Thread: Books you might want to read?

I asked and seems that there is no thread about good books you may be reading or may have read. I am a serious bibliophile (here come the jokes) and would like to see what you all are reading.
I just finished "Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and The Vampire." By Mike Mignolaand.
A very good book. It deals with vampires as they are meant to be. Filthy demons right out of hell. If your idea of a vampire is an over sexed, "guy-shadow-puffy-shirt wearing clown, like the characters portrayed by Pitt and Cruise, this book may not be for you. Awesome read though for a good scare. I'll come back later with some more good titles. Not a very good review (thourough) next book I reccommend will be better reviewed.

I'm currently reading Vonnegut's Timequake. It's pretty good and I'm a big Vonnegut fan, but my favorite book of his is still Sirens of Titan.

I don't know what books you like, but here are some I've read recently that I enjoyed:

Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Kafka On the Shore
The Gods Themselves
Profiles of the Future
Sirens of Titan
Mysticism and the New Physics
A Brief History of Time
The Holographic Universe
The Elegant Universe
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
Slaughter House Five

A quick list of genres and books I love include Horror (H.P. Lovecraft, Arkham House editions) Science fiction, Asimov, Frank Herbert, Old fantasy like Robert E.Howard and K.E Wagner (talk about him later (aewsome) and Wierd fiction. I collect 1st editions and have a goodly # of signed copies. Many of my reccomendations will come from my collection

I'm currently reading "John Adams" by David McCullough...it is to be a 2 part mini-series on HBO...I'm enjoying it greatly.
And if you like history and haven't read this, do it.

recent reads i enjoyed.

Lamb, Christopher Moore - this is an awesome book.
novel about the 30 years of Jesus' life that are missing in the bible told through his childhood friend, Biff.

Cicero, Anthony Everitt
Charlie Wilson's War...author ??
1776, McCullough
Life of Pi...author???

"Jereamiah" wrote:

A quick list of genres and books I love include Horror (H.P. Lovecraft, Arkham House editions) Science fiction, Asimov, Frank Herbert, Old fantasy like Robert E.Howard and K.E Wagner (talk about him later (awesome) and weird fiction. I collect 1st editions and have a goodly # of signed copies. Many of my recommendations will come from my collection

Yeah, Isaac Asimov was awesome. My favorite book of his was The Gods Themselves. Very existential book.

That other book I listed, Profiles for the Future, is a collection of Essays and Writings of Aurthur C. Clark. Really mind blowing stuff. He discusses how great scientists of the past said certain things were impossible. How some used to claim "Flight would never be achieved by Man" and how the failure of imagination continues to limit scientific progress. Cool book.

"Jereamiah" wrote:

I asked and seems that there is no thread about good books you may be reading or may have read. I am a serious bibliophile (here come the jokes) and would like to see what you all are reading.
I just finished "Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and The Vampire." By Mike Mignolaand.
A very good book. It deals with vampires as they are meant to be. Filthy demons right out of hell. If your idea of a vampire is an over sexed, "guy-shadow-puffy-shirt wearing clown, like the characters portrayed by Pitt and Cruise, this book may not be for you. Awesome read though for a good scare. I'll come back later with some more good titles. Not a very good review (thourough) next book I reccommend will be better reviewed.

Also, If anyone is interested, I think maybe a good way to keep this thread really good is to post your own review of a book you really like (or dislike), and then maybe debate the merits (or lack thereof of said review or book. Also,keep the titles you like coming.
Seeing what folks like to read gives ya good insight into that person ;D and maybe introduces ya to stuff you may have never even looked at.

"C" wrote:

"Jereamiah" wrote:

A quick list of genres and books I love include Horror (H.P. Lovecraft, Arkham House editions) Science fiction, Asimov, Frank Herbert, Old fantasy like Robert E.Howard and K.E Wagner (talk about him later (awesome) and weird fiction. I collect 1st editions and have a goodly # of signed copies. Many of my recommendations will come from my collection

Yeah, Isaac Asimov was awesome. My favorite book of his was The Gods Themselves. Very existential book.

