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Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (5 Viewers)

Just finished:

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell: Very interesting read, although I don't necessarily buy into the 10K hrs theory. I just can't get behind the idea of all human beings learning things at exactly the same pace.

High Fidelity - Nick Hornby: Great piece of fiction, gotta read more Hornby. He builds some of the most believable characters of any author I've read.

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk: Required reading. Easily one of my all time faves.

Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl: Another book that should be read by everyone. Coincidentally read this right after Fight Club and it was really crazy how much the messages overlap, considering they're completely opposite books.

Rant - Chuck Palahniuk: The story being told by witnesses took awhile to get into but I ended up really liking it. Things kind of go off the deep end near the finale.

Reading:

A Man in Full - Tom Wolfe: Incredibly well written, can't believe I haven't read any Wolfe until now.

 
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Broncoholic said:
Just finished The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It was what I expected. Overhyped, but still a pretty good read unless your a book snob looking for a reason to trash a book because it sold bunch of copies.
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Most book snobs I know (myself included) don't read Dan Brown because he's not a very good writer, not because he sells a lot of books.
 
shuke said:
Uruk-Hai said:
shuke said:
shuke said:
While I like science fiction, I'm not really a "fantasy" guy. A friend highly recommended A Game of Thrones.

I just saw that this is book 1 of 6 and since it is about 700 pages I am a little wary about diving in.
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At first I was a little intimidated by all the different names referenced, but I'm hooked.
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Told ya :thumbup: How far in are you?
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About 130 pages. Yes I'm a slow reader.
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I was just wondering what events you still had in front of you. That book tends to make you read slow anyway.
 
shuke said:
kupcho1 said:
shuke said:
shuke said:
While I like science fiction, I'm not really a "fantasy" guy. A friend highly recommended A Game of Thrones.

I just saw that this is book 1 of 6 and since it is about 700 pages I am a little wary about diving in.
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At first I was a little intimidated by all the different names referenced, but I'm hooked.
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Have you gotten to Chapter 7 yet? :popcorn:
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They're numbered?
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No, I was kind of going from memory. Of course I could have asked did you get to the part where (and you may not want to read this)

because that's when I knew this was a different kind of series.

 
kupcho1 said:
shuke said:
kupcho1 said:
shuke said:
shuke said:
While I like science fiction, I'm not really a "fantasy" guy. A friend highly recommended A Game of Thrones.

I just saw that this is book 1 of 6 and since it is about 700 pages I am a little wary about diving in.
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At first I was a little intimidated by all the different names referenced, but I'm hooked.
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Have you gotten to Chapter 7 yet? :thumbdown:
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They're numbered?
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No, I was kind of going from memory. Of course I could have asked did you get to the part where (and you may not want to read this)

because that's when I knew this was a different kind of series.
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shuke said:
Uruk-Hai said:
shuke said:
shuke said:
While I like science fiction, I'm not really a "fantasy" guy. A friend highly recommended A Game of Thrones.

I just saw that this is book 1 of 6 and since it is about 700 pages I am a little wary about diving in.
Click to expand...
At first I was a little intimidated by all the different names referenced, but I'm hooked.
Click to expand...
Told ya :lmao: How far in are you?
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About 130 pages. Yes I'm a slow reader.
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And you haven't even gotten to the really good stuff yet, you're still learning about the characters and such. Wait until he throws you for a few loops.
 
Anybody check out the Fever series from Karen Marie Moning? They kind of fantasy/horror with a little sex mixed in. I got the first book as a free download on the kindle and have enjoyed them.

 
Men-in-Cleats said:
shuke said:
Uruk-Hai said:
shuke said:
shuke said:
While I like science fiction, I'm not really a "fantasy" guy. A friend highly recommended A Game of Thrones.

I just saw that this is book 1 of 6 and since it is about 700 pages I am a little wary about diving in.
Click to expand...
At first I was a little intimidated by all the different names referenced, but I'm hooked.
Click to expand...
Told ya :thumbup: How far in are you?
Click to expand...
About 130 pages. Yes I'm a slow reader.
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And you haven't even gotten to the really good stuff yet, you're still learning about the characters and such. Wait until he throws you for a few loops.
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:unsure: The first shocker - which I think shuke is already past - in no way sets you up for what's coming. I don't know how to use spoiler tags so I'll leave it there, though something like.....oh, I don't know....maybe a "test forum" might be good for those of us who are techno-challenged to learn on.

