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Author Topic: For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!  (Read 54452 times)

elcapitan

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #150 on: 30 Jul 2005, 21:15 »

I'm reading Rhapsody, by Elizabeth Haydon. I bought this back in 2003 and didn't get past halfway, but I figured it was probably worth a second chance. So far, it seems ok - nothing special, but readable.
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StrikeThePostman

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #151 on: 01 Aug 2005, 14:23 »

Quote from: Moiche
one-word book reviews


Agreed on all fronts!  :)

Quote from: Willis
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did/do.


I did enjoy it, and amazingly enough, I'm actually looking forward to writing essays about it.
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soap

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #152 on: 01 Aug 2005, 15:06 »

im about to start lord of the flies ...

the last two books i read were the dirt motley crues autobiography and fear & loathing in las vegas by hunter s.thompson

both were really good and come highly recommended!
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Praeserpium Machinarum

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #153 on: 01 Aug 2005, 15:14 »

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream!

I just begun, and it's even better than the movie :)
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Tanka

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #154 on: 01 Aug 2005, 16:38 »

I just finished the Zombie Survival Guide and am now re-reading the Tao Te Ching.
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Karn

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #155 on: 01 Aug 2005, 18:40 »

My summer reading:

East of Eden - John Steinbeck
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss
Rise to Rebellion - Jeffrey Shaara

The first four were/are pretty decent. I haven't started the last one yet.
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TheToon_Ashtoon

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #156 on: 01 Aug 2005, 20:24 »

I looked through the forum and I didnt think I saw any mention of the book The Crimson Petal and the White.  This book acctually just grabbed me from the cover, I had never heard of the author Michel Faber.  Now I'm quite a fan.  Good read, good read.
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odiethis

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #157 on: 01 Aug 2005, 20:25 »

I totally dig Neil Gaiman, both his prose and his comics. I also love Alan Moore. I'm about halfway through Gaiman's "Smoke and Mirrors" collection of short stories. I have also been reading "Rebel Without A Crew" by Robert Rodriguez, about how he made El Mariachi.
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5thWheel

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #158 on: 02 Aug 2005, 00:56 »

If fantasy is your thing, Hugh Cook is IMHO totally awesome & since a few of his books have gone out of print he has uploaded them in their entirety so you can try them out for free.  "The Wordsmiths and the Warguild" is probably the worst of the three by quite a margin; the other 2 rock.

& @ soap: if you like William Golding, I remember "The Spire" being pretty good, if somewhat metaphor-bludgeonly.
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Xerakon

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #159 on: 02 Aug 2005, 01:29 »

Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time)
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter)
Michael A. Stackpole (Star Wars)
J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)
Aaron Allston (Star Wars)

.. is this a natural selection, or is my bookshelf just fracked up?
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trill

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #160 on: 03 Aug 2005, 21:34 »

Lately I just haven't been reading much fiction. I guess it's because I started The Bourne Identity a while back and promptly lost it on page 103. I've vowed to find and finish it before I start another fiction.
So instead, I've been reading the following:
The God Particle - It's 13 years old, so I'm sure it's horribly out of date by now, and fully intend to research everything from it after I'm finished, but particle physics is surprisingly interesting. It's got a humorous tone to it, too, which is refreshing after years of science text books.
Emergency War Surgery - which is exactly what the title says. I picked it up at a thrift store, since I'm obsessed with medical books. I guess it's a bit odd, but I really love that it explains not just treatments, but also why certain projectiles cause certain injuries, and takes human error into account when discussing early treatments.
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soap

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #161 on: 05 Aug 2005, 15:03 »

a book i read awhile ago but only just got reminded of:

maus by art spiegelman

its about the holocaust, but its in comic book form which somehow makes what it says more powerful than many 'proper' books about the same subject
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TheToon_Ashtoon

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #162 on: 10 Aug 2005, 00:12 »

