Favorite books thread

If I would get one it would be mostly for foreign newspapers which are ridiculously expensive. As they don't have the guardian atm, I don't care anyway. I would want wifi so I don't have to turn on the computer every morning and synchronize or whatever. And 3g would be nice when you're out.

Max Frisch doesn't use a very complex vocabulary but he does like to construct sentences that go on forever. Lemme just find the book...

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Er weiß: jede Selbsterkenntnis, die nicht schweigen kann, macht kleiner und kleiner. Er weiß: wer nicht schweigen kann, will erkannt sein in der Größe seiner Selbsterkenntnis, die keine ist, wenn sie nicht schweigen kann, und man wird empfindlich, man fühlt sich verraten, indem man von Menschen erkannt sein will, man wird lächerlich, ehrgeizig im umgekehrten Grad seiner Selbsterkenntnis.

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i dunno how hard it is. I think Frisch is fairly simple to read. Homo Faber maybe more so. All german authors have to do a lot of acrobatics to make the langue fluent cos it's really not a great one to write in. That prolly makes it hard to read for non native speakers.

So I went out to buy a cheap eReader and tried the Aluretek Libre, it was under 100 bucks and had no Wifi but was supposed to be easy to look at with an eInk screen. It sucked, it loads the PDF's so slow and really only seems to be for the ePub books that you buy and download, the 5" screen was a littel smaller than I thought it was.

So I did a bit of looking around and found a great 7" colour tablet type eReader by pandigital called the "Novel" It works on the 1.5 Android OS and is like a cheaper version of the iPad. the reviews aren't favorable at all but after doing some research, the firmware upgrade and the hacks available make it more than decent for $150. I'm playing around with it right now and posting this with it. The built in PDF reader sucks but I found a couple better ones last night and loaded those. I like it.

So I finished the first 3 dark tower books in about 3 weeks. I've been stuck on book 4 for over a month now. I can't get into it, I don't give a shit about the characters. Almost done, tell me this series gets good again?

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Originally Posted by DanAronG

At least get to number 4, its amazing

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it is?

Started "The Art of Racing in the Rain" this morning and couldn't put it down. Just finished it about an hour ago. I personally liked it better than Marley and Me. If you own/have owned a dog, you will fucking love this book!

"The Last Boy," a book about Mickey Mantle was pretty awesome. (may have put that in here before)

Currently am reading "The Book of Basketball" by Bill Simmons, through 75+ pages it is awesome (over 700 pages total).

Am about to start "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. Supposedly it's been a game changer for one of my best friends, who is basically the most ridiculously smart person I know.

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Originally Posted by UG

"The Last Boy," a book about Mickey Mantle was pretty awesome. (may have put that in here before)

Currently am reading "The Book of Basketball" by Bill Simmons, through 75+ pages it is awesome (over 700 pages total).

Am about to start "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. Supposedly it's been a game changer for one of my best friends, who is basically the most ridiculously smart person I know.

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yea i mentioned the book of basketball in here, i never got aroudn to finishing it (im like down in the 50's on the pyramid guys) but its a great read. bill simmons is probably my favorite sports writer so i may be a little biased.

I need to expand my reading genres.

Just finished The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre.

Best read for a while. Planning to see the film and read his Spy trilogy.

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Originally Posted by UG

"The Last Boy," a book about Mickey Mantle was pretty awesome. (may have put that in here before)

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I'll second this. Baseball is just the backdrop in this one, it's really about alcoholism and the destruction of a man who you might think has no reason to self-destruct.

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Originally Posted by WillburForce

Just finished The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre.

Best read for a while. Planning to see the film and read his Spy trilogy.

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Thanks, ordered on Amazon. I'm sure I'll love it.

Finally read Ender's Game and really enjoyed it as well. Still need to read the rest of the series though.

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Originally Posted by lolzzz_321

Thanks, ordered on Amazon. I'm sure I'll love it.

Finally read Ender's Game and really enjoyed it as well. Still need to read the rest of the series though.

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I've only just discovered Le Carre,despite his first book being published in the 60's.

Time for brag - I've got contacts with Penguin in the UK. They've now got the rights to all his books. Say hello to signed 1st edition of his new book.

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Originally Posted by bigred

it is?

