OT: The Books Thread

[Killem Dafoe]

Choke
Fight Club
Cloud Atlas

 

[Inferno]

Reading the associate by John grisham

 

[Irishguy42]

I'm actually not reading anything currently. Mostly because work is sucking my soul, and also because I can't decide on what to read next.

Mostly it's just buy Batman graphic novels one at a time and reading those

 

[we want cup]

Unfortunately grad school has taken a large bite out of my ability to read purely for pleasure, as I spend most of my time on philosophy books and journal articles.

That being said, in the last year I've been tearing my way through the Malazan fantasy books. I finished the main 10 book series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and I'm now about halfway through the secondary series, Novels of the Malazan Empire. It's mainly epic fantasy/military fantasy, so there are tons of amazing battles and duels and what have you. The two authors of the series are archaeologists and the author of the main series is also an anthropologist, so there's some insane world building, with very cool cultural/historical/etc. elements that make the universe feel very well-developed. Imagine the scale of Lord of the Rings married to A Song of Ice and Fire's morally grey worldview. Definitely not for everyone, but if you're into high fantasy I'd strongly recommend it.

Other than fantasy and sci fi I mostly read 20th century American lit (Vonnegut, Pynchon, etc.) and 19th century Russian lit (Gogol, Dostoevsky, etc.).

 

[eco's bones]

I want to try this after Infinite Jest.

I don't get it.

I loved Infinite Jest but it's a real bear to read. Joyce's Ulysses is as well--Reading The House of Ulysses by Rios at the same time would be helpful in picking up a lot of the allusions and understanding the plot action. Rios's book is not very long and it's a fun read besides. Groucho Marx leading a team of Joyce experts as they go through it a chapter at a time.

I finally read The Road by Cormack McCarthy. Nice light summer read.

Before that I was on a bit of a Sci-Fi kick and knocked out some Phillip K Dick that I hadn't read. Ubik, The Man In The High Castle (hope the show is better), and some short stories.

Right now I am in the middle of North And South, a Civil War epic about two families. Has the scope of a grand fantasy novel, with the setting of the Civil War.

The most influential book I discovered this year was Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Oddly enough via Pearl Jam, as apparently their song Do The Evolution was inspired by the book. I would highly recommend everyone read it...there are some logical issues but it's thought provoking for sure.

Two recommendations for this summer / summer reading list:

1. The Amazing Adventures and Kavalier & Clay; has been my favorite work of Fiction since I read it in High School. Just give it a shot.

2. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. This should be mandatory reading for all of HF.

I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone else is working on. Always in the market for a new book.

I think I'm going to give Ishmael a try. I've read pretty much everything by Cormac McCarthy.

Anything written by Henry Miller is worth reading.
Cloud Atlas or The Bone Clock by David Mitchell

Black Magic for Dark Times: Spells of Revenge and Protection and
The 48 laws of power are always good to read together

Shopclass as soulcraft by Matt Crawford if you work with your hands as I do.

Henry Miller is great. David Mitchell is great.

Just re-read 20 of the Reacher books in the past 3 weeks, still very enjoyable. As the directir said at the time, "he may not look like Jack, but without him noone is paying money to get this movie made".

Currently reading Irvine Welsh's 'Blade Artist', a couple of old Terry Pratchett (RIP) books and finishing up Marky Ramones autobiography.

Someone mentioned A Brief History of 7 killings before; awesome book. Got it for Xmas and couldn't put it down.

I highly recommend Jasoer Fforde's Shades of Grey, but it's taking ages for the sequel to arrive.
The Storm light Archives by Brendon Sanderson is a good series for people wanting fantasy.

Also, Michael Herr died last week. His book 'Dispatches' about the Vietnam War shojld be read by all

That was me on 'A brief history of seven killings'--it is a fantastic book.

Trainspotting is one of my favorites.

If you're in the market for a summer novel, and don't mind carrying around a 3lb book + dictionary, Infinite Jest (1996) might be what you are looking for.

