Reading? What is this "Reading?"

[Pangilinan 1st MRB]

So I have to ask, we're already covering our favorite music, does anyone here still read for fun here? Any favorite authors, books, short stories, and the like? A favored columnist on the paper, or some classic that you've read and can never put down. How about books which you started byt never got around to finishing?

To start it off, I'm reading, as of right now, The History of the British Empire by T.O. Lloyd. It may be an assigned reading/textbook, but I can't put it down. I'm also hunting down some Heinlein, namely his more space-tuned ones like his late 40s, early 50s stories.

[I have no arms BAR]

I love to read. I read as often as I can. Right now I'm re-reading the Otherland series of books by Tad Williams. Kicks some major butt. Otherland

You'd all probably laugh at me if I told you some of the other stuff I read.

Edited January 27, 2011 by I have no arms ßÄR

[Pangilinan 1st MRB]

Why would I laugh?

[I have no arms BAR]

Why indeed.

[Pangilinan 1st MRB]

What else have you read?

[Englebretson 1st MRB]

[I have no arms BAR]

Many things. Lots of Stephen King, David Eddings, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Ted Dekker, The Bible, anything by Vernard Eller, anything by Hugh Ross, Lots of dragonlance stuff, etc

Edited January 28, 2011 by I have no arms ßÄR

[Yamagata 1st MRB]

The last book that I read and really enjoyed was Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present by Cory Doctorow. It's more of a compilation of short stories, but it was great nonetheless.

I like to read Dan Brown, Wilbur Smith, and whatever really catches my interest at the time. My mom got in the habit of recommending books to me, out of the ones she had me read, I liked Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene which was more of a documentary about this town that any and all trains during WWII heading to the east coast or the west coast had to pass though. The people of North Platte decided to open a canteen for all the soldiers that passed through. It's pretty amazing really, you don't see anything like that today for our troops.

[Gooderham 1st MRB]

I'm sorry to tell you all this, but I am completely illiterate.

[Stab N' Grab]

Hunter S. Thomson ftw

[Kirkendall 1st MRB]

I'm sorry to tell you all this, but I am completely illiterate.

I'm sorry for your soul.

Personally, I love books.

In the President's Secret Service by Ronald Kessler is a damn good read. It teaches about how the Secret Service has operated since its formation, although more centered around the current era, mostly after the assassination of JFK. For more information on the Secret Service around JFK, read The Kennedy Detail by Gerald Blaine. I'm by no means a Kennedy conspiracy lover, I just find the secret service to be very interesting.

Away from the nonfiction, I tend to read science fiction and fantasy. My favorite book is probably Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Although The Lord of the Rings is very close. Most recently, I read Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. I thought it to be a pretty good read, set in the future and uses "bio-punk" as a running theme. Of course, there are always old standbys, such as the Robert Jordan series, The Wheel of Time, which is being completed by Brandon Sanderson, who also wrote a very good series called Elantris.

I also work in a Borders Bookstore, so I tend to see what the trend is. Recently, The Hunger Games series has become astronomically popular, and all of the readers have given it great reviews. Also, the George R. R. Martin series, Game of Thrones (also known as A Song of Ice and Fire) has become extremely popular due to its scheduling for release on HBO as a new series. Although I cannot recommend that series to anyone who is offended easily. It's quite a graphic book. And of course, The Walking Dead graphic novels have become very popular due to the AMC series that was created from them.

I also enjoy "Choose Your Own Adventures" I KEPT MY FINGER ON THE PAGE IT DOESN'T COUNT.

[Parker 1st MRB]

I LOVE TO UNDERLINE SHIT TOO

Haha jk Kirk!

But honestly I'd like to quote Ritchey when he said "books are tits". I've read countless books so I'll name my recent favorites such as Lives of the Saints by Nino Ricci, The Feeling of What Happens by Antonio Damasio, and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I'm currently reading Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio.

