What are you reading?

[Dasquian Belargic]

I just finished reading Jeff Noon's Vurt. I found it thoroughly enjoyable and managed to read the entire book within 2 days as a consequence. Here's a couple of snippets of description from Amazon:


Vurt is a feather--a drug, a dimension, a dream state, a virtual reality. It comes in many colors: legal Blues for lullaby dreams. Blacks, filled with tenderness and pain, just beyond the law. Pink Pornovurts, doorways to bliss. Silver feathers for techies who know how to remix colors and open new dimensions. And Yellows--the feathers from which there is no escape. The beautiful young Desdemona is trapped in Curious Yellow, the ultimate Metavurt, a feather few have ever seen and fewer still have dared ingest. Her brother Scribble will risk everything to rescue his beloved sister. Helped by his gang, the Stash Riders, hindered by shadowcops, robos, rock and roll dogmen, and his own dread, Scribble searches along the edges of civilization for a feather that, if it exists at all, must be bought with the one thing no sane person would willingly give.


William Gibson meets Lewis Carroll in this novel of future England, a time when humans, robots, virtual beings, and their various crossbreeds coexist and, as their primary recreation, indulge in drug-laced feathers that induce a virtual reality state known as "the Vurt." Living on the edges of this strange new world are narrator Scribble and his scruffy gang, the Stash Riders. After a mysterious feather named "Curious Yellow" causes Desdemona, Scribble's sister and lover, to become trapped in the Vurt, Scribble becomes obsessed with rescuing her. His quest for another Curious Yellow takes him on a vertiginous journey through the squalid Manchester streets and deep into the shadowy depths of the Vurt. Humorous, horrific, and wildly original, Vurt is an imaginative triumph

I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys good sci-fi, or even drug-culture novels (e.g. Irvine Welsh). I think I'll be looking into more of Noon's books now, all of which apparently shared this bizarre semi-cyberpunk setting. In particular Automated Alice, a "trequel" to Lewis Carolls Wonderland books, sounds pretty promising.


Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland always seemed a bit peculiar as a children's tale. Its references to pill popping and hallucinations have made it fertile ground for pop culture parody, such as Jefferson Airplane's counterculture classic song "Go Ask Alice." British author Noon has reworked the tale for the 1990s. Set in Manchester, England, in 1998, Alice has traveled to the future through her great-aunt's grandfather clock while chasing a pet parrot. Noon adds a suite of puns to bring the story up to date, including numerous "Computermites" and "Civil Serpents." Inspector Jack Russell and "policedogmen" replace the Queen of Hearts and her henchmen. Automated Alice, an animated porcelain doll, guides Alice through her mystery world. Noon's wit even includes a Quentin Tarantula, a filmmaker famous for his violent, celebratory portrayals of criminal life. Who says the classics are no longer relevant?

[Oriadin]

Im currently reading Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's Chasing Shadows Across the World. Ive been on it a while, but im not much of a reader. I am enjoying it though. After reading Marks diary about his trip to america, Ive got a hunger for travel, so Im reading books on traveling at the moment.

[Khendon Sevon]

Reading Gene Wolfe's Starwater Strains, a collection of some of his short stories.

Just finished Richard Morgan's Woken Furies. That was an amaaaazing addition to the Takeshi Kovach series.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Still slugging my way through Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. Rather dated I know, but still. I started reading it back in college, and darn it I'm gonna finish it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I just finished re-reading Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. :love

[CMJ]

Originally posted by Oriadin
Im currently reading Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's Chasing Shadows Across the World. Ive been on it a while, but im not much of a reader. I am enjoying it though. After reading Marks diary about his trip to america, Ive got a hunger for travel, so Im reading books on traveling at the moment.

You ever read Travels by Michael Crichton? Fantastic book.

[Zachariah Jak'el]

Just finished Terry Pratchet's "Truckers"

[Charley]

AR-15 technical drawings and exploded diagrams.

EDIT: http://www.impactsites2000.com/site3/ar15parts.htm

:x

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Also just finished Kitty and the Midnight Hour a book about a werewolf who has a radio show and talks about the hidden world. >D

It was a really fun read.

