What 'cha readin'?

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:31 pm

Did I mention my puppet, Nothing-to-Prove's tribe is Uktena?

No, I don't believe you did....

Other than once or twice at game conventions, I have never really played any of White Wolf's stuff. I'm not certain what I am in the mood for gaming-wise these days. (Though my latest purchase was the Hudson City source book for Dark Champions.)

B.

K-mom · Post by **K-mom** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:12 pm

I am currently reading:
-'The Illuminati Papers' by Robert Anton Wilson
&
-'Thief of Time' by Terry Pratchett

originally I was just reading the RAW book but I find it hard to read straight through non-fic books so I picked up the Pratchett book and now I am racing them. The Pratchett book is bigger but I also read it a lot quicker so it could be neck and neck.

K-mom · Post by **K-mom** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:04 pm

well, Pratchett won by a nose...close call ... I'd moved on to reading Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" when I read about the death of Vonnegut.

I decided to go back and start over with Hocus Pocus, which I started reading on the trip down to BRC this past summer, and was subsequently distracted by shiny things, new places, pretty girls, and as many cigarette breaks as I could take (thank you non-smoking rental SUV).

I went to find it on my bookshelf and it was gone... which confuzzled me until I reasoned that it must have come unstuck in time along KV jr. himself and headed off into the unknown.

So it goes.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 7:29 pm

I'm still working on Jared Diamond's "Collapse"! Currently I am visiting the Mayans, which is kind of nice since their ruins are some I have actually seen.

I wound up buying another role playing game, since I drove into Madison in order to be somewhere else for a while. It is called "The Edge of Midnight"-- a noir setting of some sort. I plan on reading it while taking breaks from "Collapse". I am hoping it will get my muse inspired again.

B.

Fex · Post by **Fex** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:03 pm

"Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity" by John Stossel.

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:10 pm

"State of Fear" by Michael Crichton.

Very engaging techno-spy thriller about eco terrorists who plot to cause a Tsunami or something in order to get people to buy into environmental protection, measures to help global warming etc. In the novel, global warming is a hoax.

Very very interesting different take, but...disappointing because it turns out that Crichton actually believes this stuff and is one of the leading critics of global warming "alarmism." Idiot. Good book though.

Rocket75377 · Post by **Rocket75377** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:05 pm

Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club. No, I still haven't seen the movie). According to ammazahn.com,

"'Art never comes from happiness.' So says Mancini's mother only a few pages into the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting, you would think that her son's life would be chock-full of nothing but art. Alas, that's not the case. In the fine tradition of Oedipus, Stephen Dedalus, and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issues with his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetings for dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments of attention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for the Heimlich."

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:18 pm

Rocket75377 wrote:Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club. No, I still haven't seen the movie). According to ammazahn.com,

Sounds very Chuck Palahniuk-ish. Incidentally, I'm reading "Diary: A Novel" also by Chuck. It's very good, but has a bunch of that annoying, difficult to interpret gibberish-like narrative that good authors for some reason think is interesting to sprinkle throughout books.

A little like that ultra-annoying abstract crap that jazz musicians often play in a lame attempt to "break the boundaries." Nonetheless, a good book.

From the LA Public Library website reviews,

With a first page that captures the reader hook, line and sinker, Palahniuk (Choke; Lullaby) plunges into the odd predicament of Waytansea Island resident and ex-art student Misty Marie Kleinman, whose husband, Peter, lies comatose in a hospital bed after a suicide attempt. Rooms in summer houses on the mainland that Peter has remodeled start to mysteriously disappear-"The man calling from Long Beach, he says his bathroom is missing"-and Misty, with the help of graphologist Angel Delaporte, discovers that crude and prophetic messages are scrawled across the walls and furniture of the blocked-off chambers. In her new world, where every day is "another longest day of the year," Misty suffers from mysterious physical ailments, which only go away while she is drawing or painting. Her doctor, 12-year-old daughter and mother-in-law, instead of worrying about her health, press her to paint more and more, hinting that her art will save exclusive Waytansea Island from being overrun by tourists. In the meantime, Misty is finding secret messages written under tables and in library books from past island artists issuing bold but vague warnings. With new and changing versions of reality at every turn, the theme of the "tortured artist" is taken to a new level and "everything is important. Every detail. We just don't know why, yet." The novel is something of a departure for Palahniuk, who eschews his blighted urban settings for a sinister resort island, but his catchy, jarring prose, cryptic pronouncements and baroque flights of imagination are instantly recognizable, and his sharp, bizarre meditations on the artistic process make this twisted tale one of his most memorable works to date.

