I never get tired of making this thread. :lol: And without search, I can't revive it.

I'm going on vacation this Friday for two weeks, so I plan to bring:

- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. This is a tie-in, since I'm going to watch Blade Runner sometime soon. :yeah:
- The Weight of Glory, The Four Loves, and The Great Divorce all by C.S. Lewis.
- Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis. This book is great for his descriptions of the tempting of man by the devil. Great stuff.
- Books I must read for school. :cry:
- I'll also frequent the local library and get more Dick books and I'll see if they have another history book by Barbara Tuchman.

What are you reading?

Wicca - by Vivianne Crowely

I have a whole batch of books on magic and Celt myths given to me by a witch!

I have my reading schedule filled for the next few months...

A real witch? Interesting.

I just checked my school reading list, there is one good book on there: The Hobbit. I read it once, it will be nice to read it again.

Currently a combination of Dragons of Winter Night :yeah: and a nice book from 1914, entitled The Fleets at War, a Daily Telegraph War Book from the opening stages of the conflict, outlining in great detail the Royal Navy and its opposition :yeah: :yeah:

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Volume 1: The Birth of Britain. Good old Churchill...

Dr, No by Ian Fleming

2194 Days of War - forgot the name of the author

I'm on August 6th 1944 right now.

French in 10 Minutes a Day. I'm trying to learn enough to get by in Paris next year.

Shapechange's Song by Jenifer Roberson. It's a good book so far. It's different from normal fantasy fare (to say the least).

I just read some Norwegian Sci-Fi. Now I'm about to start on reading William Gibson's Idoru.

"The Greek and Persian Wars 500-323 BC" by Jack Cassin-Scott

"Who Dares Wins"
It's about the British SAS!

Battle Flag by Bernard Cornwell

"Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend" - James I Robertson, Jr

The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes, on the colonization of Australia. Incidently, Hughes seems ashamed and self-pitying that he has convicts in his ancestry. This is the one part of the book that I find annoying.

The Gripping Hand by Niven/Pournelle. Sequel to The Mote in God's Eye, which was quite an interesting story.

Cg, what book by Phillip K. Dick was "the Minority Report" based on (I just glimpsed in the credits that it was based on one of his novels, don't think it said which one)? I'd like to read that.

Originally posted by allan2
Cg, what book by Phillip K. Dick was "the Minority Report" based on (I just glimpsed in the credits that it was based on one of his novels, don't think it said which one)? I'd like to read that.

Its actually a short story. I'm not sure of the exact title, but I think it may be called "The Minority Report".

You'd have to get some books of his short stories.

Total Recall was also based on one of his short stories, but they added all the action. The short story was simply about the idea of false memories.

Dick was crazy but interesting to read. Some of his weirdest stuff came when he was a rabid anti-Nixonite on drugs. :lol:

The full text of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dectionary. It's sooo funny.

What a coincidence! I just finished reading Secret of the Sunken Sub by Lee Roddy. :goodjob: Very cool book! It's about a Soviet robot sub which sinks off Hawaii. A boy caught it on videotape. The Soviets and the Americans are in a race to find the sub and it's technology. The boy tries to keep it a secret from his parents. :D

Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand
A summary of her philosophy through an awe-inspiring work of fiction.

A New Kind of Science- Stephen Wolfram
Outlines a variety of very strange scientific discoveries over the last two decades and their applications to virtually every discipline of science.

The Buisiness of Heaven- CS Lewis
The Divine Comedy: Inferno- Dante Aligheri
Time Travel in Einstein's Universe- J. Richard Gott
The Niihau Incident- Allan Beekman
Brunelleschi's Dome- Ross King
Anicent History of the Hawaiian People- Abraham Forander
The Bastard- John Jakes

Wow, that's a lot more than I thought.

I enjoyed the Inferno far more than Purgatorio and Paradiso....

Originally posted by Ancient Grudge
Battle Flag by Bernard Cornwell


Would this be the same author that wrote the Warlord Trilogy, quite possibly the best fictional account of Arthur since Mallory?

Originally posted by newfangle
Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand
A summary of her philosophy through an awe-inspiring work of fiction.

Did you read The Fountainhead? I find myself often disagreeing vehemently w/ Rand's philosophies, but truly enjoy reading her works.

Originally posted by Plexus
The Buisiness of Heaven- CS Lewis


What is this one about, I've never heard of it.

If you're getting into Lewis, I highly reccomend "The Great Divorce", its a very interesting book about a annual excusion that people in Hell get to see Heaven. His visions of Hell and Heaven are interesting, and he makes an interesting case for why someone from Hell would choose Hell over Heaven.

a VERY good book is "The Ten Thousand" by Michal Curtis Ford, it about the near legendary journey of the Athenian XENophon ;) and how he becomes a general os a greek mercenary army, wont ruin for you but its a very good, book with alot of fact behind it

Originally posted by cgannon64


What is this one about, I've never heard of it.

If you're getting into Lewis, I highly reccomend "The Great Divorce", its a very interesting book about a annual excusion that people in Hell get to see Heaven. His visions of Hell and Heaven are interesting, and he makes an interesting case for why someone from Hell would choose Hell over Heaven.

Yea, I read and liked The Great Divorce a lot. I reccomend The Screwtape Letters to you, the book you mentioned seems similar.

The Buisiness of Heaven is a collection of Lewis's writings, in a devotional format. :)

Had this humongous book called 'History of Islamic Societies' or some such. But too lazy to read it... :lol:

Three books by Anton Lavey. The Satanic Bible (reread), The Devil's Notebook, Satan Speaks!

Been looking at this religion/philosophy a bit lately. I fit the mold perfectly but I don't like the fact that it is still an organized 'religion'... Sorry, back on topic.

After that, a reread of Brave New World by Huxley. :D

Oh yeah, as reading goes, does manga count? :) If so, I'm a darn heavy reader too. :p

The Dragon's Eyes (or whatever it's called in english) by Stephen King.

