Literature?

[Brian8bit]

So has anyone been doing any reading lately? Me, I suffered a slight Asimov addiction the past year and have been reading most of his books, including Foundation and the Robot series. Not sure which book is my favorite. Possibly The Gods Themselves or the End of Eternity. Not literature, he told the stories and only the stories by his own persistent admission, but very intelligent reading, more intelligent than most so called literature.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I go through stints of reading. After I'd finished the Ware Tetralogy and the other GRRM book (book 5), I read The Caves Of Steel by Asimov, but then I had completely burnt myself out and I have done literally no reading from last summer until earlier this year when I read Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. I'd heard a lot of hype around the Millennium trilogy but just didn't bother my arse to read them. My mum went and saw the (American remake) film with a friend of hers and decided to get me the books and drop them off on the way past my place. I knocked all three books out in a couple of days and loved them so much I ordered the (original Swedish film) DVDs off Amazon and watched them all in one sitting Also, I have completely fallen in love with Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander.

Now though, I'm waiting for the next GRRM book which I've seen spammed to me a couple of times in Amazon emails. So that'll probably be the next thing I read. Then I'll look and see if the other Robot Series books are on Amazon and go through those.

[RC-1140]

My favourites are Terry Pratchett, and Douglas Adams. But the Millennium Trilogy of Stieg Larsson is really great too. Currently I read some more classic stuff in school (on my own, ebook readers are great if you're bored in class), like 1984 (which I really enjoyed) or Shakespeares Hamlet.

Another series of great books are the Magic: The Gathering Books. Especcially the Ravnica and Kamigawa editions.

But I can really recommend Metro 2033 of Dmitry Glukhovsky too.

[Lustique]

Well, I think the last book I read was "Last chance to see" by Douglas Adams. That was a truly great book, although it was the last book I read and it was almost a year ago. The only things I read in the last couple of months were, unfortunately, textbooks and papers.

Oh, I almost forgot: If you are in for a challenge, I recommend reading "Critique of pure reason" by Kant (the German, i.e. original version (translations are said to be considerably easier to understand, especially the English version)). I read it when I still was in school (although I did not read it for school, but for fun), and I think, for me, reading never was such intense work before. I was only able to do a "one hour session" per day and after that I was intellectually exhausted.

[nathanscribe]

translations are said to be considerably easier to understand

Particularly for those who don't speak German.

The only philosophy book I've read more than once is Wittgenstein's Tractatus. One of those books that actually has an impact, for me, rather than just read-and-forget.

[Ascaii]

The last book I red was a rather entertaining thriller/tech fiction novel by Neal Stephenson: REAMDE. Of course my brain immediately said READ ME, so I bought it. I have read a book by the author before that was equally impressive, title Cryptonomicon. He really has a knack for blending technical areas with entertaining adventures. As you can imagine, Cryptomonicon deals with cryptography. REAMDE actually revolves around an imagined new MMORPG and the use of it as an international money laundering tool. Oh, and it has terrorists too. Cryptonomicon was more of a brain tickler, since it went into the details of de- and encryption and different algorithims, while REAMDE is a lot more entertainment, especially for ex-gamers like myself. I can recommend both books and will be picking up more by Neal Stephenson in the future.

[JesuswasaZombie]

recently, LotR and so far about 3/4 of V.

Future reading, maybe ^^^ Cryptonomicon as it's been on my to read list far to long. Maybe reread Ender's Game...

Ascaii have you read Snow Crash by Stephenson?

[Ascaii]

nope, not yet.

[JesuswasaZombie]

I think it's one of Stephenson's first works and it deals a lot with virtual reality, cyberspace, hacking, pizza mafias, samurai, cults, etc...

It's awesome but I haven't read anything else of his to compare it to.

[Icarium]

I don't know. I like his ideas and descriptions but the story is sometimes not so great. (@snowcrash)

I'm currently reading a 'A song of ice and fire' (aka Game of Thrones) and 'The Malazan book of the fallen'.
Both pretty cool but they have magic and dragons so if you're not into that kind of thing.

