What books are we reading now?

[StarStuff]

I'm reading "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk. From the front cover: "A spellbinding tale of disparate yearnings-for love, art, power, and God-set in a remote Turkish town, where stirrings of political Islamism threaten to unravel the secular order." And, from the back cover, "Not only an engrossing feat of tale-spinning, but essential reading for our times . . . Snow is eerily prescient, both in its analyses of fundamentalist attitudes and in the nature of the repression and rage and conspiracies and violence it depicts . . . [Pamuk] deserves to be better known in North America, and no doubt he will." "Pamuk is the sort of writer for whom the Nobel Prize was invented."

I've reached the middle of the book and it's helping me to better understand why Islamism has such a hold on so many people.

 

[hypatia]

Hyp,

Are the Harry Potter books worth reading? I've avoided them, as I feel kinda weird reading a book that's geared towards 12 year old kids (at least the first one was).

Are they something worth reading, or am I likely to forget about them the instant I put them down?

That, of course, depends on your taste in literature.

I will say I found the characters very engaging. So I find the series quite memorable, and not just because it was the first book series my nephews and nieces every were really interested in. But that is a plus.

 

[fisheggs]

I'd suggest you read any of Al Frankin's books and Eric Alterman's book "What Liberal Media?"

Ann Coulter lies. Check out her "footnotes" that she is so fond of. The sources either don't exist, or have been distorted and/or taken out of context beyond belief. Being amusing does not excuse outright lying. No matter which side of the fence you sit.

 

[darth_librarian]

Men who stare at Goats, about weird goings on in the US military and The Algebrist, Ian M Bank's latest and possibly best. After that I may well turn to the bible again, i'm trying to get through it cover to cover.

Am awaiting the next George R R Martin with baited breath. If you like historical epics, the Baroque cycle by Neal Steaphenson is more than worth a read.

 

[Chilli]

Ann Coulter lies. Check out her "footnotes" that she is so fond of. The sources either don't exist, or have been distorted and/or taken out of context beyond belief. Being amusing does not excuse outright lying. No matter which side of the fence you sit.

From the little I could stomach reading of her "works", she seems to be the kind of person that believes that if she's claiming utter bullshit, her points get valid by being rude. Well .. sorry .. it just makes her a lying bitch, not more
Looking aside her standard right-wing views, I do wonder about women in 2005 that are against women's suffrage

 

[MeadDrinker]

Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton, and the Jack Aubrey books by Patrick O'Brian.

Great books.

 

[GKarsEye]

Ann Coulter is not even worth acknowledging from a political standpoint.

As a marketing opinionist, she uses the cheapest tactics- shock. Let's call my opponents traitors, har har har, then everyone will talk about me and put me on their shows and buy my books just to see what wacky things I'll say! Like Howard Stern.

If I start a thread called "Hypatia is a smelly cunt douchebag*" then it will become the most popular thread on B5TV of all time. Doesn't mean I have a point.



*Note: hypatia is not a smelly cunt douchebag

 

[darth_librarian]

Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton, and the Jack Aubrey books by Patrick O'Brian.

Great books.

Meaning to check that out, is it as good as the Nights Dawn series?

I think Anne Coulter should be banned under international law.

 

[Sindatur]

Oatley, the first two Harry Potter books do strike you very much as Children's books. But, once you get through the third book, you can start to see the series growing darker, and can see an "Overall theme" emerging, and you can look back from Book 3, and see all the clues and foreshadowing in Books 1 and 2, that come to bear in Book 3. Book 4 and beyond, I can no longer understand anyone considering Children's books, as the characters age a year every book, and the themes mature al9ong with the kids. First Book they are 11, second book they are 12, etc.

First two books, I believe are only a total of about 250-300 pages combined, so, if you are dead set against children's books, it may be a bit of a task getting through the first two, until you can start to see the real merits of the series beginning in Book 3.

 

[GKarsEye]

Book 4 and beyond, I can no longer understand anyone considering Children's books, as the characters age a year every book, and the themes mature al9ong with the kids. First Book they are 11, second book they are 12, etc.

11 and 12 yr olds are children.

It's to book 6 or 7 now, right? So the kids are now, what, 18? Not "children," but certainly juvenile.

 

[Sindatur]

LOL. What I meant to say, is in Book 4, while they are 14 years old, the book is mature enough and dark enough not to be a children's book. Never meant to indicate that children are not the hero(s) of the books.

Book 6 was just released and they are 16-17.

 

[The Juche Warrior]

Right now, I'm going between Don Quixote, a book about Cicero, and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

 

[KoshFan]

The Algebrist, Ian M Bank's latest and possibly best.

Is that another Culture novel? I haven't read anything but those.

I've moved on to the Iliad again, for school. Through scheduling accidents and quirks, I'm apparently moonlighting as a Classics minor.

 

[Jonny_Fever]

Wow, after reading some of these posts I feel like I should be reading different books. I spent 6 months reading all 10 books in The Wheel of Time series. Once I get into a book I just go all the way through the series. Ive also spent significant amount of time reading Clive Cussler as well. The last book I read was Eragon by Christopher Paolini. It was lent to me by a friend and I was surprised by it, a very good read. At the moment I am reading Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child; the same duo that brought us Relic.

 

[Elenopa]

Well I'm not as interlectual (sp?).

I have just finished reading 'The Hobbit', and will be going on to TLOTR after reading 'The Fireworkmaker's Daughter' by Phillip Pullman.

 

[Oatley1]

I spent 6 months reading all 10 books in The Wheel of Time series.

I tried - God knows I tried - to read all of those, but by book 8, I was so irritated by the slowness of the unfloding plots, and the petty bickering of the main characters that I just gave up in disgust. Which is a shame as I really enjoyed the first 4 to 5 books in the series.

 

[Jonny_Fever]

I tried - God knows I tried - to read all of those, but by book 8, I was so irritated by the slowness of the unfloding plots, and the petty bickering of the main characters that I just gave up in disgust. Which is a shame as I really enjoyed the first 4 to 5 books in the series.

I agree, some of the plots were very slow into unfolding. At times the characters wore on my nerves but I told myself I had to finish it. Generally by the end of the book, there were several chapters that more than made up for the slowness. I think book 11 is coming out in October. Word is there are only going to be books 11 and 12 and the series will be finished.

Ive tried reading The Hobbit several times and could never get into it. Many of my friends are always shocked that I have not read it. Its hard to explain but there is something about it that just makes me want to stop reading.

 

[fisheggs]

Jonny, thats good to hear about Wheel of Time, I had visions of Jordan croaking with the story almost finished. It's happened to me before with a series, "Wandor" by Roland Green. I read the first 6/7 books (its been a while) and the last book(s) were never published. It was very frustrating.

 

[darth_librarian]

The Algebrist, Ian M Bank's latest and possibly best.

Is that another Culture novel? I haven't read anything but those.

I've moved on to the Iliad again, for school. Through scheduling accidents and quirks, I'm apparently moonlighting as a Classics minor.

No, set in a different universe, where AI's are seen as wrong rather than as benevolent dictators. Just as well thought out though, with just as much scope and in some ways its a fresher read. I can see how the culture novels were begining to fall into a pattern. Recomended, anyway, and i'm only half way through!

 

[Bab5nutz]

I am now reading When Religion Becomes Evil by Charles Kimball. It explains Islam quite well, and other faiths.

It's an interesting read.