What Are You Reading? vX.x - Page 5

Vince, Pt. II · 10-07-2009, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

Okay, I'm sold. I feel the same way about Christopher Moore and Lamb. Fool just went up to the top of my "to read" list. Thanks Vince!

Excellent! Let me know what you think of it.

k0ruptr · 10-07-2009, 01:27 AM

Can anyone suggest some good sport books? fiction or non. I particularly enjoy a good bio/autobiography and books about football/baseball.

Vince, Pt. II · 10-07-2009, 01:41 AM

Just about anything by John Feinstein is great - in the last year I've read "Caddy for Life: The Bruce Edwards Story," "A Good Walk Spoiled," "Tales From Q School," and "The Last Amateurs" (which is about NCAA Basketball in the Patriot League). All were great reads, and amazingly enough all cost me $1 each new at Barnes and Noble for a sale.

k0ruptr · 10-07-2009, 01:58 AM

Thanks! I'll check them out. Are they available in ebook format at all?

rowech · 10-07-2009, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

Can anyone suggest some good sport books? fiction or non. I particularly enjoy a good bio/autobiography and books about football/baseball.

When Pride Still Mattered -- biography on Vince Lombardi. A fantastic book.

Peregrine · 10-07-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

Can anyone suggest some good sport books? fiction or non. I particularly enjoy a good bio/autobiography and books about football/baseball.

I enjoyed "The Best Game Ever" by Mark Bowden, about the 1958 championship game between the Giants and Colts. Good history about an era in football I didn't know much about.

Also I would recommend that any NFL fan read "A Few Seconds of Panic" by Stefan Fatsis about his attempt to become an NFL kicker - really revealing about what goes on in a modern NFL training camp, the attitudes of the players, etc.

Both of them are available from Audible.

Chief Rum · 10-07-2009, 11:27 AM

I wrote yesterday about reading Gaiman's Stardust. I finished it last night. It's really a very light read and good for a fun, quick read through.

At the point I was at yesterday, the book ran very similarly to the movie (which I had already seen). Almost as if in anticipation, the book veered rather sharply from the movie at that point (or vice versa, to be more accurate).

In the end, I felt I got an almost entirely different story, and although in the end, things were much the same, the way the book went about it was quite a bit different.

I enjoyed both ways. The book's was simpler, more straight forward and in line with the easy read. The movie was much more Hollywood-ized (more action and drama), but I don't mind that if it's decently well done.

All in all, it's okay, but not as good as Neverwhere or American Gods.

Peregrine · 10-07-2009, 11:32 AM

Have you read Gaiman's The Graveyard Book? I just finished it on audiobook (read by Gaiman) and really liked it - it's sort of aimed at kids, sort of at adults, and really is interesting and fun. I particularly liked Gaiman doing the various voices of the characters in the audiobook version.

Chief Rum · 10-07-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Have you read Gaiman's The Graveyard Book? I just finished it on audiobook (read by Gaiman) and really liked it - it's sort of aimed at kids, sort of at adults, and really is interesting and fun. I particularly liked Gaiman doing the various voices of the characters in the audiobook version.

No, I haven't. I'll have to check it out. Gaiman's got an interesting mind, fun to see what he comes up with. I have to pick up The Anansi Boys, too.

bbor · 10-07-2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Just about anything by John Feinstein is great - in the last year I've read "Caddy for Life: The Bruce Edwards Story," "A Good Walk Spoiled," "Tales From Q School," and "The Last Amateurs" (which is about NCAA Basketball in the Patriot League). All were great reads, and amazingly enough all cost me $1 each new at Barnes and Noble for a sale.

+++++1

AgustusM · 10-07-2009, 07:20 PM

I am currently reading

Dan Brown - Lost Symbol - not making much progress as I am finding it to be a little too much of the same thing from his previous books. My wife liked it and tore through it in a couple days.

Bill Clinton - My Life - My opinion of Clinton has been more up and down than wall street, but I finally relented and got the 1,000+ page book. Enjoying the fascinating story so far although it feels like he is still running for office in the book as every story has a lesson with soft piano feel good music in the background.

Nick Hornby - Juliet Naked - I love everything Hornby writes and this is currently getting the most time on my kindle.

Gilliant Tett - Saving the Sun - Account of the fall of the Japanese Economy in the 90's - very interesting read.

AgustusM · 10-07-2009, 07:59 PM

I could list 50 sports books, but this is one of the best I have read in the past couple of years. I must read for NFL fans

Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL

Amazon.com: Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL (9780316013284): John Feinstein: Books

Vince, Pt. II · 10-08-2009, 03:07 AM

Ping: Gaiman fans. Have any of you read Coraline, and if so what did you think of it? I have neither read it nor seen the movie, but I'm curious.

Icy · 10-08-2009, 03:14 AM

"D-Day: The Battle for Normandy" by Anthony Beevor.

