Book thread

Douglas

Do we have a book thread? I can't find one. I just got a Kindle as a birthday present! It is so cool. It is very sleek, and seems easy to use. I'm still figuring it out.

Anyway, I haven't read a book in about a month. I enjoy cyberpunk, and space opera-- especially Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books and Neal Asher's Polity books. I've also read a bunch of a PKD short stories and a few of his novels. And I liked The Road, but found Suttree and the Border Trilogy inaccessible. I think I enjoyed Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, but I am not sure I understood it. I enjoyed Dune, but I have zero interest in reading any of the sequels.

Is Pynchon accessible? Where would I begin?

My brother loves Dan Simmons, and I understand he wrote some good sci-fi...

I'm thinking about reading some more of Asher's far future post cyberpunk galactic adventure Polity stuff, as soon as I figure out where to resume.

I'm not really interested in fantasy stuff. I read a lot of sci-fi, obviously. I enjoy crime comics, what are some good crime novels? Dan Simmons wrote three really awesome "hard-boiled" badass ex-cop books that I really enjoyed.

I'm not sure if I am looking for some fun popcorn pulp or something more literary...

What books are people reading? Any suggestions?

Borommakot

Dune Messiah is the only Dune sequel I'd bother with and even then it's not exactly high priority. Anyone who likes sci-fi should read John Scalzi. Old Man's War and the sequels were all really enjoyable.

Right now I'm on a bit of a classics binge so The Count of Monte Cristo, The Republic, and Livy.

Also, http://blogs.forbes.com/booked/2011/04/19/karl-lagerfeld-to-launch-fragrance-that-smells-like-books/ .

Muse Among Men

Nooooo

We want our Book Club thread!

Artreus

This can be a book club thread

Daric

I've been rereading the Percy Jackson books. I bought the newest one, Lost Hero, a while ago and only recently read it and that made me go back and read the others. They're pretty good, light and childish, but good.

glass irony

A flat-out amazing crime novelist is Donald Westlake. He died a few years ago, but in his life he wrote over a hundred novels under a dozen pseudonyms, in practically every genre, sometimes pumping out 5-6 novels a year. The work for which he's best known was written under the pseudonym of Richard Stark. I've read about 9 of the Stark books, and the very best are Slayground and Butcher's Moon.

My other favourite crime novelist, who is every bit as good, is Patricia Highsmith. She wrote the amazing The Talented Mr. Ripley.

But I'm mainly reading poetry these days.

Unknown

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Fyndir

Recently finished re-reading Sherlock Holmes, and before that I re-read the Emperor and Conqueror series by Conn Iggulden, now re-reading the Bookworld/Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, planning to read anything and everything else by him next.

Getting a smartphone that makes it so easy to buy and read books (without having to go into town) was the best thing, especially since it remembers what page I was on when I fall asleep, so many frustrations of falling asleep mid-page and dropping the book, then struggling to remember where I was the next day.

Wren

I just read Dragon with the girl tattoo and Ogre company. those are books technically

Artreus

Daric wrote: »

I've been rereading the Percy Jackson books. I bought the newest one, Lost Hero, a while ago and only recently read it and that made me go back and read the others. They're pretty good, light and childish, but good.

I know they are silly and all but I still read and enjoyed them enough for what they were.

I haven't read the new one(s?) though

edit: Douglas Danger, read Hyperion and The Terror immediately.

redhead

i am continuing to read all the david foster wallace i can get my hands on. i bet you're all simply shocked

Daric

Artreus wrote: »

Daric wrote: »

I've been rereading the Percy Jackson books. I bought the newest one, Lost Hero, a while ago and only recently read it and that made me go back and read the others. They're pretty good, light and childish, but good.

I know they are silly and all but I still read and enjoyed them enough for what they were.

I haven't read the new one(s?) though

It's a new series, sort of.

It's about a boy named Jason. He finds himself at Camp Half-Blood right around the time Percy goes missing. So it's going to be a new series about Jason and Percy, I think.

Artreus

Hey that's my name. But yeah I saw that it was new people so I wasn't really too interested. Miiight pick them up some time at the library but we will see.

Also I loved the Pern books when I was younger. I kind of want to go back and re-read them now that I am older and have forgotten basically everything from them.

FirmSkater

Kindle fucking rules.

Though I dropped mine and now it freeze periodically. Which sucks but I just do a hard reset and its back to normal.

Since I got my Kindle I find myself reading a whole lot more and also find myself super disappointed when there is no Kindle edition for the books I want.

Daric

Artreus wrote: »

Hey that's my name. But yeah I saw that it was new people so I wasn't really too interested. Miiight pick them up some time at the library but we will see.

