Author Topic: What books are you reading? (Read 1,140,538 times)

40hz · « **Reply #100 on:** June 30, 2010, 08:03 PM »

Oooo...Lovecaft!

One the most original of the modern sci-fi/horror sub-genre writers. He basically created the category.

Grab yourself a heaping dish of elder god sushi and settle in for some fun reading.

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Deozaan · « **Reply #101 on:** July 01, 2010, 01:24 AM »

Quote from: 40hz on June 30, 2010, 08:03 PM

If the descriptions seem vague, the quotations from the Necronomicon maddeningly short, the 'known' facts incomplete and sometimes even contradictory, don't be surprised. Lovecraft deliberately wrote it that way.

Yes, perhaps I was a bit unfair or unclear. I'm not disappointed in the stories. Rather, I wanted to learn everything there was to learn about the Cthulhu mythos from Lovecraft himself, so my expectation that all would be revealed was disappointed by the fact that one cannot know the unknowable.

I wanted my curiosity satiated, but the nature of the topic is that it only becomes curiouser the more you uncover.

AndyM · « **Reply #102 on:** July 01, 2010, 01:41 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on June 03, 2010, 08:13 PM

Currently reading Greg Bear's "Blood Music". ...

Haven't yet read a Greg Bear book that wasn't excellent.

Darwin · « **Reply #103 on:** July 01, 2010, 02:42 AM »

Quote from: AndyM on July 01, 2010, 01:41 AM

Quote from: Darwin on June 03, 2010, 08:13 PM
Currently reading Greg Bear's "Blood Music". ...

Haven't yet read a Greg Bear book that wasn't excellent.

Yes! I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm no finishing off "Oath of Fealty" by Elizabeth Moon, having devoured the first three books in the Deed of Paksenarrion series earlier this month.

AndyM · « **Reply #104 on:** July 01, 2010, 03:10 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on July 01, 2010, 02:42 AM

.... I'm no finishing off "Oath of Fealty" by Elizabeth Moon, having devoured the first three books in the Deed of Paksenarrion series earlier this month. ...

Thanks, those look good. I will definitely check them out.

mouser · « **Reply #105 on:** October 05, 2010, 05:20 PM »

I've been reading Eric Raymond's short collection of essays on Open Source software, "The Cathedral and the Bazaar".

If you're an Open Source fan you probably have heard about or even read Eric's essay of the same name -- but a couple of the other essay's are quite interesting and tackle seriously the goal of explaining and justifying Open Source from an economic theory standpoint -- in many ways a quite conservative-leaning economic theory (which surprised me but may help explain why the article/book has been so influential).

I am still struggling to get a grip on the full ramifications of open sourcing software from the standpoint of an independent developer, and the book is raising a few issues i didn't think about, while at the same time confirming some of my concerns. Definitely recommended.

rjbull · « **Reply #106 on:** October 05, 2010, 08:06 PM »

On a thriller kick:

(just finished) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This one puts your life on hold until you finish it!
(just finished) Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indriðason. Latest in his Reykjavik series.
The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth. Very good, set in London and southern England during WWII. The earlier two, set just after WWI, were absolutely excellent.

ljbirns · « **Reply #107 on:** October 06, 2010, 01:03 AM »

Quote

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This one puts your life on hold until you finish it!

The Girl Who Played with Fire do the same

kyrathaba · « **Reply #108 on:** October 06, 2010, 01:11 AM »

I've recently read:

Armageddon Reef by David Weber
By Heresies Distressed by David Weber
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

Currently reading:

Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz

4wd · « **Reply #109 on:** October 06, 2010, 05:36 AM »

I've started re-reading all the Necroscope^w series, currently on The Last Aerie:

Brian Lumley has also written books relating to the Cthulhu mythology, (which I've yet to read).

Quote from: kyrathaba on October 06, 2010, 01:11 AM

Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz

Another of my limited number of favourite authors, his Frankenstein series is excellent.

kyrathaba · « **Reply #110 on:** October 06, 2010, 03:51 PM »

Read so far, this year:

1. Frankenstein: Lost Souls, by Dean Koontz
2. The Left Hand of God, by Paul Hoffman
3. The Passage, by Justin Cronin
4. Relentless, by Dean Koontz
5. The World Inside, by Robert Silverberg
6. Across the Nightingale Floor, by Lian Hern
7. By Schism Rent Asunder, by David Weber
8. Off Armageddon Reef, by David Weber
9. Var the Stick, by Piers Anthony (1973)
10. The Many-Colored Land (422 pp.), by Julian May
11. The Ring of Charon, by Roger MacBride Allen
12. Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey
13. The Courts of Chaos, by Roger Zelazny
14. The Hand of Oberon, by Roger Zelazny
15. Signs of the Unicorn, by Roger Zelazny
16. The Guns of Avalon, by Roger Zelazny

kyrathaba · « **Reply #111 on:** October 16, 2010, 02:17 PM »

Quote

Another of my limited number of favourite authors, his Frankenstein series is excellent.

+1.

I've read them all (that is, those he's completed. He still lacks two in the second Frankenstein trilogy).

