What are you reading?

DrunkenMaster · Post by **DrunkenMaster** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:43 am

So, what are you reading? I've always enjoyed seeing the varied interests on this board and the book threads in particular.

I've fallen into some free time and rediscovered that I can spend more on books than anything else in my life. I've currently got about 4 books I'm reading through with a few magazines thrown in for fun. I'm also trying to set up a system where I don't focus on just one genre or topic, which is having mixed results. Books are teh crack.

So, here is the current list from the past few months:

Where have all the Leaders gone? Lee Iacocca
A pretty interesting outlook on our nation from the guy who saved Chrysler, only to see it get tanked by Mercedes in the merger.

Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam by John A. Nagl and Peter J. Schoomaker

Very interesting book, sometimes. I have to be in the correct frame of mind to read this book, but the lessons learned from it and history of the conflicts are very relevant to today.

White Night by Jim Butcher
A candy bar book. Fills your stomach, no nutritional value. He's a decent writer but more of a fill in till the next Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, James Alan Gardner, or Peter F. Hamilton. I'm kind of burnt on SF/Fantasy because 95% of it is shit, but I have thumbed through my favorites so often I keep hoping something will turn up new.

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
An outlook on how our global economy is being changed by technological advances. Great read and an eye opener. I don't have the revised version and I doubt I'll pick it up.

Freakonomics by by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Holy Shit. Awesome book. Get it.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Since High School, I've been on the fence about the God/no God issue. This book helped me pick a side. I don't consider it inflammatory, but he doesn't mince words either.

Other Stuff:

Web-
Michael Yon: An independent reporter currently covering the war in Iraq/Afghanistan. He is a former soldier, an excellent writer, and in my opinion very fair. I highly encourage everyone to at least look at his site.

Start here: www.michaelyon.blogspot.com for his old dispatches
This is his new site: www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/

Magazine-
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
Support an American Institution

The Economist
I love the format of this magazine more than any other 'serious' periodical. I don't subscribe to it but I'll usually pick one up at the store as an impulse buy.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:44 am

I'm reading the Brotherhood of War series by W.E.B. Griffin, and his series entitled "The Corps".

I also am reading the latest issue of Wizard.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:13 am

I'm currently going back and forth between The Shuttered Room, and other Tales of Horror by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth and Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and The Hill of Dreams.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Thu May 10, 2007 3:06 am

Oddly enough, at this moment, I have nothing new to read, and am not interested in the old stuff filling my shelves. I will however be heading to the library in the next day or two to raid their shelves, though I am admittedly looking for a book on Chassis Engineering for some light reading...

Kwyndig · Post by **Kwyndig** » Thu May 10, 2007 6:37 am

Lately I've just been reading game rulebooks, comics, and software manuals. More of the former two than the latter. Although I did just finish Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, worst part of that is, I had to look at the book to remember how to spell the title (which is a normal word) but not the author.

Moto42 · Post by **Moto42** » Thu May 10, 2007 7:21 am

I've been chewing through The Dresden Files at about two to three novels a week.
Twelve-hour "Guard this place while nothing happens" shifts are good for something.

Jestyr · Post by **Jestyr** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:23 pm

Just about to start the new Guy Gavriel Kay novel, "Ysabel".

jo_alex · Post by **jo_alex** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:47 pm

Jestyr wrote:Just about to start the new Guy Gavriel Kay novel, "Ysabel".

I loved The Fionavar Tapestry by him.

Instant Cash · Post by **Instant Cash** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:22 pm

I have a book list that is way too long at the moment.

Hoping to get more read this summer though.

Ampere · Post by **Ampere** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:22 pm

OOh, big suprise here!
May 2007 Reading List
Flight of the Eisenstein, by James Swallow
Ravenor Rogue, by Dan Abnett
Chapter War, by Ben Counter
The Skystone, by Jack Whyte
Team Yankee, by Harold Coyle
White Dwarf Magazine, issue 328
No Quarter Magazine, issue 11
Marvel Comics, Civil War, TPB, issues 1-7

...and with that I'm out of reading material!

Szechuan · Post by **Szechuan** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:23 pm

I've just finished a really good translation of The Dhammapada, and will be reading The Universe in a Single Atom by the Dalai Lama shortly.

Daki · Post by **Daki** » Thu May 10, 2007 4:01 pm

Just finished "World War Z" and highly recommend it.

My reading is going to be taking a backseat to my writing for the next month so I'll just be sticking to my usual TPBs.

TLM · Post by **TLM** » Thu May 10, 2007 5:53 pm

Currently reading "Memories of Ice" by Steven Erikson, third book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen saga. And enjoying it immensely.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Fri May 11, 2007 2:11 am

Currently re-reading "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby. Because it's still that fucking funny.

Just finished re-reading "Snow Crash."

Waiting for the new Horus Heresy book, since the series has been fucking excellent.

I've been sampling a bunch of different things recently to find some good non-fiction reading, but just haven't found much to my taste since the last batch of stuff last year.

TheScamp · Post by **TheScamp** » Fri May 11, 2007 2:37 am

Just about to start the new Guy Gavriel Kay novel, "Ysabel".

Holy shit, I didn't know he had anything new out. I'll have to pick that up. I've read everything I can find of his, and am never disappointed.

Currently reading "Dragon Avenger" by E.E. Knight. The second in a pretty good series told from the dragons' perspective.

lordhellion · Post by **lordhellion** » Fri May 11, 2007 3:11 am

I've just about finished with Chaos: Making a New Science--a treatise on Chaos Theory.

When I finish with it, I'm either going to move on to 1984 or Moby Dick, because I've been on a "return to the classics" kick lately.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri May 11, 2007 3:47 am

Jeff Hauze wrote:Currently re-reading "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby. Because it's still that fucking funny.

Just finished re-reading "Snow Crash."

Waiting for the new Horus Heresy book, since the series has been fucking excellent.

I've been sampling a bunch of different things recently to find some good non-fiction reading, but just haven't found much to my taste since the last batch of stuff last year.

My niggah.

Jeff Hauze · Post by **Jeff Hauze** » Fri May 11, 2007 3:59 am

Uhh...thanks?

I wish I could have gotten into Hornby's other stuff. I just couldn't.

But what the fuck happened to Stephenson in recent years? That Baroque cycle was godawful.

Oh...and more Matt Ruff. Must have more Matt Ruff. Absolutely cannot re-read Sewer, Gas, and Electric enough. Who can't get behind a Black Amish pacifist eco-terrorist as a protaganist?

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri May 11, 2007 5:01 am

Jeff Hauze wrote:But what the fuck happened to Stephenson in recent years? That Baroque cycle was godawful.

I'm in the minority that like the Baroque Cycle. Even I think it dips off toward the end (say, book three, novels five and six).

TLM · Post by **TLM** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:46 pm

Ancient History wrote:
Jeff Hauze wrote:But what the fuck happened to Stephenson in recent years? That Baroque cycle was godawful.
I'm in the minority that like the Baroque Cycle. Even I think it dips off toward the end (say, book three, novels five and six).

Well, if it's any consolation, I really liked the Baroque Cycle as well, though The System of the World felt a bit rushed. Like he was desperate to get to the conclusion of the series.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:55 pm

I can'ts reads.