I have been always a fan of his books, the one before this, about the Spanish civil war was amazing too.

terpkristin · 10-08-2009, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Ping: Gaiman fans. Have any of you read Coraline, and if so what did you think of it? I have neither read it nor seen the movie, but I'm curious.

I really liked the book as a light read. It's aimed at kids, and I imagine if I read it when I was about 13, I might have even been a little frightened by it. It was entertaining and quick.

I also enjoyed the movie, though there were a few places where it deviated from the book, I thought it really worked.

/tk

DeToxRox · 10-08-2009, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AgustusM

I could list 50 sports books, but this is one of the best I have read in the past couple of years. I must read for NFL fans

Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL

Amazon.com: Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL (9780316013284): John Feinstein: Books

Bought this today at Borders for 40% off. I have been meaning to pick it up and you pushed it over the edge.

Also picked up the Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks graphic novel.

So now my heavy reading is "Blood's a Rover" by Ellroy, my toilet reading is the ZSG: RA, and my light reading is Next Man Up.

cartman · 10-08-2009, 03:13 PM

After my trip to Yosemite last month, I picked up Off The Wall: Death in Yosemite. Amazon.com: Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite (9780970097378): Michael P. Ghiglieri & Charles R. "Butch" Farabee; Jr., Jim Myers: Books

It does a great job of chronicling the various ways people have met an untimely end while visiting the park, and giving some good background info.

As for fiction, I've been really getting into a lot of Joe R. Lansdale's works. He has a very unique style, and the couple of books I've read of his so far (Mucho Mojo: Amazon.com: Mucho Mojo (9780446401876): Joe R. Lansdale: Books and Vanilla Ride: Amazon.com: Vanilla Ride (Hap and Leonard) (9780307270979): Joe R. Lansdale: Books) have been very entertaining.

terpkristin · 10-08-2009, 07:15 PM

Finished "The Lost Symbol" today. I must confess, after awhile it got too repetitive, and the story felt like it was dragging on. Also, the changes in view point at "critical" points felt forced and just annoyed me (I don't remember Brown doing that nearly as much in previous books). It also felt like he got paid extra the more he'd add references to internet searches, Blackberry, iPhone, and stuff like Twitter.

I "read" the book in audio. After the main story was resolved (in the room with the skylight), the audio version had TWO MORE HOURS of crap that just dragged on and on and on. I also don't know if Dan Brown really used the word "disorientate" (or forms of it like "disorientated") as often as he did, or if the narrarator couldn't read, but I assume it was Brown. It drove me bonkers.

In the end, the book definitely wasn't as good as DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it as highly as I did when I was only 1/3 way through or so.

/tk

Lathum · 10-08-2009, 08:45 PM

I just had the pleasure of enjoying a book I read for school.

It is called Nickel and Dimed.

Nickel and Dimed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Autumn · 10-08-2009, 08:48 PM

I enjoyed that book too, Lathum, and recommend it for a quick interesting read to anyone.

Vince, Pt. II · 10-14-2009, 06:24 PM

Just got finished with The Shadow Rising, book four of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Jordan really knows how to wrap you up in the story - the whole Two Rivers saga with Perrin and Faile was extremely intense. One of my favorite parts of Jordan's writing is that he'll have two or three different threads going at any one time, and as soon as he jumps from one storyline to another, I typically get really pissed, because the one storyline was just starting to get good. Inevitably, after a chapter or so, I'm totally engrossed in the new storyline again.

I think my favorite scene in the whole epic saga is when Mat, still weakened from finally being separated from the Shadar Logoth dagger, beats the crap out of Galad and Gawyn with a "stick" (really, a quarterstaff) in Tar Valon.

the_meanstrosity · 10-15-2009, 06:28 AM

I always liked Jordan though he did get his fair share of criticism for dragging the WOT series out so long. I agree with you on the storyline jumping though. I really enjoyed his books. Can't wait for the series to finally come to a completion. I'll be re-reading that series at least once and likely more than that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Just got finished with The Shadow Rising, book four of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Jordan really knows how to wrap you up in the story - the whole Two Rivers saga with Perrin and Faile was extremely intense. One of my favorite parts of Jordan's writing is that he'll have two or three different threads going at any one time, and as soon as he jumps from one storyline to another, I typically get really pissed, because the one storyline was just starting to get good. Inevitably, after a chapter or so, I'm totally engrossed in the new storyline again.

I think my favorite scene in the whole epic saga is when Mat, still weakened from finally being separated from the Shadar Logoth dagger, beats the crap out of Galad and Gawyn with a "stick" (really, a quarterstaff) in Tar Valon.

cartman · 10-15-2009, 11:24 AM

Finished a third Joe R. Lansdale book last night, The Bottoms (Amazon.com: The Bottoms (9780446677929): Joe R. Lansdale: Books)

An awesome read. It isn't in the same vein as the first two books of his I mentioned. It is a great mystery/coming-of-age story about a series of brutal murders and the possible supernatural link to them. Some have compared it to "To Kill a Mockingbird", but it only has some high level similarities.

