What are you reading? - Page 19

J A Eyers · 10-25-2007, 05:04 PM

I suspect so. I only got halfway through it. I didn't decide to stop reading, I just never picked it up again.

Desdinova · 10-25-2007, 11:55 PM

I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz, and I think I'm going to start on Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart.

J A Eyers · 10-26-2007, 02:40 AM

I read A Canticle for Leibowitz a short while ago too. What did you think?

Desdinova · 10-26-2007, 09:48 AM

I thought it was excellent, but, then, I've also been a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction recently...

That reminds me, I need to reread S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire series now that the next book's been released.

J A Eyers · 10-26-2007, 04:47 PM

What other post-apocalyptic novels can you recommend me?

Herne the hunter · 10-26-2007, 05:21 PM

I think you'd enjoy Gateway by Frederik Pohl, JA.

While it's not a post-apocalyptic novel per se, it has some quite interesting and believable elements. Despite the cross formats I'd consider it right up there with Alien and Sunshine as one of the greatest sci-fi stories of all time.

J A Eyers · 10-27-2007, 02:07 PM

Well, I finished Perks of Being a Wallflower about an hour ago. I wish I hadn't read the epilogue now. I'm pretending I never read it to begin with. It just made things too pat, too simple, with only a few token remarks toward there being any choice. Up until that point, the book leaps straight into my favourites of all time, and definitely the best book I've read this year since The Kite Runner (and I've read about a fifth of the books I've ever read this year). I didn't want it to end. It was too short. I want to know what happens next. Feels like the characters have all just gone and died on me. Etc. Etc.

itsallgoodbabyGb · 10-27-2007, 04:28 PM

nice eyers, you sold it to me, theres a few books i want to get, and it sounds good so it goes on the list.

never read ellis' stuff though, that i know

spike, i've never read it so that's why i cant answer!

i gave up the magic toyshop for now, as i've already read it and it doesn't seem to be catching my attention as it did when i first read it; i'll give it another try later and still recommend it to anyone looking for a bizarre, interesting and unconventional coming of age story.

instead, i picked up number9dream, david mitchells second novel. the blurb reads like satorus chapter in ghostwritten, but with a differently named protagonist, but his trains of thought, disjointed narrative and lush descriptive language have sucked me in. the novel doesn't seem to be going anywhere as such yet, but he is easy to relate to, and some interesting things are starting to come through as the chapters progress.

Mishra · 10-27-2007, 05:11 PM

Books i have read this month:

American Sphynx - Joseph Ellis - a biography of thomas jefferson that analyzes him as a human being and dissects his politics in relation to that

World War Z - Max Brooks - Very good, consistent, realistic

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - very good, i saw much of what was predicted still holds true

Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - read it like nine times already, always a classic

Fatherland - Robert Harris - very good. alternate history where germany wins WW2, from the point of view of a police detective trying to solve a murder and uncovers a conspiracy about what really happened to the jewish population and others during the war

Flow My Tears the Policeman Said - Phillip K. Dick - guy loses identity, tries to find it. very good book, until the end when everything stopped making any sense.

Ubik - Phillip K. Dick - excellent all the way through, time travel (sort of), questioning reality

The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K. Dick - another alternate history where japan and germany both win the war and are in a cold war with eachother

Collection of short stories - H.P. Lovecraft - exceptional all around, stand well on their own and the ones in the same universe all benefit from eachother

SAM i AM · 10-27-2007, 11:40 PM

I just finished a novel by Margaret Atwood entitled "Oryx and Crake." It was definately an interesting book that rivals Orwell's 1984.. I havent read the latter but it's been said to put Orwell to shame. It's about the future and the end of the world basically and how it came to be.

Other than that, I read one novel a week.. so I've read Lolita [amazing], Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress[ very interesting] , Love by Toni Morrison [sucked], Because They Wanted To [promiscuous and cynical], On the Road by Kerouac [bleh], and Collected Stories by Gabriel Marquez [magic realism]

Also, the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.. a GREAT memoir

@ JA: that is my favorite book! <3 I love Perks.. I read it 5 years ago and recommended it to my English teacher and its required reading now!

