I just finished "A Storm of Swords", which is book 3 of 7 of the series "A Song of Ice and Fire" . I'll be starting book 4, "A Feast for Crows" tonight. Some of you may the know this series through HBO. They did a 12 show series on book 1 titled "A Game of Thrones".Great thread by the way! I'm always looking for new books to get.
Just finished "Ghost in the Wires" by Kevin Mitnick, and started "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. Mitnick's a brilliant narcissist whose problems were apparently all caused by trusting the wrong people; he's a cuddly hacker. Cline's got a great hook (a future society obsessed with 1980s pop culture) but a mediocre style -- reminds me of John Varley, only less so. But I'm only 60 pages in; I'm going to give it a chance.
akhenatenator saidHave any of you seen the Night Watch and Day Watch films? And if so, how would you rate them in comparison with the books?
I saw Night Watch, but for some reason I didn't pay too much attention to it and got a little lost (I think I was making Christmas cookies or something).
akhenatenator saidMy undergraduate degree was Egyptology...
:D Where did you go to school, if I may ask?
This little town definitely needs a good book store. :(
Also, sitting on the nightstand with a bookmark around page 50: "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand", by Helen Simonson. I'll get back to it when I get a break from library holds coming ready. My wife assures me it's worth it.
I just finished "God No!" by Penn Jillett, and am starting Stephen King's "Just After Sunset" collection.
No books today though I have a few on my kindle waiting to be finished: - Known and Unknown by Donald Rumsfeld- In My Time by d**k Cheney- Anatham by David Parmet And a few periodicals: - V (fashion)- The New Yorker- Foreign AffairsWhat I did read today was about 50 articles in online publications and on Wikipedia, ranging from a New Yok Times article on health insurance to a biography of Woody Allen.
I've been into romances for a while now. I read everything by one author and then check for anthologies they are included in, then jump to the next author that was in the anthology, and on and on... (Just finished the last in a particular series from one author, need to find a new one now.)My last obsession was with Horror writers. (Well, I didn't really go far from horror; a lifetime love for me really, as my romance novels are either historical fiction or the characters are supernatural.)My Nook library has grown quite a bit in the year that I've had it.I believe my last 'heavy read' was either the Da Vinci code or Pillars of the Earth. (I really need to read the second of each of those.)
The last book I read was the last one in a trilogy called "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Apparently there's going to be a film made out of the first part next year.The trilogy was fascinating, kept me up late several nights and inspired me to a few drawings.It may be a series for teens (even though, judging from the amount of violent, gruesome deaths in it, I really don't agree with that categorization), but I thought it was really good and even had a slight society-critical tone.The only thing I didn't like about the books was that there was a cliffhanger at the end of nearly every chapter, so it became a bit predictable when the next big event was going to happen.
mennufer said(I think I was making Christmas cookies or something).
Cookie-making and Russian-with-subtitles probably ain't a good mix... ;)
mennufer saidI have done for my graduate degree in Egyptology
)hijack( For you, and you, and all the Egyptologists out there: My old entry. Nothing whatsoever to do with the thread's discussion; I just saw that you both mentioned it, and that triggered a memory of this entry. Thought maybe you'd be interested.)/hijack(
And as for what I read today? Just finished a non-fiction book on the history of pornography (non-illustrated, sorry) titled "The Secret Museum".Interesting read. It's not salacious at all, in case the topic gets you asking. It's quite an illuminating text, covering the history of what was once, and is now not, considered to be so offensive.It's a tiny bit dated; the afterword in the publication I read was as-of 1996, but given that it treats of about 200 years of material deemed "pornographic", leading up to present-day (and even goes back to the introduction and definition of "pornography"), a 15-year lee-way isn't too much of a consideration.++++++++++++++Prior to the above, I guess the last I've read were Twain's Innocents Abroad and Tramp Abroad. Both are equally hilarious, if you like that sort of thing.[Edited by User on 9/24/2011 1:32:27 AM]
MsgtBob saidFingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock
You beat me to the punch! I have it on hold through the local library. I can't find a Nook version.I've just finished "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese and am currently reading "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay. Unfortunately it pales in comparison to Cutting primarily because it's such an easy read. It's an interesting sad story though.
jago saidJust finished a non-fiction book on the history of pornography (non-illustrated, sorry) titled "The Secret Museum".
This would have probably been good for me to read as I'm currently critiquing a thesis on an artist whose work was primarily seen as pornographic. (Hm which by the way, I really should get that done this weekend.)
+ in reply to...
Do it! Do read that book, if that's in the vein of your critique.
