What's The Last Book You Read?

[indy4 155]

I got Pirate Latitudes yesterday. Thus far, it seems like a far better swan song than Next.

[John Crichton 4]

I got Team of Rivals for Christmas. Really looking forward to checking it out, but I'm going to finish re-reading Lord of the Rings first.

[artyjeffrey 20]

My God, I haven't been able to get through Lord of the Rings in the first place, let alone re-read it! You're a patient man.

I just finished Last Words, by George Carlin. It's amazing he lived as long as he did, the way he lived.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

[John Crichton 4]

My God, I haven't been able to get through Lord of the Rings in the first place, let alone re-read it! You're a patient man.

It's nothing compared to The Silmarillion, which despite its difficult parts I love as much as LotR. And once you've been through them a couple of times you know which bits to skip or skim.

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

You skip?

[John Crichton 4]

Well not really, but I do skim a lot of the descrpitive stuff. I might skip a paragraph or two of that, not big chunks.

[Wojo 2,456]

You ask that like it's a bad thing, Marian. Skipping paragraphs in TLOTR is nothing like skipping entire chapters in Moby Dick. Unless you really do want to know all there is to know of whaling.

[Ollie 1,136]

There are times I have to force myself to stop reading and go back and re-read because I tend to "skip" through at times.

Most of the time it's just a paragraph or sentence.

[Wojo 2,456]

I think it took me two hours to get through the first chapter of Dune, because it was back and forth to the glossary over and over again. I really missed having that glossary in all subsequent books.

[John Crichton 4]

I still have to occasionally pop to the back to look at the family trees in The Silmarillion, no matter how many times I read it.

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

You ask that like it's a bad thing, Marian. Skipping paragraphs in TLOTR is nothing like skipping entire chapters in Moby Dick. Unless you really do want to know all there is to know of whaling.

I don't like skipping. But then, I haven't yet made it through Moby-Dick.

Last things I read were several Diana Wynne Jones books - Howl's Moving Castle (which was wonderful and made me read the others), the first four Chrestomanci stories (if this wasn't THE major inspiration for Rowling, I'll eat a pointed hat) and Castle in the Air. All wonderful.

Now I'm back to my annual Discworld dose, starting with Men at Arms, followed by Soul Music. And after that, I hope to finally resume Eco's Focault's Pendulum (a very interesting, but also very tedious read).

[indy4 155]

I hate when you get to the end of a paragraph and you realize that you haven't absorbed any of the information you just read. That happened to me quite a bit while reading LotR.

I got Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. It looks good, I can't wait to start it (although I'm not sure why 'American' is in the subtitle).

On another note, Pirate Latitudes is waaaay better than Next thus far--this is the type of swan song I'd expect from the guy who wrote Jurassic Park. It's one of the less technological Crichton books, but it still has his thumbprints all over it. I don't know any other author who appreciates gory deaths more than Crichton. Like the rest of his books, it's not particularly well written, but it's a real fun read.

[Maglorfin 206]

I still have to occasionally pop to the back to look at the family trees in The Silmarillion, no matter how many times I read it.

Don't we all?

[indy4 155]

Last week, I finished Pirate Latitudes.

This is the type of book that is worthy of being Crichton's swan song. He uses a few of the pirate cliches, but as always he manages to come up with some really creative life/death issues. For instance, one of the antagonists in the book is the sun's bright glare against the ocean water. It is one of his less technology driven books, but there's still plenty that Crichton can teach you: about the history of the period and some of the machinery/tools. It's quite interesting. It's faced paced, which can sometimes rob it a nice tension build, but I think all Crichton books are. It's nice that he's not saying "f*ck" every other word in this book as he did with Next. He also gets a control over his short sentence tendencies--they are only used at key moments in the book, and sometimes not even then. There is one, maybe two story arcs, but they are entirely relevant to each other, not just two (or I guess 20) ships passing in the night. Crichton fans, I highly recommend you read this, especially if you were turned off by Next. I'd love Spielberg to take this one, and I'd love to hear JW's score to it.

[John Crichton 4]

I'm still in the middle of Lord of the Rings, but I've got the following on standby:

Team of Rivals

Game Change

The Writer's Tale (updated edition)

The last two I still need to buy actually...

