OT: What are you reading? [Archive] - Diablo: IncGamers Forums

maxicek

02-08-2007, 12:42

We have had a few OT: What are you listening to? threads and, having just got back from holiday, I thought an SPF book thread may be interesting.

I have just read:
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
A Cook's Tour - Anthony Bourdain
Pattern Recognition - William Gibson

All three were good reads. Neverwhere was my first book by Gaiman, I didn't watch the series when it was on the TV, but I want to see it now. A Cook's Tour is about the author travelling around the world sampling all sorts of weird and wonderful food. Definately not for vegetarians. Pattern Recognition is a great read from the man who coined the word "cyberspace." There is some stuff about web forums in it too, which I can obviously relate too.

Next up is The Joke's Over: Memories of Hunter S. Thompson by Ralph Steadman. So what are you all reading at the moment?

TheBhoy

02-08-2007, 12:46

Just finished deathly hallows which was a good book with a relly bad added bit at end.

Looking to get Dark tower series I think but I dont get much time to read and play D2. tough choice

SiTro

02-08-2007, 13:13

Been waiting to borrow the Deathly Hallows book. Figured it's been a while since I read any of the Harry Potter books, so I started the Philosopher's Stone on Monday evening. Just finished the fourth book this morning. I can't speak for the seventh book yet, but IMO the fourth was the best so far, followed by the sixth. The issue is I have the fifth book next and that's always been something of a weak link in the series to me.

Last week I read "The Sign of the Cross" by Chris Kuzneski. Well worth a read, though it's a little gory in places.

asdfgah

02-08-2007, 13:43

I'm currently reading "The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America" by James Wilson. I find it very interesting (Reading the Swedish translation "Jorden skall gråta").

Atil

02-08-2007, 13:58

Recently finished:
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Overlord game manual

Just started:
A book on the American Civil War
August issue of PC Zone

noobintraining

02-08-2007, 14:01

@ maxicek: Neverwhere is absolutely one of my favorite books, ever! If you get around to it, I suggest American Gods by the same author.

I'm behind everybody else when it comes to the Harry Potter series; I only recently took an interest in them. I'm about halfway through the fourth one right now. I'm also reading a bit of non-fiction, mostly The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia.

muzzz

02-08-2007, 14:11

@maxicek: do you know from what year Pattern Recognition is? I'm curious if I might've read the dutch translation of that one.

I haven't started on anything at the moment, but I have Mistress of the Pearl, by Eric von Lustbader, waiting for me. I also dug up a new pile of old SF pockets, including Methuselah's Children and Time Enough For Love by Heinlein and a collection of short stories by Cordwainer Smith.

Tupsi

02-08-2007, 14:11

Just yesterday I finished Paulo Coelho's The Devil and Miss Prym and I liked it. I've also read The Alchemist, although it was called (direct translation from Finnish) Santiago's Dreams so I didn't even know I was reading the famous book. I was a bit dissapointed when I found out there wasn't a book only about the mysterious alchemist... Good book, very nice read. Just wondering why they had re-named it back then (the edition(?) was old). Today you can it with more accurate name (Alkemisti).

Also read a book about succeeding, Winnie-the-Pooh involved. I guess they didn't have full rights or something from A. A. Milne since the Hundred Acre Wood was called Hundred Acre Park and similar things. Bothered quite a bit. Oh well, the quotes fom the original stories were nice :laugh:

At the moment I'm not reading anything. I could loan HP 7 from the library in English if I could just get it, not going to reserve it, but I rather wait for the translation and buy it myself.

@maxicek: Took me a while to realize what book I've read written by Gibson, Neuromancer it was. I could try more his books. Hopefully the leap from -84 to -03 is a pleasant experience for me when I find the book.

Gothique

02-08-2007, 16:31

I decided to buy a couple of the novels from the "Blizzard Realms:"

The Sin War
The War of the Ancients

Both were by Richard A. Knack (sp?)

I'm almost finished the Warcraft Novel, and I finished the Diablo one some time ago. They're okay. Richard has tendency to use some crutch words, especially in the Sin War. "Countenance," and "macabre," I've never seen those two words so over-used in all my life. Sometimes, used more than once on the same page.

