Read any good books lately?

[TheDude]

I've been reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? again. I've also been meaning to get Shibumi, Snow Crash and Battle Royale (my friend says the movie of this is crazy with all these kids killing each other). Hopefully i'll get down to buying them soon!

[..]

Recently Read Stormbreaker and am nw reading Point Blanc... I've read HP 1-4 bout 5 bleedin times and book 5 only once (in 3 days i mite add :O) But its so bliddy long...

[SSH]

HP5 is the worst of the series and gives away that the series will fade into obscurity in 50 years, unlike LOTR. Why? Becuase in books 1-4 JKR had a slow (sometime too slow, especially during Quidditch matches) build up to a cracking twisty ending. In book 5 it was like "Voldemort and Harry were so deperate to get the McGuffin, but WHY? We knew all of it already" . Although I must say that the rest of the book was better paced than usual. SO, the whole premise of HP is that book 7 will have a really cracking ending. Book 5 undermined my confidence in JKR to produce that.  I also thought that it would be a complete closure of the series as JKR used to say there would only ever be 7 books. Now, she said that Harry doesn't die so the only other closure I could think of would be that Harry has to cause the magical world to stop existing or become entierly separate from the normal world, in order to save all the Muggles. She has also said thatther emight be an epilogue book of what happend in Harry's adulthood. Which throws out the whole closure thing. In fact it turns the series from a potential LOTR to a potential Star Wars... good at the start but ruined by stretching the franchise too far.

Anyway, recently read Dreamcaather by Stephen King: OK, I suppose. And now on Ludlum's Scorpion Deception. Also OK, but remarkably predicting some 9/11-type things  back in 1993...

[Matt Frith]

Im into books by Stephen E. Ambrose - Band of Brothers etc (the book is better than the TV series, although that was still good).  Im a World War 2 fanatic you see.

I also enjoy Lord of the Rings (which also are better than the films if you have patience), HGTTG I shall read again sometime.

Lord of the flies was an interesting read, initially, but it just got tedious and crazy.  I had to study it for an exam (like magintz) so I now vomit at the sight of it

[..]

She has also said thatther emight be an epilogue book of what happend in Harry's adulthood

Actually she has never said that. She said there will only ever be 7 books and the last chapter of the 7th will be an epilogue. Ooohh.. And the Last word of the last chapter is Scar MWahahahah

[Blackthorne]

"Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates" by Tom Robbins.

Switters is the MAN.

Bt

[MrColossal]

Blackthorne, as i wrote before i LOVED THE ASS off Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and that makes me ascared to read anything else he's done, is Fierce Invalids any good and will it not make me go "Puh, Cowgirls was better..."

[Blackthorne]

Blackthorne, as i wrote before i LOVED THE ASS off Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and that makes me ascared to read anything else he's done, is Fierce Invalids any good and will it not make me go "Puh, Cowgirls was better..."

Eric,

  Read Fierce Invalids.  I guarentee you will love it as much as you love Cowgirls, albiet in a different way.  It will hold an affection different than Cowgirls, but potent nonetheless!

[Happyhelmet]

Preacher
It's a comic, but in 9 huge parts.

"Masters Of Doom" was a gooden.
"The Dig" by Alan Dean Foster (he maybe a whore, but it's enjoyable nonetheless)

Some books I wouldn't want to read:
"Plan Your Life With Pascal"
"Picture Captions without the Pictures"
"Shoot Yourself In The Foot with C++"
"Castration, the George W. Bush Story"

[Las Naranjas]

Alan Dean Foster is the greatest literary whore of the post war era.

[[Cameron]]

"The Acid House" and "Trainspotting" by Irvene Welsh
"Mindhunter" by John Douglas also reading "Obsession" and "journey into darkness" also by him.
"Hacker Diaries: Confessions of a teeenage hacker" by Dan Verton. Im trying to find a copy of "A clockwork orange" by Andrew Burgess and Hitchikers is the best five book trilogy ever.

[SSH]

Just finished the excellent "Round Ireland with a Fridge" by Tony Hawks (the comedian, not the skateboarder)

[Ali]

The Tony Hawk version would be more: "Grind round Ireland then ollie the North/South divide".

