On The Rocks
Evil Conservative
I was looking for a book to read on our bookshelf at home and found that my wife had a copy of "Uncle Tom's Cabin". So I started that last night.
So far so good.
So far so good.
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter shuke
- Start date
Mr. Chumley
Footballguy
Flags of Our Fathers. Started it a couple months ago and didn't have time to read it. I'm back into it now and it's pretty good. I read "Fly Boys" by the same author last year.
Foosball God
Foos
I just finished reading Slaughterhouse - 5. It was interesting enough, but I'm not sure I get why the book is so lauded.
Next up is Catch-22.
Next up is Catch-22.
facook
Footballguy
Started The Road by Cormac McCarthy last night. It's a very swift read (I'm already 100 pages in). Leaves a lot to the imagination of the reader, but I'm getting why many reviews (pro and amateur) mentioned emotional effects re: the relationship between father and son. I'd definitely recommend it. (Heck, though, who am I? Pulitzer recommends it...listen to them.)
kupcho1
Footballguy
Start with The Crying of Lot 49. If you don't like that, stop. It's about as accessible Pynchon gets.
Your Mother
Footballguy
I just read Slaughterhouse 5 as well. I've read quite a bit of Vonnegut, but for some reason I never got around to it. I enjoyed it, but not as much as Mother Night.Don't waste your time with Catch-22.I read "The Big Investment Lie" by Michael Edesses and "Veronica" by Mary Gaitskill over vacation. Both were well worth the time.Foosball God said:
ren hoek
Footballguy
I am reading: absolutely nothing. I haven't read on a daily basis probably since I was like 17.
So I need some recommendations from you all. I'd like to start reading again, get the ol' synapses firing and so forth. I really need to take a break from smoking weed and playing video games. Here are all the books that I've really enjoyed the past few years:
The Jungle
1984
Moneyball
The Education of a Coach
Next Man Up
When I was younger, I read the piss out of the Goosebumps series, and I even hopped on an Encyclopedia Brown book here and there. I'm not looking for any 3,000-page King novels. TIA for any recommendations.
So I need some recommendations from you all. I'd like to start reading again, get the ol' synapses firing and so forth. I really need to take a break from smoking weed and playing video games. Here are all the books that I've really enjoyed the past few years:
The Jungle
1984
Moneyball
The Education of a Coach
Next Man Up
When I was younger, I read the piss out of the Goosebumps series, and I even hopped on an Encyclopedia Brown book here and there. I'm not looking for any 3,000-page King novels. TIA for any recommendations.
Your Mother
Footballguy
Moneyball ---> Baseball Between The Numbers, by the Baseball Prospectus people.
Crimson Hawk
Axis of Evel
I just finished Pet Sematary. I hadn't read it in 20 years. Still creeped me out.
perry147
Footballguy
Impossible - No one likes 1984. I read it in HS and although it was full of ideas it was meandering most of the time and horribly borish.
Maelstrom
Footballguy
I liked Catch-22 - we had to read it in school, and I never would have read it otherwise, but I definitely wouldn't put it in the waste of time category.
Count me as one who liked 1984. Good stuff.
igbomb
Footballguy
It's one of my favorite books.
igbomb
Footballguy
Are you looking for a specific theme? Genre? Fiction / non-fiction? Your list of books that you liked is pretty diverse.If you like non-fiction, I recommend Freakonomics.
ren hoek
Footballguy
Thanks, man. I'm a huge fantasy baseball nerd and my nerd friend who plays in leagues with me is all-in for BP.
aardball44
Footballguy
I hit page 98 of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and suddenly Mohsin Hamid's metaphors, symbols and iconography fell into place for me. I felt I should have caught onto his literary sleight of hand earlier in the novel.
So I stopped reading it for a couple of days. Now I'm trying to figure out how it all ends before I pick it back up and find out.
So I stopped reading it for a couple of days. Now I'm trying to figure out how it all ends before I pick it back up and find out.
Men-in-Cleats
Footballguy
Catch-22 is definitely not a waste of time, it is one of my favorite books and one that I feel is a must read. Enjoyed Slaughterhouse 5 but am just not a big fan of Vonnegut like some around here are. I've read that one, Cat's Cradle, and the Sirens of Titan and none of them really blew me away. Slaughterhouse 5 was my favorite of the 3.Currently reading "Last Call" by Tim Powers and am really enjoying it despite not having much time to read on it lately. It was recommended by Vivian Darkbloom a while back in a book thread and I've read 2 or 3 others of his recommendations that were stellar so he hasn't led me wrong yet. Also started "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" but haven't gotten too far and have a copy of "Mountain Bike like a Champion" by Ned Overend that I've been reading in the john.
