Rereading "When Elephants Weep" ~ if you are at all interested in anthropomorphism you will like (no...love) this book.

Always seem to be leafing through my two favorites.....Will Shake's best of :lol: Mostly Julius Caesar and right now I'm fascinated with A Midsummer's Night Dream.
And the other biggie I keep going back to....E.A. Poe - Hall of the House of Usher.....read it a zillion times but I love the blackness and "bareness" of his writing.

Keep meaning to get through History of the World (started the 800 plus page mammoth about ohhhh a year ago and am still trying to finish the damn thing!).

Favorites that I would recommend to anyone.....

Anne McCaffrey (sp??) Dragonriders of Pern books...anyone of them...all of them

And a book entitled "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld"...don't remember the author at this moment. Good, though!

Oh...and "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" a MUST read. In MHO! :)

I should be reading Tom Clancy's The Bear and the Dragon, at work. Instead I'm TFPing at work!

Thomas Pynchon

I have been collecting these novels all throughout my life, knowing that I shall absorb them at some point.

I've begun.

((Vineland))

the "Black Dahlia" by James Ellroy and "Kingdom Of Fear" by Hunter S Thompson

Contemporary Management, Project Management.

Grad School Sucks

Was reading Neuromancer (again), but am also reading The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric Raymond

i just bought <u>choke</u> by chuck palahniuk, but i'm waiting to read it until the vacation i'm going on starting sunday. its so very very very hard to wait...

Sex and Rockets, John Carter
(biography of Jack Parsons, founder of the Jet Propulsion Labs, Aerojet Corp. and inventor of the solid rocket fuels we still use today)

Quasimojo -
You're reading Pynchon? Gravity's Rainbow? If so, you'd be interested in this book. It's of more interest to me simply as a resident of Pasadena... Jack is a huge part of this city's history... but it's a fascinating read. Anybody that freakin' Alesiter Crowley thought was completely off his rocker makes an interesting subject to read about. ;)

The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears author of the brilliant An Instance of the Finger Post.

Mercedes Lackey Arrows of the Queen series

I highly recommend her Herald Mage series for the fantasy lovers out there.

Alexandre DuMas, Le Conte du Monte Christo

Redemption Ark by Alistair Reynolds. and the Barsoom Project by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes

Harry Potter!

It's great. :)

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Thomas Wolfe

Right now, reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks. Great series of case studies on neurological disorders. Dr. Sacks makes you feel for the patients.

Don't know what I'm gonna read next.

would you mind giving us a little info? like just one of the short stories contain what exactly? its weird how? horror? drugs?

i just finished the getaway man by andrew vachess.

PERFECT 10

A lot of his stories are a bizarre kind of horror.

Spoilers for "More Tomorrow" below:








A guy starts at a new workplace and meets a girl he likes. Said girl has an unpleasant boyfriend. Girl starts appearing in rude pictures on Usenet, with a little more detail shown each day, and the message "more tomorrow". The girl looks scared.
Then the girl goes missing. After searching for her, the guy checks the newsgroups. Theres no new pictures of her, but new post say, "Beautiful Amputee". He opens the file. Its the girl, missing a limb. The message says "more tomorrow".


I'm not a very good storyteller, but Micheal Marshall Smith has a way of getting under your skin, and taking your breath away!!

Right now, I'm reading a book called Cryptonomicon. So far, it's pretty interesting.

In case you're curious, it's by Neal Stephenson

'The last journey of William Huskisson'. It's about the fist real railway between Liverpool and Manchester, and the problems they had in convincing people it would be a good idea.
Fascinating, if a little pedestrian in places.

I am Jackie Chan- told by Jackie Chan and For Whom the Bell Tolls- Ernest Hemingway

my name is jon janoson i come from wisconson....

Wade Davis, Passage to Darkness; The Ethnobiology of the Hatian Zombie

Finishing up The Stranger by Camus again... I love this book!

What If? its by multiple authers and I can't remember them right now cool book though.

currently reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
recently finished reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, it was by far the greatest book i have ever read and i strongly recommend it to everyone.

Terry Goodkind's Naked Empire.

Jim Harrison - Sundog

Both very good books, but I think they were a little too similar. I'm not sure why, because the plots are completely different, but I think that basically everyone should read those books.

I'll look at it.


