What are you reading, or, alternatively, any good books?

What's everybody reading? Besides the normal beer related literature, of course.

I just finished More Terrible Than Victory which is a regimental history of the NC 1st/11th Bethel Regiment. Before that was Gates of Fire, a work of historical fiction on the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. I'm now reading a history of my home county (Harnett, NC) which is interesting since I've combed pretty much the entire county and it has a lot of interesting tidbits I didn't know. On deck is Team of Rivals, a look at Lincoln and his cabinet, particularly how he picked some of his worst enemies to serve on his cabinet.

Yes, I like history and historical fiction. I did read Potter #7 just to mix it up some. I also read Clifford books, well, about every day ~7pm.

I like Sci-Fi myself, especially the real sci-fi. If you've never read the series, I'd suggest the Dune series by Frank Herbert. There's a lot of human intrest lessons you can pick up from that whole series. They have something called 'Spice Beer' that I'd love to try and replicate. Darn, now I've got an idea to try and bring to life.

I just read Megis by my friend Mike Genrich. It's very unusual, so it was a bit strange. He writes about the area here and turns that into novellas. I'm now into One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and have a Dostoevsky novel on the list. My favorite is Crime and Punishment.

I mostly read trash, though. You know, the mindless stuff with no real social redeeming value at all. I read alot of that!

Give Shadow Divers a look. My daughter and I both enjoyed it a lot. My youngest son wanted me to read it to him but it was a little rough around the edges for his age group.

It is a true story about deep sea diving and the exploration of a U boat found off the shores of Jersey or somewhere around there.


or Freakonomics, my daughter recommends that one.

Jennifer

Originally posted by Baron von BeeGee
What's everybody reading?

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I'm waiting for the movie.

Since June:
Atlas Shrugged
Harry Potter 5&6,7 twice, and a Harry Potter fan novel
The Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy.
Just starting the Bourne Ultimatum

Just for the record the only thing the Bourne movies have in common with the books are the titles. The books are really good.

Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (I love me some nerdy fantasy novels)

No doubt a have to is A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca.

It's about a mexican american growing up in az and nm going from jail to jail and eventually learning how to read and write in prison and changing his life. One of the most depressingly uplifting books i have ever read. I recommend it to everyone i know and thus far it has made it into 4 of my friends top 5.

Also, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is a great book about humanity and some of our problems as a species. It's a fiction narrative with the main character being a depressed man and a gorilla. Awesome.

Hubris. A detailed look at how intelligence was used to justify going to war in iraq.

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Robber Barons by Mathew Josephson. A look at oil and railroad magnates of the late 1800's early 1900's.

Jeez, I need to relax and read something on the lighter side.

Hubris. A detailed look at how intelligence was used to justify going to war in iraq.

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Robber Barons by Mathew Josephson. A look at oil and railroad magnates of the late 1800's early 1900's.

Jeez, I need to relax and read something on the lighter side.

In the last hour.

William C. Dietz (Military Sci-Fi)

Authors I like.

Dick Francis
Alan Dean Foster (early works)
Ben Bova (early works)
Naomi Novik (what happens when you cross a history buff and fantasy)
Philip Roth
Harry Harrison
J.V Jones (well written modern fantasy)
Gordon R Dickson
George R.R. Martin (also well written modern fantasy)
Carl Hiassen
John Sanford
René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Hergé
Roald Dahl (the source of my handle)
John Bellairs (young adult horror)

That's just off the top of my head. I could add twenty more when I look at my library later. I am a bit of a bibliophile.

Looking at my avatar,

Lone Wolf and Cub.

Btw, anyone who says they have read Atlas Shrugged is either lying or a masochist (paraphrasing some comedian). Kudos to you if you made it. I think I finished it, but was so drained by the end I was probably just skimming paragraphs.

I've been trying to get through The Stand by Stephen King for about 4 months. Not that it isn't a good book--I'm just discouraged by the size of it.

Before that I read "Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam" by Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down writer), the story of the failed rescue attempt of the Iran hostage crisis. It was absolutely fascinating.