Lathum · 10-15-2009, 11:33 AM

Animal Behaviorism, Ninth Edition

Lathum · 10-15-2009, 11:34 AM

I am also reading a book called Death in the Haymarket which is about the Chicago labor movement in the late 1800's.

Qwikshot · 10-15-2009, 11:46 AM

"Shutter Island" Dennis Lehane - the movie has intrigued me

"Terror" Dan Simmons - a spin on a failed polar expedition, I like Simmons, so I'm ready, got the hardcover for 6 bucks.

"Physics of the Impossible" Michio Kaku - Just started...interesting

"Collapse" Jared Diamond - Slogging through this, just a deep fount of information, so I read a chapter a month to not burn out.

Just finished "Pygmy" by Palahniuk which was a terrible read for me. I realize his protagonist is "in-character" and therefore has a vernacular to that of a rogue North Korean country but it was ham-fisted to me as opposed to "Clockwork Orange" or "Huckleberry Finn".

Peregrine · 10-15-2009, 12:10 PM

I really enjoyed The Terror, but then I love all of Simmons' books.

path12 · 10-15-2009, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I really enjoyed The Terror, but then I love all of Simmons' books.

The Terror was so good. Is Drood in paperback yet?

bbor · 10-15-2009, 01:51 PM

Reading Michael Connellys' new book right now Nine dragons.He writes with re occuring characters that i enjoy.

Chief Rum · 10-15-2009, 02:17 PM

The slogging through reference above reminds me I am doing much the same thing with Ghost Wars by Steve Coll, the 2005 Pulitzer winner about the CIA role in the Afghan rebellion against the Soviets during the 80s. It's extremely interesting and revealing, but it gives you a ton of info and is heavily footnoted. Since the footnotes themselves are often pretty interesting, you spend a lot of time bouncing back and forth from the main read to the footnotes section. So I am reading that one, bit by bit.

SM Stirling's latest book The Sword of the Lady is out (the next in the Die The Fire world). I think someone here mentioned it earlier. I think that series is a fantastic read, but I hate buying the hardcovers, so I am waiting for that one to hit paperback.

Scoobz0202 · 10-15-2009, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

"Shutter Island" Dennis Lehane - the movie has intrigued me

Let us know what you think. I read this book about three years ago and I still think about it from time to time. Great book.

ntndeacon · 10-15-2009, 11:07 PM

Just started last year's Booker Prize winner..White Tiger. So far it is pretty good, but I am not that far in yet.

Scoobz0202 · 10-24-2009, 02:16 PM

I finished reading a biography on Sandy Koufax a couple weeks back called Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy. The book was alternating chapters, with one chapter being about his life story, and the next chapter being about his perfect game against the Cubs. Each chapter about the perfect game was one inning per chapter. By the time I was reaching the climax of the perfect game I was becoming more and more knowledgeable about Koufax, and found myself emotionally touched by the baseball game as I came to know more about Sandy Koufax the man. It was a good book, for sure. Leavy did a pretty good job with it, although sometimes her writing seemed kind of... awkward? It just seemed at times she would say things that had nothing to do with the subject at hand. It wasn't enough to ruin the book though, as I still enjoyed it.

hxxp://www.amazon.com/Sandy-Koufax-Leftys-Jane-Leavy/dp/0060933291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256407481&sr=8-1

Currently Reading:

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig

hxxp://www.amazon.com/Luckiest-Man-Life-Death-Gehrig/dp/0743268938/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256407835&sr=1-2

About 50 pages in, and really enjoying it so far. But not far enough to obviously make any real judgment on it.

Just picked up:

The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W.P. Kinsella

hxxp://www.amazon.com/Iowa-Baseball-Confederacy-Novel/dp/0618340807/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256408152&sr=1-2

Looking forward to this one...

Vince, Pt. II · 10-26-2009, 03:38 AM

Just finished The Fires of Heaven in the Wheel of Time series. Started to slow down on the series with this one...I'd been mowing each one down in a day or three, and this took me more than a week. Since I don't want to make this into a Wheel of Time discussion thread...

Spoiler

I'm going to start Lord of Chaos tomorrow (book 6). If I remember correctly, this is where it started to slow down for me - here or in A Crown of Swords (book 7). We'll see how I feel once I'm through this book.

Bad-example · 10-29-2009, 10:23 PM

I have a backlog of sci fi books to read and am having a hard time deciding which to tackle next.

