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[JetBlackPanda]

 

[Sallokin]

Really digging it so far. Originally found out about it thanks to io9 doing a series of articles where users got to ask questions of the author Dave Goldberg.

I suppose when I'm done I'll give this Millenium Trilogy a shot. Everyone I know seems to love it, but I can't get a general idea why. I know absolutely nothing about the story.

Been reading this lately. It's definitely better than the first, but it can get a bit tedious at time. The majority of the book takes place on a long voyage, which means there's a lot of Laurence wandering around the ship talking to people. Oddly enough, that is what makes the book fun to me, as I've yet to actually get into Novik's action scenes.

I Have yet to finish "Victory of Eagles" for that very reason. Tedious is the perfect way to describe it.

 

[X26]

Starting ANANSI BOYS by Gaiman and AFTER THE QUAKE by Murakami

 

[The Chef]

Big surprise, still reading:

Page 1,080/1200

 

[LOCK]

When I can get reading time in I am currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Also The Emerald Planet. Excellent book about how plants shaped the Earth and played a big part in evolution.

 

[Blindfutur3]

Big surprise, still reading:

Page 1,080/1200

Almost there though, and if I remember correctly, there's a pretty dope bit right around the corner(or at least I thought so)

 

[Bliany]

A third of the way through and It's already one of the best books i've read.

 

[Peronthious]

Damn I am blasting through The Screwtape Letters. It's so fucking good, exactly the type of book I was looking for when I took down the recommendation. Thanks to whoever it was that said to check it out.

I loved that book years ago. After you finish, make sure to check out Clemen's/Twain's "Letters from the Earth", it's along the same vein.

 

[BorkBork]

Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.”

Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort.

Whether you’re a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a healthier life, you will find something here—you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own.

Been looking for this for a long time, finally got a chance to read it. Great book.

 

[seal_club]

pretty sweet. it'll probably take me through until july or something, it's nice and hefty.

 

[innervision961]

This month I've finished Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" which was an excellent read... It got a little sluggish in parts (mostly the geological portions, didn't particularly interest me much) but all in all a fantastic book.

I also just completed "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!" by Richard P. Feynman, another great read, this guys is right up there with Carl Sagan as one of my all time favorite minds.

Currently I'm reading "Demon Haunted World: Science As A Candle In The Dark" and I absolutely love it, just don't have as much time to devote to it as I'd wish (only a few pages a day )

Where do I go from here GAF? I want science/astronomy/cosmology/physics related material that is educational and interesting. Any suggestions please?

 

[T.M. MacReady]

I just finished it. The ending was fantastic! Now I'm anxiously awaiting The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. It comes out in paperback on Tuesday in the states. I'm glad the wait between the second and third books isn't as bad as the first and second.

I'm really looking forward to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest also. Probably won't get any sleep once I pick that one up on Wednesday.

 

[Salazar]

Where do I go from here GAF? I want science/astronomy/cosmology/physics related material that is educational and interesting. Any suggestions please?

Martin Gardner's Science Good, Bad, and Bogus is fine. James Gleick's biography of Feynman (Genius: Richard Feynman and Modern Physics) would probably be something you'd enjoy. Peter Watson's A Terrible Beauty: The People and Ideas that Shaped the Modern Mind is an extraordinary general history of cultural and scientific change in the 20th Century, and so much of it is to do with physics and biology, and it is so deftly explained, that you'd likely appreciate it.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I just saw that Martin Gardner died yesterday. He is a hero of mine, many of his books shaped a portion of my mind. He will be very much missed.

 

[Lo-Volt]

Just finished Shute's On The Beach, a very poised, reserved read for such a bleak premise.

After this and A Canticle for Leibowitz, I'll be looking for something else in the vein of hopelessness and human folly with nuclear weapons.

 

[Salazar]

I just saw that Martin Gardner died yesterday. He is a hero of mine, many of his books shaped a portion of my mind. He will be very much missed.

I didn't know. Goodness.

http://vimeo.com/7176521

An episode of David Suzuki's 'The Nature of Things', devoted to Gardner. So extraordinarily clever and curious and humane.