Desdinova · 10-28-2007, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J A Eyers

What other post-apocalyptic novels can you recommend me?

There's a lot out there... but also a lot of crap. Among those that aren't shallow survivalist wish-fulfillment fantasies, I'd definitely recommend Earth Abides (so far), Lucifer's Hammer, and the Dies The Fire series in particular.

J A Eyers · 10-28-2007, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAM i AM

@ JA: that is my favorite book! <3 I love Perks.. I read it 5 years ago and recommended it to my English teacher and its required reading now!

See, I'm in two minds about that. If they're forced to read it, then they might not be open to it. It's just another bit of homework, something to write essays about, rather than a book to read for its own sake. On the other hand, I certainly would have appreciated it had someone told me about it when it first came out, and I was around that age myself.

SAM i AM · 10-28-2007, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J A Eyers

See, I'm in two minds about that. If they're forced to read it, then they might not be open to it. It's just another bit of homework, something to write essays about, rather than a book to read for its own sake. On the other hand, I certainly would have appreciated it had someone told me about it when it first came out, and I was around that age myself.

Well, it's an Honors class.. so most of the kids are in there because they want to be. They like reading, trust me! We read some awesome books in there. Our teacher let us read contemporary literature mixed in with classics like Counte of Monte Christo..which.. everyone usually enjoys!

I can't see someone in there not liking to read.

itsallgoodbabyGb · 10-28-2007, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mishra

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - very good, i saw much of what was predicted still holds true

one of my favourite novels, that, the end is fantastic and appropriate

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAM i AM

I just finished a novel by Margaret Atwood entitled "Oryx and Crake." It was definately an interesting book that rivals Orwell's 1984.. I havent read the latter but it's been said to put Orwell to shame. It's about the future and the end of the world basically and how it came to be.

i had forgotton about this novel, but we did this during my degree and it was a very intelligent novel in my opinion; 'they are immortal because they know nothing of death'. crake's plans are chilling but in a twisted way logical, and i think it's an excellent novel.

J A Eyers · 10-28-2007, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAM i AM

Well, it's an Honors class.. so most of the kids are in there because they want to be. They like reading, trust me!

Then it's a very appropriate novel, given that that's what Charlie was doing too.

Herne the hunter · 10-28-2007, 02:52 PM

I'm currently reading Domain - the final book in James Herbert's Rats trilogy - which, oddly enough, is post-apocalyptic.

The previous two novels were mediocre at best. Rats was enjoyable but is ultimately just another cheesy horror story (it's about giant man-eating rats for crying out loud), Lair was a complete re-hash, with nothing new to add. Domain though has given me a whole new respect for Herbert. It has the best opening I've read in any book; beginning as five nuclear warheads fall on London and showing how people react in the few minutes they have between realizing what is happening and being erased from the face of the Earth. Just a couple of pages in I was reading with my mouth agape.

The rats mostly take a back seat to the nuke aftermath story (a hundred pages in and they've only appeared twice, breifly), and the questions it raises and breifings the characters receive on the effects of exposure to fallout and other dangers (as much for our benefit as theirs) are hugely interesting. It is set during an undisclosed year in the near future and as the story progresses we learn the details of the conflict which has culminated with the attack, and - overlooking the discrepancy that the USSR is involved - the story seems eerily relevant today. This is one of those books I just don't want to put down and already I can see myself re-reading this one at some point in the future.

J A Eyers · 10-28-2007, 03:02 PM

I have all those Rats books, but I haven't read any of them because I only really wanted to read the third one. I've read the opening and it is a good one. Do you really need to read the others first, or is it less of a sequel, more of a connected series?