Currently I'm reading 'Hearts in Atlantis' by Stephen King. And I just finished 'the Testament' by John Grisham and 'the Withches Defenders' by Jan Guillou (a Swedish author, not sure about the english name of the book).

The Guillou book is highly recommended. It's about the prosecution of witches in Sweden from the 13th century and on. It's more of a documentary than a novel.

Just started with the first Discworld novel: The Colour of Magic

Originally posted by wildWolverine



Would this be the same author that wrote the Warlord Trilogy, quite possibly the best fictional account of Arthur since Mallory?

Yes it would and the same author who wrote the Sharpe series and also the Harlequin and Stonehenge.... He is one of my favourite authors at the moment.

I haven't read anything by him other than the aforementioned Warlord Trilogy, but those were very well written...

On topic: added some more reading material

The Last Convertible Anton Myrer
The Silmarillion Tolkien (again... ;) )
The Big Ten 2003 Football Preview :D

Originally posted by Plexus


Yea, I read and liked The Great Divorce a lot. I reccomend The Screwtape Letters to you, the book you mentioned seems similar.


I've read it two, maybe three times.

:D

Originally posted by wildWolverine


Did you read The Fountainhead? I find myself often disagreeing vehemently w/ Rand's philosophies, but truly enjoy reading her works.

I just finished the Foutainhead, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Philosophy aside, IMO Atlas is a better novel .

Originally posted by KaeptnOvi
Just started with the first Discworld novel: The Colour of Magic

Just to warn you, if you do like it and get hooked, you just keep buying, and buying, and buying, and ....

Just finished Sourcery and Soul Music. Hmmm, time for me to grab another one from my library. Something with Carrot in it I think. Nothing like a 6' (or taller!) dwarf!

Also reading Cryptonomicon. Very interesting so far.

I've been reading Stalin in power 1928-1941. It's very interesting. Before that i read William Hague- in his own right. Before that i read 6 books on Hitler and the Nazis! I only read political books and bookos on modern european history- very sad, I know!

"The War of the Flowers" - Tad Williams

That and the odd Lovecraft story.

I only read non-fiction as i have an appalling imagination and stuggle to follow whats going on. Did enjoy The Go-Between though, L.P Hartley.

Originally posted by YNCS
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes, on the colonization of Australia. Incidently, Hughes seems ashamed and self-pitying that he has convicts in his ancestry. This is the one part of the book that I find annoying.

It's been a while since I've read that, but I don't remember that.
I do remember his talking a lot about how Australians in general seemed to want to forget that period. Reinforced by the reaction
of an Australian I met to whom I mentioned I was reading the book.

The last book I read is Blood Music by Greg Bear. Sort of a nanotech version of Childhood's End. And I recommend it.

Originally posted by ravensfire


Just to warn you, if you do like it and get hooked, you just keep buying, and buying, and buying, and ....


I bought my first discworld novels due to people posting about them here at CFC... Small Gods, Mort, Carpe Jugulum... Quite enjoyable reading. :goodjob: Also have Colour of Magic but have not read it yet. Yall said the first two sucked compared to the rest... And yes, there are plenty of books in the series.

floppa21,

I really, really like the books about Carrot. A bluntly honest man who knows ALL the laws, in Anhk-Morpork. I highly recommend those (Men at Arms and Guards! Guards! )

-- Ravensfire

I do have Guards! Guards! (forgot to list it) It was definitely a good one. That and Small Gods were my favorite of the four I have read thus far. :)

im reading "Ragtime" for a summer reading project, i like it its pretty good.

Some other Discworld books about The Watch (more about Sam Vimes than Carrot) are Feet of Clay, Jingo and The Fifth Elephant.

Carrot and Angua's relationship is further explored in The Fifth Elephant, Nobby Nobbes discovers his "inner self" in Jingo, and there's quite a good murder mystery in Feet of Clay (plus Sgt. Colon literally finds himself up the well-known creek without a paddle but with a golem trying to killing him). The latest Watch book is Night Watch, which takes two or three readings to fully understand. I recommend all of them.

I'm reading 'Montedidio' by Erri De Luca and it is written wonderfully.

Second volume of Ian Kershaw's Hitler biography "1936-1945 - Nemesis".

Just finished William Shirer's "Collapse of the Third Republic"

"The Persian Army 560-330BC" - by Nicholas Sekunda

Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare

This past weekend, I saw two B-24s, one B-26, two B-29s, and an Air Raider (forget the designation -- A-1 something) flying overhead. There were no airshows anywhere near me. It was pretty weird...

I'm starting today: The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.

Is it any good? I'm sure it's been read by almost everyone here, if it is as good of a historical account as I suspect.

All of the Commentaries are excellent.

Originally posted by Johann MacLeod
im reading "Ragtime" for a summer reading project, i like it its pretty good.

That's by E.L. Doctorow, right ? Great novel :goodjob: Waterworks is also a great one.

Originally posted by Stile
I'm starting today: The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.

Is it any good? I'm sure it's been read by almost everyone here, if it is as good of a historical account as I suspect.
If you can stand Julius' self-righteousness and his 'minor' exaggerations :ack:

James Patterson: The Midnight Club

Very very good book.

Atlas Shrugged.

Very interesting, if you have not read it that status had best change soon...... :)

idoru (yes, it's spelled without capital letter) was good, now I'm moving to factual prose. If that is what you can call Bill Bryson's Notes From a Big Country.

I'm reading 'Quo Vadis?' and 'Bored of the rings' right now (no, not simultaneously ;))

Roy Hattersley - Who goes home (biography)

Originally posted by Free Enterprise
Atlas Shrugged.

Very interesting, if you have not read it that status had best change soon...... :)

I guess I should give it a shot. A coworker suggested it to me and was surprised I had not read it yet. Okay, that's the next book I buy. :goodjob:

Rogue State, William Blum.

