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[sparky2112]

Post Captain is extraordinarily good.

This. Easily my favorite, but it's ALL good...

 

[nakedsushi]

Currently reading this after so many recommendations from here and GR:


The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

I'm reading this slowly instead of my usual breakneck pace because it's a book to be savored. The translator did a fantastic job here. The prose is WONDERFUL. I'm not really sure where the story is going because I've been trying not to read too many reviews and spoilers on it.



About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper
Also reading this for work. So far it's been helpful. I have a programmer's eye and am trying to train my design and UI eye so our site is easier to use.

 

[Ryan_]

Just finished 1984, but I haven't decided what to read next. I might choose between This Time Is Different and The Right Stuff.

Is the last book in the trilogoy still worth reading? I read the forst two but I heard bad things about the last one, even to the point where people said, you better just stick with the first 2.

I do love Murakami tho, reading Dance, Dance Dance atm.

 

[Ryan_]

So far Ive read Norwegian Wood, After Dark and Sputnik Sweetheart by Murakami. What so i pick up next from him

I would seriously consider reading "Kafka On The Beach" next. For me, it's one of his best books.

 

[CF_Fighter]

Really enjoying it so far, only 5 chapters in.

 

[mike23]

Read

Had me thinking "If the author goes in this direction, I'm going to rage" towards the end, but it worked out. It was also a little bit slow at parts, but otherwise I liked it.

Started yesterday and plan to finish tonight:

Good so far. I'm liking the magic schooling aspect.

 

[perfectnight]

One of the best books I've ever read. I stopped reading everything else just so I could focus on this entirely.

 

[Burger]

Saw this in the book store on the weekend, and the wee recommendation card said "My favourite book of 2011 so far, better than Rothfuss, and probably better than Martin"

So I thought I'd give it a whirl.

 

[ThanksVision]

I never read on my own time, unfortunately. But for class:

I just finished The Great Gatsby and absolutely loved it. I honestly thought it was a slow burn throughout the first couple of chapters but it really ramps up quickly, and even opens your eyes to many things.

About to read Catch-22

 

[aidan]

Currently reading this after so many recommendations from here and GR:


The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

I'm reading this slowly instead of my usual breakneck pace because it's a book to be savored. The translator did a fantastic job here. The prose is WONDERFUL. I'm not really sure where the story is going because I've been trying not to read too many reviews and spoilers on it.

My favourite book (alongside THE HOBBIT). Savour it.

 

[devenger]

Starting Cloud Atlas.

edit: instead of posting again, why lol for "Kafka On the Shore". I've heard it's one of his best, and after Wind Up Bird and Hard Boiled Wonderland, i was really looking forward to it.

ahh, nevermind

 

[the_painted_bird]

I would seriously consider reading "Kafka On The Beach" next. For me, it's one of his best books.

lol

It's "On The Shore"

 

[BertramCooper]

I read The Hunger Games last week and have now moved on to the sequel.

It's entertaining enough.

 

[Eggo]

Myths and Masters of the Game

This book is billed as the unofficial sequel to The Game by Neil Strauss. Here's more info if you want to read about it. Basically, a regular journalist (i.e., non-pickup artist) covers an event called Project Rockstar, where 6 people are chosen for a 2 month bootcamp in London. World-famous pickup artists convene to teach these 6 people the art of seduction. They're given the ultimate makeover: working out with physical trainers, learning body language from people paid to spot liars, learning voice projection with opera singers, taught personal financing by experts in the field. The goal of the bootcamp is to improve the men's health, wealth, and relationships. Unlike the Game, this book is very objective. It's like a documentary of events that happened, without interjecting any opinion or agenda. Highly recommended. It's inspirational and you can learn tidbits of pickup along the way.

 

[Jhriad]

I read extremely fast so I pace myself by reading one book from fiction, non-fiction, and one "fun" book from fantasy/sci-fi/horror. My current reading material:

Little more than halfway through and I'm enjoying it quite a bit more than I did Player Piano, another Vonnegut book that I've read recently. Didn't hate Player Piano but I found it to be more of a "Hrm. Interesting." book than the engaging read I've found Slaughterhouse Five to be.

Just started so I'm not sure what I think yet. Came on recommendation from my grandparents so it took me a while to actually pick it up and start reading it.

Dies The Fire is actually a book I've read before but I felt like reading the series again as it's one of my favorite takes on a world after "the end of the world."