Herne the hunter · 10-28-2007, 03:26 PM

Domain easily works as a standalone story. I only wanted to read the third one too. When I was a kid I bought a graphic novel called The City; a semi-canonic fourth book in the rats saga. Although it has Herbert's name on the front it contains hardly any dialogue and only the most basic narrative. It's more to do with showcasing artist Ian Miller's skills than Herbert's, but it wins based on the art alone (very nightmarish and Giger-esque) and I wanted to read Domain just to see how London became the way it's depicted in the comic (thinking that the nukes were a last resort to vanquish the rat infestation, and not for a second expecting them to be the result of war).

As I said; I'm only a hundred pages in but from what I gather so far, the USSR has gained a dangerous amount of power and as punishment for their growing misdeeds has been denied valuable resources by the rest of the world, causing them to go on an invading spree that would make Hitler proud. They reached the middle-east, who then consequently decided that the west was the lesser of two evils and accepted our offer of allegiance to repel the russians. Fearing defeat at the combined might of the middle east and western europe (and I'm assuming, by default, the US, though they haven't been mentioned yet) the USSR resorts to a nuclear attack on London; an event that no-one ever expected any country would be reckless or insane enough to contemplate.

The politics of the story intrigue even me and having read the ramifications of such an event - something I'd never seriously considered before - the thought of it happening in real life is suddenly terrifying. Seriously, JA; since you already own this book anyway, read it.

SAM i AM · 10-28-2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsallgoodbabyGb

one of my favourite novels, that, the end is fantastic and appropriate

i had forgotton about this novel, but we did this during my degree and it was a very intelligent novel in my opinion; 'they are immortal because they know nothing of death'. crake's plans are chilling but in a twisted way logical, and i think it's an excellent novel.

Ohh awesome someone else has read it! It was sad to me because I really wanted to like Crake. Granted, I thought most of the characters in it were a little corrupt. but it wasnt so far off that I didn't like them for it. But Crake ..man.. I didn't see that coming.. in the beginning I just assumed there was a nuclear explosion and somehow Snowman survived.. and these new people were born weird like that because of the chemicals.. but it was such an interesting novel. Very thought provoking.. and chilling because it could happen, it isn't impossible.

SPOILER WARNING:
I didn't understand why Crake had to kill Oryx.. I guess he didn't want Snowman having her.. or having her live in the conditions after.. but still.. that was sad.

itsallgoodbabyGb · 10-29-2007, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAM i AM

Ohh awesome someone else has read it! It was sad to me because I really wanted to like Crake. Granted, I thought most of the characters in it were a little corrupt. but it wasnt so far off that I didn't like them for it. But Crake ..man.. I didn't see that coming.. in the beginning I just assumed there was a nuclear explosion and somehow Snowman survived.. and these new people were born weird like that because of the chemicals.. but it was such an interesting novel. Very thought provoking.. and chilling because it could happen, it isn't impossible.

SPOILER WARNING:
I didn't understand why Crake had to kill Oryx.. I guess he didn't want Snowman having her.. or having her live in the conditions after.. but still.. that was sad.

i only know one other person who has read it (besides my study group) and he's a drunken idiot, so besides him laughing about the snowman, i haven't really discussed it with anyone!

i think the porn and the corruption and the megalomania and the murder and the rest of it was an indictment of the characters to perhaps nudge the reader into agreement or at least an understanding of what the new race is created for, why it is the way it is and how it can be justified. but yeah i agree, it made me think, and read well as well

for those who have read number9dream, i have gotten past the rather attractive bit with yuzu daimon, and through to the rather surreal yakuza bit with morino and nagasaki and tsuru and - suhbataar! the slick, evil bastard makes it into this novel too. im betting now he plays some part in cloud atlas, too; i heard a few old faces from ghostwritten show up again in that novel.

anyway, number9dream is quite an insane book to all intents and purposes; eiji gets into some really serious, really low-survival-rate situations, and he gets treated like shit by an awful lot of people. i find myself relating to him A LOT though, he seems to think in a very similar way to me, and it's jarring but also somewhat inviting to read it. i hope things develop with the girl with the most perfect neck in creation

SAM i AM · 10-30-2007, 07:08 PM

Im reading "Fun Home" by Alison Bechel this week

It's a graphic novel.. im not usually a big fan on them, besides Maus I and II but this one got number book of the year by Time Magazine.. and so far, i'm only on page 60.. but it is absolutely hilarious!

