The book thread!

[trollnystan]

I haven't read a proper book in ages, but I'm considering either to re-read the Obsidian trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, or the new pretty edition of a Jules Verne omnibus that I bought the other day.

Spoiler: Bask in the prettiness!

Spoiler: I also have pretty editions of these

Here's a quote from Jules Verne's book Journey to the Centre of the Earth:

"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."

Other quotes I come to think of now are from Astrid Lindgren, a children's author, which have stuck with me through life:

"Men han fattas mej! Han fattas mej så det skär i bröstet!" ("I miss him! I miss him so much it tears my heart!" Loses a lot in translation.)
- Ronja Robbersdaughter

"Det finns saker som man måste göra, även om det är farligt. Annars är man ingen människa utan bara en liten lort." ("There a things you must do, even if they are dangerous. Otherwise one isn't a human being but just speck of dung.")
- Brothers Lionheart

 

[raize1225]

Books! A thread about books! I just finished reading the fantasy novel Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. There's politics, religion, and magic. The narrative switches between 3 characters, a prince, a widowed princess, and the antagonist. It's interesting reading from the antagonists perspective, and seeing him encounter/overcome obstacles made me root for him on occasion. I had mixed feelings about him most of the time.

And the quote: "Remember, the past need not become our future as well."

 

[Stryc9]

George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones...yes I'm sure I'm really really late to the party but HBO did a free week of On Demand stuff and I marathoned both of the first two seasons in two and a half days and then decided to pick up the books. I'm enjoying that the books and series are for the most part the same so far though from what I've read that starts to change.

 

[2fish]

Casket of souls by Lynn Flewelling (still not 100% happy with it but not bad)

The tyranny of the night Glen Cook (this could be good but only started it)

the lost fleet Jack campbell (YAY)

 

[Ashadowpie]

im reading Eternal by Craig Russell. god i love his books, the characters feel alive and you actually care about them, the environment and their homes feel almost real as well and you get sucked into the world in only a sentence. its amazing.

the series is basically a Crime or Murderer style, Cops catch the bad guys but its dark like Red Dragon, or Hannibal. its a different psycho killer each book though and DAMN is the suspense amazing. i actually blurted out "HOLY CRAP!!" on the bus when i was reading a really good part once. haha people were looking at me funny.

i hope he writes more books though, i'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[search_rip]

I just finished reading "A Song of Ice and Fire V: A Dance with Dragons" and I'm looking for a good book to read next, does anyone can recomend "World War Z"?

 

[Trivun]

Right now I'm reading Pterry Pratchett's 'Dodger', and it's remarkably good. Even though it's one of his books for 'younger readers', it still has plenty for us adults too...

I also recently bought Halo: Silentium, Neverwhere, and the new Dan Brown book, Inferno, which are all on my 'to read' list. As well as books I really should start using on how to write Python, how to build a website, and how to learn Japanese...

I'm also going to take this opportunity to ask - has anyone else at all, apart from me, read and enjoyed any of the books in Ian Irvine's 'Three Worlds Cycle'? At all? Or am I the only one...?

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

Currently reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Right now, I'm on book three, Memories of Ice. The series was a little hard to get in to, since you're viewing things from the perspective of very worldly and experienced characters early on, and a lot of information and sorcerous lingo is thrown at you. Despite that, however, I've enjoyed the series immensely, and it's only getting better, so far, especially now that I'm starting to see how things tie together.

 

[GeneralBigG]

Currently reading On Writing by Stephen King. It's part biography and part how to write. Such a damn good book. The part where he talks about his alcoholism and drug addiction is intriguing to say the least.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'm reading the new Dan Brown novel "Inferno."

It's definitely not a great piece of literature, and I've never been a fan of his writing style, but it's entertaining, and that's really all I'm looking for. Plus, it takes place in Florence and I just got back from vacation in Italy, a couple of days of which I spent in Florence, so that makes the book much more interesting to me, since I can actually visualize all the places he describes.

 

[Kolby Jack]

I generally read a single book every couple of years or so. Rare exceptions like when I'm moving and haven't set up my TV, games, or computer yet happen, but not often.

The last book I read was some spy novel about this guy in Mossad taking down some Russian badass. "The Defector" I think it was called. It was alright. Someone gave it to me to read when I had to stand a watch, so in the same spirit, I left it on a plane after I was done with it so maybe someone else would pick it up and read it too.