And trainspotting. I love the Scottish dialect. James Kelman does that too. It drives some people nuts though.

Foster Wallace killed himself a few years back. He'd been battling clinical depression for a long long time. He wrote a lot of great books. The closest thing the United States has had to its own James Joyce.

 

[East Coast Bias]

I first saw the title, and thought it said OT: The Brooks Thread, and I started thinking man these people need counceling if they need a full thread to bash/discuss him.




I just finished The Lewis Trilogy, by Peter May. All set on the Isle of Lewis off Northern Scotland. They're suspense/detective thrillers. They're great books. Highly recommend.

 

[Edge]

Currently reading Wet Britches and Muddy Boots: A History of Travel in Victorian America, by John H. White.

Reads from the past six months include a re-reading of The Godfather; The Annotated Christmas Carol;a re-reading of Bret Hart's Biography; Titan Sinking and Titan Shattered by James Dixon; The Big Con by David Maurer; The Autobiography of Buffalo Bill Cody; assorted books on trains; and Dick Tracy and the Carl Barks and Don Rosa libraries for my comic fix.

 

[apoptygma]

Reading "Six days of war", a hopefully balanced view of the Six-Day war in middle-east in 1967. Hoping the geat a clearer view of the background of todays conflicts in that are. Fear I will understand why Tanner Glass playes in NHL before I understand middle-east politics....

 

[silverfish]

Really don't read often. When I do, I try to stick to non-fiction (besides A song of ice and fire, of course).

Working my way through The Only Rule Is It Has to Work right now. It's about a couple of baseball statisticians who convince an owner of a Pacific Association baseball team (Sonoma Stompers) to come in and let analytics run the team.

I also really loved Moneyball. Much better than the movie.

Let's take a look at what's collecting dust in my Amazon cart right now...

Ready Player One
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

 

[aufheben]

I loved Infinite Jest but it's a real bear to read. Joyce's Ulysses is as well--Reading The House of Ulysses by Rios at the same time would be helpful in picking up a lot of the allusions and understanding the plot action. Rios's book is not very long and it's a fun read besides. Groucho Marx leading a team of Joyce experts as they go through it a chapter at a time.



I think I'm going to give Ishmael a try. I've read pretty much everything by Cormac McCarthy.



Henry Miller is great. David Mitchell is great.



That was me on 'A brief history of seven killings'--it is a fantastic book.



And trainspotting. I love the Scottish dialect. James Kelman does that too. It drives some people nuts though.

Foster Wallace killed himself a few years back. He'd been battling clinical depression for a long long time. He wrote a lot of great books. The closest thing the United States has had to its own James Joyce.

This is exactly why I want to read Ulysses. IJ is kind of like my summer book now. I love the dialect in Trainspotting as well. I got Consider the Lobster by DFW for Christmas, short read but interesting.

Goddamn, eco, we have the same taste in everything.

I first saw the title, and thought it said OT: The Brooks Thread, and I started thinking man these people need counceling if they need a full thread to bash/discuss him.




I just finished The Lewis Trilogy, by Peter May. All set on the Isle of Lewis off Northern Scotland. They're suspense/detective thrillers. They're great books. Highly recommend.

It's an admittedly terrible title.

 

[eco's bones]

This is exactly why I want to read Ulysses. IJ is kind of like my summer book now. I love the dialect in Trainspotting as well. I got Consider the Lobster by DFW for Christmas, short read but interesting.

Goddamn, eco, we have the same taste in everything.

It's an admittedly terrible title.

It's like Joyce was Bobby Orr and Wallace was Wayne Gretzky. I haven't gone through all of Wallace's work--it's been a few years--there's a point sometimes where I hit a wall with some writers. Both Joyce and Wallace are writers that require a lot of effort and attention. Try to speed-read through them and it will be an absolute waste--you have to pace. The four books of Wallace I've read are Infinite Jest, Oblivion, The girl with curious hair and The broom of the system. I haven't really gotten to his non-fiction stuff. I think I would like that though. Joyce--I've read everything including Finnegan's Wake--which I would not recommend. It is the toughest book to understand characterization or plot that I've ever read. I got almost nothing out of it.

