Books. Whats the best one you have read lately?

Ripping off the other threads about movies and such. We know it all started here.
My current favorite author doesn't have a movie to his name yet, to my knowledge.
Clive Cussler.
I have been reading about 2 books a week of his lately. I wish there was a movie to watch to compare.

The last 2 I read were
Corsair
Plague Ship.

Both are a little out there, but you can't put them down! Anyone else enjoy the old book by the fireplace?

I just finished "White Fang" for the 934985th time. Still a phenomenal book.

Now reading Crime and Punishment. Another great.

Kitchen confidential by anthony bourdain even if your not in the industry its still very hard to put down.

I will check out Kitchen Confidential, thanks.
Another one I finished last week was American Assassin by Vince Flynn. That was one I couldn't put down and read it all on a weekend. Every free minute I had I was in that one.

Just recently finished the first 3 foundation novels by Isaac Asimov. Great classic sci-fi

The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein was awesome, and Stranger in a Strange Land is one of my favorites.

Just finished Hunger Games series which was very dark for "kids" books but also very entertaining.

anything by bukowski....getting ready to start women

Paulielow said:

Kitchen confidential by anthony bourdain even if your not in the industry its still very hard to put down.

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Okay, on your behest I googled it and found out there is a TV show! It is very good, almost like Scrubs but with a kitchen instead of a hospital. I managed to waste most of the afternoon watching all the season 1 episodes.

Fastmetal said:

The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy.

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That guy is whacked. After The Road I read Blood Meridian. Wow, what a crazy writer. It was a new experience for this very-experienced reader.

passedpawn said:

That guy is whacked. After The Road I read Blood Meridian. Wow, what a crazy writer. It was a new experience for this very-experienced reader.

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The Road, while very good, was....something else. I've never felt the way I felt after reading that book before.

Anyone reading anything with brewing???

rifraf said:

The Road, while very good, was....something else. I've never felt the way I felt after reading that book before.

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Pretty strong responses. What's so unique about it? I may need to pick this up.

Boleslaus said:

Pretty strong responses. What's so unique about it? I may need to pick this up.

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I don't want to ruin anything because it's so powerful, but the basic storyline is a father and very young son traveling together in a brutally harsh, post-apocalyptic world. My mom recommended it to me, and we both still talk about it when we get together because we both feel so differently about the ending.

The Hiram Key was fantastic, couldnt put it down.
reading Born in Blood right now, very informative but kinda < MEH > . . .

Boleslaus said:

Pretty strong responses. What's so unique about it? I may need to pick this up.

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Cormac's writing style is odd. He writes with a huge vocabulary and very little punctuation. I think this leads to a very fluid read, but it's definitely off-putting at first.

The road is a post-apocalypse book, constantly dismal and hopeless. I think the only other book I read this dismal was On The Beach by Nevil Shute. Must read!

Just finished A Storm of Swords. Decent. It's both grittier as a tale and coarser quality than the two preceding books. I hope his writing isn't slipping.

dwarven_stout said:

Just finished A Storm of Swords. Decent. It's both grittier as a tale and coarser quality than the two preceding books. I hope his writing isn't slipping.

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Love those books but IMO they slide a bit...4th was slower still. Wheel of Time series is the best high fantasy series I've read. Couldn't recommend more.

"The Algebraist" Iain M. Banks.

Anything Dostoevsky, Erich Fromm, or Rollo May. Seriously.

rifraf said:

Love those books but IMO they slide a bit...4th was slower still. Wheel of Time series is the best high fantasy series I've read. Couldn't recommend more.

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Yeah, I liked Wheel of Time well enough.

The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man Fears, both absolutely fantastic!

Stephen King's Dark Tower series; I'm on book 4 and blowing through it!

houndsbreath said:

Stephen King's Dark Tower series; I'm on book 4 and blowing through it!

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Spoilers: by the end he's using himself for all the characters.

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Great fantasy series, kind of similar to A Song of Ice and Fire.

I was into the Wheel of Time series but around book 6 or 7 I couldn't do it anymore. I don't remember what was happening in the series when I stopped, but I do remember some of the female characters were getting on my nerves. Maybe I'll give it a try again someday.

