Favorite books / What are you reading?

Just finished Spinrad's 'Deus X'.
It was really good, though too short. It's PA with matrix+Church+God+soul+Herb.

Before that:
WH40K - Inquisitor trilogy (Ian Watson) and Eisenhorn trilogy (Dan Abnett)
Excellent stuff.

Next ones:
The Last Wish (The Witcher)
Gibson's Spook Country

Recommended:
David Foster Wallace: Infinity Jest
David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas

As for the best novel ever:
Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow
It's unbeatable...

As for Gibson's latest works:
After reading Stephenson's Crytonomicon and Baroque Cycle (recommended too!!), and knowing that his idol is Pynchon, Gibson is just not good enough.
He was still okay with Neuromancer and VL trilogy, but his prose and style just doesn't fit for non-sci-fi novels.
PR was really decent half way through, but then he just couldn't live up to his idol, and finished the novel with tying all loose ends very short. What a shame...
 
Summer is here and I want to eat more edible landscapes around me, so I just picked up a copy of Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto.
 
Recently, I've been reading The Enemy at the Gates, about the siege of Stalingrad, The Young American Poets, published by Big Table books.... in 1968.... just for the irony of seeing "young" on the title of a book whose contributors are probably creeping close to senior citizen status. Also, The Roman Emperors a... moderately interesting book, very short because it cuts out a lot of the hearsay about the character of the Augusti and Caesars and shrinks down the discussion about every reign to a maximum of four pages. It's been a pretty busy few weeks of reading for me.

@Snackpack- I'd recommend you just read God Emperor of Dune. It's the only noteworthy addition to the Dune series.... the second and third books are moderately interesting so-so action-ey. It has its moments, but generally worth skipping.... I'm sure there's a summary somewhere online.

Oh, and skip, for the sake of your sanity, the fifth and sixth books. The fifth is borderline unreadable (took me almost a YEAR to work through the first fifty or so pages) and the sixth tortures you with its forever-cliffhanger (Frank Herbert died a few months after the release of Chapterhouse:Dune, leaving only a packet of notes with characterizations, a brief book synopsis and a load of epigrams) after REALLY coming close to being as good as God Emperor of Dune.

And whatever you do, do NOT read the Brian Herbert end books. They're just terrible.

Honestly, I really hope the 'big reveal' wasn't supposed to be what it was.... I have a sneaking suspicion it wasn't supposed to be that, since it ties in so much to Brian Herbert's even BIGGER travesty, the Butlerian Jihad trilogy. *Sigh* Sorry.... just woolgathering, imagining what the final book(s) could've been in the hands of competent writers.
 
Thinking about picking up 'Ender's Game' next time i drop by my library. Yeah, that's right, i've never read it.

Been a while since i've read anything worthwhile. Slowly finishing up Stackpole's 'Age of Discovery' trilogy, but if not for the very cool setting (Steampunk'ish fantasy, only with huge Oriental influences) i don't think i would bother. :|
 
At the moment, Dickens' Hard Times. didn't know dickens, i love it!

before: discworld, all of them! and asimov's fundation.

Loved 'The Hobbit', Lord of the Rings... i prefer the movies, serious, all that proud tightasses with a stick up their ass bores me after the first book.

in spanish: El Capitán Alatriste series.
 
I just finished Red Storm Rising, and all I can say is wow.

I might pick up "The Road" buy Cormac McCarthy sometime this week. I hear it's good.
 
Stiched said:
I might pick up "The Road" buy Cormac McCarthy sometime this week. I hear it's good.
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Some people are real die hard fans of The Road but I don't know, I thought it was alright. It's written in an interesting fashion but I just thought it lost some of its effectiveness because of it.

I'm sure others will shoot me down for it but I've said it :). There are some good scenes in it, but overall, meh.
 
Eddings? Are you serious WesDude? His writing is for 13 year old girls.

That said, he does do some good characters.
 
I recently finished "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick. It was written as a post-apocalyptic dystopia set in what was the future for the 60s. Really interesting, sorta cyberpunk style, thought-provoking, yadda yadda. It also inspired the movie "Blade Runner," though it's fairly different.
 
SimpleMinded said:
Stiched said:
I might pick up "The Road" buy Cormac McCarthy sometime this week. I hear it's good.
Click to expand...

Some people are real die hard fans of The Road but I don't know, I thought it was alright. It's written in an interesting fashion but I just thought it lost some of its effectiveness because of it.

I'm sure others will shoot me down for it but I've said it :). There are some good scenes in it, but overall, meh.
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Die-hard fans? Like Oprah?

Anyway, there's not really anything else I want to read at the moment, except maybe War Z, but that's fucking impossible to find here.
 
Hah, well I saw it was the writer of No Country For Old Men and everyone at school would tell me it (the road) was a good book every time I was sitting outside reading it. Maybe not die hard.... what can I say, I'm the master of hyperbole.
 
SimpleMinded said:
Hah, well I saw it was the writer of No Country For Old Men and everyone at school would tell me it (the road) was a good book every time I was sitting outside reading it. Maybe not die hard.... what can I say, I'm the master of hyperbole.
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Kay, I'm going to go pick it up this weekend when I go see Get Smart.
 
hey i like the 2nd series... that and the belgarath book, both are really good if albeit a bit long.

sorta makes me think he dragged it out just to visit every "county" he made. seems kinda forced, but its not THAT bad.

i also like the leo frankowski conrad stargard books. and the pre-quel.
 
I love Peter Hammiltons Night's Dawn triology, its a very good space opera :)

Chindi is also showing promise, I am reading it now :).

Gonna read teh Culture series after the current book as well (by Ian M Banks).

(Yes, I am a sci fi nut :P)
 
SimpleMinded said:
Hah, well I saw it was the writer of No Country For Old Men and everyone at school would tell me it (the road) was a good book every time I was sitting outside reading it. Maybe not die hard.... what can I say, I'm the master of hyperbole.
Click to expand...

His best book is probably Blood Meridian. I liked All the Pretty Horses too. Some folks think the Crossing is better than Pretty Horses.

I also really liked Outer Dark. But No Country is worth the read. Blood Meridian, though, is probably his best.
 
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