself, then 'Matterhorn' by Karl Marlantes - love a good bit of lit fict me.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on January 04, 2012, 05:48:44 pm
currently reading Day of Battle a history of the Italian campaign in WW2. I shall soon be re-reading the entire Wheel of Time series in preparation for the release of the final volume at the end of the year.
More like The Waste of Time. I know because I've devoted like 16 years to those books. And I'm currently reading The Gathering Storm.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on January 04, 2012, 08:19:43 pm
Once I finish up Perelandra, I'm diving into the new Dresden at long last.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on January 04, 2012, 08:45:16 pm
I just finished readingAlice's Adventures in Wonderland(aka Alice In Wonderand) and I'm just starting Through the Looking-Glass. Hopefuly It'll keep me busy until early next week when Star Wars: Darth Plagueis comes out.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on January 04, 2012, 11:47:21 pm
Underworld by Don DeLillo - just about done - fantastic book....
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on January 05, 2012, 12:15:59 am
"Out of Oz" by Gregory Maguire
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: JohnE on January 05, 2012, 12:20:38 am
I'm reading Grimm's Fairy Tales as research for my newest conlang.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on January 05, 2012, 11:14:33 am
Chosen Soldier by Dick Couch, about the selection and training of US Army Special Forces (Green Berets).

All About Honor by David Weber. I'd read the Honor Harrington series up to that point, but also burnt out before I got all the way through. This time I started with the book before this one and am progressing.

Tales of the Dark Millennium, an anthology of short stories of WH40K.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on January 05, 2012, 11:14:41 am
Making Money 2011 by Paul Clitheroe. Really solid and practical financial advice, particularly long-term stuff.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: clockworkgirl21 on January 05, 2012, 11:28:24 am
Quote
"Out of Oz" by Gregory Maguire

How is this one? I loved Wicked and Son of a Witch, but the one about the lion I hated.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on January 07, 2012, 05:56:43 am
Took me days of swapping and second guessing. But i settled on reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: armandtanzarian on January 07, 2012, 08:05:25 am
Bought Books 5 & 6 of the Dune series, as well as Issac Asimov's Foundation.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on January 07, 2012, 10:15:07 am
Foundation trilogy is great, Armand.

I'll start reading Towers of Midnight sometime today.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on January 09, 2012, 03:16:56 am
Constant Gardener by John le Carre. One of his most 'action' novels, also one of his best. Absolutely horrifying, gut-wrenching stuff.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Jack Bauer on January 09, 2012, 06:14:16 am
I'm about two thirds the way through A Storm of Swords (George R R Martin). I will then probably take a break from A Song of Ice and Fire and tackle the latest Stephen King, 11/22/63.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on January 09, 2012, 06:21:26 am
Think I'm gonna abandon Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and read Girl Who Played With Fire.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on January 09, 2012, 06:31:19 am
I've heard really good things about 11/22/63, I've been meaning to check it out myself.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: N. De Plume on January 09, 2012, 05:59:45 pm
The Wordpress Anthology by Mick Olinik and Raena Jackson Armitage, published by SitePoint. Learning about programming for Wordpress. Gonna use it to revamp some websites that are badly in need of a proper CMS.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on January 11, 2012, 08:54:47 pm
Just started American Gods.  It's off to a good start, but.....dear gods, unbirthing.  WHY?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on January 11, 2012, 09:10:42 pm
Do Graphic Novels/ comics count?? Because I just finished Darth Vader and the Lost Commend, and I'm re-reading Mara Jade: By the Emperors's Hand. Sorry, I'm just waiting for a book to arrive in the mail.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on January 12, 2012, 05:29:57 am
Got two more books. On Liberty by John Stuart Mill and Levitation by Hobbes.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on January 13, 2012, 11:29:34 pm
I just started Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Smurfette Principle on January 14, 2012, 10:12:35 am
Finished reading The Fault in Our Stars. Cried copiously.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: D Laurier on January 14, 2012, 10:50:42 am
A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson.

It's not to bad actualy.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Paimun on January 14, 2012, 11:09:37 pm
(http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9469/kgrhqqokjie6tusgoboliiw.jpg)

Epic book about EPCOT with tons of great concept art. I love retro-futuristic stuff and EPCOT is probably to blame anyways, so I just love reading it. If only the world had gone the way Walt thought it would...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on January 15, 2012, 12:12:58 am
A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson.

It's not to bad actualy.

I thought it was actually quite good.....
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on January 15, 2012, 12:22:51 am
If only the world had gone the way Walt thought it would...
Is it wrong that a "Walt Disney hated the Jews" joke popped in my head when I read this sentence??
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Paimun on January 15, 2012, 12:36:13 am
If only the world had gone the way Walt thought it would...
Is it wrong that a "Walt Disney hated the Jews" joke popped in my head when I read this sentence??

Not one bit.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on January 15, 2012, 04:49:41 pm
So I'm a little ways into reading Star Wars Darth Plagueis and I have to say I love how they make Palpatine into
(click to show/hide)
It makes me love Palpatine even more, now.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: clockworkgirl21 on January 15, 2012, 11:31:22 pm
Rebel Angels, by Libba Bray.

Love it. It's a Victorian gothic style with lesbianism thrown in.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: MisterMuncher on January 16, 2012, 10:19:32 am
I, Partridge: We need to talk about Alan.

Makes little sense if you haven't watched much Partridge. If you have, it's fucking hilarious.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on January 16, 2012, 10:26:55 am
I, Partridge: We need to talk about Alan.

Makes little sense if you haven't watched much Partridge. If you have, it's fucking hilarious.

His way of publicizing the book doesn't make me want to read it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Iczerfour on January 18, 2012, 09:14:33 pm
A book on booby traps.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on January 19, 2012, 12:07:43 am
The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. Linguistics + Neurology = SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on January 25, 2012, 04:26:40 pm
11/22/63 by Stephen King - maybe his best since the 90s.....
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on February 01, 2012, 10:56:06 pm
I just started No Orchids For Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on February 03, 2012, 10:51:34 pm
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Zygarde on February 04, 2012, 12:52:19 am
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison and i love it!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on February 04, 2012, 09:54:54 am
Just finished The Willing Spirit by Piers Anthony and Alfred Tella.

If you like sexual humor and/or Hindu gods, read it. :3
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: myusername on February 04, 2012, 05:20:56 pm
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes. It's actually really interesting when you get used to the archaic language.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on February 05, 2012, 12:06:35 am
V.R.Berghahn's Germany and the Approach of War in 1914. It argues that Germany should bear more responsibility than other nations for WW1. The author mentions his support for Fritz Fischer in the introduction. But it is still a very interesting read.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Mechtaur on February 05, 2012, 01:02:52 am
I recently started to thumb through the Ars Goetia again. I always thought it was interesting, but apparently I've forgotten almost everything in it.

And yes, I know most of the demons are vilified deities and other spirits.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Atavist on February 05, 2012, 02:29:34 am
Getting ready to start Zothique. A collection of Clark Ashton Smith's fantasy short stories set on the last continent before Earth's final end. Edit and forward by Lin Carter.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Jebediah on February 05, 2012, 10:06:28 am
Just started American Gods.  It's off to a good start, but.....dear gods, unbirthing.  WHY?

I like this book. You should let me know when you finish it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on February 05, 2012, 11:03:38 pm
Just started American Gods.  It's off to a good start, but.....dear gods, unbirthing.  WHY?

I like this book. You should let me know when you finish it.

Finished it a few days later.  SO AWESOME <3
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on February 06, 2012, 07:44:44 am
Finished 11.22.63. last night.  Completely unputdownable, but the
(click to show/hide)
at the end was a bit clunky.  Still one of the best books I've read lately, though :)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: disgruntledcolonel on February 09, 2012, 03:36:37 pm
An American Dream by Normal Mailer, good really intense 60's american lit-fic in a hemingway character has a psychotic breakdown way, strangulation and sodomy in the first 2 chapters.  Is it a GAN contender? Not sure yet,  but I can see it coming close.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on February 09, 2012, 03:59:59 pm
I just got a huge book with seven Jules Verne novels, so I'm just starting on Five Weeks in a Balloon.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on February 09, 2012, 05:37:47 pm
"Our Dumb Century"

So much lulz
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on February 18, 2012, 10:40:08 pm
Star Wars Dark Forces: Soldier For The Empire
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on March 05, 2012, 11:14:48 am
I just started reading a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories, I've been wanting to check out Lovecraft for awhile. and yes, I'm a newbie to Lovecraft so...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on March 05, 2012, 01:00:08 pm
I just started reading a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories, I've been wanting to check out Lovecraft for awhile. and yes, I'm a newbie to Lovecraft so...

As a Lovecraft fan, I look forward to your thoughts on his stories.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on March 06, 2012, 03:07:35 pm
I just started reading a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories, I've been wanting to check out Lovecraft for awhile. and yes, I'm a newbie to Lovecraft so...

A collection? Cthulhuchick's collection?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on March 06, 2012, 03:31:04 pm
A collection? Cthulhuchick's collection?

No, it's put out by Penguin Classics, entitled The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

As a Lovecraft fan, I look forward to your thoughts on his stories.
I've only read 4 stories so far, I enjoyed both "Dagon"and "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" the most.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on March 06, 2012, 03:31:31 pm
Oh, mine was free and has almost all the stories. 1,000+ pages.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on March 06, 2012, 10:56:42 pm
A collection? Cthulhuchick's collection?

No, it's put out by Penguin Classics, entitled The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

As a Lovecraft fan, I look forward to your thoughts on his stories.
I've only read 4 stories so far, I enjoyed both "Dagon"and "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" the most.

Just wait 'til you get to classics like "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "The Dunwich Horror."
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on March 07, 2012, 02:47:06 pm
Paradise Lost by Milton. Its such a pretty and evocative book. Especially in the first descriptions of Hell and Death at the gates of Hell.

Then next I will read the Illiad And Odyssey by Homer. Today I'm buying the Metamorphoses by Ovid and the Aenid by Virgil :D
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Carnotaurus on March 08, 2012, 01:09:19 am
The Dresden Files. I'm trying to read the entire series (minus the short stories) this month, before I have to return them to the library. They're in really high demand, so odds are I won't be able to renew. So far, I've read from Storm Front through Dead Beat. They're pretty good, and I love Harry's snark, but it seems like the entire universe is out to get him sometimes, and I find that a bit off-putting. Gonna stick with it and see if that feeling goes away, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Avorne on March 08, 2012, 02:33:33 pm
If manga counts then I'm currently just about to start reading the fifth volume of Bakuman - if not then I'm still somewhere in the first 30 pages of the latest Discworld book. I've hardly had time to read anything over the past few months - which is really annoying for someone who thrives on books.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Iczerfour on March 19, 2012, 06:01:06 pm
Thylacine.  The tragic tale of the Tasmanian tiger by David Owen.

I just started reading it today.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on March 20, 2012, 06:00:31 am
Soviet military operational art: in pursuit of deep battle by David Glantz.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: clockworkgirl21 on March 20, 2012, 07:05:55 am
A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Jebediah on March 20, 2012, 01:40:22 pm
I started reading a comic called Crossed. It's pretty gruesome and bloody, but so far so good.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: tygerarmy on April 03, 2012, 03:09:36 pm
The Pendragon Cycle

I just finished the the first book, Taliesin,
and I'll probably wait to start Merlin until my flight back.

I might read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo while I'm in Florida, my aunt is trying to get me to read it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on April 03, 2012, 05:28:53 pm
REAMDE by Neal Stephenson - excellent so far....
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on April 05, 2012, 11:21:17 am
Star Wars: Shadow Games by Micheal Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

I just finished a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories, and I'm hooked on his stuff, so I bought the other two collections that Penguin Classics put out  ;D
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: shadowpanther on April 05, 2012, 12:48:55 pm
Finally got round to reading Blood Pact and Salvations Reach. Fucking hell Abnett, again with the beloved character murder!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on April 05, 2012, 05:15:15 pm
The Road to Berlin by John Erickson
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on April 05, 2012, 05:34:29 pm
The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on April 19, 2012, 05:16:27 pm
Dune by Frank Herbert
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on April 19, 2012, 05:26:17 pm
Finished Paradise Lost. now onto the Illiad
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on April 21, 2012, 07:17:03 pm
War plc by Stephen Armstrong.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on April 22, 2012, 08:20:28 pm
Daughter of the Empire by Feist and...somebody else.  Jay recommended it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on April 22, 2012, 10:10:03 pm
Daughter of the Empire by Feist and...somebody else.  Jay recommended it.

I really like that trilogy. Better than the other half of the Riftwar.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on April 23, 2012, 08:18:10 pm
Daughter of the Empire by Feist and...somebody else.  Jay recommended it.

I really like that trilogy. Better than the other half of the Riftwar.

I've never read any of the Riftwar books.  This is the first one in the entire series that I've picked up, and so far, it's pretty good.

I think Jay may be mildly disappointed by my appreciation for Mercedes Lackey, though.  I'm not sure which books he's read, but he says they're too romance-novel-ish.  I agree wholeheartedly on the 500 Kingdoms books (which are, in fact, classified as romance novels!) but a lot of her other books don't give me the romance-novel vibe at all.

