Book Exchange

[Meteorola]

So, read any good books lately?

What do you normally read?

 

 

 

(Years ago when I was at a board for Lord of the Rings, another person in there suggested several fantastic reads. I thought we could maybe formalize that kind of thing here.)

Edited March 18, 2005 by Meteorola (see edit history)

[Orioni]

These are the last books I read:

• The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
• Historical Capitalism with Capitalist Civilization (Immanuel Wallerstein)
• Angels & Demons (Dan Brown)
• The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (David S. Landes)
• Transitions to Capitalism (Robert S. Duplessis)

[Meteorola]

These are the best fictional books I've read (in as close to an order as I will ever get):

• Magician - Raymond Fiest
• Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
• The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

The best nonfictional books I've read (again in order):

• Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank
• The Hot Zone - Richard Preston
• Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser

Edited March 18, 2005 by Meteorola (see edit history)

[Jacob Taren]

Okay, here's some of the more recent stuff I've read.

 

 

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

 

Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov

 

Various short stories by HP Lovecraft

 

Sabbat Martyr by Dan Abnett (part of a continuing series about an infantry regiment in a sci-fi setting, Warhammer 40k to be more specific)

 

And I'm not sure if this technically counts or not, but...

 

Battle Royale manga version, volumes 1-9. Koushun Takami, Masayuki Taguchi and translation by Keith Griffin

[Vanarambaion]

From V's "List of Books That Will Make Karpathos Cringe" comes:

 

Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America, by Mark Levin

 

The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It, by Richard Hofstadter

 

The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed, by Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz

 

War and Power in the 21st Century, by Paul Hirst

 

The Challenge of Global Capitalism: The World Economy in the 21st Century, by Robert Gilpin

 

And that's all, for now...

[Odary]

I like to read fantasy, sci-fi, and books about war. Here our some books I've read in those categories:

 

Fantasy

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan(Excellent series, only on fourth book though)

 

Waylander by David Gemmel

 

Hero in the Shadows, by David Gemmel(Both Gemmel books are apart of the Drenai Tales series. Hero in the Shadows is what got me interested in fantasy, so it's defintly a all-time favorite.)

 

The Conan Chronicles, volume 1( This is acctually three stories put into one book: Conan the Invincible, Conan the Defender, and Conan the Unconquered. Great books.Just like the first Conan movie; lots of blood and violence with some boobies thrown in for the fun of it.)

 

I've also read Conan the Savage by Leonard Carpenter, but it was nowehere as good as Jordan's series.

 

Sci-fi

The X-wing series by Michael A. Stackpole; a few of the books were written by Aaron Allston.( Excellent series, even if you don't like SW. Lots of good space fights with some good natured comedy thrown in)

 

I've also read Enders Game and Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card( Awesome series.)

 

Warbooks

I've read Band of Brothers, Ghost Soldiers, The German Art of War, Fighting Techniques of a Japanese Infatryman, and a few others.

Edited March 18, 2005 by Odary (see edit history)

[Amnalos]

Last five books I've read, with a rating out of 10

 

The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler, 10/10

Total Eclipse by John Brunner, 6/10

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson 8/10

Cujo by Stephen King, 7/10

The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle, 7/10

[Koku]

Dan Brown's ;

The Da Vinci Code

Tell no one.

 

[Kant]

Kokoda - Fantastic book bout the Aussies halting the Japanese Advance in the pacific at New Guinea.

Tells about the coniditions faced by Aus and Jap troops as well as political figures, Including that Yank McArthur (pfft)

 

Brave New World - School novel, somewhat interesting but gets boring quite easy

 

Mad Harry - Biography on Harry Murray, Australias most decorated officer in WW1

 

Sun Tzu's the Art of War

 

Rise and Fall of the Romonov Dynasty

 

[Tamurin]

Fictional:

 

Alastair Reynolds - all of his books ("Revelation Space", "Redemption Ark", "Absolution Gap", "Chasm City", "Century Rain") - Dark SciFi

 

Glenn Meade - "Snow Wolf" - Polit-Action-Thriller

 

Non-Fictional:

 

Many books concerning history (like "The history of the byzantine empire" by James Julius Norwich), military tactics and technology (like the book of Field Marshal Montgomery), Mythology and biographies of politicians.

 

Currently reading "Das Reich der Nachtdaemonen - Angst und Aberglaube im Mittelalter" (roughly translated: "The empire of the night demons - fears and believes in the Dark Ages").

[Tagmatium Rules]

One of my all time favourites - The Hungry Catapillar. Cannot be beat.

[Phil VII]

ahh, The Very Hungry CatapillerWhat a book... i remember it well...

 

anyway, last few books i read:

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

Angels and Demons, Dan Brown

 

The above two books, while being a good reads, are almost completly factually incorrect, so please do not become one of those smug ''I know what's really going on in the World now'' people after reading it. Although if all americans are as Ignorent as Dan Brown makes them out to be in the books... oh dear...

