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[FnordChan]

Howdy, folks. It's a new month, and thus time for a new book thread.

I just finished reading Farthing by Jo Walton, which takes place in an alternate history where England signed a peace treaty with Germany in 1941 and America never entered the war. The novel takes place in 1949, where the Reich is firmly in control of Europe, America is heavily isolationist, Japan is uncontested in Asia, and the man who brokered the peace treaty with Germany has been found murdered in a countryside estate a couple of hours outside of London. Stylistically, Farthing alternates between a first person diary by a woman who was at the estate and a third person proceedural viewpoint by a Scotland Yard detective who's trying to sort out whether the motivations for the murder were political, Semetic, or both. It was a great read and I'm pleased to see that Walton has written two sequels set in the same world, which I'm looking forward to tracking down in the near future.

I'm about to head off to lunch where I'll start reading The Secret Pilgrim by John LeCarre, a post-Cold War look back at the career of Le Carre's celebrated spy George Smiley. I'll report back once I have some of the book under my belt.

FnordChan

 

[itsinmyveins]

I've got a few books open but right now I'm mainly reading The Greatest Show on Earth.

 

[Monroeski]

 

[suffah]

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

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Just finished:

Great book. Highly entertaining and a easy read.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Reading through the Library of America publication of some of the Lovecraft stories.

 

[threenote]

 

[Timo]

Mine printed like shit though. Damn.

 

[Empty]

Mass Effect 2 has me on a sci-fi kick.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I just finished "And That's Not All Folks!" last night so I'm still trying to decide what book I should read next.

 

[dude]

Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Just started it.

 

[threenote]

Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Just started it.

Great book. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[Lion Heart]

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Volume 1

I never read but I found these in my house so I thought, why not!

 

[DesertEater]

so far so good.
even better than the previews books.

 

[Aurelius]

Really enjoying it. King is back in form!

 

[GhastlyGaseous]

I'm going on a Ayn Rand kick this month. I just finished The Fountainhead, I am on maybe page 200 of Atlas Shrugged, and I have We the Living on hold from the library. I can't say I agree with all of her theories, but I find her prose exceedingly beautifull. I can;t figure out why people say that she is a dull writer.

 

[nemesun]

I posted it in the Feb pickup thread. I'm quite busy with those two at the moment, going to take me a week or two to finish 'em both.

 

[nemesun]

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Volume 1

I never read but I found these in my house so I thought, why not!

You gonna love it, My favorites are "A study in Scarlet,The red-head league, and the naval treaty" so far thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[survivor]

Great book. Been loving all the commentaries and the art on the sides of the pages.

 

[AeroGod]

Probably going to re-read Shutter Island sometime this week to prepare for the movie, I also need to start A Feast for Crows STILL. Ive been hesitating because i know once its finished that will be it for awhile in ASoIaF. After that, who knows.

 

[Fuzz Rez]

Friend gave it to me and vouched for it. Haven't started yet but I'm expecting great things from it.

 

[Brinbe]

Going through this right now. Great read, and enjoyable for any fans of the artist or album.

 

[Sodium]

Just started.

 

[Fuzz Rez]

Just started.

You are in for a treat. My favorite book ever and the only one that actually made me laugh out loud. Brilliant.

 

[hednik4am]

reading it again... their best imo

 

[Neuromancer]

I find myself really into it, and then not so much. Don't like the Odetta

Spoiler

/Detta

character but I will keep forging ahead.

 

[ronito]

Surprisingly light and enjoyable. Really love the symbolism in this.

Just started. we'll see how it goes.

 

[PantherLotus]

1. Survey of Economics
2. Organizational Behavior
3. The Discipline of Teams

I've all but given up on that fantasy novel I was reading last month. I'll have to come back to it.

 

[Flizzzipper]

A Clash of Kings probably into Under the Dome or something.

 

[CajoleJuice]

I posted it in the Feb pickup thread. I'm quite busy with those two at the moment, going to take me a week or two to finish 'em both.

Goddamn, that is some serious reading.

 

[eznark]

The only book that ever made you laugh aloud?

Hmm. Ever read Catch 22? There's a dialogue exchange in the first chapter that made me laugh out loud. That was when I knew I was in for a treat. One of my favorite books.

Pretty sure I laughed out loud during every Discworld book, and constantly during Gravity's Rainbow.

Mass Effect has it's hooks in me. I read the two mostly-crappy novels and am looking for something similar, i.e. many species, galactic intrigue/politics, a well realized universe...any suggestions? It also has to be in ebook form.

 

[Salazar]

Three books I picked up second-hand yesterday.

DJ Enright's Academic Year
Charles Glass' Money For Old Rope, collected journalism principally about the Middle East.
Mark Kurlansky's 1968

I'm also planning to read Alexander the Corrector, the biography of a savant who annotated the Bible (2.5 million words of commentary) and was oddly, somewhat unjustly locked away in a London asylum - which, in those times, was a sentence for torture direct and environmental and eventual death.

 

[AnkitT]

Finished reading:

Why so stupid? How the human Race never really learned to think - De Bono
It read too much like an advertisement, didnt enjoy it really.

Gonna start with:

The big questions - Steven Landsburg
I love these freakonomics style dissection of life books!

Also reading for a test starting in a few hours :

 

[Fanboydestroyer]

Just got around to finshing the Hyperion cantos. Next up is WeaveWorld followed by Imajica. Both by Clive Barker. After that I may sink my teeth into either Dune or start ASOIAF and join the ranks of those praying to whatevee diety that George RR Martin stays alive.

Speaking of epic fantasy series, does anyone have anything to say about the Mazalan: Book of the Fallen series? It seems intriguing, but I'm aware that the book divides people.

