NationStates Jolt Archive

So, who where like me likes to read?

Likes to read a lot?

Has enough books to start their own library?

Has a stack of books they either bought with Christmas money or got for Christmas? (insert your holiday of choice if Christmas isn't your thing).

And who has only started to crack that stack?

For that matter, what is on your reading list?

My reading list...

All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Copeland (reading it now)
Da Vinci Code
Reading Lolita in Tehran (non-fiction)
The Cell by Stephan King
Angel Santuary, vol 17 by Kaori Yuki
Mary Mary by James Patterson
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Forever Odds by Dean Koontz
Night Shift by Stephan King
The Third Secret by Steve Berry
Ju-on by Ohishi Kei
Bud Inc. (non-fiction)

In the same stack, I finished: Girlfriend in a Coma (also by Copeland)

My $25 gift card purchased Dean Koonz's Forever Odd (which I killed in a day) and John Lewis Gaddis' The Cold War (which is taking substantially longer).

My $25 gift card purchased Dean Koonz's Forever Odd (which I killed in a day) and John Lewis Gaddis' The Cold War (which is taking substantially longer).
How was Forever Odd? It looks good.

Right now I'm reading Against the Day and the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Both are taking me forever, especially since I had little time to read during the holidays. But yeah, between me and my wife, our small studio is lined with books and this is after I lost half of my book collection during a previous move.

In A Far Country (John Taliaferro)
Charles Addams, a cartoonist's life (just finished, forget the author's name)
Facing the Sea (Barry Cunliffe)
a bio of the Emperor Trajan (2nd time through)
RE Lee, Volume 2 (just finished)
Lee's Lieutenants, v. 2
Charlotte's Web (just finished)

There are more on the shelves next to my side of the bed but those are the ones I can remember.

All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Copeland (reading it now)

In the same stack, I finished: Girlfriend in a Coma (also by Copeland)

Alright, that's the second and third time today that Copeland has come up and the third and fourth this week.

I read Generation X and Microserfs a while ago but really had no idea that the guy was still doing much of anything. Is he having some sort of resurgance or is it in my head?

My reading list...

Da Vinci Code

Respect level. Plummets.

and John Lewis Gaddis' The Cold War (which is taking substantially longer).

Meh. Never liked him. Too pro-Reagan for a supposed historian.

At the moment I'mreading On the Road by Jack Kerouac and The Parliament of Man by Paul Kennedy (history of the UN).

How was Forever Odd? It looks good.

It was pretty good, not as good as Odd Thomas, as the plot was less complex, but it kept my attention pretty effectively. It's certainly worth the time it takes to read it, and probably worth the money I paid for the paperback.

Meh. Never liked him. Too pro-Reagan for a supposed historian.

I'm nowhere near anything involving Reagan yet, so I really couldn't tell you. He is most certainly pro-west though, and derides Khruschev ruthlessly.

Parliament of Man[/i] by Paul Kennedy (history of the UN).

That's on my list of things to read, admittedly it's a crazy-long list, but it's on my list.

I'm nowhere near anything involving Reagan yet, so I really couldn't tell you. He is most certainly pro-west though, and derides Khruschev ruthlessly.



He's of the opinion that Reagan singlehandedly tore down the Soviet Union. I mean, thats a fair opinion but not exactly neutral and objectively looking at all the facts. He's alright though.

i always have lists of things to read, but never start to read. extreme lazyness probably has to do something with it.

Alright, that's the second and third time today that Copeland has come up and the third and fourth this week.

I read Generation X and Microserfs a while ago but really had no idea that the guy was still doing much of anything. Is he having some sort of resurgance or is it in my head?

It's in your head, though, I have mentioned a couple of his books over the last while.

Respect level. Plummets.

My future in-laws want me to read it, and I agreed. My dad also asked me to. I'm only going to out of morbid curiosity. -_-;

It was pretty good, not as good as Odd Thomas, as the plot was less complex, but it kept my attention pretty effectively. It's certainly worth the time it takes to read it, and probably worth the money I paid for the paperback.
Excellent. Now I'm glad my aunt took a gamble and got me that book. :)

Current reading?

D. gray man 3 - in original Japanese (damn hard if you ask me)
Making pilgrimage by Ian Reader (need to do a work for university, my japanese folk religion class)

i always have lists of things to read, but never start to read. extreme lazyness probably has to do something with it.

