Books you're reading now

[EnglishMQ]

After embarrassing myself by not knowing who F. Scott Fitzgerald was, I've resolved to read The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned on my Kindle.

[Gap Filler]

Just finished Ezekiel and Christ on a bike was it ever tiresome. Been a while since I've read (done) something which angered me enough to not only finish out of sheer Sisyphean bloodymindedness but also to record my hatred in writing, but this did the job nicely. I cannot read this goddamn book in anything but fits and spurts and this is why.

On a lighter note, Ivor Cutler was a damn fine poet.

[MotorWaffle]

Reading The Divine Comedy (more GPLPs dangit!) and The Prince. Getting some Alice in Wonderland and Dracula in there for good measure.

[plummeting_sloth]

Reading The Divine Comedy (more GPLPs dangit!) and The Prince. Getting some Alice in Wonderland and Dracula in there for good measure.

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry; Hope that didn't disturb you too much, there. It was the sound of books - pages being turned. So that's just what I was doing, just reading, uh, books. So not a moron. Anyway, just finished the last one, just now, the hardest one. Machiavelli. Do not know what all the fuss was about - understood it perfectly. Have you read that one?

[auberginequeen]

Whoa, when did this thread claw its way out of its grave and decide to wander the earth as a soulless shell?

Anyway, I've also been trying to read House of Leaves for... six months now, but it's taking me forever because I can't read very far without getting all paranoid. I'm such a wuss.

[JayBlanc]

Naomi Novik's "Tongue's of Serpents". Because it's the latest in her series of novels about the Napoleonic War, if there were Dragons.

[Deedles]

Is that before or after KOTOR?

It's set after the KotoR games, about 300 years before ToR.

I would suggest reading it. It's really not long at all, and it has some interesting information in it. Not to mention that I loved seeing Revan as a canon character (well, I'd already seen him as such before reading the book, but I just liked seeing more of it.) and getting to know more about some of the characters from the KotoR games.

Not to mention that it has the frickin' Emperor in it. That alone makes it worth reading.

[Ringo803]

I just started "No Country For Old Men", side note: Cormack McCarthy can be hard to read sometimes. Good stuff, though.

[gcninja]

Got book four, The Necromancer. Then its onto book five OR I might wait til the paper back comes out in may-july so they all match

[Geoff_B]

I've started reading Horus Rising. For people who know about the Warhammer 40,000 universe it's fun to see all the little asides the author put in - such as "Astartes can only be killed by Astartes" and characters talking about what they'll do when all the fighting is over.

[Ahlir]

Books I'm reading: Gauntlgrym. Neverwinter book 1 by R.A. Salvatore. Mutants. On the form, varieties & errors of the human body by Armand Marie Leroi. The secret history of Cults by Peter Haining. The Usborne Great Wildlife Search. Yes all at the same time.

Just finished The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico.

[dackwards d]

I've started reading Horus Rising. For people who know about the Warhammer 40,000 universe it's fun to see all the little asides the author put in - such as "Astartes can only be killed by Astartes" and characters talking about what they'll do when all the fighting is over.

I've been meaning to look into the Horus Heresy books. I read one of the Night Lords ones, which was cool. They were always my favourite chapter.

Just finished reading Magician by Raymond E. Feist (excellent sword & spell fantasy), Future Cops (a sci-fi compilation of cops and crim stories), Port Out, Starboard Home by Michael Quinon (an occasionally long winded but often interesting account of the origins of many words and saying in the english language, usually accompanied by a story or two of popular false etymology) and Sniper Elite (a true war story that I only really finished because I was already halfway through).

On my immediate 'to read' list is Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (which I've mentioned before), Into The Storm by Taylor Anderson (a story of a naval Destroyer that slips into an alternate past where dinosaurians evolved instead of monkeys), and Victor Kelleher's Into The Dark which I have read many times before but picked up this weekend at a beach market for $4, telling the classic tale of Dracula from the point of view of his manservant Ox. Speaking of I have a book on the history of vampires. It's recent enough to have mention of a certain Matt-torturing series but it looks to be 10 out of 16 chapters investigating the myth and reality of Vlad the Impaler and other famous historical 'vampires.'

Oh, also I plan on reading a book that will explain to me the details of how Noah included two of every dinosaur on the ark, how Pangaea is rot and poppycock and how oops maybe it isn't because kangaroos but the bible didn't mention it so oh god I've gone cross-eyed. No insult being meant for any of the more faithful members of the board, I don't intend to mock your faith merely the authors of this preposterous work of 'non-fiction.' A preliminary read gave me the giggles and Trixy the very angries.

