What book is on your nightstand? Readers!

[passedpawn]

There was a large thread on here before like this, but I'll be darned if I can find it. Someone recommended a couple of books on that thread, I added them to my kindle, and now I'm reading them, but now I can't find the thread. So, without further ado...

who recommended The Master Butcher's Singing Club? I'm reading it now and it's fascinating.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

we have some Bukowski, Barker, Thomas Harris, one or two Stephen King books, Harold Schechter, B.F. Skinner, Matheson, Burroughs, Nietzsche, Hawkings, and a bunch of Calvin and Hobbs. my wife has a bunch on behaviorism from college.

 

[BamaProud]

mostly porn

 

[Jupapabear]

Everything R.A.Salvatore. Hobbit and LOTR. Vampire Chronicles... that's all I can think of off the top of my head. =)

 

[Zuljin]

A mess.

Text books. Hard back Nat Geo books; Our Continent, Our Universe and so on. Brewing books. Two books on canoeing and another on knot tying. King. Koontz. Vampire books. King James. Book of Mormon. Three books on Wicca. Tarot cards. A book on bass fishing and two on deer hunting. George Carlin. Poe. The Federalist Papers. Some old car book. Cook books. Gardening books. Dictionary. Thesaurus. Grimm. Dorian Gray and a bunch of other classics that came as a set. A star chart. Guns, Crime and Freedom. Manual of the Bona Mors. The Psychology of Insanity. And, hey! Here's my old brew journal. Then there's all the TEEX books. An old People's Pharmacy. Photo albums.

 

[hunter_le five]

Subscribed. Always looking for new reading material.

 

[passedpawn]

Biographies: I'm not into them at all, but I just finished two biographies by Candice Millard and thought I'd recommend them for anyone who likes them.

One was on Teddy Roosevelt's epic near-death experience in South America, the other on James A Garfield's assassination. She has a nice writing style and they were very good reads.

BTW, the best biography (autobiography?) I ever read (and one of the best books in general) was West with the Night, the story of Beryl Markham.

 

[Homercidal]

A bunch of German Language books and books on learning German. A couple of Chilton's/Haynes (I always buy one of those when I buy a used car!) Some random othe rhobby books. A couple of old books just because they were my grandma's and I promised I would take care of them. One still had the Dodo bird as "possibly extinct".

Bunch of brewing books.

And I have a box with a bunch of science fiction and fantasy stories. Some McKiernan, JRR, etc. The usuals. Most of what I read is now on my phone in EPub or TXT format.

I'm currently reading Moby Dick, by Melville. It's actually quite good! I was thinking it would be a slow, philisophical drudgery, but it's pretty lively and so far very interesting. I'm at the point where he goes into a slightly scientific description and comparison of the various types of whales. I'm assuming that's because back when he wrote it, there wasn't the extremely available selection of accessible scientific materials. He does a great job of building characters. That was somewhat missing in the Verne and Wells I've read before.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

DVD's. What are these books you speak of?

 

[passedpawn]

I'm currently reading Moby Dick, by Melville. It's actually quite good! I was thinking it would be a slow, philisophical drudgery, but it's pretty lively and so far very interesting. I'm at the point where he goes into a slightly scientific description and comparison of the various types of whales. I'm assuming that's because back when he wrote it, there wasn't the extremely available selection of accessible scientific materials. He does a great job of building characters. That was somewhat missing in the Verne and Wells I've read before.

I've read Moby Dick and was surprised too.

You might consider reading In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It was the true-story basis for Moby Dick. This auther does an amazing job of this story, and you will be a whaling expert when you're done reading it. I highly recommend this book. Easier to read than Melville, too

 

[Homercidal]

I've read Moby Dick and was surprised too.

You might consider reading In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It was the true-story basis for Moby Dick. This auther does an amazing job of this story, and you will be a whaling expert when you're done reading it. I highly recommend this book. Easier to read than Melville, too

Nice! I am actually finding Melville pretty easy to read. The language use is slightly archaic, but not bad compared to some things I've read.

I'd be VERY interested in reading the true story events about that ship. I hope it's not TOO whaling specific. With Melville, I found myself kind of skimming through parts due to the technical, or nautical terms he used. I have half a mind to google all of that stuff, but I am guessing the story would still be a good story without knowing exactly when part of the ship he was referring to.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I recently found a book by Hugh Howey called "Wool" that I devoured so quickly the I ended up buying the rest of the trilogy, "Shift" and "Dust"... Good stuff.

