NationStates Jolt Archive

What's the last book you read? Was it good or shitty? Would you recommend it?

I, being the almighty Creator (ergo, God) of the thread, shall start.

Lost Moon
James Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger

It was very good. Read it if you have an interest in that timeframe or the program.

BEGIN THREAD

Last book: The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. It was good, very funny but also unexpectedly touching and sad.

Current book: The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon. Only 9 chapters in, but I'm really enjoying it.

You Must Remember This by Joyce Carol Oates. Great book...little bit twisted, and nice and dark. Just my style. Nothing like incest and boxing.

You Must Remember This by Joyce Carol Oates. Great book...little bit twisted, and nice and dark. Just my style. Nothing like incest and boxing.

Book: reading in process
Inquisición

Author: Miguel Betanzos

Description: Spain in the Middle Ages. A jailer, Felipe Zamora narrated his story and those of the people awaiting trial by the Spanish Inquisition and of the priests and officials preparing the trials through a series of letters to a high society lady. It also narrates the story of how Zamora befriends Martín de Lara, a Jew awaiting excecution, at the jail in order to express his love to the lady. This lady, at some point, gives the letters to a printer and thus is born one of the oddest manuscripts to come to our times from the Dark times of 14th. century Spain.

Opinion: I like it so far.

Last book: Tales from watership down. Not as good as the first book, but still good!

Current book: The Zombie Survival guide. Incredible funny and filled with fictional zombie facts. Awesome book!

Last book: Tales from watership down. Not as good as the first book, but still good!

Current book: The Zombie Survival guide. Incredible funny and filled with fictional zombie facts. Awesome book!

is that by max brooks? follow it up with world war z. i hate zombie books but this one is well worth reading. its a studs terkel esque "oral history" of the great zombie war. brooks has spent way too much time thinking about zombies.

Not much fiction in the last few months. I've been reading a lot of music lately, since I've had some time to write.

First Contact by Murray Leinster and shortly afterwards The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin.

The first book is about first contact between humans and an alien race. Wonderful read and witty. Heres a quote to give you an idea (spoiler warning):

"Well-- There was the one I called Buck, sir, because he hasn't any name that goes into sound waves [this was how the two species communicated]," said Tommy. "We got along very well. I'd really call him my friend, sir. And we were together for a couple of hours just before the two ships separated and we'd nothing in particular to do. So I became convinced that humans and aliens are bound to be good friends if they have only half a chance. You see, sir, we spent those two hours telling dirty jokes."


Great read, strongly suggest it. The second is good as well. It follows a man who has no choice, but to jettison a young girl into space and it tells of her last hours.

Both are shorts and can be found in a book called The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One (1929-1964): The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time Chosen by the members of the Science Fiction Writers of America edited by Robert Silverberg.

Halfway through (page 265) of The Blank State: The modern denial of human nature. By Steven Pinker (http://books.google.com/books?id=RvnuAwAACAAJ&dq=Steven+Pinker&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=steven+pinker&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=mozilla&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=2&cad=author-navigational)

I like it. It's too big to fit in my purse though, so keep that in mind if you don't like to read books that weigh 10lbs or so.

I'm reading First Clash by Kenneth Macksey. Basically its about 4 Canadian Mechanised Combat Brigade taking on the 1st Guards Tank Divison in a hypothetical world war three scenario. It was written to be a tactical manual for Officers serving in Germany during the Cold War. I have never read a better book about the planning, preparations for, and execution of modern battles. Definately not for the casual reader, only hardcore military types would even remotely understand it. But still beyond definately worth checking out.

50 things you're not supposed to know, Vol. 2 - Russ Kick

It's really, really worth it.

The last book I actually wred all of was Dava Sobel's "Longitude"

Lovely little book. Non-fiction, about Harrison and his sea clocks, and the trouble he had with the scientific and political establishment in winning the Longitude Prize. Very light on technical details, but otherwise both informative and a pleasure to read, she makes an entertaining narrative out of what could be seen as quite a tragic story.

Now, as to why I put a title on this post. Let's have a real book club!

Some may remember Higher Thinking's Puzzle threads. Something like that, where somebody undertakes to start a new thread on a regular basis, to discuss a particular book. During the thread, anyone who wants can suggest a book to ALL READ, we agree on a book and go read it. Then, for the next thread, we discuss that book -- all having wred the same book recently, with it fresh in our minds.

That is what a book club actually is.

I think it would be a good idea to choose books which are out of copyright, and therefore available to all regardless of their finances. But of course it would be up to the thread participants which book to read.

Last book: The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. It was good, very funny but also unexpectedly touching and sad.

Read it. Good, but I don't think it was THAT good. Definitely a unique perspective, though.

I'm currently in With The Allies In Pekin: A Tale of the Boxer Rebellion by G.A. Henty. I'd recommend him to anyone.

As God of this thread, I veto any and all ideas that would threaton my Godliness.

Besides, a real NS Book Club was tried a while ago. It didn't work out.

And on topic, I'm reading Sharpe's Battle at the moment.

As God of this thread, I veto any and all ideas that would threaton my Godliness.

Besides, a real NS Book Club was tried a while ago. It didn't work out.

I can well imagine. After all, I was one of those who made Higher Thinking's life hell until they gave up the puzzle threads.

But I'd like to look into why it didn't work out and try to scheme some way to make it work. I'm busy just now but I'll go find the thread. It was called "Book Club" or something?

And ... care to give you own opinion why it didn't work out?

EDIT: Could you possibly mean this thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=443950) ? Because "it was tried once in 2005 so it isn't worth trying again" isn't going to stop me.