In recent memory though, the only book that had any real lasting impact on me was "Lone Survivor." A firsthand account of the deadliest US Special Forces operation ever and how the single survivor... uh, survived? It was pretty gripping, and extremely sad (yet inspiring all the same).

 

[ShipofFools]

I just read Brave New World by Huxley. It was... it... well, it still occupies my mind, always the sign of a good read.
I've always been interested in utopian literature, but this book was different. They created a perfect utopia, where everybody is happy and does the job they were (literally) born to do. But happiness without suffering is meaningless, something that is the central theme to this book, I believe.

Really, if you see it in a bookshop sometime, pick it up. It's really good.

?The Savage shook his head.?It all seems to me quite horrible.? ?Of course it does. Actual happiness always look pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And of course, stability isn?t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.??

 

[capper42]

I'm reading 'The Power and the Glory' by Graham Greene. It follows a Catholic priest on the run from the authorities in Mexico during the religious persecution of the 1930s I think it is. Interesting subject matter, and this is the first Greene book I've ever read but his writing is fantastic. I can't remember any quotes from it though.

The last book I read before this was 'High Fidelity' by Nick Hornby. I really enjoyed it, very entertaining and relatable read. I was also impressed by how much the film (which I'd seen several times before) had stuck to the book, despite changing the setting from London to Chicago. Just a weird change at the end to having him sign a band in the film, which in my eyes was completely unnecessary.

?What came first ? the music or the misery? Did I listen to the music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music?"

 

[sagitel]

im currently reading the parallel world by Michio kaku
its a book about the theory of parallel universes and the whole world theory (if thats the English name). it talkes about the history of these theories and all.

to get this quote i need to give a little background: it was one of the early conferences about whole world theory the M theory. and Niels Bohr was there. then in the middle of the lecture he got up and say:

we here have agreed that this theory is stupid. but what we are currently talking about is the degree of its stupidty.

 

[Bertylicious]

Relevant.

Anyway, I'm actually about to start a book...though I'm not sure which one - it'd be either Jam by Yahtzee, Cold Days by Jim Butcher or This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong. I think I'll go in the order I listed them but I may change my mind, mostly I figure it's Jam because it's the shortest, then Cold Days because The Dresden Files, and then the other one simply because it's not as short or as desirable. Though still highly anticipated.

Holy shit, David Wong wrote another book? I really enjoyed John Dies at the End.

I'm reading a book about this Chinese bloke called Mao. It's pretty good but man, China was fucked up back in the first half of the 20th century. Also obligatory "Me, Cheeta" by James Lever plug. That book is baaaad asss.

 

[Fractral]

I just finished reading "A Song of Ice and Fire V: A Dance with Dragons" and I'm looking for a good book to read next, does anyone can recomend "World War Z"?

It's definitely worth a read, but if you don't like documentaries or history books you may not enjoy it, because that's the style it's in.
I'm currently reading Wheel of Time, on the 7th book. I'm slightly nervous because I've heard that from here on it gets boring fast. I've also been interspersing my trek through that series with the odd Science Fiction. Recently finished Pandora's Star, which was actually not very good imo. Too much faffing around, and then the aliens invade at like 90% through.

 

[search_rip]

... does anyone can recomend "World War Z"?

It's definitely worth a read, but if you don't like documentaries or history books you may not enjoy it, because that's the style it's in.

Hey thanks I'll give it a try *offtothelibrary*

 

[Artina89]

I am currently reading Apricot jam and other stories by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I am really enjoying it, but I am probably going to have to read something new because the last few books I have read have been as follows: Cancer ward by Solzhenitsyn, One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, again by Solzenhitsyn and The new Moscow philosophy by Vyacheslav Pyetsukh. I seem to be on a Russian literature kick at the moment. I might read Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine just for a change.

 

[secretkeeper12]

Didn't actually read it (too lazy for that ), but I skimmed through a book called Incarceron for my English class. It took place in a prison where the inmates can never leave, and was modeled around old-fashioned living. Not the romanticized version, though. The real one, with all the peasants and poverty and barbarians and all that good stuff. A major character was in fact Incarceron itself, which was designed to be somewhat sentinet. Overall, I'd say as long as you can handle a jerkass for a protagontist, you'll enjoy it.