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[Alucard]

Hey kiddies, just as the title says, what are you reading or have currently finished reading?

I read this in one sitting two nights ago. It's only 132 pages but it's reeeeeeeeaaaally freaking good and interesting. Talks about free will, God's free will, religion, science, evolution, probability, and a bunch of other things that will really stimulate your brain. I recommend it to everyone if you haven't read it already. I wish more books like this existed.

Back to this now. Not overly complicated (it's really meant for younger children) but it's a neat little read. Some stuff that we would probably consider innuendo today, is natural and non-threatening in this book since it was written in the late 1800s. I want to check out Macdonald's more serious fantasy works.

 

[Tiger]

GAF :/

 

[Squirrel Killer]

The Wall Jumper: A Berlin Story by Peter Schneider


But an edition with not so nearly a stylized cover. I was supposed to read it for either a modern German history or East European politics class way back when, but never got around to it. It's short, but the treatment of the Berlin Wall is really thought-provoking.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

It's ok. It would be a decent popular introduction both to the thought of Schopenhauer and what to expect in a group therapy setting, but it doesn't really work as a compelling novel. Quick read.

 

[lylos]

Yes I know, I'm living in yesterday.

 

[Alucard]

Yes I know, I'm living in yesterday.

I haven't read it yet either, so no worries.

 

[shantyman]

 

[FlameOfCallandor]

 

[lylos]

I haven't read it yet either, so no worries.

So far it's been pretty good. Someone told me it was like National Treasure in a book form, I'm seeing where they could get that.

 

[Prospero]

Splitting my time between--

1. The American Poetry Wax Museum: Reality Effects, 1940-1990, by Jed Rasula

2. The Jesuits in North America, by Francis Parkman

3. Absolute Watchmen (and I love the new coloring--it really does make a difference).

 

[FnordChan]

I just finished reading:

Elizabeth Peters - The Curse of the Pharaohs - The second of Peters' long-running series of murder mysteries staring Victorian archeologist Amelia Peabody. It was a fun, pleasant read, if not utterly gripping or a perfect re-creation of the Victorian era. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, but not rushing out to buy it immediately.

Meanwhile, I've just started:

George McDonald Fraser - Flash For Freedom! - Wherein old Flashy finds himself involved at all levels of the mid-19th century slave trade - including the inside - culminating in an encounter with Abe Lincoln, where I'm sure Abe will learn a lot from our anti-hero. The Flashman series - combining historical detail with utter bastardom - is already contrversial enough, what with Flash whoring, drinking, and fleeing his way through military history, so seeing Fraser take on slavery should make for a helluva ride. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but so far Flash's third outing is outstanding and I am already making plans to stockpile the rest of the series by any means necessary.

Finally, I'm slowly making my way through:

Bryan Talbot - The Adventures of Luther Arkwright - Lushly illustrated, densely layered, intricate psychadelic comics about a special agent in the midst of a war being waged across time, shifting between The Future(tm) and imperialist Europe. It's astonishingly good and is packed so tight with detail that it's difficult to absorb more than a bit at a time. Thanks to a friend, I have the follow-up series Heart of Empire waiting for me when I'm done with this, which at this rate will be sometime later this year. No worries; this is a title to savor. When I'm done, I'm going to go back and re-read Fritz Leiber's The Big Time.

FnordChan

 

[Karg]

Promise of the Witch King (Forgotten Realms: The Sellswords, Book 2)

I know a good number of people here dislike Salvatore but I loved the story between Entreri and Jarlaxle so I had to pick this up. Good read.

Haven't read this since high school so giving it another read.

 

[Dan]

Over the last week I've finished:

Understanding Comics is a really cool exploration of the theoretical possibilities of the medium, and all done in the form of comics itself. I'm going to have to read that Will Eisner book on the medium at some point now too.

Now I'm taking a break and reading portions of this:

I'm rather disappointed in this one. Turns out most of the book is background on those "30 great minds" and each is only given two or three pages for their direct thoughts. I was hoping for longer theoretical pieces on where they saw things going. With so little space to provide evidence and whatnot, the predictions feel rather empty.

 

[Forsete]

Almost done with it.

Moving on to the next book in that series.

 

[Raistlin]

for entertainment

A few other books for 'enrichment'.

 

[aparisi2274]

I was such a big Fan of The Da Vinci Code, so now I am reading any books that involve the vatican and secret coverups and what not.. So here is

I just finished this one:

I am currently reading this one:

Then I have this one next:

Then I have this on preorder:

 

[thomaser]

"Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie. I'm totally in love with this one... really funny and rich story about a very special child growing up in India under very special circumstances. A slow read, but every second is worthwile.

