The Zone

by **Wolfpack** on Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:22 pm

The Stone Within book 4 in David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series.

by **justcheckin** on Wed Jan 05, 2011 12:33 am

Watership Down by Richard Adams... pretty cool. I am surprised that I had never read it in school.

by **Al Shut** on Wed Jan 05, 2011 4:55 am

The book with my favorite bad ass killer rabbit

by **TheBaxter** on Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:30 am

Al Shut wrote:The book with my favorite bad ass killer rabbit

even better than this one?

by **Al Shut** on Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:34 pm

Yes, although it comes close

by **justcheckin** on Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:15 am

TheBaxter wrote:
Al Shut wrote:The book with my favorite bad ass killer rabbit

even better than this one?

He'd make a fine doe for the warren.

by **Wolfpack** on Thu Jan 13, 2011 10:10 pm

Beneath the Tree of Heaven, book 5 in the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. Damn, these books are good.

by **justcheckin** on Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:16 pm

Wolfpack wrote:Beneath the Tree of Heaven, book 5 in the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. Damn, these books are good.

This series looks pretty cool. Do you know what is up with the re-release being 20 books instead of 8? Is there more material or is it just smaller installments of the same books?

by **Peven** on Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:28 pm

justcheckin wrote:
Wolfpack wrote:Beneath the Tree of Heaven, book 5 in the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. Damn, these books are good.

This series looks pretty cool. Do you know what is up with the re-release being 20 books instead of 8? Is there more material or is it just smaller installments of the same books?

jc, you need to check out "The Pride of Chanur" series by C.J. Cherryh, best female science fiction author writing, imo, and you will not regret it, i promise.

for fantasy, aside from the Thomas Covenant Chronicles which I am always pushing here, check out "The RiddleMaster of Hed" trilogy by Patricia McKillip. they are published now in one tomb. again, you won't regret it, one of the most engaging, beautiful works of fantasy i have ever read.

by **MadCapsule** on Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:42 pm

Anybody familiar with William Trevor? I've never read any of his work before. I was thinking of starting with the latest Selected Stories, but if anyone has a better suggestion, I'm open to it.

by **Tyrone_Shoelaces** on Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:18 am

Finally read Batman: Year One. In addition to being some superb graphic fiction it was fun to see what ended up in the Nolan flicks.

by **Bloo** on Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:38 am

I just bought the Complete Rocketeer loved it, and it makes me sad that Dave Stevens passed away when he did and that more weren't written

by **Al Shut** on Sun Jan 16, 2011 8:57 am

After watching the movie I'm rereading the Inkheart books. Confirming my impression that I like the books better.

by **Wolfpack** on Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:20 pm

justcheckin wrote:
Wolfpack wrote:Beneath the Tree of Heaven, book 5 in the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove. Damn, these books are good.

This series looks pretty cool. Do you know what is up with the re-release being 20 books instead of 8? Is there more material or is it just smaller installments of the same books?

A little of both actually. They're going to spread them out over a period of time. Plus I think this way they make more money. You can easily find copies of the first 7 books in the series on Amazon's used book section. Book 8, The Marriage of the Living Dark was never released in the States and is therefore rare. I probably won't read it because as good as this series is I do not want to pay some schmuck $50 - $200 for a used paperback copy.

by **Nachokoolaid** on Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:52 pm

Reading Bram Stoker's DRACULA for the first time. Interesting. I like how the journal format implies a lot of things, but it's not blatantly stated like in a lot of modern fiction. I think it adds to the mystery of the entire thing.

by **Wolfpack** on Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:31 pm

On to book 6 of the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove, White Moon, Red Dragon

by **minstrel** on Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:52 pm

Still in my Joseph Conrad phase, I guess. I'm starting into Lord Jim.

After that, I might get into one or two of Anthony Burgess's novels.

I'm also plowing through a collection of stories called Fiction Gallery, from the Gotham Writer's Workshop, because I'm taking writing classes from them.

by **stereosforgeeks** on Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:02 am

minstrel wrote:Still in my Joseph Conrad phase, I guess. I'm starting into Lord Jim.

After that, I might get into one or two of Anthony Burgess's novels.

I'm also plowing through a collection of stories called Fiction Gallery, from the Gotham Writer's Workshop, because I'm taking writing classes from them.

What about Omensetter's Luck!?!?!?

by **Pacino86845** on Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:12 pm

Tyrone_Shoelaces wrote:Finally read Batman: Year One. In addition to being some superb graphic fiction it was fun to see what ended up in the Nolan flicks.

Yup!