"The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature," by Steven Pinker

@cgannon: Nice reading list you have there! It's great that your school requires you to read the works of the great C.S. Lewis! Interestingly, J.R.R. Tolkien and he were very good friends!
Enjoy your vacation and those books!

Babbit, by Sinclair Lewis

Actually the second time around. Read it first 10 years ago and liked it a lot. Then recently I came across it again and just picked it up and started going again, not having anything better to hand at the moment.

Originally posted by Heffalump
Babbit, by Sinclair Lewis

I read Babbit about 5 months ago! It's great, isn't it! It kept me laughing at every turn!

Yesterday I started in Harry Mulisch book'

Case 40 / 61

It was written in 1961 before and during the trial against Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. At the time, it was published on a weekly basis in a magazine in Holland.
It is very very 'catching'.

There is only one book I have ever read in one day: 'The kidnapping of Adolf Eichmann' It describes the Mossad's succesfull efforts of finding Eichmann, capturing him and bringing him to Israel.
The words and actions of Eichmann present a bizar look on antisemitism. And on the ability of a man of sending millions of people to death without being sorry.

Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey

@ Jonathan: They don't. I wouldn't put it past them though - its a Catholic high school - but that wasn't my school list. This is:

Taming the Star Runner
The Hobbit
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Some Greek Mythology book.

I'm about half-way through now, with a week left. :lol: I didn't waste my time though, while I was away I read what was on the list in the first post and more...

The Years of Rice and Salt \ Kim Stanley Robinson

I'm not really liking it so far, but i'm only one sixth of the way through so a lot can change. :D

I guess I was expecting it to be at least as fascinating as the Mars trilogy.

The Armada- reading this for History 101.
The Rainmaker- my own personal reading. :D

Right now I'm reading the Hobbit.. When I'm done I'll either finish the Silmarillion or read the lord of the rings, again...

Currently readint The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide. :D

About to start Heart of Darkness by Conrad. I haven't read anything for about a week (besides magazines and the paper) or maybe even two. :eek: You can really not read in today's society, there is so much to distract you.

Jian, the master of all arts
by Erik Van Lustvader.

great book :goodjob:

"Liberating France and other annoying nations in 24 days" by C.U. Shun :D

Red Mars...Kim Stanley Robinson
...The Dune series (Frank Herbert)too up to God Emperor of Dune. Epic series like these are my favourites.. also including the "Foundation" series by Asimov.

The world according to Garp - John Irving
Love it until now, progress is slowly though and it's quite a big book. I've been reading it for 3 weeks now. ;)

Just finished reading The Ringworld Engineers. Currently reading the paperwork my company sent me for next year's health "benefits"...should finish this book by 2007.

Originally posted by HAND
Red Mars...Kim Stanley Robinson Make sure to read the next two as well, a great trilogy. :)

My current book is The Rise Of Endymion by Dan Simmons.

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. English class. Halfway done, I'm at the part here Holden sneaks into Phoebe's room.

The back of my shampoo bottle. :lol: I'm not reading anything good right now. :p

Originally posted by superslug
Just finished reading The Ringworld Engineers. Currently reading the paperwork my company sent me for next year's health "benefits"...should finish this book by 2007.

Don't bother reading it. They don't expect you too. Just renew the coverage you have now. When you see that your copay is triple what it was last year under the same plan and the plan only covers 2/3 max what it did last year, they'll tell you it's in the booklet, you should've read it. :D

I'm still reading (on and off since the beginning of summer) "A New Kind of Science" by Stephen Wolfram. Its very interesting, but a big honkin book.

I also picked up the Mind of God by Paul Davies. Its just a patchwork of disconnected ideas and not very much fun to read.

What's that book about the autistic character? Elizabet Moon wrote it? 'Speed of Dark' I think? Anybody read that and what did you think?

The Salomon of doubt
texts by Douglas Adams

To name a few:
War and Peace: Leo Tolstoy 1412 pages
Europe a history: Norman Davies 1365 pages
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: William L. Shirer 1250 pages
Russia at War: (forget the aouthor right now): around 800 pages

Also, I've read every Tom Clancy book in his solo series. Awesome books.

A kinda like long books, can you tell? ;)

@andvruss - I read all Tom Clancy throguh Bear and Dragon. IOs red Reabbit good? It's in mt 'to read pile'... I liked his earlier Ryan books more thn tyhe later onmes.

Originally posted by floppa21
@andvruss - I read all Tom Clancy throguh Bear and Dragon. IOs red Reabbit good? It's in mt 'to read pile'... I liked his earlier Ryan books more thn tyhe later onmes.

Oh ya, the only one I've missed is the Red Rabbit. I think it goes back to Jack'spre CIA days, or early CIA days.

Oh okay. Yah, it is a flashback type story. His newest one is Ryan's son! I ain't bought it. I figure the death of his series is nigh.

Originally posted by floppa21
Oh okay. Yah, it is a flashback type story. His newest one is Ryan's son! I ain't bought it. I figure the death of his series is nigh.

He has publishes so many books. There is his solo series, his non-fiction ones (guided tours into the marines, and the like), then he made some other ones with other people: Op-center, Net force, and Power Plays. Each one of those 3 series has around 7-10 books in it, the solo series 12, and non-fiction around 10. An amazing amount of knowledge and work.

I don't count those Net Force and such. He didn't write them. Just his name on the cover. Apparebtly they have characters from the Ryan series in them but... Sorry for my spelling. I feel like Lefty. :)

Originally posted by floppa21
I don't count those Net Force and such. He didn't write them. Just his name on the cover. Apparebtly they have characters from the Ryan series in them but... Sorry for my spelling. I feel like Lefty. :)

Ok, they have in bold letters : TOM CLANCY'S Net Force and the like on it. The stlye wasn't has good in those mini-series as it was in his solo series though.

