What books are you currently reading? Favorite Books? Discuss

[Flacolaco]

Is anyone reading this "Girl with the dragon tattoo" series I've heard so much about?

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Is anyone reading this "Girl with the dragon tattoo" series I've heard so much about?

Never heard of it.

[nikeball]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Is anyone reading this "Girl with the dragon tattoo" series I've heard so much about?

I just finished reading the first book in a couple of days. It is ok.. a detective / mystery / thriller type thing. It is a little darker than most books I have read. Apparently the author witnessed a rape of a girl when he was younger and didn't do anything to stop it. Now all of his books have that theme about abused women etc. The female that rises above the odds. The original name of the book in Swedish is "Men who hate women." It probably wouldn't have sold as well in America with that title.



The first book could be stand alone.

I heard the second and third ones are not. and well the author unexpectedly died of a heart attack.. so the series is incomplete.

I had several people recommend me the series, so I will probably stick with it. They say the sequels are better than the first.

[nikeball]

I don't know if anyone reads manga here but... One Piece is awesome.

[Flacolaco]

Read The Hunger Games first book this week.

I found it to be a fairly terribly written, contrived, overly simplistic book....

That I couldn't put down.

[jthig32]

I'll be interested to see what you think of the other two in the series. I found the first book pretty interesting but it's all down hill from there imo.

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by jthig32

I'll be interested to see what you think of the other two in the series. I found the first book pretty interesting but it's all down hill from there imo.

Yeah, I'm surprised u2 liked the 3rd one so much. I enjoyed the 1st one way more than the others.

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by jthig32

I'll be interested to see what you think of the other two in the series. I found the first book pretty interesting but it's all down hill from there imo.

Yeah. It got a lot worse. The third one in particular just felt... all wrong. I understand the overall arch she was going for but she didn't get there the right way.

I enjoyed the movie, FWIW.

[Flacolaco]

I need a new series to read, if anyone's got any recommendations.

Now that the hockey season is over and I'm down to just one job, I have time to read again.

[Kirobaito]

Yeah, I bought the first HG book to read on a plane flight yesterday and couldn't put it down. Present tense? How Gospel of Mark-y.

[Murphy3]

thomas decker.. not bad. not sure the name of his series, but it's like Red, One, Black, and Green.. I think that's the name of the books.

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

I need a new series to read, if anyone's got any recommendations.

Now that the hockey season is over and I'm down to just one job, I have time to read again.

What types of books are you interested in?

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by nikeball

readings for March/April..

Finishing up Paladin of Souls (Hugo/Nebula winner for 2004)
Hope to start on The Fountainhead soon and then probably will read Atlas Shrugged.

Every two months I try to read
one fantasy/scifi book
one classic
one contemporary
sometimes i will throw in a non-fiction book.

Where do yall purchase your books? I love Half-price books..can get great deals for like-new books sometimes..and Borders (they always have 20-40% coupons).

I used to purchase books online but I hate paying for shipping...and libraries usually never have what I want to read.

I'm excited about the Rober Jordan/Brandon Sanderson WoT finale. Awesome series. Sanderson has done a tremendous job taking over after the death of Jordan.

Also, I've started A Song of Fire and Ice. It's enjoyable, but it flips back and forth between different characters so much that I can't really get into any type of rhythm.

[jthig32]

I'm about 2/3's through The Stand for the first time. Thoroughly enjoying it.

[Murphy3]

I think I've read it.. not sure. I used to read alot of King... After awhile, they started to all sound a bit familiar kinda like the Chinese food at Taste of Asia on Beach and Basswood. The orange chicken and the sesame chicken kinda taste alike. Stephen King books kinda seemed a bit too familiar I suppose. Perhaps it has to do with reading one after the other in rapid succession.

[GermanDunk]

Currently there is " In God´s name ", written by David Yallop, on my desk. It´s about Pope John Paul I.

[Five-ofan]

I still read a lot of young fiction even though I'm not really young anymore. The next big tween craze will be the mortal instruments series. Any of you who enjoy young fantasy series should check out the seven realms series by Cindy Williams chyma

[GhostFace]

World War Z. Thinking of starting WoT.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by GhostFace

World War Z. Thinking of starting WoT.

