What are you reading now?

[Revvy]

A place to start would be librivox.org. I have only listened to a couple of samples, but they seem to be okay. They are a volunteer based organization trying to get all the classics (public domain books) into audio, if you have a desire you can offer to read and post files. They have a fairly large library available and you can get them sent as podcasts as well. When I finish with my current "read" I plan on digging a little deeper through thier catalog.

Oh that's cool! Thanks!

 

[Madman]

For classics, you can also go to Project Gutenberg. They have thousands of classics available in multiple editions, and I've also seen audio books for some of them.

I've wasted many a happy hour on their site

 

[CATFISHER74]

RED,WHITE, AND BREW.
The Beer Odyssey

 

[Mike M]

I am reading Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen.

Good read.

 

[eschatz]

Good read.

I've got a signed copy of that which someone gave me once. It's a great book.

 

[wtwerner]

I'm reading a whole lot for classes, but I'm also reading "World Without End" by Ken Follett. It is the sequel to "Pillars of the Earth."

 

[heinz57]

Just went to the library and picked up "A Confederacy of Dunces" by: John Kennedy Toole. While I was there they had a copy of "The Neon Bible" as well, so I nabbed that too. Haven't started reading either of them yet, but I've heard they're great.

 

[Ashz]

Alright I succumbed to my baser needs and just started listening to Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way.

Being a huge fan of Evil dead, II and Army of darkness (this is actually where Ashz came from, Ash was apparently taken) I couldn't resist it when I saw it.

This book is cracking me up as it is read and acted out by Bruce.

 

[Parker36]

Just Another Soldier - Blog/diary/newsletter turned into a book by a NYC National Guardsman deployed in Iraq for a year. Pretty sweet account of the day-to-day minutia that never really gets told in the news

The Translator - Memoir of a Darfur tribesman whose village is destroyed. He then works as a translator for the UN, Red Cross, BBC, CBS, and a bunch of other journalists before being captured, imprisoned and tortured for sneaking in "spies" (journalists)

Maus - Graphic novel (long comic book) about a the writer's father's experience as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust trying to run from the Nazis, then survive Aushwitz.

 

[silvervan83]

10 Big lies about America -Michael Medved
Black Belt Patriotism - CHUCK NORRIS!!!
How to Brew (for the 50th time)- John Palmer

 

[no1likesme]

well I guess right now I am reading HomeBrewTalk.com - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Community.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Complete Joy of Homebrewing Edition 3

 

[shecky]

Finally getting to "John Adams" by David McCullough.

 

[HBHoss]

"God, Guns and Rock 'n Roll" by Ted Nugent
"Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks

 

[nystevecf]

Inside The Criminal Mind by Stanton E. Samenow Ph.D.

Good read so far, just wish it went into specific cases a bit more.

 

[tony4444]

Just curious. Does anyone use an ebook reader? I bought the Sony PRS-505 and will never read a regular book again. I love being able to carry around a complete library in my pocket. The e-ink technology is amazing, such high resolution that you can't hardly tell that the font is digital.

Anyways I'm currently reading Citizen of the Galaxy by Richard A. Heinlein. An excellent sci-fi adventure.

 

[BeavBrew]

Another series of historical fiction is Kent Family Chronicles, the first book is "The Bastard", series by John Jakes. It starts with a young boy in England that meets Ben Franklin and then has to flee from his half-brother. The books follow his decendents through the Revolution, Civil War, westard expansion, and the turn of the century.

I haven't read the Kent Family yet, but I've read Jakes' North and South trilogy twice. The series follows two families, one from South Carolina and one from Pennsylvania. The two main characters are young men that meet while attending West Point. The books deal with the twenty years surrounding the Civil War and how the friendship and values of these two men are strained by the disputes of the day.

Beer Blast: The Inside Story of the Brewing Industry's Bizarre Battles for Your Money

By: Philip Van Munching

I read this book last year. It was a pretty informative look at how large breweries compete for market share. It's main focus is on Heineken and their battles with Corona and Jim Koch. Van Munching's family used to be the importer for Heineken products in the U.S.

Other interesting books dealing with the history of brewing in the U.S. are "Ambitious Brew: the Story of American Beer" by Maureen Ogle, "Under the Influence: the Unauthorized Story of the Anheuser-Busch Dynasty" by Peter Hernon and Terry Ganey, and "Citizen Coors: A Grand Family Saga of Business, Politcs, and Beer" by Dan Baum. The first one is a look at the early days of brewing in America. It focuses on many of the small breweries that existed prior to prohibition. The last two are basically family stories as told to outsiders. They are very informative as to how very small local brewers were able to grow their businesses into the massive companies they are today.

