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

[JohnBarleycorn]

Just finished Vamped by an author I know , David Sosnowski , great original vampire tale . He wrote Rapture as well . finishing up Travels With Charley - John Steinbeck and started Last of the Mohicans

 

[BrewBrain]

I can highly recommend "A Confederacy Of Dunces" - one of the best books I've ever read. I think it won a Pulitzer for fiction.

For anybody who likes Fantasy/Adventure books even a little bit, or Middle Ages themed books for that matter, definitely read the series "A Song Of Ice And Fire" by George R.R. Martin. I can't describe how good this series is. It's absolutely amazing on so many different levels. The first volume is "A Game of Thrones". The first four books of the series are available and I'm impatiently awaiting the next one.

HBO has bought the rights to put it on screen. I just can't wait to see it.

 

[Fish]

YES!!! Song of Ice and Fire may be the best series I have ever read. One of the few series I have ever re-read (and plan to re-read again). I cannot recommend this enough. And yea I am waiting for Martin to come out with the next one. Seems to be taking too long but thats how it goes I guess.

 

[BrewBrain]

YES!!! Song of Ice and Fire may be the best series I have ever read. One of the few series I have ever re-read (and plan to re-read again). I cannot recommend this enough. And yea I am waiting for Martin to come out with the next one. Seems to be taking too long but thats how it goes I guess.

Yeah, I'm going to have to read them again before the next one comes out. I may start them again when the next volume is released. That way, when I'm finished with the first four, the fifth should be about out in paperback and I won't have to pay for a hard cover. I probably won't be able to wait anyway.

 

[Danny013]

Just re-read 1776 by David McCullough. EXCELLENT book, especially if you like history! Grab it and you won't be dissapointed (or bored!).

 

[somecallmetim]

Authors I like...

Bill Bryson
Elmore Leonard
Dave Berry
Hunter S Thompson
Douglas Adams
Chuck Palahniuk
et al...

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Just re-read 1776 by David McCullough. EXCELLENT book, especially if you like history! Grab it and you won't be dissapointed (or bored!).

That is a really good book. You really get no idea from grade/high school history how tenuous the whole Revolution was, especially in that first year. I was surprised at how unpopular it was in England, as well.

 

[Hippie]

I have recently started "Jarhead" by Anthony Swafford. I had seen the movie and wasn't impressed, but I saw the book in the Borders discount bin, and bought it. I highly recommend it!

 

[kappclark]

Anne Tyler - Accidental Marrriage

 

[sudsmonkey]

Just Taking a break from John Grisham's courtroom dramas. Reading one of the Foxfire books. This one covers blacksmithing and riflemaking. Got a good section on horseshoeing, too!

I agree with the Conferderacy of Dunces assesment made earlier. Probably one of the better works of modern fiction.

Also recommend: Stephen Hunter
Stephen King
Elmore Leonard
Patrick O'Brian

 

[kappclark]

Of course, I Meant to say The *Amateur* Marriage (I got confused with accidental tourist - another great read!)

 

[the_wrath_of_Khan]

I'm reading Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. It is pretty good.

 

[Brakeman_Brewing]

I am reading "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" By Tucker Max

Its a light read, kind of like Chicken Soup For the Soul.

www.tuckermax.com

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

My nightly bible readings...pffft!

 

[kappclark]

Have been given "1776" by a friend ... I think this will be my Solstice Study while I sample that winter warmer ... maybe 10 pages a night !

BTW - any history buffs out there ? Familiar w/ General Sullivan's campaign against the Indians ? A dark chapter in our history ! Do a WIKI search ..

 

[AzAdrian]

"The Barbecue Bible" by Steven Raichlen.

I've been eating this up for about 2 weeks. My wife an I have been without a grill for a few years due to apartment living. Now we got one in our condo. It has 500 recipes, I hope to try at least 250 of them

 

[Silviakitty]

I tend towards sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

However, recently I've been doing a lot of non-standard reading for me. Home-brewing books, of course (I picked up the Papazian (sp?) book a few days ago); A Mind Apart, which deals with neurodiversity; Postsecret, which is a bit of fluff that I'm enjoying when I have a minute or two to kill, and I just finished The Men Who Stare At Goats, which is an excellent book and will drag you in very very quickly.