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Surprised by this. Not heard anyone else say that. I wonder if its because I and others liked the first 3 mote than you and then loved thr sense of history and context the 4th book created. The next 3 are back to the main story. How did you find 2 and 3?

Know what book ppl get a big boner out of but I just didn't like at all: Dune.

FTS

just finished Cat's Cradle (i stopped on xmas when i got the Book of Basketball),

It was definitely a great book, the whole bokononism thing was awesome.

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Originally Posted by philly and the phanatics

just finished Cat's Cradle (i stopped on xmas when i got the Book of Basketball),

It was definitely a great book, the whole bokononism thing was awesome.

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I actually just bought this book after breezing through Slaughter House 5. I think Vonnegut might be a great author to give a break between more tedious reads.

A+ sig rilla lmao

Just bought Game of Thrones (the first book in the series, and the one that season 1 of the show is based on)....and On the Road by John Kerouac...anybody read either?

on the road I've tried to read, didn't get far into it. I'm sure it would be really cool but it was nothing but name dropping for the first few pages and I got bored pretty quick and gave up, which is pretty rare for me.

damn not the glowing review i was hoping for lol

Roid ....try Legend by David Gemmell

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Originally Posted by Roid_Rage

Its like Lord of the Rings, but interesting. (The books ldo, movies were obv awesome.)

.

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Am i the only one who liked the books and thought the movies sucked?

I didn't think the LOTR movies sucked but I did enjoy the books more.

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Originally Posted by supahaole

I didn't think the LOTR movies sucked but I did enjoy the books more.

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+1

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Originally Posted by philly and the phanatics

damn not the glowing review i was hoping for lol

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Let me know how you get on with it and I may try it again. I'm sure it shoud be a seriously cool book. I was really disappointed as the subject matter and era alone should make for an awesome read.

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Originally Posted by philly and the phanatics

Am i the only one who liked the books and thought the movies sucked?

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Yeah you are one of the few who thought the movies sucked:

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8899/unledir.jpg

hahaha touche im one of the 5%, always knew i was a special...thats why i rode the short bus.

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Originally Posted by philly and the phanatics

Just bought Game of Thrones (the first book in the series, and the one that season 1 of the show is based on)....and On the Road by John Kerouac...anybody read either?

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I think you have to read On the Road when you're like, 18 to really get the most of it. I read it when I was 24 or 25 and all I wanted to do was stab Dean.

Game of Thrones is the fucking SHIT imho. If you can keep track of the characters (seriously not that hard if you get into it) then it's easily the best series I've gotten my hands on.

Just read Ender's Game over the past three days. Great book!

Thank you people of ftr

found this whilst browsing today ...lots of free ebooks from the publisher. some are probably dire but some googling for reviews may dig up some decent books
Books - Baen Books

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Originally Posted by JL

Just read Ender's Game over the past three days. Great book!

Thank you people of ftr

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I've read this book easily 10 times over the last 5-6 years and I can never decide what my favorite part is. I really love his time in the Battle School, but when he gets to Command School it completely ups the badass level in the book.

Also Peter and Valentine doing their own thing as 12 and 14 year olds is siiiiick. Blows my mind every time lol.

Are the books after Ender's Game any good?

I haven't read the entire series, I've actually only read book 3 on the Ender side of things (they follow Bean's point of view in another side series thing) and totally skipped book 2, but book 3 was pretty solid. I've just been too lazy to go out and borrow/buy any of the other ones.

Nothing compares to Ender's Game from what I've heard though. And other readers have told me that Bean's Story is good to meh.

Just finished The Good Soldiers. It's a very good but profoundly sad journalistic account of "The Surge" in Iraq.

I've been reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' based on some discussion in some thread I can't remember around here. Someone said that the Scientific Method was flawed in some way because there are an infinite number of hypothesis capable and not an infinite number of ways to test/verify them.

It is definitely a very thought-provoking book and it welcomes anyone who is up for the challenge but I have to say I have many, many issues with this book.

I think the author says it best when he talks about his alter-yesteryear-ego's experience reading philosophy where you accept the premise of what they're saying and then get frustrated that they simply go in the wrong direction.

I think the most striking aneurysm this book threw me was when his alter-yesteryear-ego Phadreus tries to define Quality. The build up to this question is pretty long and the author does well to build you into his frame of mind (though I think it's flawed severally in places along the way) but he tries to say "We have proved that quality, though undefined, exists. Its existence can be seen empirically in the classroom, and can be demonstrated logically by showing that a world without it cannot exist as we know it." Every point of this frustrates me to no end.

