Read any good books lately?

[sirhcyennek81]

Currently reading Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore. He is definately my favorite author.

[Taco John]

Anybody else here read Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton? I'm almost through with this book and am eager to dive into the second one.

[Drunk Monkey]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Anybody else here read Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton? I'm almost through with this book and am eager to dive into the second one.

Loved it. The second on is really good also.

He wrote / is writing a 3 book series that follows those 1000 years later. Waiting on the last book now.

[BlaK-Argentina]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Finished The Count of Monte Cristo a couple weeks ago. Now that was a GREAT read. Probably my favorite book yet.

Mine too. I loved every word of it.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by Drunk Monkey

Loved it. The second on is really good also.

He wrote / is writing a 3 book series that follows those 1000 years later. Waiting on the last book now.

I hated the first half of the book, and kept wondering why I was sticking with it. But most of the reviews that I read raved about it, so I did. And then when it finally dawned on me why the book was titled "Pandora's Star," interest started to pick up and we were off! I'm starting to run out of pages on this one and am expecting a cliffhanger towards the end. I'm thrilled now that he follows this one with another massive story. This one would make a great graphic novel and maybe even movie, IMO. The only thing that bothers me about it is that I think Wilson Kime is a jackass. I like my starship captains to at least seem like refined, intelligent people - not uncouth unrespectable pricks. But I can look past that for the great story.

[loborugger]

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Bogota-...3111559&sr=8-1

Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist in Colombia

A little preachy at times but overall a thought provoking read.

[bombay]

Anyone read any of Charlie Huston's great NYC vampire books?

[That One Guy]

I'm currently forcing myself to get through Robinson Crusoe... so hard to read it really detracts from the story. So wordy that I find myself at the end of a sentence and realize I went into a daze from the run-on and missed the point of the sentence.

Ugh...

[DivineLegion]

Right now I'm reading the Eagles series (Roman Legions) by Simon Scarrow. Im a big history buff so a lot of my casual reading is geared toward what I love. (Good series so far, its hard not to get involved with Scarrows characters)

Just finnished the Lords of the North series by Bernard Cronwell (ok series, first time I have taken intrest to Cronwell)

The Ghengis Series by Con Igguldin (Awsome absolutly awsome!)

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by DivineLegion

Right now I'm reading the Eagles series (Roman Legions) by Simon Scarrow. Im a big history buff so a lot of my casual reading is geared toward what I love. (Good series so far, its hard not to get involved with Scarrows characters)

Just finnished the Lords of the North series by Bernard Cronwell (ok series, first time I have taken intrest to Cronwell)

The Ghengis Series by Con Igguldin (Awsome absolutly awsome!)

For my history paper I picked up four books on World War One. Good reads. Also rereading 1776 and A. Lincoln. Summer/spring reading is awesome.

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by That One Guy

I'm currently forcing myself to get through Robinson Crusoe... so hard to read it really detracts from the story. So wordy that I find myself at the end of a sentence and realize I went into a daze from the run-on and missed the point of the sentence.

Ugh...

Well, that's how they wrote back in those days. They had to tell the story in every detail, there was no video accompaniment. They had to present every detail. If you can't follow it, blame it on your short attention span, not the author's attention to detail.

[broncosteven]

Originally Posted by That One Guy

I'm currently forcing myself to get through Robinson Crusoe... so hard to read it really detracts from the story. So wordy that I find myself at the end of a sentence and realize I went into a daze from the run-on and missed the point of the sentence.

Ugh...

Try Les Mis next, he goes into French historical minutia that even the French probably forgotten. But the parts that are good make it impossible to put down and worth some digressions, much like my posts.

I started Don Quixote and am really digging it. It reads more like a current novel than I thought it would.

[Pseudofool]

Originally Posted by That One Guy

I'm currently forcing myself to get through Robinson Crusoe... so hard to read it really detracts from the story. So wordy that I find myself at the end of a sentence and realize I went into a daze from the run-on and missed the point of the sentence.

Ugh...

When you finish that read Foe by Coetzee. It will make the Crusoe suffering somewhat worth while. Coetzee is wonderful in his own right.

[sirhcyennek81]

Read anything by Chaucer. If you thought Crusoe would make your brain melt...

[bombay]

Originally Posted by sirhcyennek81

Read anything by Chaucer. If you thought Crusoe would make your brain melt...

Yeah. It's like being in the 7th circle of hell.

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by bombay

Yeah. It's like being in the 7th circle of hell.