"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" by Laurence Sterne. Just started this one. I've wanted to read it for ages, so I'm hopeful it will be good! Everything points to that.

 

[ghibli99]

Just as good as it was when I first read it... it's also making me feel nostalgic about the Infocom text adventure game.

 

[Nostrildamus]

PASTORALMANIA!

 

[LordMaji]

I was such a big Fan of The Da Vinci Code, so now I am reading any books that involve the vatican and secret coverups and what not.. So here is

I just finished this one:

I am currently reading this one:

Then I have this one next:

Then I have this on preorder:

Yeah Those are on my list also. Can't wait to get to them. I have to many books I wanna read.

Currently Reading @ Work.

Currently Reading @ Home

This one so far a pretty fast paced book, chapters are a bit longer then Dan Brown's stuff, but just as fast paced. You might enjoy this one also aparisi2274.

 

[White Man]

"The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" by Laurence Sterne. Just started this one. I've wanted to read it for ages, so I'm hopeful it will be good! Everything points to that.

Tristram Shandy has its highs and lows, but it's worth reading just to see how far ahead of his time Sterne was. Sterne's writing works better in small doses. Much like I prefer Pynchon's Lot 49 over Gravity's Rainbow, I prefer A Sentimental Journey over Tristram Shandy. Of course, Tristram and Gravity's Rainbow are the more important books, though.

 

[DarkAngyl]

Memories of Ice

Just fucking fantastic. I've liked the first two books in this series a lot, but this is the book that seems to be bringing it altogether for me. I can't reccomend the Malazan books enough.

 

[Dilbert]

What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles. (Job search guidebook...very interesting stuff.)

Salt Water Amnesia by Jeffrey Skinner. (Poetry; much of it is prose poetry.)

 

[bjork]

I read Genshiken #4 and Love Roma #2 the other night... tonight is Monster #1.

 

[aparisi2274]

Yeah Those are on my list also. Can't wait to get to them. I have to many books I wanna read.

Currently Reading @ Work.

Currently Reading @ Home

This one so far a pretty fast paced book, chapters are a bit longer then Dan Brown's stuff, but just as fast paced. You might enjoy this one also aparisi2274.

I loved A&D a lil more than DaVinci... I also read Browns other works, Deception Point, and Digital Fortress. They were also both excellent books. I highly recommend them.

I'll give that book you mentioned a looksee and decide if I will add it to my list.

I just wish Brown would hurry and finish The Solomon key. The next in the robert Langdon novels.

EDIT: That book "Comes a Horseman" are the chapters short like the way Davinci and A&D are? I love books like that...

 

[Flynn]

The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia: I just finished this. Experimental fiction from the McSweeny's set. It's terribly accomplished for a first novel -- mixes magical realism with the otherworldliness of Murakami. Any book that casts a Mexican wrestler as an honest-to-God saint is worth a read in my book.

The Confusion by Neal Stevenson: The first 400 pages of Quicksilver were a bear, but once you get past that roadblock, this series transforms to a (relatively) easy to consume historical, pre-steampunk adventure.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

People of Paper sounds really interesting.

Quicksilver was so crushingly dissapointing to me, that it honestly made me feel differently about Stephenson. The writing was just bad, imo.

 

[Mifune]

I'm also reading The Confusion, about halfway through. I don't know. It has its moments (namely that incredible extended Jack/Bonanza stolen gold sequence), but overall I think I prefer Quicksilver. There was a pretty awesome sense of scientific discovery that is missing from The Confusion. Bring back Newton and Waterhouse! And no more Eliza. Her sections make me want to sleep.

And I can understand being disappointed with Stephenson on the whole. He clearly made no choices in the writing of these books. He just threw everything onto the page, no matter how trivial. But I guess that's sort of the point of The Baroque Trilogy, and I'm enjoying it for what it is.

Also reading...

Feels like Gibson-lite to me. It's a compelling read, but at about the halfway point, I understand everything that's going on. And that just ain't right.

 

[Jack Random]

Owch, didnt like Virtual Light.


My fluff of the moment, Takashi Kovacs is the man:

 

[Brian Fellows]

again.......

 

[Mr Jared]

After watching 100+ episodes and cosplaying 2 characters, Im finally reading the manga series X__X

 

[100Bullets]

Also reading...

Feels like Gibson-lite to me. It's a compelling read, but at about the halfway point, I understand everything that's going on. And that just ain't right.

Yeah, I agree about Virtual Light though Pattern Recognition is spot on for me.