For those who like Henry Miller----Charles Bukowski might be someone to try. Bukowski wrote novels, short stories and poetry. A lot of it---even the poetry is hilarious. Very easy and accessible stuff.

 

[aufheben]

It's like Joyce was Bobby Orr and Wallace was Wayne Gretzky. I haven't gone through all of Wallace's work--it's been a few years--there's a point sometimes where I hit a wall with some writers. Both Joyce and Wallace are writers that require a lot of effort and attention. Try to speed-read through them and it will be an absolute waste--you have to pace. The four books of Wallace I've read are Infinite Jest, Oblivion, The girl with curious hair and The broom of the system. I haven't really gotten to his non-fiction stuff. I think I would like that though. Joyce--I've read everything including Finnegan's Wake--which I would not recommend. It is the toughest book to understand characterization or plot that I've ever read. I got almost nothing out of it.

For those who like Henry Miller----Charles Bukowski might be someone to try. Bukowski wrote novels, short stories and poetry. A lot of it---even the poetry is hilarious. Very easy and accessible stuff.

Consider the Lobster is interesting. I haven't read anything besides that and Infinite Jest, but it's so hard to put down, which is really ironic considering the plot. I read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man a long time a go but don't remember all that much of it.

 

[we want cup]

This is exactly why I want to read Ulysses. IJ is kind of like my summer book now. I love the dialect in Trainspotting as well. I got Consider the Lobster by DFW for Christmas, short read but interesting.

Goddamn, eco, we have the same taste in everything.

It's an admittedly terrible title.

If you haven't already, check out Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man before you start Ulysses. It will give you a bit of a feel for Joyce's experimental writing, and hopefully keep you out of the multitudinous ranks of those who make it 150 pages into Ulysses and give up. Plus it's just an amazing work in general. Possibly my favorite book of all time.

EDIT: Looks like you already have!

 

[aufheben]

If you haven't already, check out Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man before you start Ulysses. It will give you a bit of a feel for Joyce's experimental writing, and hopefully keep you out of the multitudinous ranks of those who make it 150 pages into Ulysses and give up. Plus it's just an amazing work in general. Possibly my favorite book of all time.

EDIT: Looks like you already have!

Eh, I mean not really. I need to re-read it but want to try Ulysses first. The Brothers Karamazov taught me to never give up on a book at the ~100-page mark.

 

[Filip Chytil]

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink

Book is about leadership & discipline from 2 former Navy Seals. It's a really great book imo

Tremendous book. Working my way through it right now as well. Highly recommend that one. Also, the Jocko podcast is fantastic as well.

 

[eco's bones]

Eh, I mean not really. I need to re-read it but want to try Ulysses first. The Brothers Karamazov taught me to never give up on a book at the ~100-page mark.

Some of the characters in Portrait of the Artist including Stephen Dedalus will show up in Ulysses.

Raymond Queneau will write a kind of spoof on it years later--taking characters from Ulysses and putting them in the GPO (General Post Office) in Dublin some 12 years later for the Easter Rising.

 

[NYGBleedBlueNYR]

Tremendous book. Working my way through it right now as well. Highly recommend that one. Also, the Jocko podcast is fantastic as well.

I had a long drive after reading it. I got the audio book and it's read by the authors as well. I enjoyed that even more after reading it.

I also listen to the podcast.

He has a motivational clip on YouTube,search "Jocko Willink Good", that's amazing.

I've gifted the book to a CEO I know and I'm really interested to hear his thoughts.

 

[SA16]

This has been on my list for while. Gonna give it a go now.

Haha. Let me know what you think.

Unfortunately grad school has taken a large bite out of my ability to read purely for pleasure, as I spend most of my time on philosophy books and journal articles.

