deskthority

Any of you actually reads books? If so - what?

Since I currently have no internet access at home, I have been reading a lot. I must have read more books in the past three months than in the last 10 years combined. Just yesterday I finished the "The First Law" trilogy by Joe Abercrombie and it was absolutely brilliant.

It feels like I have become a sucker for "dark fantasy" books, fantasy books that do not really contain much fantasy and are written pretty realistic. If any of you are into similar stuff, be sure to check out that trilogy. What is it like? To say it with the author's words:

Imagine if Tarantino had made Lord of the Rings. Imagine Conan the Barbarian with the self-awareness of Unforgiven. Imagine LA Confidential . . . with swords.

So, what do you read?

Technical manuals...I wish I was joking. Also, lot's of non-fiction.

Haven't sat down to read a novel in 6 years. Mostly as I always find I have enough things to do, picking up a book will just increase my current backlog of stuff. Though one of these days, I'll pick up some novels again.

Well....i read a lot. My problem is that im a natural speedreader, so finishing a good book wont take me more then a day or two. And that leads to having no good books left to read. Ive reread anything good I have 5-6 times.
Generally speaking I'm into Fantasy, Adventure, Thrillers, maritime literature like C.S. Forrester or A. Kent, Horror, both the newer "king"-ish, as well as oldschool Lovecraftian pieces. Also I greatly enjoy reading biographical books, or well written historical books. Not the dry ones, but the ones with good narrative voice. First person experiences for the win^^.
Also, DIY books and manuals are a fun way to expand your horizon.
And since there are no good english libraries here in Germany, im pretty SOL...every time I visit family in the states i haul back a load of books I snag at used book stores, which unfortunately leads to having to pay for overweight baggage.

I go through stints of reading a lot and then not reading anything for a while. Before Christmas I read William Gibson's Sprawl and Bridge trilogies. Then Burning Chrome, which are his shorts. After Christmas I read his Bigend trilogy (it was a Christmas present). I bought myself a Kindle not long after Christmas and I read Treasure Island and Dracula on that. Then I read Never Let Me go as someone recommended the film, so I thought I'd read the book before I saw the film. Still haven't seen the film yet as I found the book disappointing. Don't think it lives up to the hype it received. It's a generic love triangle with a dystopian twist.

My all time favourite book though is Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.

I read mostly non-fiction and programming books, but now I'm into the Babylon 5 novels and a few Lisp books. I got Let over Lambda for Christmas

sixty wrote:Imagine if Tarantino had made Lord of the Rings. Imagine Conan the Barbarian with the self-awareness of Unforgiven. Imagine LA Confidential . . . with swords.

You should try the Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. It's not dark. It's pitch black, more so than anything Tarantino has made.

Used to read like crazy as a kid...now not so much. I always liked "Catcher in the Rye" and "A Separate Peace". Definitely plan to get back into reading.

I have to reads lots of legal documents, in my free time I prefer John Grisham novels or the excellent Oxford History of the United States.

Haven't read fiction in a long long time, don't really have the time go get back into it any time soon.

I like to read what I call "character novel." Books that are more about the characters than for any unusual thing happening. If they were movies, they would be indie films. Margaret Atwood and Robert Olen Butler are some of my favorite fiction authors.

I also like to read science history. There's a book called "The Dream Machine" by M. Mitchell Waldrop about how a man named J.C.R. Licklider contributed to the beginnings of the Internet. It's a fascinating and fantastic read. Highly recommended.

Everything Red Dwarfish.....

Currently reading:

- The Walking Dead comics (ongoing, waiting for the next hardcover, volume 7, to come out). Comics usually aren't my thing.
- Real World Color Managment-2nd ed. This is a totally well written and enjoyable technical book, if you enjoy the subject matter.

No novels at present.

I'm currently reading Ender's Game off the recommendation of a co-worker. It's pretty good so far, but I haven't had the chance to really sit down and get into it.

Hmmm...
Lots of hardware manuals for various electronic devices, game manuals, and lots of non-fiction.

I don't enjoy fiction that much... I suppose when I read, I read for a purpose rather than entertainment.

I'm almost done with 1984.

Lots and lots of fiction. I have someone who gives me recommendations, so I don't have to waste my life on bad literature. So far, there hasn't been a single recommendation of hers that I haven't liked.

Last two I've read:
"Specimen days" by Michael Cunningham
"Handling the undead" ("Hantering av odöda") by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Pylon wrote:I'm almost done with 1984.

You sound like MW.

EverythingIBM wrote:Hmmm...

I don't enjoy fiction that much... I suppose when I read, I read for a purpose rather than entertainment.

Same here, most of the books I own are non-fiction DIY books.

http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/10/028/1002876.pdf

Such a good read.

I always read that before I go to sleep.

Now imagine spending weeks reading while trying to stay awake...

Nah, seriously I'm one of the few people who actually like "legalese", whereas my brain is quickly confused when confronted with maths or physics and stuff.

Almost finished with Hidden Moon by James Church (North Korean mystery but no Kolorful Korean Keyboards in North Korea). Finished "Pillars of The Earth" by Ken Follet a month ago. I consider my Wikis my Cathedral that will Last the Ages and the pictures the stained glass.


Hey, it's the guy from MASH! And he's CANADIAN!!! And all along I thought he was a serious actor.

now reading "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland" by Patton Oswalt. Funny/nerdy guy, good read thus far.

webwit wrote:

Pylon wrote:I'm almost done with 1984.

You sound like MW.

Nice guess, but I'm afraid you're 10 years off. I've almost gotten to Windows 95 now.

Not much longer and you can use USB!

I as well used to read a lot more when I was a kid. Mostly fiction and sci-fi but I also had this period during which I read a lot of world war 2 fighter pilot autobiographies. Nowadays my favorite author is Terry Pratchett.

My current reading list is: God's Demon by Wayne Barlowe, Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, Japrocksampler by Julian Cope, Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder and Critique of Judgement by Kant. I have a quite few others in the pile but it will be a while until I get to them.

If you like Kant you'd love this mystery.



I'd lend you my copy but you Kant have it. It's not part of my philosophy to share. Either that or it's behavioral due to being an only child.

I haven't read anything in awhile, but I generally stick to sci-fi & fantasy :)

I have read the trilogy sixty mentioned in the titled (made me mad). I recently bought The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, which is the sequel to The Name of the Wind...unfortunately it's been so long that I read that book I'll have to read it again before I start up the second one.

gorb wrote:unfortunately it's been so long that I read that book I'll have to read it again before I start up the second one.

Actually you don't!

http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/02 ... -thus-far/

(I received my copy too on Saturday)