There is an edited version of The Stand, cuts it down to a more manageable 600 pages I think.

talleymonster said:

Alvin Journeyman
Orson Scott Card​

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HELL YEAH! Read that whole series, bad ass



Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle are good books by Mathew Woodring Stover

Orphanage and Orphan's Destiny by Robert Buetner

The Myth series by Robert Asprin (also his Phule series)

Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony (series)

The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

The Dead series by William Mark Simmons

Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain, Unto the Breach, A Deeper Blue by John Ringo

The Posleen War series also by John Ringo

Jeez i could post more but these'll keep you busy for a while.

All I normally have time to read are textbooks, but I recently finished the Harry Potter #7 and have held on to the last book in Stephen King's Gunslinger series for over two years now. I just don't want it to be over, so I keep avoiding it.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (Yes he IS Mel's son) Flippin Hilarious! World War Z, The Oral History of the Zombie War also by Max Brooks, and anything that Weis and Hickman had a hand in.

I am a big Chuck Palahnuik fan (Survivor is one of my all time favorite books). Also Dave Eggers and Denis Johnson. Anything by those 3 and I am in.

Vermicous said:

Btw, anyone who says they have read Atlas Shrugged is either lying or a masochist (paraphrasing some comedian). Kudos to you if you made it. I think I finished it, but was so drained by the end I was probably just skimming paragraphs.

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I actually reread Atlas Shrugged. I first read it as a senior in high school. This time, 38 years later, I was able to better process out the garbage of Ayn Rands philosophy and enjoy the strength and passion of her characters.

Currently reading 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe. Kinda slow and boring, but I'm pluggin through. About a year and half ago I decided to start reading more of the classics in addition to other books.

Before Crusoe, I finished 'I, Lucifer' by Glen Duncan. I highly recommend. About satan being given one last chance to get into heaven...all he has to do is live out the rest of his days as a human.

After I sleep through Crusoe, I have 'Good Omens' by Pritchet and Gaimen and 'The Messianic Legacy' by Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln.

Vermicous said:

Btw, anyone who says they have read Atlas Shrugged is either lying or a masochist (paraphrasing some comedian). Kudos to you if you made it. I think I finished it, but was so drained by the end I was probably just skimming paragraphs.

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I read the whole thing about two years ago. Then to punish myself more thoroughly I read yet another novel of hers. All hail the power of networking! Wish there were someplace to go where competence counted and sloth was abolished.

Yeah, a lot of romantic corn involved in her writings.

Jennifer

Until I get my hands on Ray Daniels "designing great beers" and Jamil's "Brewing Classic Styles" I've been reading multiple selections by Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, and Hitchens. I know, it's all kinds of blasphamy.

Petunia said:

I read the whole thing about two years ago. Then to punish myself more thoroughly I read yet another novel of hers. All hail the power of networking! Wish there were someplace to go where competence counted and sloth was abolished.

Yeah, a lot of romantic corn involved in her writings.

Jennifer

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I've never been able to finish any Ayn Rand novels. I did pick up a collection of shorter pieces that she had written, which also included some stuff written by a few of her disciples - including Alan Greenspan,

Ain't finished that yet, either!

Yopper - I am a big Dostevsky fan - Loved Crime and Punishment but my favorites were Brothers Karamozov and The Idiot.

I just finished the new Billy the Kid book called The Endless Ride. I thought the writing was average not too good but the story was pretty cool. I am from New Mexico and I used to go down to Lincoln every year for the Billy the Kid festival. New Mexico was a brutal place.

Petunia said:

Give Shadow Divers a look. My daughter and I both enjoyed it a lot. My youngest son wanted me to read it to him but it was a little rough around the edges for his age group.

It is a true story about deep sea diving and the exploration of a U boat found off the shores of Jersey or somewhere around there.


or Freakonomics, my daughter recommends that one.

Jennifer

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Based on the truth might be how some would describe it...You might be interested in this one too:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1883056241/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

freakonomice was very entertaining.

Hell Brew said:

Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (I love me some nerdy fantasy novels)

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Heh heh... yup. I'm about 1/2 way through Phantom at the moment.

You're not a Wheel of Time reader, too, are ya? I've been reading those damn things for over a decade now ... too bad Jordan wasn't able to finish it before he succumbed to his illness.