 

[Zuljin]

I hear ya, Homer. A repair manual for your vehicle is always a good book to have. Even if you're not a grease monkey, it can get you out of a pinch or give you an idea of what's really wrong.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

Some favs from my bookshelf: carrying the fire, A man on the moon, a Buzz Aldrin signed copy of Mission to Mars (yes I am a bit of a space nerd as hinted at by the previous 3), the road, origin of species, how to brew, several by Haruki Murakami (if you're into strange but very engrossing Japanese stories, he's a must read), a couple John Grisham's, Anarchy Evolution, Into the Wild, the age of reason, and a couple amateur astronomy books

 

[Drizzt]

Everything R.A.Salvatore. Hobbit and LOTR. Vampire Chronicles... that's all I can think of off the top of my head. =)

RA Salvatore is a great writer which is where my HBT name comes from. Thank the heavens if one person knows who Drizzt is I'm happy. I think I read over 20 of the books. Please someone tell me you know who Drizzt is.


Hello my name is Drizzt and I have a brewing addiction.

 

[Snowden]

Drizzt is a Drow!

I have the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov on my bookshelf at the moment.


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew

 

[Drizzt]

Hello my name is Drizzt and I have a brewing addiction.

 

[Jupapabear]

I've read the entire series several times.

 

[Drizzt]

Thank you for renewing my faith in man kind.


Hello my name is Drizzt and I have a brewing addiction.

 

[therainmaker]

I've got a lot of brewing books; yeast, Hops, Water, brewing like a monk, brewing wild ales, brewing farmhouse ales, designing great beers, how to brew, Oxford beer companion, tasting beer, and copious amounts of outdoor books on hunting, fishing, bushcraft, and boating.

 

[hunter_le five]

Used to have quite a few books, but I gave most of them away last time I moved. I got tired of lugging around an entire bookcase worth of boxes from place to place. I held onto the ones I was currently reading, or thought I might re-read again:

House of Leaves, Only Revolutions, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, The Stand, The Dark Tower Series, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The Road, Blood Meridian, D-Day, Black Hawk Down, House to House, Gates of Fire, Delta Force, Bravo Two Zero, Rainbow Six, The New York Bartender's Guide, Leadership and Training for the Fight, Game of Thrones series, The Once and Future King, Wheel of Time series, Business Plans that Work, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, Jurassic Park, Lost World, Sphere,

I have since bought a Kindle (e-reader, not the tablet) to help with the bookcase problem:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hell's Angels, The Wind Through the Keyhole, Under and Alone, The Autobiography of Sonny Barger, John Dies at the End, This Book is Full of Spiders, Casino Royale, The Hunger Games, Hyperion, the Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, the Rise of Endymion, Cloud Atlas,

Then there are the audiobooks, for when I'm driving/mowing the lawn/etc:
Dragon Tattoo series, It, Tommyknockers, Bag of Bones, Talisman, Black House, Lisey's Story, Insomnia, Needful Things, Belgariad series, Strangers, Plum Island/John Corey series, The Kingkiller Chronicles series, 11/22/63, Mistborn series, Harry Bosch series, Mickey Haller series, American Gods, Stormlight Archive series,

 

[passedpawn]

Used to have quite a few books, but I gave most of them away last time I moved. I got tired of lugging around an entire bookcase worth of boxes from place to place. I held onto the ones I was currently reading, or thought I might re-read again:

House of Leaves, Only Revolutions, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, The Stand, The Dark Tower Series, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The Road, Blood Meridian, D-Day, Black Hawk Down, House to House, Gates of Fire, Delta Force, Bravo Two Zero, Rainbow Six, The New York Bartender's Guide, Leadership and Training for the Fight, Game of Thrones series, The Once and Future King, Wheel of Time series, Business Plans that Work, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, Jurassic Park, Lost World, Sphere,

I have since bought a Kindle (e-reader, not the tablet) to help with the bookcase problem:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hell's Angels, The Wind Through the Keyhole, Under and Alone, The Autobiography of Sonny Barger, John Dies at the End, This Book is Full of Spiders, Casino Royale, The Hunger Games, Hyperion, the Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, the Rise of Endymion, Cloud Atlas,

Then there are the audiobooks, for when I'm driving/mowing the lawn/etc:
Dragon Tattoo series, It, Tommyknockers, Bag of Bones, Talisman, Black House, Lisey's Story, Insomnia, Needful Things, Belgariad series, Strangers, Plum Island/John Corey series, The Kingkiller Chronicles series, 11/22/63, Mistborn series, Harry Bosch series, Mickey Haller series, American Gods, Stormlight Archive series,

I've read most of the John Corey series. I like that character a lot.