I don't remember what it was called. But it was a while ago. At least a year, I think. I think it didn't work out because no one could agree on what book to read. Someone would suggest something, a few people would say aye, someone else would suggest something, and more people would say aye. Eventually, the concept just died.

This book club may not actually be a book club, but it is a club for books. You're welcome to try a real book club on NSG, and I wish you good luck.

The last I read was "The Blue Book" by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Very interesting and helpful.

Previous to that, I read "Demian" by Hesse. Excellent book.

I'm about half way through John Ralston Saul's "The Collapse of Globalism" and I mention it here because I'm fairly confident that I'm going to finish it.

It's pretty good. As the name suggests, Saul has an attitude but he's preaching to the choir here. I mean, I wouldn't rely on him to prove any points to a pro-globalist but there's the occasional passage that just has me standing up and reading out a paragraph to no-one in particular.

That said, Saul writes rather densely. I find I have to pay close attention to details or else I miss the point. It's very ... what's the word ... linear?

But it doesn't require any special knowledge to follow, and he quotes many sources for his argument making it a good introduction to his subject.

I'd give it 6.5 / 10. Not a book that is really changing my world, but not a piece of propaganda I will never finish either.

Well, the last "book" I read was "Making Comics" by Scott McCloud, albeit the German version. I'm currently chewing through "Crashing the Party" by Ralph Nader.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby.

It was... okay. But I read it in German, so maybe the French original is better.

http://www.booksunlimited.ie/bookcover/9780349101774/The-Wasp-Factory.jpg

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

A very good read, although somewhat sickening now and then. I would recommend it if you like goth literature and weird stories.

i read half of OIL by upton sinclair because it is the book on which "there will be blood" is based and i wondered how faithful it was to the book.

turns out not all that much.

i burned out about halfway through. its not a compelling story.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
Its great, especially if you've read some of the earlier 18th century romances and gothic horror stories she's writing about.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
Its great, especially if you've read some of the earlier 18th century romances and gothic horror stories she's writing about.

Oh, I recently read Cranford, by Elisabeth Gaskell. If you like Jane Austen, you might enjoy this as well... it's the same way of writing slightly ironic about a small quaint community.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.
Its great, especially if you've read some of the earlier 18th century romances and gothic horror stories she's writing about.

After reading that, I tried reading The Mysteries of Udolpho, the book the heroine reads. It was about six-hundred pages. I think I got to page sixty before I gave up.

A book I did manage to read the whole way through was The Golden Pot and Other Stories by Hoffman. It was psychedelic, in the most acidy, hallucinating meaning of that word. Those 19th-century German Romantics were the epitome of hippiness.

EDIT: I was wrong about The Mysteries of Udolpho: it's about 700 pages (736, to be exact).

"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. An extremely entertaining mystery novel where you see through one character's eyes, and try to figure out who is killing the other people on the island. Seems like a typical "Who killed who" novel, but trust me, it's much different and much more creative. The ending definitely gives you a spin.

*pic*

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

I recently read "The Player of Games" by the same author.

Good image of a post-scarcity society, "the Culture" ... didn't really seem to get inside the gamer's head that well. The end is so predictable, you start thinking back over the whole book and then ... well, I liked it.

I'd definitely try another Banks, and your description makes the decision for me. Wanna swap?

I'm about 3/4 through The Comedians by Graham Greene. Greene's getting a little dated, but I love his use of language and the melancholy film-noirish atmosphere he so cleverly evokes. It's also an incisive allegory about American intervention in Haiti, more subtle and skillfully drawn than The Quiet American.

"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. An extremely entertaining mystery novel where you see through one character's eyes, and try to figure out who is killing the other people on the island. Seems like a typical "Who killed who" novel, but trust me, it's much different and much more creative. The ending definitely gives you a spin.

I liked that, too. I haven't seen them, but it seems like the Saw films stole the basic premise from this book and then just added gore. A little annoying, but at least they're stealing from good stuff.

The big one... The Da Vinci Code. You see, I'm a Catholic, and my parents reluctantly let me read it after a month.

I find it intriguing, yet weird.

What's the last book you read? Was it good or shitty? Would you recommend it?

I, being the almighty Creator (ergo, God) of the thread, shall start.

Lost Moon
James Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger

It was very good. Read it if you have an interest in that timeframe or the program.

BEGIN THREAD

Currently reading Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett...
Of course its good, its Pratchett. :D

The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clark and Stephen Baxter.

Also, Evolution by Stephen Baxter. Those are two wonderful books right there. And, as I'm discovering, Stephen Baxter is simply a treasure trove of wonderful hard science fiction.

The last book I read was "The Last Juror" by John Grisham. It was decent, but not what I was expecting from the summary on the back. The one I read previously was...

i read half of OIL by upton sinclair because it is the book on which "there will be blood" is based and i wondered how faithful it was to the book.

turns out not all that much.

i burned out about halfway through. its not a compelling story.I read this, for much the same reason. It was a good book, but not great, and it did go on for too long.

"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. An extremely entertaining mystery novel where you see through one character's eyes, and try to figure out who is killing the other people on the island. Seems like a typical "Who killed who" novel, but trust me, it's much different and much more creative. The ending definitely gives you a spin.Ah, Agatha Christie. I love her. Listen to Euroslavia.

The last book I read was Dies the Fire by S.M Stirling. It's a good read. The premise is that somehow, suddenly, the laws of thermodynamics have been changed - planes no longer fly, guns no longer work, explosives can't explode, cars don't run. The world is thrown into a preindustrial state and the survivors have to rebuild civilization without modern conveniences. There are other books in the series - The Protector's War, A Meeting at Corvallis and The Sunrise Lands.