Finished The Hobbit tonight, now on to the trilogy! great book, hope LOTR is as good (how could it not be!). Of course after i see timeline i'll have to read that for the millionth time too!

The trilogy is less lighthearted but a classic all the same. Enjoy it Mummy. I wish I could be reading it for the first time again. :goodjob:

I know what you mean, the first read is always the best

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain). Great book. Read it now!

Originally posted by floppa21
Currently readint The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide. :D I'm going through the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "triology" by Douglas Adams. Right now I'm about 1/3 of the way through Life, the Universe, and Everything. It is an extremly hilarious trilogy, I highly recomend reading it. I am also reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston for my English class. So far this school year (since August) I have read:

The Sillmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien
Of Mice and Men - John Stienbeck (for English)
Farenhiet 451 - Ray Bradbury
Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Suess
The Journeyman - Bryce Hatch (a movie script by my debate teacher/coach)
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Resturant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams
The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx and Fredrick Engles

There was probobly something else in there too. Then I have a whole lot of other books lined up to read. They sould keep be ocupied for quite a while.

Originally posted by floppa21
Don't bother reading it. They don't expect you too. Just renew the coverage you have now. When you see that your copay is triple what it was last year under the same plan and the plan only covers 2/3 max what it did last year, they'll tell you it's in the booklet, you should've read it. :D

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :rotfl:
Most years that's been true, but I found enough things in the manual to increase my coverage while decreasing my copay this time! I'm going to enjoy this, since it'll probably be the last time in my life I can pull it off! :rolleyes::spank:

Hopefully you're with Hartford, Standard, or Jefferson. NYMet is good too. UP? Blech.

At School im reading

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The importance of being ernest by Oscar wilde
Middlemarch by George Elliot
The pardonors tale by Chaucer
Animal farm by George orwell

at home im reading
Winston's War by Micheal Dobbs

I just read the gospel of Mark. Oh boy, there were many people with evil ghosts inside back then :eek: .

Rgiht now Im reading Blowback: The Cost And Consequences of American Empire by Chalmer Johnson. Its a great book, I highly recommend it.

A Norwegian book (Aksel Sandemose - "En flyktning krysser sitt spor" - roughly translated, "A refugee crosses his tracks")

+

Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. More of a children's book than his other's, but still good.

Just about to start reading the Narnia books.

I recently finished The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. le Guin. Anyone read anything by her?

I've read most her stuff. Very good fun but her books are a little thin for me. You just get in to it and it ends...

'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser
My next will be 'Mr.Nice' by Howard Marks.

I read ABDUCTION by Robert Cook. Fascinating book, and it's really interesting to learn about what really went on with Atlantis....and the underground civilization it's part of. :p

Various books on the history of the Confederacy with surprising titles like "The Confederacy" and "The Confederate Nation" and "The Confederate War."

I'm reading Lord of the Rings at the moment. I tried to resist reading it until after I seen Return of the King, but I couldn't. I read the entire Fellowship on Friday, so I'm going to try to spread the Two Towers out over the month.

Originally posted by cgannon64
About to start Heart of Darkness by Conrad.

That is one of my favorite books of all! I read it earlier this year, and I must say that his writing is a feast for the linguaphile! His vocabulary is astounding! The amazing thing is, English was Conrad's third language (his first was Russian, his second French, IIRC)! Even so, Conrad is widely regarded as having some of the best word usage in all of English-language Literature. Enjoy that book, Mr. Gannon!

Originally posted by anarres
I've read most her stuff. Very good fun but her books are a little thin for me. You just get in to it and it ends...
Yeah, I know how that is :(
Have you read anything by Doris Lessing? Her books are certainly not thin ;)

Yeah - I've read her Sci-Fi stuff, she is an amazing writer. :D

Currently I'm reading Dreamcatcher by Stephen King. Very good book, I wonder how the movie was?

I'm currently reading 9 books, the only work of fiction among them being The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Also of possible interest is Longitudes and Attitudes by Thomas L. Friedman.

I am currently reading NOTHING! :) Oh sweet. Sometimes I can read book after book after book and then, after a while, I don't read at all. That's where I am now.

Don't have any new books to read, so I'm rereading a couple of one I had laying around.

Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812536355/qid=1069760142/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/002-4686157-6204012). A first contact story, where we are the ones doing the contact. Takes place several millenium in the future. The race we contact is about where we are now, technologically.

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. The Octagonal Raven (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/031287720X/qid=1069760308/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4686157-6204012?v=glance&s=books). I've read this one before, but this one seems to be resistant to me reading it. I have a hard time reading some of his stuff. I guess I get so wrapped up in the here and now in his books, that the bigger picture is sometimes lost. Doesn't help that he jumps around a lot, timewise.

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. An autobiographical book about the Spanish Civil War. Orwell's "lesser" works are actually some of his best.

Just finished The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. It's amazing how none of the movies follow the book. :rolleyes:

Now I am reading Battle Cry of Freedom, about the American Civil War. I've been wanting to get a better understanding of that era for awhile now.

Premodern Japan - A Historical Survey by Mikiso Hane.

Wow! That was a thread-bump! (;)@Wyetookay)

Reading Empire from the Ashes, by David Weber. I think it's the compliation of Muntineer's Moon trilogy. Excellent read.

Also wading through two trilogies right now, The Tawny Man, Robin Hobb's sequel to The Farseer Trilogy, and takes place in the same universe as The Liveship Traders. I've come to love authors who create a world and stick to it, such as her and Raymond Feist.

Robert Newcomb's The Chronicles of Blood and Stone is looking to be pretty good, too.

Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer. Heartbreakingly beautiful; I'd recommend it to anyone.