That other book I listed, Profiles for the Future, is a collection of Essays and Writings of Aurthur C. Clark. Really mind blowing stuff. He discusses how great scientists of the past said certain things were impossible. How some used to claim "Flight would never be achieved by Man" and how the failure of imagination continues to limit scientific progress. Cool book.

C mac D, check out 'The End of Eternity" by Asimov. A time travel book.

"Jereamiah" wrote:

"C" wrote:

"Jereamiah" wrote:

A quick list of genres and books I love include Horror (H.P. Lovecraft, Arkham House editions) Science fiction, Asimov, Frank Herbert, Old fantasy like Robert E.Howard and K.E Wagner (talk about him later (awesome) and weird fiction. I collect 1st editions and have a goodly # of signed copies. Many of my recommendations will come from my collection

Yeah, Isaac Asimov was awesome. My favorite book of his was The Gods Themselves. Very existential book.

That other book I listed, Profiles for the Future, is a collection of Essays and Writings of Aurthur C. Clark. Really mind blowing stuff. He discusses how great scientists of the past said certain things were impossible. How some used to claim "Flight would never be achieved by Man" and how the failure of imagination continues to limit scientific progress. Cool book.

C mac D, check out 'The End of Eternity" by Asimov. A time travel book.

Have you read Ender's Game and the subsequent series by Orson Scott Card.
Awesome book, and sounds like they are going to make a movie out of it this year...

As long as you guys are on the Sci-fi, I should note I've been reading a lot of Philip K Dick recently. Thing about Dick is that he's usually hit or miss, but when he hits, he's amazing. A few recommendations:

Ubik: This one is really classic Dick. Pretty weird, but nothing like VALIS. Doesn't stray too far off on to the theological path, though it does deal quite a bit with death. It also features both people with super powers (of sorts) such as the ability to read minds, and people who block those abilities. And of course, people have created businesses involving each, pitting them against each other.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: This book is excellent. It formed the (loose) basis for the film Blade Runner, though each one kind of stands on its own. Probably one of the only books I've read (Fight Club is another) where it's difficult to say whether the book or movie was better.

The Man in the High Castle: This is definitely not one of my favorites, but it is for a lot of Dick fans, so I included it. It is pretty fascinating though. Essentially, it reimagines the world if Germany and Japan had won WWII instead of the Allied forces. The Eastern US is basically German territory while the West is Japanese.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich: This would be a very good jumping off point for someone who's never read any Dick. Lot's of bizarre drug use and paranoia mixed in with theorizing on God and existence. Good stuff.

VALIS This is one of my favorites, but it's a little tougher to get through. The first half is basically just a long exploration into a half-crazy person's views on theology and philosophy, with much exploration into Gnosticism. In the second half an actual story, of sorts, develops and a quest for the son of the true God ensues whilst people are blasted with bright pink lasers from the sky carrying divine information.
;D

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer: I'm still reading this one, but it is excellent so far. It was Dick's last book, and it's not really Sci-fi at all. It is very directly based on the life of the former Episcopal Bishop of California, James Pike (Tim Archer). Even though it is fiction, many of the detail's of Pike's life mirror those of Archer. Apparently this is the last book in a trilogy that includes VALIS and The Divine Invasion. I haven't read the latter, but I see very little correlation with the former.

Prophet had posted re online books...if anyone's interested here's a link to thread for some sites to download ebooks for free:
http://www.purplepride.org/forums/in...?topic=41821.0




I'm reading The Hobbit for the 5th or 6th time.

If you like action/spy/military type books, I highly recommend the following:

Lee Child's series of Jack Reacher novels - Reacher is a retired Army MP.
Vince Flynn's series of Mitch Rapp novels - Rapp is an undercover operative.
Stuart Woods's series of Stone Barrington novels - a lawyer who gets into and out of trouble.
Daniel Silva - The English Assassin.

These are all very good reads...nothing existential or philosophical, just good entertainment. And even though they are series, you don't have to read them consecutively.