They were decent reads other than the abrupt shake back to reality from poor writing. I would've thought Blizzard would be a little more picky when it came to the literary endeavors surrounding their "lovechild(s.)"

If it wasn't for my love of Blizzard lore, I wouldn't suggest them.

I read Perfume awhile back as well, quite a unique little book.

timevalue

02-08-2007, 16:34

I am currently reading "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell.

xduckster

02-08-2007, 16:37

Just read the autobiography of my counties sheriff: Without a Badge by Jerry Speziale. (Signed copy as I just started working at the sheriffs department. :cool: ) He led a pretty amazing life going undercover and busting a huge number of the drug cartels in the 80's and 90's

Next up... Off to barnes and Nobles to finish the latest Danial Silva book.

AJK

02-08-2007, 16:38

Noodle

02-08-2007, 16:48

I am currently reading "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell.

That wasn't as funny as I expected.

I'm currently reading a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Allison Fraser. I love me some medievel history.

- Noodle

Low Key

02-08-2007, 17:02

@ maxicek: Neverwhere is absolutely one of my favorite books, ever! If you get around to it, I suggest American Gods by the same author.

I'll have to agree with this. :wink3:

I picked up the sequel, Anansi Boys a couple of weeks back, but havent been able to start reading it yet.

Drixx

02-08-2007, 17:28

Recently finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Currently reading We were soldiers once ... and young.

SiTro

02-08-2007, 17:35

By Baranar's bathrobe! This thread is almost four hours old and no one has said it.

Right now, I'm reading the SPF.

On topic: I'm not much of a book reader when it's not a manual, but I did enjoy the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and all the books that followed. I hear Terry Pratchett's books share a same kind of humor, right? IIRC besides the discworld series, he also wrote a book together with someone else about the apocalypse. Does anyone know which book that would be and if it's a good read?

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, I believe. It's an alright read. I think it might have been a little above my level when I read it though. Still, I'd prefer to read one of the Discworld novels, and Gaiman is a little hit and miss with the laughs to me.

howdidigethere

02-08-2007, 20:03

Currently, im reading the Warcraft 3 manual. It's about the only thing I have to read!

tragor

02-08-2007, 22:13

I'm currently reading random threads on the SPF.

Some of it is pretty strange and I've yet to find a plot but I can't say it's uninteresting.

sirpoopsalot

02-08-2007, 22:32

The Cossacks, by Leo Tolstoy. I just started it, but I like most of Tolstoy's other work - a lot. War & Peace is an all time favourite of mine.

I recently finished The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, which is required reading for much/all of the US during school (however, I grew up in Canada). Definitely one of the most powerful endings in any book I've read.

Katalaeia

03-08-2007, 05:52

Just finished Fingerprints of the Gods. Amazing book about the theory of an ancient civilization as advanced (or more so) than our currenty-day one, based on data from around the world. Definitely recommended for those fond of ancient history.

Joosh

03-08-2007, 07:53

Currently reading "Allen Carr's easy way to stop smoking" :embarassed:.

Sick of this terrible habit I have acquired and the book has been recommended to me by multiple friends who are now ex-smokers thanks to this book.

Joosh

Cygnus

03-08-2007, 08:51

Rereading Anne Frank's diary. It moves me to tears every time. Nearly done with it, but haven't decided what's next, though. Probably a toss up between LotR (which somehow I've never read) and Burton's massive Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

These days I don't read nearly as much as I would like to. I miss college :sad2: :cry:

longblackhairguy

03-08-2007, 09:01

nothing at the moment :(
last thing i read was knife of dreams (wheel of time 11) by R. Jordan. cant wait for the next one to come out.

maxicek

03-08-2007, 10:19

@noobintraining: American Gods is next on the list I think. I had never read Gaiman before my holida, I bought it at the airport and was happy I did.

@muzzz: Pattern Recognition is his latest one I think, but I'm not sure how old it is.