 
D_House said:
Just started a classic based on recommendations here - The Picture of Dorian Gray.
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I enjoyed this quite a bit. Wilde's many witticisms along with his more modern-styled prose made this a more pleasant read than some of the other fiction of the era. It was also interesting to read the obvious homoerotic undertones in a book this old. That being said, the story is a universal one of morality and conscience that is augmented by Wilde's own theories on the value of art, so it shouldn't be thought of as a 'gay' book.Moving on to a biography of Isaac Newton, I want to learn more about the guy after reading the World's Greatest thread.

 
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prosopis said:
I am reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.My 12 year old daughter was reading it . I wanted to see what it was about and I got hooked. I am about half way through. Pretty good story. Reminds me of S King's Running man combined with The Long Walk.
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Just downloaded this. Through chapter 2 and enjoying it so far.
 
Finally finished Invisible Man by Ellison. Very good book

Took a while as I've been (uncharacteristically) reading several books at once. Need to polish of Don Quixote now.

 
kupcho1 said:
Finally finished Invisible Man by Ellison. Very good book

Took a while as I've been (uncharacteristically) reading several books at once. Need to polish of Don Quixote now.
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Is that a euphemism? :hophead:
 
Finally got through Master and Commander last night. I'm not sure about this one. I really like historical fiction, and REALLY like the idea of most of the action taking place at sea. But the terminology and speech patterns, while likely pretty authentic, at times made me lose interest.

I have neither the background knowledge to understand what the hell he's talking about half the time nor the energy or devotion to go look it up and find out. There were entire paragraphs that left me unsure of what I just read. Then again, there were scenes in the book that were extermely compelling.

I'll probably give the next book in the series a shot since Master and Commander seems to be the weakest ranked of his books, but I doubt the writing style will become comfortable enough to get me interested in reading another twenty novels.

 
Recently finished:

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler :headbang: - the plot was confusing as hell but a great noir vibe and Marlowe is a great protagonist.

Isaac Newton by James Gleick :excited: - somewhat cursory (only 200 pages) overview of the life of Newton. definitely a fascinating character.

Up next: The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

 
I remembered that I had borrowed Atonement from my mom about a year ago and never picked it up, so now I am reading it. Outstanding so far - - I'm about 100 pages in. Next I will either try one of the Nelson DeMille novels recommended above, or Game of Thrones.

 
The_Man said:
shuke said:
prosopis said:
I am reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.My 12 year old daughter was reading it . I wanted to see what it was about and I got hooked. I am about half way through. Pretty good story. Reminds me of S King's Running man combined with The Long Walk.
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Sounds right up my alley, but is this "young adult" fiction?
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It is, but I wouldn't let that stop you. When Nick Hornby was writing a book column in "The Believer" he convinced me to read a few young adult books he recommended, making the argument that a lot of contemporary young adult ficition is as good as "adult" fiction. I think he's right -- there's none of the secks in this book, but plenty of violence, though it's done in a PG-13 fashion. Other than that, there's no difference between the sophistication level of this book and your basic mass market paperback.
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I'll have to check that out, not sure exactly what its about but sounds interesting. I'm guessing it would be in the same vein at "Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami, which was sort of like Lord of the Flies meet's King's "the long walk" to some degree. I recommend BR if you like that type of story: teenagers killing teenagers.
 
D_House said:
D_House said:
Just started a classic based on recommendations here - The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Click to expand...
I enjoyed this quite a bit. Wilde's many witticisms along with his more modern-styled prose made this a more pleasant read than some of the other fiction of the era. It was also interesting to read the obvious homoerotic undertones in a book this old. That being said, the story is a universal one of morality and conscience that is augmented by Wilde's own theories on the value of art, so it shouldn't be thought of as a 'gay' book.
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:lmao: One of my favorite classic books. But I'm a big Wilde fan in general.
 
