What are you reading?

[Libaax]

Dune is so famous that is easy finding it in your closest bookstore. I wouldnt recommend amazon or other internet site cause its cheaper getting it in an old paperback.






Anyone here have read Richard Morgan? I found Altered Corbon his Cyberpunk and noir book to be the best i have read in the subgenre. All cybperpunk should be that cool.

[Rolos]

I'm sorry for the necroing, but this was such a fine thread, and it saddens me to see it lying dead, covered in Internet dust.
I had to bring it back.

I am currently reading a "book called The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - not an Earth book,
never published on Earth, and until a terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or heard of by any Earthman.
Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.
In fact it was probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing houses of
Ursa Minor - of which no Earthman had ever heard either.
Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one - more popular than the
Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more
controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some
More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway?"

Seriously, its one of the best books I ve ever read. Its just too awesome. if you are into "Lemony narrators" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... nyNarrator) or Sci-fi, this book is a must.

[papasith]

i just read war breaker by brandon sanderson. the book it amazeing. the charcaters are incredibly entertaining, and the story and world are well written.

i highly reccommend this book. If for nothing else it is worth reading to see how the author whom will finish the wheel of time writes.

[dialdfordesi]

I read Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh over the 4th of July weekend. It's about how Sudhir spent time with a gang in the Chicago projects for his thesis for grad school. Someone posted a video about the economics of a gang in this forum a long while ago, and the person who got all that info was this dude.

[Rolos]

Wasn't he the guy who provided the information for an entire chapter of Steven Levitt's "Freakonomics"?

[dialdfordesi]

Yessir, that's him.

[Loeviz]

One book I can Recommend is "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss.
Fantasy about an infamous person named Kvothe that´s gotten famous doing numerous things, for example killing the king while working as an assassin, being the youngest person to enter the magician school and the fastest to get kicked out
One of the best Fantasy books I´ve read in a long time actually, its the first part of three so I hope the rest is going to be just as kick-ass once they get out.

[darkdarkasian]

"The Dark Tower" series by Stephen King.


The first book of the series, "Gunslinger", was eh, but I'm currently reading the second book which is getting a bit pretty tense.
It's kind of like Berserk in a way in that there's this loner (Roland = Gatts) who's seeking something (Roland seeking the dark tower and gatt is seeking revenge) and they go through their own epic quest and get shitted on by all their own villains, but they someone wipe the shit off and offer the reader a good read.

[Rolos]

"The Dark Tower" series by Stephen King.


The first book of the series, "Gunslinger", was eh, but I'm currently reading the second book which is getting a bit pretty tense.
It's kind of like Berserk in a way in that there's this loner (Roland = Gatts) who's seeking something (Roland seeking the dark tower and gatt is seeking revenge) and they go through their own epic quest and get shitted on by all their own villains, but they someone wipe the shit off and offer the reader a good read.

You know, I always thought that the best part about the "The Dark Tower" saga was not, by any means, the saga itself, but the works that "surrounded" it, like "Insomnia" or "The Stand".

[Libaax]

I'm sorry for the necroing, but this was such a fine thread, and it saddens me to see it lying dead, covered in Internet dust.
I had to bring it back.

I am currently reading a "book called The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - not an Earth book,
never published on Earth, and until a terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or heard of by any Earthman.
Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.
In fact it was probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing houses of
Ursa Minor - of which no Earthman had ever heard either.
Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one - more popular than the
Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more
controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some
More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway?"

Seriously, its one of the best books I ve ever read. Its just too awesome. if you are into "Lemony narrators" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... nyNarrator) or Sci-fi, this book is a must.

Guide is one of the reasons i became an avid book reader. It was my first Sf book back in 2003,2004 and i laughed so much that only the best stand up guys like Murphy,Chappelle,George Carlin can compare. I read it on train to school that took an hour and was funny i couldnt stop laughing. People use to look at me all the time hehe.

[Rolos]

Just finished reading "A Penguin History of the United States".
I have always had a thing for History Books, and since I am going to the States next year, I figured I should read it's History. What can I say?
The part about FDR was just beautiful. I cried. I felt gay for doing so, but I just couldn't help it. That had only happened to me once before, when I was reading "Richard Kreb's Universal History" (the chapter about the birth of the Industrio-Technic society left me feeling something I can only assume was catharsis).
Then I read this one: http://historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html, which wasn't as good, but gave me a different perspective, which is always a good thing.

Oh, and I read the "Theological Sum" by Thomas of Aquinas, which, if a little dull and repetitive, was very useful to understand classical Ethics and the principle of causality as a rational justification for the existence of god (I don't want to bore you with my conclusions, so lets just say there's one big "logical leap" at the end).
Now all I have to do is finish "Nichomachean Ethics" by Aristoteles and I'll be done with the Classics.

PD: Is "Roadside Picnic" as good as I have been told? Because I just finished downloading it, and I am not sure if its worth it.

[Libaax]

The Handle by Richard Stark aka Donald E. Westlake.