That being said, in the last year I've been tearing my way through the Malazan fantasy books. I finished the main 10 book series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and I'm now about halfway through the secondary series, Novels of the Malazan Empire. It's mainly epic fantasy/military fantasy, so there are tons of amazing battles and duels and what have you. The two authors of the series are archaeologists and the author of the main series is also an anthropologist, so there's some insane world building, with very cool cultural/historical/etc. elements that make the universe feel very well-developed. Imagine the scale of Lord of the Rings married to A Song of Ice and Fire's morally grey worldview. Definitely not for everyone, but if you're into high fantasy I'd strongly recommend it.

Other than fantasy and sci fi I mostly read 20th century American lit (Vonnegut, Pynchon, etc.) and 19th century Russian lit (Gogol, Dostoevsky, etc.).

I'm on this now. I just finished Night of Knives yesterday and have so far read the first 5 books of the main series. I'm interspersing the two series. Will be starting The Bonehunters in the next few days.

 

[Made Dan]

Reading the biography about Vinny Gorgeous currently. ****ing love mob books.



Bought my father Lenny Dykstra's new book, which came in the mail today. Gonna have to read, gonna be a ****ing riot.

 

[Filip Chytil]

I had a long drive after reading it. I got the audio book and it's read by the authors as well. I enjoyed that even more after reading it.

I also listen to the podcast.

He has a motivational clip on YouTube,search "Jocko Willink Good", that's amazing.

I've gifted the book to a CEO I know and I'm really interested to hear his thoughts.

Yeah, that clip is incredible. Love that podcast especially. Feels like I learn a ton whenever I listen to it.

Interesting on the CEO thing. Wonder what his thoughts will be on it as well.

By the way, I think Leif Babin has the coolest voice in the history of mankind. Not trying to be weird or anything, but that guy's voice is just so damn cool.

 

[Filip Chytil]

In all honesty, I don't think I've ever read a fiction book without being forced to (such as in school/college way back when). I legitimately cannot name one.

 

[Son of Steinbrenner]

I know the books are a bit tedious but the Red, Green and Blue Mars books by Kim Stanley Robinson are really good. Spike (of all networks) picked up the books for a series. Really, if you are Sci Fi fan you might like it. I did.

 

[True Blue]

I finally read The Road by Cormack McCarthy. Nice light summer read.

Did you need to watch Schindler's List to cheer yourself up afterwards like I did? Have you tried Blood Meridian? Almost unreadable. But No Country for Old Men is great.

This year, Little Failure by Gary Shentygart was good. But for those who love politics, read All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. Great read.

Read the Decameron. No need to go there.

Over the last couple of years, I have become a huge fan of Junot Diaz. This is how you loose her and The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao are great reads.

For the classics, I read the Maltese Falcon last year. Great and classic Hollywood vision.

Non-fiction: Last year I read Friday Night Lights. Wow. And for fun, History of Metal. Great for you secret metal heads.

Fantasy: Science Fiction and fantasy is like getting back together with your best ex girlfriend. Easy. I have been reading the Malzan series. As well as well as The Unhewn Throne series by Brian Staveley. Very good. Also from the high fantasy land, Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson.

Historical Fiction: Hilary Mantel's Cromwell books are very good.

Oh, and Art of Fielding. Excellent as well.

 

[True Blue]

That being said, in the last year I've been tearing my way through the Malazan fantasy books. I finished the main 10 book series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and I'm now about halfway through the secondary series, Novels of the Malazan Empire. It's mainly epic fantasy/military fantasy, so there are tons of amazing battles and duels and what have you. The two authors of the series are archaeologists and the author of the main series is also an anthropologist, so there's some insane world building, with very cool cultural/historical/etc. elements that make the universe feel very well-developed. Imagine the scale of Lord of the Rings married to A Song of Ice and Fire's morally grey worldview. Definitely not for everyone, but if you're into high fantasy I'd strongly recommend it.

It is taking me 3 years and I am still trying to wrap up Malzans. Halfway done.

 

[True Blue]

Reads from the past six months include a re-reading of The Godfather;

Anyone who has watched the movie, needs to read this book.