What have you been reading lately?

[NullSmurf]

I enjoy science fiction mostly. My eldest gifted me with two books by Eric Flint he bought in the airport recently, 1631 and 1632. The plot is based on a small West Virginia coal mining town that is scooped up and transported to southern Germany in the year 1631 - smack in the middle of the Thirty Years war. Imagine a truckload of well armed West Virginia rednecks wiping out a company of mercinaries that picked the wrong farm to brutalize. The new United States immediately gains the attention of the monarchs of the time, not to mention the Vatican. There are an inexhaustable number of plot lines that should keep this author busy (and wealthy) for some time. In fact, I now have a copy of Ring of Fire, an anthology edited by Flint that features 5 other writers who have expanded parts of the story line in 1631. I highly recommend them all.

 

[KeyserSoze]

I actually just finished re-reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code after watching the movie. Now I'm waiting on Godfather's - Revenge by Mark Winegardner. Huge Godfather fan here. Just picked one up on ebay and should be here any day now.

I here Dan Brown is coming out with another in '07. I look forward to that as well.

 

[stevehawk]

I enjoy science fiction mostly. My eldest gifted me with two books by Eric Flint he bought in the airport recently, 1631 and 1632. The plot is based on a small West Virginia coal mining town that is scooped up and transported to southern Germany in the year 1631 - smack in the middle of the Thirty Years war. Imagine a truckload of well armed West Virginia rednecks wiping out a company of mercinaries that picked the wrong farm to brutalize. The new United States immediately gains the attention of the monarchs of the time, not to mention the Vatican. There are an inexhaustable number of plot lines that should keep this author busy (and wealthy) for some time. In fact, I now have a copy of Ring of Fire, an anthology edited by Flint that features 5 other writers who have expanded parts of the story line in 1631. I highly recommend them all.

I read a LOT... these sound like my kind of books. I'll have to check them out.

I recently finished the Ted Dekker trilogy of "Red", "Black" (I think) and "White", that you might like. I'm just now starting the third book in Nick Sagan's "Edenborn" trilogy.

I like all types of fiction and read a good deal of autobiographies as well. I've read by everthing published by Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, John Grisham, Ted Dekker, Orson Card and numerous others.

 

[Azoetia]

Regrettably, I don't have as much time as I would like to read for pleasure. The last book I read (re-read actually) was Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. It is a bit slow at the beginning but IMHO, was well worth the read, even the second time around.

 

[Mark Twain]

Seeing the type of books you’ve been reading, may I humbly suggest that you take a look at this short list of written works.

The list is incomplete, but I have a feeling that each of you can find something that is enjoyable to read and has more longevity than novels by Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, or John Grisham.

 

[FlyFish]

Not on the intellactual level as some of this stuff but I have started reading the Harry Potter books to my kids as much for my own pleasure as for theirs.

 

[tigger]

I kind of a slut when it comes to the written word - usually have several books and a couple of periodicals going at once.

Currently they are:

John McPhee's Uncommon Carriers
Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon
Stephen King's Cell
James Norwood Pratt's New Tea Lover's Treasury
A.F.Price's translation of The Diamond Sutra

Last week's issue of "The Economist"
The current issue of "Reason"

 

[Gonz]

Oh let's see, I've read many books over the last 6 months;

Anthony Kiedis' autobiography "Scar Tissue"
Sting's autobiography "Broken Music"
Stephen King's "From A Buick 8"
Neil Peart's "Roadshow A Landscape with Drums"
Neil Peart's "Ghost Rider"
4 of John Grisham's books
Dune
Dune Messiah
Vince Flynn "Consent to Kill"
Star Wars "Shadows of the Empire"
Star Wars "Dark Lord"
Ed Abbey "Monkey Wrench Gang"
Ed Abbey "Brave Cowboy"
Hunter S Thompson "Hell's Angels"
Neil Gaiman "Smoke & Mirrors"
The Economics of John Stuart Mill Vol 1
Chinnagounder's Challenge: The Question Of Ecological Citizenship by Deane Curtin

And I just decided to read Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" again.

 

[tigger]

Edward Abbey rocks!

I'll hafta go back and read Desert Solitaire again soon.

Edit to say: Well, he did rock.