[davros72 1]

Just finished "A Clash of Kings", Book 2 of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice". Anyone else read it? No spoilers please! It's been very good so far, but I will say the first halves of both book 1 and book 2 kind of meandered a bit. But in both cases about halfway through the book, something rather big and shocking happens, then it ramps up quite a bit from there. I'm taking a bit of a break for now, my wife's finishing book 3 and I just won't have the time to give it the proper attention it deserves since school's starting back up next week. Damn, I miss my 9-week paternity leave.

Now I'm reading my limited signed/numbered edition of a wonderful Doctor Who reference book "The Handbook" by Howe/Stammers/Walker. Spiffy!

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

Now reading Palahniuk's Diary (which I got for my birthday) simultaneously with my current Pratchett. Once I'm done with my current books and the stack of previously started ones, I'd really like to read LOTR once again.

[Maglorfin 206]

Just started with Lifting Shadows, Rich Wilson's official Dream Theater biography, and it starts off as a great book (about it I've read nothing but a bunch of positive reviews).

[Ollie 1,136]

A Heart At Fire's Center by Steven C. Smith.

Autobiography on Bernard Herrmann.

[gkgyver 1,647]

I'm desperately looking for Agatha Christie Poirot novels I haven't read yet.

Looks like I'll have to resort to Miss Marple.

[Wojo 2,456]

I just discovered Half-Price Books recently. What a wonderful store!

[Ollie 1,136]

I just discovered Half-Price Books recently. What a wonderful store!

Oh I love that store, we have quite a few of them around the Austin area.

I have found so many great deals on new and hard to find books. Their music section is well stocked, although I haven't had too many great finds there.

[Wojo 2,456]

I've got a ton of old books I want to sell them, to clear up shelf space for all the books on my floor in boxes.

While they had a decent selection of music, I didn't find anything I really wanted. There weren't many good soundtracks (I didn't have) in the used album selections, though I did find a foreign compilation that deserved a buy. And the rock albums were picked over.

The real gem of the store was the wide selection of cheap new and used PC software. There are three more nearby, so I will probably check them out this weekend.

[John Crichton 4]

I found a copy of a mid-90s PC game I'd lost my old copy of in a move years before at a Half Price in Round Rock a while back. I go into the San Marcos one whenever I'm in that area, I actually sold them a lot of stuff I wanted to get rid of last summer.

[artyjeffrey 20]

A Heart At Fire's Center by Steven C. Smith.

Autobiography on Bernard Herrmann.

That's a great read.

Just read George Carlin's "Last Words." Talk about a guy punishing himself with drugs...

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I'm reading Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants by Rob MacGregor. His Indy books are quite enjoyable.

[John Crichton 4]

Just finished Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale- The Final Chapter. Very, very good. What a unique behind the scenes format. RTD's head can be a scary place to be sometimes, though. Even moreso when you're a straight man.

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. A tough read, but certainly interesting and quite fascinating. I should give The Name of the Rose a try someday.

Currently, I'm reading The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett. I'd read Written in Bone (the sequel) a while ago, and while it was enjoyable enough, some bits didn't quite convince me, and the finale seemed rather too mundane. But with constant references to the first novel and an unexpected cliffhanger ending, I still felt compelled to read the first and third ones as well.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

Yesterday was the slowest day I've ever had at work. Read 150 pages of Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One, which was great because I haven't had much time to read it lately.

[Maglorfin 206]

Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. A tough read, but certainly interesting and quite fascinating.

Why is it a tough read, because of difficult language, or is it anything else? I got it as a birthday present a few years ago but at the moment, it's still waiting to make it on my soon-to-be-read list ...

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. A tough read, but certainly interesting and quite fascinating.

Why is it a tough read, because of difficult language, or is it anything else? I got it as a birthday present a few years ago but at the moment, it's still waiting to make it on my soon-to-be-read list ...

As far as language goes, I can only speak about the German translation (I know very thin bits and pieces of Italian, but that's it). It's somewhat tough language-wise because it's so "intellectual" and at the same time about fictitious (even within the context of the plot) conspiracy theories that you often don't know what's fact and what's invented, or if you're supposed to understand some things better than you do. It's also complex in the whole conspiracy it constructs, and at the same time the narrative is very much non-linear and often goes off on lengthy tangents.

In a way, reading it is work.

