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Just finished Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson - a fascinating account of Bass' career as a forensic anthropologist and the groundbreaking (pun intended) work at his facility dubbed "The Body Farm" - a lab devoted to the study of human decomposition. There's a wealth of detail about what Bass does on a regular basis (everything from excavating buried bodies to observing the decomposition process day-by-day at the Body Farm), which really highlights how important forensic anthropology is to law enforcement. A great read, if not for the squeamish. Going to read Black Swan Green by David Mitchell next. I enjoyed his previous 3 novels, so I'm looking forward to this one.
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Nov 19, 2007 04:35
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World War Z, Max Brooks drat that was fun! I don't know of any other mockumentary/zombie novels, so it's pretty much in a class all its own. The only part I really didn't like was the stuff involving the space station. That was just...well, "Armageddon" bad, probably because I've got an elementary understanding of those things. Otherwise, drat good show and I'm definitely going to grab the survival guide when I get a chance.
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Nov 19, 2007 08:47
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LooseChanj posted:I'm definitely going to grab the survival guide when I get a chance. While it probably wont be AS riveting, it definitely gives one the sense of knowing they can take an invasion of the dead. Heh. Glad you liked it.
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Nov 19, 2007 16:13
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Jupiter, Mars, and Moonrise by Ben Bova. I'm working my way through the Grand Tour obviously. Mars was by far the superior novel. I find Bova's characters somewhat lacking and one dimensional, but his descriptions of planetary exploration and the battle between scientists and politicians were very enjoyable. Moonbase was boring as hell though. I suppose some people are interested in the corperations behind planetary colonization but I found it incredibly dull. I really couldn't bring myself to care about Masterson Aerospace after 400 pages of board meetings and political conniving. I think I'm going to skip over Moonwar all together. Jupiter was really interesting, though the interaction with ETI towards the really seemed to be an afterthought to wrap up the book quickly and was pretty disapointing.
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Nov 19, 2007 20:27
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Just finished "The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot" by Naomi Wolf. I had to read it after watching a clip on YouTube from one of her talks on the subject, really well written, I would highly recommend it. Starting "A Thousand Barrels a second" by Peter Tertzakian next.
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Nov 19, 2007 21:46
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We3 by Grant Morison and Frank Quitely. It's a graphic novel about 3 animals, a dog, cat and rabbit, who are made into living weapons. The animals escape when they learn they are going to be dismantled and decide to find "home", which is just a kind of faint memory from when they were ordinary pets. It's a graphic novel so it's short, maybe a little too short, but it is amazing. I think the main characters being animals make the simple, bare bones story telling work. I was crying pretty much the whole way through this book (which was a bit embarassing when my husband asked me why I was crying at a comic book). I definately recommend it to any graphic novel fans.
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Nov 20, 2007 17:36
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LooseChanj posted:World War Z, Max Brooks I've just finished off my school reading list for the semester so I decided to start reading for fun again. I forgot how good it feels to pick books you like to read. The whole middle part was really hard for me to read. One of my biggest fears is a world-wide pandemic, like the Avian 'flu, and reading about the spread and devestation of this disease was pretty unfun. Still, this book was amazing. My favourite thing is just how much thought the author put into the scenario, especially how various nations reacted to the war, especially China, Russia and Cuba. I especially enjoyed the little things that weren't covered in great detail like the last broadcast out of Buenos Aires.
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Nov 21, 2007 05:18
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I just finished Boomsday by Christopher Buckley, who is definitely my new favorite author. I didn't think it was as polished as Little Green Men (my favorite of his) or Thank You For Smoking, but it was plenty drat entertaining. Also finished reading Dostoevsky's The Idiot (Pevear/Volokhonsky translation) side by side with the original Russian text. Now that was a bender. Since I enjoyed Pattern Recognition so much by William Gibson, I suppose I ought to give Neuromancer a try. Bohemienne fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Nov 21, 2007 |
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Nov 21, 2007 09:45
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The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima. Though I was worried that it would be as boring as Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country, but it was a very good read. I thought the chapters focusing on the 'objectivists' and their vivisections and Ryuji were especially well written. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. I loved the setting, the characters and the plot, but the ending wasn't handled nearly as well as the rest of the story. It really felt it should have been longer, and Hertz Shemets turning out to be Schpilman's killer seemed tacked on. The book definitely put me in the mood for some Raymond Chandler, maybe I'll read The Big Sleep next.