[Leten Snat]

Just finished Terry Goodkind's Chainfire :)

[Oriadin]

Originally posted by CMJ
You ever read Travels by Michael Crichton? Fantastic book.

No... I'll look it out. Cheers! :D

[Mitara Sinar]

Vancover Police Department's safty manuals, and a few criminal records of people we are on the watch for... :x :zzz ... not the most interesting read...

[Sudoku]

Originally posted by Dasquian Belargic
I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys good sci-fi, or even drug-culture novels (e.g. Irvine Welsh).

I'll have to look for it when I hit the bookstore tomorrow. <3 Welsh.

I still haven't finished my SW novel (ugh). I'm waiting for "Kiss My Tiara" (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446675776/qid=1139430566/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/702-9720681-2325612) to come in from Amazon though :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

I know you have a big hard on for Welsh, so I'm sure you'd enjoy it. Welsh himself speaks highly of it ;)

I'm now part of the way through reading Morvern Callar. The novel opens with the books namesake, a relatively poor 21-year old Scottish woman, finding that her husband has commited suicide and is lying dead on the kitchen floor, blood all over. This in itself isn't particularly unusual, but the fact that Morvern decides not to tell the police and instead just hide his body makes you want to read on and wonder what would make her do something like this. The story so far has dealt with fairly mundane things - Morvern going out for a drink, her dull job, things like that - but there are frequent references to her husband (only called He or Him) and what has happened, how she chops up his body and buries the various parts of the countryside. It's these bizarre little snippets that make the story so compelling and unusual.

[Droo]

My reading list is usually packed, and currently, I'm juggling:

A plethora of short stories: For University.
The Vampire Lestat: To stop Peter moaning at me.
Band of Brothers: Because I've watched my DVDs so many times I thought I might as well go the whole nine yards.

[Dasquian Belargic]

How are you finding The Vampire Lestat, Droo? I've had it for quite some time and tried to read it a couple of times but never managed to finish it.

Which short stories are you reading? I've been reading the Close Range collection by Annie Proulx, which includes the story that Brokeback Mountain is based on. It's suprisingly good stuff. Are you actually on a Literature degree? What else do you have to read?

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I had to read a self help book, or a book discussion tough transitions in life, for my Engineering Senior Project class and then do a book report (which was due today), so I've been reading "What Should I Do with My Life?" by Po Bronson. Really good book - a compilation of a bunch of different stories from people around the states, and what they went through to find their own place in their lives. I'm about a third of the way through, but read sections/stories in each of the eight themes to get a better understanding for my report thnig.

When I'm done with that, I'll get back to "Angels and Demons" and "Deceipher".

[Atreyu]

I've just finished reading CS Lewis' Prince Caspian. After seeing the Narnia film I liked it so much I've been reading the books. Haven't been reading them chronologically though - started with Lion, Witch et al, then The Magician's Nephew and have now just finished Prince Caspain. I'll probbably read A Horse and his Boy next.

Alos back in January I began reading Colleen McCullough's 'Masters of Rome' series. REALLY enjoed it - have read First Man in Rome and The Grass Crown. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any others of the series in book stores so far (which is why I haven't read the series in over a month).

Not quite a usual reading habit, but a few weeks ago I picked up Rick Warren's A Purpose Driven Life which I've been slowly reading a chapter each day (as he recommends). Good Christian book IMHO. :)

[Sudoku]

Originally posted by Droo
The Vampire Lestat: To stop Peter moaning at me.


Like Jenny, I couldn't finish that book either :|

[Mu Satach]

I'm reading...

PeopleSoft Manuals :x

[Sudoku]

Bookstore did not have ANY of the books I wanted in, which leaves me to either hit the library OR hit up Amazon :(

[Sean Piett]

Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
Drop City, 1984

Helloooo Intro to Shakespeare, and Intro to Dystopian Literature. I won't be putting a book down all semester.

