Book Thread. I have nothing good to read.

[Scabs304]

I'm going to go through this thread with a fine tooth comb and get a list of new books to read. I always have trouble picking out what to read next. I really like series. My favorite author is Stephen King and series is Dark Tower. So beyond that I read alot of science fiction, but like stories with good plots and SOUL. Anyways have not paged through this yet, but if you like Stephen King at all read the Dark Tower series you will be glad you did.

[BanndNDC]

Been reading "Lords of Finance" and it's an absolutley fascinating and thought provoking book. Basically a history of international monetary issues during the interwar period. lots and lots of parallels. Especially reccommended for sev, nate, greendale and anyone else interested in economics and trends from a non-partisan, historical and accessible context.

[GhostsOfGil]

i just finished reading survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. recently ive been hooked on his novels. im reading rant now and can not put it down. in case you guys dont know chuck, he was the author of fite club. so far survior has been one of my all time favorites

[doclinkin]

Memoir/Biography:
Crazy for the Storm. Norman Ollestad slowly unreels the story of his survival of the plane crash that killed his dad, as memoir of a difficult childhood and eulogy of -- not so much his father's life, but their relationship. If not for his father's compulsive daredevil antics, and insistence that his son push himself as well, then the 11-yr-old Ollestad would not have had the steel to force himself to survive. Powerful book. Fatherhood is a difficult thing. We have no idea what we do to our sons, for better or worse.

Dishwasher. Sorta a bar-bet memoir. Slacker generally lacking ambition discovers a quixotic sense of honor in choosing a profession that allows him to work not a moment longer than he chooses. As a dishwasher the wages are so low and the work often so grueling that every city in the nation has restaurants with a sign out front: 'Dishwashers wanted.' Pete Jordan decides he will wash dishes in every state in the Union. Spends the next ten years on this quest. Meanwhile life sorta passes him by. He starts a zine though and lands fans in the kitchens across the 50 states. Pretty good read.

Young Adult novel:
Hoppergrass. Incidentally 1960's virginia. Juvenile delinquent in lock-up, settles into the routine of the holding facility, while doing everything possible to avoid thinking about his shame and guilt over the incident that landed him there. Cool Hand Luke at age 16, some of the same wry humor and strength of character, folks play their roles in lock-up, but mostly all to pass time and find some enjoyment, no hard feelings even in the racial divisions. But the kid can't stand for injustice. A cascade of events and errors leads him into dire circumstances, kills one friend and endangers another, he develops an incessant obsessive resolve to set the situation aright, even if it near to kills him, or drives him over the edge. Really strong writing, characterization, compelling narrative, and turns out to have a plot as well, more than simply 'Holden Caufield in juvie'. Not merely a coming of age behind bars, story, but instead a gripping desperate story thread as well.

Really liked this book. Read it in one day.

Graphic Novels:
Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness Life of the man in black told in stark black and white inkwork, details culled from biography as well as his song. Strong draftsmanship, expressive lines, mobile faces. Pretty cool book. Made me start a 'Folsom Prison' channel on pandora.

Thor Vol 3, J. Michael Straczynski.
Less about goldilocks than his asgardian companions. In books one and two Asgard has manifested on earth, and now hovers on a chunk of floating mountain above a field in Oklahoma, bemusing the residents of a nearby small town. The owner of a local diner falls in mutual love with an immortal. Mostly the locals simply shrug and go on with life while swapping stories about their odd neighbors. Loki in the body of babe Sif has manipulated circumstances (as usual) to send Thor into exile. Balder is now king of asgard, twisting to Loki's string pulling marionetteering. In book three 'she' (Loki-babe) has conspired to arrange an invitation from the monarch of Latveria for the norsemen to move from the midwest and settle down instead in the cold mountainous regions of the homeland of Dr Doom. Naturally tragedy is sure to follow. Little happens plot-wise, and there's not much in the way of mallet-swinging nor thunderbolt lobbing, but the writing is strong enough that you'll eager anticipate the next book. If you like this sort of thing.

The Incredible Thorcules, Greg Pak.
Hercules has to dress up as Thor to prevent the svalfalfar (dark elves) from invading Midgard (earth). Bungles it (as usual) but only after bedding the comely elf queen (as usual). All the while Zeus has been youth-enized to age 13 (in an earlier volume) and bratty, and remembers nothing of his former self having drunk of the waters of lethe . But even as he has no recollection of his history, he still perceives Herc ans a bungling blowhard. Somehow Herc tries to both babysit him and earn his baby father's respect. Ultimately Thor has to save the day and demonstrate true heroism, all while dressed as Hercules. All works out in the end, though ultimately in fact it is hercules' implied cocksmanship that truly saves the day. Remarkably silly book. But a fun quick read.