Definately. I had to translate a few paragraphs of it in cultural anthropology...I did ok...but Jesus Christ on a cracker I am happy english is no longer written or spelled that way.

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by sirhcyennek81

For my history paper I picked up four books on World War One. Good reads. Also rereading 1776 and A. Lincoln. Summer/spring reading is awesome.

I hope one of those four books about WWI is "The Guns of August", by Barbara Tuchman. One of the most important books alltime.

If you want to read an interesting history book, read "The Road to Oxiana", by Robert Byron. It's a travelogue of he and some friends in 1933 trying to go from London to Afghanistan, via Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia. By motorcar. In 1933. Dude was queer as a three-dollar bill, so that might interest you.

One of the most interesting and entertaining history books I've ever read, and very interesting to read since it's just a diary. Not a bunch of fluff and opinion, dude talks about getting robbed here and there, talks about the accomodations along the road, trying to cross flooded streams in broken down vehicles, b****es about every damn thing with good reason (it's 1933 in Syria, Palestine, Persia, OK?) talks about the people and the terrain, very interesting.

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by Cito Pelon

I hope one of those four books about WWI is "The Guns of August", by Barbara Tuchman. One of the most important books alltime.

If you want to read an interesting history book, read "The Road to Oxiana", by Robert Byron. It's a travelogue of he and some friends in 1933 trying to go from London to Afghanistan, via Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia. By motorcar. In 1933. Dude was queer as a three-dollar bill, so that might interest you.

One of the most interesting and entertaining history books I've ever read, and very interesting to read since it's just a diary. Not a bunch of fluff and opinion, dude talks about getting robbed here and there, talks about the accomodations along the road, trying to cross flooded streams in broken down vehicles, b****es about every damn thing with good reason (it's 1933 in Syria, Palestine, Persia, OK?) talks about the people and the terrain, very interesting.

Nice recommendation. I'll look for it.

[Pseudofool]

Chaucer was the original Po-mo writer. Irony, pastiche, multiple povs, vignettes building to a whole. Yeah the middle english thing sucks, so read him in translation.

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by sirhcyennek81

Nice recommendation. I'll look for it.

And read The Guns of August. It's a smooth read.

[Pseudofool]

Originally Posted by Cito Pelon

Well, that's how they wrote back in those days. They had to tell the story in every detail, there was no video accompaniment. They had to present every detail. If you can't follow it, blame it on your short attention span, not the author's attention to detail.

That's part of it. But writers have stylistically improved over the past 200 years or so since Defoe was writing. Most 19th century writers lack refinement and have an inability to even make images (i.e. scraps of prescient detail that actually mean). The notion of the 'real' of course, changed drastically at the end of the 19th century. The details that mattered weren't one of setting, but one of psychology and emotion. It makes sense that reading a style that devalues meaningful detail replacing it with willy-nilly detail would be frustrating to read.

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by Cito Pelon

And read The Guns of August. It's a smooth read.

What's funny is I found a copy of it at Barnes and Noble and considered picking it up but figured 5 books would be a bit much to read for a 10 page paper. Im going to Pueblo tomorrow so I'll get that one, too.

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by Pseudofool

Chaucer was the original Po-mo writer. Irony, pastiche, multiple povs, vignettes building to a whole. Yeah the middle english thing sucks, so read him in translation.

Middle English is close enough to get the gist of what he is trying to say...but you will need a french and latin dictionary to get the words that make no damn sense.

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by sirhcyennek81

What's funny is I found a copy of it at Barnes and Noble and considered picking it up but figured 5 books would be a bit much to read for a 10 page paper. Im going to Pueblo tomorrow so I'll get that one, too.

Whatever professor you're gonna have to perform for will be mightily impressed if you quote Barbara Tuchman in your paper.

Tuchman and Guns of August is universally considered the best work on WWI. Tuchman's The Proud Tower is another classic. It's considered the classic on what led up to WWI from the Gilded Age in the 1890's to WWI.

[mhgaffney]

Originally Posted by mosca

holy blood, holy grail... my dad read that and messianic legacy a while back. funny now there's all this hoopla over the da vinci code, a work of fiction, when these non-fiction books (if not others) on a similar topic have been out for years.

Holy Blood Holy Grail was superficial and largely incorrect -- but a popular best seller nonetheless.

If you want to understand the deeper meaning of the Grail (the spiritual meaning) check out my book

Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes.

www.gnosticsecrets.com