Such a funny memoir about a girl growing up with a father who is a funeral director/ english teacher/ ocd interior designer.

She doesn't know her dad is gay until days before he dies.. and after she realizes she is also gay.

It's so funny.
Recommended thus far!

BullpupDFWM · 11-13-2007, 08:51 PM

Spent more money than I should have the other day and got:
- 28 Days Later: Aftermath (fuck you, I like it)
- The Punisher: Max Collection, vol. 1 (fucking awesome as shit)
- Please Explain, by Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki

Read the two 'graphic novels' already, saving Dr Karls new one til after exams are done, but I've perused it already, and it looks brilliant.

itsallgoodbabyGb · 11-16-2007, 05:40 PM

finished number9dream and thought it was cool, annoying conclusion though

reading ludlum's bourne supremacy. fantastic yarn, with a good plot, engaging narrative, cool characters and a succession of events that leave me eager to find out what happens next. plenty of cliff hanger chapter endings. a vivid, eloquent and direct style of writing. i like it a lot and am compelled to read identity, ultimatum and legacy now. i understand why the plot of the movies were changed too. i recommend the novels (and the films) to anyone who hasnt seen them and wants a well constructed engaging thriller about an elite soldier with amnesia embroiled in national security and cover ups and so forth

noodle boy · 11-16-2007, 06:52 PM

Welp. Reading some of the Warhammer 40K novels. The eldar prophecy book is really, really bad, but the Soul Drinkers story is pretty good.

Socratis · 11-29-2007, 12:37 AM

i got into a song of ice and fire a few months back. finished the third book a week ago. good series. its progressively getting worse though. although, to be fair, at its worst its still better than most fantasy/sci-fi out there.

kirkyl · 11-29-2007, 07:18 PM

Just been going through my Sin City novels again,To Hell and Back still remains my favourite of the series,Awsome stuff.

Red Sentinel · 12-01-2007, 05:43 PM

Books of blood Volume 1-6.

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

itsallgoodbabyGb · 12-03-2007, 11:32 AM

i've just finished the fall of reach. it does a good job of giving the story of master chief and the human/covenant war some interesting depth, shows how capable cortana really is and explains how they ended up right next to the halo at the beginning of halo: combat evolved. currently reading the flood, which is a novelisation of that first game.

kirkyl · 12-03-2007, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsallgoodbabyGb

i've just finished the fall of reach. it does a good job of giving the story of master chief and the human/covenant war some interesting depth, shows how capable cortana really is and explains how they ended up right next to the halo at the beginning of halo: combat evolved. currently reading the flood, which is a novelisation of that first game.

Brilliant book anyone who is a Halo fan should pick this up,First strike and Ghosts of Onyx rock too.

I'm going to get Contact harvest when i get paid too.

J A Eyers · 12-06-2007, 08:37 AM

I am currently reading Working Days, the journal John Steinbeck wrote whilst writing The Grapes of Wrath. It pretty much consists of:

Monday
I can't write anymore! I am shit! People are going to find out when they read this book!

Tuesday
This book is never going to be finished! I just can't write! I've been fooling everyone, including myself!

Wednesday
Everything's shit! Especially this book!

Thursday
Oh. I finished it after all. But it's shit!

Friday
Wow, there have been 100,000 pre-orders. Just wow. Now they're all going to find out how terrible a writer I am!

Saturday
I've been awarded the Nobel Prize. Maybe I can write after all.