 

[Murkas]

Ordered the first Song of Ice and Fire book due to all the praise it's getting, can't wait for it to arrive.

It will be the first book I read in a long time.

 

[Maklershed]

This book is billed as the unofficial sequel to The Game by Neil Strauss. Here's more info if you want to read about it. Basically, a regular journalist (i.e., non-pickup artist) covers an event called Project Rockstar, where 6 people are chosen for a 2 month bootcamp in London. World-famous pickup artists convene to teach these 6 people the art of seduction. They're given the ultimate makeover: working out with physical trainers, learning body language from people paid to spot liars, learning voice projection with opera singers, taught personal financing by experts in the field. The goal of the bootcamp is to improve the men's health, wealth, and relationships. Unlike the Game, this book is very objective. It's like a documentary of events that happened, without interjecting any opinion or agenda. Highly recommended. It's inspirational and you can learn tidbits of pickup along the way.

I just got The Game last week after listening to Neil's interview on the Stern show.

 

[Adam Blade]

Finished this last night. I was actually able to finish it, unlike with the first book of The Long Price Quartet.

I enjoyed it, but would only rate it as decent.

 

[nakedsushi]

I read extremely fast so I pace myself by reading one book from fiction, non-fiction, and one "fun" book from fantasy/sci-fi/horror.

I tried doing that but I found that I would finish reading the "fun" book way ahead of the other books and then the other books would just slow me down. So now, I just read whatever catches my fancy =)

 

[Manics]

 

[Goody]

I slipped in a novel between my short story reading. Ray by Barry Hannah. I read it in two sittings. It's only about 110 pages long. Get your hands on it. It's on Kindle if that's your kinda thing. It's short and brisk and hysterical and sad.

Also, I've noticed a lot of readers of Cormac McCarthy on these boards, and I have to suggest William Gay, especially if you enjoy his earlier Appalachian work. Especially Twlight, his last novel. It made me shout obscenities at it. In a good way. It's also less than 5 bucks for the Kindle edition. Again, if that's your kinda thing.

 

[Maklershed]

Sounds good. Ordered.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Also, if anybody's interested, "Benito Cereno" is an interesting early novella from Herman Melville. It's not unabashedly great, but it's pretty good and an interesting interpretation of the idea of race, especially given the time period in which it was written.

 

[Burger]

Curious for your impressions. I've heard good things about this author, but he/she doesn't appear in my local libraries, so I've never read any of his/her books.

Yeah will do. If it was enabled I could lend the ebook to you, but it isn't

 

[kinoki]

Just finished the Steinbeck book Grapes of Wrath, great book but it took forever to get through. Reading it you really start to wonder if any of the current tea party movement have read it and what they think of it.

Right now I'm working on The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. It's alot of fun so far. And I've bought Humpty Dumpty in Oakland by Philip K Dick and Revolution Road by Richard Yates.

 

[Melhisedek]

What book is this? Can't make it :/

 

[Burger]

What book is this? Can't make it :/

Drood by Dan Simmons.

 

[beelzebozo]

definitely one of the best books i've read in ages. if you can track it down at your library or order a cheap copy on amazon, i promise there are creative nonfiction stories in here that will touch your humanity, that will leave you feeling edified and knowledgeable, that will devastate you and open up conversations with yourself that you've never had and maybe aren't ready to have. it is extremely powerful writing. i have a few of the stories that i would be glad to share with you as a sample, if you would like--the one regarding how wolves are hunted and trapped in alaska, a story that uses the immunological system of the human body to talk about why we so struggle to rid ourselves of people we love when they leave us. . .

i was changed by this book.

Mark Bowden, of Black Hawk Down (1999) fame, writes, "I think creative nonfiction is the major literary innovation of the last half century," a claim with which Gutkind, a tireless advocate for the form, wholeheartedly agrees. So committed to the genre is writer, teacher, and editor Gutkind, he founded the literary journal Creative Nonfiction and now celebrates its phenomenal first decade by collecting 25 of its best essays. The result is an electrifying anthology that covers the creative nonfiction universe from the personal essay to nature writing, literary journalism, and science writing. Each superb piece is followed by a writer's statement, and the book itself is introduced by a master of the form, Annie Dillard, whose "Notes for Young Writers" will galvanize all readers no matter their age or writing experience. Graced with memorable essays by such diverse writers as Diane Ackerman, Phillip Lopate, John McPhee, Richard Rodriguez, Floyd Skloot, John Edgar Wideman, and Terry Tempest Williams--writers who contemplate everything from creativity to race, the birth of a child, childhood memories, brain damage, and prairie dogs--this stellar volume will stand as an exciting and defining creative nonfiction primer.