I am a huge huge huge gaiman fan.  Neverwhere I am reading, been into the sandman series for a while.  He is a mad genius.  He wrote some comic with like 14th or 16th century superheroes i was reading in B&N the other day.  The man is inteligent and I am convinced that everything he writes is gold.  

plus, he and tori amos are tight.  unfortunately, my music taste differs from anyone else who reads QC somehow.  so that may not be that big of a deal.  I think its super awesome, though.  IMO Tori Amos writes damn interesting lyrics.  

sorry didn't mean to get into music in a book thread.
Point being: Gaiman is fantastic.  Read his stuff.
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Tedd

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #163 on: 10 Aug 2005, 04:18 »

Quote from: Karn
My summer reading:

East of Eden - John Steinbeck
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss
Rise to Rebellion - Jeffrey Shaara

The first four were/are pretty decent. I haven't started the last one yet.


If I'm not mistaken, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a grammar book, isn't it? Rather funny.
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Markoff_Chaney

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rereading?
« Reply #164 on: 10 Aug 2005, 04:23 »

ON BULLSHIT
by frankfurt.
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normz

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #165 on: 10 Aug 2005, 04:44 »

I'm currently reading.....

Japanese Law - Hiroshi Oda
Corporate Governance: Theories, Principles and Practice- John Farrar
A History of Political Thought: From the Middle Ages to Renaissance- Janet Coleman
(and those are only 3 of 11 planned so far!)

who can't half tell I'm back at university and have already visited the library for a back breaking load of extra reading :P

and it's ok Ashtoon I think tori amos is awesome and writes some freaky lyrics too *starts singing along to 'cornflake girl'*
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heretic

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #166 on: 10 Aug 2005, 05:39 »

right now reading: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. not a very easy read, i keep falling asleep after a page or two, so i have yet to get into the good part.
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normz

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #167 on: 10 Aug 2005, 23:40 »

:o HOW can you say that there are no boring bits when william gibson is writing *strokes her copy of Pattern Recognition she has on extended loan from her best  mate* It's ok sweetie he didn't really mean it ... who's mummies favourite sci-fi book? you are yes you are shnookums......

hmmm see all those boring dull textbooks do funny things to my mind
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shrimp

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #168 on: 12 Aug 2005, 17:12 »

Currently reading Off Season by Jack ketchum and Principles of Wicca Vivanne Crowley. Before that devoured a few other wicca books, Tales from the nightside series. Some Eddings and a bunch of Pratchett, and thats just since school ended, Yey for not having to plan lessons in the evenings! Tomorrow I shall treat myself to a trip to Waterstones to pick up some new books! I hate buying stuff on amazon, its not as nice as spending ages in the nice bookshop and poking at old books!
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McTaggart

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #169 on: 13 Aug 2005, 07:40 »

Re-reading Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.

Two things; I missed so much the first time through that it's amazing I thought I'd read it. Also, Death dealing with children is priceless.
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One day ends and another begins and we're never none the wiser.

ielerol

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #170 on: 13 Aug 2005, 18:18 »

I want Neil Gaiman's babies. I read his blog, and that man can't write a word that isn't awesome.

Right now I'm just starting Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov. I love Russian novels. I'm also sort of in the middle of Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, but I probably won't finish it anytime soon. It really drags after awhile. I want to finish it someday, mostly because the ending is apparantly controversial. Victorian scandal makes me happy.

I just finished reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, which is kind of post-apocalyptic but not so much apocalypse as scarily plausible decline. It's a little like The Handmaid's Tale, but with characters that fight back. And when that got me too angry/depressed/cynical, I read bits of Spherical Harmonic by Catherine Asaro, which is part of a series that I can only describe as romantic space opera.

I have read one Terry Pratchett novel, plus Good Omens, and I intend to read more.
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La Creme

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #171 on: 14 Aug 2005, 21:58 »

Quote from: Tanka
re-reading the Tao Te Ching


Hurray Taoism! I think I'm due for being a hardcore taoist sometime soon. But only for a few weeks before I get bored and start being something else again.