10-27-2007, 05:11 PM	#549 (permalink)
Mishra ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Elite Poster Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: denver Posts: 13,761	Books i have read this month: American Sphynx - Joseph Ellis - a biography of thomas jefferson that analyzes him as a human being and dissects his politics in relation to that World War Z - Max Brooks - Very good, consistent, realistic Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - very good, i saw much of what was predicted still holds true Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - read it like nine times already, always a classic Fatherland - Robert Harris - very good. alternate history where germany wins WW2, from the point of view of a police detective trying to solve a murder and uncovers a conspiracy about what really happened to the jewish population and others during the war Flow My Tears the Policeman Said - Phillip K. Dick - guy loses identity, tries to find it. very good book, until the end when everything stopped making any sense. Ubik - Phillip K. Dick - excellent all the way through, time travel (sort of), questioning reality The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K. Dick - another alternate history where japan and germany both win the war and are in a cold war with eachother Collection of short stories - H.P. Lovecraft - exceptional all around, stand well on their own and the ones in the same universe all benefit from eachother
	i dont really have anything to put in here but i felt left out on this EXCITING NEW FEATURE so i put it here

11-16-2007, 06:52 PM	#564 (permalink)
noodle boy Ennui-licious. Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 3,851	Welp. Reading some of the Warhammer 40K novels. The eldar prophecy book is really, really bad, but the Soul Drinkers story is pretty good.
	I'll leave it to you to figure out how much of that was sarcasm.

12-01-2007, 05:43 PM	#567 (permalink)
Red Sentinel Registered User l33t Inductee Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Norway Posts: 687	Books of blood Volume 1-6. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
	Yellow Sentinel's comical sidekick.

10-25-2007, 05:04 PM	#541 (permalink)
J A Eyers Better ban'd than bland Godlike Poster Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Southend, England Posts: 24,315	I suspect so. I only got halfway through it. I didn't decide to stop reading, I just never picked it up again.

10-25-2007, 11:55 PM	#542 (permalink)
Desdinova Wait for the cream Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2002 Location: Monterey, CA Posts: 4,919	I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz, and I think I'm going to start on Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart.

10-26-2007, 02:40 AM	#543 (permalink)
J A Eyers Better ban'd than bland Godlike Poster Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Southend, England Posts: 24,315	I read A Canticle for Leibowitz a short while ago too. What did you think?

10-26-2007, 09:48 AM	#544 (permalink)
Desdinova Wait for the cream Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2002 Location: Monterey, CA Posts: 4,919	I thought it was excellent, but, then, I've also been a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction recently... That reminds me, I need to reread S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire series now that the next book's been released.

10-26-2007, 04:47 PM	#545 (permalink)
J A Eyers Better ban'd than bland Godlike Poster Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Southend, England Posts: 24,315	What other post-apocalyptic novels can you recommend me?

10-26-2007, 05:21 PM	#546 (permalink)
Herne the hunter Yes, I AM on f*cking facebook :( Epic Poster Join Date: May 2001 Location: Mercia Posts: 15,317	I think you'd enjoy Gateway by Frederik Pohl, JA. While it's not a post-apocalyptic novel per se, it has some quite interesting and believable elements. Despite the cross formats I'd consider it right up there with Alien and Sunshine as one of the greatest sci-fi stories of all time.

10-27-2007, 02:07 PM	#547 (permalink)
J A Eyers Better ban'd than bland Godlike Poster Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Southend, England Posts: 24,315	Well, I finished Perks of Being a Wallflower about an hour ago. I wish I hadn't read the epilogue now. I'm pretending I never read it to begin with. It just made things too pat, too simple, with only a few token remarks toward there being any choice. Up until that point, the book leaps straight into my favourites of all time, and definitely the best book I've read this year since The Kite Runner (and I've read about a fifth of the books I've ever read this year). I didn't want it to end. It was too short. I want to know what happens next. Feels like the characters have all just gone and died on me. Etc. Etc.