[Sudoku]

Originally posted by Kyashi
I'm waiting for "Kiss My Tiara" (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446675776/qid=1139430566/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/702-9720681-2325612) to come in from Amazon though :)

Yay, it's here.

And, wow, it's funny. The first page I opened it to had a blurb about Valentines day that made me laugh out loud. ^_^;

[Dasquian Belargic]

Last week I read...

Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Chuck Klosterman - Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story

I read both of them in a day or two each. Wallflower was particularly easy to read, I think that perhaps it's intended for a younger age or reader, since the main character is just starting highschool. It was a light but enjoyable read, predominantly because of the main character (Charlie) who the author instills with incredible sincerity and innocent. Killing Yourself to Live was an account of a journalists trip to visit the sites of various musicians deaths, though there was a lot of autobiographical detail about Klosterman injected along the way - about 50/50 of each. I thought Klostermans style of writing was quite entertaining and would probably pick up something else by him in the future. Most likely "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs", that seems to be the most popular of his book.

Today, as a Valentines Day gift to myself, I bought...

Kurt Vonnegut - Hocus Pocus
Frank Herbert - The Great Dune Trilogy

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I just got a $90 gift card to Borders, and blew almost all of it in one day. Picked up Summer Knight by someone I can't recall at the moment, which is book 4 of a series my brother and I were reading. I read it in two days. Yummy. :yum

I also got Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn, New Spring ..something by Robert Jordan, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and the official 2006 guide to DisneyWorld. :love

[Dasquian Belargic]

More books to devour!

"Automated Alice" by Jeff Noon
"Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse
"At Last There Is Nothing Left to Say" by Matthew Good

I have wanted the last book in particular for a very long time but only just now noticed that amazon.co.uk stocked it! I actually got scammed out of a copy on eBay last year :( Now I have to wait for 3 to 6 weeks for it to arrive, unfortunately. I suppose I will probably forget about having bought it by then, though, so it will be a nice suprise!

[Sudoku]

Originally posted by Dasquian Belargic
"At Last There Is Nothing Left to Say" by Matthew Good


Is that the book of his website writing? My friend told me about this ages ago. It sounds :cool

[Ryan Pode]

"Next Man Up" by John Feinstein.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Originally posted by Kyashi
Is that the book of his website writing? My friend told me about this ages ago. It sounds :cool

It's lots of his old manifestos and creative writing that he used to put up on his website, dating from about 1997, I think :)

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Putting Future Shock on the shelf so I can reread the Dark is Rising (http://www.greenmanreview.com/dark_is_rising.html) books.

Sadly, my set doesn't include Over Sea, Under Stone, so I need to probably snag that through Amazon.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

For fun in reading I'd reccomend The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher to you, Jenny. I think you'd really enjoy them a lot.

[Mu Satach]

Making Movies by Sidney Lumet
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Cristie (re-read)
Time Management for System Administrators

[Wyl Staedtler]

Shantaram By Gregory David Roberts. Or David Gregory Roberts. I'm too lazy to go get it off the bookshelf to check.

Absolutely stunning book though, and I've heard rumours that Johnny Depp is involved in a film version.

EDIT: Omigosh, my Lord Peter Wimsey novels from Amazon arrived today! Buahahaha! *crawls into top secret reading nook* :crack

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I jsut finished Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn. Now I have to go back and re-read Survivor's Quest.

The ending made me tear up. :cry

[Dasquian Belargic]

Yesterday I read half of Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. I almost feel guilty being a literature student when I just can't fathom when Thomas Hardy is so highly praised.

Today I'm going to read as much as I can of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and if I manage to get... half way through, I'll reward myself by reading a little of At Last There Is Nothing Left To Say by Matthew Good. I should also read the rest of Tess... but we'll see how it goes.

[Mandy with an I]

Originally posted by Dasquian Belargic
It's lots of his old manifestos and creative writing that he used to put up on his website, dating from about 1997, I think :)



Yeah, same book. From what I heard, it's a great read. :)

I finished my book (finally). I need something new though - I was thinking of rereading Generation X by Douglas Coupland, but I dunno.