I didn't like Catcher much at all. Catch-22, on the other hand, is one of my favorite books. I very much like the dark humor. Most people I've talked about the book with seem to either really like it, or really not like it.

The web needs more of this. Not sure if that book is any good though :P

That book sounds interesting, tell me what you think of it when you are done.

A friend of mine claimed that this was the best book he ever read, and learned Russian primarily to read this book. I intend to read it very soon.

I'm unsure of the <i>Salmon of Doubt</i>, since it was unfinished, I have so far refused to read it. The other books by Douglas Adams were very entertaining though.

A few people mentioned <i>Siddharta</i> by Hesse, should I read this book?

I used to read fantasy books a lot as a kid, and this series, while interesting, didn't seem all that exceptional when I read the first book a few months ago. I'm not sure what people like about it so much.

He wrote another book, <i>An Anthropologist on Mars</i>. The stories were interesting, but I can't say that I enjoyed it <i>that</i> much.

I intend to read this eventually, he also wrote <i>Snow Crash</i>, an entertaining, if cheesy cyberpunk novel. And <i>Diamond Age</i>, a less interetaining book, although I liked the environment it took place in.




And finally, I am reading <i>The Once and Future King</i> by T.H. White, an entertaining if slow book. A much different picture of King Arthur and the Knights than I had seen before.

Pastoralia by George Saunders

Bones of the Moon by Johnathan Carroll



I can't just read one thing at a time.

Harry potter and goblet of fire

I was told I had to read all five this summer

IM just fiished a play yesterday...it was Arthur millers...creation of the world and other business
IM also reading tao of physics

mr. nice by howard marks

The Entire series of "Exalted" RPG Rulebooks and fiction from White Wolf Press.

I'm slowly working thru Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It was interupted by Harry Potter book 5 and Akria book 6

The Hunt For Bin Laden...Task Force Dagger...Robin Moore

Zen is a great book!

I'm currently reading some kurt vonnegut, Cat's Cradle-after which I'll be reading timequake.

Naked, by David Sedaris. 1/2 way through and still not sure what I think of it. I'll keep you posted.

"Tough guys don't dance" by Norman Mailer. Found it in the attic. Something about reading a old ,yellowing book that makes me have to read it. Good book so far. If your looking for a good american writer of recent years check out Mailer.

What Went Wrong -a book about why the Middle East was the height of civilization a few centuries ago, well ahead of Europe and America in culture and technology and is now- well, having a bit of trouble.

And Summer Camp2 by Scipio

Carter Beats The Devil by Glen David Gold.

Another Harry Potter 5 read here...

Actually, I started it the day it came out, but have been on page 195 ever since...it just sits on my desk :eek:

Maybe I should finish that...

Confederates in the Attic - Tony Horwitz

Thinner by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen KING)

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

-- by Yamamoto Tsunetomo,
William Scott Wilson (Translator)

I just finished Flesh and Blood, Jonathan Kellerman (a good no brainer). Next up, either East of Eden or just required school reading, depends on my mood.

Porno by Irvine Welsh

nulltype, what an entertaining post!

This is a cross-post of a message I just left in the Entertainment board.

=========================

I'm wondering if fellow boardmembers have some favourite books.

Here's my top 10 (in no particular order)

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Perhaps the world's best anti-war novel. Breath-taking, hilarious, yet full of pathos. This book changed the way I look at life.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes
Truly amazing book on the science, people and events that led to the creation of the most powerful weapon the world had seen. This book is breath taking in scope, extremely well written, covers military history, science, biography and is written in a lucid and very engaging prose.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

The Scramble for Africa - Thomas Pakenham
Another excellent book of great scope. Very much an eye-opener. The way the Europeans "raped" Africa is enough to make the blood boil. Who would have thought, for example, that the Belgians were so rapacious?

Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor
Deservedly a best seller. If this doesn't bring home to you the horrors of war, then you have no soul. :) Well researched, well written and well deserved of its fame and popularity

An Anatomy of Thought - Ian Glynn
The best, single volume, introduction on how the mind works (with apologies to Steven Pinker!) available. Your brain is a wonderful thing. Do yourself a favour, and feed it by reading this book.

In Search of Schrodinger's Cat - John Gribban
Over 10 years old, but still the standard by which all introductions to Quantum Physics are measured. Gribban offers a great history of this amazing area of physics and explains extremely complicated concepts in (usually) an easy to understand manner.