10-27-2007, 04:28 PM	#548 (permalink)
itsallgoodbabyGb beep street Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2003 Location: london Posts: 4,327	nice eyers, you sold it to me, theres a few books i want to get, and it sounds good so it goes on the list. never read ellis' stuff though, that i know spike, i've never read it so that's why i cant answer! i gave up the magic toyshop for now, as i've already read it and it doesn't seem to be catching my attention as it did when i first read it; i'll give it another try later and still recommend it to anyone looking for a bizarre, interesting and unconventional coming of age story. instead, i picked up number9dream, david mitchells second novel. the blurb reads like satorus chapter in ghostwritten, but with a differently named protagonist, but his trains of thought, disjointed narrative and lush descriptive language have sucked me in. the novel doesn't seem to be going anywhere as such yet, but he is easy to relate to, and some interesting things are starting to come through as the chapters progress.

10-27-2007, 11:40 PM	#550 (permalink)
SAM i AM Registered User Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Floriduh Posts: 1,315	I just finished a novel by Margaret Atwood entitled "Oryx and Crake." It was definately an interesting book that rivals Orwell's 1984.. I havent read the latter but it's been said to put Orwell to shame. It's about the future and the end of the world basically and how it came to be. Other than that, I read one novel a week.. so I've read Lolita [amazing], Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress[ very interesting] , Love by Toni Morrison [sucked], Because They Wanted To [promiscuous and cynical], On the Road by Kerouac [bleh], and Collected Stories by Gabriel Marquez [magic realism] Also, the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.. a GREAT memoir @ JA: that is my favorite book! <3 I love Perks.. I read it 5 years ago and recommended it to my English teacher and its required reading now!

10-28-2007, 02:52 PM	#556 (permalink)
Herne the hunter Yes, I AM on f*cking facebook :( Epic Poster Join Date: May 2001 Location: Mercia Posts: 15,317	I'm currently reading Domain - the final book in James Herbert's Rats trilogy - which, oddly enough, is post-apocalyptic. The previous two novels were mediocre at best. Rats was enjoyable but is ultimately just another cheesy horror story (it's about giant man-eating rats for crying out loud), Lair was a complete re-hash, with nothing new to add. Domain though has given me a whole new respect for Herbert. It has the best opening I've read in any book; beginning as five nuclear warheads fall on London and showing how people react in the few minutes they have between realizing what is happening and being erased from the face of the Earth. Just a couple of pages in I was reading with my mouth agape. The rats mostly take a back seat to the nuke aftermath story (a hundred pages in and they've only appeared twice, breifly), and the questions it raises and breifings the characters receive on the effects of exposure to fallout and other dangers (as much for our benefit as theirs) are hugely interesting. It is set during an undisclosed year in the near future and as the story progresses we learn the details of the conflict which has culminated with the attack, and - overlooking the discrepancy that the USSR is involved - the story seems eerily relevant today. This is one of those books I just don't want to put down and already I can see myself re-reading this one at some point in the future.

10-28-2007, 03:02 PM	#557 (permalink)
J A Eyers Better ban'd than bland Godlike Poster Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Southend, England Posts: 24,315	I have all those Rats books, but I haven't read any of them because I only really wanted to read the third one. I've read the opening and it is a good one. Do you really need to read the others first, or is it less of a sequel, more of a connected series?

10-28-2007, 03:26 PM	#558 (permalink)
Herne the hunter Yes, I AM on f*cking facebook :( Epic Poster Join Date: May 2001 Location: Mercia Posts: 15,317	Domain easily works as a standalone story. I only wanted to read the third one too. When I was a kid I bought a graphic novel called The City; a semi-canonic fourth book in the rats saga. Although it has Herbert's name on the front it contains hardly any dialogue and only the most basic narrative. It's more to do with showcasing artist Ian Miller's skills than Herbert's, but it wins based on the art alone (very nightmarish and Giger-esque) and I wanted to read Domain just to see how London became the way it's depicted in the comic (thinking that the nukes were a last resort to vanquish the rat infestation, and not for a second expecting them to be the result of war). As I said; I'm only a hundred pages in but from what I gather so far, the USSR has gained a dangerous amount of power and as punishment for their growing misdeeds has been denied valuable resources by the rest of the world, causing them to go on an invading spree that would make Hitler proud. They reached the middle-east, who then consequently decided that the west was the lesser of two evils and accepted our offer of allegiance to repel the russians. Fearing defeat at the combined might of the middle east and western europe (and I'm assuming, by default, the US, though they haven't been mentioned yet) the USSR resorts to a nuclear attack on London; an event that no-one ever expected any country would be reckless or insane enough to contemplate. The politics of the story intrigue even me and having read the ramifications of such an event - something I'd never seriously considered before - the thought of it happening in real life is suddenly terrifying. Seriously, JA; since you already own this book anyway, read it.

