Read any good books lately?

[ProfessorChaos]

Such a cliche title, I know, but after seeing many threads about what movies and tv shows we're all watching and what games we're playing, etc, it dawned on me that I've read a few pretty good books lately, and have a new one I'm excited to start next.

I'm currently reading "The Short-Timers", which is the novel the Kubrick film "Full Metal Jacket" is based upon. If you've seen this film and like it, you'd most likely love the book. It's got a very different vibe than the film, and like the majority of cases, the book has a lot more detail and plot, giving much more insight in Sgt. Joker and his tour of duty in Vietnam. Poweful writing (Gustav Hasford is the author, by the way), great read. Would recommend to any FMJ fan.

As soon as I'm done with that, I'm gonna start "Just After Sunset", the newest collection of short stories by Stephen King. If any of you are familiar with his short stories, you'll understand why I'll be starting to read this one immediately.

So...anyone else reading anything worthwhile these days?

[Danny]

im at around chapter 30 of the extended version of stephen kings the stand.

one of my favorite novels ive read in the last 5 years.

[ProfessorChaos]

yeah, i took that book with me when i went in for military processing and read about half of it over the weekend. which is saying something about how much free time i had on my hands, since it's like an 1100 page book.

[mista_mo]

what the **** are books

[clanglee]

Books are these paper thingies in which people write sounds.



I just read Down the Road, I wouldn't call it "good" per se, but it was entertaining. It was neat to read the shout out to HPOTD (and Neil in particular) in the author's little bio.

[Mike70]

"the stars my destination" by alfred bester. this is one scifi classic that has always slipped under my radar. i finally got around to reading it and enjoyed it quite a bit.

i've recently read a bunch of short stories by M.R. James. "whistle my lad and i'll come to you", "the stalls of barchester" and "casting the runes" being the best of them. "casting the runes" was made into a pretty awesome movie in he 50s called "curse of the demon" starring dana andrews. all three are worth checking out if you are into old time, classic horror.

[mista_mo]

clang, you must be talking about video game instruction manuals.

[blind2d]

Currently reading "the rising" by brian keene. zombies as reanimated creatures (yes, humans and every type of animal, including insects?) controlled by demons from an alternate dimension. sort of rotld meets the exorcist. me no like too much.

[Danny]

clang, you must be talking about video game instruction manuals.

ALAS NO BOY!, TWAS ONCE A TIME , LONG AGO IN THE DAYS OF YORE... POSSIBLY 1985....or maybe 86' -WERE PEOPLE WITH A LACK OF ENTERTAINMENT WOULD READ WORDS THAT WAS PRINTED UPON BOUND PAPER!, THERES WERE BOOKS AND THEY WERE LIKE A MOVIE WITHOUT PICTURES OR SOUND!!

[Cody]

James Patersons books kick ass.

[Chic Freak]

im at around chapter 30 of the extended version of stephen kings the stand.

one of my favorite novels ive read in the last 5 years.

The Stand is far and away the best Stephen King I've ever read!

My favourite books I've read for the first time recently are Geisha by Liz Dalby, apparently the only western woman ever to become a geisha in Japan, and Born to Be Gay: A History of Homosexuality by someone whose name I've forgotten. Both very interesting looks at social history.

[LoSTBoY]

Because of my job location I have plenty time to read on the bus, so I get through quite a few books.

I've been reading any David Gemmell books I have yet to buy, I recommend any of his books to those unfamiliar with him but I personally recommend Legend.

Also been reading Warhammer novels, the Horus Hersey books have been great and Heldenhammer was really good. Nagash was a bit crap though.

One book that has stuck in my mind recently is Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. It's a fictional telling of the Greeks at Thermopylae against the Persians. Nothing like Frank Millars 300 if your thinking that, it's is more in depth and historically sound. Very moving and hilarious in places.

A small taste of the book; a non Greek merchant sets up his stall with the Greeks defending the hot gates. He sets up a sign which he was hoping said: "Only the best service for you, my friend" but he mistranslated 'friend' so it said: "Only the best service for you, my foreskin." :lol:

Just finished David Gemmell, Stone of Power. Got Morningstar in the house and just ordered Gotrek and Felix, the First Omnibus. :)

[MaximusIncredulous]

Just finished Hildesheimer's Mozart, am finishing up Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and then I guess I'll hit some Eastern Front books that I've got sitting around.

[MinionZombie]

Currently reading "As You Do" by Richard Hammond and it's rather spiffing, especially for Top Gear fans.

Prior to that I read "The Road", which was also rather ruddy good.

[MikePizzoff]

Recently read "Not Buying It" by Judith Levine. It's basically a diary of an extreme consumerist who goes an entire year without buying anything, aside from bare essentials. Really great book, in my opinion.

Just finishing up "American Hardcore" which is a detailed history on Hardcore in America in the early 80's. Pretty good read if you're into punk/hardcore at all.

