Favorite books / What are you reading?

Cimmerian Nights said:
UniversalWolf said:
I've started reading True Grit by Charles Portis. So far it is living up to the hype.
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You should read Lonesome Dove, U-dub. Won the Pulitzer.
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I saw the miniseries, but I haven't read the book. I may have an old copy laying around somewhere, actually...

True Grit was really good. I can see why so many people like it.

Found a copy of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Nomad at a dollar store -- now reading it, and finding it very compelling.

And I started Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but that's a somewhat bigger project...
 
Eric by Terry Pratchett. I've been reading one book a month from him and have read about 1/3 his books and have yet to be disappointed.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
TheGM said:
I just got the complete works of HP Lovecraft.

That one is gonna take sometime.

also reading James Clavell's Tai-Pan.
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I have a few of his compilations myself. I love Lovecraft and anything spawned from it. That guy had an amazing imagination. Screw Edgar Allen Poe. I once told my English teacher I was going to write my paper on H.P Lovecraft and she said "Who is that?"

She later disappeared without a trace......
 
Tagaziel said:
TorontRayne said:
Screw Edgar Allen Poe.
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Them's fighting words, good sir.
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:lol: I figured as much. I love Poe, don't get me wrong, but Lovecraft needs a little more love. He was just as eccentric as Poe and his name sounds much cooler. I have read much more Lovecraft than Poe, so I am a bit partial I suppose.
 
I think Lovecraft is overrated by the teenage boy metal-head demographic. I dig the gloomy New England vibe, but his writing is so turgid.

TheGM said:
also reading James Clavell's Tai-Pan.
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I never got beyond Shogun and King Rat in that series, am I missing anything?

And I started Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but that's a somewhat bigger project...
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A hefty tome indeed. I was chipping away at it fairly well until I got to The Christians chapter. Has been sitting at the bottom of the nightstand ever since. Pity, I love the fusion of prose and history. Very enjoyable on a lot of levels.
 
I'm really hoping to get my hands into "Machine Man" by Max Barry. Sounds like a great book. Not so interested into his other books tho, but, who knows, if Machine Man is really good I might check them out.
 
TorontRayne said:
^Teenage boys don't read though - They play Call of Duty.....
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Teenage dudebros have usurped that calling.

Anyway, Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson is my current book. He's got great work, but this one is a bit complex when it comes to the information theory bits, which by my guess has been about half the book so far. The equations and theories try to fly over my head, but they don't see the gigantic wall behind me to go back and grab them later after they run into it.
 
It's a pity Lovecraft died so young. He was maturing as an author and writing the best stuff he ever produced when he croaked. Despite it's many flaws, his writing has a unique character.

Cimmerian Nights said:
I dig the gloomy New England vibe...
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If you haven't read Nathaniel Hawthorne lately, you might give that a try. I was surprised by how similar Hawthorne is to Lovecraft in some ways. It's got the same gothic New England atmosphere. It made me think of Lovecraft as an oddball successor to Hawthorne's tradition.

Cimmerian Nights said:
And I started Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but that's a somewhat bigger project...
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A hefty tome indeed. I was chipping away at it fairly well until I got to The Christians chapter. Has been sitting at the bottom of the nightstand ever since. Pity, I love the fusion of prose and history. Very enjoyable on a lot of levels.
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Unfortunately it's the abridged version. I'd love to dig into the unabridged version, but since I'm not Bill Murray in Groundhog Day...

If you liked Gibbon you should check out Plutarch's Lives. On my list of best things I've ever read, Plutarch would be damn near the top.
 
I completely absorbed a book called Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce(I think). Anyone interested in Astral Projection, or Lucid Dreams may find it interesting; or you may think it is metaphysical crap. Depends I guess.

I bought one of those hardcover Battle books not too long back. They also have one on Weapons which I bought too. It lists the major conflicts from Ancient Times up to 2003, with detailed info on casualties, persons involved, and even a few unit movements. I must say that I always wanted to be a Historian of some sort. I find it fascinating to learn about our past. I think it is important to understand why things are the way they are today. Anyone have any advice on good books about military events during the Napoleonic Era up to World War 2? What about the earliest recorded warfare in Ancient Times? I am especially interested in the Revolutionary War as well. Any info would be nice. I think BN is a History Professor of some sort... if I remember right. I am especially curious as to what he has to say on this. It is hard to know which books on the subjects are the most thorough.
 