@AJK: I was going to write "except for this forum" in the intro, but I thought I would wait to see who posted it. I might have guessed it would be you. :wink2:

Skinhead On The MBTA

03-08-2007, 14:49

At the moment, it's The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum - I found it a bit of a slog getting through the first two, but this one has started better than the others.

asdfgah

13-08-2007, 09:49

Atlantis by David Gibbins.
I have only read the first chapter now but it seems interesting :)

Naab

13-08-2007, 10:05

Im reading the newspaper:P

ok seriously i like detective storys so the last one i finished was one written by agatha cristie,don't know the title in English.

Hrus

13-08-2007, 10:15

Currently reading the Dart Tower series from Stephen King. It's kind of weird... ;) I finished the 6th book - Susannah's Song or something like that...

yiuman

13-08-2007, 10:17

I was planning to reread some of the books I have by Christopher Brookmyre (they are all funny as hell) when I remembered that I've put nearly all my books in storage to make room for my newborn. Not that the newborn leaves much room for reading anyway.......

Still, I'd highly recommend Brookmyre for anyone who wants a laugh.

@the guy who mentioned Pratchett - go for it! He is one of my favorite authors, although I'll admit that I find his earlier stuff better than his more recent work, that may be just because I read them first though.

Hrus

13-08-2007, 10:20

asdfgah

13-08-2007, 10:28

I think I have read a Bourne Supremacy (hard to tell, the book was named differently) - and it was very different form the movie. I love movie (both), I didn't like the book - surprisingly.
Now I am really looking forward to see the Bourne Ultimatum in the cinema... (Premiere here AUG-30 :( )
I haven't seen any of those movies, but they seem good. Perhaps I should watch them and then see the new one in the cinema aswell...
Sorry for OT :X

Dragonlover

13-08-2007, 10:43

Currently reading the Well of Echoes series by Ian Irvine. I'm pretty much marking time with the reading until October, when the Black Library are releasing Descent of Angels and Only in Death, and the next Discworld book is out then as well.. All I tend to read now is BL stuff and Discworld, it's too expensive to buy new authors and find you don't like them.

Dragonlover

Delreich

14-08-2007, 02:08

@ maxicek: Neverwhere is absolutely one of my favorite books, ever! If you get around to it, I suggest American Gods by the same author.
... and Stardust, and all the Sandman collections, and...

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Yes, I quite like what Gaiman writes. The only one to top that would be Pratchett.
Which brings me to...

I hear Terry Pratchett's books share a same kind of humor [as Adams], right?
If you haven't already, there's 35 or so Discworld novels (http://en.wikipedia.org/Discworld) out there that most definitely needs* to be read. This goes for all of you, not just AJK.
Personally I prefer Pratchett to Adams, and as far as Adams go, I think Dirk Gently probably wins over Arthur and Ford and the others too.
____________________________________[/replies]

Currently I'm about halfway through A Storm of Swords, the third part of GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire).
Damn good as far as epic fantasy goes. That Jordan dude doesn't even come close.

____________________________________[footnotes]

* Well, ok, maybe one or two isn't quite as necessary. The earliest ones are a bit less perfect than the others, but they're not too far behind.

pharaoh

14-08-2007, 09:53

The last book I read was Terry Goodkind's 'Phantom'. I'm waiting for the next (and final) one in the Sword of Truth series, and I'm waiting for it in paperback (can't bring myself to shell out 3-4 times the money just to get it a little sooner). I'm also waiting for (and have been for a while) the next Jean M. Auel book- let's just hope she finishes it before she dies of old age, as she's in her 70s. Another great series I read recently was the Tad Williams 'Otherland' series.

Jason Maher

26-02-2011, 01:37

Not banned yet?

On topic, Currently I'm reading a book I picked semi-randomly out of the el cheapo bin at the bookstore. It's called "The Company of the Dead", and it's by an Australian Gynecologist who decided to try his ahnd at writing. It's a fairly standard politcal conspiracy/espionage novel with a time travel twist. Not too bad for a cheapie.

I'm also about to re-read the entire "Wheel of Time" series in preparation for the release of the 14th (and last) book at the end of this year. I had to buy the first book again to do so, as my original copy has pretty much fallen to bits.

Hoop76

26-02-2011, 02:39

I am also thinking about re reading the entire wheel of time. I probably will re read a song of fire and ice series, and i can't wait for the series to come out.