A treatise to brewing beer circa 1800's.....apparently lead works great for cooling tanks and you should never let your slaves make your beer.

Rubes said:

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Great fantasy series, kind of similar to A Song of Ice and Fire.

I was into the Wheel of Time series but around book 6 or 7 I couldn't do it anymore. I don't remember what was happening in the series when I stopped, but I do remember some of the female characters were getting on my nerves. Maybe I'll give it a try again someday.

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Happened to me with Winter's Heart, took me a couple times to get through but it picked back up on the other side. The last three are being written by Brandon Sanderson so they feel fresher too.

houndsbreath said:

Stephen King's Dark Tower series; I'm on book 4 and blowing through it!

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Great series, read it straight through last year.

Another good writer is Jim Harrison, his work is great

Chia said:

anything by bukowski....getting ready to start women

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Bukowski is epic! I read all of his stuff years ago. His poetry is quite powerful as well. If you like him you should check out John Fante, Burrows and of course Karoauk....

Im currently reading some non-fiction. A book called "Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol." Its an awesome read. Gives a great history of brewing and alcohol's impact on Western Civilization. I'd highly recommend it to fellow brewers.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1592403034/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'm finishing up The Name of the Rose. It's pretty good. Some points are very slow though. I like historical books, fiction or otherwise.

Boleslaus said:

I'm finishing up The Name of the Rose. It's pretty good. Some points are very slow though. I like historical books, fiction or otherwise.

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Always wanted to read this but never did. Maybe I ought to pick it up. I certainly enjoyed the movie

Has anyone read Ken Follett's newer book Fall of Giants? I really liked Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. Winter of the World is supposed to come out this year too.

dwarven_stout said:

Just finished A Storm of Swords. Decent. It's both grittier as a tale and coarser quality than the two preceding books. I hope his writing isn't slipping.

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I don't see how you can finish SoS and not think it to be the best thing ever. GRRM basically just takes everything you love and ****s all over it. It's fantastic.

AFFC is still solid, but it does linger a bit. Especially Dany. I think AFFC's main downfall is that it came after SoS. SoS was packed full of so much, that AFFC is just too slow paced.

A Dance with Dragons kicks back up though. It was very solid and the ending is brutal.

Boleslaus said:

Has anyone read Ken Follett's newer book Fall of Giants? I really liked Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. Winter of the World is supposed to come out this year too.

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Pillars was fantastic. One of my favorite "epic" type books. I was afraid of World due to bad reviews. What what's your take on that?

passedpawn said:

Pillars was fantastic. One of my favorite "epic" type books. I was afraid of World due to bad reviews. What what's your take on that?

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I was too similar to Pillars. Yes it was a continuation of the same general storyline, but the characters just didn't quite has the ridiculous depth of the first one. Although I think like someone said about a different series...it's unfortunate for World that it came after Pillars, because on its own it would have been great. Just not as great as Pillars.

dwarven_stout said:

Just finished A Storm of Swords. Decent. It's both grittier as a tale and coarser quality than the two preceding books. I hope his writing isn't slipping.

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I'm now on A Dance With Dragons, I have heard much better things about this one than A Storm of Swords. This books holds all the characters that we really want to read about.

Chia said:

anything by bukowski....getting ready to start women

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While in college in the late seventies I wrote a weekly feature in my college newspaper. Affectionately known as the "Buke of the Week", it was "The H. Charles Bukowski Award for Admirably Indecent Behavior". People would track me down on campus to tell me the disgusting thing they'd done last night, hoping they'd be awarded the "Buke".

Reading now? "Still Life With Woodpecker".

boxofjibboo said:

I'm now on A Dance With Dragons, I have heard much better things about this one than A Storm of Swords. This books holds all the characters that we really want to read about.

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Did you read A Feast For Crows? It sounds like that's what you are comparing Dance With Dragons to, as it has all the viewpoints that Feast didn't.

I just started a book about Johnny Magic. Autobiography so we will see how it goes. He won the WSOP in 2004 I believe. Its been off and on the first 100 pages...