The 8th book in my fav Noir,crime series.

[Rolos]

Just finished reading "Roadside Picnic". I cant believe I postponed for so long. That was very, very stupid of me.
I-...I cant describe how good it is. It's incredible. Concise, precise and beautiful. I am not sure how to describe the feeling it gives off......fantastic realism, may be.
I read it while listening to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", first movement. I usually read while listening to some music, but this is the first time the song has matched so perfectly the atmosphere of the book. It was more than that, it improved the immersion.

Anyway, I full-heartedly recommend this book. Give it a try!

[Rolos]

Since it has always pissed me off to let jokes and references go over my head when reading or watching something, I finally decided to start reading "The Cambridge History of Japan".

You know those incredible, dynamic, entertaining history books that change your life?
Well, this is one of them.
NOT!

It's actually boring as shit.

Very detailed though, I like that.

[thepeaguy]

I'm currently reading Why God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. It's great. He pulls no punches over religion.

[War Machine]

I read The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs and I thought it was pretty entertaining and funny. My only complaint is that he wrote the book as a case study without conclusions of any kind, throughout the reading I was expecting him to say something meaningful but he kept his writing as if he was still doing the experiment without time to tackle several of the points made in his spiritual journey, which I thought was pretty ghey. It's still worth a look if you want a time killer though.

How is that book you're reading, peaguy? I was kinda left wanting more from that last reading.

[Aetherfukz]

I'm reading Ciaphas Cain - Death or Glory at the moment, after finishing the omnibus Ciaphas Cain - Hero of the Imperium. All the Ciaphas Cain books are IMHO the very best novels that have ever been written inside the Warhammer 40k universe.

[tsubaimomo]

I be readin The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, written by Dali, which means it makes no sense... But it's great to try to understand his weirdness.

The book also serves as a surface to put my mouspad on.

[papasith]

i am currently reading twilight herald by tom loyd. i have to say it is a very excellent book, i highly reccommend it to anyone who like to read fantasy at all. here is a link to a pretty decent review of it (as i am to lazy to type up a very good one myself.
http://elitistbookreviews.blogspot.com/ ... erald.html

[Rolos]

mmm...I'm gonna give it a shot.
On an unrelated note, I just finished reading the High Crusade. It was hilarious.
Medieval Morons against Aliens. Plus the Holy Israelite Empire.
If that's not made of win, I don't know what is.
Also, started reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil: A Genealogy of Morality " and Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov". The later sucks.
I just can't stand old realism, the characters are always so fucking retarded.

[Krazietrixx]

I'm currently reading the latest chapter released (col.7 chap.41) of KYOU, KOI WO HAJIMEMASU..
It's a nice manga..nice art and storyline ♥.♥ love the bishies.

[Facade19]

I am reading Brothers Karamazov and I am liking it alot.
Rolos, I have noticed that you stated that you dislike this book due to its old fashioned realism.
Read it differently. Read it like the 3 structure to the soul and the city, like Plato initiated.
Believe it, the three brothers (quasi four) represent an aspect of the soul as understood by Dostoevsky and his teacher Plato.

[Rolos]

Wow. If you look at it like that, the book is pure literary genius. Wow.
Good one dude, though I still don't like the way Dostoevsky writes. It's this air of humble pomposity his books give off. It pisses me off way more than it should.
Same with C. S. Lewis.

Changing the subject, I just finished reading "From Socrates to Sartre, the philosophic Quest" by T.Z. Lavine and "The long, dark teatime of the soul" by Douglas Adams.
Both were extraordinarily good, but the first one receives a special mention. I've never read a book that synthesizes so well the different philosophic currents that have existed throughout the ages, and somehow manages to keep them valid from a contemporary point of view at the same time. Thanks to that, I now understand Hume and Hegel much better than I did before. There's also this feeling of urgency that can be perceived as you read, this constant reminder that there's plenty of basis for new philosophies to be born, and that there's even an urgent need for them, since there are only destructive forces nowadays, such as Phenomenology and Linguistic philosophy.
Urgency in philosophy, can you believe that?
The one thing I didn't like about it was how it completely glossed over Schopenhauer, and how it paired up Nietzsche with the Existentialists (those fucking douches).
Anyway, I think I'll read "Man and Superman" and "The Pilgrim's Journal" now.

[Rolos]

Finished "Man and Superman". A little pompous, and a textbook example of literary pretentiousness, but a remarkable book nonetheless. Shaw knows his shit. "Back to Methuselah", while way more idealistic (which is kinda weird, since authors rarely turn to the idealistic side of the scale in their twilight years^1) is way better in terms of writing.

Currently checking out a children's book series> "Lemony Snicket> A series of unfortunate events"











1> I think it was Churchill who said "Show me an a young cynic and I'll show a man with no heart. Show me an old idealist and I'll show a man with no brains".

[Devil_Dante]

Im reading Michel de Montaigne - Essays 1. Supposedly to be one of the greatest philosophers known to man thats thinks about practically anything.