Books you're currently reading???

JeepNGeorge · 11-14-2003, 04:36 AM

Instead of all the music/gaming entertainment. How bout the current/last book you've read?

Right now I'm reading book 3 of stephen kings dark tower series. Book 5 should be out this month (if it's not already) and the whole series is a good read if your a king fan.

I've been in a King/Koontz rut lately, but I still have to read from Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman daily.

Griff · 11-14-2003, 06:31 AM

Cryptonomicon was recommended in a previous book thread. I cannot put it down, it is as good as advertised!

elSicomoro · 11-14-2003, 08:38 AM

I can't read. Rho reads books to me and I memorize them. So, when I do pick one up, it looks like I can read.

r9703410 · 11-14-2003, 08:41 AM

Well now I'm starting to read "White Fang" by Jack London.

If you really want a good read pick up "Brave New World" I don't recall the author but I know that theres only one author.

Good reading to you!

russotto · 11-14-2003, 09:02 AM

_White Fang_ is on my short list of "books which suck so bad I threw them across the room rather than finish reading them".

Currently I'm reading Pratchett's _The Color of Magic_. I've been resisting getting sucked into DiscWorld for years, but with the Vorkosigan series apparently finished and the Harrington series just plain stalled, I think I have room for a new literary addiction.

perth · 11-14-2003, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by r9703410
If you really want a good read pick up "Brave New World" I don't recall the author but I know that theres only one author.

Aldous Huxley.

I've completely lost interest in the Wheel of Time series. Someone predicted this in the previous thread, I forgot who.

I've been re-reading Vonnegut some, "Breakfast of Champions", "Slaughterhouse 5". I find I can't put one of his books down after I've started reading.

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", Philip K. Dick. Better than "Blade Runner", and well-written to boot. I think I'm gonna read more of his work.

SteveDallas · 11-14-2003, 10:11 AM

"A Youth in Babylon" by David Friedman.... entertaining memoirs of Friedman, an exploitation film producer

"Mission Jupiter: The Spectacular Journey of the Galileo Spacecraft" by Daniel Fischer

"Egypt's Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and His World"

greenian · 11-14-2003, 12:16 PM

I'm currently reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (anthropology) A history of the Mongol Empire by I don't know, and The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan (classic fiction)

r9703410 · 11-14-2003, 01:02 PM

Yeah thanks perth. I loved it, but the first 3 chapters were hard to get through.

Torrere · 11-14-2003, 04:05 PM

I read A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge yesterday. (Er, I actually read sixty pages in about two hours the day before, but most of it was on Thursday when I read from 9 AM to 2 AM.). That was such an incredible book! It started out magnificently and finished awesomely: the book is dense, the end-of-the-book excitement lasted for a hundred pages. One of the main characters occasionally refers to her grad school courses in Applied Theology. The book is strewn with awesome lines like "He was in the shade now, only sunlight was touching him".

The language was masterfully done: it felt like he wrote from the perspective of the characters instead of describing the characters from the perspective of a man living in modern America. This meant that it took me a chapter and a half to figure out what exactly the wolf-like Tines were, but I thought they were so cool when I finally did. Actually, that happened quite often: huge events were approached subtly and naturally, so that I didn't realize how cataclysmic the events were until I was several pages into them.

Griff · 11-14-2003, 04:11 PM

That was a great book, Torrere. That really was a great hook slowly discovering just what they were. I wonder if he built them as he wrote or if he had them figured out ahead of time?

Torrere · 11-14-2003, 04:16 PM

The Wheel of Time series starts out really well; the first three books are a very fun adventure, the next three* are full of huge events, then the series becomes stuck in morass. Three notable events have happened in the last three thousand pages. Now, after each book is released, theories run abound that "Robert Jordan is getting everyone into position, and the series is really going to take off now!". Unfortunately, less and less happens in each book (rumor has it that only two chapters in the tenth book advanced the story). By now, the theory is that Robert Jordan has written himself into a corner and he would be hard pressed to stall for an eleventh book (this may be why he's writing prequels).

I generally recommend people to stop on the fifth book, while the series is still good. The Amazon reviews for the first books in the series are flooded with messages of "don't even start!".

* There is debate as to whether the six and seventh book should be counted as part of the "big things happening" group or the "not worth reading" group.

tonksy · 11-14-2003, 04:18 PM

i finished illusions by richard bach for the...nintieth time the other day. always get something different out of it. very 'small' book that isn't as light a read as it first seems.

perth · 11-14-2003, 04:53 PM

Re: Wheel of Time.

I dunno, it just really seems like he is dragging stuff on way longer than necessary. Its one thing to want to write a big, sprawling epic of a story. Its quite another to go on for 5 pages explaining just why person A is pissed off at person B. I can't make myself finish book five. I keep wishing someone would just kill all the main characters off already. Starting with Nynaeve, closely followed by Rand. Bleh.

On the other hand, I have thorougly enjoyed the "Voyage of the Jerle Shannara" series by Terry Brooks lately. Despite the numerous books in the Shannara series, Brooks can at least tell a complete story without this "Tune in next week!" crap.

Torrere · 11-15-2003, 10:04 PM

Nynaeve isn't all /that/ bad. I think that the most efficient amputation for the series would be to kill off or simply abandon the entire Perrin sub-plot; Perrin, Faile, Berelain, and all.