Then of course I also just finished the newest Laurell K Hamilton book (A Lick of Frost, but I'm not sure how many of the male contingent of this board would get a kick out of her recent stuff.

 

[paulthenurse]

'Killer Angels' by Micheal Sharra, a historical novel about the battle of Gettysburg is a great read. Interestingly, his son picked up where he left off and wrote 'Gods and Generals' and 'The Last Full Measure.' I Highly recommend these.

SOmone mentioned earlier that they were reading The Stand by Stephen King. Back in 1980 I was stationed on the 210 foot Coast Guard Cutter Diligence in Key West. We went out on a 30 day drug interdiction patrol and about 5 of us were sharing one copy of that book. It was pretty comical, people were hiding the book when they went on watch so they could pick it back up when they got off. We eventually ripped the book into sections and devided it up amoungst ourselves. You eventually got to read the whole book but not neccisarly in sequential order.

 

[sudsmonkey]

Working on Bernard Cornwell right now. He has a series based in Arthurian times. Good stuff, that! He also has some Civil War stuff that I may read in the future.

 

[Kevin Dean]

I'm absolutely in LOVE with Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series - I've been the technical admin of the official fan site for several years.

Back in September he died leaving the 12th and final volume unfinished. Yesterday we publically announced that Brandon Sanderson signed a deal to finish the book. So, I am currently reading Elantris by Brandon Sanderson as well as his "Mistborn" series afterwards.

Just finished reading Orwell's 1984 a few hours ago.

 

[DUCCCC]

...I was stationed on the 210 foot Coast Guard Cutter Diligence in Key West. ...

I go past the Diligence daily here in Wilmington, NC. We've also got one of her former skippers here at the school where I work.

 

[uglygoat]

right now, i'm bouncing between 'brew like a monk' 'wild fermentations' and 'farmhouse ales'

 

[Beerthoven]

I'm reading "Paying the Tab: The Costs and Benefits of Alcohol Control Policy in the United States."

I have to read it; I'm writing a grant.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I've been reading The Hobbit to my 9 yr old daughter this week. She's our creative imaginative one and is loving it. We're almost finished with it. I think she'll want to keep on with LOTR when we're done.

 

[uglygoat]

nice sparky. my daughter loves smeagol, and does this crazy 'preecciousss' impression...

 

[Chad]

I've been reading The Hobbit to my 9 yr old daughter this week. She's our creative imaginative one and is loving it. We're almost finished with it. I think she'll want to keep on with LOTR when we're done.

Very nice! Do the voices, even if you feel weird about it. Your inhibitions mean nothing to your kids. When I read The Hobbit to mine several years ago I made a conscious decision to completely ignore my suburban white guy hangups and really read the book the way I would have wanted it read to me (and the way I remember Nicol Williamson reading it on the original audio production) -- with drama and distinctive voices for all of the characters. They loved it. Later when I read the first and second Harry Potter books to them I did the same thing. One of my absolute proudest moments in life is when we went to see the first Harry Potter movie. Robbie Coletrane does an amazing job as Hagrid, yet when we came out and I asked my kids about the movie, both of them said that they loved the movie but Hagrid didn't sound right to them and they preferred my version :rockin: :rockin: :rockin:

Chad

 

[talleymonster]

I'm reading Heartfire by Orson Scott Card.
Also listening to an audio book. Can't think of the title, but it's a story about John Nash.

 

[Kevin Dean]

Can't think of the title, but it's a story about John Nash.

A Beautiful Mind?

 

[quickerNu]

I am reading "Murder and Mayhem, The War of Reconstruction in Texas". Sounds kinda cool, but it's pretty much just an academic work. It is basically a listing of all confederate supporters in post-civil war "corners counties" in North Texas and their crimes. Also known as the Lee-Peacock feud. Pretty nasty stuff. I knew things were pretty bad at the time, but didn't know how much of the state was pretty much in open revolt even post-war.

 

[EvilTOJ]

I haven't read anything lately (except HBT) but I'd love to read all of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series again. It's set about an english woman that falls through a Celtic time portal into the 18th century and falls in love with a Scottish laird. The series is one part historical fiction, one part sci fi, and one part romance novel.

At one point in one of the books it goes into a very detailed process on how to floor-malt grain. It sounds dreadful!