RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media What Are You Reading?

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. I love the Discworld books about the Watch and this is the one where it really starts to be the way it ends up. This book introduces Angua and it's the one where Detritus joins.

I started re-reading Catch-22 this week. It's faster the second time through.

I tried that a couple months ago but only read the first couple chapters. I can't remember why I never finished it.

The first time I read it was over an extended four years. I didn't get it until it was over, really. You have to know the pattern or it is just chaos.

The Texan is like Beardguy.

Apart from LoTR:

'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel. Good so far and has a 'classic' feal to it. It's easy to sympathise with the protagonist.

Re-reading 'Sixth Column' from 1942/48 by Robert A. Heinlein. I guess I like to read about how eviiiiiiiil Aseans destroy Western civilisation. Seriously, I think it's because it's easy to read, fast and exciting. Besides the zenophopia toward Japanese (think Pearl Harbour) and Chinese (China becoming Communist), it's IMO uplifting too see how the heroes builds a resistance movement (the title name) in order to regain liberty.

I got away from re - reading " Have Space Suit, Will Travel" ... I put it down for several weeks but got back into an old habit.. reading before I go to bed. ..am almost done the book, and need to pick out another one to read.

I have many unread books to choose from.

Almost done with Brad Meltzer's The Zero Game. Haven't decided what to read next - I'm think maybe some philosophy or theology, mayhaps...

Finished The Snow Fox. If you're a chick that likes samurai movies, this one is for you. And kudos for the writer for not making a generic happy ending. Just don't try to compare it to Memoirs of a Geisha. If this was made into a five-hour anime, I'd be pleased.

Also finished Tom Wolfe's I am Charlotte Simmons. Seeing as how I'm most familiar with his novel The Right Stuff (and the movie with Dennis Quaid), this book was a bit of a surprise. Still, the University of Florida was part of his 'campus tour' to understand college in the 00s.

The book was sort of scary with how many details he got right. Pretty blonde girls messing up their makeup throwing up at a frat party. Left-wing newspaper nerds against jocks and the administration. People with 1500 SATs (I think I scored higher than just about eveyone in my class and I didn't have that score) getting wasted on Friday nights.

Some people complain about Charlotte Simmins being too innocent for the novel. I disagree. Yes, she is a more extreme version of myself when I entered college, but that's not the point. Wolfe needed an extreme character to compare everyone else's extravagance too.

In addition, the other characters were just as interesting. There's a jock, a frat boy, and a nerd...but they're not limited to their titles. The jock wants to learn about Socrates, but he's afraid to because the basketball players are suppose to like studying. The frat boy is like the cricket in an old fable -- he's graduting, but even his 'brothers' can't get him a 90,000 job. He's also a modern-day Lovelace, for those of you familiar with Clarissa. The nerd swings from being likable (shows Charlotte the 'smarter' side of the school) and being creepy (looks up her name online so he can 'bump' into her for a second meeting).

a very big sherlock holmes collection. hes the greatest...

Next is 'State of Fear'. I'm excited.

I'm excited too!

Its good. I got the six dollar hardcover the other day. I'll probably read it again soon. Next is reserved at the library but I don't think I'll get it for another couple weeks.

Right now I'm about half way through 'The Fall of Atlantis' by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I've had this book for at least 15 years and have never finished reading it.

It's alright, but the pacing is way off. The spans of time go from single nights that last over chapters to months as you turn a page...with no indication of what is happening when for several paragraphs (often a page or two). It's very disorienting.

Finally finished reading " Have Space Suit, Will Travel ", by Robert Heinlein. Now, I must find another book to read....

And I will soon be reading TheThrawn Trilogy, which covers the time after Jedi ended. Written by Zhan. I got it on Amazon. Com.

I'm looking forward to reading it.

I'm forty pages into it. So far it's a murder mystery with the suggestion of supernatural activity. So far it's a good book.

Reading "Midas World" by Frederik Pohl. It's a series of linked short stories that shows what happens when extremely cheap energy (fusion) and intelligent robots change society. Highly recommended.