You're too lazy to read? Please call emergency services and have someone come take you to the nearest morgue, you've died!

Currently reading Terry Pratchett's "Reaper Man", Stephen Hawkings "A Brief History of Time", and John Wyndham "Day of the Triffids".

In the "stuff I still need to read pile" is:
Too much Terry Pratchett to list
Garth Nix - Sabriel
Anne Rice - Interview with the Vampire
Glen Duncan - I, Lucifer
Danny Wallace - Yes Man
James Herbert - Nobody True

Half the stuff I read I've never heard of, I just wander into Oxfam sometimes and pick the most interesting looking books.

Nowadays, it's hard to tell whether the books or the Legos take up more space in my room. I have extensive collections of both.

Currently rereading:

Ringworld and Ringworld's Children (Larry Niven, obviously). I need to pick up the other two Ringworld books at some point...

Recently read:

Power Failure (Mimi Swartz, Sherron Watkins).

Currently reading:

The Trouble With Islam (Irshad Manji)

Need to read soon:

Fiasco (Thomas Ricks)
Church and State in American History
The Theocons (still waiting for delivery... :( )

I usually like short stories better than novels, but I can tear through one if it's interesting enough. For instance, I read House of Leaves in 3-4 days, and it was 700+ pages. :eek:

Admittedly, a lot of those pages had just one word each, but it was a speed read even then...

Some other books I've enjoyed:

All the King's Men
The Hitchhiker's Guide series
Les Miserables
1984

Books I bought over the Christmas period and either need to read or am currently reading:

P. Marshall: Demanding the Impossible, A History of Anarchism

Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita

Leskov: Collected Stories

Dostoevsky: The House of the Dead

Dostoevsky: The Gambler

Dostoevsky: Poor Folk

Nietzche: Beyond Good and Evil

Nietzche: The Hammer of the Idols

Nietzche: The Anti-Christ

A. Cross: Peter the Great through British eyes

V. Grossman: Forever Flowing

Kafka: Complete Novels (includes The Trial, The Castle and America)

Kafka: Complete Short Stories

I buy books in excessive quantities.

Currently reading:

The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
by H.H. Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler, MD
isbn# 1573221112
A fantastic book, this will awaken a true sense of what happiness truly means.

The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
isbn# 0618680004
An excellent commentary on religion and the case against it.

The Universe in a Nutshell
by Stephen Hawking
isbn# 055380202X
A must read for all who wish to learn more about our universe and our place in it.

Looks like the University has increased my expected reading load :D

The Metamorphosis - Kafka
In the Penal Colony - Kafka, again (ugh)
All Quiet on the Western Front - Remarque
The Jewish Wife - Brecht
Woyzeck - Büchner (In German!)
The Investigation - Weiss

Respect level. Plummets.

Ah, the disdain expressed when others don't meet your own standards.

What makes you believe it's any of your business if a reading list includes the Da Vinci code, or even Jane and Spot Meet Dick for Lunch?

I think the more important issue here is the fact others are reading anything at all. Given the prediliction towards mindless entertainment and instant satisfaction, it's a pleasure to see others sitting down with a book (any book!).

I think the term I'm looking for here is "shove it where the sun don't shine." For those of you reading the less "serious" works, good for you. Continue reading whatever strikes your fancy.

As the owner of an online bookstore, I have over 25,000 books to choose from when I'm in the mood for reading, which is almost constantly. My tastes run from the terminally fluffy (Nora Roberts and David Eddings) to the density of a black hole (Hans Gruineberg), and almost everything in between. Honesty does force me to admit (in the presence of so many philosophy readers) that I've always found philosophy to be tedious and a waste of time.

Currently my books (I tend to roam from room to room and what I read depends on what's lying around) include Liberty in Expansion 1760 - 1850 (Handlin & Handlin), Oath of Gold (Elizabeth Moon), and Gardening Indoors with House Plants (Raymond P. Poincelot, with the vague hope I might be able to keep even a single plant alive this coming spring...).

Currently reading:

Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett

One wall of my bedroom is taken up by a massive bookshelf (and it's not a small room either).

I'm confident I've read most of the books in it.