K-mom · Post by **K-mom** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:24 am

I read Survivor years ago and didn't enjoy, I think because of similar reasons MadMat.
But last year at Christams a friend bought me Haunted and I read it without expectations...it promptly blew my mind, at least enough to recommend to others.
from contemporarylit.com:

After stumbling with a gender experiment in Diary, Chuck Palahniuk has returned to form with his inspired new book, a weird amalgamation of poetry and 23 short stories integrated through an outlandish novel straight out of Lovecraft. It's an inspired form that allows the author not only to explore different voices, albeit ones that are so bleakly like his own staccato style, but also to wander further into the depths of the human psyche.

Is it sick? Well, sure, but I'm not sure what else you were expecting. This is, after all, the collection that contains the infamous "Guts," a story so knee-buckling that over sixty people have passed out, dropped right there on the bookstore floor, during the past year's readings.

Rocket75377 · Post by **Rocket75377** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:21 pm

K-mom wrote:I read Survivor years ago and didn't enjoy, I think because of similar reasons MadMat.

I just started Survivor. I s'pose we'll see how it goes.

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:01 pm

K-mom wrote: I read it without expectations...it promptly blew my mind, at least enough to recommend to others.

Ok, I'm game. Thanks.

Rusted Iron · Post by **Rusted Iron** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:03 pm

Nature Girl, by Carl Hiaasen.

Next on the pile is Mad Professor by Rudy Rucker.

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:13 pm

the used book stores are all sold out of Kirt Vonnegut books!

Damn no jabberwocky to reread again

Nick Collide · Post by **Nick Collide** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:47 pm

The last three books I finished:

Drop City - T. C. Boyle
This is Burning Man - Brian Doherty
Between the Bridge and the River - Craig Ferguson (yeah, the late-night talk show host)

I have this bad habit of buying a book (usually from some bargain bin stack) and, if it hasn't really grabbed my interest in the first 50 pages or so, setting it aside for something else; seriously intending to come back to it later, though I hardly ever do.

skeetsh00ter · Post by **skeetsh00ter** » Thu May 03, 2007 10:03 pm

Regarding Palahniuk (IMHO): Survivor>Choke>The one about the girl that gets shot in the face while driving...can't remember the name...don't feel like looking it up.

I also read his non-fiction book titled 'Stranger than Fiction: True Stories' I can't really rate it among his others i've read because it is completely different. Very interesting though and a good read, i would recommend it to almost anyone.

I just finished 'Friday' by Robert A. Heinlein. I hadn't read a good sci-fi book in a while so that was a fun one. Its funny to compare Heinleins view of the future to the current view of the future. Quite different.

Post by **mdmf007** » Thu May 03, 2007 11:38 pm

Im reading

1. eplaya at the momeny
2. 2/3 of the way through Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the dead
3. Just Finished - "The end of Oil" - scary stuff.
later

OregonRed · Post by **OregonRed** » Sat May 12, 2007 8:57 am

The Autobiography of Malcom X as told to Alex Haley for African-American History. I've read it before, but the last time was about 12 years ago...

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat May 12, 2007 9:49 am

That's a good book.

AKrena · Post by **AKrena** » Tue May 15, 2007 4:15 pm

Currently reading The Ethical Slut by Easton and Liszt
I just finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson.

Hana T · Post by **Hana T** » Fri May 18, 2007 4:35 am

Just finished Clan of the Cave Bear By Jean M. Auel

And im about to go find the next book in the series in about 23 seconds.

skeetsh00ter · Post by **skeetsh00ter** » Fri May 18, 2007 7:18 am

YES! Clan of the Cave Bear and all of the other books in the series are amazing. When I started reading those i didn't realize that she still hasn't finished the 6th and final book. After reading the first 5 I looked in every bookstore around trying to find the last one...but it doesn't exist. She better finish that book soon!

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:26 am

My sister named her daughter Ayla .

skeetsh00ter · Post by **skeetsh00ter** » Fri May 18, 2007 11:03 am

haha, thats great.

Hana T · Post by **Hana T** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:11 pm

A lot of people called Ayla are named after that book.
Ayla is pretty much my idol right now... shes the man! umm i mean woman

thisisthatwhichis · Post by **thisisthatwhichis** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:37 pm

My cousin is named Ayla........

..... Enough said.......

God I love my Bro!....

skeetsh00ter · Post by **skeetsh00ter** » Fri May 18, 2007 9:28 pm

Ayla is the woman of my dreams. Let me know if any of y'all find someone like her.

Hana T · Post by **Hana T** » Fri May 18, 2007 9:41 pm

skeetsh00ter wrote:Ayla is the woman of my dreams. Let me know if any of y'all find someone like her.

If anyone finds her, can you let me know if she has a sister

Hana T · Post by **Hana T** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:39 pm

The Valley of Horses is the second book in the series, reading it now and i am so engrossed in it