Some of your favourite or current books

[Finny61]

When hockey is on there is rarely much time to sit and read a good book. What are some of the books you've been reading lately or throw in some of your favorite authors.

FYI your stack of nudie mags doesn't really fit in, nice try though

My apologies for the potential fata, I'm sure this has been done before.

[starseed]

The Singularity is Near - When humans transcend biology by Ray Kurzweil

^that became my new religion.

I have also been reading Michael Ignatieff's books. I recommend Blood and Belonging. It is a look at ethnic nationalism overall, with sections dealing with post-Berlin Wall Germany, Serbia/Croatia, Quebec, Kurdistan, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland. The stories that he told of some of the people he met have been really eye-opening. It was written a couple years after the Soviet Union collapsed.

[FanIn80]

A Prayer for Owen Meany! (John Irving is probably still my favourite author, other than the classics like Dickens)

[jeremywilhelm]

There was a book a guy recommended called "Spare Parts" or something like that. I have searched everywhere for that book, but i just cant seem to find it.

Oh, and read "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood. Awesome awesome book.

[Methanolic]

This thread is perfect. For 2 reasons.

1. One of the best books I ever read, "Angela's Ashes"

2. Farewell, Frank McCourt.

[stang]

I had recently reread Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (Movie sucked though)

I like his books that use the symbols and historical mysteries. I also loved the Harry Potter series. As well I read alot of Louis Lamour westerns (his are the only westerns I will read, but he can just make a story come to life it seems) I also didnt mind the Twilight Saga

Any suggestions? I didnt really like Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy.

[Yeah_Baby]

I'm currently reading the Accidental Billonares by Ben Mezrich. So far so good. As for all time, I still have a soft spot of The Great Gatsby. I should really re read it one of these days.

[Daradon]

Choke. Chuck Palahniuk's (Fight Club) fourth and best book IMO. Laugh out loud dark humour and enough real situations and observations to keep you nodding all book. Everyone I've loaned this book to has become an instant CP fan. Women as well as men.

P.S. Don't bother watching the movie that came out last year. Unlike FC which was an amazing translation and one of the only movies that truly improves on the book, this one is pretty disappointing.

I was pumping up Stephen Baxter's Manifest: Time and Manifest: Space books in the Sci-Fi thread. A good read for hard sci-fi that helps expand your brain. Some pretty unique ideas in them.

I recently read Marilyn Manson's biography The Long Hard Road Out of Hell due to the urging of an ex. Had heard some of the stories within but it was nice to finally seperate some of the fact from all the crazy rumours I had heard growing up. Even if you don't appreciate his music there is enough interesting stories and observations in there to keep one interested. Fairly depressing at points though.

I recently read a book called The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. A book about getting ahead in India and the price it takes to do so. Another black comedy type book, but the author has a great knack for transporting you to the slums of India. Won the 2008 Man Booked Prize, whatever that is. People who liked Slumdog Millionaire would probably like this book, although the two have very little in common except the setting.

My favorite series ever was The Amber Series by now dead sci-fi and fantasy writer Roger Zelazny. Zelazny had won many awards throughout his career and his Amber series was his main work. Known for having a very flippant and humourous tone in his books, especially his later ones. With a way of making big ideas grandoise and goofy, while still retaining some of the seriousness in them, a lot like Douglas Adams. The Amber series begins with a book called: Nine Princes in Amber and the series as I have mentioned it is actually two seperate series of five books. Each series dealing with a different protagonist. The series begins with a man waking up in a hospital to find out his family is paying to keep him hospitalized and comatose there. He follows clues that lead him to believe he is one of the Princes of a alternate world called Amber, and is in line for the throne, hence him being removed from the situation. From a fantasy tone, the books slowly delves into a sci-fi tone as the reader begins to realize the nature of the planes of existence, yet it gets incresingly political as the families fight over control. You can get the books as a whole in either The Chronicles of Amber which has the first five, or The Great Book of Amber which has all ten. The universe he created spawned more fan fiction and even an RPG that was played online for a time I believe.