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Nov 21, 2007 12:20
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I just finished Why I Write by Orwell. Thought it was an interesting take on political writing and Orwell's beliefs as they stood when he wrote it. The satire is subtle and quite humorous. I'll probably read it again, it's only maybe 200 pages at most. I also finished The Lion's Pride, a biopic of Theodore Roosevelt focusing on him and his family. It was a very interesting book, especially concerning World War I and the state-side and non-combat occurrences. I started Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy last night after reading No Country.. and The Road Clarence Darrow fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Nov 21, 2007 |
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Nov 21, 2007 13:52
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Lolita by Vladamir Nabakov. Actually surprised by this, which I didn't think was possible having seen both films and a stage-adaptation of it. But the book is so wonderfully written that you do end up fascinated by it. True, Humbert is 100 times more loathsome and despicable than in the films, but he's also far more charming and ingenious. Is was however something of a plod to wade through it. Not bad.
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Nov 22, 2007 22:02
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The End of Faith by Sam Harris Sam Harris is much smarter than me. He also knows a lot more about philosophy than me. (BTW, what do I read as a primer for learning more about philosophies/ers?) So parts of this book just didn't mean anything to me. Of the parts I could read, comprehend, and learn from - I loved it. The last chapter which talks about consciousness, self, and the concept of "I" really went over my head. I'd love to learn more about philosophy and be able to come back to the last chapter and understand it. This book is also terrifying. I walked away from this book with an honest skepticism as to man's ability to survive this century. The things people do for religion now - forget centuries past and look at what is going on today - is horrifying.
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Nov 22, 2007 22:58
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Threshold, Caitlin R. Kiernan Friend of a friend of a net-buddy of mine, so I've been checking for her whenever I go into the local B&N, and the other day I noticed the novelization of the Beowulf flick on the shelves and realized it was the first time I'd ever actually seen something she's written in the flesh. I *hate* movie tie-ins, so I thought I'd see if maybe, just maybe since she'd got the gig for the Beowulf novel maybe they'd seen fit to order some of her other stuff, and they had! They had two copies of Low Red Moon, so I grabbed this one figuring at least one of them would be there if I felt like coming back for more. It was fun. You know those dorky "horror" stories teenage goth chicks like to write? This is like those, but with 99% less dork. I liked how she built on her
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Nov 23, 2007 00:46
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I have finished reading a few Stephen King books such as Dreamcatcher, Desperation and Misery. I'm also now reading The shining by king, he is a brilliant author.
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Nov 24, 2007 14:47
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Just reread both Going Postal and Thud! by Terry Pratchett. Enjoyed them a lot once again. Quick, fun reads. Now: Currently trying to rea dPhillip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly" in Spanish. It is weird.
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Nov 24, 2007 17:18
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The Shrinking Man, Richard Matheson This was the first "grownup" novel I ever read. Seriously, the book I just put down is the same one I bought all those years ago and to date myself (cuz no one else will! har!) the price on the cover is $1.95. The bookmark I used was the ticket stub for a ZZ Top concert from May 20th, 1986, which was the first time I ever smelt pot. (Didn't know then what it was, but it's a pretty distinctive smell.) Anyway, thanks for listening to my little trip down memory lane. I don't remember what I thought of this the first time around, or if I've even re-read it since. The Ozzie & Harriet 50's morality was a little annoying, but that's what the protagonist was, and his journey through the increasing difficulties of his smaller and smaller size and thus smaller and smaller manhood (in both senses) are most of the story. I doubt we'd have gotten half the angst and conflict from someone who lived in a culture where size didn't matter. The rest was his struggle to survive after becoming trapped in his basement, and his terror of and eventual triumph over a block widow which also lived there. I wish it had gone on longer, and done more after his realization that 0" doesn't mean nothingness, but ah well. Still a drat good book. LooseChanj fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Nov 24, 2007 |
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Nov 24, 2007 19:37
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The Stand, by Stephen King. First Stephen King novel I've read, and while I did enjoy it quite a bit (I read it in less than a week), I'm not the hugest fan of King's writing. That, and I've never come so close to putting down a book than I was when he killed off Nick Andros. I know it was necessary to the plot, but jeez.  Good book, though, overall.