Finished Them: Adventures With Extremists by Jon Ronson the other day, and I just started on Galileos Daughter by Dava Sobel. The Ronson book is a light, quick read, its more of a tongue in cheek humorous look at conspiracy theorists. The most profound thing I took from the book was a question the author asks himself towards the end of the book: Whats more frightening, the idea that theres a secret group of people running the world, or that there isnt anyone running the world? Gave me the idea for my 'Whos driving?' thread, which unfortunately sank into oblivion within minutes.

Galileos Daughter is ok, but not too surprisingly I find myself skimming over the love letters the daughter wrote to Galileo and concentrating on the sections dealing with his life and struggle with the church.

I'm currently reading 'The Ill Made Mute' by Cecilia Dart-Thornton. It is ok. It is a bit different to other books, because at the stage i'm at (bout 60 pages in) the main charachter is indeed a mute, so speach is kind of limited to either people talking to him or him eavesdropping.

Actual reading: Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy
The Federalist Papers by Publius

Audio book: The Peleponesian Wars by Thucydides
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Just finished: Napoleon on the Art of War by Jay Luvaas

Spangle by Gary Jennings.

The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

I have read many Asimov books, but none are better that the Foundation and Robot series.

I'm reading the complete works of Sherlock Holmes.

Currently the story Study in red.

I got one week of vacation ahead of me so I got enough time to read.

I'm also reading "Civilization and it's enemies". I thought it was about the game but it turns out to be something completely different ;)

I'm reading:

The Battle for Gaul by Julius Caesar

What If? 2 by (I think) Edward Cowley

I plan on reading soon:

The Spartans by Paul Catrledge

I've set out on a mission to read all of Isaac Asimov's short stories.

Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy
Thats on my side waiting for me. Thought i'd give Tom Clancy a rest though after reading like 10 books in 9 months at work!

Twilight Country by Knut Faldbakken. Sci-Fi about a community living in a scrapyard in the outskirts of a large, declining city.

Just finished The Tombs Of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin. Brilliant, as always.

Essays and Poems By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte

Just finished The Stranger by Albert Camus

Side question: is camus pronounced cam-us or camoo?

Im reading makeing history by Stephen Fry

Did you read The Fountainhead? I find myself often disagreeing vehemently w/ Rand's philosophies, but truly enjoy reading her works.

Tha's weird, I agree with her philosophies but think Atlas Shrugged is awfully writen. It offers no counter point which I think is vital in showing a philosophy and it continues to drag on repeating the same tired point over and over.

I've just finished Timeline by Michael Crichton which was well written but filled with quiet a few plot/logic holes. And Also finally finished 1984 which was a very good book.

Essays and Poems By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte

Just finished The Stranger by Albert Camus

Side question: is camus pronounced cam-us or camoo?

It's pronounced ca - mü (the s is silent). Terrific novel, btw - one of the few books I was glad school forced me to read back in the day.

Civilization of the Middle Ages, Norman Cantor

Starfarers by Poul Anderson. A sci-fi about the invention of a drive that allows space travel very close to the speed of light and the subsequent mission to a region of space hundreds of thousands of light-years away to investigate another star-faring civilization.

nothing right now, im trying to find a decent book to read.

"The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature," by Steven Pinke

Excellent book! Don't bother trying to change people, love them as they are. :goodjob:

Recent reads:
Lovely Bones (quick read fiction)
pau Hana; plantation life in hawaii
Brief history of the world by Michael Cook

Currrent book: Oryx and Crake (fiction)

The Great Republic by Winston Churchill.

I recommend it to all Americans. There is nothing like history biased from another side!

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
(It is overrated, that are much better books on grail hisory)

Zero 1st edition - Massatake Okumiya, Jiro Horikoshi and Martin Caiden
(One of the best ww2 bio's i've read)

Flash Reference Bible
(Iam forever reading this)

The "Wheel of Time" series... anyone familiar? Very good stuff.

Currently I'm only reading books for the University...

Calculus and Analitical Geometry, by Louis Leithold
Physics III-Haliday
Programming in Turbo Pascal
Engineering of the Environment
Chemistry and Chemical Reactions III, by Atkins
Principles of Scientific Administration, by Frederick W. Taylor
Microeconomics, by Pyndick and Rubinfeld

I just finished Asimov's "I Robot".

Regards :).

And weirdly enough, I just re-read Asimov's Foundation...

Great writer, huh? Creative, objective, simple.

Have you ever read a tale from him called "The Final Question"?

Probably the best short story I have ever read in my life.

Regards :).

Fred if your into "high" scifi

read BLOOM.

best book ever:
Forgotton soldier: - guy Sajer

Stalingrad by Eddy Bauer.

since my final exams are coming up: Linux Clustering: Building and Maintaining Linux Clusters.

for fun: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul - Douglas Adams :D

I read anything from:

David Gemmell
George R.R. Martin (Song of Ice and Fire in particular)
J.V. Jones

and my latest reading is "A Deepness in the Sky" by Vernor Vinge.

edit: Forgot Robert Jordan, but his Wheel of Time series gets worse with every new volume. :(

I just finished Asimov's "I Robot".

Regards :).

Read any other books of the Robot series? They're truly Asimov's best :)

Fred if your into "high" scifi

read BLOOM.
Thats the one about the nano 'grey-goo' that takes over the inner solar system right? Yeah thats a good one, Ive got it on a shelf here somewhere.

After the violent Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, I'd been reading "Waves soothing the wind" (approximate translation) by the Strugatski brothers; some sci-fi novel about the splitting of the human species. All I have to say it was too obscure and hermetic for my taste. Moving on to "Naked Sun", "End of Eternity" and "Pebble in the sky" by Asimov (bought them in a pack at half price).

I'm generally a casual reader and from time to time I go on a force tour through a whole bundle of books.

I just finished reading Clive Cussler's Atlantis Found.

The Great Republic by Winston Churchill.

I recommend it to all Americans. There is nothing like history biased from another side!

I read Keegan's First World War for that very
reason. A good read, I might say.