His proof is that he tells you about a class he demonstrated Quality to by telling them "You know what quality is, here's a shitty paper and an awesome paper, who can't tell the differences?" And claims that everyone knew. Of course they did, it's all fiction. Every character in the world of this book fits his philosophical waxing and wanning and it's irritating in the first degree.

He continues his proof by supposing a world without this undefined, but known, Quality and that he gets, in my opinion, strikingly incorrect.

Finally, he says that you can't define quality. It took me 1 page of reading about it and I defined it.

I'm held by a sort of Stockholm Syndrome to this book. I'm just trying to survive it before I can crack open Cat's Cradle.

It's definitely a read to get some blood-flow upstairs and if you find yourself agreeing with any large parts of it, I would love to figure out how that could be.

Just finished Amazon.com: Aloha from Hell (Sandman Slim) eBook: Richard Kadrey: Kindle Store.

It was a pretty awesome read although the ending was a little meh. This whole series has been a good read. It's nothing thought provoking but a great, fast action packed read. If I had to describe the series it would be sin city meets angles vs demons (paradise lost).

I just started reading Catch 22 and not sure how I feel about it. A little too wacky but I'm hoping it gets better.

Under the Dog, Under the Wolf - Adam Rapp

I also need to finish the dark tower series. I'm halfway through the final book (like 3 months ago) but I'm so angry at Steven King I refuse to read it. Books 2 and 3 (maybe 4 too) were amazing. Everything else sucks my balls.

So, as a proposed OP, can someone read the sandman slim series? I thought the portrayal of Lucifer in book 2 was easily one of the best characters in any book I've ever read.

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Originally Posted by bigred

I just started reading Catch 22 and not sure how I feel about it. A little too wacky but I'm hoping it gets better.

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Still way at the beginning of the book but I just got to the "T.S. Eliot part." OG trolling and pure genius at that. I take all negative comments about this book back.

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Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla

I've been reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' based on some discussion in some thread I can't remember around here. Someone said that the Scientific Method was flawed in some way because there are an infinite number of hypothesis capable and not an infinite number of ways to test/verify them.

It is definitely a very thought-provoking book and it welcomes anyone who is up for the challenge but I have to say I have many, many issues with this book.

I think the author says it best when he talks about his alter-yesteryear-ego's experience reading philosophy where you accept the premise of what they're saying and then get frustrated that they simply go in the wrong direction.

I think the most striking aneurysm this book threw me was when his alter-yesteryear-ego Phadreus tries to define Quality. The build up to this question is pretty long and the author does well to build you into his frame of mind (though I think it's flawed severally in places along the way) but he tries to say "We have proved that quality, though undefined, exists. Its existence can be seen empirically in the classroom, and can be demonstrated logically by showing that a world without it cannot exist as we know it." Every point of this frustrates me to no end.

His proof is that he tells you about a class he demonstrated Quality to by telling them "You know what quality is, here's a shitty paper and an awesome paper, who can't tell the differences?" And claims that everyone knew. Of course they did, it's all fiction. Every character in the world of this book fits his philosophical waxing and wanning and it's irritating in the first degree.

He continues his proof by supposing a world without this undefined, but known, Quality and that he gets, in my opinion, strikingly incorrect.

Finally, he says that you can't define quality. It took me 1 page of reading about it and I defined it.

I'm held by a sort of Stockholm Syndrome to this book. I'm just trying to survive it before I can crack open Cat's Cradle.

It's definitely a read to get some blood-flow upstairs and if you find yourself agreeing with any large parts of it, I would love to figure out how that could be.

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Define please.

I recently read salmon fishing in the yemon. It's written in the form of several diaries and interviews after an event which you don't find out about until the end. It's odd, but very well done and a surprisingly good read.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance got much better and I'm glad I stuck with it. In fact, a lot of the issues that I had as I was going along contribute to him going insane so I got a measure of satisfaction from that. When you look back, everything he says from the sciencey side of things is so overwhelmingly on the mark that I have to assume my qualms with his philosophical bits are outmatched.

It even spurred me to read Henri Poincare so I could get another set of eyes on his idea of Quality. And through the process, quality has become a well-defined word for me.