 

[FnordChan]

Mass Effect has it's hooks in me. I read the two mostly-crappy novels and am looking for something similar, i.e. many species, galactic intrigue/politics, a well realized universe...any suggestions? It also has to be in ebook form.

In last month's reading thread I recommended Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series to someone in a similar situation. Bujold's universe doesn't have many species, but it does have the galactic politics and well realized universe down pat. Ebook versions are available cheaply from Baen Books. There are two omnibuses you can start with, either Cordelia's Honor (the two novel backstory to the series proper) or Young Miles; I generally recommend publication order, but in this case it's things go back and forth a bit, so pick which ever one you like the look of.

I also highly recommend Vernor Vinge's two singularity novels A Fire Upon the Deep and the (way way) prequel A Deepness in the Sky, both of which have galactic civilizations, wonderfully realized aliens, exploration of interesting concepts, and all manner of drama and intrigue. Both novels won the Hugo and you absolutely want to read them. Fictionwise has you covered for ebook versions.

FnordChan

 

[Kotick]

Title: Ides of March
Historic novel about the conspiracy to take Julius Caesar down. I love historic novels x)

 

[StrikerObi]

Over the past week or so I read Scott Pilgrim volumes 1, 2, and 3. I just put my order into Amazon for volumes 4 and 5. They'll be here tomorrow! I can't wait! Instantly fell in love with this series. I don't even read comics / manga to begin with, but constant recommendations from friends pushed me to pick up volume 1 on Amazon and I was instantly hooked. It's going to suck waiting for the final volume is going to kill me. Each book is somehow better than the last. Volume 2's whole River City Ransom bit at the start killed me.

 

[vareon]

Very average so far.

 

[Canti]

Just finished reading:

The Last Dickens

Amazing book, I'll certainly be picking up more by Matthew Pearl in the future. Definitely a must have for anyone remotely interested in the final days of Charles Dickens and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Started yesterday:

The Bourne Ultimatum

The first Bourne I read was actually Sanction; I saw this on the cheap and thought I'd give it a go. Hasn't disappointed yet.

 

[Lion Heart]

You gonna love it, My favorites are "A study in Scarlet,The red-head league, and the naval treaty" so far thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm on Study in Scarlet right now. So far its really awesome, I'm surprised how true it is to the movie . The movie is actually the reason I'm reading the books since I really enjoyed it and it dispelled a lot of the misconceptions I had which kept me from reading it earlier.

I have both volumes so I plan on reading both, should be done by 2015 or so :lol

 

[wayward archer]

Speaking of epic fantasy series, does anyone have anything to say about the Mazalan: Book of the Fallen series? It seems intriguing, but I'm aware that the book divides people.

Reading it right now. It's interesting, some really cool world building if you're into that. First three books were great, the fourth book's ending was so bad that I almost stopped reading but I decided to give it another chance. It isn't helping that book 5 (which i'm reading now) basically abandons the story of the first 4 books and covers some entirely unrelated stuff, but I hear it all comes together in the rest of the series.

The ending to book 4 left a really bad taste in my mouth.

 

[finowns]

Very average so far.

You should stop while your ahead it only gets worse.


I finished Swans' War bk 1 - ended in the middle of the action which I found weird.

Almost done with Fall of Thanes - by Brain Ruckley.

 

[Fanboydestroyer]

Reading it right now. It's interesting, some really cool world building if you're into that. First three books were great, the fourth book's ending was so bad that I almost stopped reading but I decided to give it another chance. It isn't helping that book 5 (which i'm reading now) basically abandons the story of the first 4 books and covers some entirely unrelated stuff, but I hear it all comes together in the rest of the series.

The ending to book 4 left a really bad taste in my mouth.

I do like world building quite a bit. Sucks to hear about the ending of the 4th book. I think I'll give this series a shot though. Not sure when I'll get around to it though

I also found A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky (I had lost them for a few months) maybe I'll read them after WeaveWorld and Imajica. I wish I didn't have a psychology final to study for, this is taking away from valuable reading for enjoyment time. XD

 

[Mutagenic]

I'm finally reading through Atlas Shrugged for the first time and enjoying it.

 

[eznark]

In last month's reading thread I recommended Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series to someone in a similar situation. Bujold's universe doesn't have many species, but it does have the galactic politics and well realized universe down pat. Ebook versions are available cheaply from Baen Books. There are two omnibuses you can start with, either Cordelia's Honor (the two novel backstory to the series proper) or Young Miles; I generally recommend publication order, but in this case it's things go back and forth a bit, so pick which ever one you like the look of.

I also highly recommend Vernor Vinge's two singularity novels A Fire Upon the Deep and the (way way) prequel A Deepness in the Sky, both of which have galactic civilizations, wonderfully realized aliens, exploration of interesting concepts, and all manner of drama and intrigue. Both novels won the Hugo and you absolutely want to read them. Fictionwise has you covered for ebook versions.

FnordChan

Thanks, I will definitely check them out. Man those Bjold covers are atrocious!

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

I posted it in the Feb pickup thread. I'm quite busy with those two at the moment, going to take me a week or two to finish 'em both.

You win this thread already. Rise and Fall blew me away!!

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Trying to get back into the swing of things so

I am reading it again but this book basically has become my gospel in terms of how Paul used his Jewishness in his writings and the influence on how the present day Church views the gospel.

 

[Lamel]

Just started today.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

I've been reading some heavy books for a while, I need a light-hearted with great dialogue novel, any recommendations?

 

[Salazar]

At this precise moment, I'm taking a rest from DJ Enright and reading Popular Mechanics on how to survive epic falls. Amazingly well-written article.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4344036.html?page=1