KarmaPolice said:
igbomb said:
ConstruxBoy said:
igbomb said:
Next up: Just read the prologue for Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer, a biography of Pat Tillman. So far so good.
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About 75 pages into this. Really like it so far, although I like his stuff and I know some people don't based on the Everest stuff.
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I'd rather he stick to Tillman's story instead of going into the history of Afghanistan so much. Of course, that's probably due more to having just recently read the book he seems to be using as his source material, The Looming Tower (fantastic book by the way). Hasn't really grabbed me yet, maybe closer to Into the Wild (which I thought was just okay) than to Into Thin Air (which I thought was great).
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I am about 140pgs into it now. I am the opposite. I find the stuff about Afghanistan more interesting than the details about specific NFL games, how he performed, how he felt, etc... I know about the football stuff and don't find it interesting.
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I'm about 55% through this one. I find it pretty interesting overall and i'm not a big military non-fiction guy. I wish they would have had more details of his training regiment, subsurviant roles, etc. as opposed to simply seeing his reaction to those environments and situations. I like Kraukauer (and have read the other two books mentioned) more for the subject matter than the story telling.
 
piratemike said:
Recently finished Infinite Jest. Loved it.

Not sure what's next.
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One of my favorites as well, thought it started slow, but was excellent if you made it through the first 200 or 300 pages or so. Not for the light hearted, and I thought enjoyable as I could directly relate to the subject matter and plot to a large degree (high level athletics/drugs). I also enjoyed Wallace's "Brief Inteviews with Hideous Men" which was much, much lighter as short stories often are. Thanks to you folks, I now have 7 new books in the library que after finishing the Tillman story and World War Z which are in my possession now. I'm realling looking forward to The Road as I have a young son and enjoy the post-apocalyptic plot setting.

 
D_House said:
Up next: The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
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Let me know what you think of this one. It was/is one of my favorites...and a rare exception where I think the author needed to add 200 pages to the middle of the book. The tone shifts and the way so many themes get explored is really exceptional here. It also finds time to be fun and humorous while commenting on social issues in a very serious way.
 
JFT Ben said:
piratemike said:
Recently finished Infinite Jest. Loved it.

Not sure what's next.
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One of my favorites as well, thought it started slow, but was excellent if you made it through the first 200 or 300 pages or so. Not for the light hearted, and I thought enjoyable as I could directly relate to the subject matter and plot to a large degree (high level athletics/drugs). I also enjoyed Wallace's "Brief Inteviews with Hideous Men" which was much, much lighter as short stories often are. Thanks to you folks, I now have 7 new books in the library que after finishing the Tillman story and World War Z which are in my possession now. I'm realling looking forward to The Road as I have a young son and enjoy the post-apocalyptic plot setting.
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In case you're interested, the movie adaptation of Brief Interviews... is currently available on OnDemand.
 
I'm reading the Border Trilogy now.

I finished "All The Pretty Horses" and am half way thru "The Crossing"

Side note: after finishing "All The Pretty Horses" I watched the movie OnDemand....I can now nominate it for Best Book/Worst Movie combo.

 
A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking. So far so good, it has helped me visualize a lot of concepts that you hear often but don't quite have a grasp of.
 
Mr. Yuk said:
A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking. So far so good, it has helped me visualize a lot of concepts that you hear often but don't quite have a grasp of.
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try A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. That's a really good one for explaining complicated concepts of science in bite-sized chunks.I'm reading A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. I really enjoy Vinge; he's got some very advanced and interesting sci-fi concepts.

Next up are the horde of apocalyptic fiction books I bought on my last trip to Half Price.

 
Reading "Swann's Way" by Proust, the first of the 7 novels that comprise "In Search of Lost Time". I've read it once before, and have started "Within a Budding Grove", the second. But it's been a while so I figured I'd start from the beginning and hopefully make it all the way through this time. I love Proust's writing... Definitely a joy to read.

 
I picked up "The Gathering Storm" last week. This is book twelve of the Wheel of Time series. I just started reading it, but I am interested in seeing how the author does with the story.

 
thatguy said:
Reading "Swann's Way" by Proust, the first of the 7 novels that comprise "In Search of Lost Time". I've read it once before, and have started "Within a Budding Grove", the second. But it's been a while so I figured I'd start from the beginning and hopefully make it all the way through this time. I love Proust's writing... Definitely a joy to read.
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I read it because of the WGD, then started Within a Budding Grove and stopped due to my workload this semester (it's awful). I plan on picking Proust back up in December....if Joyce doesn't get to me first.Swann's Way is definitely in the running for best novel ever written. It's damn near perfect in every way possible. I rank in same tier as Madame Bovary and The Brothers Karamazov.
 
