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[golem]

Loving every page of this bad boy, thanks to everyone who rec'd it:

Available for free here:

http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

Great book

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Started on A Song Of Ice and Fire, first time ever reading so hope its as good as everyone says.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Started learning C a few weeks ago. This is great when you already know the basics of another programming language.

seeing that book brings back horrible memories of the computer lab at 2am

 

[Xater]

I should probably add what I am actually reading right now.

Very entertaining read. Tyson knows how to present science in a fun and interesting way. The world of science needs more people like him. It's also nice how he wraps up the whole controversy and drama around the whole Pluto issue. If you have interest in this kind of stuff I'd give it a try.

 

[Mifune]

Yes, the series continues past the Soviet era. The first half is late Soviet, with the third novel taking place during the 1991 coup attempt, and the later books continue forward to the present day. The seventh novel in the series, Three Stations, is due out this year, so if you like Gorky Park you've got a lot to look forward to.

And amazingly enough, the series ranges from outstanding (Gorky Park) to merely decent (Havana Bay). There's not a bad book in the lot. Can't wait for Three Stations.

 

[TheOddOne]

Hmmmm... Is there any differences between 1st edition of World War Z and the later editions ? My friend has the HC 1st edition and it has about 30 pages more than mine (don't remember what edition) or is it just the font size or something like that ? Because I do know that sometimes there are big differences between some editions. I was just wondering if I should seek out the first edition of WWZ.

Oh and I bought "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" today. Gonna start reading it soon.

To be honoust, I have no idea.

 

[Guileless]

Right now I am having trouble to find something new to read for me. I am in phase where I had enough sci-fi and fantasy. Maybe GAF can help my out here? I'm looking for fiction and I really enjoy Nick Hornby.

I am a Hornby fan too. You could check out Tom Perotta's fiction. You may have seen the film Election, which was based on his novel. I enjoyed The Abstinence Teacher.

 

[eznark]

I'm about halfway through Consider Phlebas. I really and enjoying it as it goes on. For some reason I kept picturing The Eater as Rosie O'Donnell. I think it made the chapter more humorous than was intended.

 

[BanShunsaku]

I'm about two thirds of the way through GRRM's A Storm of Swords, just read the

Spoiler

Red Wedding

chapters. Had to put the book down and have a timeout after those :lol

 

[chuckddd]

Just finished that Alistair Reynolds book. Solid but not spectacular. Worth a read if you're really into ~somewhat~ reality based sci-fi.

Phlebas, you're up. Maybe I can catch up to Eznark.

 

[eznark]

Just finished that Alistair Reynolds book. Solid but not spectacular. Worth a read if you're really into ~somewhat~ reality based sci-fi.

Phlebas, you're up. Maybe I can catch up to Eznark.

Doubt it, since I got the nook I have been voracious. I'm guessing I'll be done with it by Thursday or so. But it's a race!!

 

[Magicked]

Started learning C a few weeks ago. This is great when you already know the basics of another programming language.

I've started to learn reversing techniques recently, and I really want to pick this book up along with something on assembly. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Unfortunately I've had to get away from literature and other more entertaining reads recently (although, the stuff I'm going through is entertaining for me in its own way.) I'll probably be into these for the next couple months:

 

[chuckddd]

Doubt it, since I got the nook I have been voracious. I'm guessing I'll be done with it by Thursday or so. But it's a race!!

:lol If I'm 200 pages in on Thursday, I'll be lucky. You win. Maybe you could read all of the culture books and I'll just read Phlebas. Then it'll be close.

 

[WedgeX]

Finished up Ghost Wars. The book was a good read, and paired up well with books like Legacy of Ashes, Fair Game and Globalization and Its Discontents.

Now I'm on to....

On Writing is fun so far. I'm trying to get back into writing things other than purely technical stuff, and this is pushing me in the right direction

 

[Musashi Wins!]

You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier.

I've been waiting to read this for several years. I wasn't aware it had come out, he changed it from the more esoteric title "Information Is An Alienated Experience". So I only noticed it by accident in B&N today.

 

[ronito]

So I just finished A Feast for Crows, and now the wait begins

Any suggestions for a good series to keep me tide until George decides to finish (who knows when that'll be)

 

[Vyer]

I am over halfway and really enjoying it. It scratches both of my itches for historical novels and horror. Highly recommended.