Currently reading 'the blind man in Seville' (Or something like that)

Recently read: Stalingrad & Berlin 1945: the downfall by Anthony Beevor. And also the DaVinci code by Brown.

I'm currently reading:
A series:
Larry Gonicks Cartooon History of the Universe

Single Books:
Charles Van Dorn's History of Knolage
Thucydies History of the Pelopenesian war
Mike Lupica's Wild pitch

Currently: Dune preludes and legends

I feel justified in ressurecting this thread since it is one of the stickied OT topics, and I love talking about books! I don't know if bringing back a thread like this is orthodox around here or not, so don't flip out at me if it is not.


Anyways,
I just got done reading Ordinary People. If you havn't read it, you MUST. There are books of greater philosophical or literary merit, for sure. But as for a book that perfectly embodies today's society, this is IT! MUST READ! 455/5 stars!

Currently reading:
The Road to Serfdom, by F.A. Hayek
Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Friedman
The Roaring Nineties, by Joseph Stieglitz
Hamlet, by Shakespeare

I'm not currently reading any new material, unless you count Arthur Miller's The Crucible (in-class).

Books I most recently have read:
- Fail-Safe by Harvey Wheeler and Eugene Boderick
- Darkest Hour (Mediator #4) by Jenny Carroll (better known as Meg Cabot)
- Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho by Jon Katz

Books I'm always reading:
- The American Pagent Tenth Edition (history textbook)
- A Pocket Style Manual Third Edition by Diana Hacker
- Uncle John's Big Bathroom Reader

Books I wish to finish but don't have the initative
- Surviving in Silence: A Deaf Boy in the Holocaust by Harry Dunai (more boring)
- She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb (didn't interst me much)
- Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (perhaps it's too philospical and out of my reach?)

Books I want to read:
- Haunted (Mediator #5) by Meg Cabot
- Red Alert by Peter George (the book Dr. Strangelove was based on)
- The Propechy (Daughters of the Moon #11) by Lynne Ewing
- The Becoming (Daughters of the Moon #12) by Lynne Ewing

Let's see. I'm currently reading Hammerfall by C.J. Cherry, just finished The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter.

For my birthday , I just got myself three books - the original translation of Don Quixote by Smollet , The Romantic Manifesto , and The Catcher in the Rye , from the money I got as a gift .

I'm also self-teaching C++ to whatever extent I can .

A writer's world, Jan Morris

Currently Time out of Joint by Philipp K. Dick, very unusual and funny like all of his books I have read so far.

the Iliad by Homer

Just finished When Will Jesus Bring The Porkchops by George Carlin. When Wal-Mart bans a book, I make a point of reading it.

The Janson Directive, Ludlum.

Im reading Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell. He's definately one of my favorite authors as far as novels go.

A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I have also 2 books on Argentine history in my night table, too boring to read from beggining to end but I can take it a chapter a month or so.

Just finished rereading the complete In the Balance series (including the Colonization sequels) by Harry Turtledove.
Very good reading if your into alternate history.

Then read 'War for the Oaks' by Emma Bull - pretty good, considering it was her first book! (urban fantasy)

Starting on 'The Jackal of Nar' by John Marco - looks good, if it's interesting, that series should do me for a few days... :D

Oh, another great book I read last week: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud - if you like humoristic fantasy, read it!

As you may gather, I love to read and I'm a speed reader.. :cool:

Stalingrad by Antony Beevor

Stalingrad was an amazing book, was very glad I read it.

Currently I'm reading Mark Steel's Vive La Revolution and working my way through John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Stalingrad was an amazing book, was very glad I read it.

Currently I'm reading Mark Steel's Vive La Revolution and working my way through John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Milton's paradise lost is a hard book to get through. We've only read parts of it in my AP English 12 class. The fact that he was able to take a few pages (or whatever amount) from the bible and make a huge fictional story from it is intriguing, though. I bet his daughters (to whom he dictated the book, because he was blind) thought he was insane though! Have you read about the birth of Sin and Death?! :wow:

Against A Dark Background, by Iain M. Banks

Stalingrad was an amazing book, was very glad I read it.

Currently I'm reading Mark Steel's Vive La Revolution and working my way through John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Mark Steel's viva La Revoloution is also a good i read it dureing the summer he grew up about 20mins car ride from me so i got the couple of jokes he made about Swanley in it

I am currently reading 'The Man in the High castle' by Phillip K Dick.

Very intresting concept - it is set in 1962 Americain a world were the Nazi's and Japan won world war 2.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Ann Fadiman

Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card

Reading the best of Roald Dahl currently. Can't get my teeth into anything new-too tired.

"The Ring" by Koji Suzuki

Hornet Flight by Ken Follet

Mario Puzzo's The Godfather
Followed by Frank Herbert's God Emporer of Dune
After that, who knows?

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

Good choice Godwynn. ;)

I'm currently reading Heretics of Dune (book 5 of 6 in the Dune series).

I have to read the Scarlet Letter for school right now. But on my own time I'm reading Mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty.

Margaret Thatcher: The Downing Street Years

A pretty decent book.

Good choice Godwynn. ;)

Yes it is. I have already read Atlas Shrugged and Anthem. The ARI is offering $10,000 in an essay contest about The Fountainhead for 11th and 12th graders. The book for for 9th and 10th graders, Anthem. For college students, Atlas Shrugged. Just my luck.

Why anyone thinks that Ayn Rand is a decent author is beyond me. She's a hack writer, her philosophy stinks, and her political followers are idiots. For instance, if anyone honestly believes that the hero of The Fountainhead, Howard Roark, would have been found 'not guilty' at his trial, then you must be even dumber than most libertarians.

BTW, if any libertarians want to argue your silly politics with me, I'm more than willing to do so.

Hm, guess I should read something of Ayn Rand then, if it is upsetting enough for such a post. :)

Right now I'm reading Plato's Republic, and then I'll start on 'The History' of Herodotus, or maybe the Da Vinci code.