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Nov 25, 2007 04:03
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I was on vacation and I left the book I was reading at home (Midnight Tides by Stephen Erickson) so I bought something to read until I got home. I picked up The Rising by Brian Keene because it was about Zombies, and wasn't overly long. I ended up finishing it in two days, it was really good. It takes a twist on the standard zombie method (Shambling dumb reanimated corpses) Instead these zombies can talk, think, drive cars, shoot guns, basicly anything they could have done before they died. It sounds kind of stupid but I really enjoyed it, and as a result I have picked up the second book, City of the Dead.
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Nov 25, 2007 05:06
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Black Swan Green by David Mitchell - Another great book from Mitchell - a coming-of-age story about a young British kid growing up in the early 80s. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - I'd been wanting to read this for a while and I wasn't disappointed. Fantastic book and I can't recommend it enough. Also re-read Mieville's The Scar again. Perdido Street Station is still my favorite but The Scar isn't a slouch by any means.
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Nov 25, 2007 06:23
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Name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss this might very well be the best character driven fantasy I have ever read, seriously if you like epic fantasy you should really check it out.
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Nov 25, 2007 21:34
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Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Oh, so that's why people like him. I had never read anything by him before, and I absolutely loved it. I should have read this earlier. I also managed to convince a professor to let me write a term paper on the book and the Judge, specifically, so I'll be playing with the book for a while. God, I love Southern writers so much  Now I want to see No Country for Old Men, too.
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Nov 26, 2007 00:05
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Children of dune by Frank Herbert I realized a few weeks ago that I had never actually finished the second Dune book. I couldn't deal with the social stigma of not having finished the series any longer and so I picked up Dune again during exam week. In retrospect that was maybe a mistake...
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Nov 26, 2007 02:59
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Just finished up Hesse's Steppenwolfe 5 minutes ago and I'm pretty disappointed. From a couple of posts of praise here on the forums for Steppenwolfe and Demian I decided to pick up Steppenwolfe, and the thing just dragged. Aside from a few interesting passages, The writing style (maybe it's just the translation) seemed incredibly dry and boring. The plot of Demian seems really intriguing, but is it worth picking up if I disliked Steppenwolfe?
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Nov 26, 2007 04:59
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Rhork posted:Children of dune by Frank Herbert The social stigma would be attached to going on to read all of the Kevin J Anderson/ Brian Herbert spinoffs. I thought God Emperor was the second strongest in the series, but some people don't like it. After God Emperor a lot of readers feel the quality drops off, but you'll still find people that stick by Heretics and Chapterhouse (I'm not one of them). I have yet to see anyone on the forums going to bat for the KJA/BA books though.
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Nov 26, 2007 13:25
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Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. Read it on the plane home for the holiday and finished in the car. Too much traveling, ugh. Anyway, interesting book. It starts off with Jane Charlotte being interviewed by a doctor for a murder she admits to committing. The twist is that she claims to be a member of a group that fights evil. I'm hesitant to talk about the book too much because there's a lot of crazy twists in it. She's a very unreliable narrator, and there's a distinct sci-fi lean of the book. Overall, a fun take on the secret agent genre.
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Nov 26, 2007 19:46
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I just finished The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole. After I read it, it made me wish he never did himself in. If he was writing like that at only age 16, I can only imagine what he would have written post-Confederacy of Dunces. Could any of you recommend another writer with a similar voice to Toole? I rather read something else other than The Fall of Hyperion.
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Nov 26, 2007 21:00
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The Devil You Know, Poppy Z. Brite Nice short story collection, more hit than miss.
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Nov 26, 2007 23:04
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Captain Satire posted:I just finished Less than Zero By Bret Easton Ellis and adored it. There is something about his highly personal style and stark violence and cynicism that I really love. I have read Rules of Attraction and American Psycho already and like them to so I think I will move onto The Informers unless somebody suggests something else. i'd suggest going to Glamorama next as The Informers was written at basically the same time as Less than Zero and Rules of Attraction, so the style remains the same.