Now, I just need him to read some Marion Zimmer Bradley.  That woman could fucking write.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: tygerarmy on April 24, 2012, 01:09:41 pm
Finished all the books in the Hunger games series, reading the Pendragon cycle.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on April 24, 2012, 10:08:46 pm
Finished The Sisters Brothers. A wonderful premise and setting, but the second half is the only interesting part. Everything else before that is dull and plodding, and the author seriously needs to improve his dialogue-writing skills. Everyone talks in the exact same way. And then there are chapter endings, or even entire chapters, that are complete non sequiturs. It's as if the author thinks everything he writes is pure postmodern genius and is begging the audience to ask him what it all means.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: QueenofHearts on April 30, 2012, 10:07:54 am
Just Finished The Solitary Self. It is the third book in a trilogy of biographies on Jean Jacques Rousseau. I just started reading Blinded by the Right by David Brock. Looks to be interesting
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on April 30, 2012, 03:17:30 pm
Fabric of the cosmos by Brian green
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on May 08, 2012, 12:03:32 pm
Just finished The Emperor's Gift (http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/emperors-gift.html). I love the Gray Knights, so have been anxiously waiting for this book since I heard about it in December. Best BL book I've read. I almost cried when I finished because, no matter how many time I reread it, I will never again have the wonder of reading it for the first time.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ThunderWulf on May 08, 2012, 12:39:59 pm
The Lost Fleet:  Invincible
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Distind on May 08, 2012, 01:11:17 pm
Snagged the first Gotrek and Felix Omibus on a whim, read through the books years ago, but still an interesting read.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on May 08, 2012, 05:56:43 pm
Snagged the first Gotrek and Felix Omibus on a whim, read through the books years ago, but still an interesting read.

The entire series is on my wishlist.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Normandy on May 13, 2012, 09:11:39 pm
Recently finished Natural History by Justina Robson, and now I've started reading Black Wings of Cthulhu, a collection of Lovecraftian horror stories.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on May 15, 2012, 07:36:58 pm
"The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran"
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on May 15, 2012, 08:03:08 pm
I finally finished Daughter of the Empire last week.  Reading the sequel, Servant of the Empire.  I'm up to the part where she's started having sex with him.  This can only end badly.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on May 16, 2012, 05:33:46 am
John Haldon's The State and the Tributary Mode of Production.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on May 22, 2012, 04:19:11 am
A Flock Of Swirling Crows And Other Proletarian Writings by Kuroshima Denji. Sweet Jesus, but those stories are depressing.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on May 22, 2012, 04:23:28 am
Star Wars Starfighters of Adumar.  Wes Janson has officially become my new favorite SW character!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on June 02, 2012, 08:34:37 pm
Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on June 05, 2012, 12:40:10 pm
1Q84 - first time reading a Japanese novel - very interesting and strange so far...

Reamde by Neal Stephenson was very good - probably his most accessible to date....
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on June 05, 2012, 10:28:38 pm
Took me forever, but I finished reading Fabric Of The Cosmos by Brian Greene.

It was pretty good, some of the analogies weird childish though. I reccomend it if you want a basic overview of quantum physics and what it entails, but the later chapters about multiple dimensions are a bit too scifi for my taste.

Now I shall delve into Evolution: The first 4 billion years. Since I dont know enough about it
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on June 07, 2012, 08:34:03 pm
Since I have a Kindle, I signed up for a Facebook service that notifies me of free Kindle books. Most of them don't sound interesting, but I have picked up a few. Having read several of them, I can see why they are free. I cannot remember the last time I gave so many 1- and 2-star reviews in such a short time. Not to say all of them are bad (a few were really good), but the bad have outnumbered the good.
Title: Re: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Keiro Dreamwalker on June 08, 2012, 12:56:27 am
Since I have a Kindle, I signed up for a Facebook service that notifies me of free Kindle books. Most of them don't sound interesting, but I have picked up a few. Having read several of them, I can see why they are free. I cannot remember the last time I gave so many 1- and 2-star reviews in such a short time. Not to say all of them are bad (a few were really good), but the bad have outnumbered the good.

Kindle + Amazon Prime = Win. I plan on eventually buying a Kindle to go with my yearly Prime subscription.
Title: Re: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on June 08, 2012, 09:09:30 am
Since I have a Kindle, I signed up for a Facebook service that notifies me of free Kindle books. Most of them don't sound interesting, but I have picked up a few. Having read several of them, I can see why they are free. I cannot remember the last time I gave so many 1- and 2-star reviews in such a short time. Not to say all of them are bad (a few were really good), but the bad have outnumbered the good.

Kindle + Amazon Prime = Win. I plan on eventually buying a Kindle to go with my yearly Prime subscription.

I have a Prime membership too. Being able to rent books once a month is great.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on June 10, 2012, 09:35:36 pm
Now that I've finished the Empire trilogy, Jay's got me reading the regular Riftwars series.  In its entirety.

Also, I've discovered a second-hand bookstore.

...I may disappear from the Internet for a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on June 10, 2012, 11:48:07 pm
So, I'm almost finished with Star Wars: Death Troopers, and may I say that Star Wars + zombies is a great combination.  :D This coming from some one who isn't a fan of stuff dealing with zombies for the most part.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on June 10, 2012, 11:59:24 pm
The most recent issue of MAD Magazine
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on June 12, 2012, 11:33:07 pm
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on June 13, 2012, 12:17:13 am
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Delirium on June 13, 2012, 12:31:23 am
Watchmen. Just two more issues to go!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on June 13, 2012, 12:32:32 am
Beranrd Cornwell's Death of Kings. I like Uhtred* (somewhat), but it seems to be getting stale.

* Something I've noticed in many historical fiction novels set in the Middle Ages, the protagonists generally tend to be pretty damned progressive for their time period. That is not to say I want a main character who goes around raping and killing everything in site, and Uhtred isn't the worse, but some of these people have attitudes on sex and religion which would have been revolutionary even in the 1920s.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on June 15, 2012, 02:39:55 pm
Shooters - a book about the catch/technical wrestlers, from William Muldoon, to Frank Gotch, to Lou Thesz, to Kurt Angle, and the UCF fighters.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on June 17, 2012, 12:00:12 pm
The entire Codename:Hunter (http://www.codenamehunter.com/) series thus far.  I pre-ordered all the big books and now I have autographed copies with very nice sketches drawn in the frontispiece.

So now I am in furry non-porn heaven. :3
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: MisterMuncher on June 19, 2012, 07:50:36 pm
Embedded by Dan Abnett. It's really very good, and nice to see the man working on new IP.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 23, 2012, 01:27:29 am
*deep breath* I'm attempting Les Miserables. I'm on chapter XI or so (Volume One: Fantine). It's not as daunting as I thought it would be, and I'm learning a lot about period French politics. So far, so good, but I know I'm barely into the meat of the story at all.

Edit: I've noticed a few minor inconsistencies in my translation, like disappearing accents on words like "curé", and when sometimes they refer to a character as Monseigneur Bienvenu and sometimes, occasionally, as Monseigneur Welcome, sometimes in the same paragraph. It's still readable, but I can't help but think there was more than one translator working on it, and they were all using slightly different conventions. It's not bad, but some consistency would be nice.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on July 23, 2012, 07:39:41 pm
I have become addicted to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  Damn you, woman, and your sexy time-traveling Scots!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on July 23, 2012, 09:26:21 pm
I have become addicted to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  Damn you, woman, and your sexy time-traveling Scots!

... David Tennant and Karen Gillan? (http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h32/chanubi/common/aww.gif)

I'm currently reading Death and the Dolce Vita, which is about murder and corruption in post-war Italy.  Fascinating :D

edit for new page  :\
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on July 23, 2012, 10:20:36 pm
Still Reading Godel Escher Bach by Hofstadter. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants a mindfuck
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: armandtanzarian on July 29, 2012, 10:11:37 am
Currently on book 4.
(http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/486556_10150994412968800_229435273_n.jpg)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on August 06, 2012, 12:36:11 pm
Still reading Les Miserables, just started Volume II. I won't mention every time I finish a book, but I will post here every time I finish a volume. Volume II has eight books, and book first has nineteen chapters. This should keep me busy for a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on August 06, 2012, 04:52:22 pm
The Pope Who Quit
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on August 06, 2012, 04:56:43 pm
Bout to finish up another run through the world of Pern before going back to the Velgarth and Valdemar as I start the Mage Winds series.

Ironbite-really wish David Eddings stuff was on Kindle though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: That Guy on August 06, 2012, 05:22:23 pm
Bought "The Omen Machine" by Terry Goodkind a couple days ago.  :) Will start it soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sleepy on August 07, 2012, 12:19:32 pm
The Pope Who Quit

That sounds rather intriguing. I hadn't heard of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: MaybeNever on August 07, 2012, 03:00:51 pm
The Pope Who Quit

That sounds rather intriguing. I hadn't heard of it.

I don't know about that book particularly, but especially after the Reformation got rolling Papal legitimacy was so badly damaged that leaving the role without dying in it was practically unthinkable. Before the Reformation of course, Popes were 2 legit 2 quit.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on August 07, 2012, 06:08:12 pm
The Pope Who Quit

That sounds rather intriguing. I hadn't heard of it.

I don't know about that book particularly, but especially after the Reformation got rolling Papal legitimacy was so badly damaged that leaving the role without dying in it was practically unthinkable. Before the Reformation of course, Popes were 2 legit 2 quit.

I'm pretty sure 1294 qualifies as "before the Reformation."
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on August 07, 2012, 06:37:04 pm
Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: MaybeNever on August 07, 2012, 11:14:54 pm
The Pope Who Quit

That sounds rather intriguing. I hadn't heard of it.

I don't know about that book particularly, but especially after the Reformation got rolling Papal legitimacy was so badly damaged that leaving the role without dying in it was practically unthinkable. Before the Reformation of course, Popes were 2 legit 2 quit.

I'm pretty sure 1294 qualifies as "before the Reformation."

Guess that depends on how reformist one considers Lollardy, let alone the Cathars. Good old 13th century.

No that was certainly not just a setup to make a "2 legit 2 quit" joke, perish the thought.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on August 13, 2012, 08:23:23 am
Finished Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstadter!

GET IT. GET THAT BOOK AND FUCKIN READ IT. ITS ORGASMIC.

*ahem*

Now onto Resurrection by Tolstoy. (btw, I'm up to page 70, and Tolstoy seems to be obsessed with Maslova's boobs, 4 different occasions where he talk about her "bosum")
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on August 13, 2012, 11:10:25 am
"Can you survive the zombie apocolypse?"

Sort of a Choose your own adventure book with zombies.

Thus far, I've;

-joined a stripper who was slashing zombies with her sword.  We ended up at a baseball game (her bf is on the Yankees), and we escaped by helicopter.

-got in a cab, got stuck on a bridge, got out and ran to a construction site where 3 workers had a plan to bust a water pipe and escape via the sewers.  I followed them and drowned, so I tried again and ran in the opposite direction.  I got eaten.

-joined a Zombie Walk, ran when my friend tripped, and I got eaten.

-stayed in my apt building, killed some neo-nazi who shot the landlady, met up with some guy whose apt was packed with videogames, beer, and pot.  We made a, "HELP" sign with beercans on the building roof and got rescued.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on August 14, 2012, 09:15:44 am
John Pilger's The New Rulers of the World
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on August 15, 2012, 10:10:05 am
2666 by Roberto Bolano...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: agentCDE on August 15, 2012, 06:58:55 pm
I'm working my way though a compilation of some of Franz Kafka's works; just finished reading The Metamorphosis. I'm starting to understand why we have the term "Kafkaesque" but I'm loving every page.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on September 04, 2012, 01:04:58 am
Finally started A Game of Throne. Even by page 100, if the person's name is Lannister but isn't Tyrion, you know that you will hate them.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on September 05, 2012, 09:22:56 pm
Reading Jerusalem: A biography by simon montefior.

Its a really good objective look at the history of the city, only problem is its fucking hard to keep track of the named because EVERYBODY KEEPS KILLING EACH OTHER.

Cant turn a page without someone getting stabbed, shot, burned, crucified, raped, beheaded, hanged, poisoned, thrown off a cliff, had molten gold poured down their throats. I'm just surprised that someone hasnt been buttfucked by an elephant as a method of execution
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on September 05, 2012, 10:39:57 pm
You probably haven't got to that part yet, then.

I'm currently reading Flat Earth News, which I definitely recommend.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on September 05, 2012, 11:31:15 pm
Oh, I forgot, made it to Volume III of Les Miserables. Finally figured out the Bonaparte/Buonaparte thing. Apparently the Royalists pronounced it with a different accent for some reason. I hadn't known that.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Normandy on September 09, 2012, 03:05:11 pm
I'm currently about halfway through Mappa Mundi by Justina Robson.  It's excellent so far, just like all of her other books I've read.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on September 14, 2012, 08:37:35 pm
I just finished "The Hunger Games" trilogy. Overall, I loved the books. I like that since they are written in first person, the author can throw in plot twists and keep the reader guessing since Katniss does not know what is going on. (I did manage to guess what she would do at the execution, though.)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on September 14, 2012, 08:47:54 pm
Owlmage trilogy.  Which is the end of the "modern" Heralds of Valdemar series which I kinda hate but that means my next couple of books move into the Alternate Ancient Egypt universe with dragons!

Ironbite-DRAGONS!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on September 14, 2012, 08:57:10 pm
Owlmage trilogy.  Which is the end of the "modern" Heralds of Valdemar series

That trilogy was the only set of Velgarth books I wasn't very fond of. (Though the Foundation trilogy was rather lackluster as well.)

Quote
Alternate Ancient Egypt universe with dragons!

I assume you mean the Altra books? Those are AWESOME!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on September 14, 2012, 09:05:21 pm
Foundation's a Quadlogy actually.  Fourth book out this fall.  And should, if I'm thinking correctly, finally spell out the mystery of who Mags really is.

And of course I'm talking about the Jouster's series.  I love that sorta shit.

