What books do you read?

[Xeldrak]

Well, we have a thread about music - why not about books aswell?

Since I spent about two hours a day commuting in trains, I picked up the habit of reading. I wasn't a big reader for most of my youth. I got spoiled by books we had to read for school and needed quite some time to find joy in it again. And when I'm on holliday, I don't get any reading done - I need my trains.

I tried reading before sleeping, in bed, but I just cant find a position that is comfortable and doesn't give me neck-pain within ten minutes.

Usually I try to read classics - well, classics of diffrent genres. Big fan of SciFi from die sixties or seventies, but I tried to broaden my intake in the last year.

So, to the best of my recollection, a list of what I've read in the last year (give or take) in order of reading:

• Christopher Hitchens - Hitch-22: A Memoir
  
• Christopher Hitchens - God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (birthday present)
  
• Paolo Bacigalupi - The windup girl (read this one in german)
  
• Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers
  
• Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama
  
• Robert A. Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
  
• Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves
  
• George R.R. Martin - A Game of Thrones
  
• George R.R. Martin - A Clash of Kings
  
• George R.R. Martin - A Storm of Swords
  
• George R.R. Martin - A Feast for Crows
  
• George R.R. Martin - A Dance with Dragons
  
• Franz Kafka - Das Urteil & In der Strafkolonie ("The Judgement" and "In the Penal Colony")
  
• John le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (blew my mind)
  

And right now I'm reading Neil Gaiman - American Gods. Which is extremely bizarre but awesome.

If I can, I try reading it in the original language (usually English, exept for Kafka) - because I don't think any book ever improved by beeing translated.

So, what about you guys? You read a lot? What books do you read? Favourite genre? Favourite books? Do you also need your trains to read?

Also, I've become a great fan of goodreads.com - It's a nice way to organize your books, keep track of what you are reading and what else you could read. You can find me as Xeldrak - feel free to add me

[hugix]

I love the books by Tom Wolfe. Got in touch with his writing via The right stuff (about the Mercury 7). Really loved his writing style Read "The Cool aid Acid Test" a month ago and now I'm waiting on Bonfire of the vanities.

Other stuff I like is Hitch, God is not great is a brilliant work if you want to win a discussion regarding religion.

Furthermore I've read Orwell's 1984 & the animal farm. A must read for every one. Also Huxley's "Brave new world".

and of course a lot of books about space and the moon missions written by Dutch author Chriet Titulaer and a few journalists I cant bother to look up now.

and because of my education a lot of books on IT management. Wayyy to much books on IT management.

[dodrian]

Going back a year... in rough order the stuff I've been reading for pleasure: (stuff in bold is my particular recommendations)

• Lord of the Rings - Tolkein, finally finished the trilogy (I'd started it several times before, but hadn't ever completed Return of the King)
  
• The Hobbit - Tolkein, for some reason had never read it before
  
• Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomerry - a few amusing bits, but didn't particularly enjoy it
  
• Cooking for Geeks (Real Science, Great Hacks and Good Food) - Jeff Porter - absolutely fantastic book which has completely changed how I cook (it gives you recipes, then tells you the science of why they work, which makes for much better food experimenting!)
  
• The Man Who Was Thursday - GK Chesterton - Great humor, really bizarre but rewarding book
  
• Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut - really enjoyed it, very postmodern/meta book
  
• Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - I started reading it in December before the film came out, didn't manage to finish it until March, and had to catch the film in one of the last two cinemas it was playing in in the country. Quite a slog to get through, some bits were brilliant (the beginning, the ending, and one or two others), many bits were long, not-helpful descriptions of unrelated things.
  
• All is Grace - Brennan Manning - Memoirs, brutally honest about his life. Rather a short book.
  
• Reread Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Children of the Mind, and Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, in anticipation of the soon to be released movie. I thought Speaker for the Dead was much better reading it the second time through, it's got incredible character development which I'd say makes it an even better book than Ender's Game, as good as that one was. I'd read more from the series, but can't afford to buy them and can't find them in nearby libraries.
  
• Spin - Robert Charles Wilson - picked it up in the Humble ebook bundle 2, was really really impressed. Hard sci-fi which does the whole apocalyptic/dystopian thing fantastically. Definitely deserved the Hugo award.
  
• Boneshaker - Cherie Priest - Also from the Humble Bundle, first Steampunk I've read, really enjoyed it.
  
• Little Brother - Cory Doctorow - Again, Humble Bundle, but I really didn't like this one. To be fair to Doctorow, I think he was aiming at a much younger audience.
  

And I re-read some Douglas Adams, and lots of Pratchett, and a few other humorous books which I particularly enjoy right before bed, especially when other books I'm reading at the moment have darker themes.

On top of those, many many books/journals/articles working part-time towards my Theology MA :-). My favorites have been The Morality of Adoption (ed. T. Jackson), and several things from Marcia J. Bunge.

Not reading anything in particular at the moment... I'd really like to try some more modern sci-fi a la Spin though.