[Dasquian Belargic]

It looks like it will be interesting. The book itself is much bigger than I thought it would be, since it has to accomodate for two different narratives on each page. It looks like it could be a confusing read!

If you need something new, I really think you should try and find a copy of Vurt, if you can :)

[Kyle Krogen]

Currently: The bible :)

[Bandage]

Finished reading The Drawing of the Three from Stephen King's Dark Tower series. So far, one of the best series I've ever read. I actually like it better than Tolkien. Tolkien drops me from time to time, between the overkill on detail about portions unimportant to the general plot..... The very same reason I could never finish Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native. Three pages in, I'd be drooling on the book, asleep.

And currently, I'm reading In Sylvan Shadows from the Cleric Quintet series by R.A. Salvatore. Good, but the Drizzt Do'Urden stories are better to me.....though the book has kept my interest at the cast of characters, especially Pikel Bouldershoulder, the dwarf who has dyed his hair green and wears more natural clothing, and sandals instead of boots, and is working his way on becoming a druid.....Probably my favorite character in the series thus far, though the tail-kicking monk Danica is quite cool as well.......

And also, the D20 Modern Roleplaying Book and the Weapons Locker book. Both great, and I'm looking forward to GMing my first Modern RPG..... :):):):)

[Mandy with an I]

Originally posted by Dasquian Belargic
If you need something new, I really think you should try and find a copy of Vurt, if you can :)


Ordered it Sunday, they shipped it yesterday, and it was on my kitchen table this morning ^_^; Yay, Amazon!

I think I'm on the third chapter already and I love it so far(Ok, biased because it starts with my name, lol!) . Thanks for the recommendation, Jenny!

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Good times! :cool

I read all of Automated Alice in one sitting and while it wasn't as good as Vurt it was still an entertaining read. Noon is really great with puns.

[Mandy with an I]

I was looking at his book list on Amazon, and one of his titles that stood out to me was PixelJuice, a book of 50 short stories. If I can find it, I'm going to pick it up.

And you're right, it is like Welsh. Vurt certainly has it's Trainspotting/Marabou Stork Nightmare moments :)

[Rama: 2nd GIG]

On Her Majestiys Secert Service- Ian Flemming . It's the last of the orginal Ian Flemming Bond books that I haven't read. After I put this one in the bag, I'll have read them all.

[Park Kraken]

Just got finished reading Stephen Coonts' Deep Black Biowar, and as of right now am re-reading portions of Timothy Zahn's Dark Force Rising.

[Trilby Benedetta]

I finished "Vurt" today!

:cry

Now I'm going to have to order Noons' other Vurtverse books - since apparently, no bookstores in the Niagara region carry them. I did find a copy of "Pixel Juice" on Amazon UK, but it'll cost $28 and I don't know if I should shell out for it or not. :(

[Serena Laran]

I'm reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and it's really good.

[Byl Laprovik]

Originally posted by Droo.
Band of Brothers: Because I've watched my DVDs so many times I thought I might as well go the whole nine yards.

I don't visit this thread because I'm a boorish person who doesn't read much, but how did you like this? I did something similar a few years ago and it floored me exactly how exacting the series follows the book. Whats just creepy is seeing the pictures, especially the one of Captain Nixon, the morning after V.E. day. He looks exactly like Ron Livingston.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Originally posted by Trilby Benedetta
I finished "Vurt" today!

:cry

Now I'm going to have to order Noons' other Vurtverse books - since apparently, no bookstores in the Niagara region carry them. I did find a copy of "Pixel Juice" on Amazon UK, but it'll cost $28 and I don't know if I should shell out for it or not. :(

Sorry that I've gotten you hooked! Have a look on ebay, perhaps? Might be cheaper.


Yesterday I read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, the novella length account of Frederick Douglass's life in and escape from slavery. It was something I had to read for my American Genre Writing module at university, and I wasn't really looking forward to it (based on the title, mostly), but I actually ended up enjoying it. Well, enjoying is probably the wrong word, given the nature of the book, but it was interesting. I remember - for some bizarre, unknown reason - wanting to read the novelization of Amistad when I was younger. I guess I have an unexplainable 'thing' for "slave" literature.