I teach English, so yeah, I have an always lengthening list. For Xmas, I got The God Delusion, which I've already finished, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Eco, which was translated by a friend of mine, Collected Poems by Basil Bunting, and a couple of new books by friends of mine--Blue Colonial by David Roderick and Raw Goods Inventory by Emily Rosko.

I like to read, but i like Nationstates more.

I currently have a Biography of Rommel to read.
I am 1/4 of the way through a book on the Cretean Resistence during WWII
The Illiad
A book on D-Day
Panzer-A book that i have already read previously(It was published by another publisher under a different name; Steel Fist)
A book on Galipolli
History of Warfare
History of Royal Blunders
John Wirghts Indian Summer
I just finished reading a short book on the reaons for World War One
Death in the Bunker(Hitlers final days)
Dragon, a novel involving a 3rd Hiroshima type bomb recovered from a downed B-29 and the Japanese tycoons who have it.

Thats just for starters.

Currently reading Terry Pratchett's "Reaper Man", Stephen Hawkings "A Brief History of Time", and John Wyndham "Day of the Triffids".

In the "stuff I still need to read pile" is:
Too much Terry Pratchett to list
Garth Nix - Sabriel
Anne Rice - Interview with the Vampire
Glen Duncan - I, Lucifer
Danny Wallace - Yes Man
James Herbert - Nobody True

Half the stuff I read I've never heard of, I just wander into Oxfam sometimes and pick the most interesting looking books.Read Sabriel next. It's really good - and I mean "really good" as in "one of my favorite fantasy stories ever" good. Try the other books in the trilogy too if you like it. :D

My current list is (I recently had free reign over a bookstore):

Piers Anthony - Golem in the Gears
Heinlein - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
Greg Bear - Queen of Angels
Gregory Benford - Jupiter Project
Gregory Benford - In the Ocean of Night
Anne McCaffrey - The Tower and the Hive

...and my damnable maths book, which I need to go over before the semester starts...



My book collection is about an entire wall full of books. Yeah, that's probably.... 10' x 8' or so (3x2.5m). Oh, plus another bookcase that is about the same, except more vertical shaped. I like books. ^_^

i have a nice long list...but i am to lazy to list it.
as for a library collection, instead of a car i gook two book cases for my 16th birthday, that was two years ago, i filled one and a half of them with all the books that i had,within a year i filled the other half...so once again book cases are back on my list of birthday wishes:(

Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky (put this one off for far too long)
The Curse Of Lono - Hunter S Thompson
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
The Mismeasure Of Man - Stephen Jay Gould
The Once And Future King - T H White (re-reading)
American Gods - Neil Gaiman (re-reading)
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (re-re-re-reading)
Tome Of Corruption - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay sourcebook
Playboy May 2005 (Hunter S Thompson interview and Chuck Palahniuk excerpt - oh, and boobies of course)
Testament (comic) - Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp
DMZ (comic) - Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli

Don't read Interview with a Vampire, it's boring as hell. I was stuck in the mountains for 10 days, and I read it and it was horrible and argh.

My list:

1. Empire, by Niall Ferguson (2nd time)
2. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Hemingway
3. Waging Modern War, by Wesley Clark
4. Night, by Elie Wiesel (school required)

ooh, finally a topic that i really know about. I love reading and I do have enough books to start my own library. Well here are the authors that I read as i have to many books to name individually:

Clive Cussler
Steve Alten
Dean Koontz
James Patterson
Orson Scott Card
Tom Clancy (some not all)

and just about anything else including but not limited to:

The Book of Five Rings
The Art of War
The Left Behind Series
The Cay

well thats all i can think of, sorry but i know theres more
However im currently reading Resurrection by Steve Alten

I just moved. Before moving, I donated over 1000 books to the local library. I still have over 1000 books. I've filled 8 bookcases and still have books left over. Right now I'm reading Stardog by S.I. Viehl, The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman and rereading The Winds of War by Herman Wouk. On my list for future reads War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk, The Samurai's Daughter by Sujata Massey and The Crusader's Torch by Chelsea Quinn Yarbrough. Oh, and anything else that looks remotely interesting.

For someone who spent half her life with her nose in a book I do very little reading now. I haven't read a full length book in months. I read several periodicals I read regularly. I guess my attention span has shrunk a bit.
I read:
The Christian Science Monitor
The Hightower Lowdown
The Texas Observer
Smithsonian
Audobon
The Progressive
Mother Jones
The Utne Reader

No wonder I never get around to reading books.