And I'm reading Chapman's translation of the Odyssey. It's slow going, but I'm enjoying it.

[Gonzo]

Not sure if comic books are allowed, but I just read 'Watchmen', which is a really good story by Alan Moore, with art by Dave Gibbons (who I think was behind the 'Beneath A Steel Sky' comic). It's set in a kind of alternate history of the late 20th century, where Nixon is still President in the 80s, the Russians are still an enemy and nuclear threat. We're find out that there have been teams of masked vigilante 'superhero'-types (but mostly without superpowers, just the occasional flash gadget) in the past, but these have now been outlawed. When one of these, 'The Comedian', is hurled from the top of a block of flats, another masked hero, 'Rorscach', starts investigating, and gets some other ex-vigilantes involved. Everything kind of builds from there into something very big.

It's a great story and really well-plotted. Personally, my taste in comic books has always been more light-hearted (my favourites are the Tintin stories by Hergé), and I steer clear of superhero or gritty 'graphic novel' stuff. However, I really enjoyed this one and hope to get more Alan Moore-penned comic books.

As for REAL books, I study literature, and after a whole year of 2 or more books per week, I'm sort of taking a break now that the courses are finished and its just exams to go. But I am getting through Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History Of Time'. Just started it, but it's good so far.

This Summer, I might read some more crime thriller type stuff (Elmore Leonard) and get round to a few things like Crime And Punishment hopefully.

[Nostradamus]

I've been reading the Dune series for a while... finished all original 6 and am now in Dune: House Atreides, the first of 6 prequels by Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert (There are currently 5 and the sixth is being written and after that a sequel to the original series will be made).
It's the best sci-fi series ever. Everyone should read it.

[Annean]

The best book I have ever read, and recommend, is "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand. I have read alot of books but never have I ever had to, halfway through a passage, put the book down to regather my thoughts. Yes, I am talking about a braingasm. The book was written in the 1940's but still has relevance for today. If you ever venture into reading this book, as it is quite involved, let me know how you go.

[Sylpher]

I am on the last leg of Graham Greene's 'Our man in Havana' after that I am either gonna finish up 'Mars' by Ben Bova or I am gonna read some short stories by Arthur C Clarke..

What I have been looking for is any books (Hopefully good but at this point I will take even badly written books) based in post nuclear/apocalypse settings. Something like the game fallout. There are a couple I have found that revert the earth back to dark ages setting type of thing but I want something more along the lines of Fallout with a huge destructured crumbling land with faltering technology and people on the brink of total extinction. If any of you know of any such a book or books please point me in their direction.

[shbaz]

The best book I have ever read, and recommend, is "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand. I have read alot of books but never have I ever had to, halfway through a passage, put the book down to regather my thoughts. Yes, I am talking about a braingasm. The book was written in the 1940's but still has relevance for today. If you ever venture into reading this book, as it is quite involved, let me know how you go.

I recently finished "Atlas Shrugged," Ayn Rand is awesome. It gives you a whole new view on free trade and the true fairness of taxing the rich and giving to the poor.

[Blackthorne]

I re-read the Dune Series again, and remembered why I loved them so much.  They just captivated me, for sure. 

I also read "ANGELS AND DEMONS" the first book by Dan Brown to feature Robert Langdon, the protagonist of The DaVinci Code.  It was an interesting read, with some great ambigram symbols and such.

I also have to say that the "Left Behind" series of books are just pure trash; no better than the pulp romance novels on the other end of the scale, these books were written by hacks trying to spread and agenda.  Interesting concept, sure, but poorly executed.  I have a friend who used to be sensible, then he got married and his heavily Christian wife got him into these.  Before he got married, he would have tossed the book to the wayside, but the other day he was just like "No, really, they are good, man.  You should just read them."  Sadly, I did read the first two, and I felt like my eyes were on fire.  I'd rather rub Cayenne peppers in my eyes than read them again!

Bt

[Rincewind]

I think my latest book was "Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchett - It was definately top-notch, among his very best, I'd say. (Which for me includes basically every single book he's written, but still...) I loved how the tiny twists in the plot was revealed all the time, bit by bit...

Currently trying to get through "The Wee Free Men", but I haven't had any time to read at all, sadly...