What are you reading now? What did you just finish?

Currently Reading:

• Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson I've been hearing praise for it for a while and I finally took the plunge. Brilliant! I'm loving every page of it so far. Strange how it doesn't take itself seriously and pokes fun at itself and cyberpunk concepts and corporate commercialization in general (the main character's called Hiro Protagonist for instance), yet it still deals with more profound subjects like Mesopotamian and Sumerian language and religion, the tower of Babel, comparisons of religion to computer viruses etc. Anyone read any of his other works? Care to recommend where to continue?
• H.M.S. Surprise, Patrick O'Brian What can I say? More Aubrey and Maturin, and it's good to know that there are still 17 books left in the series after this one. Highly recommended for anyone who has an interest in naval warfare in the Napoleonic era, those familiar with the Master and Commander film last year, or for those who've enjoyed C.S. Forester's Hornblower series. I like the naturalistic approach to storytelling. All the characters are fallible, there isn't any definite antagonist, and there's an immense attention to detail while still explaining enough for those who can't tell your fore topsails from your main staysails.
• Air America ["From WWII to Vietnam, the explosive true story of the CIA's secret airline"], Christopher Robbins Pretty good, as far as non-fiction historical aviation accounts go. Not just amusing anecdotes, though there are numerous good ones like a pilot who always wanted to fly in his sandals, or took out colouring books and crayons and started colouring with the radio-operator while under Chicom anti-aircraft fire in order to intimidate the new co-pilot.

Recently finished reading:

• Patrick O'Brian, Post Captain More Patrick O'Brian. Wheee!

Recently finished for courses:

• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Actually very enjoyable. Superb characters and very well written dialogue.
• Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad Very hard to read initially, until I got the hang of it. It can be read in many ways, as a historical account of the effects European Imperialism in Africa during the previous turn of the century, or a journey to within the darkest places of the human mind where there is no restraint or inhibition, or as a straight exotic adventure account. A classic that I won't mind putting in plain vision on the shelf
• The Awakening, Kate Chopin Hmh. Not really to my taste. 19th century New Orleans, of how a woman awakens to her freedom, pursues several extra-marital affairs, discovers her own sensuality etc. While I understand its significance, and it is well written, I couldn't really identify with the character and her predictably inevitable decision to commit suicide.
• Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys Better. Ties in with Jane Eyre. It's more or less an account of a the mad wife of Rochester, Bertha, and how she became what she did. Still depressing, but it isn't afraid of tackling a lot of subjects since the main character does take a fair amount of suffering throughout the novel. Interesting dilemma with what happened to former slave-owners in post-emancipation Jamaica too. Doubt I would really have read it if it wasn't part of the course though, but it's always healthy to occasionally do something you don't like.

Your turn.

Currently reading: nothing.

Recently finished: nothing.

this thread


thats all

Dont read books.... filthy things!!

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Currently Reading: The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum. Very different from the movie, in fact its like a completely different story. A very good, entertaining, and engrossing read.

Books I've read since the beginning of the summer (the ones I can immediately recall): The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Watership Down, Richard Adams
Tales From Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara
Animal Farm, George Orwell
We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Survivor, Chuck Palahniuk
The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown
Out of the Silent Planet, CS Lewis
Perelandra, CS Lewis
That Hidious Strength, CS Lewis
The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
Das Boot, Lothar-Gunther Buchheim
Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose
Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Paycheck, and other Short Stories by Phillip K. Dick

Books that are currently on my to-read list:

Sahara, Clive Cussler
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Call of the Wild, Jack London
White Fang, Jack London
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll
The Weight of Glory, CS Lewis
The Four Loves, CS Lewis
Mere Christianity, CS Lewis
The Great Divorce, CS Lewis
The Problem of Pain, CS Lewis
Miracles, CS Lewis
A Grief Observed, CS Lewis
The Abolition of Man, CS Lewis

Ditto, but I might start buying books now that play.com has a books section.

The house of Sand and Fog- Andre Dubus III

Currently Reading: Wolves on the Border (BattleTech)
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson is a hilarious author. I love the humor in his book so far (about 300 pages in. Good god is it difficult going though, making slower progress than I ever have in a novel). Wolves on the Border I'm only about 30 pages in, but it's good, and the one before it that I read just a week ago was great (Malicious Intent). Overall I'm seriously enjoying the BattleTech series.