Currently though i have been reading a few zombie books, and the Harry Potter books. To me after the first book or two, the reading gets much better.

zemaj

26-02-2011, 05:17

recently re^(insane#)-read a few of JRR Tolkien's books: Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings, & Children of Hurin. When reading LotR, I, for the first time, really thought about the WWII angle some take it at... really fits quite well, so color me surprised as I always figured that was just paranoid/conspiracy theorist rhetoric.

Also, I picked up the Song of Fire and Ice series back in November & have had hell trying to get a hold of copies of A Storm of Swords & A Dance With Dragons in stark contrast to the others, which were very easy to procure... may have to break down & go the amazon route, as much as I hate to.:(

Getting away from fiction, I have been (trying to) read Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium for about a year now, but, while fascinating, keeps leading off on diversions & has yet to be finished. Same for Kepler's Astronomia Nova.... Maybe I should just give up on old astronomical 'theory' & just stick with newer publications :scratchchin:

Saint Anger

26-02-2011, 09:31

David Nicholas - Town and countryside in fourteenth-century Flanders.

I can see why it quickly became such a popular book in academic circles: it's well-written and (mostly) well-informed. The author based his research on a great number of archival sources.

However, the author seems to have this peculiar notion that his work is "superior" simply because he's viewed such a large number of archival sources, to the point where he sometimes comes across as pedantic. I wouldn't mind this per se, if only he could back up his claim. In some points his view is rather biased and in others he's either not very nuanced or blatantly wrong, so his 'pedantics' become somewhat wry.

Last but not least, the book suffers from the same anachronistic tendancy of wanting to project later institutions way back in time, something that has plagued us since the New Institutional Economics of D. North. It's almost as if people can't think outside of the box. Everything must be institutionalized or structuralized, and necessarily have a logical rationale behind this structuralized approach.

sevenOfDiamonds

26-02-2011, 09:47

Currently reading: "Too big to fail" by Andrew Ross Sorkin. After watching "The Last Days of Lehman Brothers" I look much forward to this. The first three chapters have been introduction to the cast so not too interesting yet.

Just finished: "The Quants" by Scott Patterson. Very interesting and entertaining book on hedge funds and hedge fund implosions. It covers all the major events and persons involving hedge funds for the last 30 years.

Before that: "Above the Clouds" by Anatoli Boukreev. Not the greatest mountaineering book of all times but an interesting look into elite sports in the former USSR and how elite sportsmen went from state supported superstars to unemployed, unfunded civilians as the iron curtain crumbled.

zarqu

26-02-2011, 10:08

"Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. Re-reading while waiting for the translation of his new book.

WhiteGiant

26-02-2011, 11:17

i recently read Survivor from Chuck Palahniuk and i thought it was better than Fight Club (atleast as a book)

before that i read the Sinwar trilogy which i thought was kinda disappointing - i mean i know that it is canon and all but in the end i just read it to get it over with - i also bought the Diablo Archive book though im kinda straying away from starting it because of the lame sinwar trilogy :/

another good read re-read i did in the beginning of the year was Star Wars old republic Darth Bane trilogy - if you liked Kotor you will probably like these aswell

Fast Eddie

26-02-2011, 13:44

@WhiteGiant: I found Survivor to be a very good read. I've just started Fight Club but I can't get into it at all. I feel I can't bond with the characters even though I know them so well from the film.

I don't read much any more, too busy playing-and-never-finishing computer games.

Nightfish

26-02-2011, 14:23

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

Anyways... I'm reading a lot. Half my room is shelves with books on 'em. Recently I've read:

Swan Song, by Robert McCammon. I really liked that one, although it's not really of a genre I'd normally read. Either way, thanks Amazon for recommending it.

Before that, I've been reading everything by Jim Butcher. Pure awesome. More than once I found myself checking the clock at 4 a.m when I just wanted to read one chapter real quick at 9pm... Can't... put... book...down... must... know... ending...