Bloo wrote:I just bought the Complete Rocketeer loved it, and it makes me sad that Dave Stevens passed away when he did and that more weren't written

Nice that you finally got this... also of note is the fact that Dave Stevens was a phenomenal artist. Too bad he didn't do more comics.

by **Bloo** on Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:33 pm

True Grit and The Complete Elmore Leonard Western Short Story collection

by **caruso_stalker217** on Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:17 am

Still about a hundred pages from the end of True Grit. I am such a procrastinator.

by **Bloo** on Mon Jan 31, 2011 11:47 am

caruso_stalker217 wrote:Still about a hundred pages from the end of True Grit. I am such a procrastinator.

it's not THAT thick of a book and I remember you giving me shit about how long it took me to read The Road

bitch

by **TheBaxter** on Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:08 pm

i'm about 2/3 of the way through Darth Bane: Path of Destruction which is the first in a 3-part Darth Bane Star Wars trilogy. so far this is the best Star Wars book i've read, though the only others i've read were the Thrawn trilogy that was kind of an unofficial sequel to ROTJ. part of why this is better is because it takes place 1000 years before the OT, and thus shares absolutely none of the characters with the films. i think that gives the author a lot more freedom to develop characters and story without depending on the usual SW cliches, characters, and quotes (so far, no one has uttered a single "i have a bad feeling about this" yet). it tells the story of Darth Bane, the sith lord who began the Rule of Two master-and-apprectice rule we are all familiar with. it does a good job of telling a story from the Sith perspective, and gives a lot of background information on Sith history and philosophy. and by telling the story of Darth Bane and his rise to power from lowly miner to the most powerful Sith lord, it is basically telling the same "hero's journey" as the films, except this time the "hero" is the bad guy.

by **DennisMM** on Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:32 am

I set down The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay for a week or so. Now I've got only 100 pages. I've managed to make it to the point where Sam and Joe meet again and the obvious tension begins over Sam having married Joe's great love and raised Joe's son. Boy, that Chabon guy can write. I may have to get The Yiddish Policeman's Union when I've finished this.

by **justcheckin** on Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:36 am

I am reading Water for Elephants. It is actually pretty good.

by **thomasgaffney** on Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:03 pm

The Way of Kings : Book 1 of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (the guy who's continuing Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series)

by **Bloo** on Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:16 am

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (on audio read by the author and featuring Conan O'Brian, Stephen King (as Abe Lincoln!) and Brad Bird among others)

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy (and some other dude, which I think is the first time Clancy has let someone else play in his Ryan sandbox)

by **SilentBobX** on Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:35 am

Sex Lies and Politics: The Naked Truth by Larry Flynt

Another $1 book and worth so much more.

Mahalo

by **Nachokoolaid** on Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:48 pm

Bloo wrote:Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (on audio read by the author and featuring Conan O'Brian, Stephen King (as Abe Lincoln!) and Brad Bird among others)

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy (and some other dude, which I think is the first time Clancy has let someone else play in his Ryan sandbox)

I've met Sarah Vowell. She's intelligent. Sharp. Bitchy. Almost too dry for her own good, but that's her schtick.

I'm reading UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand. It's really good.

Here's her intro to her book:

The Story of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Eight years ago, an old man told me a story that took my breath away. His name was Louie Zamperini, and from the day I first spoke to him, his almost incomprehensibly dramatic life was my obsession.

It was a horse--the subject of my first book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend--who led me to Louie. As I researched the Depression-era racehorse, I kept coming across stories about Louie, a 1930s track star who endured an amazing odyssey in World War II. I knew only a little about him then, but I couldn’t shake him from my mind. After I finished Seabiscuit, I tracked Louie down, called him and asked about his life. For the next hour, he had me transfixed.

Growing up in California in the 1920s, Louie was a hellraiser, stealing everything edible that he could carry, staging elaborate pranks, getting in fistfights, and bedeviling the local police. But as a teenager, he emerged as one of the greatest runners America had ever seen, competing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he put on a sensational performance, crossed paths with Hitler, and stole a German flag right off the Reich Chancellery. He was preparing for the 1940 Olympics, and closing in on the fabled four-minute mile, when World War II began. Louie joined the Army Air Corps, becoming a bombardier. Stationed on Oahu, he survived harrowing combat, including an epic air battle that ended when his plane crash-landed, some six hundred holes in its fuselage and half the crew seriously wounded.