As always, I'm also jumping around HP Lovecraft books reading shorts as well as skimming through the "Necronomicon".

[Danny]

Because of my job location I have plenty time to read on the bus, so I get through quite a few books.

I've been reading any David Gemmell books I have yet to buy, I recommend any of his books to those unfamiliar with him but I personally recommend Legend.

Also been reading Warhammer novels, the Horus Hersey books have been great and Heldenhammer was really good. Nagash was a bit crap though.

One book that has stuck in my mind recently is Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. It's a fictional telling of the Greeks at Thermopylae against the Persians. Nothing like Frank Millars 300 if your thinking that, it's is more in depth and historically sound. Very moving and hilarious in places.

A small taste of the book; a non Greek merchant sets up his stall with the Greeks defending the hot gates. He sets up a sign which he was hoping said: "Only the best service for you, my friend" but he mistranslated 'friend' so it said: "Only the best service for you, my foreskin." :lol:

Just finished David Gemmell, Stone of Power. Got Morningstar in the house and just ordered Gotrek and Felix, the First Omnibus. :)


kim newman ,movie critic famous for looking like an undead deadwood extra, wrote a series in the old warhammer universe, i think its in a collection under the pen name jack yeovil titled ,surprise, surprise "the vampire genevieve", though its actually more about murder mysteries, chaos demons and stuff, only its small scale, not grand wars and epic battles like most warhammer novels, its not bad and worth a red.

[Craig]

I've recently finished reading:

The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War, 1941-45
The Stalin and Molotov Lines - Soviet western defences 1928-41

I'm currently reading:

The German Army, 1939-45 - Eastern Front 1941-43

With these I plan to read afterwards:

The German Army, 1939-45 - Eastern Front 1943-45
Leningrad: State of Siege
Finland at War, 1939-45

Who knows, maybe I'll get around to reading some good ol' fiction sometime soon... but my appetite for knowledge on the Eastern Front is insatiable :lol:

[DawnGirl27]

Just finished reading Raven, an in-depth study of Jonestown and Jim Jones, and A Terrible Glory, a new book about Custer's Last Stand which has a lot of before unknown material and pictures included.
Read Inside Hitler's Bunker last month, about the last months of the war.

[LoSTBoY]

As always, I'm also jumping around HP Lovecraft books reading shorts as well as skimming through the "Necronomicon".

Ah yeah, I have that too. Read most of it but not all the way through the stories yet (Read most of them anyway)

Also got the The Complete Chronicles of Conan (http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1351679/The-Complete-Chronicles-of-Conan/Product.html) (Same folks who released the Necronomicon with the same gold writing on black cover), I read all of it a few months ago... read it too quickly I think. :(

[Chic Freak]

Just finished reading Raven, an in-depth study of Jonestown and Jim Jones

What was it like? Sounds very interesting!

[Mike70]

The Complete Chronicles of Conan (http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1351679/The-Complete-Chronicles-of-Conan/Product.html) (Same folks who released the Necronomicon with the same gold writing on black cover), I read all of it a few months ago... read it too quickly I think. :(


i loved the howard conan stories when i was younger. i still get mine out every so often and re-read my fav stories. i've also got the entire conan comics run.


As always, I'm also jumping around HP Lovecraft books reading shorts as well as skimming through the "Necronomicon".

do you have the annotated lovecraft by joshii? if not, they are a must have for any serious fan of lovecraft's work.

[zombie04]

I'm currently through David McCullough's 1776 and after that I'm moving onto Richard Nixon's memoirs. After I should be done with the semester for school so I'll be looking to read the new book of King's short stories and finish up the Dark Tower series, hopefully all by the new year.

[Tricky]

I've recently finished reading:

The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War, 1941-45
The Stalin and Molotov Lines - Soviet western defences 1928-41

I'm currently reading:

The German Army, 1939-45 - Eastern Front 1941-43

With these I plan to read afterwards:

The German Army, 1939-45 - Eastern Front 1943-45
Leningrad: State of Siege
Finland at War, 1939-45

Who knows, maybe I'll get around to reading some good ol' fiction sometime soon... but my appetite for knowledge on the Eastern Front is insatiable :lol:


have you read Antony Beevors "stalingrad"? very good book & i recommend it if you havent!its easy to see the germans as the bad guys (which they were) but also to feel a lot of sympathy for the individual german soldiers who were cut off & starved/frozen to death there purely because Hitler refused to let them withdraw.

This one is worth reading as well
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0375414339.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

and this
http://www.worldwartwobooks.com/shopimages/products/thumbnails/tigersin%20themud.jpg

yep,i have a big interest in WW2 too :p


As for myself,im currently reading stephen kings latest book "duma key" which is building up quite well,im about a third into it :)

[DawnGirl27]

What was it like? Sounds very interesting!