 

[Zeebra]

I actually just finished re-reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code after watching the movie. Now I'm waiting on Godfather's - Revenge by Mark Winegardner. Huge Godfather fan here. Just picked one up on ebay and should be here any day now.

I here Dan Brown is coming out with another in '07. I look forward to that as well.

I'm a huge Godfather fan as well -- did you actually enjoy Godfather Returns? I was so disappointed.

 

[AVB]

CP

Doh!

 

[cincycigarman]

I also enjoy reading, when I can find the time. I tend to stick with non-fiction more than fiction, and am currently reading "What is the What" by Dave Eggers. This is a biography that he wrote about one of the "lost boys of Sudan," who are a group of boys who were driven from their homes when civil war broke out in that country several years ago. A large group of them were brought to the US, and this book is about their experiences in Sudan (trekking hundreds of miles across the country to Ethiopia, with boys getting picked off by lions along the way, getting shot at by militias, living as refugees, etc) as well as their experiences getting adapted to life in the US. It is a rather fascinating story so far. It makes me appreciate the comforts I enjoy and usually take for granted, like having regular access to clean water and food whenever I want, not to mention my indulgences like wine and cigars...

When I read fiction, I also enjoy Grisham, Clancy, have also read most of Nick Hornby's stuff (High Fidelity, etc) and did read the Dan Brown stuff (Da Vinci Code and the other one, the name of which escapes me at the moment). Oh, and Christopher Moore.

 

[fenian'98]

I've been reading the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Pat O'Brien. The movie Master and Commander with Russell Crowe is loosely based on the first book in the series, with a little from a few others thrown in. There are 21 in all, and I just finished The Far Side of the World which is the tenth in the series.

 

[Gonz]

Dan Brown has two other books that I read and enjoyed a long time ago, Digital Fortress and another that I can't remember the name of right now.

 

[Zeebra]

Oh let's see, I've read many books over the last 6 months;

Anthony Kiedis' autobiography "Scar Tissue"
Sting's autobiography "Broken Music"
Stephen King's "From A Buick 8"
Neil Peart's "Roadshow A Landscape with Drums"
Neil Peart's "Ghost Rider"
4 of John Grisham's books
Dune
Dune Messiah

You got 4 books left to finish the series -- what are you waiting for???

 

[Jeff1101]

Penthouse Letters. :whistling:

 

[KeyserSoze]

I actually just finished re-reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code after watching the movie. Now I'm waiting on Godfather's - Revenge by Mark Winegardner. Huge Godfather fan here. Just picked one up on ebay and should be here any day now.

I here Dan Brown is coming out with another in '07. I look forward to that as well.

I'm a huge Godfather fan as well -- did you actually enjoy Godfather Returns? I was so disappointed.

I didn't finish it Zeebra. I was somewhat dissappointed from what I read. I may have read a 100pages a few months back and never got around to it again. It just didn't do much for me. That's why I'm hoping 'Revenge' is better but I do plan on giving 'Returns' another try. I thought maybe it was because I didn't read the original Godfather so more than likely that will be my next book after Revenge. Kind of working backwards here.

 

[bfreebern]

Last book I read was "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".

 

[KeyserSoze]

Dan Brown has two other books that I read and enjoyed a long time ago, Digital Fortress and another that I can't remember the name of right now.

Deception Point, Angels & Demons...?

I have a feeling all of Dan Brown's books will soon turn into movies. Davinci, Angels & Demons soon.. Deception Point has a good chance as well.

 

[fenian'98]

I actually just finished re-reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code after watching the movie. Now I'm waiting on Godfather's - Revenge by Mark Winegardner. Huge Godfather fan here. Just picked one up on ebay and should be here any day now.

I here Dan Brown is coming out with another in '07. I look forward to that as well.

I'm a huge Godfather fan as well -- did you actually enjoy Godfather Returns? I was so disappointed.

I didn't finish it Zeebra. I was somewhat dissappointed from what I read. I may have read a 100pages a few months back and never got around to it again. It just didn't do much for me. That's why I'm hoping 'Revenge' is better but I do plan on giving 'Returns' another try. I thought maybe it was because I didn't read the original Godfather so more than likely that will be my next book after Revenge. Kind of working backwards here.

The original was fantastic. On a similar note, Mario Puzo wrote a book called The Last Don that was good. The movie was sorta lame but the book was good. Fools Die was good too, but not mob based.