[Miranda Tarkin]

Return to Laughter - Elenore Smith Bowen

It is fiction based on real life events that happened to the author while studying the Tiv tribe in Africa. It's written in first person which makes it read very personal but also informative!

[Alexander Bane]

"Telling the Truth", By Martin Olasky (or something like that)

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I spent the morning in the university library picking up books on Joseph Conrad, African history and Thomas Hardy. I'm not really looking forward to reading those!

I also bought Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? :D

Interestingly, I got an email from Amazon.co.uk this morning saying:

We've noticed that customers who have purchased Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman have also ordered Eating Myself by Candida Crewe. For this reason, you might like to know that this book will be released soon. You can pre-order your copy for just GBP 7.79 ( 40% off the RRP) by following the link below.

I just thought it was pretty neat that they were offering that kind of recommendation. I know that they do give recommendations based on what you buy, how you rate things, but this is the first email I've had like this. Thank you, Amazon :):thumbup It's only a shame that a lot of their recommendations for me are skewed because of buying stuff for university and for teaching myself guitar - I don't get a lot of pure fiction recommendations, and most of the ones I do are either a) Terry Pratchett or b) HP Lovecraft. Not the greatest scope.

[Mandy with an I]

Pixel Juice has been ordered (Mostly because I got my mum to justify me buying it, so it makes me feel less bad for spending so much on it) ^_^;

I am going to go to the library this week and look for some books on INS and how I can legally move to the States - their website makes no sense to me at all :x

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I *finally* finished Angels and Demons.

I might jump back into Decipher, or The Cestus Deception. I also began The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks.

[Wyl Staedtler]

Originally posted by Vega Van-Derveld
I spent the morning in the university library picking up books on Joseph Conrad, African history...

Have you ever read Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela? Awesome read. Also try Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller; it's about how she grew up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Malawi and Zambia. Really really good. You get quite a lot of history in a less boring way. :)

As of now I'm in the middle/near end of six or seven books; I get really bored if I don't jump from story to story. Highlights have been Howards End by E M Forster, Book of Blues by Jack Kerouac, The Case For Shakespeare: The End of the Authorship Question by Scott McCrea, and Open by John Feinstein (being a surprisingly interesting look at what went on at the 2002 US Open at Bethpage Black).

Also I tried to start Pratchett's The Color of Magic but didn't get beyond the first couple of pages. ^_^;

[Vega Van-Derveld]

It turns out the Joseph Conrad books aren't so boring. One of them is just a collection of critical essays which will be really helpful. The one book I do have that is completely on history is called The Black Mans Burden. I haven't started reading it yet, but I'm not actually sure I'll have to - I was just hoping to get some context on the time that Conrad was writing in, but all of the other stuff is providing neat little chunks of that :D

I know what you mean about being in the middle of a number of books. I have been reading House of Leaves and The Wolves of the Calla for a loooong time now. I also started On the Road and another Kurt Vonnegut book (ashamedly I can't remember what it is), but those had been sidelined for all of this Conrad and Hardy stuff.

I think Pratchett is something that has to grow on you. I don't think I would rate The Colour of Magic, or any of the Rincewind focused books, as my favorites in the series. Generally, people seem to regard the books on The Watch as being the most interesting.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I started with The Colour of Magic and generally read them all in order (sort of), but I am good at powering through (read: skimming) difficult passages or hard to understand bits. It's also the reason why I re-read books so often - I generally miss bits the first time through.

I'd reccommend starting with Guards! Guards!, or perhaps Wyrd Sisters.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I had a £5 gift voucher for Amazon so I got myself the WoD Ravnos Clan Novel. I read the Toreador one a long time ago (really enjoyed it) and haven't been able to find any others in shops since (I guess they are out of print), but it turns out Amazon has quite a few of them for cheap. I have to wait for about 3 weeks for it to turn up, though, sadly.. which is pretty fortunate to be honest, given that I have to spend the next 2 writing essays.