Local B&N had this HC in the bargain section for 5 bucks. Went ahead and picked it up. Looking forward to it.

Also just finished a reread of Song of Ice and Fire thanks to the GAF thread. :lol I enjoyed A Feast For Crows a lot more this time around for whatever reason.

And after really loving The Road and No Country For Old Men, I'm moving on to:

 

[creativity]

Did anyone else pick this up? I rather liked it but wished it was longer.

 

[zaxor0]

 

[Chorazin]

Currently reading:

The Photographer's Eye is a composition and design handbook, widely regarded as one of the best pure composition handbooks currently published. I struggle A LOT with composition when I'm shooting, and this should help me out a lot.

The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson. This has been recommended a few times in this thread, and the writing seems a little rough but I'm gonna stick with it, as it's starting to pick up the pace now.

 

[ronito]

So I just finished A Feast for Crows, and now the wait begins

Any suggestions for a good series to keep me tide until George decides to finish (who knows when that'll be)

No one?

 

[aidan]

No one?

The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone by Greg Keyes.
The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham.
The First Law by Joe Abercrombie.
The Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe.
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams.
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.

Those should keep you busy for a while.

 

[Undeux]

You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier.

I've been waiting to read this for several years. I wasn't aware it had come out, he changed it from the more esoteric title "Information Is An Alienated Experience". So I only noticed it by accident in B&N today.

I'm about halfway through it. It's pretty interesting. I picked it up kind of spontaneously and I'm glad I did.

 

[FnordChan]

No one?

For more fantasy, try Lois Bujold's The Curse of Chalion, a self-contained novel about a medieval soldier who comes home from war hoping to spend the rest of his days quietly tutoring, but who instead attracts the attention of the gods, at which point all hell breaks loose. I enjoyed the hell out of it. If you like it there's a self-contained novel in the same universe that's also excellent, the Hugo award winning Paladin of Souls.

FnordChan

 

[Tim the Wiz]

No one?

China Mieville's loosely connected Bas-Lag novels are always great to get into.

Perdido Street Station is a fascinating introduction to the early industrial capitalist city-state of New Crobuzon, where magic and steampunk technology co-exist in a fundamentally corrupt and darkly twisted society. It's a mix of the weird and the familiar and the alien - and it's completely unforgettable.

And to make matters better, its "sequel", The Scar, a politico-fantasy thriller of mythic proportions, eclipses the first entry. Personally, I would name it as the best fantasy novel of the last decade. Mieville captures enough complexity, emotion, and extraordinary imagery to astound in the process of reaching an expertly-plotted ending which truly sticks - in the fashion of Watchmen.

I haven't yet finished his most recent Bas-Lag novel, Iron Council, so I can't impart much more. Except that his next one will probably be due out next year. And that his non-Bas-Lag work is probably worth checking out as well.

 

[Father_Mike]

Same. Nearly done the first division of the transcendental logic.

 

[daxter01]

i just read first 10 pages of In Search of Lost Time

 

[jon bones]

very excited to read this... heard so many great things

 

[Karakand]

i just read first 10 pages of In Search of Lost Time

...and the narrator still isn't out of bed!!

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Thanks to GAF recommendations, I will begin this any day.

 

[vgachi57]

it's not a 'book' book, but i just started reading detective conan or 'case closed' since i caught up to one piece, naruto, air gear, and a few other mangas.

 

[Devil Theory]

very excited to read this... heard so many great things

You should be, incredible read.

 

[MilesWebber]

Halfway through, really one of the first non-fiction books I've enjoyed reading.

Loved this book!

 

[sphagnum]

"Justinian's Flea" and "The Ruin of the Roman Empire", two very contrasting books about late antiquity.

 

[Ashes]

Norman Mailer: THE NAKED AND THE DEAD

Bloody good so far.