Spin State and Spin Control - Chris Moriarity
Camouflage - Joe Haldeman
Calculating God - Robert J. Sawyer
The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks

Any advice?

rowech · 10-30-2009, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad-example

I have a backlog of sci fi books to read and am having a hard time deciding which to tackle next.

Spin State and Spin Control - Chris Moriarity
Camouflage - Joe Haldeman
Calculating God - Robert J. Sawyer
The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks

Any advice?

I'm not a huge scifi fan but I really loved Calculating God. A scifi book that gets into some fairly deem and meaningful stuff. I love the title. Is it that we're calculating God trying to figure him out or is God doing the calculating in creating the universe.

Bad-example · 10-30-2009, 02:11 PM

Thank you! Putting that one on top of the pile.

Honolulu_Blue · 10-30-2009, 02:17 PM

I just finished "The Amateurs" by Marcus Sakey.

It's a crime fiction novel about 4 friends who decide to try and rip off a drug dealer and get in way above their heads. It's a very good, very fast read. I tend to be a pretty plodding reader, but I ripped through this in less than a week. Definitely a fun page turner.

ISiddiqui · 10-30-2009, 02:19 PM

I'm reading "Superfreakonomics". Brilliant stuff. I liked the original better, but it still rocks

.

JohnnyBGood · 10-30-2009, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lathum

I just had the pleasure of enjoying a book I read for school.

It is called Nickel and Dimed.

Nickel and Dimed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Autumn

I enjoyed that book too, Lathum, and recommend it for a quick interesting read to anyone.

If you guys enjoyed that book, then check out this critique of it. The book is called Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard. In short, he argues that Barbara Ehrenriech went into writing Nickle and Dimed with the results already in her head, thus making her project flawed and pre-conceived. Shepard then proceeds to start from scratch in a new city, starting homeless, and I won't ruin it for you, but sets out to accomplish a set goal. Quick read and an interesting one, if you liked N&D, then this at least tells the other side of the story to Ehrenriech's pre-constructed agenda.

Scratch Beginnings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And here is an interview by John Stossel with both Barbara Ehrenreich and Adam Shepard. When confronted, Ehrenreich comes off really uncomfortable. Like an exposed, bumbling fool.

YouTube - SCRATCH BEGINNINGS , Yes You can still make it in America

Young Drachma · 10-30-2009, 08:37 PM

The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia ~ Tim Tzouliadis
It's a book about thousands of Americans who moved to Russia during the Great Depression, wooed by talk of jobs for everyone and so forth and how the entire scam was unraveled with the majority of those people losing their citizenship or their lives. Sad, but fascinating story.

Autumn · 10-30-2009, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyBGood

If you guys enjoyed that book, then check out this critique of it. The book is called Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard. In short, he argues that Barbara Ehrenriech went into writing Nickle and Dimed with the results already in her head, thus making her project flawed and pre-conceived. Shepard then proceeds to start from scratch in a new city, starting homeless, and I won't ruin it for you, but sets out to accomplish a set goal. Quick read and an interesting one, if you liked N&D, then this at least tells the other side of the story to Ehrenriech's pre-constructed agenda.

It sounds interesting, JohnnyBGood, I'll check it out.

Scoobz0202 · 11-02-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

I finished reading a biography on Sandy Koufax a couple weeks back called Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy. The book was alternating chapters, with one chapter being about his life story, and the next chapter being about his perfect game against the Cubs. Each chapter about the perfect game was one inning per chapter. By the time I was reaching the climax of the perfect game I was becoming more and more knowledgeable about Koufax, and found myself emotionally touched by the baseball game as I came to know more about Sandy Koufax the man. It was a good book, for sure. Leavy did a pretty good job with it, although sometimes her writing seemed kind of... awkward? It just seemed at times she would say things that had nothing to do with the subject at hand. It wasn't enough to ruin the book though, as I still enjoyed it.

hxxp://www.amazon.com/Sandy-Koufax-Leftys-Jane-Leavy/dp/0060933291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256407481&sr=8-1

Currently Reading:

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig

hxxp://www.amazon.com/Luckiest-Man-Life-Death-Gehrig/dp/0743268938/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256407835&sr=1-2

About 50 pages in, and really enjoying it so far. But not far enough to obviously make any real judgment on it.

Just picked up:

The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W.P. Kinsella

hxxp://www.amazon.com/Iowa-Baseball-Confederacy-Novel/dp/0618340807/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256408152&sr=1-2

Looking forward to this one...

I am still slowly getting through the book on Lou Gehrig but I went ahead and read the Iowa Baseball Confederacy. I'm not sure if it was this forum, or another, that I had seen a few people mention how much they loved this book so I was excited to read it.