On a May afternoon in 1943, Louie took off on a search mission for a lost plane. Somewhere over the Pacific, the engines on his bomber failed. The plane plummeted into the sea, leaving Louie and two other men stranded on a tiny raft. Drifting for weeks and thousands of miles, they endured starvation and desperate thirst, sharks that leapt aboard the raft, trying to drag them off, a machine-gun attack from a Japanese bomber, and a typhoon with waves some forty feet high. At last, they spotted an island. As they rowed toward it, unbeknownst to them, a Japanese military boat was lurking nearby. Louie’s journey had only just begun.

That first conversation with Louie was a pivot point in my life. Fascinated by his experiences, and the mystery of how a man could overcome so much, I began a seven-year journey through his story. I found it in diaries, letters and unpublished memoirs; in the memories of his family and friends, fellow Olympians, former American airmen and Japanese veterans; in forgotten papers in archives as far-flung as Oslo and Canberra. Along the way, there were staggering surprises, and Louie’s unlikely, inspiring story came alive for me. It is a tale of daring, defiance, persistence, ingenuity, and the ferocious will of a man who refused to be broken.

The culmination of my journey is my new book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I hope you are as spellbound by Louie’s life as I am.

by **Wolfpack** on Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:42 pm

Reading the awesomely titled Days of Bitter Strength book 7 in the Chung Kuo series.

by **Bloo** on Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:04 am

Nachokoolaid wrote:
Bloo wrote:Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (on audio read by the author and featuring Conan O'Brian, Stephen King (as Abe Lincoln!) and Brad Bird among others)

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy (and some other dude, which I think is the first time Clancy has let someone else play in his Ryan sandbox)

I've met Sarah Vowell. She's intelligent. Sharp. Bitchy. Almost too dry for her own good, but that's her schtick.

well color me jealous LOL yeah she's pretty dry, but I'm digging her stuff (or at least this one) it combines my love of history, politics (even if I disagree with her on some of her politics), and humor.

by **Wolfpack** on Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:33 pm

World War: In The Balance by H@rry Turtledove

Alien invasion in the midst of World War II. Win.

by **Nachokoolaid** on Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:50 pm

Bloo wrote:
Nachokoolaid wrote:
Bloo wrote:Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (on audio read by the author and featuring Conan O'Brian, Stephen King (as Abe Lincoln!) and Brad Bird among others)

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy (and some other dude, which I think is the first time Clancy has let someone else play in his Ryan sandbox)

I've met Sarah Vowell. She's intelligent. Sharp. Bitchy. Almost too dry for her own good, but that's her schtick.

well color me jealous LOL yeah she's pretty dry, but I'm digging her stuff (or at least this one) it combines my love of history, politics (even if I disagree with her on some of her politics), and humor.

Yeah, I actually heard her read from Assassination Vacation. I remember chuckling a few times, but I don't remember specifics. She wasn't done with the book, or she had just finished it or something like that.

by **Bloo** on Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:40 pm

one of the things I liked about the audio book is that she reads it except when it's a historical person, then she has some of the most diverse people do voices, like Stephen King as Lincoln or Jon Stewart as McKinley

by **minstrel** on Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:07 am

I'm reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden, for the second time. The first time was about 28 years ago and it blew me away then. It turns out that it's as good as I remember it. Highest recommendation!

by **Wolfpack** on Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:50 pm

Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance by Harry Turtledove. This is book 3 of 4 in the Worldwar series.

by **DennisMM** on Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:49 pm

The Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. It's dry reading, but informative. My next-office neighbor at work had a mild conniption when she saw "Herbal Medicine" as an entry. She thinks the FDA is evil and hiding real cures from the public.

*twirls finger at temple*

by **minstrel** on Fri Apr 08, 2011 12:31 am

I finished East of Eden (a long book, but a great one!). I'm now reading "The Woman Lit By Fireflies" by Jim Harrison. Is that a great title or what?

by **justcheckin** on Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:34 pm

I just finished Neverwhere and I just started Zombies vs. Unicorns. :mrgreen:

by **Bloo** on Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:18 pm

nothing really at the moment, finished World War Z but haven't picked up anything new

HOWEVER I'm seriously toying with getting a Kindle, anyone have one and any thoughts?

by **minstrel** on Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:00 am

Bloo wrote:HOWEVER I'm seriously toying with getting a Kindle, anyone have one and any thoughts?

I bought a Kindle for my roomie last summer when he was in hospital. He loved it, but he wanted the big one - the one with the biggest screen. I think it's called the DX. So we got that for him, and I was so impressed that I got one for myself. We now have three Kindles in the house.