[thx-1138stormfett]

I'm reading The Lone Drow trilogy by R.A Salvatore.An amazing book for any fantasy reader indeed!Anyone else heard of those or read'em?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Actually I have a three books in one "The Legacy of the Drow" by R.A. Salvatore, and I found it impossible to read. I think I suffered through the first book. I don't care for his writing style. :uhoh

[thx-1138stormfett]

Oh.Really?Hmm....well sorry.I really love that book serious.I've read every book except for the cleric quintet.

[Mandy with an I]

Originally posted by Vega Van-Derveld
I have to wait for about 3 weeks for it to turn up, though, sadly.

My copy of Pixel Juice might not be here untill mid-april - I want it now! I really dislike going to the bookstore now, because everytime I go to find something, they don't have it. It doesn't help that Indigo/Chapters/Coles are all owned and operated by the same company, and carry all the exact same stock :(

[Sean Piett]

I have two lit classes this semester, so I'm hitting it pretty hard. Reading A Handmaid's Tale, Clockwork Orange, and Henry V. at the mo. Fortunately they are all very tasty. Yum.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I got a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha recently, as a hand-me-down from my mother. Everyone seems to think its the best thing since sliced bread - hopefully it lives up to the hype.

At the minute my reading his been limited to more academic stuff. I read Studies on Pessimism: A Series of Essays by Arthur Schopenhaeur and found it surprisingly interesting. Who wouldn't love a book with essay titles like "On the Sufferings of the World" and "On the Vanity of Existence" ;)

Still no sign of the Ravnos book. Hurry up, Amazon!

Speaking of Amazon...


Greetings from Amazon.co.uk,
We've noticed that customers who have purchased Labyrinth by Kate Mosse have also ordered What Do Buddhists Believe? (What Do We Believe? S.) by Tony Morris. For this reason, you might like to know that this book will be released soon.

o_O It's trying to turn me into a Buddhist.

[Mandy with an I]

I was debating picking up "Memoirs of a Geisha", post a review when you're done ;)

I'm waiting for my amazon orders from everywhere to come in - Pixel Juice from the UK, VtM: Tzimisce clan book which SHOULD be here soon, and I just picked up the VtM and WtA core books for cheap off amazon.com.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I made the fatal mistake of going into Forbidden Planet today and inevitably found myself downstairs in the gaming section. I wasn't expecting to buy anything, but ended up coming out of the shop with three of the original Vampire the Masquerade clan novels - Tzimisce, Setite and Giovanni (these were the only ones they had in stock). I'm still waiting for Ravnos to arrive from Amazon. Only nine more to buy! ^_^;

[Mandy with an I]

I really should go to the gaming store we have downtown here :| Like I can afford to buy more books...

Today I picked up a ton of resume writing books from the library - only one has been helpful. And "Worlds of Wonder - How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy", which is written by the guy who wrote the screenplay for "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode of Star Trek :lol Pretty good so far, I havent ever read a "How to" writing book so we'll see if it improves my rping at all. ^_^;

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Ravnos arrived this morning (along with a letter essentially telling me that I'd been sacked from my job :uhoh)

EDIT: A friend of mine just randomly decided to buy me something from my Amazon wishlist (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/3I83EL20PNQVW ) (;)), so How to Survive a Robot Uprising should be winging it's way to me soon. How sweet :)

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I've read the Tzimisce and Setite clan novels now, and really enjoyed them both. I want to start reading another, but the next I have is Ravnos and that is quite a leap on in the series. I already had to skip Gangrel (which comes between Tzimisce and Setite) :(

I just found out, though, that you can buy the novels compiled into four books, so that the events that play out in them take place in chronological order. I can find books 2, 3 and 4 on amazon for an alright price, but 1 is just unreasonable and out of stock everywhere else. ARGH :headache

[Rod Stafford]

Since my Mage: The Ascension book arrived yesterday, I've been wrapped up in that.