Shots Fired In Anger by Col. John George (think thats the name)
Details the weapons, tactics, and daily life of soldiers on both sides of the pacific campaign in WWII. One passage I found interesting details the authors thoughts on the amount of ammunition used to kill one soldier from Revolutionary War times to the present (vietnam in this case) Whereas maybe 100 bullets were fired per casualty in the Revolutionary War, he estimates something like 200,000 to be fired per casualty in Vietnam.
Anyway I'm taking queues from this thread and just picked up the Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft for 99 cents on Kindle.
 
I'm reading The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brian. (hope I spelled that right lol)

It's a really deep dive into the Vietnam War, but it doesn't focus on the politics, but instead on the soldiers. I heavily recommend it :)
 
Finished few books lately.
Main would be Kafka's The Trial and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and I enjoyed both of them quite a lot.

Starting with something "lighter" tonight - Metro 2033. Finally.
I heard from a lot of folks that the book is good, but the game sucks when it comes to its storyline, so I decided to go from better to worse.
 
Finished Metro 2033.
I though I could write a bit of my thoughts, I know plenty of people here read it.

The book definitely has its moments, though it has its downs too. Generally, what is easily noticeable is that the writing improves over time, this being an Internet novel originally, and as the author himself states, a lot of the improvement comes from the readers who gave constructive criticism at time where it was needed - mainly regarding the technical bits (e.g. metro construction and its characteristics, military tech and weapons etc.). Only thing where it somewhat "fails" when regarding this stuff is science - a lot of stuff is just left to the allmighty radiation to mutate, alter, twist and corrupt - which I personally find somewhat annoying. Anyway, this isn't really the down factor.

The setting is pretty awesome and quite original, and the characters and story set in it are pretty good too. It suffers from some seen-before moments, especially in the beginning of the novel, where it is a standard bildungsroman - it stays like that until the end, but with a lot of philosophy involved. Whereas in itself it isn't something new, it is cleverly used.
The story itself is pretty dynamic with a lot of characters (again, it was an Internet novel), and though certain chapters can be marked boring (at least to some extent), it is all combined well in the pretty powerful ending.

Personally, I recommend the book. It's not the best on the shelves, definitely, but it is very good.

Also, as a note for all those who played the game but haven't read the book - I've never played the game, but I've seen the trailer and read few reviews. From the looks of it, it barely has anything to do with the book, and "breaks" the story and elements of the setting in favor of action...it's a shooter, after all.

I'm not saying it's a bad game, but you should forget all about it and read the book.
 
TorontRayne said:
TheGM said:
I just got the complete works of HP Lovecraft.

That one is gonna take sometime.

also reading James Clavell's Tai-Pan.
Click to expand...

I have a few of his compilations myself. I love Lovecraft and anything spawned from it. That guy had an amazing imagination. Screw Edgar Allen Poe. I once told my English teacher I was going to write my paper on H.P Lovecraft and she said "Who is that?"

She later disappeared without a trace......
Click to expand...
Lovecraft is my favorite horror author, but I agree with 'Cimmerian Nights' that the wordiness is a turn off sometimes. I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz and it was a pretty great post apocalyptic story, had a good amount of subtle humor too. Tim Cain said it inspired the Brotherhood in Fallout. Also I've been reading the original run of 'Conan' comics. I'm 21 so most are from before I was born. :)
 
Can't say I'm a connoisseur of literature, I usually have a seemingly random collection of books on the go that changes bi monthly. For your amusement:

How to Talk Dirty and Influence People (Lenny Bruce)
The Art of War (Sun Tzu)
Love All The People (Bill Hicks, John Lahr)
American Psycho (DERP)
Secrets of Tattooing (Eric Alayon)
 
I'm reading anything I can find on the Huns, which isn't that much at the local library.
 
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