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[nitewulf]

Amy Hempel's Reasons To Live and Ross Macdonald's Zebra-Striped Hearse. The Hempel stories aren't really doing anything for me so far, but Macdonald's novel is very enjoyable. I love the Archer character, although I keep picturing him as Paul Newman's Harper.

ross macdonald's archer novels are excellent. harper is based on the first lew archer novel.

 

[mr stroke]

-

anyones thoughts on this? I have been thinking about giving it a try but wondering if its worth the time? Is it Dawkins just ridiculing religion or is it facts and theories on religion?

 

[ttk]

Hopefully it's as good as I've heard, only 50 pages in so far.

 

[AndresON777]

Pretty good actually I've had the book for 4 years but I had nothing to read and I was broke so I picked this up, read like 140 pages yesterday...great book, love the sci fi

 

[sparky2112]

anyones thoughts on this? I have been thinking about giving it a try but wondering if its worth the time? Is it Dawkins just riduciling religion or is facts and theories on religion?

No, I think it's pretty much what you'd expect. I haven't read Hitchens's book, but Hitchens is MEAN, where Dawkins tries to be civil, and I think it waters down his message. I think it's funny that people wish Dawkin's wasn't so 'abrasive', but he's a puppy compared to Hitch.

I respect Dawkins to no end, but I'm not convinced he's as good a writer as he's generally given credit for. All I've read is 'The Gold Delusion' and 'The Blind Watchmaker', and neither was all that compelling, to be honest. Having said that, I have 'The Anscestor's Tale' on my shelf and I am very much looking foward to that...

 

[Uncle]

Just started. Don't know much about Blair, though, so I might miss some stuff.

 

[Google]

Still working through World War Z.

Really enjoying it, but I hope it ties itself up properly.

 

[Night_Trekker]

I finished Child of God in two days, almost a single day. Really disturbing, but a great book.

Now I'm moving on to Suttree.

I think that one will take me a while...

started Blood Meridian last night

Sweet, let us know what you think of it.

 

[Futureman]

Just borrowed this from a friend, a collection of Chabon's essays:

 

[AndresON777]

haha just kidding

 

[Falch]

And just started:

anyones thoughts on this? I have been thinking about giving it a try but wondering if its worth the time? Is it Dawkins just riduciling religion or is facts and theories on religion?

I think it's a great book, that puts forward very well articulated arguments against religion.

 

[echoshifting]

Need to throw out a recommendation for this book:

You will find it among the science fiction books, but there are no traditional sci-fi elements to speak of. This is a satire of a completely deregulated market, consumer addiction, and a powerless government. It is a bit predictable and even silly at times but a fun, fun read. I don't want to give anything away; if you've enjoyed the traditional dystopias - 1984, Brave New World, etc. - this is a fresh spin in that field.

Or, also, if you hate libertarians, you'll probably like this.

I need to retract this recommendation, the last fifty pages were shit

 

[tim1138]

 

[KimiNewt]

Heh, I'm just finishing up reading

I just started reading Watchmen as well and as of now I don't see the big deal but I'll wait till I finish reading it for the final verdict.
I also picked up-

Which I hope is halfway decent, the first 30 or so pages I managed to read while walking back home seemed to have brought more neck pain than they brought any enjoyment.

 

[Falch]

Heh, I'm just finishing up reading

I just started reading Watchmen as well and as of now I don't see the big deal but I'll wait till I finish reading it for the final verdict.
I also picked up-

Which I hope is halfway decent, the first 30 or so pages I managed to read while walking back home seemed to have brought more neck pain than they brought any enjoyment.

Selfish gene is a great book imo. Let me know what you think of Almost like a Whale when you finish it.

 

[Saya]

I finished Gardens of the Moon earlier this week. I found the first third of the book a bit too overwhelming and had a hard time going through it. It took me weeks to get through it and I almost gave up on it. I just found it too confusing and disorientating, but I kept going and then it suddenly clicked and finished the rest of the book in a couple days. By the end of the book, I couldn't get enough and immediately ordered the next two books in the series.

