Read any good books lately?

[Grundislav]

I recently read Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, which I enjoyed a great deal.Ã,  Then I read After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley, which I felt was a short story padded with philosophical banter to make it a novel.Ã,  Not to say it wasn't a good book, but perhaps having just come off of Steppenwolf, my mind was saturated with philosophy and couldn't get the most out of it.

[Moox]

Well I just finished romeo and juliet, great expectations, and illiad/oddessy for the 272723727 time

[Bluke4x4]

Big Trouble by Dave Barry. Great book.

[DragonRose]

Good books? Hmmmm...

-Anything by David Eddings.  There's only two books by him that I haven't read, because they are not at my friendly neighbourhood library. I read his "Belgariad" and "Mallorean" series at least once a year. I just finished reading his newest book "The Elder Gods" last night.  They aren't life changing books, but they're great fun.  Bonus points if you can pick out the Medieval English styles he copies!

-Millenium Rising by Jane Jensen (yes, the GK Jane Jensen). This book made my head hurt in the fun way.

-The Concubine's Daughter by Denise Chong.  It's a history of the women in the author's family.  It's a really interesting look at race relations and the role of women in Canada over the past seventy years or so.

[Ryam BaCo]

the beach. awesome book. much better than the crappy movie.

[Barcik]

I'm going through Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". I can't decide whether watching the movie three or four times before reading the book helps or not.

I've recently read Stanislaw Lem's "The Cyberiad", a collection of futuristic fables. It has its ups and downs, but it is mostly a very interesting piece.

[Babar]

oh yeah, I almost forgot, another good book I read recently was "Life of Pi" by Yan Martel. Also another good book I recently read, not so much for entertainment as for curiosity, was "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong. I borrowed a book about Salladin by Tariq Ali, and although I can't remember its name, it was a very enjoyable book. I enjoyed Roald Dahl's books alot when I was younger (and still do), so I read some of his "Adult" books, and though they were enjoyable to read, they seemed too disturbing. I was also recently reading one of Paul Theoraux's (correct spelling?) books "Ride on the Iron Rooster", and though it is slightly old, I still found it great.
*EDIT*
Remixor, I read one of those graphic novels, and I have a strong feeling it is by one of the authors you mentioned. It was called something like "The greatest kid in the universe" and the story kept switching back and forth between 2 people 2 generations apart (grandfather and grandson I think). It was really warped, and in some places even depressing, but it was a great read.

[remixor]

The most recent good books I read were the six Dune novels.Ã,  I took a class on the series this semester because I'd never read Dune but had heard good things.Ã,  I also figured I needed to try and salvage my opinion of sci-fi/fantasy, so it worked out well.Ã,  Herbert's pacing and method of exposition is pretty incredible.Ã,  He's not the best author I've ever read or anything, but he's definitely up there, and stylistically he's incredibly unique.Ã,  I'm curious about his other novels.Ã,  At this point I've only read the Dune books and some of his philosophical essays, which are also pretty fascinating.

I read Neil Gaiman's American Gods a while ago, based on the quality of Sandman, and I thought it was excellent.Ã,  Encouraged, I picked up Neverwhere and found it to be craptastic.Ã,  Since I've only read two of Gaiman's true novels (not including Good Omens), I don't know if he got lucky with American Gods or just slipped with Neverwhere; I'm going to assume and hope the latter.

I don't know if people here are into graphic novels, but I recently picked up a copy of Seth's It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken (signed, no less).Ã,  Like most of his work, it's pretty much entirely autobiographical and despite the fact that his life actually isn't very interesting from an objective standpoint, the way he paints the characters, situations, and dialogue just sucks you in (run on sentence to the max!).Ã,  Holy shit, it's good.Ã, 

In the same vein of autobiographical underground comics, I also recently read The Poor Bastard by Joe Matt.Ã,  It's hilarious and pathetic and fucked up all at the same time.Ã,  Why anybody with such a sleazy life would actually choose to be this brutally honest about it is beyond me, but it makes for good (/weird) reading.

I've also been continuing my steady progress through the complete works of Kurt Vonnegut, an author I can wholeheartedly recommend.Ã,  This guy friggin knows what's going on when it comes to writing.Ã,  That sounds like an idiotic thing to say, but every time I read one of his books it really hits me that some good authors are good, and some really do deserve to be called great.Ã,  His style is totally disarming and irreverent at the same time, while always, always operating on multiple levels.Ã,  It blows me away.Ã,  For those who aren't familiar with his work, I personally think Slaughterhouse-Five easily ranks among his best.Ã,  It's certainly the best of the considerable number of his novels I've read.

But anyway, best discworld book ever? Nightwatch.

It's probably not my favorite, but it's fucking great.Ã,  Vimes is among my favorite literary characters.Ã,  I'm actually teaching a class on Discworld next semester, focusing on the Watch books.Ã,  It should be fun.


Anyway, time to end this post.Ã,  It's too long already.

[Nostradamus]

I'm reading the Dune series, currenntly in the 6th and final of the first series, Chapterhouse Dune. It is THE best sci-fi series ever. Amazing. If you hadn't read it it's a must.

[Ashen]

Nostradamus:
Yeah, but I think it loses something after God Emperor. Also, I wouldn't recommend the 'Prelude To' series.

[Vel]

Does anyone here like Dumas?

[Barcik]

The problem with Dumas is that his works, or at least his famous ones, feel old and dated. They have been a source of inspiration for so long, that each and every element from his writing has been ripped off. At least that is how I remember it, as I read it quite a while ago. Maybe I should re-read The Three Musketeers with my newly adult mind.

[DragonRose]

Yay for Dumas! I'm a big Count of Monte Cristo fan. 

Most remakes of it (movies, comics, TV shows and what not) changed the story a great deal from the original text. There were subplots about drug use and sex that wouldn't go well with censors. So the book doesn't seem as "old and dated" as, say, The Three Musketeers.

[Las Naranjas]

As far as trash goes, Dumas is fun, but he was pulp when he was writing, and he is still pulp.

And now that Vonnegut has been brought up, I'll espouse the virtues of Mother Night, which was so engaging and beautiful as to be read in one sitting.

[DGMacphee]

I do like the Vonnegut I've read, which was based on your recommendation.

I'm now reading a book about rock & roll history called Night Beat by Rolling Stone writer Mikal Gilmore.

He is a great writer and captures the essence of what made people like Elvis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, etc so great.

[Vel]

The problem is, that most people stop with "the three musketeers", without reading the rest of the saga. I like "Twenty years after" and "The man in the iron mask" much more to be honest.

By the way, is Updike any good? I'm thinking of reading 'The centaur'.

[Dave Gilbert]

I read in a weird way.  I find an author I like, and then I become obsessive and read everything by the author I can find.

I'm currently into Lawrence Block - a fantastic, very avante garde, mystery writer. 

[DGMacphee]

I like Updike, but he's only good if you like heavy description -- I've found he focuses more on that than the momentum of the story.

[Vel]

I read the ssame way, Dave!

[InCreator]

Just finished library raid, which was about to read all Tom Clancy's books there. Succeeded. Though getting tooÃ,  repetitive, this guy still knows how to write a believeable story.
Dune books are again something wonderful. It's really amazing how someone could make up a BELIEVEABLE story on far future, and in 60's, where technology and science was not something it is in present day. Many other books, written in 70' and 80's fail miserably there. And movies too. Like movie starts with sentence "in 2010" and shows some crappy room-wide boxes with little lights, which are spposed to be computers of this age...
Sherlock Holmes' books by A.C.Doyle are highly recommended literature for every adventure gamerist too.