I could list all day, but I'll just list what I JUST finished, and what I am FOCUSED on reading right now, which are Dune: House Corrino and Frank Herbert's Dune respectively.

Currently: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2nd time)
To read: I was reading at one point The Gunslinger. Then I put it down and well it never got picked up. After RotK, I'll pick that back up.
For class: Does Introduction to Game Programming with OpenGL count?

Currently Reading:
Shogun, James Clavell
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis
Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice
Textbooks for class

Recently Finished:
Books 1-5 of The Chronicles of Narina
The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand

yeah...the text books have been keeping me from reading lately

Currently reading nothing, last time I read... Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy few months ago.

if i had time to read i would be continueing the Dune series. i got the first 3 done first quarter, but i have no time anymore in this the second quarter

currently reading:

Unicorn Variations - Roger Zelazny
To Sail Beyond the Sunset - Robert A. Heinlein

Recently finished reading:
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation(yes its the third book in the series)
Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov
Stranger in a Strange Land (first time i read it. wish i hadnt avoided it because of popularity)
Job: A Comedy of Justice - both by Robert A. Heinlein
The Cronicles of Amber(all 10 books) by Roger Zelazny
The Enemy Papers (which include Enemy Mine, The Tomorrow Testament, the Last Enemy and the Talmaan) - Barry B. Longyear.

all fantastic books. mostly sci-fi i know, but i've been in that mood lately. read primariy stephen king for about 3y. until the last book of the tower series came out, and my life was complete.

hey DSettahr, I was reading Lewis's space trilogy too :). I don't like it as much as his Narnian Chronicles though.

Hehe... DjYoshi have you seen his graphs? Hilarious.

Currently only reading books for courses...

Just finished

• The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown(whatever the reviews - interesting book)
• The Devil's Chaplain - Richard Dawkins (amazing book. Inquisitive minds, read this. Funny philosophy of reality. Awesome book)
• Psychology of human cruelty: Heart of Darkness - Jan de Laender (book that tries to discover why humans are so obeying to destructive authority and impulses of death and hate, with WWII as a case study. It's true: we are primates who want to see BLOOD)

To do list

• Anxiously awaiting two books on Richard Feynman.
• Chemistry books
• Mathematics books
• Physics books (Apparentely there's a new one by Richard Penrose questioning quantum theory. Not sure though)
• Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

I'm currently re-reading the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and I recently finished The best of HP Lovecraft.

Recently Finished:
A Prayer for Owen Meaney (by request of family... didn't much care for it) by John Irving
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (second time)
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

Currently Reading:
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

To read soon:
We the Living by Ayn Rand
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer
Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
Atheism: The Case Against God by George Smith

Recently Finished: Children of the Mind

Currently Reading: Ender's Shadow

Next Up: Shadow of the Hegemon

Cool list. I want to read all of those.

What did you think of the fountainhead? I enjoyed reading it, but I didn't find the philosophy of objectivism in it. It's there apparently :/

About Brian Greene's elegant universe: there was an ***excellent*** documentary on its contents. You can watch it in full here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html. I should probably start a new thread about it. Dunno....

Reading was never a hobby of mine until about nine months ago. Since then I've read (in order of author):

25th Hour - David Benioff
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (read it twice)
Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis
Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Carrie - Stephen King
The Dead Zone - Stephen King
Firestarter - Stephen King
The Shining - Stephen King
Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk (read it twice)
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk
Donnie Brasco - Joeseph Pistone
The Godfather - Mario Puzo
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Kingdom of Fear - Hunter S. Thompson
The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

Recently finished (in the last month or so):

25th Hour
Red Dragon
The Silence of the Lambs

Currently reading Hannibal, I know a lot of people hate it, but I'm just finishing the Hannibal Lecter marathon in preparation for Behind the Mask later this year.

Currently reading: This thread.
Recently finished reading: This thread.

Currently:
The 12 Caesars, Seutonius (for Roman history seminar)

On heiatus:
The Wheel of Time, Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan

just finished Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, awesome book.

Currently reading Geralds Game by Stephen King, pretty twisted story.