Dostoevsky: The House of the Dead


I saw that at a book store if I had had money I would have bought it but when I went back to get it it was gone.

Currently reading:
Inferno- Dante
Jacobs Room- Virgina Woolf

Going To Read:
The rest of the divine comdey
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained- John Milton
Devils (also called demons, the possessed)- Dostoevsky
Candide- Voltaire (I'm probably reading this next because of its length)
A Room of Ones Own- Virgina Woolf
Three Gineas (not spelled right)- Virgina Woolf
Ulysses- James Joyce
and I'll re-read Crime and Punishment and Farenheit 451.

and Yaltabaoth you have an amazing taste in books.

I'm currently reading The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. After that, I don't know what i'll start on. I bought a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy compilation a while ago, so I guess that's next.

I've seen this post so many times today and I'm so tired it looked like it had changed to "That Boob Stack" and I was forced to click immediately. Then I realized my mistake and was sad.

Sadly, I DO have a stack of books, not nearly as many as I once had at home, but enough to really start dreading the shipping costs when I have to send them all back across the Pacific.

I got a number of books over my Christmas trip back home, but everything is under hold right now while I make my way through two particular books:

Great Expectations: Pregnancy and Childbirth and Pregnancy for Dummies.

Make of those titles what you will.

ooh, finally a topic that i really know about. I love reading and I do have enough books to start my own library. Well here are the authors that I read as i have to many books to name individually:

Clive Cussler
Steve Alten
Dean Koontz
James Patterson
Orson Scott Card
Tom Clancy (some not all)

and just about anything else including but not limited to:

The Book of Five Rings
The Art of War
The Left Behind Series
The Cay

well thats all i can think of, sorry but i know theres more
However im currently reading Resurrection by Steve Alten
Clive Cussler, i think he writes Dragon.
Have you read it?

I just wander into Oxfam sometimes and pick the most interesting looking books.
Yeah, I'm guilty of that as well. I'll buy 5 at a time, then wonder why my reading list is getting longer not shorter.

I saw that at a book store if I had had money I would have bought it but when I went back to get it it was gone.

Currently reading:
Inferno- Dante
Jacobs Room- Virgina Woolf

Going To Read:
The rest of the divine comdey
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained- John Milton
Devils (also called demons, the possessed)- Dostoevsky
Candide- Voltaire (I'm probably reading this next because of its length)
A Room of Ones Own- Virgina Woolf
Three Gineas (not spelled right)- Virgina Woolf
Ulysses- James Joyce
and I'll re-read Crime and Punishment and Farenheit 451.

and Yaltabaoth you have an amazing taste in books.

*blushes*

why thank you, you're not so bad yourself

i'm guessing it was the Playboy that sealed it?

Make of those titles what you will.

Congratulations. :p

I've seen this post so many times today and I'm so tired it looked like it had changed to "That Boob Stack" and I was forced to click immediately. Then I realized my mistake and was sad.

That's because people can't get enough! Bwahahahaha!

Reading at the mo:
The Making of the English Working Class EP - Thompson
Trail Magazine

To read:
Simon Sebag Montefiore's biography of Stalin. Already read it, but need to compare it with another biog, and a pro stalin writer who I've forgotten. My Dads friend says its a load of BS, and I respect his opinion so I thought I'd investigate.

A philosphy book by Michael someone - new, 'popular' and about humanity, conciousness and the universe. I forget the name of that too. Got a chapter in, and he's already claimed that the universe wouldn't have any size if we weren't here to observe it. We shall see...

