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Books: What are you currently reading?

Just finished the Bartimaeus Trilogy, at the same time finished the Dragonspell series, and am working on Year of the Griffin.
 
Gulp said:
soberman said:
Fiction: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Great surrealist writer with an ear for slightly off-kilter dialogue and a good sense of underlying theme derived from seemingly random occurances.
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I've heard from quite a few people that The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is great. It's on my list. I've read other Murakami (something about an elephant), and I wasn't able to get into it, but I will still check out the book you're reading.
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I believe that is a short story collection. Short stories are often harder to appreciate as they only feel like fragments of an idea. My favorite Murakami is Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End Of The World but I've only read 4 of his books so far. That one would appeal to any sci-fi/fantasy fan, though, or anyone with an interest in psychology. It loosely inspired artist Yoshitoshi Abe when he created the anime Haibane Renmei.
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now playing: Ashen Mortality Sleepless Remorse
 
I am currently into the Lord of the Rings books, just about through Two Towers. They're great books, but very, very descriptive.

I finished the Harry Potter series right after the last book came out. Amazing.

I've also been through a bunch of the Star Wars: Expanded Universe books, and I think I'm going to take up the Golden Compass next.
 
killercactus said:
I am currently into the Lord of the Rings books, just about through Two Towers. They're great books, but very, very descriptive.
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I also thought parts of the series dragged on....Still a must read though!

I picked up a book from the StarWars: Rouge Squadron series a couple years ago and was quite impressed with it. It wasn't world changing literature mind you, just a fun read.

Hyper~
 
HyperLight said:
I picked up a book from the StarWars: Rouge Squadron series a couple years ago and was quite impressed with it. It wasn't world changing literature mind you, just a fun read.

Hyper~
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I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I loved the Rouge Squadron (and later Wraith Squadron) series. I know a lot of people prefer SW books that use the main movie characters (Luke, Han, ...), but I preferred the fact that Rouge Squadron focused on characters that were either brand new, or had very minor roles in the movies. The relative obscurity of the characters gave the authors more freedom with the plots. For example, if Luke Skywalker is in deadly peril, you know he'll find a way to escape; can you be so sure if its Gavin Darklighter in trouble?

I agree these books aren't exactly Pulitzer material, but definitely a fun read, even if you're not a die-hard SW fan.
 
Gulp said:
soberman said:
Fiction: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Great surrealist writer with an ear for slightly off-kilter dialogue and a good sense of underlying theme derived from seemingly random occurances.
Click to expand...

I've heard from quite a few people that The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is great. It's on my list. I've read other Murakami (something about an elephant), and I wasn't able to get into it, but I will still check out the book you're reading.
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An Elephant Vanishes is a collection of short stories, which can be a hit or miss experience. One of the stories became the basis for the first chapter of Wind Up Bird.

Wind Up Bird is one of my favorite books. If you liked that one, try Wild Sheep Chase and Hardboiled Wonderland.
 
HyperLight said:
killercactus said:
I am currently into the Lord of the Rings books, just about through Two Towers. They're great books, but very, very descriptive.
Click to expand...

I also thought parts of the series dragged on....Still a must read though!
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They definitely do. However, being one that was introduced to LotR through the movies, it's very interesting to see where the inspiration came from. Peter Jackson did an incomprehensible job of adapting these books to film.

HyperLight said:
I picked up a book from the StarWars: Rouge Squadron series a couple years ago and was quite impressed with it. It wasn't world changing literature mind you, just a fun read.

Hyper~
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No, not Earth-shattering literature by any means, but definitely very fun. Actually, if they were to make Timothy Zahn's trilogy of books about Grand Admiral Thrawn into another movie trilogy, I would be extremely excited.
 
On my spring break, I finished reading Stephen King's It.
Also read The Running Man and the excellent, The Long Walk.

I'm currently on Salem's Lot.
 
Jandars_Hope said:
Finished A Game of Thrones yesterday (which was an awesome book) and now i'm ready to begin A Clash of Kings.
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Welcome to the George RR Martin addiction! He has a website and a blog that he updates pretty regularly at www.georgerrmartin.com.

Also, when you finish the books in the series you're reading now, I highly recommend finding A Song for Lya. It's a short story for which he won the Nebula Award. The easiest place to find it now is in the big Dreamsongs Vol. 1 collection that came out within the last year.

Soon you'll be part of the frustrated masses of fantasy fans because once you've read Martin, nothing else compares.
 
Gulp said:
Soon you'll be part of the frustrated masses of fantasy fans because once you've read Martin, nothing else compares.
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Man, that statement is so true. I find myself comparing everything to Martin. They never measure up IMO.
 
Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted.


Freaky strange book. Palahniuk is by far my favorite author around. I mean seriously, was Choke not just so bizarre that it was god-like???
 
S.M Stirling's Dies the fire

An altenative history novel where a strange occurance causes all guns and electrictiy not to work.
Centered in Oregon in 1998. What happens to our world, when modern people have to live like our ancestors.

Wars begin, but with sword and shield, as people struggle to survive.

It's a great novel, by one of my favorite Alternate History novelists.

Almost finshed it and its awesome.
 
ZBeeblebrox said:
S.M Stirling's Dies the fire

An altenative history novel where a strange occurance causes all guns and electrictiy not to work.
Centered in Oregon in 1998. What happens to our world, when modern people have to live like our ancestors.

Wars begin, but with sword and shield, as people struggle to survive.

It's a great novel, by one of my favorite Alternate History novelists.

Almost finshed it and its awesome.
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I just looked this up (because your description makes it sound pretty awesome) and apparently it takes place not just in Oregon but in the Willamette Valley. One of the books in the series is called A Meeting in Corvallis, which is where I went to college, and is about 45 minutes from where I live now. So yeah, I'll be reading these. Thanks!
 
InThisMoment said:
Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted.


Freaky strange book. Palahniuk is by far my favorite author around. I mean seriously, was Choke not just so bizarre that it was god-like???
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Ugh... Haunted still gives me the creeps. Great book, but ... wow. I'll never swim in a pool with a pump again.
 
Just finished Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrick, been meaning to read it since it came out a few years ago, but now with the movie (21) out, I finally relented. Very quick read, but also very good IMO.
 
Gulp said:
InThisMoment said:
Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted.


Freaky strange book. Palahniuk is by far my favorite author around. I mean seriously, was Choke not just so bizarre that it was god-like???
Click to expand...

Ugh... Haunted still gives me the creeps. Great book, but ... wow. I'll never swim in a pool with a pump again.
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Oh my god i know. Being a girl that particualr short story A.) freaking grossed me out and B.) made me shiver when i thought of pools all this week, among other things.

So, i'm almost done now, and i can officially say it's one of THE best and most abhorrant books of all time. I really don't have words. It's filthy, distrubed, and artistic and deep. Read it if you're mature and have a strong stomach (definitely NOT kid-friendly)
 
ZBeeblebrox said:
S.M Stirling's Dies the fire

An altenative history novel where a strange occurance causes all guns and electrictiy not to work.
Centered in Oregon in 1998. What happens to our world, when modern people have to live like our ancestors.

Wars begin, but with sword and shield, as people struggle to survive.

It's a great novel, by one of my favorite Alternate History novelists.

Almost finshed it and its awesome.
Click to expand...

I tried to read that not too long ago, and I couldn't get through it. Now, don't take that as a negative on the book, I have a very hard time finding books that I like.

The problem that I had with this one was the story was going back and forth between a few different groups of people and I really only cared about one group of them, the pilot and his group, and I had a hard time getting through the chapters that weren't about them.
 
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