Read any good books lately?

Just curious what everyone else likes to read... I don't read nearly as much as I used to, but I still enjoy it, and thought I would share some of my favorite books with everyone. Feel free to do the same.

Right now, I just started reading Neal Stephenson's newest book "Quicksilver", which is somewhat of a pre-cursor to his last book "The Cryptonomicon". The Cryptonomicon was awesome, as are all his other books (Snow Crash, Zodiac, The Diamond Age, etc.).

Read the "Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdom" series by David Wingrove 2 years ago, and I'm going to re-read the whole thing again since it was such a great series. Wonderful writing, great character development, and overall a really well thought-out work of fiction. Probably my all-time favorite read.

I also read alot of Kurt Vonnegut books, like "Cat's Cradle", etc. Most recently I read "Timequake" which was good... He's a strange author to be sure, mostly very tongue-in-cheek social commentary, but truly a gifted writer.

I am currently reading Michael Moores new book "Dude, Wheres my Country". So far, it is a good book.

I am currently reading Michael Moores new book "Dude, Wheres my Country". So far, it is a good book.

Yeah, I like Michael Moore. I've only read a few passages from his books, but I like his films. Last time his name got mentioned in this forum though, everybody was bashing on him.

Yeah, I like Michael Moore. I've only read a few passages from his books, but I like his films. Last time his name got mentioned in this forum though, everybody was bashing on him.

Yeah, Michael Moore is great, plus I was the one who started the thread. :grinyes: I don't know why people in this forum hate him? :dunno:

I just finished up Anthem by Ayn Rand, and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Both good books. Havent thought of what I want to read now, thinking something along the lines of classic literature like The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Reading through Ice Station and Area 7 by Matthew Riley. Next on the list is Clive Cussler's new book. :)

Recently I've read "Chocolat" which was on my bookshelf for years.

And also "Too young to be a hero" which was AWESOME. Its by a WWII German soldier who joined up at an early age and how the war removed his arrogance, taught him that his beloved Hitler was a complete bastard and he is open enought to admit his pure constant fear of the war.

Read lots of good books recently, so its been nice, usually I read one or two good, one bad.

I hate Michael Moore. :icon16: But I liked Bill O'Reiley's last book.

Just curious what everyone else likes to read... I don't read nearly as much as I used to, but I still enjoy it, and thought I would share some of my favorite books with everyone. Feel free to do the same.

Right now, I just started reading Neal Stephenson's newest book "Quicksilver", which is somewhat of a pre-cursor to his last book "The Cryptonomicon". The Cryptonomicon was awesome, as are all his other books (Snow Crash, Zodiac, The Diamond Age, etc.).

Read the "Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdom" series by David Wingrove 2 years ago, and I'm going to re-read the whole thing again since it was such a great series. Wonderful writing, great character development, and overall a really well thought-out work of fiction. Probably my all-time favorite read.

I also read alot of Kurt Vonnegut books, like "Cat's Cradle", etc. Most recently I read "Timequake" which was good... He's a strange author to be sure, mostly very tongue-in-cheek social commentary, but truly a gifted writer.

I loved “snow crash” but couldn’t get into “the diamond age”, is any of is other stuff up to par with snow crash.

Im not currently reading anything, not sure why I may have to drop by the book store and pick something up tomorrow, maybe that new book “Eragon”. Anyone who has suggestions for a good fantasy book let me know. last few book I read was the “Prey” Series by John Sandford “rules of pray” and “show pray” both good Detective\serial killer books

Matthew Reilly:
Yep Oz good choice - Contest is pretty good as well.

Bill Bryson:
Being a traveller myself I enjoyed quite a few of his books - reminds me of the quirky places, people and stories I've experienced. Just finished a Brief History of... which was an interesting read.

Brian Aldiss
Wrote the story for AI - just finished White Mars which was different but not exactly my dram of malt scotch.

William Gibson
Read Count Zero and Neuromancer a long time ago - someone asked me about them last weekend... hmmm worth a look.

Robert A Heinlein, Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
Were the SF authors I read at school (yep I'm pretty old) and I think I read everything by Heinlein at some stage

Ben Elton
Interesting books with Ben's particular viewpoint on things

Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently and the four books of the Hitchhikers Guide...