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Originally Posted by supa

Define please.

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Quality is a function of iterations. The difference between a high quality paper and a low quality paper is that the high quality paper represents a history of more iterations - of more papers being written. The author has either learned, or gleaned, or developed on his own techniques which have been developing since papers have been written.

Think of the difference between cave painting and the mona lisa. The cave painter has weaker tools and weaker techniques. He has no idea about representing 3D in a 2D medium, perspective, lighting, etc etc. Over his lifetime, his tools may never improve - he'll always be using his fingers and those same crushed berries; but the more and more he paints, the more and more things he tries, the more and more things he sees work and fail, and over years his painting skill and style itself may evolve. The stuff he'll do at the end of his life will be of a higher Quality than the stuff he did earlier in life.

Now let's pretend that one caveman painter develops a new technique for painting which is a huge step forward. Let's say he discovers that you can paint four legs instead of two and it really gives some liveliness to the deer. This is a technique which can be recognized as quality, is the fruit of this artist's painting after painting, and can be taught to other painters. Now when some young painter begins painting but tackles the new four leg technique immediately, he'll be painting at a higher quality than another young painter who ignores the state of affairs of art and is just hammering away back at square one. Though the young painter hasn't himself put in all the iterations to develop his quality, his work carries with it the legacy of all the work which lead up to developing the techniques.

The same will be true for the tools. As you keep building and using tools for whichever task, rebuilding them everytime they break or fail, you'll become better at pulling together the tools, better at designing them to complete your task more effectively, etc etc. When you swing an axe today and compare it to a rock hand-ax from 50,000 years back, your axe today carries with it the legacy of all those steps in axe technology that we've enjoyed from years and years of ax-making. Your axe carries the legacy of the hand-ax 50,000 years back.

So something of higher quality is something which carries with it a greater legacy of improvements which implies that it carries a spirit of the most iterations since its form became.

It even appropriately tackles the issue that sometimes it's difficult to discern the better quality between say an iphone and a droid phone as both represent in many ways identical legacies of all the technologies which go into them.

reading catcher in the rye for the first time gl me

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Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla

Are the books after Ender's Game any good?

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rest of the series is MUCH better than Ender's Game. The 2nd book was written first but he decided he had to go back and explain things. IIRC you're a fallout guy - Ender's Game is really linear, rest of the series goes open world.

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Originally Posted by bikes

reading catcher in the rye for the first time gl me

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Kind of a book that would have been better in your late teens.

Now, Holden will just seem like whiny bitch.

reading bonfire of the vanities right now and its fucking awesome so far, beautifully written and very funny

Anyone have a good sci fi rec? I've read the Ender Games Series, most zombie books, the passage, sandman slim, etc...

Hmmmm, ready player one seems the obvious choice from 2011 sci fi releases

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Originally Posted by bigred

Anyone have a good sci fi rec? I've read the Ender Games Series, most zombie books, the passage, sandman slim, etc...

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I recently read the Iam Cormac novels, by Neal Asher (five books starting with Gridlinked). They were a good read.

I assume you've read Dune? If not, get those immediately. But only the ones by Frank Herbert -- the ones by his kid are trash.

Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis

fun read for anyone who works in trading, is just interested in investing, or historical events on wall street

City boy is kinda like a newer version of the same thing and also a good read.

I'll check out these other recs after Ready Player One. 15% of the way in. I wouldn't say it's amazing in the sense of original sci fi but that's not the point. It's sooooooo nostalgic for anyone who grew up near the 80s or early 90s. Fun read so far.

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Originally Posted by bigred

Anyone have a good sci fi rec? I've read the Ender Games Series, most zombie books, the passage, sandman slim, etc...

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SF:
Re Ender - Have you read the shadow series too? [Bean's story] I enjoyed it a lot personally.
Greg Bear - Eon, The forge of God + The Anvil of stars. I've read a lot more of his 80's / 90's stuff, but those were my favourites.
Larry Niven - Ringworld. Also his colaberations - The mote in God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Oath of fealty, The legacy of heorot, Footfall. All with Purnelle iirc.
Steven Donaldson's Gap series is awesome imo. Probably depends if you like his style. [Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]

Lots of other stuff too I'm sure, but take a look at some of those. Those Greg Bear ones are excellent.