I liked it, but to an extent. It had it's moments where it shined. One moment in particular involved a minister preaching out loud in the middle of a baseball game, in the middle of a bad storm. Towards the end of the book though the suspension of belief just got to be too much. Kinsella took a great idea and almost ruined it, in my opinion.

judicial clerk · 11-02-2009, 06:26 PM

I just finished reading Shutter Island. It is kind of a gothic horror wrapped in hard-boiled detective novel clothing. I enjoyed it alot and would recommend it but I guessed the main twist early on. I did not figure out all the secrets, though. I think it could make a really good movie on its own. It will probably be great since Scorscese[sp?] is directing.

rowech · 11-02-2009, 06:46 PM

Picked up and started Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball"

cougarfreak · 11-02-2009, 06:48 PM

Just finished the first book in Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy......starting book 2. I know it's an older series, but it was very good. I got book 1 and 2 free on the kindle this summer and decided to go ahead and read them. Good stuff.

Scoobz0202 · 11-02-2009, 06:49 PM

I'm really excited for the movie. Shutter Island is one of my favorite books.

I went ahead and stopped on the library this afternoon so my currently reading shelve looks like this:

The Lou Gehrig book I mentioned above.

I will probably go ahead and finish that within the next week then I will have two more books to read. The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins. I read Blood Meridian by Mr. McCarthy awhile due to the acclaim it has received on this forum and elsewhere, but couldn't get past his writing. Figured I would give him another shot and chose The Road due to the movie coming out later this month.

bbor · 11-02-2009, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbor

Reading Michael Connellys' new book right now Nine dragons.He writes with re occuring characters that i enjoy.

This book was eh....

now reading David Baldacci "true blue"

path12 · 11-05-2009, 02:38 PM

Finished Gaiman's American Gods last night. Enjoyed it, though I thought the plot fell apart a bit in the second half.

Can anyone tell me if Anasi Boys (sp?) is a companion piece or a separate novel altogether?

Lathum · 11-05-2009, 03:53 PM

The COINTELPRO Papers. Testimonies and copies of official documents chronicling the FBI's illegal dealings and counter intelligence programs. It focuses mainly on The Black Panthers, The Puerto Rican Nationalist Movement, The Red Scare, American Indian Movements, and student organizations.

The tactics they used and downright trampling of peoples civil liberties is quiet disturbing.

10-07-2009, 01:27 AM	#202
k0ruptr Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Las Vegas	Can anyone suggest some good sport books? fiction or non. I particularly enjoy a good bio/autobiography and books about football/baseball. __________________ Xbox Live Gamertag: k0ruptr My Favorite Teams : Chicago White Sox - Carolina Panthers - Orlando Magic - Phoenix Suns - Anaheim Ducks - Hawaii Warriors - Oregon Ducks

10-07-2009, 01:58 AM	#204
k0ruptr Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Las Vegas	Thanks! I'll check them out. Are they available in ebook format at all? __________________ Xbox Live Gamertag: k0ruptr My Favorite Teams : Chicago White Sox - Carolina Panthers - Orlando Magic - Phoenix Suns - Anaheim Ducks - Hawaii Warriors - Oregon Ducks

10-07-2009, 11:27 AM	#207
Chief Rum Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Where Hip Hop lives	I wrote yesterday about reading Gaiman's Stardust. I finished it last night. It's really a very light read and good for a fun, quick read through. At the point I was at yesterday, the book ran very similarly to the movie (which I had already seen). Almost as if in anticipation, the book veered rather sharply from the movie at that point (or vice versa, to be more accurate). In the end, I felt I got an almost entirely different story, and although in the end, things were much the same, the way the book went about it was quite a bit different. I enjoyed both ways. The book's was simpler, more straight forward and in line with the easy read. The movie was much more Hollywood-ized (more action and drama), but I don't mind that if it's decently well done. All in all, it's okay, but not as good as Neverwhere or American Gods. __________________ . . I would rather be wrong...Than live in the shadows of your song...My mind is open wide...And now I'm ready to start...You're not sure...You open the door...And step out into the dark...Now I'm ready.

10-08-2009, 03:14 AM	#214
Icy Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Toledo - Spain	"D-Day: The Battle for Normandy" by Anthony Beevor. I have been always a fan of his books, the one before this, about the Spanish civil war was amazing too. __________________ Last edited by Icy : 10-08-2009 at 08:03 AM.

