Read any good books lately?

[MrHoatzin]

I've been very lethargic reading-wise lately. In the past few months I have started a shitload of books but finished barely any. Here's a short list of the books in the pipeline or recently fully pipelined through -- most of which are littering my floor right now:

:tup: The first three (all?) Earthsea books by Ursula LeGuin (or somesuch) -- really good, light but complex at the same time.

Koran -- like it more than the Bibble; didn't finish it.

Dervish and Death by Mesha Selimovic -- pretty good, though it reads like Dostoyevski with the good and the bad; didn't finish it.

:tup: The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov -- I am a Nabokov whore, so his stuff's always good; reading it actively right now.

To Myself by Odilon Redon -- I love the guy's paintings, but I only read the first few pages; brand new book.

:tup: Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov -- I love that book. This particular copy that I am looking at right now I purchased to send to Yufster but never really got to it; read it in high school and recently again.

but probably :tup: Speak Memory by Nabokov -- his memoirs; I've read only a few pages and then put it on the shelf and covered it with that copy of Master and Margarita from the previous paragraph.

[JoeX111]

Man, I'm kind of in the same boat lately. My past and present book list looks like this:

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket \ Daniel Handler. I highly recommend everyone go out and buy this incredibly fun childrens series as soon as possible. It is very exciting, clever, and full of interesting literary references that adults will love.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, finished it and loved every minute of it. It has been on my 'To Read' list for ages.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Very good, but couldn't get all the way through it. I stopped about halfway. The narrative switches continually between a story and character I care nothing about, one that is vaguely interesting, and one that is fantastic and not utilized nearly enough.

Hex and the City by Simon R. Green. Can't get past the first two pages. I guess I'm just not in the mood for it lately.

Bank Shot by Donald E. Westlake. Extremely funny, part of a saga about a brilliant heist planning crook named Dortmunder, who has just about the worst luck in the world. Just finished it.

And my now reading \ to read in the future list includes Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett, the paperback version of Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote, and the next Dortmunder book, Jimmy the Kid.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Recently I finished Christopher Phillips' Socrates Cafe, an awesome book about the author's experience of being a sort of modern day philosopher/student taking the wisdom on the road, to the people, as a very real and applicable thing for one's every day life. I've always hated it when people keep such beautiful, useful things as philosophical discussion and inquiry in ivory towers and use sophistry and highminded bullshit to maintain their status above the layman.

Now I'm reading Plato's The Last Days Of Socrates. It's just sublime.

I've also just started Susan Faludi's Stiffed: The Betrayal Of The American Man, an investigation into the perceptions of what it means to be masculine, how it has been upheld, and how it all had eroded, why, and what it means. It's quite a fat book and will mostly stay at the bedside.

I'm also reading bit by bit Jean Nouvel: The Elements Of Architecture by Conway Lloyd Morgan. Nouvel is one of my favourite architects and this tome gives some insight to how he thinks and works.

The Jade Empire and Psychonauts manuals.

[MrHoatzin]

I've always hated it when people keep such beautiful, useful things as philosophical discussion and inquiry in ivory towers and use sophistry and highminded bullshit to maintain their status above the layman.

Most people capable of discussing philosophy are afraid of the real world, much like most real people are afraid of philosophy.

[JoeX111]

Man, I'm glad Trep posted after me. My love of genre crap could never compare with his smartly goodness.

Although, Trep, your post on Adventure Gamers has me looking up that 39 Steps novel....

[Roderick]

I don't nearly read as much as I'd like to. I'm mostly into comics, because they don't take as long so I don't have to put in much precious time. I do read lots of high-end comics though. I've been reading through the entire Sin City (Frank Miller) series, currently I'm reading Watchmen (written by Alan Moore).

As for real books, the latest thing I read was Warcraft: Day of the Dragon (Richard A. Knaak). Yeah, fantasy pulp rules. Now my friends have urged me to start with The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. But I just don't have enough time to read, and I'm unfortunately incapable of reading in bed (too freaking sleepy or reluctant to).

[baconian]

Yeah I just read 'The Last Day' of Cerebus. That's some fucked-up shit right there. I don't think you have an emoticon that describes it.

Edit: Oh, yeah, I meant to add: Bibble! hahahaha. what a load of twaddle.

[Wormsie]

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. Have been reading that for MONTHS now. Yes, not very actively.

[hermes]

I have read/are reading a lot of Patrick O'Brians Jack Aubrey books - great naval historical novels (the movie Master and Commander was based on one of these).

Also Jack Kerouac's 'book of haikus' - which is quite interesting in a americana haiku kind of way.

and then I'm eagerly awating the new Terry Pratchett....

[ysbreker]

Just finished:

The dark tower series by Stephen King

Idoru by William Gibson

All tomorrows parties by William Gibson

Rereading for the zillionth time:

All the books of Terry Pratchett. and the latest which I reread being thief of time

Planning to buy:

The latest Pratchett

all the william gibson books

[lailoken]

Just Finished V by Thomas Pynchon (not really sure that I like his style, where it's almost as if the writing style takes precedence to the actual plot)

Now reading Earthsea saga by Ursula le Guin (reads nice and there is a lot to think about)

Also read a pulp "forgotten realms" novel again, which reminds me why I don't do that as much anymore.

Read all the Neal Stephenson books out there, just brilliant. The way he manages to write about history and keep you interested by introducing fiction makes me wonder if that wouldn't be an interesting concept for a game...

On Cryptonomicon I can only say that it is a brilliant book and all the storylines are to me totally interesting.