Stephen King's The Gunslinger

I'm reading a biography on Kevin Costner called "The Greatest Actor That Ever Lived". Incredible read. It also comes in novella form for Snarf.

Timothy Zahn - The Thrawn Trilogy : Volume 1 - " Heir To The Empire. "

I am told that this is the best set ( 3 books ) of Star Wars books.

Okay, I liked State of Fear. Started out really slow with some so-so characters, but it all worked out in the end. Very thought-provoking, which made up for the Crichton's usual flat characters (not to knock him, love his books, but he uses stock characters a lot).

I think I liked Next better, simply because I find genetics more exciting than global warming. That being said, these two books were also about science and politics in the new century -- something hinted at in his earlier books, but not with the same force.

finished Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

it is. and not nearly stocked in stores enough.

I tried reading it a couple weeks ago. Couldn't get into it. I'll probably try it again sometime.

I bought The October Country some week ago. Apart from that one I have The Illustrated Man, Farenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes and I Sing The Body Electric.

I read Martian Chronicles as a kid, remember it was very good.

Have finished:
Death Wish by Brian Garfield
Slan by Alfred Elton van Vogt

Have begun:
The World of Null-A by A.E. van Vogt.

All very fine novels.

Don't think I've ever posted on this thread before.

I've paged back thru 4 or 5 pages and am impressed by the diversity of books the RKMB crowd is into.

Are any of you fond of particular genres...to the exclusion of most others?

I like hard boiled crime novels. Some of the best are the Matthew Scudder books by Lawrence Block. They chronicle the life of Mr. Scudder in real time from the early 70s to the present. he's a former cop/Private investigator whose a recovering alcholic, his best friend is a career criminal and is married to a former prostitute. Great reads if only for Block's incredible ability to write a realistic New York City and craft characters that you can become emotionally invested in.

Another good series is the Prey books by John Sandford. They follow the life of Lucas Davenport, a Minneapolis cop that has a penchant for violence and womenizing. Again, the writing is such that you really care about the characters.

I also like most of Stephen King books. I especially liked the Dark Tower saga. I'm looking forward to the comic adaptation and I recently read that there are plans to bring all 7 books to the screen...hopefully big. I don't like some of his more recent stuff...I'm more interested in his stuff set in Maine as I like the continuity/crossover between books.

Greg Rucka has a nice series of books about a bodyguard named Atticus Kodiak. Agains great reads with great characters.

I've recently rediscovered James Patterson and his Alex Cross series. His newest is a doozy.

I've begun reading some of David Baldacci's work...Saving Faith, The Collector's and Last Man Standing being the most recent reads. His prose style is a little flowery and overly descriptive for me...kind of takes you out of the story...but, overall, they're entertaining reads and I will eventually work thru his enitire bibliography.

Currently, I am trying to get thru Thomas Harris's awful prequel to the Hannibal Lechter books, Hannibal Rising. I've had this book since mid December and I haven't made it thru 100 pages yet. Just a crap book but, eventually I'll finish it...if only becuase I paid almost full cover price for it. Hardcover, no less....

So do I. If I really enjoy a book I'll buy it and I've been trying to get all my favorites in hardcover. I just can't justify spending around 20 bucks for something I might only read once when I can get it for free.

Haven't read shit lately. I've resorted to listening to Books on CD. I'm gonna start Red Storm Rising soon.

I read a book a week from the time I was about 7 or 8 till I was in my early 30's.... and then I got cable tv. Several years later, a computer.

Now my reading is mostly online news articles
and Astronomy site stuff.

A friend tells me he does the audio book thing and prefers that to reading... I'm gonna check to see if my fave books are all on cd and look 'em up.

I'd like to force myself to read books again, but the 21st century is so full of distractions....

The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

finished
Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn (damn good read that dispells a lot of myths about REH that have grown up since his death)
and
It's Good to be The King. . .Sometimes by Jerry Lawler with Doug Asheville (very entertaining read by the Memphis legend)

just started
Lost Echoes by Joe R. Lansdale

I recently finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. I would highly recommend it - it's a quick read but definitely promotes thought and discussion. Good stuff.