 

[Peronthious]

http://eveshamlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/the-count-of-monte-cristo.jpg[img]

pretty sweet. it'll probably take me through until july or something, it's nice and hefty.[/QUOTE]

I really should read this again, one of my favorite books. I could hardly put it down when I was reading it.

 

[BluWacky]

I bought a new book. I am so bad (my shelves are filled with unread books, not to mention the pile of 6 or 7 I've started but not finished next to my bed...)

I've only read The City and the City by Miéville before which I thought was absolutely astonishingly good. Kraken is very different; the dialogue takes a while for me to get my head around, and it's a very... geeky novel, filled with bizarre vocabulary and high-faluting references. Not a bad thing - I am, after all, a geek with a good command of the English language - but a very different read.

 

[innervision961]

Martin Gardner's Science Good, Bad, and Bogus is fine. James Gleick's biography of Feynman (Genius: Richard Feynman and Modern Physics) would probably be something you'd enjoy. Peter Watson's A Terrible Beauty: The People and Ideas that Shaped the Modern Mind is an extraordinary general history of cultural and scientific change in the 20th Century, and so much of it is to do with physics and biology, and it is so deftly explained, that you'd likely appreciate it.

Thank you so much! I'm amazongin' right now

 

[Tim the Wiz]

I've only read The City and the City by Miéville before which I thought was absolutely astonishingly good. Kraken is very different; the dialogue takes a while for me to get my head around, and it's a very... geeky novel, filled with bizarre vocabulary and high-faluting references. Not a bad thing - I am, after all, a geek with a good command of the English language - but a very different read.

You should definitely read his Bas-Lag novels. The Scar, in particular, is tremendous stuff.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I'm reading the fifth of James P. Hogan's Giants books: Mission to Minerva. I'm liking this one quite a bit more than the previous two so far. Those two had more of an... interplanetary political element, but this one seems to be more of the hard sci-fi that drew me in to begin with.


I also reread the Narnia books recently (though starting in April). I hadn't read them in nearly 20 years, and it's the first time I read them since learning I'd accidentally been reading Christian allegory and got turned off to them. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe seems really dull and eventless now, but luckily the others have a lot going on. The many island adventures of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the crazy world-hopping of The Magician's Nephew in particular still grabbed me pretty well today.

 

[otake]

I'm reading the sequel to the lies of lock lamora. Both books are shit and I will probably stop reading as soon as I find another book.

 

[Jayzus]

Premise and world are original. Am half way through the second book and it's getting very predictable.

 

[sohois]

Just finished this epic trilogy finale. It's 'historical fiction', set in 1968-1972 and following three characters involved in various significant historical events. I loved it, probably one of my favourite books of all time and i daresay it cements James Ellroy as my favourite author. It certainly was a hugely challenging read, at times even more so than the previous entry despite the prose being simplified somewhat. If i have a problem with the book, it is that the character arcs can at times seem to too closely resemble those of the previous book, though eventually there are significant enough twists in the plotting to dispel any misgivings i had. I would like to go into more detail over the book, but frankly it is so huge, so disorienting, i struggle to remember more any more intimate thoughts of much of the book; really much of what i base my opinion on is my final thoughts upon reading the ending.

To any who are interested in the book, i should stress that this is part of a trilogy, and as such will have more effect on those who have read the previous entries, though i wouldn't say one would have to read the rest of the trilogy (Strangely enough, i have so far read only parts 2&3 of the trilogy - i say strangely because with Ellroy's previous Quadrillogy, i initially read the third book first before reading the rest of the books). I should also stress that this is an incredibly difficulkt book to read - Ellroy's style is very terse with everything divided up into short sentences - staccato would be a good way of putting it - and all the dialogue making heavy use of the periods slang (including huge amounts of racist & generally offensive stuff).

Having finished Blood's a Rover, i moved onto the last of my GAF secret santa gifts, which is Ghost Rider by Rush Drummer Neil Peart. I've only got a few chapters in, but so far i am very much enjoying it - perhaps the only downside is a general lack of knowledge of Canadian geography thus i can never tell where it is Peart is travelling.

 

[tirminyl]

I am halfway through this book now. I love it!

 

[npm0925]

I am reading through The Walking Dead: Compendium 1. It's like Breaking Bad -- once things finally start to run smoothly for the characters, tragedy never fails to strike shortly thereafter. Also trying to read through a collection of Gene Wolfe's "best" short stories, but some of them are awful.