[Pangilinan 1st MRB]

Stop cheating Kirk. D:

Orson Scott Card was good, but I prefered Bean's story in the Ender series. My absolute, will take a copy of this book to my grave, story will always be Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It's what sparked my interest in reading novels, and scifi, the Victorian period (and my on/ff interest in Victorian SciFi and Steampunk). It was like, the Macross or Robotech to my bibliophic ways (comparing on how I got hooked into Anime).

[Englebretson 1st MRB]

I love any Tom Clancy books along with Michael Crichton. I also read a lot of books about the vietnam war.

[Kirkendall 1st MRB]

I will admit that Bean's story is better in accordance with the sequels, because the books that came after Ender's Game were just weird. But you can't beat the original!

[Dawson 1st MRB]

Is it bad that I only read nonfiction and informative books?

[Ford 1st MRB]

I read every night to put myself to sleep, which usually turns into me reading for three hours because the book captures my imagination.

I have read and own the entire "Prey" series by John Sandford as well as his other newer series of books. Hands down one of my favorite authors.

David Baldacci and James Patterson are up there among my favorites.

Obviously Stephen King, but the old Stephen King, not the new, hey I'm trying to out-weird myself, King.

Enigma by Robert Harris was a pretty kick ass book about the Nazi's.

Probably the best book I have read in the last few years was Antarktos Rising by Jeremy Robinson. It's about how global warming causes crustal displacement making the earth remap itself. Antarctica is the only inhabitable place on Earth and all the major countries are in a race to claim their piece of it. Only, since it un-thawed, strange and mysterious creatures have come back to life.

Great book, recommend you all read it.

Edited January 28, 2011 by Ford 1st MRB

[I have no arms BAR]

Kirk, wheel of time and song of ice and fire are awesome. You sir have good taste.

[Pangilinan 1st MRB]

Ford: That sounds really interesting. I'm not really a believer of the thing, but now I'm intrigued...mainly because the moment you said creatures start appearing, I was reminded of a scene in an anime (Nadia) where dinosaur-people were encapsulated in the Antarctic ice. I'm gonna grab the kindle version as soon as I have the money.

[Gooderham 1st MRB]

I don't read anything other than non-fiction. I'm not sure why, I just can't seem to get truly engrossed in the story of many novels.

I do really enjoy reading Bill Bryson's work. A great author, funny and very knowledgeable.

[Worsham]

I'm sure every one has read Band of Brothers, I have read it numerous times and own the tv series on blu ray.

I also bought the book with the old breed. Which is what the tv series the pacific is based off of.

[T. Brown 1st MRB]

THREAD REVIVAL TIME! I noticed Google was caching/searching this thread and since it is two years old, found it pretty interesting to see what people were reading back then. Tad unfortunate that more people didn't reply, so let's change that.

WHAT ARE YOU ALL READING NOW?

I'm currently re-reading IQ84, one of my new favorites from the past two-three years. It is (and this is a really loose summary) about a woman who experiences a drastic change in her perception of reality after a series of violent events, and it progressively becomes more and more surreal as reality seems to fold in on itself. An AMAZING mind-fuck, reminded me a lot of House of Leaves (which actually gave a friend of mine such a series of panic attacks that she had to stop reading it).

Also am working my way through Matterhorn: A Novel of The Vietnam War, but not that excited about it. While the historic accuracy of it all is fairly decent, the writing style itself is choppy and sometimes feels as if it doesn't do the events it is trying to describe justice.

Anyone read any of these before? And SOMEONE ELSE NOW GO; I love books, I want to know who else does!

[Arevicci]

Currently

[Barry 1st MRB]

Inheritance

by Christopher Paolini

[H. Stone 1st MRB]

Mostly classical philosophy and Jules Vernian style books, I like epics and war books. Right now some environmental books being I am on a hiking summer kick. also read a lot about gardens, trains, and monastic herbal remedy's.

Recent epic I read was called "Fire at the gates" fiction about the 300