On a non-fantasy note ... The best book I read last year was "Straight Man" by Richard Russo. "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace was a close second.

I'm not reading anything currently, but these are my favorites.

A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
The River Why - David James Duncan
The Brothers K - David James Duncan
Enders Game - Orson Scott Card

and anything by Piers Anthony or Theodore Sturgeon


Oh yeah, I forgot Stephen R Donaldson - Lord Foul's Bane series.
(been a long time since I read those)

TCHDNSD said:

I'm not reading anything currently, but these are my favorites.

A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving

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I finished that book like three or four months ago. Really enjoyed it!! It was WAY better than its movie counterpart (aka Simon Birch). It intrigued me to buy another Irving novel (The Hotel New Hampshire)...

TheJadedDog said:

I am a big Chuck Palahnuik fan (Survivor is one of my all time favorite books). Also Dave Eggers and Denis Johnson. Anything by those 3 and I am in.

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Survivor is up there as one of my all-time favorites as well! Palahniuk is a great writer. As for right now I'm reading book four of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin, A Feast for Crows. Anyone who is a fantasy fan owes it to themselves to read these books. They may be a little intimidating at 1000+ pages a piece, but you'll fly through them faster than you'd believe.

The Book of Honor. It's all about the "blank" names listed on the wall and in the Book of Honor in the lobby of the CIA headquarters. These are people who's missions were too top secret to reveal their names. Well, this author did all the research and interviews and found out every single name and tells their story. It's kind of weird to start reading their story when you know how it's going to end.

John Irving's latest "Until I Find You". Good book so far, it takes me forever to read his books though.

brewt00l said:

Based on the truth might be how some would describe it...You might be interested in this one too:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1883056241/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

freakonomice was very entertaining.

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Just read the reviews of that book and I'll have to say 'no thanks'. Sounds like a fellow diver just venting. The authors of Shadow Diver may or may not have gotten the original destruction scenario down correctly, but the story line of the wrecks discovery and the ensuing fight to hide the discovery and still explore it is a good one. My daughter still quotes from that book, "When the crabs are talking, it's time to go home"

Jennifer

If you are a hard science fiction fan and haven't sampled Cathrine Asaro's work, you have a real treat ahead.

Vermicous said:

Alan Dean Foster (early works)

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I read a lot of ADF when I was younger. He wrote a couple of books of short stories that I like a lot, With Friends Like These and Who Needs Enemies.

Neomich said:

I like Sci-Fi myself, especially the real sci-fi. If you've never read the series, I'd suggest the Dune series by Frank Herbert. There's a lot of human intrest lessons you can pick up from that whole series. They have something called 'Spice Beer' that I'd love to try and replicate. Darn, now I've got an idea to try and bring to life.

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I was a Sci-Fi/Fantasy hound when I was younger. I read all of the Dune series (only liked the first one, though, tbh).

Dude said:

Before that I read "Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam" by Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down writer), the story of the failed rescue attempt of the Iran hostage crisis. It was absolutely fascinating.

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I saw the TV series on that book with Mark Bowden as one of the interviewees and will definitely read the book at some point. I was only 10 when it was going on, so there were a lot of the finer points I missed.

Interesting aside...my Dad had a business near Ft. Bragg and hired a lot of retired military. There was an old Colonel who took me to an arms demonstration one day at the base and we actually had breakfast at the table that morning with Gen. James Vaught. I was 16 and had no idea who he was, but I'd love to go back and see what he would actually talk about!

The arms demonstration was pretty cool, too.

I'm currently addicted to Bernard Cornwell's books. He's an awesome historical fiction writer. I'm just finishing the King Arthur series, and have a couple more of his on deck. I also really enjoyed Coleen McCulloch's books about Rome and Morgan's Run about settling Australia is awesome too.

Chairman Cheyco said:

I'm currently addicted to Bernard Cornwell's books. He's an awesome historical fiction writer. I'm just finishing the King Arthur series, and have a couple more of his on deck. I also really enjoyed Coleen McCulloch's books about Rome and Morgan's Run about settling Australia is awesome too.

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Dude! Where ya been, eh?