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[Snaku]

So I was browsing the book section of a Dollar Tree earlier today, and I found...

Survival: Species Imperative 1 by Julie E. Czerneda. I'd heard good things about Czerneda before from some friends that are sci-fi buffs, and judging from the reviews I've read online this will be a dollar well spent.

So what are you reading?

 

[Salazar]

'The Hearing Trumpet' by Leonora Carrington. It's a brief novel about an old lady who is forced into an asylum/old-folks' home/cultish dystopia by her feckless son. Carrington was the squeeze of Max Ernst (one of the leading Surrealists), and her writing has an amazing, Dahl-like twist of wicked humour. Great book.

'The Book of Dead Philosophers' by Simon Critchley. It's a collection of accounts of how the major philosophers in different ages and traditions died, and how they approached the concept or act of dying. Immensely funny and strange, crammed with odd facts. Kant had a morbid fear of perspiration. Barthes was hit by a drycleaner's van.

 

[Ceebs]

Picked this up on a whim. Just started it though.

 

[deadbeef]

Geez were you counting the minutes or something?
:lol

 

[Solideliquid]

 

[sazabirules]

I've been reading The Complete Illustrated Sherlock Holmes. I think it has 37 short stories and one novel. I've read three stories already and its very interesting. I hope to read through all of them before the movie is out.

 

[Gilgamesh]

So good.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

About halfway through so far. Very interesting read if you're a basketball fan.

 

[Fireblend]

As I posted on the October thread, I'm *as slowly as possible* going through:

Already halfway through. It's no Wind-up Bird but I'm loving it anyway. Somehow reminds me of The Catcher in the Rye, and they even mention it multiple times on the book. Very relaxing and light read. Reading it slowly really makes you appreciate the many details Murakami puts in the background. And it really reads like a biography, it's brilliant; I don't know how people could criticize this book for not being like The Wind-Up Bird unless they didn't know they're completely different genres.

Next up:

• I, Robot
• House of Leaves

 

[Anasui Kishibe]

still the MI-5 book. So far so good


starting

and I'll see if I can find Ian Rankin's latest. I also have Robert Harris' "Lustrum" to unpack

 

[way more]

I just picked this up yesterday and will devour it soon. I'm so fucking sick of all the American Romantic crap I've been reading in my American Lit class.

I'll make a list of all the boring ass Victorian tinged shit I've read. What did people from that era see in that crap?

 

[Koshiba]

Currently almost through with this

Been working my way through it the past couple of days with my Swine Flu since I don't have much else to do.

 

[Pyke Presco]

Wheel of Time XII

Holy shit, didn't realise this was out already. To the book store tomorrow!

 

[Snaku]

Currently almost through with this
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Ender%27s_shadow_cover.jpg/365px-Ender%27s_shadow_cover.jpg[IMG]
Been working my way through it the past couple of days with my Swine Flu since I don't have much else to do. :D[/QUOTE]

Man, I love that book, almost as much as Ender's Game. The beginning with Poke was depressing as hell though.

 

[Night_Trekker]

I'm almost done with Hard-Bolied Wonderland and the End of the World. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was a better book, I think, but I've enjoyed it thus far.

 

[CygnusXS]

 

[Benjamin_MFF]

Nothing. I'm working on NaNoWriMo and I don't want to read anything else until I finish writing my novel. Now next month...that will be a different story. Where I will probably be editing and rereading my work. Then I will find something nice to read.

 

[thetechkid]

A Nomad or the Time Streams by Micheal Moorcock.

 

[Blackace]

me too... soaking it all in, and loving.. 17 years of my life getting closure.

 

[Midas]

Musik Nonstop - Pet Sounds i våra hjärtan

A book about a record store located in Stockholm, Sweden which has been around for 30 years. Kinda like they think they're as influential as Rough Trade.:lol

But it's still funny to read it.