[briansun1]

no links.. sorry any way

a separate peace

Fahrenheit 451

Gaunt's Ghosts series

Inheritance series(think eragon and all sequels)

Heros of Olympus series

Percy Jackson series

Hunger games series (the movie was really bad btw)

My W.H.A.P. textbook

My Chemistry textbook

Enders game

World War Z and his other book

Rangers apprentice series

All of the Brotherband Chronicles out

Animal farm

The Giver

The Heir trilogy

7 relams series

I am number 4

the first 2/3 alex rider books

all that I can think of right now

Edited October 9, 2013 by briansun1

[Flymetothemun]

Here's most of what I read:

Steam, Steel and Electricity by James W. Steele

Elements of Military Art and Science Or, Course Of Instruction In Strategy, Fortification, Tactics Of Battles, &C.; Embracing The Duties Of Staff, Infantry, Notes On The Mexican And Crimean Wars by Henry Wager Halleck

Elements of Debating by Leverett Samuel Lyon

Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency by Nikola Tesla (Fun Fact: Tesla's my Hero)

The Age Of Reason by Thomas Paine

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin

Brain Droppings by George Carlin

America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't by Stephen Colbert

Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart

I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert

Tools and Their Uses by United States Bureau of Naval Personnel

Basic Construction Techniques for Houses and Small Buildings Simply Explained by United States Bureau of Naval Personnel

Basic Electricity by United States Bureau of Naval Personnel

Our Dumb World by The Onion

The Onion Book Of Known Knowledge by The Onion

Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government by P.J. O'Rourke

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart

Dave Barry's Money Secrets: Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar? by Dave Barry

Dave Barry Slept Here by Dave Barry

Dave Barry Does Japan by Dave Barry

Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need by Dave Barry

Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway: A Vicious and Unprovoked Attack on Our Most Cherished Political Institutions by Dave Barry

The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games by Albert H. Morehead

1984 by George Orwell

Other than that, I pretty much like anything Nonfiction Science (except Biology) or Nonfiction Historical (except Nazi Germany, I got semi-depressed after reading about them). It takes a damn good and interesting fiction book to catch me. 1984 was the first fiction book i picked for myself (all the other fiction I read were those terrible, dry, bland, and overly-sanitized schoolbook stories). 1984 set the bar for fiction for me, and barely anything comes close now. Before you say "Ermahgerd Try Harry Pawtur!!!", please note that I extremely forced myself to read one of the books and I barely got past the first chapter before I said "This stuff's overrated!" and put it back on the shelf.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Flymetothemun

[stupid_chris]

Slaughterhouse Five

That was an exquisite book. Read it last year for my English class and was pleasantly surprised.

For my own, I'll only recommend one, The Book Thief - Markus Zusak. Really an excellent book, a very different look to usual WWII books. Plus the narrator is death, adding a lot of humour to it all. The movie is coming out soon and I'm really excited.

[Xeldrak]

Hm, seems like quite a lot of people read Ender's Game - I should probably put it on my to read list.

The next books I'll read (Because I allready bought them):

Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Arthur C. Clarke - The Fountains of Paradise

Right now I can really recommend The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, American Gods, Rendezvous with Rama and The windup girl.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Xeldrak

[Elmetian]

A few picks from my little personal library:

• Read all of Ian M Bank's Sci Fi novels, they're all very good. Some are better than others of course, and I'd say Consider Phlebas was his best. I also really liked Use of Weapons. Most people will say The Player of Games is his best but I wasn't as impressed.
  
• Of Ian Bank's other novels, The Wasp Factory is incredible. It's about as dark as a novel can get. I'd call it dark humour, but sometimes it's hard to know if he's trying to make you laugh. You laugh anyway and then wonder if you're a bit sick yourself for doing so.
  
• Next up on my list would be Alastair Reynolds. Revalation Space and Chasm City were both excellent. The rest of his Sci Fi Novels are also pretty good, but these two deserve a special mention.
  
• Dan Simmons's Hyperion Omnibus is another must-read. For its shear depth, and for his brilliant world building. Just try not to get hung up on his repetition of the word 'azure' as I did. Otherwise a very good modern space opera.
  
• Peter F. Hamilton's Void Trilogy and Commonwealth Saga were pretty good. Again, more galaxy spanning space opera but without the boredom I associate with older space operas like Asimov's Foundation series.
  
• Read all of Richard Morgan's Sci Fi. If you like old school cyberpunk, you'll love his Takeshi Kovacs books. Lot's of sex and violence. Very gritty.
  
• Verner Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky Are both excellent.

Other notable novels that you definitely should read if you like Sci Fi are: Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix, Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (called Tiger Tiger here in the UK), Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon, Isaac Asmiov's robot stories (which you'll be glad to know bear no resemblance to that terrible film with Will Smith), Stanislaw Lem's Pirx the Pilot books as well as The Cyberiad are pretty funny, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Friday and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress are compulsory for anyone who claims to be a fan of Sci Fi, as are William Gibson's Neuromancer, Joe Halderman's Forever War, Frederick Pohl's Gateway and Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity.