Henry Rollins said:
thatguy said:
Reading "Swann's Way" by Proust, the first of the 7 novels that comprise "In Search of Lost Time". I've read it once before, and have started "Within a Budding Grove", the second. But it's been a while so I figured I'd start from the beginning and hopefully make it all the way through this time. I love Proust's writing... Definitely a joy to read.
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I read it because of the WGD, then started Within a Budding Grove and stopped due to my workload this semester (it's awful). I plan on picking Proust back up in December....if Joyce doesn't get to me first.Swann's Way is definitely in the running for best novel ever written. It's damn near perfect in every way possible. I rank in same tier as Madame Bovary and The Brothers Karamazov.
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Yeah, the WGD is what got me to start up again - I did, after all, draft ISoLT. Went out and bought the first two volumes that week (had checked them out from the library previously, while in college). Just a couple of days ago got around to starting. Hoping to make the full journey this time. Definitely an amazing read, I enjoy "Swann's Way" more than The Brothers Karamazov, but that's not to say it's necessarily better - just a more pleasurable read.
 
Just finished Superfreakonomics. Decent enough, but not nearly as good as the first one.

Currently in the queue:

- Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War (Bill Sloan)

- Uncommon Sense: Economic Insights, from Marriage to Terrorism (Gary Becker, Richard Posner)

- The Gathering Storm (Brandon Sanderson)

 
Tough As Nails said:
D_House said:
Up next: The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Click to expand...
Let me know what you think of this one. It was/is one of my favorites...and a rare exception where I think the author needed to add 200 pages to the middle of the book. The tone shifts and the way so many themes get explored is really exceptional here. It also finds time to be fun and humorous while commenting on social issues in a very serious way.
Click to expand...
Kavalier and Clay was actually a disappointment for me. I definitely think it could have used some editing, as I did enjoy the first third of the book. But after WWII started, it seemed to lose coherence. I disliked the shift in focus to the Kavalier character at the expense of the more interesting (to me) Clay character. And I thought the ending was a clunker.In addition, I found Chabon's use of run-on sentences to be rather frustrating and he also used a lot of SAT-type words that seemed meant more to impress than to convey meaning. And although he had some poignant things to say about escapism and the nature of art, he doesn't seem to feel confident that his readers will 'get' it just by reading the story and instead actually tells it to them in the thoughts of one of the characters.

All that said, I thought it was OK, and the first third was very good to great in introducing Kavalier and Clay, their backstories, and their eventual meeting and collaboration. It just was not as great as the Pulitzer it was awarded would suggest. I had a similar reaction to The Brief & Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

On another note, this book also included the first chapter of The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which actually seems pretty good to me, definitely a cool concept. Despite my disappointment in K&C, I think I want to pick this one up to give Chabon another chance. Anyone read this?

 
D_House said:
Tough As Nails said:
D_House said:
Up next: The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Click to expand...
Let me know what you think of this one. It was/is one of my favorites...and a rare exception where I think the author needed to add 200 pages to the middle of the book. The tone shifts and the way so many themes get explored is really exceptional here. It also finds time to be fun and humorous while commenting on social issues in a very serious way.
Click to expand...
Kavalier and Clay was actually a disappointment for me. I definitely think it could have used some editing, as I did enjoy the first third of the book. But after WWII started, it seemed to lose coherence. I disliked the shift in focus to the Kavalier character at the expense of the more interesting (to me) Clay character. And I thought the ending was a clunker.In addition, I found Chabon's use of run-on sentences to be rather frustrating and he also used a lot of SAT-type words that seemed meant more to impress than to convey meaning. And although he had some poignant things to say about escapism and the nature of art, he doesn't seem to feel confident that his readers will 'get' it just by reading the story and instead actually tells it to them in the thoughts of one of the characters.

All that said, I thought it was OK, and the first third was very good to great in introducing Kavalier and Clay, their backstories, and their eventual meeting and collaboration. It just was not as great as the Pulitzer it was awarded would suggest. I had a similar reaction to The Brief & Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

On another note, this book also included the first chapter of The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which actually seems pretty good to me, definitely a cool concept. Despite my disappointment in K&C, I think I want to pick this one up to give Chabon another chance. Anyone read this?
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Huh. Different strokes for different folks I guess. I thought the shift from the intro to the war and from one character to another and back was excellent. The characters are developed fully and allowed to grow and change. There were at least 3 jaw dropping twists that totally changed your outlook on not only the characters, but the time, and the professions being discussed as well. The way Joe is emphasized and celebrated while Sammy struggles despite being, by most measures, the better person was fascinating. I agree that the ending left a bit to be desired...but Chabon's sense of sadness and conflict versus humor and lightheartedness comes through. Ending with a bang would have been a mistake...I didn't particularly enjoying the ending, but I can't think of a more fitting one.