Also finished the Dark Tower series by Stephen King last year when the final book came out and felt reliefed (because he manged to finish it) and let down, because it's over now!

Will read Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon next and probably will check out the Lemony Snicket books as well. Eagerly waiting for the new Harry Potter though the last one was kind of a letdown for me, but it's good fiction.

A friend of mine had been totally enthousiastic about Russian writers and I have been meaning to get into that for some time now... maybe that will be the next thing for me... not sure.

KINGZ, you seem to be into Russian literature, what would be your recommendations?

EDIT: Oh yeah still favourite book of all time: The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

[ysbreker]

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Very good, but couldn't get all the way through it. I stopped about halfway. The narrative switches continually between a story and character I care nothing about, one that is vaguely interesting, and one that is fantastic and not utilized nearly enough.

Which of the three did you like best then? I liked them all immensly. but if I had to choose it's got the be the WW2 shaftoe line

BTW. Did any of you read the 3 prequels, quicksilver, confusion and system of the world?

[lailoken]

yeah, great stuff!

[JoeX111]

Actually, my favorite character was Waterhouse, the absentminded mathematician guy? I always found his segments the most fascinating and the most fun, like when he was just standing around watching the attack on Pearl Harbor, not really realizing that anything bad was happening. I have like zero knowledge of math, but I was totally engrossed whenever they were explaining away how they cracked the various codes, or how they needed to find an exact right amount of knowledge and lack of knowledge to expose to the Germans in order to prevent them from realizing that the enigma code was cracked.

The modern plotline with Randy was interesting enough, but the Bobby Shaftoe sections just didn't seem to be going anywhere from where I left off in the book.

Make no mistake, I thought the book was awesome from what I read, I just kind of lost interest midway through. The same thing happened the first time I read Snow Crash, actually. Then later I went back and reread the whole thing from scratch and thought it was brilliant.

And no, I haven't had a chance to read the prequels yet. How are they? Honestly, they sound good, but not nearly as interesting as Cryptonomicon to me.

[Roderick]

Just finished Watchmen. Alan Moore is a great writer. To think that this stuff was written twenty years ago, and still it's highly original and breaking the mold.

[ysbreker]

And no, I haven't had a chance to read the prequels yet. How are they? Honestly, they sound good, but not nearly as interesting as Cryptonomicon to me.

Well if you stopped reading cryptonomicon halfway through don't start on the prequels cause they are each 2 times as long I think. But still a great read

[Twilo]

Super listo!

No particular order.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke)

Gravity's Rainbow (Pynchon)

Ella Minnow Pea (Mark Dunne)

Iron Council (China Miéville)

Quicksilver (Neal Stephenson)

The Fortress of Solitude (Jonathan Lethem)

The Etched City (KJ Bishop)

Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer)

The Pirates! in an adventure with Scientists (Gideon Defoe)

[Erkki]

I just re-read all the Amber books by Roger Zelazny that I have (less than half). And now I started reading a local author's fantasy novel, which I once thought I liked, but now I find it sucks badly.

I'd like to read Earthsea, but tomorrow I'm going to temporarily trade my Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy for Philip Pulman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. I don't know anything about it, but my friend knows his sci-fi so it'll probably be good.

[terabin]

Just Finished V by Thomas Pynchon (not really sure that I like his style, where it's almost as if the writing style takes precedence to the actual plot)

Before you jump into another of his longer monstrosities, try a shorter one. I've recently read and enjoyed the Crying of Lot 49, which is only 150 pages. It's still a trip plot-wise, but it's supposed to be his most accessible novel. Problem with Pynchon is that he has a trillion literary references in his novels and unless you're incredibly well-read, you won't pick up on a lot.

[Lechimp]

If comics count, I've been reading Sin City and The Dark Knight Returns. I've also started reading the first book in the Discworld series, the color of magic.

[Twilo]

Pynchon also has a rambling sort of style which is maybe characteristic of all the post-modern writers of his generation. I don't think it ever gets to a state of "poLords Managementbble" but it does cause his longer books to thread out into a disjoint string of odd situations and strange conversations.

Still, he's better at that than anyone else is.

[lailoken]

No, I definitely LOVE the way Pynchon writes, it's just that he seems to lose sight of the plot a LOT... structure to me could be better. As far as the literary quotations are concerned, I wouldn't know...

The Pullman books are nice but to me also quite flashy and loud in a romantic "remember the 1920s" way. I don't know if this makes any sense but they really reminded me of older "Adventure" movies a lot...

The thing with Gravity's Rainbow is that I already have the book and I would have to order any other book... so we'll see. But thanks for the advice.

[Dingo Chavez]

I recently finished:

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett - So far, it's my favorite Diskworld novel.

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett - So-so.

The Light Fantastic by (again) Terry Pratchett - Amusing at times, slightly dull at others.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (In hebrew) by J.K. Rowling - It was alright, I don't really understand why people started a religion after it, though

My sister borrowed some books from our cousin today. I got The Soddit by A.R.R.R Roberts, Thiefs of Time by Terry Pratchett, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (cute name), and The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende. I'm gonna start reading them tomorrow. Rapturous and somniferous times are upon me.

Mr. T: Mr. T likes his Sweet Vally High books, they make me feel like a little school girl. (I don't really know what Sweet Vally High is, but I heard it's quite bad.)

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Most people capable of discussing philosophy are afraid of the real world, much like most real people are afraid of philosophy.

D'you think real people are afraid of philosophy because they think it's off limits to them? Too 'high above them'? If so, where is that feeling coming from?

[MrHoatzin]

The People are dumb, man. I get depressed every time I try to talk philosophy with The People.