10-30-2007, 07:08 PM	#561 (permalink)
SAM i AM Registered User Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Floriduh Posts: 1,315	Im reading "Fun Home" by Alison Bechel this week It's a graphic novel.. im not usually a big fan on them, besides Maus I and II but this one got number book of the year by Time Magazine.. and so far, i'm only on page 60.. but it is absolutely hilarious! Such a funny memoir about a girl growing up with a father who is a funeral director/ english teacher/ ocd interior designer. She doesn't know her dad is gay until days before he dies.. and after she realizes she is also gay. It's so funny. Recommended thus far!

11-13-2007, 08:51 PM	#562 (permalink)
BullpupDFWM I've had my shit PUSHED IN Hardcore Veteran Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 9,794	Spent more money than I should have the other day and got: - 28 Days Later: Aftermath (fuck you, I like it) - The Punisher: Max Collection, vol. 1 (fucking awesome as shit) - Please Explain, by Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki Read the two 'graphic novels' already, saving Dr Karls new one til after exams are done, but I've perused it already, and it looks brilliant.

11-16-2007, 05:40 PM	#563 (permalink)
itsallgoodbabyGb beep street Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2003 Location: london Posts: 4,327	finished number9dream and thought it was cool, annoying conclusion though reading ludlum's bourne supremacy. fantastic yarn, with a good plot, engaging narrative, cool characters and a succession of events that leave me eager to find out what happens next. plenty of cliff hanger chapter endings. a vivid, eloquent and direct style of writing. i like it a lot and am compelled to read identity, ultimatum and legacy now. i understand why the plot of the movies were changed too. i recommend the novels (and the films) to anyone who hasnt seen them and wants a well constructed engaging thriller about an elite soldier with amnesia embroiled in national security and cover ups and so forth

11-29-2007, 12:37 AM	#565 (permalink)
Socratis Registered User Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 2,154	i got into a song of ice and fire a few months back. finished the third book a week ago. good series. its progressively getting worse though. although, to be fair, at its worst its still better than most fantasy/sci-fi out there.

11-29-2007, 07:18 PM	#566 (permalink)
kirkyl Hesitate and you will be lost! Hardcore Veteran Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Manchester, England Posts: 5,753	Just been going through my Sin City novels again,To Hell and Back still remains my favourite of the series,Awsome stuff.

12-03-2007, 11:32 AM	#568 (permalink)
itsallgoodbabyGb beep street Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2003 Location: london Posts: 4,327	i've just finished the fall of reach. it does a good job of giving the story of master chief and the human/covenant war some interesting depth, shows how capable cortana really is and explains how they ended up right next to the halo at the beginning of halo: combat evolved. currently reading the flood, which is a novelisation of that first game.

12-06-2007, 08:37 AM	#570 (permalink)
J A Eyers Better ban'd than bland Godlike Poster Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Southend, England Posts: 24,315	I am currently reading Working Days, the journal John Steinbeck wrote whilst writing The Grapes of Wrath. It pretty much consists of: Monday I can't write anymore! I am shit! People are going to find out when they read this book! Tuesday This book is never going to be finished! I just can't write! I've been fooling everyone, including myself! Wednesday Everything's shit! Especially this book! Thursday Oh. I finished it after all. But it's shit! Friday Wow, there have been 100,000 pre-orders. Just wow. Now they're all going to find out how terrible a writer I am! Saturday I've been awarded the Nobel Prize. Maybe I can write after all.