The Civil War Trilogy - Shelby Foote
Magesterial 3 volume history in that most important of America's wars. These books will open a whole new world to you; that of the early Americans and their struggles that nearly resulted in the fall of the US. Perhaps the best written book I've ever read

Cicero - Anthony Everitt
Besides Robert Massie's biography of Peter the Great, this is probably the best study of a famous historical character in print (my opinion of course). Brings the Roman Late Republic truly to life. An amazing man and an amazing life...

Citizens - Simon Schama
Quite astounding revisionist history of the French Revolution. From its first paragraph to the epilogue 800 pages later, this book grabs you and doesn't let go. The quote from Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai, where he was asked "What was the significance of the French Revolution" and he answered after a moments thought "It's too soon to tell" is the kind of scene or anecdote that really makes this book a must read.

Origins Reconsidered - Richard Leakey & Roger Lewin
A superb summary of the evolution of human kind, that starts with Leakey's discovery of the now famous "Turkana Boy" remains in Africa.




Now you may notice a preponderance of non-fiction. I have to admit I prefer factual works, but if I was to add any more fiction books The Life of Pi by Yann Martel and perhaps A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth would have to be included.

I used to read a lot of SF, but to be honest, that's 99.9% crap, with the notable exception of anything by Iain M Banks.


Hope you share with me some of your favourites and the reasons you love them.

PS - What am I reading NOW??

Three books.

Swords against the Senate - Erik Hildinger
A highly entertaining book on how the Roman Army was instrumental in the fall of the Republic during the 1st Century BC

The Nuremberg Trial - Ann and John Tusa
Eye-opening, disturbing, fascinating account of the International War Crimes Tribunal held in Nuremberg after the end of WWII

and

Food - A History - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
A short, and utterly delightful, history of food. A lot more interesting than it sounds!!


Mr Mephisto

Opengl and C++ books, nothing specific.

i like to read multiple books at the same time...

currently..

ladders to fire by anais nin
dharma punx by levine (thats his last name anyway..)
and some self-help book called "women who think too much" haha :-x

Anais Lin?...

Saucy...

:)

Mr Mephisto

haha i love her journals. so i decided i should try reading her fiction as well ;)

I am currently rereading Anne Rice's witch books. I love her work.

This topic? :P

Nothing really at the moment.

I'm plowing through The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner right now. I haven't gotten into it really but I'm only on page 50...

I've just finished 'harry potter and the order of the phoenix', and I wanted to borrow 'The Hobbit' from a friend of mine.

what an untimely questions.

I'm currently plowing through fantasty crap.

And also finishing up "The Ice Storm" on the side.

The plots are different enough that I don't have to worry about a mixup. ;)

Rotary-Wing Aerodynamics
 

by W.Z. Stephniewski and C.N. Keys

It's hardcore stuff and makes me want to cry at the sheer beauty and sheer difficulty of the material.

'main book' (what i read every night may it be 10 or 100 pages) right now is The Stone of Farewell by Tad williams. its the second book in a series and a pleasure to read.

a book i read in dosses right now is 'the portable voltaire'

and when working the 'javascript pocketbook' is a life saver.


i have 'a game of throwns' waiting.

as soon as i can i plan to hit all f Vachss works..... its just so fucking expensive..

I just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan

"crow_daw
ummm........Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix."
_____________________________________

Seems childish, but they are actually good bookz

I finished up my other reading projects over the weekend, and have decided to finish out the summer with cataclysm/end of the world books. I'm reading Lucifer's Hammer at the moment.

Before picking up "The Book of the Samuri" - I was reading Deborah Tannen's "Talking 9 to 5" - finished that, now along with "The Book of the Samuri," I just started ""Team Bush: Leadership Lessons from the Bush White House"

Read Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein last week, working on Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins.

Forgot a great one - I read the Godfather also last week. It really fills in a lot of backstory from the movie. Not that the movie was significanlty different, but there are events that are implied by letting you see the results, and the book fills in the gaps.

When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith

I just finished the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Quadrilogy if you count "The Hobbit")...

I am now making my way through the Harry Potter Series...I am on the 3rd book. Can I just say, this series IS much better in book format.