There's an inane subplot about his supergenius partner off on an idiotic adventure that amounts to two supergeniuses in a battle of wits playing role-playing games against each other. Pretty pointless, but whatever.

[pancakes3]

will look into lords of finance.

currently reading "Stuffed and Starved" - Raj Patel. a criticism of the food industry in the same vein as fast food nation, but from a more economic and philosophical POV.

[Zonkerbl]

Girlfriend and I are science fiction freaks. But bohemian weirded out science fiction, like China Mieville, Jonathan Lethem (Gun With Occasional Music), Harouki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World).

[doclinkin]

Girlfriend and I are science fiction freaks. But bohemian weirded out science fiction, like China Mieville, Jonathan Lethem (Gun With Occasional Music), Harouki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World).

Talk about it. What's it about, what's good, and why. Sell me something. What's the best of the bunch?

Pretty sure I read King Rat (Mieville) though I don't remember a bit of it, so maybe not. Sci fi back in the day, I used to like Harlan Ellison, less for the quality of his writing, and more for the whacked concepts. Not strictly satisfying, but certainly made you go 'huh'... But I was 13 at the time.

I used to like my sci-fi hallucinatory and visual. Near future dystopia, cyberpunk etc. Gibson for instance. Love the beginning passage of Neuromancer describing the holographic advertising on low-hanging clouds like the color of a television tuned to a dead channel. Gibson, Stephenson, Sterling to a lesser extent. But it's been a while.

[dobrojim]

recently read "what Jesus meant" by Garry Wills. Interesting take
coming from a catholic. Not terribly long. Decided to read this after
reading Bomb Power (also by Wills).

Working slowly through a Peoples History of the United States (Zinn).

thinking about checking out one of my brother's favs from many years
ago, Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. Have not read much fiction
lately.

also waiting (have on hold but am #67 in line) for
13 bankers : the Wall Street takeover and the next financial meltdown
by Simon Johnson.

[barelyawake]

Not scholarly work by any means, but in the course of my travels I've been captivated by all of the Ricky Gervais' Guide To... audiobooks. Some of the funniest stuff I've ever heard. If you're late to the party like me, Ricky Gervais did a radio show for several years with his co-author Stephen Merchant and an utter baffoon named Karl Pilkington. You've probably seen the cartoon on HBO recently adapted from their podcasts. Well, they also did ten audiobooks in which they take a topic and run through the history of it -- for instance, medicine. Of course, the premise of everything done by this trio is to allow Karl to expound on this ridiculous theories as the other two berate him for them. IMO the team is legendary. Up there with Abbott and Costello in terms of comedy history.

[Zonkerbl]

Girlfriend and I are science fiction freaks. But bohemian weirded out science fiction, like China Mieville, Jonathan Lethem (Gun With Occasional Music), Harouki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World).

Talk about it. What's it about, what's good, and why. Sell me something. What's the best of the bunch?

Pretty sure I read King Rat (Mieville) though I don't remember a bit of it, so maybe not. Sci fi back in the day, I used to like Harlan Ellison, less for the quality of his writing, and more for the whacked concepts. Not strictly satisfying, but certainly made you go 'huh'... But I was 13 at the time.

I used to like my sci-fi hallucinatory and visual. Near future dystopia, cyberpunk etc. Gibson for instance. Love the beginning passage of Neuromancer describing the holographic advertising on low-hanging clouds like the color of a television tuned to a dead channel. Gibson, Stephenson, Sterling to a lesser extent. But it's been a while.

I'm a big Robert Sheckley fan, I love beatnik sci-fi. Try Sheckley's "Can you feel anything when I do this?" Jonathan Lethem's Gun With Occasional Music is set in a world where animals have been made highly evolved, and babies grow up mentally in one year but physically... well, it defies description really. It's super weird. You might like "Motherless in Brooklyn" where the main protaganist has Tourette's syndrome. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is two stories going on in parallel, one about a detective in modern Japan and another about a mysterious city that is isolated in time and space, the residents believe nothing outside the city exists. Also very strange.

[lupin]

I'm starting to take a liking to John Scalzi. I just read The Android's Dream, and now I'm about to try Old Man's War.