Other than that I mostly read pop science physics books, physics text books (well, not so much read as endure), and short stories such as those in Interzone magazine.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Narcosis

[Javster]

The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared is very good. Goes through the history of the last century while maintaining a plot in the present.

[Dispatcher]

Several I like are already listed above. I was going to mention Haldeman's Forever War, but its listed too. I'll add that supposedly, Ridley Scott is said to be working on a movie based on that story.

I like variety, but science fiction and astronomy tend to be at the top of the list.

[BostLabs]

Right at this particular moment, nothing (which is odd).

However, on my shelve:

Into the looking glass - John Ringo

Soon I will be Invincible - Austin Grossman (A fun book about a super villian)

C.A.D.S. Tech Strike Force - John Sievert

World War Z - Max Brooks

After Worlds Collide - Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer

Star Carrier Book 1 - Ian Douglas (need to get the rest of this series)

Star Corps Books 1 of the Legacy Trilogy - Ian Douglas (Somewhere I have all of this series - Space Marines. )

There are other books out in the garage.

Whoops! I also have in this room the entire set of the Lensmen series by Doc E.E. Smith (Edward E. Smith. PhD.) (good ole 50's SciFi)

Edited October 11, 2013 by BostLabs

[Nuke]

ive read all the dune books, even the crappy ones. not much else. read a couple battletechs. saving classics for prison.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Nuke

[-Velocity-]

Reading the Wool series right now. It's very good.

I like hard science fiction, some limited fantasy, and fiction.

Anyway, here's the novels I've read since January 1, 2013, in order. I'll try to give a rough ranking from 1 to 10.

Halting State- Charles Stross (5/10, really annoying 2nd person narrative style)

Blindsight - Peter Watts - 7/10

The City and the Stars - Arthur Clarke - 8/10

The Songs of Distant Earth - Arthur Clarke - 7/10

WWW: Wake - Robert Sawyer - 7.5/10

WWW: Watch - Robert Sawyer - 7.5/10

WWW: Wonder - Robert Sawyer - 7.5/10

The Forge of God - Greg Bear - 9/10 - extremely good, haunting ending...

Anvil of Stars - Greg Bear - 8/10 - a very worthy successor to The Forge of God, it's way beyond a mere revenge story...

Brightness Reef- David Brin - 6.5/10 - Ok...

Infinity's Shore - David Brin - 6/10 - Decent...

Heaven's Reach - David Brin - 4/10 - .... wtf? completely unbelievable plot.

Far-Seer - Robert Sawyer - 8/10

Fossil Hunter - Robert Sawyer - 8/10

Foreigner - Robert Sawyer - 8/10

Calculating God - Robert Sawyer - 7/10 (don't believe the people saying this is "creationist claptrap"- I say this even though I am an atheist/agnostic, so trust me.)

Mindscan - Robert Sawyer - 7.5/10

Eon - Greg Bear - 7.5/10

Eternity - Greg Bear - 7/10

Watchers - Dean Koontz - 8.5/10

Lightning - Dean Koontz - 7.5/10

Phantoms - Dean Koontz - 8.5/10 - HOLY CRAP the first half (or maybe a little more) of this book was terrifying. There were several times I got goosebumps. I felt in the second half, as the mystery was slowly revealed, the book lost a lot of the scare factor.

Strangers - Dean Koontz - 6.5/10. Meh. I started noticing a lot of similarities between the Dean Koontz books at this point. He recycled some of the same characters and situations over and over. And this book wasn't that good to begin with.

Blood Music - Greg Bear - 8/10 -not bad at all, like the Childhood's End of "outbreak" novels.

Titan - John Varley - 7/10

Wizard - John Varley - 7/10

Demon - John Varley - 7/10

Shadows in Flight - Orson Scott Card - 6.5/10 - a lot better than the last Ender's Game universe novel I read, Ender in Exile, but not spectacular.

Count Zero - William Gibson - 7/10 - sorry, just not a big William Gibson fan.

Dean Koontz - Intensity - 7/10

John Varley - the Ophiuchi Hotline - 7.5/10

And now, finally, my latest project-

Wool Omnibus Edition - Huge Howey - 9/10 - Excellent! Highly recommend!

Shift Omnibus Edition - Huge Howey - 9/10 - Excellent! Highly recommend!

And tonight I start on the final book in the series, Dust.

I found out about this series through the Amazon's "Recommended For You" part of the online store. I will definitely be looking more carefully through Amazon's recommended books for me in the future. This series is a real gem, and I hear they're making it into a series of movies in the near future.

Edited October 11, 2013 by |Velocity|

[-Velocity-]

Hey, with the Columbus Day holiday this coming Monday celebrating the mass murder, subjugation, and enslavement of millions of Native Americans, I've gotta ask: has anyone here read Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card? That this book was passed over completely by the Hugo and Nebula awards is utterly ridiculous- it is consistently ranked by fans among O.S.C.'s best works, and is among the best time travel/alternative history novels ever written. I enjoyed it nearly as much as Ender's Game!

Anyway, if you like hard sci-fi, don't pass this one over! Just check out the reviews on Amazon for this book, they speak for themselves.