 

[Guileless]

I read Drood this winter. It is similar to Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell:really long and languidly paced are so it's one of those love it or hate it books. I really enjoyed it, but you have to be in the right mood to read it.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Solid book, the ending wasn't my favorite, but overall very good and Browne has a very different style of prose than i'm used to.

Really good, i'm a sucker for memoirs, especially ones about different cultures where u can learn interesting stuff. Lea Jacobson is VERY honest about her life, writing stuff i would never have the balls to. Reading this was like diving into a whole different world. I highly recommend it

 

[Doopliss]

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell

I hadn't heard a lot about this book or seen it talked about much, but I'm about 100 pages in and I'm really enjoying it. So far it's been humiliating situation after humiliating situation for the protagonist, plus the occasional brush with utter ignominy and ruin. It's safe to say I've had no trouble identifying with him.

Also just finished The Green Mile by Stephen King, which I liked but found to be a bit of a struggle to get through. For whatever reason I couldn't bring myself to read more than a few pages at a time. A couple of other books are on my shelf waiting to be read: The Angels Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Shadow of the Wind guy) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I'm pretty hesitant about the latter because I hated the second book in the trilogy. I can see it taking a while to get round to reading it.

 

[nakedsushi]

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell

I hadn't heard a lot about this book or seen it talked about much, but I'm about 100 pages in and I'm really enjoying it. So far it's been humiliating situation after humiliating situation for the protagonist, plus the occasional brush with utter ignominy and ruin. It's safe to say I've had no trouble identifying with him.

Is that the cover for the paperback? It's so different than the hardcover! I guess it shows the subject matter better than the hardcover does. I'm a few chapters in it, but didn't devote any time to it yet, but you're right that the main character seems to have pretty lousy luck.

 

[beelzebozo]

Wow, that's quite an accolade.

Going on my list.

shoot me a pm with your e-mail man. i've got a story for you.

also include credit card and social security numbers, drawing representing your emotional state, and top 5 turn ons/offs (optional)

 

[DesertEater]

I stopped reading Naked lunch(might get back to it later) and started A Confederacy of Dunces following beelzebozo's advice(thnks, again:]). I'm half way through the book now and I'm loving it. Its a lot like catch-22. The book is so funny and the dialogues are probably the most realistic dialogues I've read.

 

[Mumei]

I finished A Feast for Crows. The one thing that bothered me the most was

Spoiler

the characters who had only one or two chapters from their perspective. I feel like it takes me awhile before I immerse myself in a character's perspective.

I also said last time I made an update that I would be asking for suggestions when I finish. I do have a caveat, however. I would like something already on my backlog (e.g. something that I already own):

The Arabian Nights
Lysistrata
Waiting for Godot
Jane Eyre
The Myth of Sisyphus
Don Quixote
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Alienist
I, Lucifer
The Bamboo Sword And Other Samurai Tales
The World According to Garp
Paradise Lost
The Amber Spyglass / The Subtle Knife (already read the first one)
The Color of Magic
The Mistborn Trilogy
The Tale of Genji
The Book of the New Sun
The Wizard Knight
Latro in the Mist

Suggestions?

 

[Dresden]

I finished A Feast for Crows. The one thing that bothered me the most was

Spoiler

the characters who had only one or two chapters from their perspective. I feel like it takes me awhile before I immerse myself in a character's perspective.

I also said last time I made an update that I would be asking for suggestions when I finish. I do have a caveat, however. I would like something already on my backlog (e.g. something that I already own):

The Arabian Nights
Lysistrata
Waiting for Godot
Jane Eyre
The Myth of Sisyphus
Don Quixote
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Alienist
I, Lucifer
The Bamboo Sword And Other Samurai Tales
The World According to Garp
Paradise Lost
The Amber Spyglass / The Subtle Knife (already read the first one)
The Color of Magic
The Mistborn Trilogy
The Tale of Genji
The Book of the New Sun
The Wizard Knight
Latro in the Mist

Suggestions?

If you haven't read Don Quixote yet, what're you waiting for?