I also got some old Mesopotamian myths to read through. One of them is called 'Adamu and the Food of Life'. It's about Adamu, the son of the god Ea, and his visit to heaven where Ea warns him not to eat or drink anything... sounds familiar? ;)

I also finished Machiavelli's 'The Prince', which I highly recommend to everybody. :)

John Marsden's Tomorrow when the war began series.

Another Ludlum book (when I posted in this thread in July I was reading one too). It came out in October, called The Lazarus Vendetta. It's terrific...realistic fiction is most appealing to me, unlike scifi or fantasy.

Country of Origin, by Don Lee. Not a spectacular novel, but it's alright.

I'm reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, and The Posessed by Dostoevsky.

Godwyn, the fountainhead is good, and i love Rand's writing, but if you' consider yourself a libertarian i'd definitely read some of the more reasonable libertarian thinkers. Try Ludwig von Mises or Robert Nozick for a start. Objectivism is crackpot philosophy, and Rand's not exactly the brightest philosopher or economist. YNCS, I'll take ya up on that offer!

Dune - Herbert

Eat the Rich - PJ O'Rourke (again)

Reading "The Bear and Dragon" by Tom Clancy, again, cause I think its awesome. I'm also reading "The Course Of German History" by A.J.P. Taylor just for flavour

The Cleric Quntet by R.A. Salvatore
I'm a fan of Drizzt and wanted to read more of his works.

American Soldier by General Tommy Franks
After being in OEF and OIF I wanted to read about the man who led us all.

I'm rereading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman for the umpteenth time.

Why anyone thinks that Ayn Rand is a decent author is beyond me. She's a hack writer, her philosophy stinks, and her political followers are idiots. For instance, if anyone honestly believes that the hero of The Fountainhead, Howard Roark, would have been found 'not guilty' at his trial, then you must be even dumber than most libertarians.

Thanks for ruining the end of the story.

I'm ploughing through "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. It's actually very good (despite Milton's apparent belief that using Latin sentence structures makes English more poetic), but the middle part is extremely tedious: Satan is an interesting character, but the good guys are not: the Father and the Son are consubstantially dull, and Adam and Eve are almost too sickeningly luvvy-duvvy to read. Fortunately the Fall is now happening, so I'm hoping they will become more interesting as well.

I'm currently reading a geostrategy book named "How Europe will save America" written by the American Charles A. Kupchnan with a preface from Henry A. Kissinger.

I'm currently reading a geostrategy book named "How Europe will save America" written by the American Charles A. Kupchnan with a preface from Henry A. Kissinger.
If it involves replacig GW an Carl Rove, I'm all for a little European intervention even if it doesn't have the support of the UN. ;)

I'm on technical books right now. Both "Complete Discourse of Civil Law" by César Fiuza, and "Theory of Criminal Law - first volume" by Fernando Capez.

A bit too technical and Brazil-specific to raise general interest, i suppose... ;)

Regards :).

I just finished Farenheit 451 for school...I think I'm going to look through A Collection of Essays by Orwell, and try to find some books of Yeats poetry. I read a poem by him the other day, it was pretty cool.

I will never stop reviving this thread whenever I start a new (series of) reading.

Just finished my last lineup:
The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
The Roaring Nineties by Joseph Stiglitz (Actually i'm only about 2/3 through)


Starting on:
The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom

Personal Adjustment: An Approach Through the Study of Healthy Personality by Sidney Jourard (not a self-help book, more of a psychology theory book)


Those two I found yesterday while rummaging through our basement closet looking for Xmas stuff.

Great book choices Monk!

I'm currently finishing the final book in the Dune series: Chapterhouse Dune.

I'm not sure what I will read next. I'm thinking maybe some non-fiction. I've been interested in cognitive science, so I'll probably dig around for something related to that.

I am currently reading Les Misérables. I'm currently on Marius (the third part of five).

I've recently finished reading "The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum for the third time and I'm about to start reading "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy again.

Finished The Scar by China Miéville. Excellent fantasy from a new master.

Reading Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett.

Will read The Sirian Experiments by Doris Lessing. Sci-Fi done right! :goodjob:

I'll add my enthusiastic endorsements to Bloom and The Amulet of Samarkand and A Deepness in the Sky. Also anything by Pratchett and George R.R. Martin. On the Paradise/Purgatory/Inferno theme, try the science fiction books by those three names, written by Mike Resnick.

Just finished The Watch by Dennis Danvers. A time traveling performance-artist resurrects Peter Kropotkin and sends him to Virginia in 1999. A great excuse to view modern America through Kropotkin's (and Danvers's) eyes.

The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton. This guy is a genius; I cannot understand why he is not a Christian writer you always hear about. He is the guy who inspired C.S. Lewis to convert to Christianity, and is a much better theologian. And a writer. Initially I found him confusing, becuase he is an essayist, and should be looked at that way. He uses many examples for what he is trying to say, which when you get into them, are very enjoyable. He has some pretty subtle imagery that you don't notice at first either. Plus he makes some great quotes.

I also picked up Orthodoxy by him, and Confessions and The City of God, by St. Augustine. I don't know if I'll read those, because they seem pretty heavy. Especially the City of God. The copy I have is enormous and its pretty heavily abridged too, with whole chapters cut out. Its disappointing and enticing to open to a random section and see it say:

Chapter 9-11

These chapter discuss the precise moment of death, whether it belongs to the living or the dead - and further, whether throughout his mortal life man is dying.

Argh! Why is that deleted?

I finished Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. and watched the movie last night. Its incredible.

Next up: Barricades and Borders

The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton. This guy is a genius; I cannot understand why he is not a Christian writer you always hear about. He is the guy who inspired C.S. Lewis to convert to Christianity, and is a much better theologian. And a writer. Initially I found him confusing, becuase he is an essayist, and should be looked at that way. He uses many examples for what he is trying to say, which when you get into them, are very enjoyable. He has some pretty subtle imagery that you don't notice at first either. Plus he makes some great quotes.