Your Mother
Footballguy
You'll love this book then. It turns a lot of baseball CW on its ear. It does make listening to Joe Morgan do color commentary an even more excruciating experience, but those are the breaks.dantheman8417 said:
patrickmcgroin
Footballguy
You have to like the movie to like the book. Its about the same, except in the book Scarlet has more kids, I don't think she could keep up with how many she had.
igbomb
Footballguy
Finished A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett last night. Not bad. But I'm still eagerly waiting for the sequel to Pillars of the Earth, his best book and one of the better books I've read in the last few years.
Next up is Harry Potter #5, and then Bush at War by Bob Woodward.
Next up is Harry Potter #5, and then Bush at War by Bob Woodward.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Wow, I haven't read Pillars in years but I don't recall thinking "sequel" when I was done (can't recall at this point even how it ended). Thanks for the heads-up, as I really liked the original.
igbomb
Footballguy
May 22 release date. I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. And the early reviews are great.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny—"There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten"—is endorsed by custom and law. Hosseini gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their sole path to social status. His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters.
Kraft...
Footballguy
Great Halberstam book
igbomb
Footballguy
Sequel may be a little strong. The new novel takes place in the same town, Kingsbridge, only 200 years later during the Black Death. And the characters are descendants of the originals.Release date is October 9.
Weapon of Mass Instruction
Watch my feet!
Flags of our Fathers -- Bradley, is what I'm reading right now.
Previous to that, Hannibal Rising by Harris and DDay by Ambrose.
Previous to that, Hannibal Rising by Harris and DDay by Ambrose.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Cold Mountain - The book is good in ways that I don't usually find I enjoy books. Good imagery (remarkably visual) and a meandering plot line.
Fiddles
Footballguy
I just finished The Memory Of Running on your recommendation and really enjoyed it. Have you read his second book Traveller? I loved The Beach, Life of Pi, Curious Incident also. Going to look into The Shadow Of The Wind. Gracias.
Fiddles
Footballguy
Last Call is a great book. Have you read Anubis Gates by Powers? Another excellent Powers book. I have his newest at home but haven't read yet (3 days to never).
igbomb
Footballguy
Traveler was excellent, just a notch below The Memory of Running.Another really good book is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The movie version is scheduled to begin shooting this fall starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana.Fiddles said:
Glad you enjoyed the books.
It seems like we have similar tastes, so feel free to pass recommendations along of anything else you really like.
TimeWellWasted
Footballguy
he's just not that into you by Greg Behrendt
Men-in-Cleats
Footballguy
Loved Anubis Gates, a little moreso than Last Call even. I've also read "The Drawing of the Dark" by him which was a fun read and have another one on the shelf, "Declare", that I picked up in a bargain bin somewhere. Powers was definitely an excellent recommendation from Darkbloom. The others he recommended that I read were "Perdido Street Station" and "The Scar" from China Mieville and they were tremendous. Very different than these in that they are much more dark but they are some of the more inventive characters and settings that I've read in some time. Powers is very similar in that his characters are extremely interesting and sometimes quite unusual (as in Anubis Gates especially).Fiddles said:
Fiddles
Footballguy
Darkbloom also turned me onto China Mieville. Loved perdido and the scar but the third one I didn't enjoy as much. Iron something. I forget the title. Declare was an excellent book and I spent a little time reading some non fiction about some of the British spies that Powers writes about in that book. It's almost a bit of historical fiction.
I am knee deep into another series he discussed at one point and it is amazing. Steven Erickson is the author, the series is Malazan Tales Of The Fallen. The 7th of the series is being published later this month. It is set to conclude after book 10. I have read the first 6 and have to say that all of the books are amazing however business really picked up in the last 2. They are not books you can put down and come back to later however. There is alot going on and he wastes no time in newer books recapping anything at all. Alot is expected from the reader as far as memory and keeping characters straight. This site helps though: http://www.malazanempire.com/site/index.shtml
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
I'm working on a fairely new one about Madison and the Bill of Rights
James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights, by Richard Lubunski.