Just finished All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and I was massively impressed. One of the most engaging and powerful classic novels I've ever read.

Now 100 pages into I, Lucifer by Glenn Duncan and it is severely kicking ass and about to start The Seahawk by Rafael Sabatini because I don't read nearly enough books about pirates and because it's the other best book option on the required reading for my AP Euro summer reading (besides All Quiet, which is done.)
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elcapitan

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #172 on: 26 Aug 2005, 04:25 »

Quote from: normz
:o HOW can you say that there are no boring bits when william gibson is writing *strokes her copy of Pattern Recognition she has on extended loan from her best  mate* It's ok sweetie he didn't really mean it ... who's mummies favourite sci-fi book? you are yes you are shnookums......


See, I didn't think of Pattern Recognition as a sci-fi, for some reason. Kinda modern-day tech thriller, if I had to label it. Neuromancer, now that's sci-fi.

I'm starting Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson, which I'm liking so far - since I'm something of a maths/cryptography/computer geek, it pushes all the buttons marked "Interesting."

I'm also going through Stranger In A Strange Land again - I haven't read it since I was about 12, and I see a lot more in it this time through. (You might even say that I'm grokking it.)

In my spare time, I'm reading through Dan Simmons' Prayers To Broken Stones - I found a copy in a second-hand bookshop, and it's brilliant. Really interesting reading the seeds for Hyperion, The Hollow Man, and Carrion Comfort, among others.

Quote from: La Creme

Now 100 pages into I, Lucifer by Glenn Duncan and it is severely kicking ass and about to start The Seahawk by Rafael Sabatini because I don't read nearly enough books about pirates and because it's the other best book option on the required reading for my AP Euro summer reading (besides All Quiet, which is done.)


If you want a book about pirates, track down (Amazon has it, I think) a book called On Stranger Tides. It's by Tim Powers, and I guarantee that if you like pirates and/or voodoo then you'll love it.
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shrimp

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #173 on: 26 Aug 2005, 06:26 »

Just finished Demonstorm, by James Barclay. Has anyone else read the Chronicles of the Raven and Legends of the Raven?

If you like your fantasy with mercenaries and codes of honor and magic and sword fights and undead warriors and dragons and great funny scenes then get them, start with Dawnthief. I laughed out loud (woke the fiance a few times) and I cried at the sad bits, Barclay really has a good way of creating empathy and the characters are pretty human (or elf or dragon :) ).

Currently starting to read a Tom Holt Omnibus and then will read Orcs by Stan Nicholls, I love Waterstones :)
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CoinOperatedGirl

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #174 on: 26 Aug 2005, 06:53 »

A suggestion for those of you who like insomnia inducing terror:

House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski.  If you're into Poe, listen to their album Haunted while you read it.  Danielewski is Poe's brother, and she made the album to go along with the book, or so I've heard.  This book had me wanting to buy tape measures and buy night lights.

A review of the book:
http://www.themodernword.com/review_house_of_leaves.html
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tetsuotheironboy

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #175 on: 26 Aug 2005, 13:24 »

terry pratchetts discworld series is magnificent, gets better with every book imho but although its my favourite character set, his recent focus on sam vimes and the city watch in most of his work is puzzling. The witches of lancre, rincewind the wizzard (or does he spell it with three z's?), death have all taken a back seat to parodies of modern life through the ankh morpork/city watch character set. Gotta love brave new world and 1984, as cliche' as they are for leftie types like myself they're just great. Animal Farm is better though. Anyone ever read ben eltons eco-warrior type books stark and this other eden? cheesy but very funny. Especially the spray-on condoms...
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StrikeThePostman

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #176 on: 26 Aug 2005, 15:39 »

I'm re-reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.  It's regarded as a children's book, but I think it's my favourite.  I haven't read it since I was about nine and there are a lot of things that are more relevant to me now than there were then (mostly because now, I'm a word and funky math freak).
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liberation_party

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #177 on: 29 Aug 2005, 23:20 »

Quote from: TheToon_Ashtoon

plus, he and tori amos are tight.  unfortunately, my music taste differs from anyone else who reads QC somehow.  so that may not be that big of a deal.  I think its super awesome, though.  IMO Tori Amos writes damn interesting lyrics.