I liked world war z

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

I liked world war z

Me, too. The most believable zombie apocalypse narrative I've come across. And pretty entertaining.

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by jthig32

I'm about 2/3's through The Stand for the first time. Thoroughly enjoying it.

That was one of the first Stephen King books I read back in my mid-teens. I loved that book. It was a bit of a tome then at over 800 pages. I'm going to grab the expanded in the next few weeks which makes the original look like a pamphlet.

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by GhostFace

World War Z. Thinking of starting WoT.

WoT is amazing... It slows a bit in books 9-10 or so..but it's amazing.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

WoT is amazing... It slows a bit in books 9-10 or so..but it's amazing.

It's highly overrated. The first few are good but it the last 6 or 7 books are just pointless. Jordan just didn't know how to end it.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by ribosoma

That was one of the first Stephen King books I read back in my mid-teens. I loved that book. It was a bit of a tome then at over 800 pages. I'm going to grab the expanded in the next few weeks which makes the original look like a pamphlet.

Yeah, I'm reading the expanded. I'm curious to research what the differences are once I'm finished.

[chumdawg]

Who knew we had so many nerds on this board?

Well, actually...I knew.

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

Who knew we had so many nerds on this board?

Well, actually...I knew.

Touche'

[ribosoma]

I recently got this back from a friend:



It is one of the strangest (if not THE strangest) book(s) I've ever read. I will be re-reading it soon.

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by ribosoma

I recently got this back from a friend:



It is one of the strangest (if not THE strangest) book(s) I've ever read. I will be re-reading it soon.

Ever read Finnegans Wake?

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

Ever read Finnegans Wake?

Unfortunately, I haven't and I have no reasonable excuse as to why. Joyce was a man far ahead of his time who caught a great deal of flak from his contemporaries as he matured as an artist. I have always admired him. I've read Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and I occasionally remind myself to read Finnegans Wake, but I always get sidetracked by another book in my library and forget. Thanks to you, that won't happen again. Finnegans Wake it is. I'll let you know what I think about it when I begin. Thanks for the recommendation.

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by ribosoma

Unfortunately, I haven't and I have no reasonable excuse as to why. Joyce was a man far ahead of his time who caught a great deal of flak from his contemporaries as he matured as an artist. I have always admired him. I've read Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and I occasionally remind myself to read Finnegans Wake, but I always get sidetracked by another book in my library and forget. Thanks to you, that won't happen again. Finnegans Wake it is. I'll let you know what I think about it when I begin. Thanks for the recommendation.

I, too, have read Portrait. But from what I understand, there's no one who has actually read FW. I gave it a bit of try once...but I found it absolutely beyond my abilities.

Sometimes you have to know which battles to fight! I'll have to give House of Leaves some consideration. I recently saw another recommendation of it, and now yours. It may not be my cup o' tea, though. The strangest books I remember liking are The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro--which I liked a hell of a lot--and Wittgenstein's Mistress and Reader's Block by David Markson. I suspect those rate not even mild in comparison to your oddity.

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

I, too, have read Portrait. But from what I understand, there's no one who has actually read FW. I gave it a bit of try once...but I found it absolutely beyond my abilities.

Sometimes you have to know which battles to fight! I'll have to give House of Leaves some consideration. I recently saw another recommendation of it, and now yours. It may not be my cup o' tea, though. The strangest books I remember liking are The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro--which I liked a hell of a lot--and Wittgenstein's Mistress and Reader's Block by David Markson. I suspect those rate not even mild in comparison to your oddity.

I usually have to pick my spots for post-modernist works, just like I do with post-modernist philosophy. I remember trying to go back to Kant and Schopenhauer after studying Jacques Derrida... let's just say that didn't go well.

Reader's Block is yet another in the growing list of must-reads that are bouncing around in my brain. It seems to be right up my alley.

Leaves definitely takes you places. From the actual way the book is laid out, to the imagery conveyed through the story, an architecture is created that strikes me as being fractal in nature. You are taken from states of claustrophobia to agoraphobia like a yo-yo, and then the string disappears and you are left wondering what the hell just happened. It was marketed as a horror story, but it really isn't. I hope that the very general descriptions I have given aren't spoilers for anyone considering taking it on. I don't think they are. I would imagine that it will probably have a very personalized feel for anyone who reads it.