What did you think of Blood Meridian? Very weird book, violent, but I liked it (not as much as The Road).

 

[hunter_le five]

I've read most of the John Corey series. I like that character a lot.

What did you think of Blood Meridian? Very weird book, violent, but I liked it (not as much as The Road).

Agreed, he's a fantastic character. I enjoyed his interactions with other characters more than the plots themselves.

Blue Meridian was extremely weird, but for me that was part of the appeal. It made it all the more unsettling, as if the subject matter itself wasn't dark enough to accomplish that. It was a pretty dense read though, and I felt like I had to pay close attention to every single line to really take it all in, which made reading it kind of exhausting at times.

The Road is easily one of my favorite books of all time. The movie was good, but didn't quite do it justice. It was also a lot easier to read than Blood Meridian.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I just picked up a 1968 printing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at a garage sale for a quarter.

 

[Homercidal]

As I said, I have several book on learning German. I started using Duolingo.com about 2 weeks ago.

On our way up to Petosky we had to pull into the parking lot of a small store (I don't recall what they sold) and while she puked at the edge of the parking lot I checked out a box on their porch with "FREE BOOKS" written on the side. Inside was an old "How to Learn German" pocket book. It's too old to be useful for learning modern phrases, but it looks like it would be nice for studying the various forms of articles, etc. I seems like a very coincidental incident.

I am nearly finished with Moby Dick. It is an interesting writing style. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading adventure books, old scifi books, or anyone who is curious about human nature. His style varies from chapter to chapter, depending on the subject of it. It can be very difficult to get a grasp on his meaning. Sometimes after reading a passage several times I feel like I may have figured out what he was trying to portray.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Many, many different subjects, but lately I've been on a post-apocalyptic binge.
One Second After by William Forstchen
The Long, Loud Silence by Wilson Tucker
Patriots by James Wesley Rawles
Going Home by A. American
Regards, GF.

 

[Ridire]

I just picked up a 1968 printing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at a garage sale for a quarter.

Based on what I've read on this board, I think you and I have similar tastes in books.

Somewhat out of character for me, I started reading Dune this week. I have heard so much about it, and so much about how they ruined it with the Sting movie (which I barely can remember), that I thought I'd give it a shot.

 

[Ridire]

As I said, I have several book on learning German. I started using Duolingo.com about 2 weeks ago.

On our way up to Petosky we had to pull into the parking lot of a small store (I don't recall what they sold) and while she puked at the edge of the parking lot I checked out a box on their porch with "FREE BOOKS" written on the side. Inside was an old "How to Learn German" pocket book. It's too old to be useful for learning modern phrases, but it looks like it would be nice for studying the various forms of articles, etc. I seems like a very coincidental incident.

I am nearly finished with Moby Dick. It is an interesting writing style. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading adventure books, old scifi books, or anyone who is curious about human nature. His style varies from chapter to chapter, depending on the subject of it. It can be very difficult to get a grasp on his meaning. Sometimes after reading a passage several times I feel like I may have figured out what he was trying to portray.

Moby Dick was a book that I was a little disappointed with. Not that it was bad, but it has been built up as the greatest English language novel of all time, and I just didn't think it quite lived up to that. Melville could have made that book half as long had he not obsessed over boring and irrelevant details regarding whale anatomy and biology. Just my opinion.

 

[Setesh]

I have given most of my paper story books away, my bookshelf now has a mixture of reference books for brewing, fly tying, backpacking, motorcycle repair, and I.T. related books of all sorts.

My story books are all in digital format. That library is more than 600 strong. Some of my favorites being:

The Safehold series by David Weber
The Honor Harrington series by David Weber
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Dune by Frank Herbert
IRobot by Asimov
HHGTG by Douglas Adams
The Dark Elf trilogy by Salvatore
The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margeret Weis and Tracy Hickman
The Hobbit and TLOTR series by Tolkien
The Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz
The Harry Potter books by J K Rowling *If you do the audio books you MUST get the ones with Stephen Fry as the narrator!
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
The Lost Regiment Series by William Forstchen *He said he would expand the series, but has so far not done so. The last book does not provide closure at all, just a warning if you are one who needs closure.

I know there are MANY excellent ones that I am forgetting, but those rose to the top of my mind.

 

[passedpawn]

I just picked up a 1968 printing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at a garage sale for a quarter.

Reread this a few years back. It's just an excellent book. Impossible not to picture Jack Nicholson in your mind's eye.

Somewhat out of character for me, I started reading Dune this week.

I read half and quit. I don't fancy the SciFi any more.