(Temporarily continuing the hijack....)  I like Tori Amos.  I have several of her CDs, some of her bootlegs, and have even attended one of her overpriced stadium shows.  I'll also agree that she has interesting lyrics.  Some of her turns of phrase are wonderful things to savor.  That said, her songs rarely make a lick of sense to me.  I explain it as "I understand the words, but I don't speak the language."  Maybe if I attempt unpretty line-by-line translation.  


Books!  Books books books!  

My favorite authors include Dr. Seuss, Madeleine l'Engle, Douglas Coupland, Neil Gaiman, Charles deLint, C.S. Lewis, Umberto Eco, and Orson Scott Card, among many others.  Those are just the first few who floated to the top of my head.  

My favorite Dr. Seuss book is My Many Colored Days, which I honestly enjoy for the pictures above the text.  Do look for it.  It's fun to read to strangers on the bus.  

Madelein l'Engle has also written some fantastic picture books (The Other Dog stands out), but she's also done the Time Quartet (the first three volumes being excellent) and a host of other novels which have enough depth revealed in various places to keep me rereading throughout the years.  

Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a tweenager must read.  So is The Phantom Tollbooth.  

Neil Gaiman... I would sacrifice small defenseless rodents to Cthulhu and the fire if it would grant me the ability to write as he.  Stardust, Neverwhere, American Gods... yes.

Douglas Coupland:  terribly funny.  Really, he's terrible.  His humor tends to come from the vacuity of modern culture butting up against those imperfect good things (like familial love) we hope are permanent, but aren't always.  Still, his work is evolving, and each novel trips a little closer to finding meaning in a totally fucked-up world.  I'm told he coined the term Generation X with his eponymous novel.  I just think All Families Are Psychotic was a solid read, and want more.  

Charles deLint writes urban fantasy, and it's usually pretty solid.  My favorites from his canon are Tapping the Dream Tree (short stories) and The Onion Girl (novel re: the past of a major character).  Most of his unrelated novels take place in Newford, with overlapping casts.  

I'm falling unconsious, so I'll post and leave and hope I haven't repeated someone else's opinions word-for-word in my exhaustion.  Maybe I'll post later.
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La Creme

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #178 on: 03 Sep 2005, 01:43 »

Finished The Sea Hawk yesterday. Do not read this book, it was terrible.

Picking up I, Lucifer again. Knowing it's gonna be better than the fucking book I just finished is reassurance enough. BLARRRGHHH.
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offcitylimits

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #179 on: 04 Sep 2005, 10:16 »

currently reading a million little pieces by james frey. a very powerful, heartrending memoir of a 23 year-old trying to kick his addictions to alcohol and crack.

also reading me talk pretty one day by david sedaris for a little levity.
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MysteriumTremendum

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #180 on: 04 Sep 2005, 13:04 »

I have reading ADD and have two or three books on the go at once. At the moment I'm reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods (for about the twentieth time), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Beowulf
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Micolithe

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #181 on: 04 Sep 2005, 13:11 »

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski is some good shit. Supernatural houses that eat people for fuel and a parallell story about the guy doing the footnotes.
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Skibas_clavicle

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Re: rereading?
« Reply #182 on: 04 Sep 2005, 15:43 »

Quote from: Markoff_Chaney
ON BULLSHIT
by frankfurt.

Good choice.

I just bought Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (which I started reading), White Teeth by Zadie Smith and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.  Before I got those three (only for 21 bucks!) I was reading the fifth Harry Potter. Good shit, I don't care what anyone says!
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ChanPai

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For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #183 on: 04 Sep 2005, 18:41 »

I own "On Bullshit" and haven't read it, even though it's a 20 minute read. I am buying the Tom Robbins collection Wild Ducks Flying Backwards tonight and I am so excited.
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