 

[Alucard]

STILL reading Neuromancer. One of the most frustrating literary experiences of my life. It's been a MONTH! Under a hundred pages left, but I find myself not really caring about anything in the story because I don't really know what the hell is going on.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

an old favourite.

 

[Junior Asparagus]

About halfway through but still having a little bit of a tough time getting into it...

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

STILL reading Neuromancer. One of the most frustrating literary experiences of my life. It's been a MONTH! Under a hundred pages left, but I find myself not really caring about anything in the story because I don't really know what the hell is going on.

I thought it was pretty easy reading after the 'looks out on fusion reactor' line for some reason. The world isn't really consistent, I guess.

I never did like the main character though. He is so intensely blasè that it's hard to feel any kind of association with him (is his name Chase or something? I've blocked him out already :lol ).

 

[Davey Cakes]

Last week I started reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time. Figured it was a festive choice and all. I plan on finishing it.

 

[Forsete]

On World War 1, I started reading it a while ago but put it down since I got Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger.

Reading again, very informative with lots of maps and photographs.

Wire cutters

Caucasus front, 1914-1916.

And just for fun I got this old book which I pick up every now and then, its from 1890 and on the subject of how things work "Hvarför och Huru?" (Why and How?).

Buffon's mirror

Solar spots

This whole book has been scanned by Project Runeberg if any Swede is interested.
http://runeberg.org/huru/

 

[CiSTM]

STILL reading Neuromancer. One of the most frustrating literary experiences of my life. It's been a MONTH! Under a hundred pages left, but I find myself notIT really caring about anything in the story because I don't really know what the hell is going on.

:lol Yeah, Gibson's CyberPunk books aren't easiest place to start. I personally love the technigal jargo of Gibson's books but I can see if someone has problems getting it.

 

[bacondouble]

Charlie Brooker's : Dawn of the Dumb.

'tis funny.

 

[Binabik15]

Nothing so far :/

But as soon as I can get it: Beyond the Shadows: Night Angel Trilogy Book 3.

The second book in the series was IMO much better than the first.

After that probably the new Second Law-universe book, or I´ll buy the first book with Geralt from The Witcher.

 

[140.85]

 

[shuyin_]

I'm currently reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.
So far i don't know what to think of it (i'm @chapter 5). The Gethenian stories/legends intertwined throughout the novel remind me for some reasons os Stanislaw Lem's The Cyberiad. I really don't know why

 

[AnkitT]

~50 pages in, and its really interesting. Can anyone recommend me similar books?

Amazing caricature of a revolution, I must say. Just about to finish it.

 

[thomaser]

Finished the first book of the Illuminatus! trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. GREAT stuff! I love reading about silly conspiracy theories in general, and this book mashes them all up into a delightfully intricate plot. Very confusing at times, since everyone lies and most of the characters are either high or delusional or have multiple personalities or live in several time periods at once, but you get used to it.

Now, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Supposed to be a kind of gothic horror novel from what I've heard, and by far her darkest, but I'm a sixth of the way in and it reads more like a lighthearted parody of her earlier works than anything else. It will probably change soon enough.

 

[bjork]

I picked up "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" awhile ago because I heard it was good, but I'm bored to death at about 30 pages in.

 

[gofreak]

I've just started this. In the Oct thread I posted that I was reading the first in the series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and since then I finished that and the second in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire. I recall someone asking what I thought of the first in that thread, so:

I very much enjoyed those first two. The third seems to be a little...I don't know...a little more padded out or something. In the first two, the author's propensity for 'padding things' was already somewhat evident, but it seems to be even more the case here. Not sure how I feel about that. But the first two were obviously good enough to get me to number 3. In the case of all the books I was quite surprised how 'absent' the heroine actually is throughout. She's really more like a background set-up for things other characters do. In a way though, it does all serve to create a very rich and detailed story and characters that are pretty compelling. And I love that it's set in Sweden.