Ironbite-that and her love of food porn.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on September 14, 2012, 09:28:44 pm
I put down A Clash of Kings and have started Catch 22. Easily one of the funniest books I have read in a while.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Normandy on September 15, 2012, 06:00:56 pm
I'm currently reading How to Live on Mars by Robert Zubrin.  Pretty funny stuff.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on September 16, 2012, 05:23:39 am
I put down A Clash of Kings and have started Catch 22. Easily one of the funniest books I have read in a while.

That is my favourite book of all time. It's actually beautiful.

Oh, I forgot, made it to Volume III of Les Miserables. Finally figured out the Bonaparte/Buonaparte thing. Apparently the Royalists pronounced it with a different accent for some reason. I hadn't known that.

To emphasize that Napoleon was Italian, not French. At least by birth.

I'm reading some serious Hemmingway- And the Sun Also Rises. Not a big fan of For Whom the Bell Tolls, but I'll give him a chance. The first romance bit was well done. Pretty writing occasionally.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on September 16, 2012, 03:33:21 pm
Owlmage trilogy.  Which is the end of the "modern" Heralds of Valdemar series which I kinda hate but that means my next couple of books move into the Alternate Ancient Egypt universe with dragons!

Ironbite-DRAGONS!

Not a fan of Valdemar, but I loved the Tian Jousters series.  Lackey's Elemental Mage series is also AWESOME.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on September 16, 2012, 05:47:45 pm
I'm also a fan of her Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series even though it's romance and such it's just interesting to see her take on Fairy Tales.  And to be truthful....not as much sex in those books as in other Romance novels I've read.

Ironbite-which is something I've enjoyed.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on September 16, 2012, 09:14:27 pm
Oh, I forgot, made it to Volume III of Les Miserables. Finally figured out the Bonaparte/Buonaparte thing. Apparently the Royalists pronounced it with a different accent for some reason. I hadn't known that.

To emphasize that Napoleon was Italian, not French. At least by birth.
Yeah, also the you vs. thou thing is getting important to the story again. I find it funny that the translators tend to ignore it unless it's actually relevant to the story. Just another one of those little inconsistencies. Also Eponine is insisting that Marius call her thou and it comes off as slightly creepy, actually. Made it to volume four, by the way. Volume three seemed kinda short.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on September 17, 2012, 03:48:15 am
I must commend you, I tried reading Les Miserables, but I couldn't get through it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on September 17, 2012, 03:52:13 pm
I'm also a fan of her Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series even though it's romance and such it's just interesting to see her take on Fairy Tales.  And to be truthful....not as much sex in those books as in other Romance novels I've read.

Ironbite-which is something I've enjoyed.

I think I enjoy pretty much everything Lackey writes that isn't Valdemar.  I'm not sure why, but I've never been able to get into the Valdemar series (not for lack of trying, either).
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on September 18, 2012, 03:30:43 am
Goddamn the last several chapters of Catch-22 are bloody depressing.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on September 18, 2012, 05:22:56 am
I'm also a fan of her Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series even though it's romance and such it's just interesting to see her take on Fairy Tales.  And to be truthful....not as much sex in those books as in other Romance novels I've read.

Ironbite-which is something I've enjoyed.

I think I enjoy pretty much everything Lackey writes that isn't Valdemar.  I'm not sure why, but I've never been able to get into the Valdemar series (not for lack of trying, either).

its kinda a weird world to get into to tell the truth.  but if I had a choice, its a world I'd live in.

ironbite-though not as a Herald...'fraid i'm not virtuous enough to be a target
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on October 16, 2012, 07:56:15 pm
Goddamn the last several chapters of Catch-22 are bloody depressing.

But they're SO GOOD FOREVER.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on October 16, 2012, 08:41:01 pm
Back to the Dragonriders of Pern for me.  Gonna get through the "modern" series then it's off to the Founding of the Colligium.

Ironbite-cause I got the latest one.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on October 16, 2012, 09:00:41 pm
Oh, I forgot to mention, I took a bit of a break from Les Miserables (I'm most of the way through it, and refuse to give up, but I do need a short break) and read Catch-22 again. Good book, I still think my favourite character is probably the chaplain, least favourite is a toss-up between Milo and Colonel Cathcart.

So now I'm reading a collection of HP Lovecraft stories with the subtitle "A Miscellany of the Macabre" Yeah, they didn't put that out deliberately around this time of year to capitalize on Halloween at all... Still, good stories (minus the racism - and ye (Elder) GODS was that man ever racist), weird poetry. I'm fairly certain "The Poe-et's Nightmare" was written as a joke.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on October 17, 2012, 06:19:37 am
Finished Dead Souls by Gogol

Now onto the Idiot by Dostoyevsky
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on October 17, 2012, 09:07:04 am
Just finished A Feast for Crows. Will start on the next book, then it's back to Anti-Durhing.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: tygerarmy on October 17, 2012, 10:31:00 pm
A Song of Ice and Fire Book 1 : A Game of Thrones
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on October 17, 2012, 11:04:21 pm
Found a copy of S. M. Stirling's Conquistadors at the used bookstore.  I highly recommend it if parallel-worlds fiction is your thing. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sleepy on October 17, 2012, 11:48:04 pm
The Truth by Pratchett. Finally getting into Discworld as I wanted to, and though the intro was a bit dull, it's grown very interesting now.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ThunderWulf on October 22, 2012, 03:42:03 pm
Stormdancer.  A very different Japanese steampunk novel.  About a third of the way through the book, and it's a pretty good read so far.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on October 30, 2012, 07:38:47 pm
Animorphs #13 and I'm almost done with The Girl Who Played With Fire
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on November 22, 2012, 04:50:37 pm
My wife bought me SW Darth Plagius as an early XMas present.  I just got to the part where he meets Palpy, so I still have a way to go.  I'm really enjoying it though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Distind on November 22, 2012, 06:04:27 pm
Finally finished Brave New world and can't say much great about it. But after reading the addendum written years later it's pretty obvious the writer had a few grudges he just loved to grind. Though the concept is certainly interesting.

I'll have to track down catch-22 before long.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on November 22, 2012, 07:35:59 pm
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Dubliners by James Joyce
The Republic by Plato
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: rookie on November 22, 2012, 09:54:34 pm
Tolkien"s Lord of the Rings series. I'm in the middle of Two Towers. I forgot how great those books are. And, by comparison,  how bad the movies were.

Fun fact. One of the moms at my kids' busstop is British. She asked me to explain the American fascination with Tolkien. He was required reading in school (more than once according to her). She thought he was OK, but not worth the legions of fans.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on November 23, 2012, 03:18:03 am
I'll have to track down catch-22 before long.

I'm reading that right now.  Really enjoying it!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on November 23, 2012, 03:23:15 am
America Rising (http://www.amazon.com/America-Rising-ebook/dp/B00784Y6NS/ref=cm_cr-mr-title) by Tom Paine. The idea behind the book is that government has be bought and paid for by the rich and the corporations, so a group of people decide to fight back.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on November 23, 2012, 04:10:56 pm
Finally finished Brave New world and can't say much great about it. But after reading the addendum written years later it's pretty obvious the writer had a few grudges he just loved to grind. Though the concept is certainly interesting.

I'll have to track down catch-22 before long.
I found a very old copy of Brave New World at work, and it didn't have the addendum. What did Huxley add?

I liked the idea of a dystopian future where people were blinded by pleasure. And Catch-22 is great and very much deserves it's classic status.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Distind on November 23, 2012, 04:20:02 pm
I found a very old copy of Brave New World at work, and it didn't have the addendum. What did Huxley add?

I liked the idea of a dystopian future where people were blinded by pleasure. And Catch-22 is great and very much deserves it's classic status.
It's called Return to a Brave New World Brave New World Revisited. First hunk was a comparison between it and 1984, lots of pretentious whining over how much faster we're all doomed than he thought, some recommendations on how to keep it from happening. Not worth half as much as the foreword in mine by Hitchens. Hitchens notes a few things which make the apparent conflicts of interest in Huxley's writing a bit more understandable. What I've got was originally published in 2003, you might be able to find it around.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on November 23, 2012, 06:35:11 pm
Catch-22 is amazing. Bloody great book.

Currently reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, after that it is on to Pynchon.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on November 27, 2012, 10:08:25 am
(http://i.imgur.com/UPD2Tm.jpg)
Clearly Pterry's best book ever.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on December 04, 2012, 02:25:53 pm
Drood by Dan Simmons - a little dry, but good characters
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Distind on December 04, 2012, 03:07:57 pm
Found a copy of Don Quixote, holy shit is this hard to read(without bashing my head into something)... and it's entirely intentional...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on December 04, 2012, 03:22:28 pm
What do you mean found? Like, physical copy? Otherwise, I think Gutenberg has it.

Anyways, I can't decide between trying to chew through a Nietzsche book (I have almost all of his translated works. I'd read in original German but my German's not that good yet and I'd spend more time translating than anything else), Origin of the Species, or the The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. After my current book anyways.

I have easier reading too such as The Devil's Dictionary and Huck Finn. But I feel like chewing on something longer and bigger.

I've also The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft courtesy of one known as cthulhuchick (http://cthulhuchick.com/).

I've been reading the Story of Mankind by Hendrik Loon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Mankind). I'm on page 31 of 286 and I'm in Greek life.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on December 05, 2012, 03:48:56 pm
I've read about half of Origin of Species.  Just finished yet another Feist book (part 2 of the Legacy of the Riftwar trilogy) and looking forward to the resolution.  I get book 3 this weekend on my next date. :3
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Distind on December 05, 2012, 04:09:07 pm
Barnes and Noble have a really nice bound edition of his fiction. I somewhat fail at e-readers myself, can't bring myself to pay 10-20 books worth for something that just means I don't get to hold the book anymore... Not for a lack of trying to convince myself to get one either.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on December 05, 2012, 05:34:46 pm
...I can barely figure out what you said since you kinda screwed up your quoting, Distind.

But all right. My e-reader means I don't have to carry a heavy book and it's the same size. Means I can take a lot more with me on a trip.

I've seen the Barnes and Noble special editions but most of them are for books I can get for free so. Might grab the Star Wars one.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on December 07, 2012, 07:03:57 am
I finally got hold of the last volume of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, so now I'm rereading the entire series :D
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Normandy on December 09, 2012, 04:12:42 pm
But all right. My e-reader means I don't have to carry a heavy book and it's the same size. Means I can take a lot more with me on a trip.
Yep, this is why I like e-reading.  And I have a Kindle app on my phone, so I don't even have to bring a separate e-reader with me, either.

As far as current reading, today I started The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on December 11, 2012, 03:08:43 pm
Winner Lose All by Timothy Zahn
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on December 11, 2012, 09:18:11 pm
Not so much "reading" as listening to the audio book, but I just finished the first Thursday Next book. Very cute.

When I have a little money to spare, I am getting the Horus Heresy and Ciaphas Cain eBundles from Black Library. Also some of the advent calender short stories.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on December 16, 2012, 12:37:22 pm
So I finished reading Winner Lose All the other day, all I'm going to say is that I can't wait for Scoundrels (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Scoundrels) to come out.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Zygarde on December 16, 2012, 12:40:47 pm
I started reading The Great Gatsby and I must say it is more enjoyable than I  thought it would be.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Goosey on December 26, 2012, 01:51:27 am
I've started reading Murakami's 1Q84. I'm only a couple of chapters in since I don't get much time to read for pleasure (what with my PhD funding running out in a few months and the mad scramble to make sure I'm ready to write up), but, man, it's good to be reading Murakami again.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on December 27, 2012, 12:18:11 am
So, I thought I've been on volume V of Les Miserables, but it turns out I'm just getting to the end of volume IV. This is why I'm not big on e-readers, I need a physical copy of this.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Bender_Rodríguez on December 27, 2012, 03:55:05 am
I just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and Ender's Game.  I actually enjoyed them all quite a bit.  Now I have to decide what's next.  I want to find the sequels to Ender or Ready Player One.  For now I have several books to choose from though
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on December 27, 2012, 04:42:10 am
Ender's Game (and assorted spinoffs and sequels) used to be my favourite book/series. I even liked that weird one everyone else hated...

...sorry, I guess this post doesn't really have a point, I'm just bitter because one of my once-favourite authors turned out to be a (http://fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=44781) first (http://fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=43994) class (http://fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=44049) douche (http://fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=44805).
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on December 30, 2012, 09:40:42 am
Been reading moar Riftwar.  Since I finished the Kelewan trilogy, the boytoy's got me reading them in chronological order by Midkemian time rather than publication date.  So I've finished the Legacy trilogy, and just got through Prince of the Blood.

I'm also reading the latest Elemental Mages book by Lackey, am in the middle of Gabaldon's Voyager (which is longer than the unabridged version of The Stand, so I have to take lots of breaks), and have sped through a handful of American Girl books because they make me feel like a kid again. :3
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Askold on December 30, 2012, 11:23:31 am
Kuoleman divisioona/Gibel divizii. Written by Anatoli Gordienko it tells the story of the sovie 18th division which got surrounded and nearly completely destroyed during the winter war. The Finnish translation was actually bublished a year before the Russian one and sold 20 times as much.

I have read it before but I found it while going trough my old stuff and it is one of the books that draws me back to it, when I first began reading it it was almos impossible to put it down. The book is based on interviews of the survivors and history books and although it is written as a semi-fictional diary it does seem to have most of the facts true and it certainly tells the despair and misery of the 15'000 soldiers who were trapped, starving, freezing and slowly dying. Cut off from their allies.