[iamafish]

just started american gods by Neil Gaiman

so excited.

[Geoff_B]

Oh, also I plan on reading a book that will explain to me the details of how Noah included two of every dinosaur on the ark, how Pangaea is rot and poppycock and how oops maybe it isn't because kangaroos but the bible didn't mention it so oh god I've gone cross-eyed. No insult being meant for any of the more faithful members of the board, I don't intend to mock your faith merely the authors of this preposterous work of 'non-fiction.' A preliminary read gave me the giggles and Trixy the very angries.

This is just a guess but presumably the reason why Pangaea, kangaroos and even dinosaurs aren't mentioned in the Bible is because those words weren't known when the Bible was written (c 1500BC - 70AD) or even translated into English (1611 for KJV)

Actually in Job you get a creature called Behemoth and the description of it is basically the description of a dinosaur. Brachiosaurus possibly.

[dackwards d]

This is just a guess but presumably the reason why Pangaea, kangaroos and even dinosaurs aren't mentioned in the Bible is because those words weren't known when the Bible was written (c 1500BC - 70AD) or even translated into English (1611 for KJV)

The authors explicitly state that there never was a supercontinent and that continental drift is a blatant lie. They then bring up the subject of how animals came to remote locations such as Australia and flail about weakening their own argument trying to explain it. That's how it seemed from the summary included at the beginning of the book anyway, though I don't intend to pass judgement until I've actually read it properly. Well further judgement anyway.

[Allen!]

I have recently begun Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

I started with Storm Front on Saturday, and finished this morning.

So, that means I think it's good.

I'm also reading Terry Pratchett's Snuff and a book called Perdido Street Station.

[Geoff_B]

This is just a guess but presumably the reason why Pangaea, kangaroos and even dinosaurs aren't mentioned in the Bible is because those words weren't known when the Bible was written (c 1500BC - 70AD) or even translated into English (1611 for KJV)

The authors explicitly state that there never was a supercontinent and that continental drift is a blatant lie. They then bring up the subject of how animals came to remote locations such as Australia and flail about weakening their own argument trying to explain it. That's how it seemed from the summary included at the beginning of the book anyway, though I don't intend to pass judgement until I've actually read it properly. Well further judgement anyway.

Oh... so it's a comedy book then?

On the Horus Heresy front I've ripped through the first three books. It's interesting to see how the characters develop and events actually take place, given this is a period you only hear snippets about in the main WH40k story.

[elvor]

Perdido Street Station is so damn good! Although I couldn't seem to get into the sequel, The Scar. Will probably try again when I run out of his other books.

Which I seem to be doing at a remarkable rate. Finished Embassytown now (Amazing! Completely recommended to those who like Sci-Fi that's a bit different) and immediately bought his short story collection (Looking for Jake). Which is also great.

[rustak]

Perdido Street Station is so damn good! Although I couldn't seem to get into the sequel, The Scar. Will probably try again when I run out of his other books.

Which I seem to be doing at a remarkable rate. Finished Embassytown now (Amazing! Completely recommended to those who like Sci-Fi that's a bit different) and immediately bought his short story collection (Looking for Jake). Which is also great.

Abso-f'ing-lutely. I love Miéville -- he has an incredible imagination, and all his books are very diverse. The City & the City is probably one of my favourites, and PSS got me hooked.

[Metcarfre]

I just snagged The Hunger Games, Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov, and Generation A by Douglas Coupland. I'll probably read them in that order.

[Geoff_B]

I read the blurb for Hunger Games. It seemed to me like a kiddie version of Battle Royale

[Mowinckel]

I am still reading the Quran... nearly done

[Avistew]

Started reading Snow Crash.

[tamaness]

re-reading Elantris right now.

[plummeting_sloth]

I just wanted to quote from Strange and Norrell, cause I love this kind of humor

Every time Witloof entered the wardrobe there was the most hideous noise as if half the demons in Hell were screaming inside it, clouds of little silver stars issued from the cracks and hinges and the wardrobe rocked slightly upon its ball-and-claw feet. After the three questions had been answered, Buonaparte regarded the wardrobe silently for some moments, and then he strode over and pulled open the doors. Inside he found a goose (to make the noises) and some saltpetre (to produce the silver stars) and a dwarf (to ignite the saltpetre and prod the goose). No one knew for certain what had happened to Witloof and the dwarf, but the Emperor had eaten the goose for dinner the following day.