[Mandy with an I]

I got my Tzimisce clan sourcebook last week, and Morgan was right - freaky pictures, especially the one on the back-cover :lol

Edit - I went to the bargain bin bookstore today, and picked up this book, simply because it looked interesting.

From Amazon.com
The debut novel of Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori series, Across the Nightingale Floor, is set in a feudal Japan on the edge of the imagination. The tale begins with young Takeo, a member of a subversive and persecuted religious group, who returns home to find his village in flames. He is saved, not by coincidence, by the swords of Lord Otori Shigeru and thrust into a world of warlords, feuding clans, and political scheming. As Lord Otori's ward, he discovers he is a member by birth of the shadowy "Tribe," a mysterious group of assassins with supernatural abilities.

Hearn sets his tale in an imaginary realm that is and isn't feudal Japan. This device serves the author well as he is able to play with familiar archetypes--samurai, Shogun, and ninja--without falling prey to the pitfalls of history. The novel fills a unique niche that is at once period piece and fantasy novel. Hearn unfolds the tale of Takeo and the conflicting forces around him in a deliberate manner that leads to a satisfying conclusion and sets the stage for the rest of the series. --Jeremy Pugh

Edit #2 - yay, my VtM book came in today :)

[Khendon Sevon]

Currently cutting through Market Forces by Richard Morgan. Sooooo gooooood. Conflict Investment :) Dueling cars :) a world where business is conducted like the old west, with showdowns in speeding vehicles.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I found an White Wolf 'Orpheus' sourcebook for the obsencely cheap price of £1.99 today! I couldn't resist it. I haven't read any yet though. I'm supposed to be finish Close Range, Movern Callar, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? and... something else I forget... by the end of this week. Erk.

Instead I am playing Final Fantasy 8. ^_^;

[Wyl Staedtler]

A collection of C.S. Lewis' narrative poems. They are too cool. :D

Also an interesting little novel called "Beyond Babylon", about this kid who, after being shipwrecked, was adopted by aboriginals and lived with them for sixteen years before stumbling across what I can only assume (I'm only on the second chapter) is a scottish settlement somewhere in Australia.

[Wyl Staedtler]

Hurray! During an incredibly long adventure (coin appraisals, china town market, vegan market, bank, thrift store, LP store, Galilee fish market, etc, etc) I stumbled across this very cool used bookstore. Picked up Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming, Peter Pan by JM Barrie, a copy of Thackery's Vanity Fair from 1899 (!), a copy of The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes with an inscription from 1925 (I love old books) and then Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, and Much Ado About Nothing by <strike>Edward de Vere</strike> I mean Shakespeare. :mischief

[Sanis Prent]

"On Killing" by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

It's a psychological study at the triggers and responses in the human psyche when faced with the act of killing, either on a small scale or in warfare. It examines society and government, and their pressures on influencing this kind of behavior.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Originally posted by Wyl Staedtler
Hurray! During an incredibly long adventure (coin appraisals, china town market, vegan market, bank, thrift store, LP store, Galilee fish market, etc, etc) I stumbled across this very cool used bookstore. Picked up Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming, Peter Pan by JM Barrie, a copy of Thackery's Vanity Fair from 1899 (!), a copy of The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes with an inscription from 1925 (I love old books) and then Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, and Much Ado About Nothing by <strike>Edward de Vere</strike> I mean Shakespeare. :mischief

It still never fails to make me laugh to hear that Ian Flemming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang :lol Nice finds!


Originally posted by Sanis Prent
"On Killing" by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

It's a psychological study at the triggers and responses in the human psyche when faced with the act of killing, either on a small scale or in warfare. It examines society and government, and their pressures on influencing this kind of behavior.

That sounds like it could be really interesting.

I just picked up Moby Dick, The Tempest and Othello, since I have to read them next year at university. No reading new books for a bit though - have to spend some time annotating Heart of Darkness etc for upcoming exams :(

[Jules]

I'm reading nothing...absolutely nothing...thank God!! I had been reading the History of Western Civilization, English and Spanish...