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

I am reading through The Walking Dead: Compendium 1. It's like Breaking Bad -- once things finally start to run smoothly for the characters, tragedy never fails to strike shortly thereafter. Also trying to read through a collection of Gene Wolfe's "best" short stories, but some of them are awful.

Oooh, the Walking Dead is sublime. I'm not sure if I could handle reading it as a comdendium though, each trade has me in tears at least once, I should imagine you'd find me in asobbing heap if I read the whole thing at once. How far in are you? There's one bit in there that literally made me yell and cry as if I'd lost a real person, it was horrible and yet brilliant.

Also wrt Wolfe, after my brief exposure to him (see a few pages back) I'd like to start just a Wolfe thread to find out why his fans like him, it just seems really bad to my mind. Going from Wolfe to Zelazny has been a bit like going from eating shit to chocolate ice cream. I'm all "Yeah, this is what a good book should taste like, not like that hard-to-swallow mess"

 

[Max]

Left it at school over the long weekend which sucks because I wanted to finish it.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Why would you even start the sequel if you hated the first one? :lol

I've done this before. Expect you'll like something, get multiple books in the series, fail to have the first one strike you. Not wanting the extra bother to go to waste, try out the second one to see if it's different or the reading goes better once you're familiar with the series' peculiars rather than confusion of coming in fresh.

 

[The Technomancer]

Haven't gotten to read a lot lately, with finals and all, but I'm re-reading through

Yeah, I've got the crappy US cover....

 

[BotoxAgent]

I just finished it. The ending was fantastic! Now I'm anxiously awaiting The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. It comes out in paperback on Tuesday in the states. I'm glad the wait between the second and third books isn't as bad as the first and second.

Just finished dragon tattoo. Great book. Can't wait to read the remaining two.

 

[mjc]

Is Perdido Street Station a pretty good book? I've seen it get mentioned quite a lot here throughout the last couple years but I never looked into it until now. I'm pretty big into original sci-fi/fantasy.

 

[sazabirules]

Is Perdido Street Station a pretty good book? I've seen it get mentioned quite a lot here throughout the last couple years but I never looked into it until now. I'm pretty big into original sci-fi/fantasy.

I loved Perdido Street Station. It started off slow but it picked up. I've also read The Scar. I didn't like it as much though I know some users here think The Scar was the better book.

 

[Monroeski]

Started this -

A little while back. Just finished Part 4, wherein

Spoiler

all hell basically breaks loose, we learn about the slake-moths, Lin is in the clutches of Motley, Barbile gets he mind eaten in front of everybody, and the other protagonists just got hijacked by the Weaver.

Holy crap. I was expecting a lot from all the hype, and it has easily met or surpassed my expectations on all accounts.

::edit::
:lol, didn't even notice the people talking about the book just before my post.

I agree it was a bit slow at first, as the world is more or less entirely original without the "standard" fantasy races so there is a bit of description necessary before you can really get into it, but once it takes off it is excellent.

 

[Coldsnap]

It is great to see people reading Sagan.

 

[mike23]

Finished this tonight based on the recommendations made to me in this thread.
I thought it was very good. I wish there was more about the magic in it. It was more of a military theme than I had anticipated too.

How does Silverthorn compare to this?

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

If you follow the series book by book he goes alright........ the after the Serpent War books he gets very iffy.

Pretty cool cover art!

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Just read:
Catherine Spooner - Contemporary Gothic (Very dry read, deals with the influence gothic literature and architechture has had on contemporary society and the goth subculture)
Nancy Kilpatrick - The Goth Bible (Very decent read, actually)
Konstantinos - Nocturnicon (Ehh.. Cheesy, but entertaining, I guess)
John Ajvide Lindquist - Lilla Stjärna ('Twas OK)
Michael Ende - The Neverending Story (Very good, but.. I do prefer the movie, as I grew up with the movie, not the book)

Reading:
Dunja Brill - Goth Culture (This one's a dry read too, deals with gender roles, sexuality, fashion and clothing in the goth subculture)
Lauren M. E. Goodlad & Michael Bibby - Goth: Undead Subculture (Goddamn brick of a book.. Contains essays about various subjects relating to goth. Still only on the introduction :lol )

Shall read as soon as it arrives in the mail:
Neil Gaiman - Sandman (In its entirety)
Jill Thompson - At Death's door (uguu~ o3o)

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Holy freakin' crap! I gave up reading Stephen King ages ago, I never really cared much for his style but never read the Dark Tower series. After seeing a lot of GAF rant and rave I decided to pick this up for my long commutes to see if it was good or another "In the Name of the Wind". I'm totally floored. What a brilliant idea. And the narrator is fantastic on this too. I'd highly recommend it.