 

[Guileless]

Hmm. I would reserve Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell for winter reading by fireside. So unless you're in the Southern hemisphere, don't read it now.

The English professor in Animal House didn't like Paradise Lost.

I read Jane Eyre in 10th grade and did not enjoy it. But who knows, maybe I would like it now.

The musical Don Quixote is good. Never read the book.

I couldn't get into The Wizard Knight. Other than the first half of that, I've never read any Wolfe. Something I will do eventually.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Just about to start this

 

[crowphoenix]

I finished A Feast for Crows. The one thing that bothered me the most was

Spoiler

the characters who had only one or two chapters from their perspective. I feel like it takes me awhile before I immerse myself in a character's perspective.

I also said last time I made an update that I would be asking for suggestions when I finish. I do have a caveat, however. I would like something already on my backlog (e.g. something that I already own):

The Arabian Nights
Lysistrata
Waiting for Godot
Jane Eyre
The Myth of Sisyphus
Don Quixote
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Alienist
I, Lucifer
The Bamboo Sword And Other Samurai Tales
The World According to Garp
Paradise Lost
The Amber Spyglass / The Subtle Knife (already read the first one)
The Color of Magic
The Mistborn Trilogy
The Tale of Genji
The Book of the New Sun
The Wizard Knight
Latro in the Mist

Suggestions?

Waiting for Godot is fantastic, and you could probably finish it in a couple hours.

 

[Ratrat]

I hated the two sequels to The Golden Compass, but I was very young. I think in short, they're not very fun, as much as I like Pullmans writing.

has anyone read this? sounds interesting.

 

[Night_Trekker]

Waiting for Godot is fantastic, and you could probably finish it in a couple hours.

I second that. It's one of my favorite plays of all time. Absolutely brilliant.

 

[nakedsushi]

I also said last time I made an update that I would be asking for suggestions when I finish. I do have a caveat, however. I would like something already on my backlog (e.g. something that I already own):

The Arabian Nights
Lysistrata
Waiting for Godot
Jane Eyre
The Myth of Sisyphus
Don Quixote
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Alienist
I, Lucifer
The Bamboo Sword And Other Samurai Tales
The World According to Garp
Paradise Lost
The Amber Spyglass / The Subtle Knife (already read the first one)
The Color of Magic
The Mistborn Trilogy
The Tale of Genji
The Book of the New Sun
The Wizard Knight
Latro in the Mist

Suggestions?

I'd skip Amber Spyglass / Subtle Knife. I read the trilogy one book after the other and the first book is undeniably the best of the three. The last two aren't *bad* but just not as good, so if you have a backlog, I'd go with something else.

Jane Eyre's a fairly quick read and I enjoyed it, so I'd recommend that.

 

[Sir Pant]

I'd skip Amber Spyglass / Subtle Knife. I read the trilogy one book after the other and the first book is undeniably the best of the three. The last two aren't *bad* but just not as good, so if you have a backlog, I'd go with something else.

Jane Eyre's a fairly quick read and I enjoyed it, so I'd recommend that.

I would disagree on straight-up skipping Amber Spyglass/Subtle Knife, I personally enjoyed both of them. I thought they took the foundations of the world made in Golden Compass, and really expanded and built upon what Pullman was doing. Compass represents a taste of what is to come, it only gets better from there.

That is, as long as you have an open mind, and can accept fiction for what it is. That's all.

 

[hEist]

started.

 

[Dresden]

The Golden Compass was a great fantasy novel.

The latter two shift from that into a clumsy JRPG.

 

[Adam Blade]

If you haven't read Don Quixote yet, what're you waiting for?

Hot diggity. I was just about to say almost the same thing. DQ is a masterpiece.

 

[nakedsushi]

The Golden Compass was a great fantasy novel.

The latter two shift from that into a clumsy JRPG.

Haha, that's a great way of describing it and not far from the truth.

 

[kinn]

has anyone read this? sounds interesting.

Loved it. Read it and then read the follow up books and then read everything else the author has done.

 

[Maklershed]

The description sounds great. I just purchased it.

 

[sparky2112]

has anyone read this? sounds interesting.

So far, it's the only Reynolds I've read. I really, really liked the ideas at play in the book. What was weird was the rather tiny cast of characters. Something just felt 'off'. Having said that, I have no doubt that he's probably knocked subsequent books out of the park...