164 replies to this topic

[Cheshire Cat]

So, what's the last book you read?

I just recently finished Jonathan Lethem's Gun, With Occasional Music. A great blend of detective and dystopian fiction.

[The Inquisitive Automaton]

Well, I'm currently in the process of reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

It's really quite spectacular, definitely a recommendation of mine.

[BenLuke]

Behemoth, By Scott Westerfield. Currently reading X-Wing: Starfighter of Audumar, by Aaron Allston.

Edited by BenLuke-116, Jan 18 2012 - 04:04 PM.

[Makuta Matata]

I read Catcher in the Rye for English class, and before that, it was The Girl Who Played With Fire.

[Bulik]

The fellowship of the ring. not as good as the one i read before that, goliath, by scott westerfeld

[Valenti]

Last one I finished was Star Wars: Riptide by Paul S. Kemp. Fascinating novel.

Currently reading Star Trek Enterprise - The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm by Michael A. Martin.

[QuestionMark]

Last book I read was The Sound and the Fury, to my immense satisfaction. But there are a lot of books that I haven't finished yet that I'm really hoping I'll get done by the mid-point of this year. Otherwise I'll just feel silly.

I read Catcher in the Rye for English class

I'm in the process of reading that, been a great experience so far.

~QMark

[Spink]

Last one I finished would be The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and right now I'm slowly working through The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Later, I think I may look into One Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights) or perhaps Dante's "Inferno".

Even though I prefer real books to the digital versions, a lot of the books I want to read are free on the Kindle which is quite nice.

[Killer_Myr]

Inheritance, last year. I feel so ashamed of myself for letting so many opportunities to read another book (and stay up all night) slip by.

[Kakaru]

Finished The Hobbit for the fifth time a couple weeks ago, working on The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams.

[Cheshire Cat]

Read The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels a couple of days ago. Would like to read Das Kapital too, but it's around 1400 pages and I don't have time for that right now...

[The Inquisitive Automaton]

At the moment I'm going through all the Sherlock Holmes novels. I'm on The Sign of Four, and loving it. Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the finest writers I've come across.

[Valenti]

I finished reading Star Trek Enterprise - The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm.

It was quite fascinating, if oddly paced at times.

[Sumiki]

2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, and 3001: The Final Odyssey.

Great books.

EDIT: I've also just finished off Time's Eye and Sunstorm, the first two books in the Time Odyssey series, both written by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter.

Edited by Sumiki, Feb 12 2012 - 10:29 PM.

[The Legendary QQQQ]

Star Wars: Choices of One some months ago,
The Q hasn't had time to redin another book since.

[QQQQ]

[BenLuke]

To Kill a Mockingbird.

It was really good.

[thelonewander]

right now i'm reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini.it's been good so far

the last book i finished was Xenocide by Orsen Scott Card. it was a very good read, and left me wondering what happens next for Ender and the others.

[BenLuke]

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett.
I need to read some more Discworld books sometime...

[The Xinlo]

Last book I read was Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoire by Dave Mustaine, but I'm now currently reading The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

[Leto]

2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, and 3001: The Final Odyssey.

Great books.

Oh yes, Arthur C. Clark is simply brilliant. He went toe to toe with Jules Verne with the detail and level of storytelling in that series. Although Frank Poole getting revived in 3001 was a bit of a stretch, Clark more then made up for it.

The last book I've read was From Time to Time, by Jack Finney.

[Republic Commando Fixer]

The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins

RCF

[Lord of Adders Black]

The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Caroll. And I thought the Alice books were odd.
Though if that doesn't count as a book, then it would be Snuff by Terry Pratchett

Edited by The Dreadful Flying Glove, Feb 23 2012 - 07:58 PM.

[BenLuke]

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud.

[The Inquisitive Automaton]

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

It's good. I enjoyed it. I just wish the author had made the time period more clear, or at least alluded to the history of the land more frequently. I don't wish to spoil anything, but one particular scene about 2/3's of the way through earned itself a flat "What", for a sudden introduction of technology that wasn't alluded to at one point, and was then swiftly forgotten about afterwards. Hopefully Mark intends to expand upon this in King of Thorns.

[Toa Erulehto]

Oh, I don't even remember...
Let's see, it must have been... Ah! Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Wonderful book.

I'm in the middle of the Silmarillion by the always wonderful Tolkien.

Edited by Toa Erulehto, Feb 28 2012 - 01:09 PM.

[ZHX]

Last book I read?

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett.

[The Novelist Called Nuile]

Dangerous Days, by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Didn't interest me at all. But before that I read The Nine Taylors, Dorothy L. Sayers, an excellent mystery. Next I plan to read Before the Prairie Books: The Writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder 1919 - 1920: The Farm Home.

Sincerely, Nuile: Lunatic Wordsmith

[Roablin]

Star Wars: Choices of One by Timothy Zahn.

Now I'm in the middle of The Two Towers, by J.R.R. Tolkien, of course.

[Valenti]

Currently reading "The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural, Compiled by Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan" which was included with the collector's edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

[Nav3taX]

the last book i finished was...