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by ribosoma

I usually have to pick my spots for post-modernist works, just like I do with post-modernist philosophy. I remember trying to go back to Kant and Schopenhauer after studying Jacques Derrida... let's just say that didn't go well.

Reader's Block is yet another in the growing list of must-reads that are bouncing around in my brain. It seems to be right up my alley.

Leaves definitely takes you places. From the actual way the book is laid out, to the imagery conveyed through the story, an architecture is created that strikes me as being fractal in nature. You are taken from states of claustrophobia to agoraphobia like a yo-yo, and then the string disappears and you are left wondering what the hell just happened. It was marketed as a horror story, but it really isn't. I hope that the very general descriptions I have given aren't spoilers for anyone considering taking it on. I don't think they are. I would imagine that it will probably have a very personalized feel for anyone who reads it.

The way you describe Leaves sounds like a hell of a mind blow, in a very good way. I'm interested.

Where does a reader like you fall on the likes of Cormac McCarthy? Good stuff, or formulaic?

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

The way you describe Leaves sounds like a hell of a mind blow, in a very good way. I'm interested.

Where does a reader like you fall on the likes of Cormac McCarthy? Good stuff, or formulaic?

To be honest, I have only lightly sprinkled fiction into my reading. I'm only familiar with the film adaptations of his work, although I have been told that Blood Meridian is about as real and raw as it gets. I am told that he paints very bleak narratives in a compelling way.

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by ribosoma

To be honest, I have only lightly sprinkled fiction into my reading. I'm only familiar with the film adaptations of his work, although I have been told that Blood Meridian is about as real and raw as it gets. I am told that he paints very bleak narratives in a compelling way.

Well, hell, I thought Leaves was fiction. Shows what I know.

Regardless, I need to do a reset on my reading. Time to wrap up loose ends and explore new ground.

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

Well, hell, I thought Leaves was fiction. Shows what I know.

Regardless, I need to do a reset on my reading. Time to wrap up loose ends and explore new ground.

Oh, it is. But I've only started pouring through fiction regularly over the past several years. Before, I would usually read about 3 or 4 non-fiction titles to one fiction title, so my exposure was a bit lower. My father was a fiction-reading juggernaut. He could often finish an average paperback in three or four days. He read every genre, good, bad, or otherwise. I envied him. I'm a bit more deliberate with my reading style.

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

It's highly overrated. The first few are good but it the last 6 or 7 books are just pointless. Jordan just didn't know how to end it.

Robert Jordan knew how to end it..he was a bit too in love with the world that he had created though... Sanderson has taken over since Jordan's death and has done an absolutely tremendous job.

The series is definitely worth the time investment..

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Not sure if there are any history people around here, but I just started Jeff Shaara's new book about the battle of Shiloh called A Blaze of Glory. Very good so far.

[ShaggyDirk]

Originally Posted by ribosoma

To be honest, I have only lightly sprinkled fiction into my reading. I'm only familiar with the film adaptations of his work, although I have been told that Blood Meridian is about as real and raw as it gets. I am told that he paints very bleak narratives in a compelling way.

You have no idea what you're talking about so just stop now, but your dialogue with chum reminds me of this...

Virginia: "He then rubbed my nubile body with fruit linaments and noxema. Then he artfully covered my back with melted butter and cloves. [Roger begins licking her fingers]. And until the flies and ants came, methinks it was the finest love-making that the world have ever known.

Roger (cont'd): Hands groping, fingers fluttering, thighs twitching in the anticipation of love-making that will take place in this ha-tub in less than 12 minutes. "

[ShaggyDirk]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

The way you describe Leaves sounds like a hell of a mind blow, in a very good way. I'm interested.

Where does a reader like you fall on the likes of Cormac McCarthy? Good stuff, or formulaic?

Formulaic?

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by ShaggyDirk

Formulaic?

It's what you give a new born if you decide not to little them suckle on your teet.