 

[WedgeX]

Great so far, gotta love McCullough.

 

[boredJonathan]

About 130 pages in so far. I'm a sucker for King in general, and this so far has been a really good read. Only complaint so far is that its very heavy on the action and plot execution, and light on the characterization. Hopefully this next strech of of the book, which looks to slow things down a bit, will change that.

Kind of like a zombie version of the Stand so far.

 

[norinrad21]

iCon - Steve Jobs

Freakonomics

 

[Flynn]

People of Paper sounds really interesting.

Quicksilver was so crushingly dissapointing to me, that it honestly made me feel differently about Stephenson. The writing was just bad, imo.

I've been flip-flopping on my opinion of Stephenson since starting Quicksilver. I bought the book the day it came out and never finished it and took the same opinion as you, that the book was bloated and encumbered by the fact that he felt the need to share every ounce of research that went into the story.

The huge Wired story about wiring the Internet was a good relief valve for the extra information that he collected while researching Cryptonomicon. It's a shame he didn't have a similar outlet for all the interesting perspective he gained while writing these books.

Still, I'm really starting to enjoy the books -- if only for their geek analysis of historical events.

I'm bouncing between Patrick O'Brian books and these, so I'm sorta overdosing on deep sea adventures. That's why I dropped that Placencia book into the mix.

 

[Azmodon]

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis

 

[boredJonathan]

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

It's probably blasphemous to say this, but I've always felt that the movie is actually much better than the novel. Not to say Palahniuk hasn't written some good things, or that Fight Club is a bad book (because it is not)... but the movie seems so much more concentrated in its focus.

Also, wanted to add, once I finish Cell, I'll finally start on:

New short story/novella, published only in the Netherlands, by the author of House of Leaves.

 

[Ogni-XR21]

The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived - Robert Rankin (just finished it, was pleasantly surprised)

Next will be: The Book Of Ultimate Truths - Robert Rankin (I borrowed it from the same friend who gave me the above book)

But I read the german versions...

 

[Jupiter]

Memories of Ice

Just fucking fantastic. I've liked the first two books in this series a lot, but this is the book that seems to be bringing it altogether for me. I can't reccomend the Malazan books enough.

Same here. After reading AFFC then This one, I have to put Malzans Book of the Fallen above
A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

[muttyeah416]

i know i know im super LTTP but this is genius!

This may seem like a book you read in high school but it's filled with great short stories from obscure authors. pretty entertaining

 

[scorcho]

interesting read, but doesn't seem to address policy vis-a-vis peer competitors.

must be read by everyone once a year. utter genius.

 

[Matlock]

Over the last week I've finished:

Boo, hiss at the pretentious shitfest that is Understanding Comics--although many accolades for Maus. One of my top 3 comics, and top 10 books of all time. :X

 

[LM4sure]

I'm reading the DaVinci Code again. Getting ready for the movie.

 

[Dan]

Boo, hiss at the pretentious shitfest that is Understanding Comics--although many accolades for Maus. One of my top 3 comics, and top 10 books of all time. :X

Eh, maybe it's a little pretentious but there are only so many discussions of the possibilities of the medium, to my knowledge at least. Either way, I had to read it for a class.

 

[Litigation Manuel]

The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia: I just finished this. Experimental fiction from the McSweeny's set. It's terribly accomplished for a first novel -- mixes magical realism with the otherworldliness of Murakami. Any book that casts a Mexican wrestler as an honest-to-God saint is worth a read in my book.

The Confusion by Neal Stevenson: The first 400 pages of Quicksilver were a bear, but once you get past that roadblock, this series transforms to a (relatively) easy to consume historical, pre-steampunk adventure.

I read the People of Paper, too. I was thoroughly impressed; even though the narration and page setup is odd and sounds gimmicky, it flows really well and makes a lot of sense. I have no idea how Plascencia will follow it up.

 

[sans_pants]

Was reading the rape of nanking, but i was finding it kinda slow, so I went to the bookstore.

Started reading this one first, should be done in a few days.

this ones next

followed by this one

 

[sans_pants]

i dont know how to make amazon images work


sigh

 

[Flynn]

I read the People of Paper, too. I was thoroughly impressed; even though the narration and page setup is odd and sounds gimmicky, it flows really well and makes a lot of sense. I have no idea how Plascencia will follow it up.

No kidding. If I was him I'd write a totally traditional book next.

 

[Kai Dracon]

I JUST finished this.

Now I'm posting this from a laptop while hiding under my bed and staring at my housemate's cell phone on the table!

O_O

KASHWAK = NO FO