As for myself, I'm currently reading a bunch of textbooks, as I am finally completing a Business Degree. I used to read three to four novels a week. I read a lot of American History books, I finished a biography of Franklin over the winter break. My favorite book is "Centennial" by James Michener. It is an entertaining look at the settling of Colorado.

 

[injendsm]

I'm reading The Terror by Dan Simmons. I'm only 170 or so pages into it & it's a 700+ page book but it's pretty good so far.

 

[jds]

Cj Cherryh: The Foreigner

Somehow, I missed these the first time around, so I'm starting in on them now. Nine total books in three story arcs -- should keep me reading until may or so.

 

[Dadrick]

Just curious. Does anyone use an ebook reader? I bought the Sony PRS-505 and will never read a regular book again. I love being able to carry around a complete library in my pocket. The e-ink technology is amazing, such high resolution that you can't hardly tell that the font is digital.

Anyways I'm currently reading Citizen of the Galaxy by Richard A. Heinlein. An excellent sci-fi adventure.

to pick a nit - the author is Robert not Richard. But I too like his early works there was a whole series of books for teens (Starman Jones, Farmer in the Sky, etc.) that had young men has the protagonist. They seem a bit dated now but in the early 50's they addressed issues that teens were facing.

I especially like a quote of his from Farnham's Freehold about the death of millions of books being worse than the deaths of the prople in a nuclear holocost. People are born to die, but the knowledge in books can live forever.

 

[flyangler18]

I especially like a quote of his from Farnham's Freehold about the death of millions of books being worse than the deaths of the prople in a nuclear holocost. People are born to die, but the knowledge in books can live forever.

How surrendipitous! I just started reading for probably the 20th time Fahrenheit 451. One of the most memorable scenes is when the 'outcasts' are reciting major works of literature from memory as the paper copies have been burned in the name of political correctness.

 

[avaserfi]

Since I read for class I hit up about 2-3 books a week. Right now it is the two following:

Gender Trouble - Judith Butler
Interaction Ritual Chains - Randall Collins

 

[flyangler18]

Since I read for class I hit up about 2-3 books a week. Right now it is the two following:

Gender Trouble - Judith Butler
Interaction Ritual Chains - Randall Collins

Cultural Studies student? I took my M.A. in Cultural Studies from George Mason in 2004.

I know both works well; Butler is exceedingly difficult to read at times, but brilliant.

 

[avaserfi]

Cultural Studies student? I took my M.A. in Cultural Studies from George Mason in 2004.

I know both works well; Butler is exceedingly difficult to read at times, but brilliant.

Sociology. Butler is for queer theory and Collins is for contemporary theory. No cultural studies in A&M, but I am in a reading group with some friends on the subject.

You are right, Butler is difficult to read, I wish I had more than a week to read/reread her work, but it will have to wait until later.

 

[Cugel]

I also Just finished George R. R. Martin's - A Song of Ice and Fire.

This is also an epic fantasy along the lines of the above books. A little bit more, soap opera like, if you will, but still good, following the turmoils of a kingdom changing hands like old world europe. Good books and am awaiting the next.

I'm rereading this excellent series. IMHO this is much more gritty and realistic than Tolkien, Jordan or Goodkind, or the vast majority of fantasy writers, with the exception of Glen Cook. Ignore the cover-art and get stuck into the Amazon.com: The Black Company (Chronicles of The Black Company #1): Glen Cook: Books . Super, gritty, realistic fantasy from the perspective of a trooper in a mercenary unit. I cannot get enough of it!

In SciFi try Iain M. Banks... a good place to start ... Amazon.com: Consider Phlebas: Iain M. Banks: Books


Next for my attention the Soviet Gulag (should be depressing): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1400034094/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[uglygoat]

i've been plowing through s lawhead's 'celtic crusades trilogy' in addition to 'byzantium' by him. pretty good historically researched fiction, on par with alan eckert imo.

also a few historical works on the crusades; 'the first crusade' 'the fourth crusade and sack of constantinople' and interaction between islam and the west during the crusades 'god's crucible' and a work by karen armstrong, can't recall the title... i've been in a medieval rut this winter.

 

[Homercidal]

I'm nearing the end of Pratchett's Discworld novels. I'm hoping he can crank out a bunch more before his condition keeps him from writing!

 

[DonkeyShoes]

I just read 'Gang Leader for a Day' by Sudhir Venkatesh. Sudhir was a sociology grad student doing research on gangs in Chicago and befriended on of the leaders of the local Black Knights. He spent about ten years hanging around the projects while in college, finding out what it's really like and how the social and economic systems work. He has written a few other books on similar subjects; next I would like to read his book 'Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor'. He obtained the actual "books" from one of the gang members in charge of finances and studied the economics behind it.

 

[bashe]

I just finished reading twilight, I hated it. If you like books about pedophile vampires this is the book for you.

 

[Endovelico]

Ordered the complete Mead book, so hopefuly will be reading that