The beginning of the story is cheerful as the soldiers march to war, sure of their victory the inexperienced officers boast of victories that are sure to come. Any lacking equipment (Not enough winter clothes and a serious lack of tents and any heating equipment.) and small setbacks are brushed off because the war will not surely last long. But after their glorious charge slows down and the division (and the attached armour brigade) is stopped things start to go bad. The division commander (a mere platoon commander three years earlier) is simply too inexperienced to punch trhough the defenders and they have orders not to retreat (When they get cut off they would have been able to fall back and regroup but all such attempts are denied by the soviet commanders.) and without new supplies the troops slowly weaken as the Finns strengthen their positions around them.

When food runs out they eat the horses (Most of which had already starved by then.) After they run out of horse meat they start eating belts and boots and then go back to dig up the horse carcasses and eat the entrails which they had originally thrown off. And all the time that I read the book I know that even if some of the details are off this is pretty much what really happened...



I am interested in history, particularly in old wars and military history and the more I learn the more I have come to understand the horror of war.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on December 30, 2012, 07:35:42 pm
Ah the Winter War, at least Timoshenko was smart enough to realise that the Soviets had failed terribly.

Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and am now currently reading Napoleon's Wars and Western Marxism and the Soviet Union.

Does anyone know any good books on the early Roman Republic/fall of the Roman Kingdom? I have Scullard's A History of the Roman World and From the Gracchi to Nero, but I want something focusing on the early period.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on December 30, 2012, 07:47:53 pm
Rereading Patrick O'Brian. How good is this?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on December 31, 2012, 05:51:41 am
I finally finished Darth Plagueis.

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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on January 07, 2013, 10:57:22 am
I just started Star Wars:Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn.

I finally finished Darth Plagueis.

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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on January 07, 2013, 11:07:31 am
That's part of the basis for my fanfiction stories.  Someone gets a hold of one of Sid's holocrons and attempts to rebuild the Sith.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on January 11, 2013, 04:56:19 am
"God no," by Penn Jellette.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: niam2023 on January 15, 2013, 01:24:37 am
I am reading Legacy of the Force books.

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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Moltar on January 22, 2013, 09:28:16 pm
"Dark Tide" Stephen Puleo
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on February 22, 2013, 12:01:57 pm
I just finished reading Star Wars: Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn. Was pretty good, and was basically a Ocean's 11 type heist set in the Star Wars Universe, and takes place right after the Battle of Yavin, and the DeathStar destruction. No force users in the book, but we do get Han, Chewie, and Lando in it, plus a whole host of others, including the EU's Winter(Leia's BFF and "sister").
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Going to start The Hobbit, I read it before, but I want to refresh my memory for the next 2 installments of the movie.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Dakota Bob on February 22, 2013, 05:28:30 pm
Just finished William Gibson's "Count Zero" now reading his and Bruce Sterling's "Difference Engine"
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Scotsgit on February 22, 2013, 06:49:53 pm
Kemp:  The Road to Crecy  An excellent book, better even than Bernard Cornwell's series, meticulously researched with a very sympathetic protagonist (in the middle of the Hundred Years War, he opposes the common beliefs and says that rape and looting is wrong.  Compare that to Cornwell's series) which sadly only ever get to two books.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on March 02, 2013, 10:52:09 pm
Finally made it to volume V of Les Miserables. Finally.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Southern Comforter on March 02, 2013, 11:18:05 pm
I'm not even joking when I say I picked this up from the library.

(http://oi48.tinypic.com/2mwgf1l.jpg)

I spend about an hour reading every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the library because I carpool with my brother to class, and he has an hour long class right after my last one. On any day of the week, I'm usually reading a copy of Science or Mental Floss. Sometimes I'll pick up something else like Environment or Scientific American or American Rifleman or, of course, National Geographic, but I always pick up a copy of Science. Unsurprisingly, I'm one of about two people that reads Science in that library. Everyone else goes for People or Us or something like that, but it's not like I expected to not see these people in community college. Anyways, sometimes I'll go and check out books on evolution or environmental conservation, but yesterday I realized there's a whole section in the library for medicine, and I've taken an interest lately. So of course I went for the biggest, baddest book they had available. I tend to not really take the books out of the library because 1. I don't have a backpack, 2. nobody ever checks out the books I want, and 3. I'd look fucking weird carrying around a ten pound book simply titled Textbook of Medicine. Sadly, my brother's taken to skipping his classes, so my reading time gets shaved a bit, and I haven't really gotten into this one. It has a gnarly picture of neurofibromatosis the first few pages in. Nice.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: QueenofHearts on March 02, 2013, 11:22:55 pm
I finished reading Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut a few weeks ago. It was a good book, I defnitely recommend it for anyone out there.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Bender_Rodríguez on March 02, 2013, 11:44:37 pm
I finished Altered Carbon and now I'm working my way through Broken Angels By Richard K. Morgan.  Very good cyberpunkish stories. 
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on March 14, 2013, 03:13:25 am
Lolita by Vladimir Nobakov

Its rapetacular
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on March 14, 2013, 05:13:07 am
"Sex, sin, and Zen," by Brad Warner.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on March 15, 2013, 02:02:49 pm
Still reading Feist.  I'm up to Shards of a Broken Crown.  I'm still very, very sad about Jimmy the Hand.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on April 08, 2013, 05:34:04 am
I will never let this thread die.
Read clockwork orange and 1984. I adore them both, i think i have a thing for dystopia
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on April 08, 2013, 04:04:27 pm
The Pirate Primer as I'm doing research for my Pirates fanfiction story.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: agentCDE on April 08, 2013, 09:28:14 pm
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on April 09, 2013, 08:42:23 am
Currently reading All Quiet on the Western Front.  It's a delayed follow-up to Generation Kill, and reminds me that soldiers are the same the world over.

War... war never changes...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on April 10, 2013, 08:55:55 am
Just finished The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.  It was awesome, and you will never see the ending coming.

In Feist news, I'm up to King of Foxes.

Also reading a YA novel called Blue Pimpernel.  I usually avoid Lulu books like the plague, but this was recommended to me and it's AWESOME.  If you like superheroes, mockery of the GOP, or sci-fi, this is a good book.  READ IT.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Scotsgit on April 12, 2013, 11:34:16 am
Actually wondering what of my book collection to read next, am surrounded by books, can't really decide what to read...  Will read Wargames Illustrated before I make any decision.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: mellenORL on April 12, 2013, 01:14:07 pm
"The Shift" omnibus edition by Hugh Howey.  His ebooks are pretty good, and it's amazing how much success this dude has had since starting out as a self-published $1 per title sci-fi author on Kindle/Amazon just a couple years ago.

Makes me wish I could write fiction. Best wishes to those of you who are writing books right now for ebook self-publishing - I hope you succeed, too!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on April 13, 2013, 08:19:47 am
I've found a few sites that notify me of free Kindle books every day. Since they are free, I'll sometimes buy them. (If I don't like it, no loss...) At the moment, I have about 350 books on my Kindle, most of which I got for free. I am slowly working my way through them, though it's taking a while, and I keep getting more.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on April 13, 2013, 08:38:54 am
Actually wondering what of my book collection to read next, am surrounded by books, can't really decide what to read...

I know the feeling... :(
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: mellenORL on April 13, 2013, 03:40:19 pm
I've found a few sites that notify me of free Kindle books every day. Since they are free, I'll sometimes buy them. (If I don't like it, no loss...) At the moment, I have about 350 books on my Kindle, most of which I got for free. I am slowly working my way through them, though it's taking a while, and I keep getting more.

I've done that a lot too. I got complete collections of H.G. Wells and H. Rider Haggard, Jules Verne, etc etc, and it's not just the pre 1923 stuff that's available for free. Plus, there's just tons of $1 to $3 sci-fi, adventure and w/e from new authors - some pretty damn good ones, too.

All in all, my Kindle has been the best digital device I've ever bought for it's value and ease of use. I've even used the browser in an emergency when my desktop bricked, and could hear my tunes on the mp3 function with my headphones on a jack adapter.

I'll spring for a 3g one soon, so I'll have 'net next time we get a bad storm/long power outage here in FL.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on April 22, 2013, 03:13:02 pm
The Last Judgment (http://www.asimovs.com/2012_04-05/exc_story1.shtml) the link is just the excerpt. I read it in the doctor's office, hence the age.

I actually find it to be one of the more tasteful stories involving gender reassigment and such like that.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stick Boy on May 02, 2013, 10:13:27 am
In preparation of the movie release, I'm rereading The Great Gatsbsy for the first time in 30ish years
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on May 02, 2013, 10:14:14 pm
Star Wars: The Adventures of Lando Calrissian
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on May 14, 2013, 03:10:45 am
Dunno why, but I've been attempting to read Hobbes' Leviathan. It's significantly more dull than Scott Westerfeld's trilogy of the same name.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: RavynousHunter on May 14, 2013, 03:42:18 am
Just started reading Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm) by Vladimir Lenin.  So far...actually fairly interesting.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on May 29, 2013, 08:10:54 pm
Read Henning Mankell's last Kurt Wallander novel, The Troubled Man.  It was good, but like all of Mankell's novels, quite dark.  Also, a discussion began in the book club over whether Mankell is antisemitic.  (My coworker was shocked that there are Americans who are pro-Israel without also being pro-Jew.)

Almost done reading Feist.  I'm up to Rides a Dread Legion now.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on May 29, 2013, 08:15:16 pm
Finished History of the arabs by rogan. Amazing.

Now onto the Cosmos by Sagan. Goddamn hes dramatic
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: QueenofHearts on May 29, 2013, 09:07:17 pm
Finished "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely

now reading "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super-Rich–and Cheat Everybody Else" by David Cay Johnston.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on May 29, 2013, 09:09:59 pm
Currently reading Island, by Aldous Huxley.  Finding his writing style a bit purple so far, although he's put forward some interesting ideas.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on May 29, 2013, 10:04:05 pm
I finished A Midsummer Night's Dream. I liked it. Still working on Leviathan on and off, Hobbes is an asshole.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: wrightway on May 29, 2013, 10:32:57 pm
I realized I owned a Jane Austen book set and had only read four of them. I'm remedying this.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sour Grapes on May 30, 2013, 05:15:29 am
The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings. 
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on May 31, 2013, 08:28:37 pm
Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm reading Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James. It's very different from other P. D. James novels in that it's done in the style of Jane Austen and I believe is a direct continuation of the story of Pride and Prejudice (which I admit I haven't read yet), though of course, being P. D. James, it's a murder mystery.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Feral Dog on June 01, 2013, 02:37:29 am
A good chunk of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (this is my first read-through), then I read the most recent two chapters of the fanfiction 'Embers'.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Askold on June 01, 2013, 04:21:09 am
I am reading the Black Company books by Glen Cook. Finished the first one and starting the second.

So far seems interesting.

Also, I found a Judge Dredd book, "Cursed earth asylum," going to see if it's any good.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on June 04, 2013, 08:18:05 am
Just finished Death Comes to Pemberley. It was pretty good, albeit a bit hard to follow at times. I must say, though, if anyone ever tries to tell you that the past was a simpler time, they are LYING.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on July 02, 2013, 09:31:56 am
Demons by dostoyevsky. Havnt read a good fiction in aaaaages
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 02, 2013, 05:42:55 pm
I picked up Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell again. I had tried reading it a couple years back but it was really slow going, and then I got frustrated because I lost a whole bunch of progress when I accidentally pulled my bookmark so I tried to find the approximate page, bookmarked that, and put it away. Picked it up again the other day and it's a much easier read now. I'm about halfway through.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on July 02, 2013, 08:56:12 pm
I got that one the other day!  Haven't started it yet, though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 02, 2013, 08:57:31 pm
Fair warning, it starts out really, REALLY slow. Picks up soon enough though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on July 02, 2013, 09:12:53 pm
I managed to get through Foucault's Pendulum, so it should be ok.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: davedan on July 02, 2013, 09:33:43 pm
I loved Foucoult's Pendulum. Thought the Island of the Day Before was a bit hard going. Turgid even.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Bender_Rodríguez on July 03, 2013, 05:03:36 am
So I just read the Harry Potter series for the first time.  I loved books 1-4, I devoured them as quickly as I could.  Then I hit book 5 and is the first half of that book hard to get through.  Thankfully it picked up towards the end and finished on a strong note.  Book 6 was also pretty hit and miss with all the Ron and Hermione crap seriously making me wonder how bad I wanted to finish the series.  Book 7 was entertaining and a good way to finish the series at least.  My biggest problem with the series as a whole was that there was almost no character development through most of the series.  Neville felt like he had more character development than either Ron or Hermione.  Snape was by far the most interesting character and I really enjoyed the way she kept you guessing as to whether he was evil or on the side of good. 

All in all, the series was well worth a read.  I really did enjoy it in spite of it's flaws
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on July 03, 2013, 08:19:16 am
I'm reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I'm about a quarter of the way thru the second book, a Clash of Kings.