Hola, como esta?

[Pierce Tondry]

I read "A Wizard of Earthsea" recently. It wasn't bad- the writing style definitely harkened back to that of Tolkien, even if the plot was guessable in advance. I'm thinking I'll try and read more of those books if I have time this summer.

[Khendon Sevon]

I read The Globalization Gap and Money Changes Everything in my macroeconomics class.

GG is pro-communism and blames everything on rich people.

MCE is pro-capitalism and offers solutions to problems.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I haven't read anything lately. I started reading Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, but I didn't get past the first chapter. :x

[Pierce Tondry]

GG is pro-communism and blames everything on rich people.

HAH. That sounds about the same as things written by Paul Krugman.

If you haven't already, try reading Freakonomics by Stephen Levitt, Reinventing the Bazaar by John McMillan, and The Commanding Heights by Douglas North. Those are all really good books in my opinion.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I am re-reading Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, for exam prep. The Bloody Chamber is great - a book of reworkings of old fairytales like Red Riding Hood and Bluebeard.

At a loss for what to read? Try this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0147503078/sr=8-3/qid=1147575227/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-3568829-6675359?%5Fencoding=UTF8 :eek

[Lilaena De'Ville]

holy - that's a lot of books!

[Ryan Pode]

A View of the Constitution by William Rawle.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Just blazed through A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, as part of my research on "feminism". I tried reading To The Lighthouse in my first semester, but I didn't enjoy her style. This was a much easier (and much shorter) read.


Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
holy - that's a lot of books!

Tell me about it. I would love to have that many books at my disposal, but just thinking about having read all of those makes my head hurt. It's like a lifetimes worth of work.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I just finished Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman, and I would highly recommend it!

I loved the way this book was written. The story was, basically, about a man named Simon who was still in love with a woman who he had broken up with 10 years ago. He ends up kidnapping her child and causing a whole load of unexpected stuff to happen. The plot itself sounds pretty simple but it's the way that the story is written that makes it interesting. You're given details from the points of view of Simon himself, Anna (the woman he loves), Joe (Anna's husband), Alex Klima (Simon's psychiatrist), and a couple of other people, including a hooker named Angelique who both Simon and Joe were 'clients' of. It was a pretty weighty book, but it didn't feel like a chore to read.

I also just joined a “book-club” over at SomethingAwful and read this months recommendation, Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal – which I found really amusing, if a little grotesque. I'm not sure what to read next. I have quite a few books waiting in the wings. I'm looking forward to moving in with my friends from uni and seeing what books they have that I can borrow :) Seeing as four of us are literature students, I figure the house is going to be bursting with books.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Finished Decipher A while ago, as well as The DaVinci Code. I just picked up The Hitchhicker series in this huge 6 or so story compilation book. So I'm trudging through that now.

[Dasquian Belargic]

What did you make of The DaVinci Code, then?

I got a great deal on the Hitchhiker series as a boxset a while back, but never read past the first book. I think I need to be in the right mood for that kind of humour.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

It was alright. I seem to turn my brain off when I do anything that is for enjoyment, and thus totally forgot one of my friends ruined the ending for me until after I read it and with that, I probably should have guessed the ending anyway. Heh.

Having read Angels and Demons first, I fall into that group of people that thought DaVinci didn't hold up. It was basically the same story, different girl (which I was angry about! I did not like the reason Brown wrote which covered this!), and minus the cool creepy villian. There seemed to be more action and puzzles in Demons, of which I was a fan off.

I did like it, but I think it could have been a wee bit better.


I think I'm always ready for this kind of humor in the Hitchhikers books. :crack

[Wyl Staedtler]

Just finished My Name Escapes Me: The Diary of a Retiring Actor by Alec Guinness.

I miss him. :(

[Dasquian Belargic]

Just started Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Not sure if I am going to see it through to the end, though.

[Mandy with an I]

Today I found 6 Star Wars novels (including Heir to the Empire) at Good Will for a buck a piece...which kind of pisses me off, since I spend $20 on the other 2 I own :x