"Ready Player One" got more involving, but the writing style remained pedestrian. Fun if you came of age in the 70's or '80s, otherwise not so much.Moving on to Lev Grossman's "The Magician King" -- another library hold that came in. I swear, Major Pettigrew, I'll get back to you soon.
HogHeaven saidI just finished "A Storm of Swords", which is book 3 of 7 of the series "A Song of Ice and Fire" . I'll be starting book 4, "A Feast for Crows" tonight. Some of you may the know this series through HBO. They did a 12 show series on book 1 titled "A Game of Thrones".
I spent my vacation in July in my back yard with my nose in those books. Both my husband and I, we could NOT put them down. I read all five back to back. Started calling my husband "my sun and stars" and when my kids wouldn't jump in the pool because it was too cold I called them "craven" and I'd hear "I am the sword in the darkness, I am the watcher on the walls.... " in my sleep. Talk about obsessive! And the HBO series was equally fantastic. I'm counting the days until April when they start airing the second book because who knows how long it will be before GRRM writes book six. Oh and YAY PETER DINKLAGE! :D
I read DH Lawrence's Odour of Chrysanthemums when I was looking for inspiration for the 'Odor' contest - I'd read it at school, and remembered the elegant use of odour as a motif.Odour of Chrysanthemums - Here is a link to the complete text if anyone fancies a read! :) It's only a short story - and worth a look!I'm just about to start Joseph Heller's Catch 22... Anyone read it? ... Any opinions?
I just finished book 4, "A Feast for Crows" last night. Like you, I read the books back to back. I need to pick up book 5 soon (like today or tomorrow lol). I didn't like book 4 as much as the first 3. The first 3 books I could not set down, but this one wasn't as captivating for me. I do hope book 5 is better.
I called them "craven"
lol nice! I catch myself thinking "mummer's farce", or sometimes thinking "that's so".This is supposed to be a reply to Shorra's post above. I typed it in the wrong box lol.edited to add:I was outside cutting up wood and my neighbor asked me what I was doing. I said "Winter is coming"...and laughed. The odd look he gave me made my chuckling worse lol.[Edited by User on 10/15/2011 6:40:59 PM, Reason: being a dork]
I'm reading The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith. It's the tenth book in the No. 1 Ladies's Detective Agency series. I came upon the first one while perusing a used book store on a camping trip years ago and have picked up the other ones on vacation over the years. It's light reading that is simply good for the soul.
I'm about 100 pages through Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It's been a while since I've read science fiction, and I quite enjoy it. Treason recommended it to me - heck, she gave it to me :). Before Fall of Hyperion, I read The Golden Compass. It was good enough for me to want to read the rest of the series, but I can't say it was among the best young adult lit I've read. The best would have to be The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, by Terry Pratchett (if that book sounds familiar, it's only because I recommend that book to pretty much everyone I know). It's about talking rats and therefore is awesome.
I finished reading Catch-22 ... And excitingly, I found Joseph Heller to be a gentleman after my own heart with his use of non-linear narrative :) He is a champion wordsmith - well worth a read!I'm reading James Joyce's Ulysses at the moment. It's my 2012 reading project :), so i'll no doubt read some other stuff alongside it. And hopefully I'll learn the skill of 'stream of consciousness' from the master!
I just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy. I enjoyed it a lot, and I can't wait to see the movie. Before that, I read the first two books of the Millenium trilogy, also awesome.Right now I'm about a third of the way through Spider Bones, by Kathy Reichs. She has a pretty decent style, fast-paced with good characters, but there are a few things that are getting on my nerves: (1) She goes into too much technical detail - paragraphs when a few sentences would suffice. This isn't even on the gory details of forensic anthropology, but on history and acronyms (seriously). (2) She introduces interesting subplots and minor characters, then shoves them in the background to focus on the main plot. I don't mind that she emphasizes the main plot, but it seems to me that she introduces other stuff because she has a quota to fill. However, it's still possible that they'll tie together in the end; as I said, I'm only a third of the way through the book. (3) Unfortunately, she also does something that really bugs the crap out of me - she likes to end her chapters with variations on that laziest of foreshadowing techniques, "little did I know." Ugh.
I have been reading some random Christian Fantasy and Sci Fi for my review site. From Darkness Won by Jill Williamson and The Superlative Stream by Kerry Nietz.I'm just starting The Restorer by Sharon Hinck.
Since I last posted in this thread, I've re-read Ovid's Metamorphoses, and currently I'm enjoying my way through the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini. We recently got a copy of the 4th (final) volume, so I thought I'd refresh myself before getting to it.