So far, I find myself wanting to kill Joffrey, I'm sad about Khal Drogo still, and I'm worried for Arya's safety.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 03, 2013, 08:48:48 am
Forgot to mention I read The Casual Vacancy. It was dark. Dark dark dark. Not in the way Potter was dark, either, it was a little more Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-ish at times, though thankfully less detailed.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on July 03, 2013, 09:03:43 am
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. It's a Vietnam book. It's truly fascinating; you can read it both as a window into the author's mind (he's clearly a manic depressive with some serious, and completely understandable, victimhood issues) or a straight recount of the war, or as a work of fiction. It's also very, very readable, the characters are believable, the prose is pretty and often beautiful. A truly great book.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: poeticmind0189 on July 13, 2013, 12:41:02 am
I've been reading the series 39 Clues Cahills vs. Vespers. I started the series back on May 16 and I'm on book 4 Shatterproof (Almost Done)
Books in Series:
1. The Medusa's Plot
2. The King's Ransom
3. The Dead of Night
4. Shatterproof
5. Trust No One
6. Day of Doom
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 13, 2013, 08:24:47 am
Just started A Song of Ice and Fire, well, you know, the first book anyway. I haven't seen the show and I'm going to hold off on seeing it now til I've finished the book. Also I finally finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, the first time I tried to read it I probably would have called bullshit on how it ended and demanded more, but having grown up since then I find it... satisfying.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on July 13, 2013, 04:39:01 pm
In the middle of a reread of the Colligium Chronicles in anticipation for the release of the 5th book in the series this October.

Ironbite-swear to the gods above and below Lackey better not be teasing me like with Redoubt.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on July 13, 2013, 08:40:43 pm
In the middle of a reread of the Colligium Chronicles in anticipation for the release of the 5th book in the series this October.

Ironbite-swear to the gods above and below Lackey better not be teasing me like with Redoubt.

Redoubt?

I'm finding myself underwhelmed with the Colligium Chronicles. The characters aren't up to her normal standard and the plots are see-through.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Crystal-King on July 14, 2013, 01:14:17 am
Reading a couple things by an author named Carrie Vaughn. Kitty's House of Horrors, a latter book in her urban fantasy series and After The Golden Age, a novel about the dysfuntional relationship between the two most popular superheroes of Commerce City and their non-powered daughter, told from the prospective of the daughter. It's past one and I couldn't come up with a better way to phrase it while indicating it was from the daughter's prespective without directly stating it like I ended up doing.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: wrightway on July 14, 2013, 01:20:47 am
Feed, by Mira Grant. It's about zombies in the age of blogging and Romero movies. I love that the most popular names for girls after the rising of 2014 become Georgia, Georgette, and Barbara.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on July 14, 2013, 11:10:22 am
In the middle of a reread of the Colligium Chronicles in anticipation for the release of the 5th book in the series this October.

Ironbite-swear to the gods above and below Lackey better not be teasing me like with Redoubt.

Redoubt?

I'm finding myself underwhelmed with the Colligium Chronicles. The characters aren't up to her normal standard and the plots are see-through.

I'm committed to the full ride so I'm gonna see it through to the end.

Ironbite-but the main bad guys are just so....stupid.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on July 14, 2013, 03:33:41 pm
Bought Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed yesterday. I didn't even know it existed before seeing it at the bookstore, and I have no idea what it's about, but considering the author, I'm sure I'll love it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: erictheblue on July 14, 2013, 05:29:06 pm
I'm committed to the full ride so I'm gonna see it through to the end.

Ironbite-but the main bad guys are just so....stupid.

I'm reading them. I'm just not as impressed with them as I have been with her other books in the Velgarth series. But at least I can finish them, which is more than I can say for either the 500 Kingdoms or the Elemental Masters books...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on July 14, 2013, 05:49:20 pm
500 Kingdoms is fine if you want some trashy rewrites and mash-ups of old fairy tales.  I just wish she'd branch out a bit more then what she does in that series.

Ironbite-we'll see how Redoubt ends though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Distind on July 16, 2013, 10:03:08 am
Rereading the Blood bowl books, only to realize my copy of the 3rd of the four has apparently escaped. Wild ones cost upwards of 20 bucks... I can get the omnibus for less. Talk about your stupid fun... but hey, it's blood bowl, it should be expected.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on July 20, 2013, 07:34:55 pm
I finally finished a Clash of Kings. That was hard as hell.

Now for the even longer Storm of Swords.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on July 27, 2013, 11:59:57 am
Today, I got the first book in the Game of Thrones series. Time to see what all the fuss is about, I suppose.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Clochette on July 28, 2013, 10:58:31 pm
Break Her by B.G. Harlen. It's dark. I mean really dark. Darker than Harry Plinkett's stool.

Trigger warning for rape and stuff like that.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: That Guy on July 31, 2013, 02:10:04 pm
Gonna start on Shadowmarch by Tad Williams soon. :) Got it from the library today!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on August 01, 2013, 12:53:35 am
Just finished William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. That was... absolutely brilliant.

Edit: here's the prologue, just so you know this is real:

It is a period of civil war.
The spaceships of the rebels, striking swift
From base unseen, have gain'd a vict'ry o'er
The cruel Galactic Empire, now adrift.
Amidst the battle, rebel spies prevail'd
And stole the plans to a space station vast,
Whose pow'rful beams will later be unveil'd
And crush a planet: 'tis the DEATH STAR blast.
Persu'd by agents sinister and cold,
Now Princess Leia to her home doth flee,
Deliv'ring plans and a new hope they hold:
Of bringing freedom to the galaxy.
In time so long ago begins our play,
In star-crossed galaxy far, far away.


And yeah, the whole thing's like that. And it is awesome.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on August 01, 2013, 10:06:40 am
Doing the Jouster series as I wait for the final book in the Colligium Chronicles to drop.

Ironbite-probably move on over to Pern once I'm done there.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on August 04, 2013, 07:37:28 am
I'm committed to the full ride so I'm gonna see it through to the end.

Ironbite-but the main bad guys are just so....stupid.

I'm reading them. I'm just not as impressed with them as I have been with her other books in the Velgarth series. But at least I can finish them, which is more than I can say for either the 500 Kingdoms or the Elemental Masters books...

This Elemental Masters fangirl is sad now. :(

Bought Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed yesterday. I didn't even know it existed before seeing it at the bookstore, and I have no idea what it's about, but considering the author, I'm sure I'll love it.

I enjoyed it.  What did you think?


I've now read all but the very last book in the Riftwar/Demonwars/Chaos War series.  What a long, strange trip it's been--but I can't stop reading them!  I need to look into the latest Hollows and Dresden Files books here pretty soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on August 04, 2013, 11:50:35 am
Bought Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed yesterday. I didn't even know it existed before seeing it at the bookstore, and I have no idea what it's about, but considering the author, I'm sure I'll love it.

I enjoyed it.  What did you think?

So far, loving it. Haven't had a lot of time for reading, lately, so I'm only halfway through. (I'm sure my teenage self is amazed I can find a book I like and not devour it in one day)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on August 05, 2013, 09:24:29 pm
Just started A Clash of Kings, and... wow.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on August 07, 2013, 10:51:41 am
The quantum story by jim baggot
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on August 07, 2013, 05:02:59 pm
Moved on to another series by Lackey.  Jousters in fact.  Kinda an AU take on what would happen if Egypt had dragons and magic.

Ironbite-nice 4 book series.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on August 09, 2013, 04:32:45 am
I finished up the Pacific Rim novel. The ending disappointed me. I'm glad the movie had a different ending.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on August 17, 2013, 11:47:12 am
Currently reading Clash of Kings. I'm almost 1/5 of the way through, and so far I'm quite enjoying it. The first book, while definitely a fun ride, was fairly predictable, but with this one it's still not immediately obvious how things are going to work out. All in all, this pleases me.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on August 17, 2013, 03:43:04 pm
Oh you are reading the books.....SPOILERS THE STARKS HAVE THE WORST FUCKING LUCK!  MORDEKAISER EST NUMERO UNO!  HEUHEUHEUHEUHEUHEUHEUHEUHEUHEU!

As for me I'm reading the Dragonriders of Pern as I wait for the next book in the Colligium Chronicles to drop.

Ironbite-which will hopefully wrap up the series so we can get back to modern times in Valdemar.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on August 17, 2013, 03:52:28 pm
Still on a Storm of Swords after taking a short hiatus from it to read the Pacific Rim novelization.

Hrm... politics are fucked up everywhere you go even in fantasy.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on August 17, 2013, 07:10:49 pm
Almost done A Clash of Kings.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on August 17, 2013, 07:33:24 pm
A Memory of Light. The last book in the The Waste Wheel of Time series. I figured that since I've spent half my life reading the series (not hyperbole) I should see how it ends. It's not bad, it's better than what Jordan was spitting out while he was still alive.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Cerim Treascair on August 17, 2013, 07:35:13 pm
I'm really digging 'Oath of Swords' lately.  No wonder folks love David Weber for the Honor Harrington series.  The man knows how to depict scenes.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on August 25, 2013, 09:24:17 am
Just finished Clash of Kings (in only nine days, no less). I have to say, I expected the Starks to get absolutely reamed, but not quite to that extent. I suppose I'll be moving on to Storm of Swords now.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on August 27, 2013, 11:33:21 pm
Just started reading Kenobi (it's the new Star Wars novel that just came out), pretty good so far.
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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on September 02, 2013, 01:55:08 am
I've been reading Battle Royale. It's... intense.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on September 04, 2013, 08:45:06 am
History of the state of africa by martin meredith.

Kill kill rape rape kill kill WORSHIP ME LIKE A GOD kill kill kill
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on September 04, 2013, 09:33:03 am
A World Without Time.  It's about the friendship between Godel and Einstein, how it lead to the discovery that time cannot actually exist as we think of it, and how the scientific community proceeded to completely ignore what's actually a pretty significant discovery.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on September 04, 2013, 09:49:48 am
Went back to Valdemar with the Heralds of Valdemar.  Gonna be moving through the entire modern series and hopefully the next book will drop.

Ironbite-gonna be irritated if it doesn't.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Zygarde on September 04, 2013, 11:04:01 pm
Just finished The Fault in Our Stars and just started Reading Star Wars: Jedi Academy Dark Apprentice.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on September 07, 2013, 10:00:37 am
Just finished Battle Royale and.. holy fuck. Still working on A Storm Of Swords and Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish (which I HIGHLY recommend, by the way), and I'm about to start John Dies at the End (don't spoil it for me!)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on September 07, 2013, 10:28:07 am
Death Warmed Over.  It's about a zombie P.I. and it's utterly hilarious so far.

I bought so many things at DragonCon, including books. <3  This is one of the 3 I haven't already read.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Bender_Rodríguez on September 11, 2013, 03:41:14 am
I've been reading Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield.  It's basically a historical fiction novel about the Battle of Thermopylae.  It's actually pretty interesting and so much better than 300 ever could be. 

Battle Royale was a good one.  I'm tempted to re-read it.  It was just so raw and visceral that I just couldn't put it down.  I actually watched the movie a few weeks ago and thought it was good, but the book was definitely better.

I think that next on my table though is Game of Thrones.  I just started watching the series and it has really drawn me in even though I've seen the first 2 episodes.  My only question is should I wait on this and read The Wheel of Time series instead, since it's actually finished.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on September 11, 2013, 06:23:35 pm
Depends on how much of WoT you've read. The first 4 books are excellent, then the series bogs down until book 11. Some of those inbetween books are like 800-1000 some pages of book. Most of them go very far in to a boring subplot that wasn't needed to be focused on. Then there was the book with the huge prolouge that has every character in the series(including unimportant characters) describing the same damn event.

I'd say go with The Song of Ice and Fire series(aka, Game of Thrones).
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Bender_Rodríguez on September 12, 2013, 01:57:52 am
Depends on how much of WoT you've read. The first 4 books are excellent, then the series bogs down until book 11. Some of those inbetween books are like 800-1000 some pages of book. Most of them go very far in to a boring subplot that wasn't needed to be focused on. Then there was the book with the huge prolouge that has every character in the series(including unimportant characters) describing the same damn event.

I'd say go with The Song of Ice and Fire series(aka, Game of Thrones).

This is why i continue to put off reading the series.  It's a massive undertaking and I hear that it is worth it, but i hear the middle books get so bogged down that it's hard to finish.  I'm just not sure I'm ready to drop that kind of time into it yet.  Maybe at the beginning of next year when life slows down a little.  I've started GoT and am liking it so far, although admittedly I'm only about 40 pages in.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on September 12, 2013, 02:19:18 am
A lot of parts in Game of Thrones can drag. Just putting that out there. With that said, I couldn't fucking get into the Wheel of Time. I have a bunch of the books but I just can't read them. It didn't help having a dudebro tell me for two years they were the best thing ever and hinted more than once that I could never be as good of a writer. When that same person knew that I write and already agonize over feeling like I'm not good enough.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on September 12, 2013, 04:34:42 pm
There are parts of Game of Thrones that drag, painfully detailed descriptions of meals, I'm look at you. But it's not like the middle WoT books where the vast majority of the books are bogged down.

As for if WoT is worth reading, that I think is a personal decision and the only way you'll know for sure is reading the books. I thought the ending was good, even if bits of it were pretty obvious. But I'm not sure if that ending was worth waiting half my life for. Maybe I'd feel different if I had started reading the series after all the books were published.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ghoti on September 12, 2013, 05:41:55 pm
I'm reading Looking for Alaska but I'm having a really hard time finding the motivation to finish it because my mom read it first and spoiled it for me. Then she refused to apologize because she "had no way of knowing {I} hadn't finished it yet", despite the fact that I was still, y'know, reading the goddamn book and talking about how I knew something bad was going to happen but almost didn't want to find out what it was. I also got Mass Effect: Ascension but haven't started it yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on September 13, 2013, 08:57:00 am
Just don't read Mass Effect: Deception. Ugh what a piece of shit that book is.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on September 22, 2013, 02:53:39 pm
There is a Janny Wurts book called To Ride Hell's Chasm.  It's a massive doorstopper of a book, but it's AWESOME.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on September 22, 2013, 07:25:45 pm
I finished A Storm of Swords now it's on to A Feast for Crows.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on September 22, 2013, 07:58:50 pm
Lets Examine Diabetes With Owls, David Sedaris' latest collection of essays. Some truly funny essays in there.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on September 23, 2013, 07:39:22 am
I finished A Storm of Swords now it's on to A Feast for Crows.
Same, as of last night, and might I say holy shit.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on September 25, 2013, 01:40:42 pm
Lmfao indeed.