Currently reading:
Fantasies of Flight - Daniel Ogilvie for pyschology of personality

Finished recently:
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson (entertaining at best)
Neuromancer - William Gibson (re-read)
Crystal Express - Bruce Sterling
The Minority Report - Philip K. Dick

I don't get that much of a chance to read, too busy.

do you mean Cryptonomicon, or is this a book of his I haven't heard of before?

Currently reading
Walden
Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection
Edgar Allen Poe Collection

Read since ... recently
Alice in Wonderland
PHP5 & MySQL from novice to professional
Beat Reader
Slam History...or something...forgot title and I'm too lazy to check it

The Dune series is awesome. I have not and will never read anything by Frank Herbert's son. I will, though, read the seventh Dune book(s) based on Frank Herbert's detailed notes, which will be written by Frank Herbert's son so that I will know what happens, but will keep in mind that a lot of it may be bull****. Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? that Blade Runner is based on is absolutely amazing. Not just as science fiction, but simply as a piece of literature. Currently I'm on about my fifth year of reading J.R.R. Tokien's The Return of the King (LotR), I haven't yet started chapter 1. That's right, I'm also in the process of reading Mona Lisa Overdrive (William Gibson). I'm about to start reading something like A Scanner Darkly (P.K. Dick), or something by Arthur C. Clarke. I'm also in the process of reading Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumbass (tee hee), and Cervantes' Don Quixote. I also bought Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey, but didn't get a chance to start reading them yet. Yeah, and this year in English class we had to read Heart of Darkness (sucks), A Handmaid's Tale (worst book ever written/worst author), King Lear (good, Macbeth sucked ***), and the play Equus by Peter Shaffer which I really enjoyed except for the last scene which has a weak monolgue which sounds very forced and stupid, otherwise it is good.

currently reading:

Disco Bloodbath

by: James STJames

he probably ment the Necronomicon, its a book supposedly written by this guy "the mad arab" it deals with summoning scary god forms from ancient mesopotamian (sp?) religions, and cthulu is in it!!!

ive read it, it gave me the willy's

The Giver, I read it atleast once a year.

It's the BEST book EVER. Kthxbai.

I heard Stranger in a Strange Land was great...your opinion?

And I meant Cryptonomicon. My friend's been reading Lovecraft, so I've got stuff like that on the brian.(I'm leaving brian in there...freudian slip?)

Reading:
The Chocolate War

Soon to read:
Fahrenheit 451

both for school.

Wow. Those two novels are so...different...wow.

Also, forgot to add to my list Manhattan Project, for school. Yay research papers!

Yes, it is very very good. I must get around to re-reading it soon. I'm not sure which I like more Fight Club or Survivor. They're both a lot better than the other Palahniuk books that I've read.

Currently reading:
Pride and Prejudice
Three Musketeers
I don't know, some romance novel (it's clean, I promise)

Recently read
waaaay too many romance novels to even try to count (all clean...or mostly anyway...)

To read:
He's Just Not Into You
Sense & Sensibility
Just Hand Over the Chocolate and No One Will Get Hurt
Blood of the fold (actually, I'm halfway through it, put I put it down and haven't picked it up again for like 8 months)
Oliver Twist

what can I say, I like a variety, from trash to classics

I am currently reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (sp?). It's the book that the classic movie Apocalypse Now is loosely based on. Personnally, I'm not a fan of Conrad's work. While it is deep with meaning and symbolism, it is somewhat an unentertaining read.

I'm not currently reading anything, but I recently finished Nuklear Power by Brian Clevinger. Yes, that Brian Clevinger. Great book, if a little morbid at the end.

Currently reading:

• Chainfire (Sword of Truth) by Terry Goodkind
• Java Programming: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques (Shelly Cashman Series)
• Creating Interactive Websites with PHP and Web Services (Transcend Technique)

Recently read:

• The Runelords series, by David Farland
• A Song of Ice and Fire series, by George R. R. Martin
• Object-Oriented Programming Using C++

Reading next:

• Developing Games in Java (New Riders)
• Trees and Shrubs of Kentucky
• The Official Blender Gamekit for Interactive 3D Artists
• The Rigante series, by David Gemmel

Eagerly awaiting:

• A Song of Ice and Fire (4)
• The Wheel of Time (11)

Basically, reading is all I do...