I'm reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom right now. He's a great writer. Almost exactly what I am looking for in a writer. His The Corrections was superb.

 

[Homercidal]

Moby Dick was a book that I was a little disappointed with. Not that it was bad, but it has been built up as the greatest English language novel of all time, and I just didn't think it quite lived up to that. Melville could have made that book half as long had he not obsessed over boring and irrelevant details regarding whale anatomy and biology. Just my opinion.

I kind of agree with you there. I think it wasn't uncommon for people who wrote about scifi and even natural subjects, to flesh out their subjects so that people who only had a small amount, if any, learning on it would be able to comprehend the story, or imagine it as if they were actually there.

He inserts a lot of philosophical wanderings. Some of that is interesting, to read how his mind works, and some of it gets tedious.

I think there could have been a bit less of both, to be honest. He did well when he was concentrating on the story, rather than the tangential content.

It is interesting to read up on him and learn that when he wrote this story, it was only popular for a short time and it wasn't until years after his death that it got the attention that makes his name recognizable today.

 

[Homercidal]

Reread this a few years back. It's just an excellent book. Impossible not to picture Jack Nicholson in your mind's eye.



I read half and quit. I don't fancy the SciFi any more.

I'm reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom right now. He's a great writer. Almost exactly what I am looking for in a writer. His The Corrections was superb.

I read Dune after seeing the movie with Sting and Kyle McLaughlin. Went with my BIL who had read the book. I thought it was fantastic!

Then at about book 3 or so I just could NOT follow it anymore. I'm not sure what kind of spice Herbert was taking, but it was getting the better of him.

I thought the newer version was a LOT better and closer to the books than the old 80s movie.

I probably could not read something like that today and enjoy it.

 

[Setesh]

I read Dune after seeing the movie with Sting and Kyle McLaughlin. Went with my BIL who had read the book. I thought it was fantastic!

Then at about book 3 or so I just could NOT follow it anymore. I'm not sure what kind of spice Herbert was taking, but it was getting the better of him.

I thought the newer version was a LOT better and closer to the books than the old 80s movie.

I probably could not read something like that today and enjoy it.

I'm with you on that. First book was excellent, the rest went downhill fast. Pretty steep bell curve on that series.

 

[hunter_le five]

My brother's been begging me to read Dune for years. But every time, I remebered how awful the movie version was, and just wrote it off.

Maybe I need to give it a try.

Seriously, that movie was terrible. And I'm a pretty big David Lynch fan.

 

[Ridire]

I'm not much of a sci fi reader, I suppose, but I loved a bunch of stuff by Vonugut, and A Clockwork Orange is one of my all time favorites. I think I decided to read Dune when I discovered it was written in 1965. I suppose I like older sci fi. I also liked the LOTR trilogy...is that really sci fi?


Sent from here, because that's where I am.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

The stormlight archives by Brandon Sanderson
Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
Dresden files by Jim butcher
Irondruid chronicles by Kevin Hearne
Thiefs magic by Trudi Canavan
A song of ice and fire by George R.R. Martin

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I'm not much of a sci fi reader, I suppose, but I loved a bunch of stuff by Vonugut, and A Clockwork Orange is one of my all time favorites. I think I decided to read Dune when I discovered it was written in 1965. I suppose I like older sci fi. I also liked the LOTR trilogy...is that really sci fi?


Sent from here, because that's where I am.

LOTR is fantasy. I let a friend borrow my copy of A Clockwork Orange & never got it back.

 

[passedpawn]

LOTR is fantasy.

I've thought about this a lot. I consider fantasy to be based in the past, where magic and supernatural are allowed. Sci Fi is future, where technology or the devastation from past technology exist.

I'd agree with Billy here.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I'd argue that lotr is the defining archetypical fantasy trilogy.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I read Dune after seeing the movie with Sting and Kyle McLaughlin. Went with my BIL who had read the book. I thought it was fantastic!

Then at about book 3 or so I just could NOT follow it anymore. I'm not sure what kind of spice Herbert was taking, but it was getting the better of him.

I thought the newer version was a LOT better and closer to the books than the old 80s movie.

I probably could not read something like that today and enjoy it.

+1 on book #3 of Dune. I enjoyed both movies tho, the one with Kyle McLaughlin & the remake with William hurt. Ever read Frank Herbert's White Plague? You might enjoy it, I did.

I enjoyed The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher quite a bit, been waiting for the latest one to come out in paperback. I enjoyed the Ashes series by William Johnstone, but lost interest after about book #8, it got to be the same basic story, just with a few different characters & slightly different scenarios.
Regards, GF.