I love it. I thought I'd hate it but I love it. You can choose the text size that works best for you, there's a great search feature, built-in dictionary, etc. And books are cheap. And it will hold thousands of them. And if your Kindle ever breaks, Amazon knows which books you bought, so you get a new Kindle and you can download your library into it again without having to pay again for all those books.

And there's a ton of classic books - stuff that's out of copyright - that's FREE! Or very nearly so. The complete works of Charles Dickens for less than five bucks, for instance. Great stuff.

by **Bloo** on Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:13 am

minstrel wrote:
Bloo wrote:HOWEVER I'm seriously toying with getting a Kindle, anyone have one and any thoughts?

I bought a Kindle for my roomie last summer when he was in hospital. He loved it, but he wanted the big one - the one with the biggest screen. I think it's called the DX. So we got that for him, and I was so impressed that I got one for myself. We now have three Kindles in the house.

I love it. I thought I'd hate it but I love it. You can choose the text size that works best for you, there's a great search feature, built-in dictionary, etc. And books are cheap. And it will hold thousands of them. And if your Kindle ever breaks, Amazon knows which books you bought, so you get a new Kindle and you can download your library into it again without having to pay again for all those books.

And there's a ton of classic books - stuff that's out of copyright - that's FREE! Or very nearly so. The complete works of Charles Dickens for less than five bucks, for instance. Great stuff.

wow, I think you just sold me on it LOL

by **TheBaxter** on Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:00 am

until the library starts renting free kindle books, i ain't gonna fool with none of these newfangled teck-nee-logical contraptions you kids get so excited about.

by **RobertSmart** on Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:54 pm

Currently reading And the Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks by William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Simultaneously starting late 19th Century gothic/decadent occult novel The Fiery Angel by Valery Bruissov. Interested in a certain type of gothic or decadent novel of that general time frame as a point of comparison to my own novel Mother's Got a Whip, now available on Kindle for .99 (previously published in paperback for $24.95 but now just interested in bringing in new readers).

Mother's Got a Whip

by **justcheckin** on Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:17 pm

Bloo wrote:
minstrel wrote:
Bloo wrote:HOWEVER I'm seriously toying with getting a Kindle, anyone have one and any thoughts?

I bought a Kindle for my roomie last summer when he was in hospital. He loved it, but he wanted the big one - the one with the biggest screen. I think it's called the DX. So we got that for him, and I was so impressed that I got one for myself. We now have three Kindles in the house.

I love it. I thought I'd hate it but I love it. You can choose the text size that works best for you, there's a great search feature, built-in dictionary, etc. And books are cheap. And it will hold thousands of them. And if your Kindle ever breaks, Amazon knows which books you bought, so you get a new Kindle and you can download your library into it again without having to pay again for all those books.

And there's a ton of classic books - stuff that's out of copyright - that's FREE! Or very nearly so. The complete works of Charles Dickens for less than five bucks, for instance. Great stuff.

wow, I think you just sold me on it LOL

I have a nook color, LOVE IT! It has pretty much the same features like being able to download your library if you need another, lots of free books, etc. I like reading it in the dark in bed without an external light which is why I bought the color but if you don't like to do that then the regular nook or kindle is just as good. The screen brightness controls help if you want to read it outside and you can reverse the text to white and background black if you want. It is awesome.

by **Bloo** on Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:22 pm

yup I"m getting an ereader, I've heard too many people praise them (here and elsewhere)

by **justcheckin** on Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:12 am

I just started and finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, which was really good and I had to stay up late to finish it. I am still reading Zombies Vs. Unicorns. I am trying to decide if I want to read the next Stieg Larsson book The Girl Who Played With Fire or if I want to jump back to a Neil Gaiman book possibly Anansi Boys.

by **Ribbons** on Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:19 am

I haven't read any of that other stuff, but I would definitely recommend The Girl Who Played With Fire if you liked the first Millennium book. In my opinion it's the best of the trilogy, and it's really astounding to me that the guy died before it was even edited. So densely and ingeniously plotted. I'm reading the last book now and you can tell that it could have used a few extra passes before it went to print (it feels a little bloated and at times unfocused), but the second one is really amazing.

by **Bloo** on Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:22 am

really Ribbons? I hated The Girl Who Played with Fire, so much that I have intermittently read parts of the third book

by **Ribbons** on Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:14 am

Yeah, what can I say. The weird hybrid of genres feels fresher in Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (or Men Who Hate Women if you live in Sweden), but I had a hard time getting into the whole "Silence of the Lambs" mystery, which could have been solved by anyone. In the case of the second book the main characters were actually linked to the crime, and it didn't require a lot of obscure bible references to solve.