Also, I spy a line in A Feast for Crows that reminded me of Battlestar Galactica: "Archmaester Rigney once wrote that history is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will preforce happen again, he said."

Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on September 26, 2013, 10:12:44 pm
I just started Razor's Edge(Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion) by Martha Wells
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on September 26, 2013, 10:20:39 pm
I took a small break from A Feast for Crows so I could read Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero. It was an extremely short read, but fascinating. Though there were a few glaring errors when it came to grammar and the like. Hrn.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on September 26, 2013, 11:00:41 pm
Bought Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind, because apparently I can't walk past the fantasy section of a bookstore and not buy something.

Not that I'm regretting it. I've been wanting to read it for a while, and so far it hasn't disappointed.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Bezron on September 27, 2013, 03:42:19 pm
Just read the Silo saga (WOOL, Shift, and Dust).  Very good, recommended.  I'm also reading the Walking Plague series.  Currently on book 2, Zombie Rage.  It's ok.  Not a horrible read, but decent enough zombie pulp.

DO NOT read the Zombie Books of Survival series.  I got #2: Off the Grid for free on Amazon so I went and paid the $0.99 for the first one since I thought it was a cohesive series.  Boy was I wrong.  The first was a horribly written, pompous, libertarian survivalist wet-dream of a muddled mess.  The writer actually went on a multi-paragraph tirade about "liberals" out of nowhere.  The Amazon self-publish platform really failed on this one

I think Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson will be up next.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Iczerfour on September 27, 2013, 09:42:23 pm
Manga:  Ookami kodomo no Ame to Yuki. 
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Bender_Rodríguez on September 28, 2013, 03:52:19 am
I decided to wait on Game of Thrones and the WoT series.  I ended up reading George RR Martin's Nightflyers instead.  It's a cool set of novellas in a linked universe.  They're not brilliant, but I enjoyed them.  My big problem is some of the endings were way too obvious and predictable.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Meshakhad on October 02, 2013, 12:04:22 am
Re-reading Eric Flint's 1632. A very good novel. A town of West Virginians vs. the Thirty Year's War. Guess who wins?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on October 06, 2013, 09:27:59 pm
just finished Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. That was... kind of amazing.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on October 16, 2013, 09:18:39 am
Almost done with Magician's End.  After that, I'll be reading a Bedlam's Bard 2-novel omnibus. :3
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on October 16, 2013, 09:36:12 am
I'm halfway through a Dance With Dragons and to be honest I'm not entirely sure what I'll read afterwards.

Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on October 16, 2013, 09:56:35 am
I'm still on A Feast for Crows because I keep putting it down and reading other things.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SimSim on October 16, 2013, 04:24:57 pm
Doctor Sleep. It's the sequel to The Shining.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on October 16, 2013, 05:27:40 pm
Shifting for bit from actual books to comic books, I read I Kill Giants.

Damn that punches you right in the feels.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Zygarde on October 18, 2013, 08:16:49 pm
I started reading I Am Malala so far I like it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on October 18, 2013, 08:35:53 pm
I just got a collection of all three volumes of Uzumaki and I may or may not have powered through the whole thing in a day. Now I'm noticing spirals everywhere...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: largeham on October 23, 2013, 06:59:24 am
The Transformation of European Politics 1763-1848 by Paul Schroeder. It is actually quite funny, Schroeder does a good job describing the treachery, selfishness and short-sightedness that characterised 18th century politics, and also the various ways the Austrians got fucked over by Russia, Prussia and Britain..

Barricades, The War in the Streets in Revolutionary Paris 1830-1848 by Jills Harsin. A good look at the early working class republican movement in Paris, covering the 1830 and 1848 revolutions, and the revolt in 1832. Also a period relatively ignored by historians.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: RavynousHunter on October 24, 2013, 08:39:48 pm
Currently reading Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2636963/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Nightmares_of_Futures_Past).  Its...actually REALLY good, and the first legit fan fiction I've not only ever read, but one of the few fan continuities I actually enjoy reading and thinking about.  To put it in the simplest, non-spoiler terms, its what would happen if Voldemort were a tiny bit more cautious with his...little trinkets, and a 30 year-old Harry Potter essentially melded psyches with his 11 year-old self to stop the world from going tits-up.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on November 07, 2013, 11:05:34 pm
Finished my history of africa

Moving on to a history of prussia
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on November 12, 2013, 09:10:52 pm
So I finished A Dance With Dragons, meaning I'm all caught up with ASoIaF. I'm half convinced that George R R Martin is some mind of demon that feeds on the tears of his readers and fresh babies. Mostly readers' tears. The man is evil... and I can't wait for his next book.

edit: tears, not rears.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Flying Mint Bunny! on November 13, 2013, 03:53:06 pm
I'm feeling nostalgic so i'm rereading one of my fave childhood books, Goodnight Mr Tom.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ghoti on November 15, 2013, 12:01:29 am
The Fault in Our Stars. Again. I'm crying about it. Again.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Shane for Wax on November 15, 2013, 06:31:45 pm
I finished a Dance With Dragons and had to go lie down and count to 10 I was so mad.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on November 15, 2013, 06:59:17 pm
Finished my history of africa

Moving on to a history of prussia

Recommending Christopher Clark's Iron Kingdom.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Søren on November 15, 2013, 10:18:58 pm
Heh. Thats the one I have
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on November 15, 2013, 11:19:18 pm
Good choice.

Of course, there's not much else out there...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Zygarde on November 15, 2013, 11:28:27 pm
I'm reading the Grey Knights Omnibus...it's a big fucking book with like 768 pages.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on November 21, 2013, 10:26:31 pm
I finished The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero the other day. I very highly recommend this book, it gives a rare insight into the otherwise unfathomable workings of the mind of Tommy Wiseau.

Also today I stayed up much later than I should have and finished The Cuckoo's Calling by JRobertK GalbRowlingaith. It was amazing! This should have been JK's first non-Potter book instead of The Casual Vacancy. Not to say TCV wasn't good, but I think maybe it was a bit too different from what readers are used to from Rowling.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on November 24, 2013, 09:18:12 am
Jay's talked me into reading Salvatore.  Gods help me, I'm actually liking it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Iczerfour on December 06, 2013, 01:27:01 am
i am re-reading the Drowtales web comic.

Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ghoti on December 06, 2013, 01:41:33 am
And The Meek Shall Inherit The Galaxy, a Mass Effect AU where humanity's first contact was a peaceful, mutually beneficial event with the down-and-out Migrant Fleet instead of the Relay 314 Incident.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on December 06, 2013, 01:55:03 am
Forgot to mention, I was reading The Maltese Falcon and other Sam Spade stories, which is a large part of why I'm in such a detective story mood right now. Well, between that and The Cuckoo's Calling.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on December 07, 2013, 02:10:44 am
Good choice.

Of course, there's not much else out there...

Peter H. Wilson, of Thirty Years' War fame, has an earlier book that heavily involves Prussia*. It's very good, probably better than Iron Kingdom, though I do like that one as well. It's a little more dry and a lot longer.

Just read Dan Abnett's latest in the Ravenor series. Very confusing, but very good!

*German armies : war and German politics, 1648-1806
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Askold on December 07, 2013, 02:48:38 pm
I haven't read the Ravenor series but I've liked the Gaunt's ghosts series by Abnett.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on December 07, 2013, 10:32:49 pm
Good choice.

Of course, there's not much else out there...

Interesting. I might keep an eye out for that one :D

Peter H. Wilson, of Thirty Years' War fame, has an earlier book that heavily involves Prussia*. It's very good, probably better than Iron Kingdom, though I do like that one as well. It's a little more dry and a lot longer.

Just read Dan Abnett's latest in the Ravenor series. Very confusing, but very good!

*German armies : war and German politics, 1648-1806
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on December 08, 2013, 12:57:03 am
I haven't read the Ravenor series but I've liked the Gaunt's ghosts series by Abnett.

Ravenor is probably the best stuff he's ever done, even better than GG. Read Eisenhorn first, even though it isn't as good, because it sets up the situation well.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on January 18, 2014, 07:06:02 pm
Forgot to mention, but I started re-reading Tad Williams' Otherland series a month or two ago, I'm up to the third book now. I'd forgotten how good these books were...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on February 06, 2014, 11:44:27 am
James Clavell's Shōgun.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on February 06, 2014, 11:46:02 am
Finished the third Otherland book, on to the last one. I love this series.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Katsuro on February 06, 2014, 12:52:31 pm
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker.

I mostly read non-fiction stuff thoough I'd quite like to read more fiction.  The problem is I don't really know what sort of fiction books I like, as weird as that sounds.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: LeTipex on February 06, 2014, 03:53:56 pm
I'm currently falling in love with the Flat Earth series by Tanith Lee. I've read Night's Master and Death Master so far, and I'm incredibly into her style.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ghoti on February 10, 2014, 09:55:52 pm
Looking for Alaska by John Green (of TFioS fame). It's a marvelous deconstruction of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, showing what would realistically happen to a MPDG who has a habit of
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If you plan to read it, go into it blind. Trust me.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on February 16, 2014, 08:00:04 pm
Just finished the last Otherland book! The ending is more.. satisfying than I remember, but then again I had forgotten a LOT of details since last time I read them.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: gyeonghwa on February 24, 2014, 01:43:57 am
Takaki, Ronald. (1998). Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. New York, NY: Back Bay Books.

Good so far, there are some lapses in his argument in that they open differing interpretations but it's nevertheless well researched.

Labonté, Richard (Ed.). (2013). Show-offs: Gay Erotic Stories. Berkeley, CA: Cleis Press Inc.

I'm sure gay erotic stories explains this book.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: I am lizard on February 24, 2014, 01:52:38 am
WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on February 24, 2014, 01:55:19 am
Just finished Hollow City: The Second Novel Of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. It was just as great as the first one! I also started on The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. It's... well, the title says it all, really.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on February 24, 2014, 04:38:52 am
Just read Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Surprisingly, quite satisfying though of course quite kiddy and superficial. Maybe I liked it because it was just so long.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on February 24, 2014, 12:05:05 pm
Aztec
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: poeticmind0189 on February 27, 2014, 08:31:39 pm
Once Upon a Town by Bob Greene
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on February 28, 2014, 08:03:07 pm
Finished The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared yesterday, and Awoken (the Nostalgia Chick's Twilight parody thingy) the other day. Gotta start on something new now, not sure what yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist on May 11, 2014, 12:01:49 am
Finally started reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series a few days ago. Game of Thrones sucked me in pretty quickly -- I'm already almost halfway through the book, and I'll probably take in another few chapters before I go to bed tonight. Not normally into fantasy (sci-fi notwithstanding), especially in novel form, but the mix of low and high fantasy elements is pretty awesome.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on May 11, 2014, 12:50:30 am
Coincidentally, I've been re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire (currently about halfway through A Dance with Dragons). I find I enjoy it even more when I can keep better track of who everyone is.

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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist on May 11, 2014, 01:54:48 am
Coincidentally, I've been re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire (currently about halfway through A Dance with Dragons). I find I enjoy it even more when I can keep better track of who everyone is.

(click to show/hide)

Keeping track of everyone in Game of Thrones hasn't been too much a challenge, since I've already seen the first two seasons of the show and have faces to put with most of the names, but I'm expecting that they'll be harder to keep track of as I make my way through the books.

Related anecdote: While my friend was watching the show, she wound up somehow drawing the conclusion that Robb Stark and Jon Snow were the same person, with their respective stories being set at different points in time. It took me a while to get her to believe that they're different characters.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Stormwarden on May 11, 2014, 02:20:18 am
I've been reading a book called Mindhunter, about one of the founding fathers of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on May 11, 2014, 03:07:56 am
Joe Conrad's book about anarchists, The Secret Agent. Eh.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on May 11, 2014, 04:59:47 am
House of Leaves.  A creepy and unorthodox book that requires a lot of mental discipline to read. 
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on May 11, 2014, 10:30:57 am
House of Leaves.  A creepy and unorthodox book that requires a lot of mental discipline to read. 
Ftaires! We haue found ftaires!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sour Grapes on May 11, 2014, 03:54:01 pm
Been reading World War Z.  The audiobook edits a LOT of stuff out, consequently I didn't like it that much.  It's quite fascinating.

Sharon Shinn is a VERY good author.

Also, reading the Scott Pilgrim comics, BEFORE watching the movie ruined it for me.  You see the comics, and Scott comes off as a smarmy asshole, and you expect smarmy asshole voice, not Michael Cera's whiny little shithead voice.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on May 15, 2014, 05:38:54 am
House of Leaves.  A creepy and unorthodox book that requires a lot of mental discipline to read. 
Ftaires! We haue found ftaires!

Glad to see someone else has read the book, though I haven't gotten to that part yet.  Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts about the book, Random?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on May 15, 2014, 07:46:15 am
Oh uh, around the time I first came here I was pretty much obsessed with it, but I have to say it is one of the most unusual books I've ever read (and I intentionally seek out weird books). I really like how it tells the story in such a way that you largely experience it in almost the same way the characters do. When they're feeling claustrophobic, the type is set in such a way that it makes you (or at least me) feel claustrophobic as well as I'm reading it. I could go on and on, but I'll just say it was a fun read, it was terrifying, and it was difficult to get through yet very rewarding once you do. Not that it answers ANY of the questions it raises. The letters in the indexes at the end from Johnny's mother scared the fuck out of me, and I'll say no more as to that. Bit of advice, don't trust anything Johnny says, or anyone else for that matter.