Also I loved the Pern books when I was younger. I kind of want to go back and re-read them now that I am older and have forgotten basically everything from them.

It's not entirely new characters, Annabeth and Thalia play pretty big parts, as does Grover. And since they figured out where Percy was at the end of the book, I'm assuming they're going to go get him and he'll be in the rest.

Wren

FirmSkater wrote: »

Kindle fucking rules.

Though I dropped mine and now it freeze periodically. Which sucks but I just do a hard reset and its back to normal.

Since I got my Kindle I find myself reading a whole lot more and also find myself super disappointed when there is no Kindle edition for the books I want.

didn't it come with any sort of warranty you can lie about?

Penguin Incarnate

I'm reading The Spy Who Loved Me. I'm two-thirds of the way through it and Bond just showed up. Good for him.

Douglas

t Boro-- I read Old Man's War and thought it was a silly author fantasy. Maybe I was spoiled by how excellent The Forever War was, I don't know. I thought it was silly.

I will check out Hyperion.

Artreus

I feel bad because I pushed for getting a Nook really hard for Christmas and was excited with getting one. Then a few months later I got an iPad for other reasons (was not expecting to get one) and now I never read with the nook because the ipad is just so much faster and also I can read it in bed at night without having the light on. And can switch to the internet to do stuff when I get bored, which I do a lot.

Douglas

I downloaded a sample of Hyperion. I will start reading it soon.

My parents got me this Kindle as a birthday present. They puchased some kind of protection plan, a neat black leather cover/case, and a scratch proof smudge proof film to put on it. My wife suggested I get one, and then sort of suggested I look at the other readers, I think to slow me down. She knew my Mom was getting me one.

Daric

I have a nook color that I rooted. It's pretty great. I use it to read books but I've also been reading Ultimate Spider-Man on it and I have a couple episodes of Archer on there for car rides.

Umaro

I enjoyed the first few Dune sequels.

Ubik

for funny fake trivia and history read The Areas of My Expertise and More Information than You Require both by John Hodgman

read The Man in the High Castle by PKD

FirmSkater

Wren wrote: »

FirmSkater wrote: »

Kindle fucking rules.

Though I dropped mine and now it freeze periodically. Which sucks but I just do a hard reset and its back to normal.

Since I got my Kindle I find myself reading a whole lot more and also find myself super disappointed when there is no Kindle edition for the books I want.

didn't it come with any sort of warranty you can lie about?

Yes, it has a 1 year limited warranty. But I need it for school stuff so I don't want to send it in until I absolutely don't need it on a daily basis anymore. Anyhow the freezing isn't so much of a problem that I can't use it at all.

FirmSkater

Also if you want a truly hilarious book check out this:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-End-World-Know/dp/0452295831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303623472&sr=8-1

Now, I don't mean its funny because its actually funny. I mean its funny because it is an honest to god survival guide for the end of the world.

He mentions the ten commandments as the best law code for your post-apocalyptic post-government community. And one of the problems you might face is finding a way to get to church when fuel shortages occur. The dude even refers to his followers as "Rawlesian Survivalists" and other stupid shit.

He also advises you to stockpile guns, ammunition, barbed/razor wire, store fuel in your home (if you are legally allowed) and all kinds of really weird shit like making booby traps in your property and investing in safe rooms and shit.

I found this and thought it was a joke and read the whole thing in one sitting because I realized, holy shit, there people who take this kind of stuff seriously.

Wren

FirmSkater wrote: »

Also if you want a truly hilarious book check out this:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-End-World-Know/dp/0452295831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303623472&sr=8-1

Now, I don't mean its funny because its actually funny. I mean its funny because it is an honest to god survival guide for the end of the world.

He mentions the ten commandments as the best law code for your post-apocalyptic post-government community. And one of the problems you might face is finding a way to get to church when fuel shortages occur. The dude even refers to his followers as "Rawlesian Survivalists" and other stupid shit.

He also advises you to stockpile guns, ammunition, barbed/razor wire, store fuel in your home (if you are legally allowed) and all kinds of really weird shit like making booby traps in your property and investing in safe rooms and shit.

I found this and thought it was a joke and read the whole thing in one sitting because I realized, holy shit, there people who take this kind of stuff seriously.

those people leave behind the best storehouses in fallout

Artreus

Well when the zombie apocalypse happens you will wish you had read that book.

Mr. Mojo Risin

I recently finished Wise Mans Fear, Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice from the Malazan series and the first of the Furies books by Jim Butcher. Sadly I am now in the process of moving and all of my books are packed away so no reading for me for a couple of weeks, I'm gonna finish the second half of Book of the New Sun when I get moved and manage to find it.