Books I've read in recent years:

link

Darwin · « **Reply #112 on:** October 16, 2010, 03:41 PM »

Well... concurrently I am reading:

The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan
Chorus Skating - Alan Dean Foste
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

I love my ebook Reader

kyrathaba · « **Reply #113 on:** October 17, 2010, 07:39 PM »

Just finished "Life Expectancy" by Dean Koontz. Have started reading "Dragon Tears" by same.

MerleOne · « **Reply #114 on:** October 20, 2010, 01:29 PM »

Quote from: kyrathaba on October 17, 2010, 07:39 PM

Just finished "Life Expectancy" by Dean Koontz. Have started reading "Dragon Tears" by same.

Hmm Dragon Tears is for me one of the best from DK !

I am just finishing the 3rd book from the latest Terro Brooks Shannara trilogy, The Gypsy Morph. Next in line is "The Road" from Mc Cormack (?), still in the post-apocalyptic environment.

Darwin · « **Reply #115 on:** October 20, 2010, 04:53 PM »

Heh, heh, I finished the Hunger Games trilogy this weekend ("Hunger Games", "Catching Fire", "Mockinjay") and just finished "The Lost Hero". I'm almost done "Chorus Skating" as well... I got so caught up in the Hunger Games that I read them all first...

What to read next (other than The Criminal Event, though I've already read it cover to cover a couple of times)?

MerleOne · « **Reply #116 on:** October 20, 2010, 08:47 PM »

BTW, speaking of Dean Koontz, I am looking for a specific title from him, but I just know a few elements of the synopsis. I have not been able to find the right title so far. I have read several of his novels, searched on the Net, to no avail. Is there any DK reader here (not readers from Denmark I mean...) ?

Here are the elements I recall : at the beginning of the story, a mother and her son (or daughter) are living in our world but are in fact of some kind of a royal family from another realm somehow connected to ours, and some people would like them to disappear so that the throne remains theirs.

It would be a "fantasy" novel from DK.

Anyone, anyone ?

4wd · « **Reply #117 on:** October 20, 2010, 10:07 PM »

Quote from: MerleOne on October 20, 2010, 08:47 PM

Here are the elements I recall : at the beginning of the story, a mother and her son (or daughter) are living in our world but are in fact of some kind of a royal family from another realm somehow connected to ours, and some people would like them to disappear so that the throne remains theirs.

It would be a "fantasy" novel from DK.

Have you checked the list at his website, maybe one of the titles will jog your memory - there are excerpts from the ones still in print. Maybe his earlier SciFi stuff, (all out of print)?

Dean Koontz

He has/does write under a few pseudonyms - almost all the books I've read under his name, (and Leigh Nichols), have been Suspense/Thriller with a touch of SciFi, (barring childrens and non-fiction).

MerleOne · « **Reply #118 on:** October 21, 2010, 08:40 AM »

Quote from: 4wd on October 20, 2010, 10:07 PM

Have you checked the list at his website, maybe one of the titles will jog your memory - there are excerpts from the ones still in print. Maybe his earlier SciFi stuff, (all out of print)?

Dean Koontz

He has/does write under a few pseudonyms - almost all the books I've read under his name, (and Leigh Nichols), have been Suspense/Thriller with a touch of SciFi, (barring childrens and non-fiction).

Not sure I did, but I will ! Thanks. In the mean time, if someone here recognizes the synopsis...

kyrathaba · « **Reply #119 on:** October 21, 2010, 11:40 AM »

Quote

In the mean time, if someone here recognizes the synopsis...

Hmm, I've not read that one, yet.

MerleOne · « **Reply #120 on:** October 21, 2010, 12:56 PM »

I had a look at several titles, pre-2002 published (I know it was released in French between 1988 and 2002), but did not found any so far that would match the synopsis. But I have not checked the full list yet...

mahesh2k · « **Reply #121 on:** October 21, 2010, 02:01 PM »

Ah thanks for lovecraft suggestion.

i finished these books:

1. Mistakes were made but not by me - Carol tavris

2. Rapid development - Steve mcconel

3. Linchpin - Seth godin

mark1959 · « **Reply #122 on:** October 24, 2010, 08:21 AM »

Couple which are at opposite ends of the spectrum:

The Mighty Walzer - Howard Jacobsen; hilarious and the best 'sporting' novel ever (it's about table tennis)
Feast of The Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa; very dark indeed but compelling

kyrathaba · « **Reply #123 on:** November 11, 2010, 01:45 AM »

Just finished "Dragon Tears" (Dean Koontz).

Now reading "Under the Dome" (Stephen King).

Darwin · « **Reply #124 on:** November 11, 2010, 04:28 AM »

I just read "Feed" by M.T. Anderson (have a student reading it) and enjoyed it immensely. The premise is a dystopic future in which computers and an internet-type feed are hardwired into our bodies and integrated directly into our thoughts. So... people walk around with constant advertising targetting them depending on what they are looking at/passing, and carry on private text conversations with others, share memories, including smells and other tactile senses, with each other, etc.

I'm about to start reading Michael Connelly's latest, "Reversal" and have also started Harry Turtledove's "How Few Remain".