As a side note, a quick search on youtube makes it obvious that HoL lends itself well to kinetic text montages, though I've noticed surprisingly few attempts to recreate the 5 1/2 Minute Hallway video.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on May 16, 2014, 04:57:00 am
Oh uh, around the time I first came here I was pretty much obsessed with it, but I have to say it is one of the most unusual books I've ever read (and I intentionally seek out weird books). I really like how it tells the story in such a way that you largely experience it in almost the same way the characters do. When they're feeling claustrophobic, the type is set in such a way that it makes you (or at least me) feel claustrophobic as well as I'm reading it. I could go on and on, but I'll just say it was a fun read, it was terrifying, and it was difficult to get through yet very rewarding once you do. Not that it answers ANY of the questions it raises. The letters in the indexes at the end from Johnny's mother scared the fuck out of me, and I'll say no more as to that. Bit of advice, don't trust anything Johnny says, or anyone else for that matter.

As a side note, a quick search on youtube makes it obvious that HoL lends itself well to kinetic text montages, though I've noticed surprisingly few attempts to recreate the 5 1/2 Minute Hallway video.

After you mentioned them, I found a couple of the videos.  Rather interesting and I can't wait to finish the book.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on May 16, 2014, 10:10:08 am
The Crying of Lot 49.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on May 16, 2014, 02:25:10 pm
Oh, I forgot to mention, the other day I finished The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, which I LOVED. Jonas Jonasson, who wrote it as well as The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is officially one of my new favourite authors. I just love everything about his style, it's witty, it's absolutely hilarious, and while it does touch on some heavy subject matter it's not nearly as dark (and frankly depressing) as a lot of things I've been reading lately. It's nice to read something more lighthearted for a change.

On another note, I just finished Battle Royale again. As with last time it was brilliant, brutal, and really uncomfortable.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on May 16, 2014, 04:39:24 pm
I also forgot to mention that when I ordered House of Leaves, Amazon reccommended a book called, "The story of her holding an orange."  Since I had some $ from a b-day gift card, I ordered both.  The "Orange" book is short, only about 100 pages, but interesting and creepy in its own way.  Basically, a guy from Bosnia travels to the U.S., only to be pursued by a mysterious woman who keeps trying to offer him an orange.  This may not seem creepy in itself, but she always seems to know exactly where he is, even when he leaves the country.  She shows up outside his bedroom window, at the store he visits, and even on the balchony of the hotel where he stays.  And each time, she calmly tells him it's his time to take the orange. 

It's a strange little book, but I rather enjoyed it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist on May 17, 2014, 08:52:05 pm
Finished Game of Thrones, and moved on to Clash of Kings. I'm finding that Stannis' story is much more interesting in the book than it is in the show. I've only seen the first two seasons, though, so maybe it picked up in season 3. Of course, it probably helps that the book actually has the ability to dwell on explanations of the plot and expand on the characters, which makes the story a lot easier to follow. It's more enjoyable when you actually know who the hell everyone is, and why they're loyal to each faction/making a claim to various crowns.

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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on May 31, 2014, 10:04:16 pm
Blood Meridian. Just unbelievably great. McCarthy is a properly good writer.

Ironically, I only picked it up because Nicholas Sparks made a point of knocking it in an interview I once read of his. He was completely wrong as always. An utterly worthless person, that.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on June 01, 2014, 12:38:38 am
Found a free epub with the collected works of Lovecraft (http://cthulhuchick.com/free-epub-complete-works-lovecraft-nook/), read through some of his earlier stories.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on June 27, 2014, 08:11:07 am
Just read the Hunger Games trilogy. Eh is all I can really say. The first two books were decent enough, the third was mediocre at best, the ending was highly unsatisfying and that stupid love triangle really outstayed its welcome. Overall though, it was alright for what it was.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: R. U. Sirius on June 27, 2014, 09:59:49 am
"The Protector's War", the second book in S. M. Stirling's Change series. Short version: Something radically alters the laws of physics such that nothing we rely on for modern life works anymore. Electricity no longer flows through metal in any controllable way, explosives still burn, but no longer explode, even steam engines don't work due to something drawing off the energy produced by the pressure. The series follows a few different groups of survivors as they adapt to a world literally thrown back to Dark Ages levels of technology.

Unlike most books in this genre, Stirling actually has characters investigate and try to figure out what caused the Change; there are hints that it was either God/s or Sufficiently Advanced Aliens deciding we needed to be knocked down a few pegs, but nothing definite yet.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on July 01, 2014, 08:31:59 pm
Just finished the Broken Empire trilogy.  Very dark and brutal (to the extent that it makes A Song of Ice and Fire seem like Robin Hood and his Merrie Men in parts), but well worth the read.  If you're into grimdark, that is.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 01, 2014, 08:53:03 pm
I just started Neuromancer, broke down and bought the ebook after I realized I'm probably not going to see the copy I bought and promptly lent to someone else.. In any case, it's too soon to say what I think of it yet, the first chapter was... slow, but it's really starting to pick up now, so I think I like it so far!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Svata on July 02, 2014, 12:27:26 pm
Rereading the Dresden Files up through Cold Days, because I just ordered Skin Game on Amazon.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Katsuro on July 02, 2014, 12:37:38 pm
Finished Game of Thrones, and moved on to Clash of Kings. I'm finding that Stannis' story is much more interesting in the book than it is in the show. I've only seen the first two seasons, though, so maybe it picked up in season 3.

It didn't really.  Although...

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I haven't read the books though (apart from the 1st one) and season 5 has only just started filming (without me so far :( ) so I don't know where Stannis' story is heading.  Assuming the show's version even stays the same as the book's.

Ser Davos is more interesting than Stannis anyway imo.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on July 19, 2014, 04:01:42 am
Just finished reading Fool Moon, the second book of the Dresden Files series. It was rather enjoyable, I have to say. However.
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In any case, I'm now reading The Expanse. So far a few chapter into Leviathan Wakes and it seems most like a sci-fi version of A Song of Ice and Fire. Not only that, but the author seems to understand how real spacecraft fly. Needless to say, I'm enjoying it greatly.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist on July 19, 2014, 04:11:23 am
Finished Game of Thrones, and moved on to Clash of Kings. I'm finding that Stannis' story is much more interesting in the book than it is in the show. I've only seen the first two seasons, though, so maybe it picked up in season 3.

It didn't really.  Although...

(click to show/hide)

I haven't read the books though (apart from the 1st one) and season 5 has only just started filming (without me so far :( ) so I don't know where Stannis' story is heading.  Assuming the show's version even stays the same as the book's.

Ser Davos is more interesting than Stannis anyway imo.

Yeah, Davos is cool, though again much more interesting in the books.

I was a bit disappointed that season 4 didn't include the epilogue from the end of the third book.
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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 19, 2014, 09:27:52 am
Just finished Neuromancer. That was... weird. Being a very early (if not the first) depiction of cyberspace as a concept, it's somehow both more and less abstract than what I'm used to, if that makes sense. I liked it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on July 19, 2014, 11:23:07 am
I was a bit disappointed that season 4 didn't include the epilogue from the end of the third book.
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I've heard they're skipping the Stoneheart storyline entirely.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Commissar Kaz on July 19, 2014, 12:43:21 pm
Just finished The Way of Kings. First thing I've read by Brandon Sanderson, and I have to say it was really good. I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: R. U. Sirius on July 19, 2014, 09:36:33 pm
Just finished reading Fool Moon, the second book of the Dresden Files series. It was rather enjoyable, I have to say. However.
(click to show/hide)

In any case, I'm now reading The Expanse. So far a few chapter into Leviathan Wakes and it seems most like a sci-fi version of A Song of Ice and Fire. Not only that, but the author seems to understand how real spacecraft fly. Needless to say, I'm enjoying it greatly.

I agree with you on all of the points you raised; they're the major reasons I consider Fool Moon to be the weakest book in the series. Grave Peril is where Butcher really hits his stride.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Mechtaur on July 22, 2014, 02:58:21 pm
Finally started reading the Guru Granth Sahib.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Beezlebub on July 30, 2014, 10:57:22 pm
Heart of Darkness, for "Modern" Literature.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: I am lizard on September 15, 2014, 10:19:37 pm
Kronos

Pretty good so far save a really disturbing and out of place 4th chapter containing 1) heavy handen anti-drug message 2) contradictory character development 3) attempted rape scenes.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on September 16, 2014, 09:41:44 pm
Just finished The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath.

Makes you realise how non-Lovecraftian Lovecraft is at times. Like, when the protagonist arrives at the forbidden city of the gods flying on winged horrors and leading an army of ghouls, and is faced with the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep, you more or less expect him to be reduced to gibbering madness by a glimpse of cosmic horror, right? You certainly don't expect Nyarlathotep to start talking about how lovely New England is in the spring.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: I am lizard on September 16, 2014, 10:03:08 pm
Just finished The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath.

Makes you realise how non-Lovecraftian Lovecraft is at times. Like, when the protagonist arrives at the forbidden city of the gods flying on winged horrors and leading an army of ghouls, and is faced with the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep, you more or less expect him to be reduced to gibbering madness by a glimpse of cosmic horror, right? You certainly don't expect Nyarlathotep to start talking about how lovely New England is in the spring.
It had racism at least, right?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on September 16, 2014, 10:27:31 pm
Every black character is a slave. Also: three ghouls get kidnapped by lunar toad-things? Let's start a war! Black people get regularly sold to them and presumably eaten? Meh, who cares.

Admittedly the ghouls were kind of adorable, but still. It says something when your protagonist finds it easier to relate to dog-headed corpse-eating creatures than to other human beings.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on September 18, 2014, 10:08:57 am
Picked up a copy of John Dies At The End from work yesterday.  Really enjoying it so far :)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on September 18, 2014, 10:17:57 am
Read A Clockwork Orange a couple weeks ago. That was fucked up. More recently I read through volumes 10, 11, and 12 of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return (which was just as amazing as you'd expect, I've read all three now!), and I'm just finishing up Nineteen Eighty-Four again.

Oh, and I found the oddest thing; a manga adaptation of Les Misérables which I HAD to get, having read the book and watched the crappy movie and been obsessed with the musical for the last few years... it did a pretty good job actually. It's surprisingly short, but fairly accurate to the overall story, and the artwork was... more or less what you'd expect.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on September 18, 2014, 12:59:45 pm
Continuing my Lovecraft trend, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Pretty good, with the usual caveats re: racism and loving descriptions of New England.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: I am lizard on September 18, 2014, 07:46:26 pm
loving descriptions of New England.
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Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Zygarde on September 18, 2014, 07:57:28 pm
Started rereading the Harry Potter series I forgot how strange the books were.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on September 18, 2014, 10:03:16 pm
Read A Clockwork Orange a couple weeks ago. That was fucked up.

I've got a copy of A Clockwork Orange, but I haven't yet managed to get past the first few pages :(
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ghoti on September 18, 2014, 10:50:16 pm
loving descriptions of New England.
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You scare me.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on September 29, 2014, 10:01:48 pm
On today's episode of "Lovecraft is not always so Lovecraftian": Satire! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibid_%28short_story%29) Specifically, a short story making fun of people who don't quite know what "Ibid." means.

Especially jarring since I read it shortly after The Colour Out Of Space, which is very much classic Lovecraft.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: R. U. Sirius on October 04, 2014, 12:40:19 am
On a similar note, his novella "Herbert West-Reanimator" was originally published in a humor magazine. Every chapter but the last was essentially an extended sick joke leading up to the punchline, "Damn it, it wasn't QUITE fresh enough!"
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on October 04, 2014, 12:14:07 pm
Really? I would've never taken Reanimator (the novella, not the movie) to be humorous, even with the punchline. Frankly, it works perfectly well as a standard sci-fi horror story.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: R. U. Sirius on October 05, 2014, 08:42:15 pm
Basically, he was just writing for the paycheck; he'd been having a run of bad luck selling his stories, so he took a commission from a humor magazine.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on October 05, 2014, 09:06:48 pm
It has a certain (very) dark humour depending on how you look at it, but that doesn't necessarily make it any less of a genuine horror story, I think.

(Alternately maybe the joke is that you pick up a humour magazine expecting something lightheartedly funny and get hit with.. that instead)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on October 16, 2014, 07:53:38 pm
For another humorous Lovecraft story, check out "Sweet Ermengarde":

http://www.psy-q.ch/lovecraft/html/ermengarde.htm (http://www.psy-q.ch/lovecraft/html/ermengarde.htm)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on October 16, 2014, 09:36:33 pm
Just finished reading Spade & Archer, a prequel to The Maltese Falcon written by Joe Gores in 2009 or so. It's pretty good, it definitely *feels* like a Sam Spade book! The only problem I have with it is it uses "could of" and "should of" and whatnot and that's... wrong. Very wrong. The words your looking for are "could've" and "should've" or, depending on how slangy you want to be, "coulda" and "shoulda".