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Nov 27, 2007 00:18
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I just finished Accelerando by Charles Stross, who I'd given another chance on the insistence of my book dealer after reading Singularity Sky and not liking it. I suppose Accelerando did somewhat rehabilitate Stross to me, yet his writing always seems to have this smidge of Unix Humor that I just do not find funny. I'm still not going to actively seek out new material by him. If you're into slashdot and open source and user friendly and so on, this is totally for you.
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Nov 27, 2007 15:40
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I just finished A Confederacy of Dunces. It was hilarious. Toole writes incredible characters. I just read that they almost made a film adaptation with Will Ferrell as Ignatius J. Reilly, but it was scrapped. It's too bad, he would be perfect for that role if he put on some weight. It was a little disturbing, because a few times I had to acknowledge that I've acted like Ignatius. But, I know people who are far more like him, so that made me feel better.
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Nov 27, 2007 16:16
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I just finished God's Debris by Scott Adams. Yes, the Dilbert guy. I swear it was worth reading. Honest. No, it's not supposed to be funny. Actually it's yet another book questioning the value of religion. I learned about it in another TBB thread. I really liked it because it actually brings some new ideas to the table (at least as far as I've heard). I'm an atheist, but reading atheistic literature is pretty much a waste of time to me. All atheism really boils down to is "everyone else believes in Santa Claus, and one day I decided I don't believe that silly story anymore." That's why Dawkins and Harris and pretty much everyone else seem to keep writing the same book over and over. I agree with them, but I really don't need to keep reading about how smart atheists are. It's kinda worthless. God's Debris is a little different. It tries to take the piss out of both the religious and atheists. The book is a weird thought experiment that tries to break the problems of the universe down to their most simple solutions. Then he questions those simple solutions. Honestly, it's worth reading. I don't agree with Adams 100%, but it's definitely an interesting angle on the big questions. Oh, I almost forgot. You can even download the ebook version for free: https://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/ Zero Karizma fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Nov 27, 2007 |
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Nov 27, 2007 17:58
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“The Wizard Knight” by Gene Wolfe; I did not like this book from the start and pushed my way through. This was part of my current literary fantasy reading which has included “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,” “Little, Big,” and continued with Wolfe. This may have been better if I were a reader of pulp high fantasy… This ended my fantasy experience for now. This experience made me pick up my first Michael Chabon book; well worth it for that if nothing else.
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Nov 27, 2007 18:40
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Just finished re-reading Erikson's Gardens of the Moon. I own the first five Malazan books but I've only read up to book 3 (Memories of Ice), which was about a year and a half ago, so I want to refresh my memory before I tackle books 4-5 (which I just bought recently). I remember why I liked GotM but at the same time I remember what I didn't like. Erikson's a great writer but GotM definitely needed to be tightened up a bit - he throws so many characters, concepts and plotlines at you that it's a struggle to keep up sometimes when reading it for the first time. I remembered the rough outlines of the book from my first time around, so it was easier to follow and a bit more enjoyable this time. Going to jump into Deadhouse Gates next, of course.
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Nov 27, 2007 19:25
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Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander Auslander believes in god and it's loving his life up. Growing up in an orthodox jewish neighborhood with an abusive father and a pathetic mother, he spent of a lot of his youth wavering between rebellion and piety. Guilt was a constant presence in his life. The memoir is framed as an explanation to his son why he isn't raising him jewish. Fantastic book.
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Nov 27, 2007 23:03
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The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne I'd recommend this to anyone who was turned off by The Scarlet Letter. It is much easier to read and is lighter on the symbolism, though it is still there in spades. One thing to remember is that the narrator is.... strange ... and it's not immediately apparent that this is the case. Once you understand Miles Coverdale, the novel makes a lot more sense.
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Nov 28, 2007 17:06
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Just finished The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. Good book, decent read, i preferred its predecessor "Old Mans War" tho. Also just finished reading Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy again. I still enjoyed it. Just started 2012 by Whitley Strieber. Only a few chapters in and I am hooked, looks to be a good read. Also in the middle of The African Queen by C.S. Forester.
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Nov 28, 2007 21:55
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I just finished reading A Scanner Darkly. Pretty drat confusing. Liked it, but the Spanish translation made some parts a bit harder to read (Spain's Spanish, imagining the accents was fun). Just started reading The French Connection, hoping it will be good.