Flight of the Eisenstein
by... I think it was ... gah I can't remember.
well it was Horus Heresy. lol

[TNTOS]

The Spirit Rebellion, by Rachel Aaron. Good book. Goona have to read it again sometime.

-TNTOS-

[Hastur the Unspeakable]

I've had The Woman in Black for about a year, but I only got around to finishing it last week. It's a nicely crafted, subtle, and very dark horror story. Furthermore, it's quite short (less than 150 pages) so none of you have an exuse to avoid reading it.
I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through Small Favor, the tenth volume in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. These books run on a winning cobination of fantasy, hard-boiled detective work, and a wry sense of humor, and this one is up there with the best of them. The series is really meant for mature readers (there's quite a bit of language and violence, and occasional risque^' material), but for those of you who are old enough, I heartily encourage you to check it out.




"But as long as I'm here, I get to bust heads!"

Edited by The Main Man, Mar 01 2012 - 12:02 PM.

[Replicant]

Deborah Chester's Alien Chronicles. For the third time.

And now I'm onto Loren Coleman's Mysterious America.

[Velox]

Locked On, by Tom Clancy and Mark Greaney. Review:

There’s a lot of story arcs in Locked On. You get Jack Ryan Sr., The Campus characters, the CIA, Mary Pat Foley’s company, several terrorist plots, a look at the Emir in prison, a new love interest for Jack Ryan Jr., Russian Special Forces and other agencies, and much more.

What I love about Locked On is that it works. Yes, there is a lot going on, but it all works together in an amazingly written, intertwined plot. And the plot is very well thought-out and written.

While I cannot comment on the “purity” of it being Tom Clancy, as I have not read any of his older books with the exception of Dead or Alive and Against All Enemies, I can assure you that Locked On is a very well written thriller. I understand the die-hard Clancy fans who are partially (or fully) against these novels, but personally I don’t think that’s a reason not to be able to read and enjoy these books. Pretend they were not written by Clancy if you must.

As I alluded to before, all the characters intertwined together were done very well. I would’ve liked to see a little more of Jack Ryan Sr., perhaps, but that may be simply because I haven’t read a book yet that features only him. Seeing a bit of the current Rainbow operatives was a nice touch, but I feel as if they weren’t featured enough, but rather just thrown in there because they could be. But then again, focusing on yet another group would likely slow down the pace of the story.

I really enjoyed seeing The Campus operatives/workers. John Clark is a fabulous character, and it was nice having a large section of the book devoted to him; I can imagine him as being very similar to the retired-CIA-operative Liam Neeson in the movie Taken. I was also happy to see the return of Sam Driscoll, a character I very much enjoyed in Dead or Alive.

I was slightly disappointed with the character of Melanie Kraft – Jack Jr.’s love interest. I quite liked her at first, but as the story progressed it seemed like she did things that did not follow her pre-established character – some things seemed to contradict each another.

The writing itself was very good, though there were a couple times when dialogue was awkward and the writing a little bland, but overall was well done. Some people disliked the politics placed in the books, but I myself enjoyed them, so to each his own, I guess.

While Locked On has a few flaws and is not perfect, it is a fantastic read and definitely recommended.

[Sumiki]

I finally finished off Firstborn, the final act in the Time Odyssey trilogy by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. While it didn't prove to be an all-conclusive ending, the death of Clarke in 2008 halted further novels in the series - which is a shame.

I also read Phraseology: Thousands of Bizarre Origins, Unexpected Connections, and Fascinating Facts about English's Best Expressions by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. For someone who deals in languages, I was surprised to find errors in grammar from her book ...

[Field Marshal Rakmon]

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. One of the best works of Fantasy ever wrote. It's also hilarious.

[Velox]

Since my last post I have read (finishing the latter yesterday afternoon):

The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly.

Wow. I really wasn't expecting this to be that good. I saw the previews for the movie back when it came out and it looked cool. However, if a movie is based off of a book, I like to read the book first, so as such I just added The Lincoln Lawyer to my five-thousand-mile-long reading list and didn't think much of it after that. I even bought the book a while back at a used bookstore, but again, just shelved it in favor of other books that I wanted to read first. So last Sunday I finished Locked On, by Tom Clancy (review here), and then was looking at my bookshelves and deciding what to read next. TLL caught my eye, and, after watching the trailer for the movie again, I chose that over the other books I was considering. Needless to say, I was hooked from the beginning, promptly read it, finished it Wednesday, and then starting The Brass Verdict (the next book in the Mickey Haller series) and finishing that yesterday. Both were amazing.

The Lincoln Lawyer captured my interest from the start. One thing I liked is how you got to see Mickey Haller in court for a short time at the beginning of the novel, starting off the novel very well. At first I felt as if I didn't have any idea who Haller was, as if there should have been a novel before this one. Of course, this was definitely resolved with quite a bit of characterization throughout the story. And, to be honest, I'm glad it was done that way. Being in first person, the only way to really explain who he is would be to have him say "I am__" which is boring and fourth-wall-ish. It's like he's talking directly to the audience. Rather, Connelly uses the book to explain who Haller is; a very enjoyable ride.