It's currently around 50, so I'm too lazy to make a list. I just pile them around the house in the hope that I'll be forced to start reading them

My list includes:


The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet (http://www.amazon.com/Codebreakers-Comprehensive-History-Communication-Internet/dp/0684831309) by David Kahn
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War (http://www.amazon.com/Deceivers-Allied-Military-Deception-Second/dp/0743250427/sr=1-1/qid=1168046068/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2114310-9324800?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Thaddeus Holt
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Fear-American-Depression-1929-1945/dp/0195144031/sr=1-1/qid=1168046414/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2114310-9324800?ie=UTF8&s=books) by David Kennedy
Lettres persanes (http://www.amazon.fr/Lettres-Persanes-Montesquieu/dp/2253082228/sr=1-7/qid=1168046859/ref=sr_1_7/171-5188289-4296239?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Montesquieu
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (http://www.amazon.com/Flatland-Romance-Dimensions-Thrift-Editions/dp/048627263X/sr=1-1/qid=1168047318/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2114310-9324800?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Edwin Abbott
The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization (http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Palace-National-Intelligence-Organization/dp/0140067485/sr=1-1/qid=1168047669/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2114310-9324800?ie=UTF8&s=books) by James Bamford
A Feast for Crows (http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Crows-Song-Ice-Fire/dp/055358202X/sr=1-3/qid=1168047924/ref=sr_1_3/002-2114310-9324800?ie=UTF8&s=books) by George R.R. Martin
Quicksilver (http://www.amazon.com/Quicksilver-Baroque-Cycle-Vol-1/dp/0060593083/sr=1-4/qid=1168048090/ref=sr_1_4/002-2114310-9324800?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Neal Stephenson
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe (http://www.amazon.com/Neither-Here-nor-There-Travels/dp/0380713802/sr=1-8/qid=1168048223/ref=sr_1_8/002-2114310-9324800?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Bill Bryson


Along with many many other things.

Adolf Hitler John Toland 1976
The System of the World Neil Stephenson 2004
A Treatise of Human Nature David Hume 1740
Mapping the World Michael Swift 2006 (looking at, not reading so much)
A Short History of Progress Ronald Wright 2004

A couple of those have been lying around half-read for months. Mostly read online nowdays.

Sitting on my bedside table (in the process of reading or recently finished):

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger(Just finished for the second time, I must be a little strange, I didn't think much of it either time)
Factotum by Charles Bukowski (This one I enjoyed very much)
The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins (non-fiction takes me a long time)
The War of the World by Niall Ferguson
The Flash of Lighting Behind the Mountain by Charles Bukowski
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (This is the most affecting book I have ever read, I was blown away)

<...>
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained- John Milton
Devils (also called demons, the possessed)- Dostoevsky
Candide- Voltaire (I'm probably reading this next because of its length)
A Room of Ones Own- Virgina Woolf
Three Gineas (not spelled right)- Virgina Woolf
Ulysses- James Joyce
and I'll re-read Crime and Punishment and Farenheit 451.

and Yaltabaoth you have an amazing taste in books.

Hey, you can't read that ... it's from the future! :p

I do have a list of books I'm eager to read, but considering I'm a lazy teenager - I can never get around to it.

Swastika by Michael Slade (I saw this in the book store and looks totally awesome. Special Ops Mounties! :D)
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (I read about a quarter of it, but got occupied with other things)
The Bunker by James P. O'Donnell
In the Line of Fire: A Memoir by Pervez Musharraf (interesting man)
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberg
The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie

almost forgot...

i'm reading Jennifer Government by some dude called Max Barry

anyone out there ever heard of him?

the above statement is actually a lie, but i do intend to read it soon, honest!!

almost forgot...
i'm reading Jennifer Government by some dude called Max Barry
anyone out there ever heard of him?

<snip hidden bit>

Funnily enough I have a friend who won't go anywhere near NS (game, forums, anything) but just finished that book. Her opinion "oh yeah, it was all right."

I told her about the connection ... and she didn't seem to believe me? :confused:

My book stack as of 25 Dec 06:
Just so you know this could take a while.

Dragon's Kin Anne McCaffrey/Todd McCaffrey*
Dragonsblood Todd McCaffrey*
The Shaddow Rising Robert Jordan
The Fires of Heaven Robert Jordan
Lord of Chaos Robert Jordan
A Crown of Swords Robert Jordan
The Path of Daggers Robert Jordan
Winter's Heart Robert Jordan
Crossroads of Twilight Robert Jordan
Aerie Mercedes Lackey*
Storm Warning Mercedes Lackey
Storm Rising Mercedes Lackey
Storm Breaking Mercedes Lackey
Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
Eragon Christopher Paolini
Eldest Christopher Paolini
Brother Odd Dean Koontz I'm sleep deprived so if it's spelled wrong, oh well.
*Indicates finished books