FirmSkater

Well if you're to believe this guy the only way to even survive the end of the world is either live 300 miles away from any metropolitan area or to own property that far away and also have the means to get to it the moment a disaster strikes.

Lest you become part of a the refugee horde sacking the countryside after the power grid fails and running water stops in all cities.

Also the place you go to should not have a population of less than 300 or more than 3,000. For various reasons.

Flay

I would actually be interested in that, but the religious elements kinda ruin the appeal.


Anyhoo, I'm reading 'The Colour of Magic' at the moment, because I've never read any Terry Pratchett before and we just happened to have a copy.

Tikhon

I've recently taken up the habit of just picking up any clearanced sci fi book that doesn't look too horrible. It's led to some surprisingly good reads. Like Lunar Descent by someone and Titan by someone. Once I move I'll look at what I've got.

Cowardly

I'm lending my friend Catch 22 with the hope that he enjoys nearly as much as I did.

I just want to talk about it, really. We did the same thing with Terry Pratchett, where we leant each other the books we had and it turned out to be immensely enjoyable.

also someone mentioned reading the count of monte cristo and fuck that book

Beasteh

i am reading the hitchhikers guide again

good read.

Douglas

Ubik wrote: »

for funny fake trivia and history read The Areas of My Expertise and More Information than You Require both by John Hodgman

read The Man in the High Castle by PKD

I read and enjoyed The Areas of My Expertise. It was funny.

I also read The Man in the High Castle. It was interesting.

Rhan9

I've recently finished The Count of Monte Cristo, which was positively brilliant, and since I was on a bit of a roll as far as Napoleonic times go, I continued by devouring the first four books in the Temeraire series. It's been entertaining, and the Kindle really kicked up a notch my tendency to read.

freakish light

DouglasDanger wrote: »

Ubik wrote: »

for funny fake trivia and history read The Areas of My Expertise and More Information than You Require both by John Hodgman

read The Man in the High Castle by PKD

I read and enjoyed The Areas of My Expertise. It was funny.

I also read The Man in the High Castle. It was interesting.

I got the audiobooks for The Areas of My Expertise and More Information Than You Require. He actually does a really good job of translating them into the audio format; it's more like a radio play than just a straight reading of lists and tables. Plus, it has Jonathan Coulton both for singing and just to play off of. It's well done, I recommend it if you like John Hodgman.

Raijin Quickfoot

Don't ask me how it is going to work, but Kindle owners (like myself) can rejoice in the fact that sometime this year they are introducing library lending to the Kindle.

Deicist

Tikhon wrote: »

I've recently taken up the habit of just picking up any clearanced sci fi book that doesn't look too horrible. It's led to some surprisingly good reads. Like Lunar Descent by someone and Titan by someone. Once I move I'll look at what I've got.

This is exactly what I do. I picked up Titan by john varley a couple of weeks ago, along with the other 2 in the trilogy (wizard & demon) for the princely sum of £1. I love charity shop shopping.

As for sci fi reconmendations:

Hyperion series (dan Simmons) is a must
Nights dawn trilogy (peter f Hamilton)
Anything by alastair Reynolds
Anything by iain m banks

Antimatter

bought Fragile Things and Night Watch

still reading the complete Sherlock Holmes, finished Hound of the Baskervilles

need to get back to mark twain's autobiography

Balefuego

FirmSkater wrote: »

Wren wrote: »

FirmSkater wrote: »

Kindle fucking rules.

Though I dropped mine and now it freeze periodically. Which sucks but I just do a hard reset and its back to normal.

Since I got my Kindle I find myself reading a whole lot more and also find myself super disappointed when there is no Kindle edition for the books I want.

didn't it come with any sort of warranty you can lie about?

Yes, it has a 1 year limited warranty. But I need it for school stuff so I don't want to send it in until I absolutely don't need it on a daily basis anymore. Anyhow the freezing isn't so much of a problem that I can't use it at all.

you won't have to send it back until the new one gets to you plus they send it like next day shipping anyway

Balefuego

Tallus wrote: »

Tikhon wrote: »

I've recently taken up the habit of just picking up any clearanced sci fi book that doesn't look too horrible. It's led to some surprisingly good reads. Like Lunar Descent by someone and Titan by someone. Once I move I'll look at what I've got.

This is exactly what I do. I picked up Titan by john varley a couple of weeks ago, along with the other 2 in the trilogy (wizard & demon) for the princely sum of £1. I love charity shop shopping.

As for sci fi reconmendations:

Hyperion series (dan Simmons) is a must
Nights dawn trilogy (peter f Hamilton)
Anything by alastair Reynolds
Anything by iain m banks

If you're going to read something by Peter F. Hamilton I liked his Commenwealth books a lot more than Night's Dawn