Krog's Book Club

[Krogenar]

You bunch of Philistines!
Anyway, let this be a place for people who write or read to discuss books. You can talk about any non-pornographic book you like -- no reviews of 'Butt Frenzy' magazine, please. Technical manuals, etc. -- it's all good. Start off by answering the following questions:

1. Describe your taste in books. (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Adventure, etc.
2. Who are your favorite authors?
3. What are you reading right now?
4. Do you have a stack of books you mean to 'get around to reading'? What are they?
5. Any recommendations for others?

And off we go:

1. Describe your taste in books. (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Adventure, etc.
I really like good horror fiction (Stephen King, Lovecraft, etc.) and science-fiction. Sometimes I'll read some non-fiction (biographies, popular science books like Blink, etc.) but mostly I'll read anything I can find.

2. Who are your favorite authors?
Jack Vance, Stephen King, Brian Lumley, Greg Bear, H.P. Lovecraft and Frank Herbert for starters.

3. What are you reading right now?
Right now I'm on a retro fantasy sort of kick, diving into some short stories written by a guy named Jack Vance. Some of these short stories take place in what Vance called 'The Dying Earth' and they are unexpectedly awesome. In this future version of Earth, humans have been on Earth for many billions of years -- so long in fact that the sun itself is no longer yellow, it's reddish. And every once in a while it actually sputters out, and then back on, like a dying lightbulb! The mountains are all rounded down, and what few humans that remain are .. well, they're weird. It turns out that a lot of Vance's Dying Earth stuff became an inspiration for early Dungeons & Dragons content, which was surprising. If you're only going to give Vance a quick try, I would focus on reading 'Cugel's Saga' as it is inventive, and very, very funny.

4. Do you have a stack of books you mean to 'get around to reading'? What are they?
Yeah, I've got a lot of ebooks that I mean to get around to reading, when I have more time. There's more Greg Bear to read (good hard sci-fi) and more Ringworld novels that I want to try out.

5. Any recommendations for others?
Well, there's Vance, but I would recommend Frank Herbert as well. Read the original 'Dune' -- I've read it maybe five times, and each time I wrangle out a bit more information. No, no, forget the movie -- the movie was horrible compared to the book. 'Dune' is worth reading because it is so difficult to categorize; it's part espionage, part political and religious intrigue, part drama and science-fiction, but also has a fantasy edge because of the thread of fuedalism throughout. Confused? If you read it, it will make sense.

I would also recommend that you get an e-reader of some variety and download Calibre. Together, they're awesome. There's nothing more awesome (if you're a reader) than having thousands of books at your fingertips, instantly.

[Halverson]

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=38519

Dunno how your search didn't find that

[tp4tissue]

I find fiction in "writing" to be an antiquated and inefficient medium...

ultimately, the "plots" is within 3-4 pages of material if presented "straight forward-ly"

The REST of the material is fluff, and "imagery" to carry the plot...


So, since we didn't have movies, we use up a million letters to describe things.

The advantage of books is that it FORCES YOU to slow down and feel things, because it doesn't place a huge processing load on you such that you can only "follow" the story.. like in a movie... giving you time to "think and interpret"

With a book YOU move the story...


My point is.... WHY DO THAT!!!

Just give me the plot... DONE.... I'd gladly pay you $15 for something original and well arc-ed.


Oh I see what the problem is, there are none of these left....

[vun]

1.
I prefer fiction, but I don't have a strong preference in any direction, really.

2.
As for authors I don't really have any particular favourites, though I do like Alistair MacLean and Agatha Christie.

3.
I'll admit I don't read as much as I probably should, but the books I read whenever I take the time are for the moment a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and The Divine Comedy.

4.
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw's Jam(I don't actually have this book yet, but I am sure as hell going to buy it as soon as I have time to read it)


I do love reading though, so I really should read more, but I'm afraid I've been neglecting it far more than I should have.

[Krogenar]

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=38519

Dunno how your search didn't find that

- If any Mod wishes to merge this thread into demik's, no problem, we'll use that thread. Sorry for the duplication.

[fohat.digs]

I plan to respond to your query, but it will take considerable time to do it justice.