Doc, if you like whacked out ideas you should really read through Phillip K. Dick's library sometime. He's really good about sucking you into his world.

[Zonkerbl]

hm, that post would've made more sense if I had finished my thought.

"highly evolved taxi drivers,"

there.

[Ruzious]

Not scholarly work by any means, but in the course of my travels I've been captivated by all of the Ricky Gervais' Guide To... audiobooks. Some of the funniest stuff I've ever heard. If you're late to the party like me, Ricky Gervais did a radio show for several years with his co-author Stephen Merchant and an utter baffoon named Karl Pilkington. You've probably seen the cartoon on HBO recently adapted from their podcasts. Well, they also did ten audiobooks in which they take a topic and run through the history of it -- for instance, medicine. Of course, the premise of everything done by this trio is to allow Karl to expound on this ridiculous theories as the other two berate him for them. IMO the team is legendary. Up there with Abbott and Costello in terms of comedy history.

Cool. That's going on my shopping list. I'm far later to the party - and catching on that anything Ricky Gervais does is golden.

[BanndNDC]

Girlfriend and I are science fiction freaks. But bohemian weirded out science fiction, like China Mieville, Jonathan Lethem (Gun With Occasional Music), Harouki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World).

big fan of murakami (especially the older stuff like hard boiled wonderland). another japanese book you might like is "the ruined map" by kobo abe. it's got that same sort of magical realism vibe with an underlying hard boiled fiction storyline that gets all weirded up.

[Ruzious]

Girlfriend and I are science fiction freaks. But bohemian weirded out science fiction, like China Mieville, Jonathan Lethem (Gun With Occasional Music), Harouki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World).

big fan of murakami (especially the older stuff like hard boiled wonderland). another japanese book you might like is "the ruined map" by kobo abe. it's got that same sort of magical realism vibe with an underlying hard boiled fiction storyline that gets all weirded up.

I've only read "Kafka by the Shore" by Haruki Murakiami and loved it. It must have been translated brilliantly, because it read beautifully in English. It involved incest, talking cats, and then it got strange. So, if you're into bizarre page-turning fantasy with a sense of humor added in on occasion, this is for you.

[pancakes3]

reading KC Joyner's "blindsided"

http://thescrambler.tumblr.com/post/833502766/quotes

reaction to come later

[Ruzious]

Nothing beats a good book of horror stories when you're in the mood. Joe Hill must be a chip off the old block, because reading his "20th Century Ghosts", there's no doubt the kid's got "it". He's got work to do as far as developing characters, but his story ideas are just amazing - and not for the faint of heart.

Another talented young author I recommend is Jonathan Safran Foer. I like his fiction, but his latest - "Eating Animals" is very educational if you have concerns about... eating animals - without trying to push you to become a vegetarian.

[dobrojim]

I finally was able to check out 13 Bankers (Johnson and Qwak) from the library
after having it on reserve for several months.

[pancakes3]

reading KC Joyner's "blindsided"

http://thescrambler.tumblr.com/post/833502766/quotes

reaction to come later

finished. it's terrible. it's basically reading an online football forum, albeit extremely well researched, except there's only 1 poster and he's in love with himself for being so "clever" as to crunch some elementary stats. oh yeah, the link i posted is.. not a link to the book.

now reading the new jared diamond - the 3rd chimpanzee. the forward is already fascinating and way more enjoyable than blindsided.

[doclinkin]

Recent Graphic Novels recommended (thumbnail reviews to follow):

Criminal, vol 4, Bad Night. Ed Brubaker
Parker: The Hunter. Adapted by Darwyn Cooke
Wolverine: Old Man Logan. Mark Millar
Market Day. James Sturm
Wilson. Daniel Clowes
Dungeon Monstres, Vol 2, the Dark Lord. Trondheim & Sfar.
Dungeon: the Early Years, Vol 2: Innocence lost. Trondheim and Sfar.
Red Monkey Double Happiness book. Joe Daly.
AD: New Orleans after the deluge. Josh Neufeld.
Johnny Cash : I see a darkness, Reinhart Kleist.


Not so recommended:
Unknown Soldier, Vol 1, Haunted House. Josh Dysart.
Kick Ass. Mark Millar and JRjr.
HIcksville. Dylan Horrocks.
Halo: Helljumper.

I forget the (Prose) books I've read recently off the top of my head, but will pin a few in here as well when I get another minute.