So far...so common sense. Now just to put it into practise, always the hard part with these books If you like very specific instructions on what to do to organise things in your life, and organise what's in your head, then this is one of the better books I've come across.

 

[Jay Sosa]

Starts out very slow and boring, but now that I'm at the half its a great read.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I very much enjoyed those first two. The third seems to be a little...I don't know...a little more padded out or something. In the first two, the author's propensity for 'padding things' was already somewhat evident, but it seems to be even more the case here. Not sure how I feel about that. But the first two were obviously good enough to get me to number 3. In the case of all the books I was quite surprised how 'absent' the heroine actually is throughout. She's really more like a background set-up for things other characters do. In a way though, it does all serve to create a very rich and detailed story and characters that are pretty compelling. And I love that it's set in Sweden.

Personally I found the third and final book to be the weakest in the trilogy (with the first one being the best). It's not a bad book by any means, it's just not quite up to snuff compared to the first two.

And I'll start reading Hitchhiker's Guide.. again, I think.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

So far...so common sense. Now just to put it into practise, always the hard part with these books If you like very specific instructions on what to do to organise things in your life, and organise what's in your head, then this is one of the better books I've come across.

You might want to look into the 4-hour workweek as well. Because doing more in less time usually translates into having to do more all the time (if you are an employee), which is one the practises the author of that book feels to be rather stupid.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Really fantastic book. There's one short story in here, "Jon", that's probably the best one I've ever read. Really lovely, sad, hilarious stuff.

 

[gofreak]

You might want to look into the 4-hour workweek as well. Because doing more in less time usually translates into having to do more all the time (if you are an employee), which is one the practises the author of that book feels to be rather stupid.

I've read that book...always inspirational, one I've gone back to again. Might revisit it.

As always though, it's the 'actually doing this' bit that bites me in the ass

 

[Melhisedek]

Man I love these kinds of threads. I hope OP can give us links to all prior threads like they do in "what have you bought this month" on gaming forums.

Great work guys. Love the small reviews.

 

[Fireblend]

Man I love these kinds of threads. I hope OP can give us links to all prior threads like they do in "what have you bought this month" on gaming forums.

Great work guys. Love the small reviews.

I think we've been having these threads for a pretty long time now. It's a great idea to have all the previous ones on the OP though, I regularly like going back and browse them for recommendations. Suggestion seconded.

 

[Salazar]

~50 pages in, and its really interesting. Can anyone recommend me similar books?

'Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus' by Martin Gardner. Classic denunciatory essays about all kinds of scientific fraud.

 

[T1tan]

Thank you so much for recommending this to me GAF (and Jeff Green)! I actually thought that once the story shifted from Oscar to his sister and mother it would be less interesting, but a hundred pages in and I'm loving every word that drops out of Diaz 's pen. I'd love to hear the guy on a comic book podcast!

 

[MaizeRage25]

 

[Koshiba]

Well finished Ender's shadow within a few days of being sick so now I'm onto Shadow of the Hegemon. For Christmas I had been given a boxset with those 3 books in it. Now I'm really wanting to get the rest of the Ender related books as well. Can't believe it's taken me this long to read them.

 

[automagnus]

Looks like theres some SciFi fans here.

Both are solid SciFi books. More than human is fantastic

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Slowly slowly im getting through it, it still feels forced like the first book, story is engaging enough.

 

[Uncle]

Heh, I was just looking up the english name for this, as I just started reading it.

 

[Dan]

Finished this a week ago:

Really liked the first half to two-thirds, but then it started getting really difficult to envision, along with it being hard to care about the abstract never-to-be-seen conflict. Basically,

Spoiler

once the future alternate universe humanity was at the forefront of the story I lost a lot of interest.

I don't think I'll check out the sequel, or the tangential prequel.

Man I love these kinds of threads. I hope OP can give us links to all prior threads like they do in "what have you bought this month" on gaming forums.

Great work guys. Love the small reviews.

Just do a topic title search.