Fantasy:

For those of you that enjoy good fantasy, read
"The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfus. Then of course read the "The wise man's fear" because the first one is just awesome!

Can't say I remember what happened in which book of the Ender series, but I have to say it's one of those reads that planted a disquieting feeling in me and some profound thoughts that will never leave me.

The old Starship Troopers book is pretty awesome.

I need a trashy novel or two for a holiday.

Things that I have already read and like that would fit hte bill include:

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series
The girl with the dragon tattoo series
Stephen King/Dean Koontz stuff
John Grisham stuff

I also have a book voucher that would get me two books. I don't want anything too serious or heavy. I don't want to learn stuff or have to think too much about it, I just want to be entertained. Any recommendations?

The Godfather.

Just picked this up, along with some others at Barnes and Noble a couple days ago. Fucking awesome so far and I'm barely past the wedding scene.

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Originally Posted by bigred

Anyone have a good sci fi rec? I've read the Ender Games Series, most zombie books, the passage, sandman slim, etc...

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Wool by Hugh Howie

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Originally Posted by DanAronG

I need a trashy novel or two for a holiday.

Things that I have already read and like that would fit hte bill include:

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series
The girl with the dragon tattoo series
Stephen King/Dean Koontz stuff
John Grisham stuff

I also have a book voucher that would get me two books. I don't want anything too serious or heavy. I don't want to learn stuff or have to think too much about it, I just want to be entertained. Any recommendations?

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Ezgame...hunger games

Or if you want something fun and badass, Sandman Slim. It reminds me a lot of the Sin City episode with Mickey Rourke, but as if Mickey Rourke were a badass caught in a war between heaven and hell in LA.

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Originally Posted by bigred

Or if you want something fun and badass, Sandman Slim

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Amazon.com: Sandman Slim: A Novel (9780061714306): Richard Kadrey: Books

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Originally Posted by bigred

Amazon.com: Sandman Slim: A Novel (9780061714306): Richard Kadrey: Books

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This looks great. Gonna order it tonight.

Not sure on the other one, kinda seems like running man with kids, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but its not doing much for me right now.

Any more?

Jesus fucking Christ only one store anywhere accepts national book tokens gift vouchers. How fucking stupid!

Not sure if I should get 2nd in series of Sandman Slim as well as if first is so good I might wanna dive straignt into the second, but it's a risk in case I'm not that into it.


Also getting enders game as so many people seem to rave about it.

So there's three of them...all quick reads. The second one is possibly one of my favorite reads in the last five years due to its portrayal of Lucifer.

I can understand you not wanting to read Hunger Games but the movie is coming out and you asked for some light reading.

World War Z is a pretty cool book about zombies that is very realistic and chronicles the zombie war through tons of different characters with no real "main" character. Light reading in the sense that you can read a few accounts (each is a few pages but keep in mind I read it on a kindle) and put it down and then come back later.

I'm about 60% through ready player one and if you've ever played video games (especially mmorpgs) and/or liked geeky stuff in the 80's, it's pretty awesome and nostalgic.

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Originally Posted by DanAronG

I need a trashy novel or two for a holiday.

Things that I have already read and like that would fit hte bill include:

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series
The girl with the dragon tattoo series
Stephen King/Dean Koontz stuff
John Grisham stuff

I also have a book voucher that would get me two books. I don't want anything too serious or heavy. I don't want to learn stuff or have to think too much about it, I just want to be entertained. Any recommendations?

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Amazon.com: Michael Crichton: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

air frame
disclosure
rising sun
j park

prob his best. whatever you do, don't get the pirate one!

or

Amazon.com: robert parker: Books

it is a series but each book is more or less self contained, you don't need to finish it. start at the beginning just because they go slowly downhill after book 10ish.

also if you really want trashy obv go with

Amazon.com: Flowers in the Attic (Dollanger Saga) (9781416510888): V.C. Andrews: Books

Read lots of Michael Crichton, but he peaked with State of Fear, nothing else I read of his will touch that, yet I head into each new read with the huge expectation that it might, which leads to eternal disappointmen.

yeah state of fear was a good one too

Enders Game.

Wow!

Highlight of my holiday so far.

Yeah buddy. They don't get much better unfortunately. :(

So the rest of the series are a disappointment? The first did set a high bar.