11-14-2003, 04:36 AM	#1
JeepNGeorge Hand-of-Kindness Extender Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Where am I? Posts: 139	Books you're currently reading??? Instead of all the music/gaming entertainment. How bout the current/last book you've read? Right now I'm reading book 3 of stephen kings dark tower series. Book 5 should be out this month (if it's not already) and the whole series is a good read if your a king fan. I've been in a King/Koontz rut lately, but I still have to read from Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman daily.

11-14-2003, 06:31 AM	#2
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	Cryptonomicon was recommended in a previous book thread. I cannot put it down, it is as good as advertised! __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

11-14-2003, 08:41 AM	#4
r9703410 Coronation Incarnate Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: houston, texas Posts: 91	Well now I'm starting to read "White Fang" by Jack London. If you really want a good read pick up "Brave New World" I don't recall the author but I know that theres only one author. Good reading to you! __________________ You know you love me!

11-14-2003, 01:02 PM	#9
r9703410 Coronation Incarnate Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: houston, texas Posts: 91	Yeah thanks perth. I loved it, but the first 3 chapters were hard to get through. __________________ You know you love me!

11-14-2003, 04:11 PM	#11
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	That was a great book, Torrere. That really was a great hook slowly discovering just what they were. I wonder if he built them as he wrote or if he had them figured out ahead of time? __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

11-14-2003, 08:38 AM	#3
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	I can't read. Rho reads books to me and I memorize them. So, when I do pick one up, it looks like I can read.

11-14-2003, 09:02 AM	#5
russotto Professor Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,788	_White Fang_ is on my short list of "books which suck so bad I threw them across the room rather than finish reading them". Currently I'm reading Pratchett's _The Color of Magic_. I've been resisting getting sucked into DiscWorld for years, but with the Vorkosigan series apparently finished and the Harrington series just plain stalled, I think I have room for a new literary addiction.

11-14-2003, 10:11 AM	#7
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	"A Youth in Babylon" by David Friedman.... entertaining memoirs of Friedman, an exploitation film producer "Mission Jupiter: The Spectacular Journey of the Galileo Spacecraft" by Daniel Fischer "Egypt's Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and His World"

11-14-2003, 12:16 PM	#8
greenian Simulated Simulacrum Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 39	I'm currently reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (anthropology) A history of the Mongol Empire by I don't know, and The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan (classic fiction)

11-14-2003, 04:05 PM	#10
Torrere a real smartass Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Kirkland, WA Posts: 1,121	I read A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge yesterday. (Er, I actually read sixty pages in about two hours the day before, but most of it was on Thursday when I read from 9 AM to 2 AM.). That was such an incredible book! It started out magnificently and finished awesomely: the book is dense, the end-of-the-book excitement lasted for a hundred pages. One of the main characters occasionally refers to her grad school courses in Applied Theology. The book is strewn with awesome lines like "He was in the shade now, only sunlight was touching him". The language was masterfully done: it felt like he wrote from the perspective of the characters instead of describing the characters from the perspective of a man living in modern America. This meant that it took me a chapter and a half to figure out what exactly the wolf-like Tines were, but I thought they were so cool when I finally did. Actually, that happened quite often: huge events were approached subtly and naturally, so that I didn't realize how cataclysmic the events were until I was several pages into them.

11-14-2003, 04:16 PM	#12
Torrere a real smartass Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Kirkland, WA Posts: 1,121	The Wheel of Time series starts out really well; the first three books are a very fun adventure, the next three* are full of huge events, then the series becomes stuck in morass. Three notable events have happened in the last three thousand pages. Now, after each book is released, theories run abound that "Robert Jordan is getting everyone into position, and the series is really going to take off now!". Unfortunately, less and less happens in each book (rumor has it that only two chapters in the tenth book advanced the story). By now, the theory is that Robert Jordan has written himself into a corner and he would be hard pressed to stall for an eleventh book (this may be why he's writing prequels). I generally recommend people to stop on the fifth book, while the series is still good. The Amazon reviews for the first books in the series are flooded with messages of "don't even start!". * There is debate as to whether the six and seventh book should be counted as part of the "big things happening" group or the "not worth reading" group.

11-14-2003, 04:18 PM	#13
tonksy 100:10100 Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: louisiana Posts: 96	i finished illusions by richard bach for the...nintieth time the other day. always get something different out of it. very 'small' book that isn't as light a read as it first seems. __________________ ...with all of our running and all of our cunning, if we couldn't laugh we would all go insane...

11-14-2003, 04:53 PM	#14
perth Strong Silent Type Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 1,949	Re: Wheel of Time. I dunno, it just really seems like he is dragging stuff on way longer than necessary. Its one thing to want to write a big, sprawling epic of a story. Its quite another to go on for 5 pages explaining just why person A is pissed off at person B. I can't make myself finish book five. I keep wishing someone would just kill all the main characters off already. Starting with Nynaeve, closely followed by Rand. Bleh. On the other hand, I have thorougly enjoyed the "Voyage of the Jerle Shannara" series by Terry Brooks lately. Despite the numerous books in the Shannara series, Brooks can at least tell a complete story without this "Tune in next week!" crap.

11-15-2003, 10:04 PM	#15
Torrere a real smartass Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Kirkland, WA Posts: 1,121	Nynaeve isn't all /that/ bad. I think that the most efficient amputation for the series would be to kill off or simply abandon the entire Perrin sub-plot; Perrin, Faile, Berelain, and all.

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