[metallicat]

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz
Children Of Men by PD James

Three of my favorite books.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by stang

I had recently reread Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (Movie sucked though)

I like his books that use the symbols and historical mysteries. I also loved the Harry Potter series. As well I read alot of Louis Lamour westerns (his are the only westerns I will read, but he can just make a story come to life it seems) I also didnt mind the Twilight Saga

Any suggestions? I didnt really like Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy.

I've read three of Dan Brown's books and loved them all, even though they all take the same familiar arc, even have the same types of characters. If you want to get away from the church try 'Deception Point' interesting tale about what it might mean to the different political bodies in the states if we DID discover proof of alien existance.

[pope04]

I'm tearing through Duel of Eagles by Peter Townsend (not that Pete Townsend) - a very harrowing account of the Battle of Britain by an RAF pilot.

There's an older vet on my wife's side of the family that flew both Hurricanes and Spits during WWII. He told a number of stories - and is now sadly in a nursing home - and to hear his experiences echoed in this book is really cool.

[stang]

Originally Posted by Daradon

I've read three of Dan Brown's books and loved them all, even though they all take the same familiar arc, even have the same types of characters. If you want to get away from the church try 'Deception Point' interesting tale about what it might mean to the different political bodies in the states if we DID discover proof of alien existance.

He has another Robert Langdon book coming out... The Lost Symbol

I cant wait to read it.... I am gloing to have to give Deception point a try.

I also liked reading books by Slash and Motley Crue. The Dirt was a great read. Reckless Road was great for all the Guns And Roses fans... Tons of pictures leading up to the making of AFD

[Nammer403]

5 people you meet in heaven by mitch albom

[J pold]

Books I've started but have yet to finish this summer:

Watchmen - Allan Moore/Dave Gibbons
The Etched City - K.J. Bishop
Ticket to Ride - Larry Kane
The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria (This is the one I'm primarily reading, simply fascinating)
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie

[ResAlien]

Every book thread....

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Fight Club - Chuck Pahlaniuk
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - greatest book I've ever read. Period.

[Finny61]

Anyone looking for something a bit adventurous like Dan Brown then try James Rollins, he has some good books.

Currently I am reading Raise the Titanic by Clive Cussler. Just finished Blaze by Stephen King.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by stang

Any suggestions? I didnt really like Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy.

Wow, I did not think that was possible. Greatest book ever! Horrible movie though.

[DrJ]

I've been reading this series called Harry Potter...not sure if you are familiar with it?

I really enjoyed 1984.

Water For Elephants was also a great leisurely read.

[surferguy]

Also around the DAn Brown stuff.. try David Gibbins, The Last Gospel and Crusaders Gold are decent books. He has a series of them revovling around the same Indiana Jones Esk type lead role.

[Cowperson]

Two books best appreciated in your 40's and later . . . . . "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" by Mordecai Richler and "The Boys Of Summer" by Roger Kahn. It you're in your 20's, you probably won't get Duddy Kravitz but in your later years you'll laugh like hell at what baboons we all were as young men. The Boys of Summer is a literary classic not only for the content but the prose.

For shoot 'em up, summer reading escapism I don't think I've ever seen any series like Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" creations for grabbing you in the 'can't put down" mode in the first three pages of every single book. Every single time.

On the sci fi front, it's pretty easy to lurch through all seven books of Kevin J Anderson's Saga Of Seven Suns space opera where the author shamelessly leaves you hanging at the end of each one. You can't help but go out and buy the next one. I've liked all of Jack McDevitt's books while Peter Hamilton takes a chance in mixing horror with sci-fi but it seems to work with his critically acclaimed work. (I just finished one story line that was about 3,300 pages across three novels). The Isaac Asimov Foundation series is great, old-fashioned space opera and I've gone through the thousands of pages of Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson a couple of times.

I've liked Steinbeck and Hemingway a lot . . . . . but the 1930's must have been pretty depressing to produce stuff like that. "A Farewell To Arms" is the only book I've tossed across a room in disgust/anguish as I neared the end. Thanks Hemingway!!! That's counter-balanced by Steinbeck's big party in "Cannery Row."

I also liked The Great Gatsby and have read it several times.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe might be something unusual to tickle your interest.

Lots more I suppose . . . . .

Cowperson