 

The Witches of Chiswick, Robery Rankin(no relation of Ian Rankin, the famous crime novalist, which many people think)

 

Robert Rankin, i read quite a bit of his stuff, his books are all very surreal, and are almost always set in the district of London called Brentford. One of the best things about the books is their extremely silly titles, The Brentford Chainstore Massacre, Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls, Raiders of the Lost Car Park, the Sprouts of Wrath...The list goes on...

 

Going Postal, Terry Pratchett

 

I like Terry Pratchett, his books always make me laugh no matter how many times i read them, some are better than others, and some books are quite ingenious takes on Real life events. One of my favorates is Night Watch, in which one charecter goes back in time and takes part in a revolution extremely similer to the French Revolution against the Monerchy...

 

 

[Tagmatium Rules]

I disagree there. I have to say the best is Guards! Guards! It has the most interesting aspect of Vimes in it, as the failed, cynical drunken Captain of the Watch. All the others become the same. I find the Night Watch too over the top, and his appearence in the Monstrous Regiment is embrassing.

The Sharpe books are quite good, but really over the top when you actually think about them.

I like the Discworld series.

Lord of the Rings was good, but too much of a chore to read.

His Dark Materials are good.

[Argenland]

My Books:

 

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Romeo and Juliet - Shakepeare

The Island of the Treasure - Stevenson

Doll's House (I don't know if this is the name in English) - Henrik Ibsen

History of a naufrage - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The hobbit - Tolkien

 

[Phil VII]

I didnt say Night Watch was my favorate, i said it was one of them, i'm not sure which one is the best though, although i agree Monsterous Regiment wasn't exactly the greatest discworld book ever...

[Nevareion]

Currently rereading Pollen by Jeff Noon

[Jacob Taren]

Just a bit of a bump...

 

Recently read:

 

Neuromancer by William Gibson

 

and various short stories by HP Lovecraft

[Tagmatium Rules]

Day of the Jackel by Frederick Forsesyth. It is really believable, for some reason.

[Nevareion]

Good taste in books you got there Jacob Taren I am currently revisiting my childhood by re reading the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series. They seemed so much longer back then....

[Amnalos]

Just reading "Wolves of the Calla", which is the fifth book in Stephen King's bizarre "Dark Tower" series. Good read.

[Orioni]

Here's what I read in march:

• G. Williams: The Expansion of Europa in the Eighteenth Century: overseas rivalry, discovery and exploitation.
• N. de Roy van Zuydewijn: Monumentenreisboek van Nederland.
• J.D. Tracy: The Rise of Merchant Empires.
• H. den Heijer: De geschiedenis van de WIC.
• W. Wubbo Klooster: Illicit Riches: the Dutch trade in the Caribbean, 1648-1795.
• M. Van Empel and H. Pieters: Zeeland door de eeuwen heen.

Currently reading:

• D. Reynolds: One world divisible, a global history since 1945.

[Noitan Eugor]

The Wheel of Time series was incredible, unfortunately I got to book 7 and couldn't bring myself to finish reading the whole 900 pages, I stopped somewhere in the middle of that book and have been lending the rest to my friend. Stupid me had bought all the way through book 11, but maybe I'll finish the series someday.

 

I collect W40K, someone tell me about that book, uhh Sabbat Martyr.

 

You guys know there's a moon of Jupiter or Saturn or something called Europa?

 

Replay Ken Grimwood

 

Naked Pictures of Famous People and America by John Stewart

[Phil VII]

You guys know there's a moon of Jupiter or Saturn or something called Europa?

yep, there was also a horse in the Grand National at the weekend called Europa, he was the second from last to finish! (although to give him some credit, 19 out of the starting 40 didn't even make it to the end!)

 

heh, I collect a bit of 40k too, although the only books I've read are some of the gaunts ghosts series.

 

Recently i've been reading some of Dan Brown's other books (the guy who wrote the Da Vinci Code), they're alright thrillers, even if most of the science and facts in them are complete bullsh*t

[Tagmatium Rules]

I want to know what percentage of NSers do or have done WH40K/WH. I used to, but I found I don't have enough time, plus it is getting a bit stupid.

Have you read Digital Fortress by Dan Brown? It is really dense, plus I don't know too much about computers. It's also got a really idiotic character: a deaf hit-man. I read it while stuck in Rhodes Airport.

Edited April 11, 2005 by Tagmatium Rules (see edit history)

[Phil VII]

hmm, I havn't read digital fortress, although his other three i have, he does seem to like including disabled charecters, there was the guy in a wheelchair in Angels and demons, the strange Albino Flagellant in the Da Vinci Code, a deaf hitman in Digital fortress, and come to think of it i cant think of one in his other one, Deception Point.

I just finashed reading deception point last week while on holiday, books are great things to take on holidays... especially if the planes are delayed...

 

with the 40k stuff, me and a friend have been collecting for quite a time now, we both keep each other in it, if one of us stopped the other wouldn't have the willpower to carry it on, but it is so expensive now i'm not sure how much longer we will continue.