Very interesting, and unlike anything I've read on it before. It goes in-depth into Jones' childhood, and has snippets from childhood friends about what he was like (very cold and manipulating), and follows his life through the end. It shows the lengths he went to with manipulating people, and the downward spiral of his psyche in Guyana. A lot of "new" material and worth the read (it's very comprehensive) if you like that sort of thing.

[tkane18]

A few months ago, we bought a dog.
The kids decided to name him Cujo.
That pretty much decided my next book to read (half way through it).

[Craig]

have you read Antony Beevors "stalingrad"? very good book & i recommend it if you havent!its easy to see the germans as the bad guys (which they were) but also to feel a lot of sympathy for the individual german soldiers who were cut off & starved/frozen to death there purely because Hitler refused to let them withdraw.
Yes it's quite a good book... but while I couldn't be called die-hard historian, a common opinion I've seen among those who are is that Beevor, while giving an interesting read, is not exactly the most fair or trustworthy history writer. I'm pretty sure I've noticed a seemingly slight either anti-Soviet or pro-German leaning more than once while reading both this Stalingrad and Berlin.

There's another Stalingrad book I really enjoyed which is from purely the Soviet perspective called Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed by Michael Jones, it offers a very thrilling account of key events in the battle and of course gives lesser known Soviet veterans accounts.

Since my primary interest is in the Eastern Front does that Armageddon book cover the Eastern Front at all? I can certainly see a smoldering Soviet T-34 in the corner but the info on Amazon isn't really specific...

Anyway, great to hear there's another WWII enthusiast on the board, your signature's always made me giggle :lol:

[Tricky]

Ah you may not find armageddon very interesting then as it focuses on the allied advance after D.Day through the breakout in france,operation market garden,the ardennes offensive & the push to the rhine.Good book though!

As an enthusiast,what do you think of my dads project?a radio controlled 1/6 scale late production tiger 1 :D

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3003/dsc00400uw0.jpg

[MissJacksonCA]

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

and

Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism by Paul Klebnikov

[Mike70]

I've recently finished reading:

The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War, 1941-45
The Stalin and Molotov Lines - Soviet western defences 1928-41

I'm currently reading:

The German Army, 1939-45 - Eastern Front 1941-43

With these I plan to read afterwards:

The German Army, 1939-45 - Eastern Front 1943-45
Leningrad: State of Siege
Finland at War, 1939-45

this question goes out to tricky as well (and any other folks interested in WWII): have you ever read "lost victories" by von manstein, "panzer leader" by guderian, "the rommel papers" by rommel or "panzer battles" by von mellenthin?

if not, you should check them out. great books all. i much prefer reading stuff written by the people who actually had a hand in what went on and were involved in the big decisions.

von manstein's book is a throughly gripping read, esp. the parts about his attempts to relieve the army trapped at stalingrad. he has a very forthright, direct style.

"the rommel papers" are, in a large part, made up of journal/diary entries and letters of rommel's that he never had a chance to edit. it is pretty raw and you get rommel's unabridged thoughts on everything from the german high command to supply problems to how he felt and interacted with other german commanders. there are some gaps in the timeline of the book because many of the papers that make up the book were hidden by his family after his death and some of those papers remain lost to this day.

von mellenthin was a staff officer who worked under both von manstein and rommel. his book can in many ways be used as a companion to theirs.

[clanglee]

I recently reread one of my favorite books of all time, the Talisman, and it's good-but-not-as-wonderful sequel the Black House. If anyone here has not read the Talisman (King and Straub) you must.

[Chic Freak]

Very interesting, and unlike anything I've read on it before. It goes in-depth into Jones' childhood, and has snippets from childhood friends about what he was like (very cold and manipulating), and follows his life through the end. It shows the lengths he went to with manipulating people, and the downward spiral of his psyche in Guyana. A lot of "new" material and worth the read (it's very comprehensive) if you like that sort of thing.

I do :) Will definitely be looking that one up. Thanks for the recommendation.

[ProfessorChaos]

anyone who wants to read anything about the current iraq conflict from the perspective of u.s. troops should check out "generation kill" by evan wright or "one bullet away" by nathan fick.

almost finished with king's "just after sunset", which is brilliant so far. the story "harvey's dream" was almost predictable, but nonetheless had me in goosebumps after i finished reading it. stephen king, hands down, has perfected the art of writing short stories. other good collections include "different seasons", "everything's eventual", "skeleton crew", "the bachman books", and "night shift"

[Chic Freak]

stephen king, hands down, has perfected the art of writing short stories. other good collections include "different seasons", "everything's eventual", "skeleton crew", "the bachman books", and "night shift"

I second Skeleton Crew- 'Survivor Type' is one of my favourite short stories EVER :D

[Yojimbo]

Recently re-read World According to Garp and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, both favorites from my youth, and they still hold up!

Has anyone else out there read Hagakure? Trippy read!