And in the meantime I'm reading:

It's ok so far.

 

[Futureman]

You people interested in Dawkins... DEFINITELY read "Ancestor's Tale." Jesus. What a good book. I just feel such a ridiculous awe of nature after going through that thing.

 

[Aurelius]

Taking a trip to Normandy this weekend, this should make good reading.

 

[tim1138]

And in the meantime I'm reading:

It's ok so far.

I absolutely hated jPod. I've liked everything else Coupland has written but I found that book to be too long and self indulgent.

 

[DancingJesus]

For School:

Meh, it's alright...

 

[Danne-Danger]

Got:

today and ploughed through half of it, parts of it feel kinda redundant since I've seen the movie so many times but the "Dawn of Man" part was really interesting. A bit technical in the space-part though.

 

[bengraven]

I never read a book by it's cover, but I had been debating reading Towelhead based on word of mouth, but upon seeing the cover, the male part of me really really is going to pick it up.

 

[Saya]

I absolutely hated jPod. I've liked everything else Coupland has written but I found that book to be too long and self indulgent.

This is my first Coupland book and I don't know what to think of it. There are some fun moments, but most of the humor just doesn't click with me.

 

[nitewulf]

how are you liking it? my fav story of the bunch is "just before the war with the eskimos". it's quite uncanny how well and accurately salinger was able to portray adolescence, time and time again.

 

[Alucard]

Because I'm currently trying to get TESL Ontario certified and am taking a TESL diploma program...

I'm actually reading through the Canadian Language Benchmarks themselves.

Finding it hard to dedicate time to much else lately, which sucks, because I really have a craving for some sci-fi. Anyway, I'm trying to start this one up...

...I've read through the first 2 and a half chapters but I'm just not feeling it right now. I think it's just a bad time to pick up anything else on top my school reading, lesson planning, and research. Blah.

When my mind feels more at ease, I would like to tackle these...

I think I might try to make some serious headway with Blindness tomorrow, provided that I can plow through a school assignment in the morning and feel ahead of my studies.

 

[demon]

Just started Catcher In The Rye.

 

[Guileless]

I read A Canticle for Leibowitz. So horrifying that I have lost all desire to play Fallout 3. More depressing than Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner rolled into one extra-depressing package. Really, it is excruciating. But I finished it.

I am also about halfway through the Bendis Daredevil run. Oftentimes, you hear about this "legendary run" for years and when you read it you are disappointed. But this is different, Bendis really was meant to write Daredevil.

 

[Alucard]

I read A Canticle for Leibowitz. So horrifying that I have lost all desire to play Fallout 3. More depressing than Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner rolled into one extra-depressing package. Really, it is excruciating. But I finished it.

I am also about halfway through the Bendis Daredevil run. Oftentimes, you hear about this "legendary run" for years and when you read it you are disappointed. But this is different, Bendis really was meant to write Daredevil.

Daredevil became one of my favourite comic book characters because of Bendis, and because of Miller's old run as well.

 

[pjberri]

Finished Nausea and The Cheese Monkeys. I liked both, but Nausea was much better, which was to be expected. Funny to see Kidd designs everywhere, including this thread.

About to start this sucka:

 

[Bliany]

Just finished:

Which i loved. It's really satisfying when you pick up Vonnegut's subtle allusions to his other books.

Moved on to:

I may take a break from Vonnegut after this for Choke or Into the Wild even though i did pick up Timequake and Armageddon in Retrospect.

 

[Jack Scofield]

I guess it's kind of cheating since I'm not reading them on my own time; they're required reading in a class I'm taking. I'm enjoying both so far. And yeah, I know I'm late to the party on both counts.

 

[bggrthnjsus]

 

[Night_Trekker]

It's not really September anymore, but good choice. It's an absolute masterpiece.