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Nov 28, 2007 22:23
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Last night I just finished Gene Wolfe's The Wizard. It was good. As good as The Knight? Perhaps not. It's a little more inaccessable - some things seem to happen that are a bit obtuse and hard to follow (as often happens in Wolfe novels - usually I'm better at picking up how and why things occur but this mystified me) - but still thoroughly enjoyable. We get to see a lot more of the AEsir and Jotun parallels, and Able become more awesome. A couple of brief criticisms: i) It felt like some of the characters could have been amalgamated. Svon, Wistan and Toug were too similar. While I suppose Toug had a different angle to add, Svon and Wistan were essentially the same damned character with only superficial differences. ii) Some of the later chapters could have done with more detail. The final war of the series is skipped over fairly quickly. Overall, I still must say that the interesting take on Norse mythology, the awesome central character (Able, or as we learn, Arthur), and Wolfe's wonderful prose carry the day and turn this into a very good novel. I didn't like it as much as The Knight, but I'm pretty certain that on a reread a year or so down the track it will improve as I understand more of the world and the characters' motivations, as seems to happen with most of Wolfe's literature. Edit: Oh yeah, the ending is pretty awesome. Becoming a champion of God - the Christian God that is? Sounds loving neat! Neurosis fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Nov 29, 2007 |
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Nov 29, 2007 02:26
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Zero Karizma posted:I just finished God's Debris by Scott Adams. Yes, the Dilbert guy. I swear it was worth reading. Honest. I read a little bit of one of his serious books and he came across as a delusion new ager. I stopped reading right around the part where he was talking about his belief that if you really really think hard about something happening and write that it will happen a hundred times a day, then we will influence the universe and it will happen. This concept, of course, later being known as THE SECRETTM Anyway, he seems full of poo poo to me.
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Nov 29, 2007 02:48
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maxnmona posted:I read a little bit of one of his serious books and he came across as a delusion new ager. Oh it absolutely is new age bullshit, hands down. No contest. God's Debris is barely, barely rewritten/adapted Hinduism. And the more cynical among us know Hinduism is pretty much neck-and-neck with Buddhism as the principle religion exploited by wacky new-age spiritual types. (Ignoring Wicca, because, well... Wicca) But aren't all these "I have the answers to the universe" books full of poo poo? All actual religious texts are pretty much wishful thinking in my mind anyway. Hell, even on the anti-faith side of the coin it's a lot of nonsense posturing. I'm a pretty staunch atheist, but I every single book about Atheism I've read has been: "Man, are we smart! I mean aren't we smart, reader? You know who's dumb? Everyone who's not us." I mean, it's good that they are written and I loved it the first time, but its just gotten tiresome to read over and over. I liked God's Debris not so much as a way to live, but as an interesting alternative to the views I usually have shoved in my face all day. I just found it interesting to read a different opinion on the matter, even if it's from the guy who makes Dilbert. It's not like I believe the book. I just think it's as worthwhile a read as God is Not Great or The God Delusion for alternate takes on the meaning of life. quote:I stopped reading right around the part where he was talking about his belief that if you really really think hard about something happening and write that it will happen a hundred times a day, then we will influence the universe and it will happen. This concept, of course, later being known as THE SECRETTM I kinda forgot this part, but didn't the book said that writing the stuff 100 times to get it to happen was foolish? If I remember correctly wasn't the only reason it occasionally seemed to work was because the people who have the predisposition to devote the energy to writing that stuff are probably the people who would have earned it anyway or something? I could be wrong, but I thought the old guy dismissed this. I thought his main point was something about probability and how science doesn't have full explanations for stuff like "what exactly IS gravity" and "why does probability exist?" and the like. That and how all religion is wrong and we're just trying to reconcile our existence with our available knowledge from century to century. That last part I can definitely agree with. Edit: Oh, and religious folks, I'm not trying to make IM ATHEIST DEAL WITH IT type dick-headed attacks here. Just trying to express my opinions in context. Edit2: Except for the Wiccan comment. gently caress that poo poo. Zero Karizma fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Nov 29, 2007 |
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Nov 29, 2007 04:18
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