Most recently I've been reading the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony, but I have to say, this one highly disappointed me. The premise is good, but the execution is ... not my piece of cake. In the first book, the protagonist is a pretty sorry guy who, trying to commit suicide, accidentally shoots Death himself, coming to collect his soul. Anyone killing Death has to assume his office and that's pretty much what the book is about. The new guys struggles to come to terms with his office. The bad thing is that Piers' writing style is incredibly... I guess I'd have to say "pretentious". The dialogue is incredibly stilted and everybody (really *everybody*) talks in unbelievably convulted and intricately constructed sentences using the most needlessly complicated words available. Yes, you own a dictionary. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Guess what, that alone does not necessarily make for good reading.
It's not that I don't know the fancy words, I do. But I constantly get the "Haha, I'm smarter than you!" vibe from the book. That wouldn't be so bad if the book actually were smarter, but there's a couple plot holes (especially when he's dealing with the incarnation of time) which show me that he's clearly not that smart.
This is actually the first series since the Wheel of Time that I did not read to finish (or as far as it's been released) because I couldn't take it anymore.

Instead I got the latest book by Brandon Sanderson, which takes off kinda slow but once you get going it's *very* hard to put it down. But that's what I expect from Brandon anyway. He's probably the author I respect most. If you read some of his books, you'll know why. He's come up with more and better ideas in stand-alone novels than many authors that have been milking half-decent settings for dozens of books.

So yea... that's what I've been reading recently in a nutshell.

Frowzor

26-02-2011, 14:42

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

...

Before that, I've been reading everything by Jim Butcher. Pure awesome. More than once I found myself checking the clock at 4 a.m when I just wanted to read one chapter real quick at 9pm... Can't... put... book...down... must... know... ending...

Most recently I've been reading the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony

...

Instead I got the latest book by Brandon Sanderson,

...

Thread was Revived by a now-deleted spambot post, and you appear to have stolen my library :thumbup:

I just started The Way of Kings (Sanderson) myself, and so far I like it a lot. So far I haven't seen a single book he's written that hasn't been amazing (haven't read his teen series, but that's it). He's pretty awesome in my opinion.

Also, I picked up the Song of Fire and Ice series back in November & have had hell trying to get a hold of copies of A Storm of Swords & A Dance With Dragons in stark contrast to the others, which were very easy to procure... may have to break down & go the amazon route, as much as I hate to.:(

Well, if you do find Dance, then you have skills I don't because atm it doesn't exist. Personally I think it'll never be finished, since GRRM seems to have gone mad with power ever since confirmation came that there'll be an HBO series based on ASoIaF. Check his blog. He writes about 1 page per month on it, and pretty much all his posts talk about the TV show, going to conventions, and football. :shakesfistatGRRM:

zemaj

26-02-2011, 16:09

Well, if you do find Dance, then you have skills I don't because atm it doesn't exist. Personally I think it'll never be finished, since GRRM seems to have gone mad with power ever since confirmation came that there'll be an HBO series based on ASoIaF. Check his blog. He writes about 1 page per month on it, and pretty much all his posts talk about the TV show, going to conventions, and football. :shakesfistatGRRM:

well, thats lame... I never really looked into the website & just figured that it had been published since A Feast for Crows was published over 6 years ago, and the other books only had about 2-2-2-5years in between publication, and in the author's note at the end of AFfC he made it seem he already had the manuscript all but finished. Guess thats what I get for thinking & not verifying...

Nightfish

26-02-2011, 16:38

I just started The Way of Kings (Sanderson) myself, and so far I like it a lot. So far I haven't seen a single book he's written that hasn't been amazing (haven't read his teen series, but that's it). He's pretty awesome in my opinion.

Good point, I forgot the... Alcatraz thing? Whatever it's called. It kinda sounds similar to Harry Potter and I'm not a fan of HP.

As far as Way of Kings goes... I think it's a little... too much at times. Like, there's 6 prologues or something and halfway through the book I still have no idea why the King was assassinated in the prologue or why I should give a damn. Many of the interludes seems kinda pointless as well. I'm sure it'll make sense in 5 books, but by then I'll have forgotten what I've read... At times you can feel that he's been working on this book for over 10 years.