I'm about 1/2 through and Virginia just ratified after Patrick Henry tried to torpedo the Constitution because it didn't have the BOR. It's been pretty good. Nothing out of the norm or in contrast to what I've already read in other sources.
James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights, by Richard Lubunski.
I'm about 1/2 through and Virginia just ratified after Patrick Henry tried to torpedo the Constitution because it didn't have the BOR. It's been pretty good. Nothing out of the norm or in contrast to what I've already read in other sources.
Men-in-Cleats
Footballguy
I think it is Iron Council and I haven't read that one yet. Haven't heard as good of reviews from it as the others bit will probably eventually read it anyhow since I loved the others so much.Hadn't heard of the Malazan series but will have to look it up some time. I still have a bunch of books on my shelf I haven't read yet including a couple of other Darkbloom recommendations in Guy Gavriel Kay and Gene Wolfe.
Fiddles
Footballguy
I think my wife read the TT Wife. I will have to see if we have that at home. Here's a few of my favs:Traveler was excellent, just a notch below The Memory of Running.Another really good book is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The movie version is scheduled to begin shooting this fall starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana.Fiddles said:
Glad you enjoyed the books.
Matthew Kneale - English Passengers
Brooks Hansen - The Chess Garden
TC Boyle - Drop City
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Fiddles
Footballguy
We must've made the same list from VD.
I tried both of those Authors as well but they weren't my cup of tea.
aardball44
Footballguy
Regular Crust Pizza
Footballguy
Just finished One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Instantly becomes one of my favorites.
igbomb
Footballguy
Finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. Probably my second favorite of the series, behind the Goblet of Fire.
Next up is Bush at War by Bob Woodward.
Next up is Bush at War by Bob Woodward.
igbomb
Footballguy
Bush at War by Bob Woodward
Not bad. Pretty dated, but it's interesting to see perspectives before everything went down the crapper.
Not bad. Pretty dated, but it's interesting to see perspectives before everything went down the crapper.
Pole Cat
Footballguy
I'll second that.
E-Z Glider
Footballguy
If non-fiction is your thing, I highly recommend this book...
The Great Starvation Experiment
Its about a group of conscientious objectors who volunteered to be starved for a period of one year instead of serving in WW2. This is not a war history book and is not filled with dry medical/scientific data. It's a story of the agony, both physical and mental, that these men endured. Very tough book to put down.
The Great Starvation Experiment
Its about a group of conscientious objectors who volunteered to be starved for a period of one year instead of serving in WW2. This is not a war history book and is not filled with dry medical/scientific data. It's a story of the agony, both physical and mental, that these men endured. Very tough book to put down.
shining path
:prettyplease:
Building Harlequin's Moon by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven.
Bought it because I'm a big fan of Niven's stuff, but it became apparent early on that Cooper did most of the writing. It was an interesting premise - a colony ship heading for a habitable planet gets marooned when its stardrive failed in a system with no habitable planets. So they had to literally make a habitable world by smashing moons of a gas giant together. Then they smashed a couple of comets into it to give it an ocean and atmosphere.
The main character, however, annoyed me to no end, probably because of some semi-latent male chauvanism on my part. Cooper made her heroine Rachel just waay too perfect. She's smart. She's brave. She's a leader. Her moral compass is unfailing. She's strong. She's beautiful. She's athletic. Everyone loves her, except for the villainess who is out to get her for evil reasons. And by the end of the book, I was really wishing something nasty would happen to her.
Bought it because I'm a big fan of Niven's stuff, but it became apparent early on that Cooper did most of the writing. It was an interesting premise - a colony ship heading for a habitable planet gets marooned when its stardrive failed in a system with no habitable planets. So they had to literally make a habitable world by smashing moons of a gas giant together. Then they smashed a couple of comets into it to give it an ocean and atmosphere.
The main character, however, annoyed me to no end, probably because of some semi-latent male chauvanism on my part. Cooper made her heroine Rachel just waay too perfect. She's smart. She's brave. She's a leader. Her moral compass is unfailing. She's strong. She's beautiful. She's athletic. Everyone loves her, except for the villainess who is out to get her for evil reasons. And by the end of the book, I was really wishing something nasty would happen to her.
Last edited by a moderator:
