What books are you reading right now

[Psychlone]

Currently I've been reading Chris Bunch's Last Legion series.

Recent reads have been various Harry Turtledove "alternate history" novels such as How Few Remain, a novel regarding the American South securing it's independence in the US Civil War. This sets the stage for World War One with America aligned with the Kaiser, and the Confederates aligned with England and France. Quite interesting novels, I would highly recommend them to any Civ fan because their incongruity meshes quite well with the strange situations portrayed in this game.

 

[Maj]

Guns, Germs & Steel by an author whose name I don't remember. For those of you interested in human economic, social and political evolution/development/progression/whatever you'd like to call it, I'd suggest you pick it up. The author makes his arguments in a way that is both clear and easy to understand.

The books may go against the grain for some of you Creationists out there so prepared to be contradicted on a few issues. Overall, very fascinating stuff. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in sociology, geography, anthropology, archaeology, political science or economics. I'd also recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading

I'm anxiously awaiting George R.R. Martin's fourth installment in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. It's like Lord of the Rings only far more vulgar, gorey and real

-Maj

 

[PirateMac]

I'm currently rereading "The tao of pooh".

If you haven't read it I highly recommend it.

It's quick and short and makes sense.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Quite a bit, as is my habit.
Dr Jospeh Goebbels - "My Role in Germany's Triumph
Cap Weinberger et al - The Next World War
Fred Franks/ Tom Clancy - "Into the Storm"
Several by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A fair few W.E. Griffin tomes
Carlos Marighela - The Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla
Simon Pearson - Total War 2006 (VERY GOOD!!)
Mein Kampf
In the Shadow of Saddam- Mikhael Ramadan
The Penkovsky Papers
Flipping thru "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" again
Walter Laqueur - The Terrorism Reader
Some Gemmel
"The Social History of the Machine Gun"
and a Soviet military textbook outlining doctrine.

A little light reading before bed.

 

[Apollo]

Originally posted by Kev
Right now I'm reading The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind. This is the newest in the "Sword of Truth" series and follows Faith of the Fallen - So far it's not bad, but seems to concentrate on a different main character too much as the last one did.

Are the Terry Goodkind books any good? Several years ago somebody gave me Wizard's First Rule as a present, and I've never read it. I just noticed it on my shelves the other day and was wondering if its any good.

 

[CurtSibling]

I am reading several books:

Jordans Wheel of Time book four: The Dragon Reborn,
Allsby's The Waffen SS, The unpublished photos,
Masson's World Mythology,
Runequest's Ninja,
Tolkien's Unfinished Tales,
Marsellin's Great Red Indian Chiefs,
The Elvgren collection sketchbook,
The Pini's Elfquest: Escape from blue mountain,
Martin's Song of Fire and Ice: Storm of swords,
A book photo book on Soviet Aircraft since 1945,
Vaugh Bode's Cheech Wizard graphic novels,
Civilization III manual-for reference

These are but a tiny fraction of my library.
I'm running out of room to put the damn things,
but I keep buying more!

 

[Dell19]

Originally posted by CurtSibling
I am reading several books:

Jordans Wheel of Time book four: The Dragon Reborn,

Woo! A third person that reads the wheel of time series. I just finished the nineth book so I am now waiting for the next book that comes out in June, I think.

 

[polymath]

A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush by Eric Newby. Non-fiction.
This is hilarious, a very English account of two stout Brits who decide to scale a 20,000 ft. plus peak in the Hindu Kush, despite having absolutely no experience whatsoever.

And I'm also re-reading:
Beyond Top Secret by James Good, a former UK government UFO researcher, who became convinced it was all true and wrote this book, which is mostly about official military reports on UFO incidents. An excellent book, with excellent research, but difficult to ultimately know how much of it to take seriously.

 

[duke o' york]

I'm currently reading Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian, which won the Nobel prize for literature, and deservedly so I may say. To be honest, I've been reading it for months as there is no rigid plot structure and this allows you to dip in and enjoy a little of the style and then put it down again. It's not a page-turner by any means, but I would recommend it to all.
Since starting Soul Mountain, I have read The Little Book of Mornington Crescent , the Onion's Dispatches from the Tenth Circle and Hard Times to name a few. I love Dickens almost as much as Shakespeare, but I don't read that for pleasure. In case anyone considers the above a little high-brow, I am currently reading The Dice Man by Luke Reinhardt, which was a birthday present from my brother. Which he gave me at Christmas for logistical reasons. It's billed as "the book of the century" by an unironic Loaded magazine on the cover, but isn't that good and has an exceptionally irritating style. And to name the central character after yourself seems somewhat hubristic to me.

 

[polymath]

"the Onion's Dispatches from the Tenth Circle".....
Heh heh, just finished that, it's brilliant.
"The Dice Man"? The easily-impressed find it impressive, I suppose. I did when I was 14, but not any more.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

In addition to the last ones, am now flicking thru
Alan Sillitoes "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, and other stories"
the Kalevala,
"Thunder in the Desert" by James Blackwell,
and the old Terry Brooks standby, "The Sword of Shannara.

It is heartening to see many others here who like Harry Turtledove and Robert Jordan, although one must say that one does prefer the latter. Next WOT out in June, you think? Excellent. I shall dispatch my slaveboys down to the printing factory now to ensure me the first copy.

 

[IceBlaZe]

As for now, I am reading Moon Palace (Paul Auster), also, I just finished The Lover (A. B. Yehushua) as part of my school studies.

 

[Gruntboy]

I have "the Two Towers" warmed up to precede the next movie.
"Information and its management" is for school.
"Black Hawk Down" for bedtime.

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by Simon Darkshade
Next WOT out in June, you think? Excellent. I shall dispatch my slaveboys down to the printing factory now to ensure me the first copy.

Do you think that they could grab me a copy as well?

Love the Jordan series. My only gripe is that there is so much time in between the books and SO many characters that I have to re-educate myself as to who is who before I start a new book.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

"Do you think that they could grab me a copy as well?

Love the Jordan series. My only gripe is that there is so much time in between the books and SO many characters that I have to re-educate myself as to who is who before I start a new book."

Certainly, I'll alter their orders shortly! It is hard to keep track of the various threads that are being introduced, but they all combine to a piece that is simply quite incredible in its scope and content.

 

[Dell19]

I only recently read them all, over about 6months so it was easy to remember all the charactors really. Some of the obcuse charactors were hard to remember though and in the last book it was intersting that it was hard to tell who the new charactors represented.

I cannot wait to see what happens next because part of one thread had finished and the other two were just beginning.

 

[DougInFL]

Originally posted by allan
I LOVE the Dune stories! And Brian is turning out to be a good writer in his own right....

Absolutely....it's like he's channeling his dad when he writes.

I loved House Harkkonen.

Any idea what's next?

 

[DougInFL]

Originally posted by CrayonX
What have y'all been reading lately?

Having bowed to the masses, I am almost through with Harry Potter #4.

Next on my list is "Battleground: Berlin," a non-fic account of the KGB vs. CIA in the early 80s written by a former CIA operarive and a former KGB agent.
-------------
Doug

"Oh, don't run, you'll just die tired."

 

[Rowan]

The Sirrius Mystery; Dog stars.pyramids,Ancient Egyptians,Archeoastronomy, a very intesting read.

[dance] [dance]

The book is by Robert Temple

 

[SteveLS]

Currently:

Blue at the Mizzen, by Patrick O'Brian, (20 of a 20 volume series, for the second time).