10-08-2009, 03:13 PM	#217
cartman Death Herald Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Le stelle la notte sono grandi e luminose nel cuore profondo del Texas	After my trip to Yosemite last month, I picked up Off The Wall: Death in Yosemite. Amazon.com: Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite (9780970097378): Michael P. Ghiglieri & Charles R. "Butch" Farabee; Jr., Jim Myers: Books It does a great job of chronicling the various ways people have met an untimely end while visiting the park, and giving some good background info. As for fiction, I've been really getting into a lot of Joe R. Lansdale's works. He has a very unique style, and the couple of books I've read of his so far (Mucho Mojo: Amazon.com: Mucho Mojo (9780446401876): Joe R. Lansdale: Books and Vanilla Ride: Amazon.com: Vanilla Ride (Hap and Leonard) (9780307270979): Joe R. Lansdale: Books) have been very entertaining. __________________ Thinkin' of a master plan 'Cuz ain't nuthin' but sweat inside my hand So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent So I dig deeper but still comin' up with lint

10-07-2009, 01:41 AM	#203
Vince, Pt. II Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Somewhere More Familiar	Just about anything by John Feinstein is great - in the last year I've read "Caddy for Life: The Bruce Edwards Story," "A Good Walk Spoiled," "Tales From Q School," and "The Last Amateurs" (which is about NCAA Basketball in the Patriot League). All were great reads, and amazingly enough all cost me $1 each new at Barnes and Noble for a sale.

10-07-2009, 11:32 AM	#208
Peregrine Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Cary, NC	Have you read Gaiman's The Graveyard Book? I just finished it on audiobook (read by Gaiman) and really liked it - it's sort of aimed at kids, sort of at adults, and really is interesting and fun. I particularly liked Gaiman doing the various voices of the characters in the audiobook version.

10-07-2009, 07:20 PM	#211
AgustusM College Prospect Join Date: Dec 2003	I am currently reading Dan Brown - Lost Symbol - not making much progress as I am finding it to be a little too much of the same thing from his previous books. My wife liked it and tore through it in a couple days. Bill Clinton - My Life - My opinion of Clinton has been more up and down than wall street, but I finally relented and got the 1,000+ page book. Enjoying the fascinating story so far although it feels like he is still running for office in the book as every story has a lesson with soft piano feel good music in the background. Nick Hornby - Juliet Naked - I love everything Hornby writes and this is currently getting the most time on my kindle. Gilliant Tett - Saving the Sun - Account of the fall of the Japanese Economy in the 90's - very interesting read.

10-07-2009, 07:59 PM	#212
AgustusM College Prospect Join Date: Dec 2003	I could list 50 sports books, but this is one of the best I have read in the past couple of years. I must read for NFL fans Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL Amazon.com: Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL (9780316013284): John Feinstein: Books

10-08-2009, 03:07 AM	#213
Vince, Pt. II Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Somewhere More Familiar	Ping: Gaiman fans. Have any of you read Coraline, and if so what did you think of it? I have neither read it nor seen the movie, but I'm curious.

10-08-2009, 07:15 PM	#218
terpkristin Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2003 Location: Ashburn, VA	Finished "The Lost Symbol" today. I must confess, after awhile it got too repetitive, and the story felt like it was dragging on. Also, the changes in view point at "critical" points felt forced and just annoyed me (I don't remember Brown doing that nearly as much in previous books). It also felt like he got paid extra the more he'd add references to internet searches, Blackberry, iPhone, and stuff like Twitter. I "read" the book in audio. After the main story was resolved (in the room with the skylight), the audio version had TWO MORE HOURS of crap that just dragged on and on and on. I also don't know if Dan Brown really used the word "disorientate" (or forms of it like "disorientated") as often as he did, or if the narrarator couldn't read, but I assume it was Brown. It drove me bonkers. In the end, the book definitely wasn't as good as DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it as highly as I did when I was only 1/3 way through or so. /tk __________________ GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin

10-08-2009, 08:45 PM	#219
Lathum Favored Bitch #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: homeless in NJ	I just had the pleasure of enjoying a book I read for school. It is called Nickel and Dimed. Nickel and Dimed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

10-08-2009, 08:48 PM	#220
Autumn Head Coach Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Bath, ME	I enjoyed that book too, Lathum, and recommend it for a quick interesting read to anyone.

10-14-2009, 06:24 PM	#221
Vince, Pt. II Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Somewhere More Familiar	Just got finished with The Shadow Rising, book four of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Jordan really knows how to wrap you up in the story - the whole Two Rivers saga with Perrin and Faile was extremely intense. One of my favorite parts of Jordan's writing is that he'll have two or three different threads going at any one time, and as soon as he jumps from one storyline to another, I typically get really pissed, because the one storyline was just starting to get good. Inevitably, after a chapter or so, I'm totally engrossed in the new storyline again. I think my favorite scene in the whole epic saga is when Mat, still weakened from finally being separated from the Shadar Logoth dagger, beats the crap out of Galad and Gawyn with a "stick" (really, a quarterstaff) in Tar Valon. Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 10-14-2009 at 06:25 PM.