Still, the "meat" of it is very good. I just dislike the parts that feel artificial and tacked on. To me it seems there just there to make the book "more epic" because all epic books have lots of interludes and prologues (this one had 3 or 4, which actually made me laugh. Sorry Brandon, I love you, but that was just too much).

well, thats lame... I never really looked into the website & just figured that it had been published since A Feast for Crows was published over 6 years ago, and the other books only had about 2-2-2-5years in between publication, and in the author's note at the end of AFfC he made it seem he already had the manuscript all but finished. Guess thats what I get for thinking & not verifying...

Well, there's been a lot of talk about the Dance with Dragons. At times people were doubting he'd ever finish it. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I think he got a lot of things bungled. I mean, seriously, it can't take that long to write a book if you've got an idea of what you're gonna say. You're quite right that there was information about that he just split the "last" book into two because it was just too much and he technically should have the other one mostly done. But yea... I've recently read somewhere that the next one was actually not going to be the final one so I doubt this series will see it's conclusion in my lifetime...

Not sure what your problem with amazon is, though. I've never had any issues there and the "you might also like" thing is just great. I found at least half of my books that way and only very rarely was I disappointed. (I'm looking at you, Piers Anthony)

JoeBruce

26-02-2011, 17:15

This thread is more than worthy of resurrection.

I'm in the process of re-reading Don Quixote (about 3/4 done), and I'm also a 1/3 of the way into The Count of Monte Cristo. Both are pretty lengthy books, so I have no idea how I got involved in two of those at the same time. Don Quixote is an amazingly funny book that I recommend to anyone, and Monte Cristo has been entertaining so far.

A few months back I read True Grit, before the new adaptation came out - a pretty easy, very entertaining read.

Frowzor

26-02-2011, 17:54

As far as Way of Kings goes... I think it's a little... too much at times. Like, there's 6 prologues or something and halfway through the book I still have no idea why the King was assassinated in the prologue or why I should give a damn. Many of the interludes seems kinda pointless as well. I'm sure it'll make sense in 5 books, but by then I'll have forgotten what I've read... At times you can feel that he's been working on this book for over 10 years.

Still, the "meat" of it is very good. I just dislike the parts that feel artificial and tacked on. To me it seems there just there to make the book "more epic" because all epic books have lots of interludes and prologues (this one had 3 or 4, which actually made me laugh. Sorry Brandon, I love you, but that was just too much).

Well, that's a shame :(. I'm not particularly far into it yet, so hopefully the series shapes up in the future. I find that sort of thing happens semi-frequently once an author has experienced a lot of initial success. Their editor starts to let them run wild with whatever they want, and it doesn't always work to their advantage.

well, thats lame... I never really looked into the website & just figured that it had been published since A Feast for Crows was published over 6 years ago, and the other books only had about 2-2-2-5years in between publication, and in the author's note at the end of AFfC he made it seem he already had the manuscript all but finished. Guess thats what I get for thinking & not verifying...

Just to further explain Nightfish's post a bit, Dance was originally supposed to be the 4th book in the series, but he got confused and couldn't figure out how to make it work. So really he's been working on it since before A Storm of Swords came out. That puts it at 11+ years in the making. Somehow I doubt it'll be finished before his death. He's also very proprietary about his series, so much that he probably has something in his will to bury it once he's gone rather than let anyone else touch it.

BobTheWarrior

26-02-2011, 21:23

Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors. I wrote about several of his books in the bar awhile back. I recommend Haunted if you're interested in his books, if you can stomach it.

I recently re-read the entire Enders Game series, both Speaker for the Dead and Enders Shadow.

I'm currently reading book 13 of Wheel of Time. Checked it out from the library, it will be a challenge for me to find the time to read it all before it's due back, what a massive book!

Not sure what I'm going to read after WoT, I might check out some of Sanderson's other work, or go back to reading Dan Brown/James Rollins/Clive Cussler type novels.

Edit: Ooh, I forgot, I'm going to read the "Girl with the ..." series by Stieg Larsson next.

skunkbelly

26-02-2011, 21:40

Most recently: Brigit Pegeen Kelly's book of poems "The Orchard," for a class I'm teaching. She's the best poet writing in the English language, hands down.

Also re-reading "Treasure Island," for sheer fun.