I highly recommend the Father Brown stories, if you haven't read them already. There is something incredibly appealing and engaging about a humble Catholic priest who always manages to solve the most bizarre of crimes. Not to mention that every one is beautifully written and doubles as some kind of moral parable. Great reading!

I've looked him up and the fiction didn't really appeal to me, although those sound nice. There was one exception: The Man Who Was Thursday. That book looks awesome. :D

"How to fight the French plague"
"Communists aren't people"
"Jesus sucks (Muhammed's ****)"
"WMD construction for dummies or how to kill off all the consumerist f*ckt*rds"
"The biggest atrocity in the history of mankind: Rap music"
"What would Freud say about the Japanese?"

Of course all these books are only available in my private library of hate :evil:

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Reading My Century by Günther Grass. 100 little stories, one for each year in the 20th century.

Patrick Smith's Japan; A Reinterpretation

Currently, two at once:

-The Annals of Eternal Rome, by Tacitus
-The Once and Future King, by T. H. White

I'll see which one I finish first.

Right now I am rereading "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. While it is a bit extreme it has many kernels of truth. An inspirational book for chefs and a window upon the lifestyle.

The Onion Ad Nauseum.

just starting Foundation's Edge

Blitzkrieg by Len Deighton

Great stuff!!

Esspecially like the part about the German panzer and infantery tactics and how they were developed. And it has some nice photos.

Blitzkrieg by Len Deighton

Great stuff!!

Esspecially like the part about the German panzer and infantery tactics and how they were developed. And it has some nice photos.

Whoa, mega coincidence! :eek:

Terry Pratchetts "Going Postal"

Ha! Got it before it came to the U.S....... :evil:

Terry Pratchetts "Going Postal"

Ha! Got it before it came to the U.S....... :evil:Ha, read that a month ago. It's good, as his books usually are. :)

I'm rereading a couple of books; Issola by Steven Brust and Nomad of the Time Streams by Michael Moorcock.

Whoa, mega coincidence! :eek:

Let's just say great minds read the same great books :D

It's really a good book, you have a view of overall global politics but also at the army on micro level, tactics and stuff, the development of the blitzkrieg doctrine. I'm on page 178, looking forward to what he's going to say about the invasion of Holland.

I just bought "Coming Home: Why Protestant Clergy Are Becoming Orthodox" and "Dr. Zhivago."

just starting Foundation's Edge

Sorry mate, it sucks, hehehe.

If you like Asimov and haven't read these already try the following by Isaac Asimov/Roger Allen - Caliban, Inferno and one I can't remember due to alcohol. Damn. Alternatively, Nemesis.

Those to my mind stand out as the best of his books.

The Bridges at Toko-ri by James Michener.

Haven't had much time to read, although over the break I'm probably gonna pick up Michael Chrichton's new book State of Fear. Last book I read was The Last King, by Michael Curtis Ford. Talented guy, and it's only his third book in as many years.

A Long Days Journey into War: December 7 1942

Let's just say great minds read the same great books :D

It's really a good book, you have a view of overall global politics but also at the army on micro level, tactics and stuff, the development of the blitzkrieg doctrine. I'm on page 178, looking forward to what he's going to say about the invasion of Holland.

Just up to Hindenburg.

Just up to Hindenburg.

is the book worth reading?

is the book worth reading?

From where I am (which is about chapter 2, hehehe), it does seem a good read, and Deighton's style is very readable (unlike some historians).

Ludlum, The Sigma Protocol.

Just got three new books today-
Billy Ruffian, the biography of a ship, the Bellerophon, during the Napoleonic Wars.
Stalin- The Court Of The Red Tsar. It's about Stalin.
Empire- about the British Empire.

Not the best books I could've picked, but there was a nice 3 for 2 offer on.

Stalin- The Court Of The Red Tsar. It's about Stalin.
Empire- about the British Empire.

Not the best books I could've picked, but there was a nice 3 for 2 offer on.

I've read those two books, superb!

I recommend you try next "The History of the English Speaking Peoples" by Winston Churchill, terrific stuff.

Hi!

I recently finished reading "One Trillion Dollar" by Andreas Eschbach and now started "The Return of the Dancing Master" by Henning Mankell . The first is about a man who gets one trillion dollar as a legacy. The latter is a (fictional) Krimi about old nazi-warcriminals. Both very good.

I never understood why Swedish crime stories are so popular in Germany.

I read parts of Jonathan I. Lunine's Astrobiology; A Multidisciplinary Approach yesterday. Interesting, if not untouched by the curse of talkativeness so prevalent among American textbooks.

I never understood why Swedish crime stories are so popular in Germany.
It's not just crime stories, it's Swedish novels in general. Big German publishing companies are looking to Scandinavia for things to publish. They seem to think the stuff coming out of there is more interesting than the German stuff.

Well, the Swedish books I saw for sale in Germany was mainly crime stories. Piles and piles of Mankell and Nesser.

Homer's Odyssey

Da Vinci Code

...........
(oh no the 9th grade is aproching, in 1 year I must read the....Lusíadas, the great masterpiece of Portuguese litrature, but it's so big)

On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace by Donald Kagan. The Bridges at Toko-ri was good and pretty short, unlike most of Michener's books (it was a Korean War story about bombing some important bridges. I don't think it's a true story. The one by Donald Kagan is about events leading up to major wars, and that is a true story.)

Exodus
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Gods and Generals
The Civil War, a History
The Bible

C.S. Lewis on death and dying, personal reasons.

When you ride alone you ride with binladen - Bill Mahre
Iron Fist - Hostory of armoured warfare

Just started reading The Annals of Imperial Rome by Cornelius Tacitus.