10-15-2009, 11:24 AM	#223
cartman Death Herald Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Le stelle la notte sono grandi e luminose nel cuore profondo del Texas	Finished a third Joe R. Lansdale book last night, The Bottoms (Amazon.com: The Bottoms (9780446677929): Joe R. Lansdale: Books) An awesome read. It isn't in the same vein as the first two books of his I mentioned. It is a great mystery/coming-of-age story about a series of brutal murders and the possible supernatural link to them. Some have compared it to "To Kill a Mockingbird", but it only has some high level similarities. __________________ Thinkin' of a master plan 'Cuz ain't nuthin' but sweat inside my hand So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent So I dig deeper but still comin' up with lint Last edited by cartman : 10-15-2009 at 11:49 AM.

10-15-2009, 11:33 AM	#224
Lathum Favored Bitch #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: homeless in NJ	Animal Behaviorism, Ninth Edition Last edited by Lathum : 10-15-2009 at 11:34 AM.

10-15-2009, 11:34 AM	#225
Lathum Favored Bitch #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: homeless in NJ	I am also reading a book called Death in the Haymarket which is about the Chicago labor movement in the late 1800's.

10-15-2009, 11:46 AM	#226
Qwikshot Pro Starter Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: ...down the gravity well	"Shutter Island" Dennis Lehane - the movie has intrigued me "Terror" Dan Simmons - a spin on a failed polar expedition, I like Simmons, so I'm ready, got the hardcover for 6 bucks. "Physics of the Impossible" Michio Kaku - Just started...interesting "Collapse" Jared Diamond - Slogging through this, just a deep fount of information, so I read a chapter a month to not burn out. Just finished "Pygmy" by Palahniuk which was a terrible read for me. I realize his protagonist is "in-character" and therefore has a vernacular to that of a rogue North Korean country but it was ham-fisted to me as opposed to "Clockwork Orange" or "Huckleberry Finn". __________________ "General Woundwort's body was never found. It could be that he still lives his fierce life somewhere else, but from that day on, mother rabbits would tell their kittens that if they did not do as they were told, the General would get them. Such was Woundwort's monument, and perhaps it would not have displeased him." Watership Down, Richard Adams

10-15-2009, 12:10 PM	#227
Peregrine Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Cary, NC	I really enjoyed The Terror, but then I love all of Simmons' books.

10-15-2009, 01:51 PM	#229
bbor Pro Starter Join Date: May 2001 Location: toronto	Reading Michael Connellys' new book right now Nine dragons.He writes with re occuring characters that i enjoy. __________________ Pumpy Tudors Now that I've cracked and made that admission, I wonder if I'm only a couple of steps away from wanting to tongue-kiss Jaromir Jagr and give Bobby Clarke a blowjob.

10-15-2009, 02:17 PM	#230
Chief Rum Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Where Hip Hop lives	The slogging through reference above reminds me I am doing much the same thing with Ghost Wars by Steve Coll, the 2005 Pulitzer winner about the CIA role in the Afghan rebellion against the Soviets during the 80s. It's extremely interesting and revealing, but it gives you a ton of info and is heavily footnoted. Since the footnotes themselves are often pretty interesting, you spend a lot of time bouncing back and forth from the main read to the footnotes section. So I am reading that one, bit by bit. SM Stirling's latest book The Sword of the Lady is out (the next in the Die The Fire world). I think someone here mentioned it earlier. I think that series is a fantastic read, but I hate buying the hardcovers, so I am waiting for that one to hit paperback. __________________ . . I would rather be wrong...Than live in the shadows of your song...My mind is open wide...And now I'm ready to start...You're not sure...You open the door...And step out into the dark...Now I'm ready. Last edited by Chief Rum : 10-15-2009 at 02:17 PM.

10-15-2009, 11:07 PM	#232
ntndeacon Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Alabama	Just started last year's Booker Prize winner..White Tiger. So far it is pretty good, but I am not that far in yet.

10-24-2009, 02:16 PM	#233
Scoobz0202 Pro Rookie Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Dayton, Ohio	I finished reading a biography on Sandy Koufax a couple weeks back called Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy. The book was alternating chapters, with one chapter being about his life story, and the next chapter being about his perfect game against the Cubs. Each chapter about the perfect game was one inning per chapter. By the time I was reaching the climax of the perfect game I was becoming more and more knowledgeable about Koufax, and found myself emotionally touched by the baseball game as I came to know more about Sandy Koufax the man. It was a good book, for sure. Leavy did a pretty good job with it, although sometimes her writing seemed kind of... awkward? It just seemed at times she would say things that had nothing to do with the subject at hand. It wasn't enough to ruin the book though, as I still enjoyed it. hxxp://www.amazon.com/Sandy-Koufax-Leftys-Jane-Leavy/dp/0060933291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256407481&sr=8-1 Currently Reading: Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig hxxp://www.amazon.com/Luckiest-Man-Life-Death-Gehrig/dp/0743268938/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256407835&sr=1-2 About 50 pages in, and really enjoying it so far. But not far enough to obviously make any real judgment on it. Just picked up: The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W.P. Kinsella hxxp://www.amazon.com/Iowa-Baseball-Confederacy-Novel/dp/0618340807/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256408152&sr=1-2 Looking forward to this one...

