Favorite books / What are you reading?

Anyone know of any good science fiction books set in India/the middle east (Besides river of gods/ when gravity fails)
 
Finished The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, and a reread of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Although it had some seriously good things about it, I liked the first one the least. Ubik (pronounced YOO-bik) was exceptionally entertaining. Reading Philip K. Dick makes me angry at the numbskulls in charge of greenlighting Hollywood projects. There are so very many PKD stories that would make great movies but instead they insist on mangling old classics and exploiting comic books. Yuck.

Now reading Thuycidides, History of the Peloponnesian War.
 
I recently finished reading The Mao Case: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu Xiaolong. It's pretty good but not being a fan of poetry and all, felt that for the most part it was overdone with how many poetries were referenced and recited. Granted it does have it's use in understanding what Chen is looking for in the case.

Going to read Don Quixote in about a week. Need some time to settle into my college schedule and get a feel for how much work I'll have to do before I begin reading it. Well I've read about half of it already a while back but I never finished it and now I'm going to start over.
 
Just finished War of The Worlds after a long time on my list. Really good and better than any movies I remember seeing. It seems to me in the movie version they made out the Martians to be invincible right up to the end but in the book they are shown to be vulnerable which makes more sense.
 
Serbaside said:
Just finished War of The Worlds after a long time on my list. Really good and better than any movies I remember seeing. It seems to me in the movie version they made out the Martians to be invincible right up to the end but in the book they are shown to be vulnerable which makes more sense.
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I always wished they made an adaptation of the book that followed it closely and was good. The only film version of the book that takes place in Victorian England is very poor in quality.

Read The Road. It is one of the most hopeful and happy books I have read in a long time
 
Sabirah said:
Serbaside said:
Just finished War of The Worlds after a long time on my list. Really good and better than any movies I remember seeing. It seems to me in the movie version they made out the Martians to be invincible right up to the end but in the book they are shown to be vulnerable which makes more sense.
Click to expand...

I always wished they made an adaptation of the book that followed it closely and was good. The only film version of the book that takes place in Victorian England is very poor in quality.
Click to expand...
I thought the Spielberg version that came out a few years ago did lots of things right (the tripods, for example) and lots of things wrong (Dakota Fanning). That could have been a great movie if they hadn't changed a bunch of stuff and made it worse.

I like how the book martians land in giant cylinders, unscrew the end, and start building their tripods on the spot.

I just found Steve Martin's autobiography, Born Standing Up, at Goodwill for a dollar. Really looking forward to reading it.

BTW, if anyone has a Border's nearby, they've marked everything from 60 to 80 percent off for their final two weeks of business. Grabbed a few nice items there today.
 
I just ordered Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H. P. Lovecraft: Commemorative Edition in my local bookstore. They said they'll get it in 5-6 days.

Wooho!
 
I just remembered my love for Terry Pratchett after reading a few of his books years ago. Since I've started reading again I've already read Moving Pictures, The Last Continent, and Equal Rites. It never ceases to amaze me how good the author is at fantasy comedy without resorting to parody, but by simply creating a fantastic and wacky universe.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
I received Matt Barton's "Vintage games" in the mail today. Will be the first time I read a book about games.

So far it's well written and witty, I think I'll order his other book that focusses on role-playing games after finishing this one.
 
After finishing a dive into graphic novels (Watchmen, the whole Sin City line up, V for Vendetta), decided to try some actual novels again.

Just finished Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. I enjoyed the first half a lot, but the whole second half seemed a bit boring to me. Like he realized he needed a compelling twist and then it's just about coping with that twist.


About to start Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver.
 
Presently halfway through Europe at War by Norman Davies, after starting to read it again. A fantastic book offering a fresh perspective on World War II. It's quite obvious once you think about it, but given the typical stance in historiography for decades, the notion that World War II in Europe was actually a Soviet-Nazi total war with minor Allied involvement is quite revolutionary.

Previously Edgar Allan Poe's works and The King in Yellow.
 
SimpleMinded said:
Just finished Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. I enjoyed the first half a lot, but the whole second half seemed a bit boring to me. Like he realized he needed a compelling twist and then it's just about coping with that twist.
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Fight Club was one of his earlier ones, wasn't it? It's a fun read, but I don't even think he was fully satisfied with it himself. He's actually been quoted as saying he thought the movie was a lot better than the book.
 
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanely Robinson

I have to say, this is my second favorite book I have read this year (next to River Of Gods) I love how well researched the author is. (For a firang, he knows a lot about Islam/India. Especially compared to most white people ;) )

McCabbe said:
Song of Kali. Not Dan Simmons' best, but it's still some Dan Simmons.
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Oh god the racism. The only thing that book got right about India is that we like white men. The rest seemed like some Kipling-esque tirade on those dirty Indians and their strange Gods.

Thank you for recommending it to me anyway, at least it gave me an author to mentally blacklist.
 
Reading "After Many A Summer Dies the Swan" by A. Huxley.

Man I hate my parents for not being 120 year old brits.
 
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