[Krogenar]

I plan to respond to your query, but it will take considerable time to do it justice.

LOL! I look forward to it, fohat!

[Krogenar]

Oh, another recommendation -- anything from Fritz Leiber. If you aren't much of a fantasy fan, give his 'Ill Met in Lankhmar' series a try. It's what they call 'low fantasy' -- there are no elves, no one is trying to save 'the realm' or anything like that. These stories detail the (mis)adventures of Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser, two (anti)heroes who remind me of Danny Glover and Mel Gibson from the Lethal Weapon films. Fafhrd is a giant viking-like character, a brawler. Mouser is much shorter, a fencer and thief. Well, they're both thieves, really. The dynamic between them is very funny. Nearly every short story begins with the duo having gambled all their money away, or drank it, or smoked it, or spent it on hookers, etc. Like I said, 'low' fantasy -- but very funny and entertaining.

Also try out Leiber's novella 'Gather Darkness' which is a sci-fi/fantasy mix. In the distant future scientists rule the planet, and use their knowledge of advanced technology (and the general population's ignorance of it) to form ... a Church! They oppress the population using 'smiting' rods (cattle prods) and the equivalent of harrier jumpjets called 'Angels'. And then some witches show up (really just rebels with even more advanced technology).

[iri]

1. russian classics and american sci-fi, mostly from 50's to 70's.

2. chekhov, leskov, shishkov, shackley, asprin, heinlein.

3. "i'm a chechen" by german sadulaev.

4. no

5. mi-6 the big breach

[fohat.digs]

1. Describe your taste in books.

As a young man (in the 1960s-70s) I devoured "classic" science fiction - of that time, not the pre-WW2 primitive stuff - but did not get much into fantasy. Zelazny and Delaney were favorites, although it could well be argued that Zelazny's early work was at least as much fantasy as SF.
(PS - in my time, anyone who read science fiction loathed the term "sci-fi" and considered it an insulting term of scorn)
I particularly like series that developed well-fashioned universes. Besides the more obvious choices such as Vance's "Planet of Adventure" series, I am deeply attached to LeGuin's "Hainish" novels and consider "The Dispossessed" to be the masterpiece. Only much later, when I read them aloud to my children, did I see the beauty of her "Earthsea" novels.
Niven's "Known Space" series is very compelling, peaking with the first 2 "Ringworld" books. I have also read "A Mote in God's Eye" multiple times.

A small compilation that every science fiction fan should read is "100 Great Science Fiction Short-Short Stories.

For something completely different, JG Ballard was always just about my favorite writer, although some of his best work is hardly SF at all ("Crash", "The Concrete Island"). His short stories are arguably better than his novels.

As a middle-aged man, I read less fiction. I have been reading a lot more biographies, American Histories, and books related to the "counter-culture" of the 1950s-60s. I am convinced that monumental shifts in perception and evolution happened between the Korean War and Watergate, and that the human race has not come to terms with it, yet.

I also have decent libraries on Martial Arts and Rock and Jazz Music.

2. Who are your favorite authors?

I kind of covered that above.

3. What are you reading right now?

"Redemption Ark" by Alistair Reynolds

just before that - "Allen Ginsberg" by Barry Miles - how's that for a change-up?

4. Do you have a stack of books you mean to 'get around to reading'? What are they?

hundreds - all kinds of stuff

5. Any recommendations for others?

Diet and nutrition books in areas such as "The Paleo Diet" and its far-out offspring "Neander Thin"

And, in the "something completely different" category, some of books that I loved which do not fall into any genre are "Sounding" by Hank Searls, "Replay" by Ken Grimwald, "in the Land of Nyx" by John Bowers, "Adrift" by Stephen Callihan, "Acid Dreams" by Martin Lee, and "God is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens.

And then there is "Sum" by David Eagleman.

This may inspire me to flesh out a really long list. If I do, I will try to make it available.

[fohat.digs]

To continue, the topic of books makes the most sense in terms of categories:

For the past several years, some of my focus has been on the history of the US. To that end, the ones that really reached out and grabbed me, in roughly chronological order:

1776 - McCullough
Thomas Jefferson - Bernstein
John Adams - McCullough
James Madison - Brookhiser
Andrew Jackson America Lion - Meacham
Stonewall Jackson - Bowers
James Longstreet Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant - Piston
Reconstruction - Foner
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt - Morris

Brought me from the Revolution to the 20th century, from which point I was in much better stead.