...anyways, it was a good book. Except for that one thing.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on October 17, 2014, 08:38:45 pm
I've been re-reading A Confederacy of Dunces, and it's even funnier now that I know about the neoreactionary movement.  If the book were set today, Ignatius would probably be blogging about "the Cathedral".
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on October 17, 2014, 09:17:34 pm
Ha. I'd never noticed it before, but you're right. Mencius Moldbug is secretly Ignatius Reilly.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Nemo on October 21, 2014, 12:03:49 am
I've considered reading Starship Troopers, mostly for the politics involved. Not, mind you, because I agree with it, but because I'm pretty sure I don't.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Second Coming of Madman on October 22, 2014, 06:58:30 pm
I've considered reading Starship Troopers, mostly for the politics involved. Not, mind you, because I agree with it, but because I'm pretty sure I don't.

I love SST to death, but I do agree Heinlein's free love message is kinda dated. And Heinlein was remarkably ahead for his day, with his societal attitudes. For example, compare Rico to any other sci-fi protagonist in one particularly important factor.

That's right, Heinlein had a non-white main protagonist in the 1950s who actually speaks in his native language (Tagalog) with his family.

Give the book a chance, I say. And if you even dare to bring up the alleged fascism, expect me to laugh in your face.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Feral Dog on October 29, 2014, 02:46:36 am
Isn't the fascism claim because the movie missed the point(I have not experienced SST in either format, so I really don't know)?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Askold on October 29, 2014, 03:28:25 am
Isn't the fascism claim because the movie missed the point(I have not experienced SST in either format, so I really don't know)?
No.

The fascism claim is because the SST book was quite serious in its pro-military anti-peace, anti democracy preaching (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers#Controversy) while the movie was a tongue-in-cheek parody.

The viewers either missed the joke and got angry because they thought it was serious, or did not miss the joke and got angry because the movie wasn't gung-ho propaganda for a militarized federation where only soldiers are allowed to vote and hold power.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Zygarde on October 29, 2014, 08:45:50 am
The Monuments Men. Interesting piece of WWII history.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Cerim Treascair on October 29, 2014, 12:19:54 pm
The Monuments Men. Interesting piece of WWII history.

The movie, while quite inaccurate from a historical perspective, is quite good as well.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Second Coming of Madman on January 24, 2015, 09:02:35 pm
Everybody was pestering me to read Confederates in the Attic, so I did. It brings up some very interesting points about the societal effects of that war, especially some individuals's ghost dance-esque obsession with it's symbols.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Ultimate Paragon on May 10, 2015, 02:38:30 am
Istanbul Intrigues
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on May 10, 2015, 12:53:24 pm
Started reading some Iain M. Banks. Consider Phlebas was pretty good, The Player of Games is ok so far but unremarkable.

Also, I read the entirety of Dresden Files (so far) and Codex Alera a while back on a Jim Butcher kick. Dresden Files is amazing, Codex Alera is decent.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Lt. Fred on July 04, 2015, 06:56:01 pm
The Forever War. Worth a look for the way he twists around metaphor. Very clever.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on July 05, 2015, 11:47:44 am
Middlesex. I'm only about a hundred pages in, but I highly recommend it.

Also, of all the Iain M. Banks I've read so far, Use of Weapons is definitely the best. I sort of dropped halfway through Excession because of school stuff and I haven't picked it up yet, but I have the same problem with it that with everything else from Banks: the early parts are not quite captivating enough, so I have to work through them until the story gets going and it gets a chance to shine.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on July 05, 2015, 05:24:35 pm
Finished up New Dawn and moving back to Pern for awhile.

Ironbite-a real long while.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: rookie on July 15, 2015, 12:05:05 am
I've recently rediscovered James Mitchener. Read Hawaii and Chesapeake, and now I'm part way through Poland. I forgot how good he is.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on July 15, 2015, 06:52:44 pm
Back to Pern for me.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on July 15, 2015, 06:56:24 pm
Just started Ernest Cline's new novel Armada. Only a few pages in but it's great so far!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on July 16, 2015, 04:41:38 am
Jumping back and forth between The Golem and The King in Yellow (The collection of short stories, not the play of course; still got my sanity, or rather what I had left before reading it!).
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on September 08, 2015, 09:01:04 pm
I've been re-reading the Harry Potter books for the billionth time, I'm up to OOtP now. Gonna split reading that with Havemercy because magic and fantasy and well-written gay romance and fucking steampunk metal dragons! It's so awesome it's taken away my ability to speak in proper sentences :P.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Even Then on September 09, 2015, 10:16:57 am
Unseen Academicals. Again.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on September 09, 2015, 09:09:15 pm
Much Fall of Blood.

I love the Heirs of Alexandria series so much.  Turns out that combining an epic fantasy author like Mercedes Lackey with a history buff like Eric Flint isn't too much of a good thing, but the exact right amount. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: rookie on September 09, 2015, 11:45:40 pm
Good Omens. I got to read about half of it in Iraq. Then managed to forget about it until I was in the local Barnes and Noble totally not looking for porn. I forgot how much I enjoyed reading that.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: guizonde on September 26, 2015, 07:11:58 pm
sunstone. first as a webcomic, but when i got the chance, i bought them as real comics. beyond awesome. tugs at your heartstrings, beautiful love story. changes from all the black library (dan abnett in particular) i usually read.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on September 27, 2015, 12:08:31 am
Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on September 27, 2015, 06:32:22 am
Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

I enjoyed that book quite a bit and didn't even mind the present tense.  One of the later chapters made me chuckle, especially after reading Lost Stars.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on September 27, 2015, 09:05:11 am
I still have to read Lost Stars or the other ones that came out on Force Friday, but have them on my Kindle though.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Sigmaleph on September 27, 2015, 11:49:21 am
I got Warriors and Dangerous Women, anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois and GRRM. Admittedly only because of the GRRM stories (accounts of the Dance of Dragons!), but the overall quality was actually pretty great for all the stories. With exceptions, but nothing terrible.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: SCarpelan on October 01, 2015, 08:59:45 am
Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy by Yanis Varoufakis.  Interesting writing style, easy to understand and worthwhile read in general. Broke some illusions I had about EU and is definitely an enlightening reading experience.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on October 01, 2015, 10:58:00 am
going through the reign of Queen Seleney in chronological order right now.  Up to Arrows Fall.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on October 01, 2015, 04:04:42 pm
The Haunting of Hill House.  60 pages into to a 180 page book, and i'm bored out of my mind.  I do hope it gets more interesting soon.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on October 01, 2015, 04:44:52 pm
Finished Much Fall of Blood, reading the next book in the series, Burdens of the Dead.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Even Then on October 01, 2015, 04:52:34 pm
Reading Godfather again.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on October 02, 2015, 11:56:45 am
Reading Godfather again.

That's a good book, except for the weird aside about Lucy's vagina.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: rookie on October 04, 2015, 01:58:12 am
Reading Godfather again.

Great read. I learned much from that one.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on October 07, 2015, 09:28:14 pm
Was reading Closer to the Heart but...I finished it in one day.

Ironbite-so ashamed.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: guizonde on October 08, 2015, 01:39:31 pm
i think i'm gonna go on an amazon bender to get all the ciaphas cain novels by sandy mitchells. reading the tvtropes page it seems like right up my alley. "a mix between warhammer 40k and blackadder", so says the page.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on October 13, 2015, 07:17:42 am
It's been a while since I've sunk my teeth into a long running series, so I decided to give The Wheel of Time a try. I'm just over a third of the way through the prequel, and so far it's quite promising.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Svata on October 13, 2015, 07:29:19 am
Books 9-11 aren't as good. Especially Crossroads of Twilight. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on October 13, 2015, 07:38:01 am
Yeah, I've heard that the later books tend to drag on a bit. Still, it's hardly a deal breaker. Or maybe it is. It remains to be seen, I suppose.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Svata on October 13, 2015, 09:29:18 am
It's not so much that they drag on, but that they don't do anything.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: RavynousHunter on October 13, 2015, 09:30:09 am
Like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: R. U. Sirius on October 13, 2015, 09:42:45 am
"The Aeronaut's Windlass", the first book in a new steampunk series from Jim Butcher. So far, it's pretty good...one of the main characters is an intelligent cat names Rowl who calls his human companion Littlemouse.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: guizonde on October 13, 2015, 10:32:51 am
i'm rereading honorifica imperialis, an omnibus of imperial guard novels by the black library. i'm on a wh40k/imperial guard kick lately.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: mellenORL on October 13, 2015, 01:38:41 pm
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Because somehow I hadn't read it yet in all of my years. Good novel.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: ironbite on October 13, 2015, 07:16:27 pm
Went to Closer to the Heart because that's a book I was waiting for and now back to more modern times in Valdemar.

Ironbite-Winds of Fate is almost done cause I read like a madman and will be doing Winds of Change next.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: nickiknack on October 23, 2015, 12:37:43 am
Finished Star Wars: Aftermath, and started reading [Star Wars: Rise Of The Empire which is a bundle of both A New Dawn and Tarkin amd three short stories. I already have and read the two novels, and only bought the book for the short stories. Damn you, Star Wars...
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Igor on June 19, 2016, 03:45:59 am
I finished the last Discworld book not long ago. Excuse me while I go cry my eyes out.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on June 20, 2016, 05:00:42 am
Finished Star Wars: Aftermath, and started reading [Star Wars: Rise Of The Empire which is a bundle of both A New Dawn and Tarkin amd three short stories. I already have and read the two novels, and only bought the book for the short stories. Damn you, Star Wars...

Aftermath was good; looking forward to the sequel, Life Debt.  However, I liked Lost Stars better, even though I spent half the book wanting to punch one of the main characters.  I finished Bloodline not long ago.  It was okay, but I liked Bloodline better.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on July 22, 2016, 04:26:21 pm
I recently finished, "We have always lived in the castle," by Shirley Jackson. Pretty good and creepy, especially when re-reading. After reading, "The haunting of Hill House" last year, I'm becoming a fan of Jackson.

A warning though if you read these books: Stay away from the Introduction until you finish the book. Both times, the person who wrote the intro spoiled the entire book. If you want to discuss themes of the book, fine. But if you plan to spoil the entire plot, stick your discussion at the end of the book instead. At least with, Castle, I skipped the intro after seeing signs of this, returning later to see this, but I did get a huge unwanted spoiler with Hill House.

Currently reading, "The third policeman." And while I knew it was supposed to be weird before I started, I now realize that it's got some Phantom Tollbooth-level mind screws!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: rookie on September 16, 2016, 12:34:13 pm
The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour. A pretty good historical adventure following a man through the height of Moorish Spain and medieval Europe. Not to mention a half decent romance, like the rest of his books.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on September 17, 2016, 10:29:53 am
Recently finished The Lies of Locke Lamora, super enjoyed that; now reading The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint, and finding it pretty much unputdownable :o
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheL on October 19, 2016, 01:28:41 pm
The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour. A pretty good historical adventure following a man through the height of Moorish Spain and medieval Europe. Not to mention a half decent romance, like the rest of his books.

YES!  Someone else who's read it!

Recently I've been re-reading Catherine Asaro's Lost Continent series.  Pretty good fantasy romance, plus, I adore the magic system.  It is, quite honestly, exactly what you'd expect a physicist to come up with. :)
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Svata on January 28, 2017, 05:45:00 pm
American Gods
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: RavynousHunter on January 28, 2017, 06:41:28 pm
Professional C++ by Marc Gregoire.  Its almost like learning the language all over again, with all the shit C++11 and 14 added...and I'm loving every second of it.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on January 29, 2017, 12:54:55 pm
Just finished the original Mistborn trilogy. I have to say, I'm extremely impressed. I really enjoyed the way the lore slowly unfolds over the course of the series, and every last seemingly insignificant detail comes together at the very end to tie up the story.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on February 01, 2017, 07:49:26 am
Just finished The Dollmaker by Justin Robinson, about a guy who makes life-sized dolls and uses his own blood to bring them to life.  I was expecting creepy and got that.  However I wasn't expecting an erotic horror story (The dolls like to be intimate, all the time, with the maker and each other), though I'm far from complaining.  The last 100 or so pages go full horror, revealing how scary the dolls can be.

Overall I enjoyed it.

Just started Zastrozzi, and I already think I found my role model!
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: chad sexington on April 19, 2017, 09:37:19 am
I just finished Red Sister, the latest novel from Mark Lawrence.  It's pretty different from his earlier books, but it's quite good on its own merits.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Vypernight on May 14, 2017, 04:43:36 am
he City of Dreaming Books, by Walter Moers. A lighthearted fantasy about an intelligent dinosaur searching the city of Bookholm for a mysterious author. The city itself is filled with writers, professional readers, reviewers, critics (who get paid by writers to slam the competition), book merchants, performers and more. Booksellers sell everything from popular recent titles to rare novels, while book hunters don armor, grab their weapons, and explore the catacombs beneath the city, risking life and limb for those super-rare tomes.

Lots of fun so far and I can see this becoming part of my permanent collection.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Askold on May 14, 2017, 04:55:17 am
Just finished Unseen Academicals. Hadn't touched it so far because I'm not into football but it was better than expected.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Svata on May 14, 2017, 05:20:29 am
Just finished with Carpe Jugulum. Love me some Discworld
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on May 14, 2017, 05:32:58 am
Almost finished the The Dictator's Handbook. Suddenly, politics makes sense.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: TheContrarian on May 19, 2017, 05:48:45 pm
Just finished Chapterhouse: Dune.

It's longer on moralising and shorter on plot than I remember the first time round, it's been a couple of decades since I last read the whole series.

Now reading: The Player of Games by Iain M Banks.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: RavynousHunter on June 30, 2017, 09:20:18 pm
I have finished reading the saga of Boatmurdered.  HOLY FUCK.
Title: Re: What Are You Reading?
Post by: Art Vandelay on July 01, 2017, 12:15:27 pm
I'm currently working my way through Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. For something with such a generic title, it's pretty fucking great.