[Poo]

I love to read, but since the beginning of my PhD thesis it's been quite hard to find the motivation to read. I read to much scientific books to be motivated when I come back home. I remember back to University when I read the Wheel of Time, when I see that bunch of books in my room now I still wonder how I managed to read this
Anyway I am reading "A Storm of Swords" from GRRM. I am also reading the Fundation Cycle from Asimov. I plan on reading more classical authors both french and english, my culture is kind of poor in that regard.

[ripster]

I don't know. I like his ideas and descriptions but the story is sometimes not so great. (@snowcrash)

I'm currently reading a 'A song of ice and fire' (aka Game of Thrones) and 'The Malazan book of the fallen'.
Both pretty cool but they have magic and dragons so if you're not into that kind of thing.

Woohoo..finished book 3 of A Song Of Fire And Ice!

[longweight]

Count of Monte Cristo, finished it a few weeks ago and it was amazing!

[ripster]

Did she make you a Monte Cristo Sammich?

[longweight]

There were no snacks involved.

[Djuzuh]

Count of Monte Cristo, finished it a few weeks ago and it was amazing!

Agreed, this book is worth his length.

[jakobcreutzfeldt]

Currently reading James Joyce's "Ulysses" and a book in the Springer Natural Computing series called "Evolution as Computation". Good times.

I tend to alternate between an artsy, difficult read and an easy-to-read, well-told story. Before "Ulysses" I read Ray Bradbury's "Farenheit 451". Before that, Faulkner's "The Sound And The Fury". Before that, Neal Stephenson's "Anathem"....and so on. I'm often reading something science-related on the side.

[nathanscribe]

Ulysses is a blast. You should try Finnegan's Wake... actually, I enjoyed Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - it's more accessible but the beginnings of that development of style are there.

[jakobcreutzfeldt]

I've read A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, which I really liked. I was recently in Dublin and I saw Ulysses at the airport bookstore for 3 euros, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to tackle it!

[Djuzuh]

By glancing over my books, A list of what I've read and liked:
- Ready player one by ernest cline (a lot of references to the geek/hacker culture and the 80's, with a nice adventure)
- Rule 34 by charles stross (A very nice cyberpunk police novel).
- The stranger from Camus
- GEB from hoffstadter

Probably more, but too lazy to dig around.

Currently reading anathem.

[Oafmeal]

My favourites are generally unedited journals of exploration or adventure by real people, particularly focusing on seafaring up to the Napoleonic wars. The first hand accounts are far more interesting to me than reading history books, although it is nice to follow up certain eras for more technical information. The history, and evolution of architecture up to the renaissance also fascinates me.

Aside from those it's warped fiction, sci fi, fantasy, pulp, classics, and everything else.

Robert E Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Iain M Banks, Philip K Dick, William Gibson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Wade Davis for a few names.

I haven't made it to Joe Abercrombie's "First Law" but it sounds like it's right up my alley. Thanks, Sixty!

[webwit]

After I finished Asimov, I'm now doing the Ender series, almost done. Card is not of Asimov level, and none of the other books are better than the first, but still quite enjoyable.

[kekstee]

"Critique of pure reason" by Kant (the German, i.e. original version (translations are said to be considerably easier to understand, especially the English version)).

Now that I think about it… translating Kant sounds like a lot of FUN.

Since Ascaii mentioned it, Neal Stephenson is definately worth a look. Unfortunately so far I only read his classic, Snow Crash. Cryptonomicon is high on my list though.

My last reads were Daemon & Freedom by Daniel Suarez, both very interesting and technically funded thrillers set in the present time, using internet and AI possibilities to its fullest.

And I finished the first book of Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series, which is a very interesting take on the SciFi space travel genre.

Plus there are tons of books waiting on the shelves… I hope I find some time to read soon. Judging ADwD by it's width I'll need it.