Which was definitely one of the things I liked most about this. Mickey Haller is an extremely interesting character; very unique in his ways (Lincoln Town Cars, etc.). He says himself "sometimes I'm not sure which side of the bars I am on" -- which makes for a great character and a great chance for characterization, which Michael Connelly definitely utilizes. Continuing with Haller, while it may seem as if he doesn't care much about innocence and whatnot, deep down, he does, as revealed in the novel. It was cool to have the novel in first person; I greatly enjoyed the Dresden Files in first person, so it was nice to have another awesome first-person novel.

The other characters were all well-written and well thought-out as well. The one thing that was a little weird is the close relationship he had with his two ex-wives. I'm not complaining, however, because Connelly (and Haller) made it work, but it was interesting to see how one was his assistant and the other was still a love interest. Which provided some more great characterization with the tension between Haller and his daughter and her mother. It was really cool to see how much he cared about his daughter.

There were a few times when some of the names got confusing, as Haller was working on several cases which were mentioned periodically throughout the main case of Louis Roulet, as it would all be focused on him and then someone from a different case would be mentioned, but overall it didn't distract too much from the story, as the plot and writing kept me hooked, wanting to know what would happen next.

There were several great twists throughout the novel. One was completely expected, because I had accidentally read it in the Wikipedia plot summary (though it seemed a little easy to guess anyway), but the twist was still awesome and I still enjoyed reading it and seeing Haller's and others' reaction to it.

The best part -- or at least the most exciting part -- of the novel would definitely be the latter part with the big court scene. Mickey Haller was simply awesome during it, and it seemed very realistic. The ending, too, was very satisfying and well-done. Which is what made me want to immediately start The Brass Verdict.

The movie rendition was also very well done, but the book was far better; the movie was too fast-paced, causing you to miss out on a lot of things/scenes that made the book so great. Characterization also suffered in the movie, as you don't get to see as much of Haller's thinking, etc. However, the movie was still very enjoyable, and Matthew McCounaghey was quite awesome as the title role.

The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly.

Another amazing novel by Michael Connelly. The first page starts off talking about lies and how everybody lies. It’s cool to see that come up a couple more times in the novel as well, a great reference to the beginning of the novel. For the first three chapters you get a flashback of a young Haller in court, starting off the novel extremely well, as court scenes are always interesting especially when you have Haller.

Right off the bat you get some great new characterization for Mickey Haller. After the events of The Lincoln Lawyer, he fell into addiction of drugs, lost his chance with his wife, lost joint custody of his daughter, and hadn’t been to court in about a year. You really get a good look into Haller throughout this novel, who has proven to be an exceptionally interesting character.

In The Brass Verdict you also get Harry Bosch, Connelly’s main character who has ~16 novels to his name (and only ~4 to Haller). I haven’t read any of Connelly’s Bosch series yet, so it’s cool to see him here. Another interesting character, to be sure. A lot of great conflict between the two, but seeing them eventually working together was cool as well, and gave another great look into the character of Haller: he really does care about helping the “good guys.” It is also cool to see how Haller finds out Bosch is his half-brother. Quite an interesting development there. I am definitely going to read the Bosch series as well.

One thing about this novel that was interesting was that at one point it focused heavily on jury selection. I never knew that the jury was selected by the lawyers, and it was cool to see how everything worked, especially Haller’s strategy for it.

The Brass Verdict kept my interest from the beginning, with a very pleasing-to-read writing style, amazing characterization, an awesome plot, and some very well-placed twists. I especially liked how Connelly related the book to the title toward the end of the book, wrapping it up nicely.

I enjoyed seeing that there was a glimmer of hope with him and his daughter’s mother, and the conclusion of the book as a whole was very satisfying.


Both of these books are definitely very, very highly recommended.

[Omega Kardas]

Maupassant's Le Horla and other stories. Pretty interesting stuff. Diary of a Magistrate creeped me out for good. It turns out Lovecraft liked Le Horla as well. You always discover something new.

[Tekulo the WindWriter]

Currently reading Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales (I doubt I'll finish the book anytime soon as I read out of order and thus only keep a mental note of the stories I've read).

I want to go back in time and give him a hug. XD His stories are full of imagination and really capture the essence of what it's like to be a child (and I can never again watch Disney's The Little Mermaid without cringing. It's not that the movie is inherently bad, but... wow did they butcher the original story. O.e).

Before that I read a good deal of tales from the Brothers Grimm. Their stories were very cautionary and cold blooded towards the villains, which is where the two styles seem to clash. Not to say Andersen's work can't be vengeful at all, but antagonists seldom seem present from what I've gathered and normally the stories are more tragic and hopeful than they are cautionary.

[Velox]

9 Dragons, by Michael Connelly.

Another great book by Connelly, and the first I've read by him from the Harry Bosch series -- after reading it I can say that I'll definitely be reading the rest of the Bosch novels (right now I'm going through the Mickey Haller series, and while not technically part of the series, Haller does have a brief appearance in 9D so I read it now).