And if anyone's interested in poetry, can I suggest "Lucifer: A Hagiography," by Philip Memmer? I dunno who wrote it :wink:

ancalagon the black

27-02-2011, 00:15

I haven't been reading much lately, except for textbooks, which don't really count.

One thing I'd recommend, though, is The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One. Basically, it's a set of all of the really good science fiction short stories from 1929 to 1964, and as you might expect from the cream of the crop over 3 and a half decades, almost every single story is incredible.

Many of my favorite sci-fi stories of all time are in there: A Martian Odyssey, Microcosmic God, The Little Black Bag, Surface Tension, The Cold Equations, The Nine Billion Names of God, Flowers for Algernon, Mimsy were the Borogroves, ...

Jason Maher

27-02-2011, 05:31

I'm the one who posted first after the spambot. I didn't even notice the necromantic nature of the thread.

Anyway, vis a vis Tolkien and WWII: it always amuses me when people draw that connection, as the author specifically denies it in the introduction. Tolkien was very familiar with war, having served in the trenches of WWI (where he wrote the first stories of the Elder Days, which ultmately became the Silmarillion), and he was writing the Lord of the Rings during WWII, but he's very clear that the War of the Ring in no way represents or refers to contemporary events.

Corale

27-02-2011, 17:40

Been reading the Night Watch and Day Watch books by Lukyanenko, just started Twilight Watch. I must say I'm slightly disappointed on the depth of the intrigues, I expected more after the movies, which I in retrospect consider to be superior in many ways. After I'm done with that series I'll go on to Metro 2033 by Gluchovskij. I'm on a sort of Eastern European root-mission I guess, I'm also planning to find those books that the Witcher games are based on.

Other than that on my list is the way overdue read of American Gods, and later The Goneaway World.

Nightfish

27-02-2011, 19:41

I'm also planning to find those books that the Witcher games are based on.

I heard those are pretty good but I haven't managed to get a hold of them in english. :( Whenever or whereever I checked I only got a few and not the complete series. Rawr D:

Greebo

27-02-2011, 22:20

Since I had the pleasure and (a much harder to come by) ability to understand the original, I can highly recommend them. It's a very interesting world that Sapkowski created.

Plus there is an actual sex scene with a Unicorn. I actually never got the whole Unicorn thing until I read it...

scrcrw

03-03-2011, 17:07

Zavior

03-03-2011, 18:56

I kinda guessed this was coming after the wedding-blog :P

Kitteh

03-03-2011, 19:11

I've a read a few recently;

David Eddings - The Belgariads Series (I read those through again regularly, they're so good!)
Frederick Forsyth - The Afghan
Brett Weeks - The Shadow Trilogy (assassins :P)

Kremtok

03-03-2011, 22:54

SOLAS, 2009 Consolidated.

water_moon

04-03-2011, 21:11

How have I not posted in a reading thread? Jeeze.

Hmm, currently on the ump-teenth read of Merecedes Lacky's Elemetal masters books. Since I can't afford the newest Tale of the 500 Kingdoms. And drooling waiting for the finish up of the WoT begun by Robert Jordan. What is about about good authors and dying of rare diseases before they finish their work?

Frowzor

05-03-2011, 03:02

I just did my monthly check on GRRM's page and WOW! (http://georgerrmartin.com/if-update.html). Almost hard to believe... :D

THERE IS A GOD :worship:

Fast Eddie

14-03-2011, 14:11

Does nine days count as a thread necro?

I finished Ice Station by Matthew Reilly last night. It was good, but a little shallow, and horribly unbelievable, requiring a lot of suspension-of-disbelief, but I still felt my time was well spent. If it was a film, it would have been some second-rate ostentatious cheesy action film. The plot contains a secret government station in Antarctica, unknowingly built on top of another (abandoned) secret government station in Antarctica, with allusions to crash-landed alien spacecraft, decade-long conspiracies, hovercraft chases, unbelievable heroics by the US Marines, and radioactive seals.

At the charity shop where I volunteer I took home Don Quixote, on the basis on its recommendation here, and Papillon by Henri Charriere. I'm not sure if I'll start them tonight or whether I'll give Fight Club another try first.