 
D_House said:
On another note, this book also included the first chapter of The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which actually seems pretty good to me, definitely a cool concept. Despite my disappointment in K&C, I think I want to pick this one up to give Chabon another chance. Anyone read this?
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:thumbup: YPU was good, but K&C was better.

 
I agree that Kavalier & Clay was better than YPU. I just read Chabon's new essay collection about manhood. It was o.k., but I'm not entirely convinced he's a real authority on this particular subject. That being said, I like Chabon (along with McCarthy) for being a "literary fiction" author who isn't afraid to write books that readers might actually take pleasure in reading. Richard Russo is another one.

 
Weapon of Mass Instruction said:
Broncoholic said:
I'm reading the Border Trilogy now.

I finished "All The Pretty Horses" and am half way thru "The Crossing"

Side note: after finishing "All The Pretty Horses" I watched the movie OnDemand....I can now nominate it for Best Book/Worst Movie combo.
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That is the truth. I was so excited when I saw it listed. But...
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I thought that No Country For Old Men made an excellent movie. Almost as good as the novel which, when compared to McCarthy at his best, is just okay.I thought that All The Pretty Horses--though one of McCarthy's weakest books--was an awful, contrived piece of crap. Matt Damon. What the jesus.

I am looking forward to The Road, which is certainly simple and lucid enough to make for an excellent, if bleak, film. There should be little corruption to the novel.

IMDB is telling me that somebody named Todd Field is ballsy/stupid enough to make a movie out of Blood Meridian, which among the 20th Century's great novels. Good luck, pinhead. I hope you save all the footage once the uneditable, incoherent mess you make is never released. Perhaps Werner Herzog will edit it into an "obsessive fruitcake attempts near-impossible task, goes crazy, fails beautifully" documentary.

 
Oliver Humanzee said:
Weapon of Mass Instruction said:
Broncoholic said:
I'm reading the Border Trilogy now.

I finished "All The Pretty Horses" and am half way thru "The Crossing"

Side note: after finishing "All The Pretty Horses" I watched the movie OnDemand....I can now nominate it for Best Book/Worst Movie combo.
Click to expand...
That is the truth. I was so excited when I saw it listed. But...
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I thought that No Country For Old Men made an excellent movie. Almost as good as the novel which, when compared to McCarthy at his best, is just okay.I thought that All The Pretty Horses--though one of McCarthy's weakest books--was an awful, contrived piece of crap. Matt Damon. What the jesus.

I am looking forward to The Road, which is certainly simple and lucid enough to make for an excellent, if bleak, film. There should be little corruption to the novel.

IMDB is telling me that somebody named Todd Field is ballsy/stupid enough to make a movie out of Blood Meridian, which among the 20th Century's great novels. Good luck, pinhead. I hope you save all the footage once the uneditable, incoherent mess you make is never released. Perhaps Werner Herzog will edit it into an "obsessive fruitcake attempts near-impossible task, goes crazy, fails beautifully" documentary.
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The Road has been released in Australia, to generally strong reviews. I don't know if I want to see it. I mean Viggo Mortensen is great and will probably be great in the Father role, but I don't know if I need to see the stuff in the book. It was hard enough to read.
 
ConstruxBoy said:
facook said:
Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. Inside the Iran Hostage Crisis. My dad read it and raved, I just started.Also, A Fine Balance by Rohan Mistry. Set in India in the '70's. Unfortunately became an Oprah book, but should be good anyway.
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Interested to hear what you thing of Guests. I'm a Bowden fan, but it didn't get rave reviews.
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Guests of the Ayatollah is just so DRY. I expect a story that seemed to be so full of tension and controversy to be more enthralling in book form, but 200 pages in I've pretty much given up on it.A Fine Balance was super fantastic. Great writing about a setting I'm always interested in - India.Right now I'm 150 pages into Under the Dome by Stephen King. The premise is so far-fetched, and it hasn't bothered me a bit. Really enjoying the book so far.
 
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