[gkgyver 1,647]

"Den Götter Auf Der Spur" by Stefan Erdmann.

[Maglorfin 206]

In a way, reading it is work.

Good to know that so I don't take it with me on my summer vacation Thanks for info!

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Yesterday was the slowest day I've ever had at work. Read 150 pages of Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One, which was great because I haven't had much time to read it lately.

Nice!

[Koray Savas 2,254]

It was! It was great getting a look into the man himself, and what he thought of all publicity he got. Right now I'm on "Oh Mercy," a little after the early sessions for the album where he's not liking the feel of the songs.

[Romão 2,319]

Quo Vadis

Surprisingly good and insightful

[Morlock 11]

Paul Auster's Brooklyn Follies. Enjoyed the hell out of it. I'm not usually a big reader of modern fiction (at least not fiction set in modern-times), but I was fully engage by the characters and the writing. I wish I would have read this before last week, when I actually had the chance to meet Auster. There was a big International writers festival here, and he was one of the guests. Struck me as a really nice and humble guy.

[Morlock 11]

David Mamet's Bambi vs. Godzilla. Fun. I disagree with a good deal of his ideas on filmmaking...but there are some really wonderful passages, and it's all very enjoyable reading.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Indiana Jones and The Army of the Dead. It is the newest Indy book. It's average but I'm still enjoying it.

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities two days ago. For years I'd been wondering where that quote in Wrath of Khan came from, and when I did some research, I'd never heard of it. At first, I was afraid I'd never finish it; the middle part went slowly but steadily (not that I found it uninteresting, but I still didn't find it an easy read). The finale was unexpectedly breathtaking, and after I had given up on expecting any closer parallels to TWOK, they of course did become clear in the end. Not an easy read, but ultimately a very worthwhile one. Not my last Dickens.

Here's a stack of all the books I've read since last Christmas:

Tonight, I'll put them in the shelf and start a new stack.

[John Crichton 4]

I'm slacking on my reading, the only new proper books I got and read this year were Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale- The Final Chapter and the complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I did finally get my own copies of 1984 and A Christmas Carol but haven't actually read them again yet. Other than that it's just been the Buffy Season 8 comics.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I'm currently reading Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King.

[Naïve Old Fart 10,426]

The Bible, yesterday. Not all of it, of course, just a bit, here and there.

[indy4 155]

I'm currently working through Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination and The Music of the Lord of the Rings. Both excellent reads so far!

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities two days ago. For years I'd been wondering where that quote in Wrath of Khan came from, and when I did some research, I'd never heard of it. At first, I was afraid I'd never finish it; the middle part went slowly but steadily (not that I found it uninteresting, but I still didn't find it an easy read). The finale was unexpectedly breathtaking, and after I had given up on expecting any closer parallels to TWOK, they of course did become clear in the end. Not an easy read, but ultimately a very worthwhile one. Not my last Dickens.

Yeah, Dickens definitely takes his sweet time in that book, but I agree the ending makes it worth it.

[crocodile 8,520]

The Bible, yesterday. Not all of it, of course, just a bit, here and there.

Way to violent for me.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,254]

The greatest work of fiction ever written!

[Morlock 11]

Last few weeks I've read Earth: The Book, which was friggin' hilarious, and reread Harry Turtledove's wonderful Ruled Britania- an alternate history thriller about William Shakespeare in an England that was conquered by the Spanish. Fantastic book.

[Luke Skywalker 1,939]

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities two days ago. For years I'd been wondering where that quote in Wrath of Khan came from, and when I did some research, I'd never heard of it. At first, I was afraid I'd never finish it; the middle part went slowly but steadily (not that I found it uninteresting, but I still didn't find it an easy read). The finale was unexpectedly breathtaking, and after I had given up on expecting any closer parallels to TWOK, they of course did become clear in the end. Not an easy read, but ultimately a very worthwhile one. Not my last Dickens.

Here's a stack of all the books I've read since last Christmas:

Tonight, I'll put them in the shelf and start a new stack.

what an horrorific view.

Spine creases!

[Marian Schedenig 9,042]

Since they've turned out to be unavoidable, I've stopped worrying about spine creases. I treat my books really well, and I could never put down an open book cover up, but the mere act of reading turns them into what you see above.