[codymaust]

1. Describe your taste in books. (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Adventure, etc.
Non-fiction, history, and the occasional fiction story. I've decided that I don't really like fiction though.. I will read one every now and then though

2. Who are your favorite authors?
Not sure :|

3. What are you reading right now?
Thomas More's Utopia for a university class, and I am just about done with The Computer and the Brain by John von Neumann, a really interesting lecture that he never got to give due to health issues.

4. Do you have a stack of books you mean to 'get around to reading'? What are they?
I have quite a few old books about propaganda and population control that I can't wait to get around to.

[fohat.digs]

1. Describe your taste in books. (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Adventure, etc.
Non-fiction, history, and the occasional fiction story. I've decided that I don't really like fiction though.. I will read one every now and then though

2. Who are your favorite authors?
Not sure :|

3. What are you reading right now?
Thomas More's Utopia for a university class, and I am just about done with The Computer and the Brain by John von Neumann, a really interesting lecture that he never got to give due to health issues.

4. Do you have a stack of books you mean to 'get around to reading'? What are they?
I have quite a few old books about propaganda and population control that I can't wait to get around to.

1984 and Brave New World are the classics on those topics!

[ducatisteve]

1. Describe your taste in books. (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Adventure, etc.
Biographies, history, fantasy, sci-fi, Clancy-esque realistic political/military/tactical whatever, anything techy.

2. Who are your favorite authors?
Currently?  Mark Russinovich, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Sigler, GRRM, Stephen King, Anthony Bourdain

3. What are you reading right now?
Right now I'm reading Neuromancer by William Gibson for the first time.  I've just finished up the Kingkiller Chronicle Days 1 and 2.

4. Do you have a stack of books you mean to 'get around to reading'? What are they?
On the list:
"The Lost Fleet" series by Jack Cambell
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
"Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know" by Ranulph Fiennes
"Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World" by Jill Jonnes
"Nexus" by Ramez Naam
"Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson

5. Any recommendations for others?
The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss.  I can't wait until the final book comes out....sometime.
"Zero Day" and "Trojan Horse" by Mark Russinovich.  Very engaging and plausible tech thrillers by a guy who usually writes very dry technical documentation for Microsoft.
"Swan Song" by Robert R. McCammon.  Great post apocalyptic fiction.
"Infected" and "Contagious" by Scott Sigler.  Great sci-fi-ish horror.  Very gory.
"Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain
"Total Recall" by Arnold Schwarzenegger
A Song of Ice and Fire series by GRRM
"Lucifer's Hammer" By Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

[keyboardlover]

To continue, the topic of books makes the most sense in terms of categories:

For the past several years, some of my focus has been on the history of the US. To that end, the ones that really reached out and grabbed me, in roughly chronological order:

1776 - McCullough
Thomas Jefferson - Bernstein
John Adams - McCullough
James Madison - Brookhiser
Andrew Jackson America Lion - Meacham
Stonewall Jackson - Bowers
James Longstreet Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant - Piston
Reconstruction - Foner
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt - Morris

Brought me from the Revolution to the 20th century, from which point I was in much better stead.

I would highly recommend adding "No Treason" by Lysander Spooner to that list.

[codymaust]

1984 and Brave New World are the classics on those topics!

Thanks man, I have already read Brave New World, but I do need to pick up a copy of 1984!

[fohat.digs]

Although neither is pretty, 1984 is surely the dark side.

I read it in the 1960s when 1984 still seemed a long way off. Interesting that Brave New World was written during the Great Depression.

[CPTBadAss]

Just finished Chuck Palahniuk's Damned over the weekend. Not as crazy as some of his other books that I've read (Snuff, Survivor, and Pygmy) but still awesomely dark and ultra-weird. Currently reading David Brin's Brightness Reef and Eddie Huang's Fresh Off the Boat memoir.

I typically like Sci-Fi but I can be all over in what I read. I read a book about Glock's history just 'cause it amused me at the time