 

[eznark]

FREE EBOOK

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com...ess-quot-Free-Download-Today-Only/ba-p/481145

On February 15, 2003, a group of thieves broke into an allegedly airtight vault in the international diamond capital of Antwerp, Belgium and made off with over $108 million dollars worth of diamonds and other valuables. They did so without tripping an alarm or injuring a single guard in the process.
Although the crime was perfect, the getaway was not. The police zeroed in on a band of professional thieves fronted by Leonardo Notarbartolo, a dapper Italian who had rented an office in the Diamond Center and clandestinely cased its vault for over two years. The “who” of the crime had been answered, but the “how” remained largely a mystery.
Enter Scott Andrew Selby, a Harvard Law grad and diamond expert, and Greg Campbell, author of Blood Diamonds, who undertook a global goose chase to uncover the true story behind the daring heist. Tracking the threads of the story throughout Europe—from Belgium to Italy, in seedy cafés and sleek diamond offices—the authors sorted through an array of conflicting details, divergent opinions and incongruous theories to put together the puzzle of what actually happened that Valentine’s Day weekend.
This real-life Ocean’s Eleven—a combination of diamond history, journalistic reportage, and riveting true-crime story—provides a thrilling in-depth study detailing the better-than-fiction heist of the century.

Sounds interesting enough to download.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Is this any good? I liked and hated American Psycho (liked the movie, couldnt read the book - too detailed and in first person)

It has the same sort of tone, I suppose. But from what few pages I've seen of American Psycho it never turns into those extremes.

 

[Quake1028]

Book # 7

 

[lawlohwhat]

and, about to start:

 

[Bishman]

GAF, recommend me a book to read. I've read some books for classes in college but I want to actually read a book for non-academic reasons.

The only book I've read is the Art of War. And I only read parts of it to help me play Starcraft and RTS better.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

What type of book?

Theres a few threads kickin round for Fantasy and Sci-Fi if you google em.

 

[Salazar]

Finished Peter Matthiessen's The Cloud Forest: A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness. There's a quote on the cover from Stephen Jay Gould calling Matthiessen the finest living nature writer in the lyrical tradition, and I can't disagree. Wonderful book, crammed with birds, vipers, pigs, piranha, tribesmen, bad food, wild rapids, guns, dolphins.

Started on Tim Clayton's TARS: The Men Who Made Britain Rule the Waves, which follows in acute detail the voyages and engagements of two Royal Navy crews. Masterful so far, the better because of the obsessive closeness with which everything that happened on board was recorded. If you like O'Brian or Forester, and only fools and children do not, you'd be satisfied by this.

 

[MorisUkunRasik]

Pygmy - Chuck Palahniuk



The writing style is pretty annoying, but I'm half way through, too invested to just drop it.

 

[Chaser]

I've been reading the Nine Stories collection by J.D. Salinger.

I have to say, it has been absolutely incredible (I have two left).
A Perfect Day for Bananafish and For Esme - With Love and Squalor are probably my favorites so far.

 

[nemesun]

I'm still in the midst of Rommel/Patton biography. pretty intriguing read so far but haven't had much time to dig in properly yet, few pages here - few page there on the subway and what have you.

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

I just finished Halo: Ghosts Of Onyx yesterday and was surprised in the end at how good it got. If you're a fan of the games but scoff at the books, maybe you should give them a try. They start off as perfunctory, if dark, military sci-fi thrillers but develop into a series about family of all things. The three books in Nylund's series form a parallel trilogy that compliments the games well, although there are some slight discrepencies in the fiction that will make your head hurt if you try to think too hard. I was a bit bummed out when I finished it since I really liked Blue team's story and I hope Nylund can go back at some point and write some more.

Today I'm starting off on Nightwings as recommened by Alucrid last month, hopefully it's a fun ride.

 

[Mael]

Just finished Invisible by Auster and diving into Indignation by Roth

 

[nemesun]

Just finished Invisible by Auster and diving into Indignation by Roth

Invisible is Auster's weakest novel to date imo. I said it somewhere else but after reading Paul Auster's Book of illusions, I went & bought invisible straight away. What a lard of tosh this book turned out to be. Paul seems like a cracking author but somehow he got off track and wrote a third rate erotica/porn fantasy.

 

[ConfusedMan09]

Almost half way through Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Fantastic book, very highly recommended.

Hows the rest of the Revelation Space series, better or worse than the first book?

 

[PolarBearsClub]

I've been reading the Nine Stories collection by J.D. Salinger.

I have to say, it has been absolutely incredible (I have two left).
A Perfect Day for Bananafish and For Esme - With Love and Squalor are probably my favorites so far.

I've been re-reading this. In addition to the two stories you mentioned, I really like Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes and Teddy.

Salinger really knows how to elicit strong emotions using very little words. His dialogue is crazy good.