I mostly read ALOT of computer manuals though, I am a computer programmer, so I have to stay abrest to all things programming...know what I mean...(heh, he said "abrest"....heh)

Started Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind this weekend. Not too shabby, but was hoping for better.

Mr Mephisto, I generally prefer fiction, as I think that many non fictions are fairly dull, and my life is dull enough as it is :P

However, I intend to read the books that you listed which seemed interesting.

Besides Catch-22, there's Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I like other books, but these 2 are ones that I'd recommend to basically everyone who has not read them.

I picked up the latest Harry Potter book Saturday and finished it last night. Definitely not deep and pithy but an amusing read.

I havent read a book in 4 yrs ya that pretty bad

Just finished reading "The Giver" by Lois Lowry again. An excellent book - it deals with many current issues today in a very open manner including euthanasia and the use of drugs for so many emotional, psychological purposes.

My favorite book of all time is "The Count of Monte Christo" by Alexander Dumas - the same author of "The Three musketeers". "The Count of Monte Christo" Is several thousand pages long - it took me a whole summer to read it but it was so well worth it.

Now:
Da Vinci Code -Dan Brown

keith richard's biography

terry pratchet "Night Watch"
Hilarious so far!

The Order of the Phoenix.


Never heard of the that one before, right?

I'd recommend The Old Man and the Sea to anyone.
Regarding Heinlein, I recommend Friday, Glory Days, the Cat Who Walks Through Walls and, of course, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

Currently I'm reading Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

I loved Neuromancer, Ender's Game, and Night Watch. Thanks for reminding me. :)

Goosebumps #29

Some 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' thing. I got it as a graduation gift from my rich friend's parents, so I figure they know something is right about the book.

The Source.

It's about Israel's history, or somethin'.

Sam Shepard's, Cruising Paradise

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester... it looks at how the cataclysmic explosion of the island of Krakatoa impacted on the planet... geologically, metorologically and culturally...

Right now I'm reading this thread.:p

The last book I read was Harry Potter: Order Of The Phoenix, but I finished that a month ago.

Wildlife Wars: The Life and Times of a Fish and Game Warden by Terry Grosz.

Interesting read so far (about half way through) about a game warden in CA from the mid 60's till recent times. Good stories about catching those breaking the law. A little repetitive at times (how often can this guy mention that he was 6'4" 320lbs? Apparently 30 or more times in 120 pages) but some of the stories are funny as hell.

The "Original Uncut" Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.

The Lando Calrissian Adventures. Covers three books and almost done with the last one. :(

Strangers by Dean Koontz...it starts out kinda slow so I'm hoping it gets rolling soon. Am about a quarter of the way into it.

The beach by alex garland

McNally's Dare by Vincent Lardo

Well it just so happens that I am reading a Clancy novel right now. "Rainbow Six". Had just finished Volume 1 of Dante's "The Divine Comedy", I got the translation by Mark Musa, and he is praised pretty well for his work on this peice of literature. His notes on the text are helpful if you need them and they also provide history for the true-life characters included in "The Inferno" as well as the stories of the mythical beings that are found in the poem as well. It is very interesting and gives you some knowledge about Italy around the time of Dante's life as well as the stories and poets he himself respects and learned from. Oh and "Rainbow Six" has a lot of good action in it, more than the other Clancy novels I have read (not many) and so far it is turning into a very entertaining read.

Book Three of His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.

I recommend all three!

I would like to say I am reading Catch 22. Which Ive yet to finish. But Im really not. After I read it though, I will read Johhny Got His Gun and Cats Cradel.

I just finished a Mary Higgins mystery and am going back and forth between a How to Speak Spanish book and a new novel by Payne Harrison (Thunder of Erebus). Harrison is a new author for me, so I have no idea if I'm going to like him or not.

i'm reading the autobiography of gabriel garcia marquez.

an excellent book showing where he got his inspiration for all his novels. a must read for fans !!!

at the moment it isn't released in english yet. but it's worth the wait.

The Mustache
by Emmanuel Carrere
Bout a guy that shaved off his mustavhe that he had for ten years and nobody noticed. So far it's aight

The Silmarillion by Tolkein.

Ball Four by Jim Bouton

If you're a baseball fan I highly recommend it.

If you're not, then I recommend it too.

Quick but fun read.

I'm in the middle of the new harry potter. Great book, i love the series.

:D