The narrator is amazing. Much better than the rest of the series. He just captures what I think The Gunslinger should sound like. That bleak hopeless wasteland is right there in his voice. I absolutely love the beginning of that book too, it's perfect.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

!

Do we know when it comes out?

Early 2011, according to the publisher. The book is currently being revised and edited.

Will be starting it as soon as I've finished Diplomatic Immunity.

CryoBurn, the first Vorkosigan book in eight years or something, is coming out late this year. It seems like she's tired of Miles and company, and I'd be alright with that, but her non-Chalion stuff outside of the Vorkosigan Saga failed to impress - for me, at least.

 

[Subterranean]

I am about to finish The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and have been really enjoying it. Wind-Up Bird is my first Murakami book I have read and I would love to get into some more of his work. Anyone have a recommendation on one of his books I should get next?

 

[KingGondo]

I am about to finish The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and have been really enjoying it. Wind-Up Bird is my first Murakami book I have read and I would love to get into some more of his work. Anyone have a recommendation on one of his books I should get next?

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is very similar in tone to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. My personal favorites:

-Norwegian Wood (very down-to-earth, affecting coming-of-age story)
-after the quake (collection of short stories, all of which are excellent)

 

[thomaser]

Finished Dostoyevsky's "A Raw Youth" (or "The Adolescent", as it's also translated as in English). His second-to-last book, Karamasov being the last. Big, but a very quick read - it's as compulsively readable as his other books. The plot can be very confusing and intricate at times, and it's not always believable. But most of the characters are either unreliable, stupid, scheming, dreaming, crooks or mentally ill, so many of the more unbelievable things can be justified anyway. I enjoyed it. Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamasov are still by far his best, though.

Now, a play by Ibsen, "Enemy of the People". These late, realistic Ibsen-plays are always so full of self-important, pompous, egoistic characters... I get angry every time I read them. So I'll finish this as quickly as I can.

Next up, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. This doesn't seem to be a mood-lifter either, judging by the blurb on the cover. But East of Eden and Of Mice and Men were amazing, so I have high hopes for this one too.

Fourman: I think "The Wild Sheep Chase" and its sequel "Dance, Dance, Dance" are the two Murakami-books that come closest to the mood of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. But honestly, you'll be hooked like everyone else and read all his books sooner or later anyway, so it doesn't matter which one you tackle next.

 

[Kraftwerk]

dear god im currently reading Robot Visions and just finished the Time Traveling short story.Asimov /bow

 

[T.M. MacReady]

I'm working on this one too, pretty good thus far.

Once I finish that I'll move on to this

 

[Wellington]

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

I decided to give this book a try after seeing it posted in another thread here on Gaf. I'm enjoying it a bunch.

Hey comrade, did you make it through? I was the one that created that thread.

 

[Wellington]

Actually while I am here, what's the word on:

Seems like an interesting read. I'm just trying to put together my purchase order for the month. I've got:

Feed
Intelligent Investor
Catch 22
Metamorphasis
Money Ball

Any negatives?

I went from being a complete non-fiction reader, to 4 of 6 being fiction. I guess that's good.

 

[Hasan]

Rght now this. Its short but very readable. I read 3/4 of it in one sitting.

and then

 

[Dan]

Neo-Noir, a collection of essays edited by Mark Bould, Kathrina Glitre and Greg Tuck.

 

[Helmholtz]

Next up, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. This doesn't seem to be a mood-lifter either, judging by the blurb on the cover. But East of Eden and Of Mice and Men were amazing, so I have high hopes for this one too.

I read it a few months back for school. Really liked it, it's extremely well written. But ya, definitely not a mood-lifter