Some others - Terry Pratchett's Discworld (nope not at all me but fans are fanatical about them)... John Grisham, Craig Thomas, Tom Clancy, Stephen King (as well as Richard Bachman) for those long international flights...

And of course Brett Easton Ellis (Less than Zero, American Psycho), Phillip K Dick who wrote several novels and stories that ended up as concepts for some interesting films eg Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner), We can remember it for you wholesale (Total Recall), Second Variety (Screamers) as well as Minority Report and Impostor

Thought contest to be pretty good. The writer seems to be a bit up himself though. How's life?

I'm on Romance of the 3 Kingdoms right now just read another book on Alexander the Great. After that i'm going to read Dantes infreo.

Reply to Oz...

I came to the conclusion that without sadness you can never really appreciate all of what happiness really means. I've lived a life less than ordinary and I've been blessed with moments that most folk will only ever experience as something they see in a movie, on TV or read about. So I figure that life is about symmetry and recent events have been there to remind me about the best that destiny has dealt and has yet to provide me...

And also that some of this is karma for some of the really stupid and careless things I've done to others... you shouldn't dwell in the past - but it's part of you and I need to remind myself of how careless I once was with other people's hearts...

:cheers: I was waiting for you to come to that conslusion. :) Glad things are better.

To other posters - whynot tell us WHY it is a good book. What genre, brief synopsis etc :)

Sitting in my just completed pile right now are:

Fantastic Voyage II Destination Brian, Issac Asimov

The Jesus Incident, Frank Herbert

Job, Robert A. Heinlein

The complete Robot, Issac Asimov


and Iv just started; Xenocide, Orson Scott Card.


As I think has been noted here before Im some what of a Sci Fi Junkie.

Next on the list is Clive Cussler's new book. :)

I love Cussler's older books, but I'm not a fan his new main characters... bring back Dirk!!

As for me, I'm "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill just for fun and my girlfriend keeps trying to get me to read "Fast Food Nation" Anybody read it?

Check out Popcorn by Ben Elton. I havent read any thing in ages and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's an entertaining and very funny read. It's sold in droves here. Just as i told my friend "it's so good, it should be a movie", he told me it's been made into a play. Check it out, it's not long, you can easily read it over one weekend. I couldnt put it down :bigthumb:

Yes, definetley in the proccess of Iceworld. Awesome book so far :)

I love the Ender series from Scott Card. Read those through a few times. I was sad when I finished the series the first time, cause I didn't want it to end, it was that good.

Hmm, I think i might pick up those books again and reread them. :)

I loved “snow crash” but couldn’t get into “the diamond age”, is any of is other stuff up to par with snow crash.

Im not currently reading anything, not sure why I may have to drop by the book store and pick something up tomorrow, maybe that new book “Eragon”. Anyone who has suggestions for a good fantasy book let me know. last few book I read was the “Prey” Series by John Sandford “rules of pray” and “show pray” both good Detective\serial killer books

Yeah, for some reason, Diamond Age was tough to get into, and is my least favorite of his books. I would highly recommend Zodiac which is a very short read, but a fun book, and Cryptonomicon. Cryptonomicon was also a tough read at first, but once you do get into it (and get the characters straightened out), you'll be glad you did. Quicksilver has been much easier to get into so far, and although, I wasn't very keen on reading something set in that time-period (1600's), I think I'm going to really like it. The characters in this book are the ancestors of those in Quicksilver, so it's interesting to see how their paths have crossed so many times, and Neal Stephenson does a great job of writing a fantastic story where he doesn't totally mangle actual historical events. But do read Cryptonomicon before Quicksilver (if you intend to read either of them).

I've also read quite a bit of Heinlen and enjoyed most of it. Also read some of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchet (at the insistance of one of the fanatics that Replicant mentioned). Funny stuff, but certainly not something I would be a fanatic about.

Oh, and I can't forget David Eddings "The Belgariad" (and other books in that story-line). Read them all a few years ago, and really liked them. The writing in them is decent, and not very high-level, but a good story none-the-less...