10-26-2009, 03:38 AM	#234
Vince, Pt. II Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Somewhere More Familiar	Just finished The Fires of Heaven in the Wheel of Time series. Started to slow down on the series with this one...I'd been mowing each one down in a day or three, and this took me more than a week. Since I don't want to make this into a Wheel of Time discussion thread... Spoiler I really, really hate how Couladin is just dead in the story. Sure, Mat kills him, it's hectic, the book is already ridiculously long and there's still the final climax to go with the showdown between Rand and Rahvin...but here we have this huge, plot-driving bad guy who has been a thorn in Rand's side for the entire book, driving the largest force the world has seen since Hawkwing past the Spine of the World...and he dies off-scene. The battle isn't even described, for crying out loud! Also, I was a bit frustrated that Mat is AGAIN saved from death by the wonders of Balefire (the first time was in book 3, I think, when the Darkhounds slobbered on him through the door). I don't remember if Jordan is setting Rand up to be too reliant on Balefire only to have it backfire later, but I don't think that's the case...so why the insistence on proving Balefire's potential benefits? I'm going to start Lord of Chaos tomorrow (book 6). If I remember correctly, this is where it started to slow down for me - here or in A Crown of Swords (book 7). We'll see how I feel once I'm through this book.

10-29-2009, 10:23 PM	#235
Bad-example College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: san jose CA	I have a backlog of sci fi books to read and am having a hard time deciding which to tackle next. Spin State and Spin Control - Chris Moriarity Camouflage - Joe Haldeman Calculating God - Robert J. Sawyer The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks Any advice?

10-30-2009, 02:11 PM	#237
Bad-example College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: san jose CA	Thank you! Putting that one on top of the pile.

10-30-2009, 02:17 PM	#238
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	I just finished "The Amateurs" by Marcus Sakey. It's a crime fiction novel about 4 friends who decide to try and rip off a drug dealer and get in way above their heads. It's a very good, very fast read. I tend to be a pretty plodding reader, but I ripped through this in less than a week. Definitely a fun page turner. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

10-30-2009, 02:19 PM	#239
ISiddiqui Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Decatur, GA	I'm reading "Superfreakonomics". Brilliant stuff. I liked the original better, but it still rocks . __________________ "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages" -Tennessee Williams

10-30-2009, 08:37 PM	#241
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia ~ Tim Tzouliadis It's a book about thousands of Americans who moved to Russia during the Great Depression, wooed by talk of jobs for everyone and so forth and how the entire scam was unraveled with the majority of those people losing their citizenship or their lives. Sad, but fascinating story.

11-02-2009, 06:26 PM	#244
judicial clerk College Benchwarmer Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Portland, OR	I just finished reading Shutter Island. It is kind of a gothic horror wrapped in hard-boiled detective novel clothing. I enjoyed it alot and would recommend it but I guessed the main twist early on. I did not figure out all the secrets, though. I think it could make a really good movie on its own. It will probably be great since Scorscese[sp?] is directing.

11-02-2009, 06:46 PM	#245
rowech Pro Starter Join Date: Feb 2006	Picked up and started Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball"

11-02-2009, 06:48 PM	#246
cougarfreak College Starter Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Out of Grad School Hell :)	Just finished the first book in Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy......starting book 2. I know it's an older series, but it was very good. I got book 1 and 2 free on the kindle this summer and decided to go ahead and read them. Good stuff.

11-02-2009, 06:49 PM	#247
Scoobz0202 Pro Rookie Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Dayton, Ohio	I'm really excited for the movie. Shutter Island is one of my favorite books. I went ahead and stopped on the library this afternoon so my currently reading shelve looks like this: The Lou Gehrig book I mentioned above. I will probably go ahead and finish that within the next week then I will have two more books to read. The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins. I read Blood Meridian by Mr. McCarthy awhile due to the acclaim it has received on this forum and elsewhere, but couldn't get past his writing. Figured I would give him another shot and chose The Road due to the movie coming out later this month.

11-05-2009, 02:38 PM	#249
path12 Coordinator Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Seattle, WA	Finished Gaiman's American Gods last night. Enjoyed it, though I thought the plot fell apart a bit in the second half. Can anyone tell me if Anasi Boys (sp?) is a companion piece or a separate novel altogether? __________________ We have always been at war with Eastasia.

11-05-2009, 03:53 PM	#250
Lathum Favored Bitch #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: homeless in NJ	The COINTELPRO Papers. Testimonies and copies of official documents chronicling the FBI's illegal dealings and counter intelligence programs. It focuses mainly on The Black Panthers, The Puerto Rican Nationalist Movement, The Red Scare, American Indian Movements, and student organizations. The tactics they used and downright trampling of peoples civil liberties is quiet disturbing.