The "What Are You Reading?" thread.

Watchmen is amazing. I'm really hesitant about the upcoming movie version of it, but on the other hand, no matter how bad or lacking it is, it will bring more people to the graphic novel, which is a good thing.

Recently finished:

Kwaidan by Jung and Jee-Yun (beautiful but confusing and plot-deficient)
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (never read it, haven't seen the movie. Sniff!)
The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Recently started

Jemima J by Jane Green (will probably abandon; don't like the intrusive author)
Bone by Jeff Smith (reminds me of Cerebus in a good way, but not sure how much I like it yet)
Second Foundation
 
Foundation is a series I've always wanted to read but haven't been able to get into.

I, Robot is damn good and a very light read (IMO)
 
State of Fear by Michael Crichton.

It's much too long and drawn out for the airport novel it is, frankly. I can endure the preachiness, but the characters are just so god damned flat that I want to reach into the book and strangle them.

Next in line will probably be the latest on the Harry Potter hit parade.
 
Finished reading all 3 of the Time Spiral block MTG novels. They were alright, or at least better then the Kamigawa novels.
 
The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum

I just picked it up yesterday while I was out with some friends. I hope to get it done before the movie comes out in August.
 
Dance Of The Dead - Preston & Child

Started this before I got my copy of Shredder by a lovely vampire chick...sorry Karen


Also, Book Of Fate was pretty good. Its Meltzer's worst book but even his worst is still better than most other books. Just wish it wasn't marketed as a DaVinci Code rip off, its more of a simple political thriller.
 
I'm on the Final Dark Tower book by Stephen King. Hands down the best piece of work he has ever written. I had a hell of a time getting through Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands, but I am so glad I did.
 
Finally finished "Shutting Out the Sun" after setting it aside for most of the year. It's about "Hikikomori" aka extreme japanese shut-ins. The first half of the book is amazing, the second half is absolute crap. I don't think I've read something so polarized like that.


today I just got a copy of "The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry" by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne.

Heard an interview with Legs on the Sound of Young America podcast and it sounds like this book will be really amazing. the authors interviewed about 1000 people from the industry for it (hence "oral" history ;) )

and it's about 600 pages long. :)

Can't wait to dig in-- i've been curious about this forever. You'd think a multi-million (billion?) dollar industry would get more coverage, but I guess there's still a bit of puritan left in America ;)
 
[quote name='Squirms']I had a hell of a time getting through Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands, but I am so glad I did.[/quote]

I'm still on the Waste Lands, it's been like 2 years now. I just stopped reading one day during finals at school didn't pick it up for a while. Then, after finals this year I picked it up again...then put it down again. I'm going to burn through the Harry Potter series right quick and try and finish the Dark Tower stuff afterwards.

Other than that I'm always reading comics.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']just finshed American Gods and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman[/quote]

How did you enjoy them? I liked American Gods more than Anansi Boys, but I loved them both. Gaiman is definitely my favorite author now a days. His books are just so great.

[quote name='Squirms']I'm on the Final Dark Tower book by Stephen King. Hands down the best piece of work he has ever written. I had a hell of a time getting through Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands, but I am so glad I did.[/quote]

I'm reading through Drawing of the Three right now, and I have to say, I'm enjoying it a lot more than The Gunslinger. I didn't like Gunslinger that much and didn't understand how people loved this series. But I like that the characters are being fleshed out more now in book 2 compared to book 1. I find it even better news to know it just keeps getting better after DotT and Wastelands. Definitely gonna stick with this series now, although I wanna finish Drawing of the Three by Saturday so I can read the last Harry Potter first.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']just finshed American Gods and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman[/QUOTE]

Read those two a while back and really liked them. I picked up Good Omens and although I am enjoying it, I can't seem to get into it in the same way as Gaiman's other books.
 
[quote name='Sockey']Read those two a while back and really liked them. I picked up Good Omens and although I am enjoying it, I can't seem to get into it in the same way as Gaiman's other books.[/quote]

Part of that's cause it wasn't solely written by Gaiman, but co-written by him and Terry Pratchett. However, I really enjoyed the book the same as American Gods and Anansi Boys. If you want a book more like AG and AB, check out Neverwhere, Gaiman's first solo book. You really can't go wrong with any of Gaiman's stuff.
 
Just started Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont

Also got arouond to picking up the Naked Girls Smoking Weed: The Best Of The 420 Girls coffee table book yesterday. If you dig the Suicide Girls, you will dig this
 
Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity, by John Gribbin

I started and finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today, too.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']

I started and finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today, too.[/QUOTE]

That's hardcore. I thought I read fast.

After I finish this up I'll be moving on to Health Information Management Technology, 2nd edition. A riveting 1000 pages of text indeed.
 
[quote name='karsh']I'm reading through Drawing of the Three right now, and I have to say, I'm enjoying it a lot more than The Gunslinger. I didn't like Gunslinger that much and didn't understand how people loved this series. But I like that the characters are being fleshed out more now in book 2 compared to book 1. I find it even better news to know it just keeps getting better after DotT and Wastelands. Definitely gonna stick with this series now, although I wanna finish Drawing of the Three by Saturday so I can read the last Harry Potter first.[/QUOTE]

Drawing of the Three? The story hasn't even begun. While I had figured out how the book would end by the middle of Wizard and Glass, I still had no idea how the characters would get there. King kept reminding me how little of an idea I had, in fact.

I picked up "Everything's Eventual" at the airport to keep me busy (outside of Dark Tower, I had sworn off any King published after 1993) the other week. I'm glad I did, because the short stories were mostly very, very good (1408 was an afterthought by the time I finished the book); moreover, there is a nice 80-page side story of Roland in there called "The Sisters of Eluria" that's very good reading. Not a whole lot of "thankee sai" and whathaveyou, but it still fits into the DT world quite well.

Currently halfway through Deathly Hallows; I'm cursing the imaginary reactions of students in my head, looking at me with a combination of disappointment and irritation, because I didn't grade their exams due to Harry fucking Potter. So, I may not finish the book until tomorrow. So far I'm really enjoying it, even if it seems that, approaching it, Rowling had a *LOT* of ground to cover in 1 book if this is to be her final.
 
[quote name='H-Town Info']Freakonomics[/QUOTE]

Put that thing down now. If there's one thing economists shouldn't do, it's try to pretend they're sociologists. One of the most offensive books I've read, if only for the arguments it puts forth (particularly Levitt's claims about abortion's impact on the crime rate).
 
^^ It's still interesting reading. As far as the abortion theory, it's not sociology more than it is trying to make causality out of statistics. I don't believe it's any more absurd than the other reasonings behind the falling crime rate during that period. Anyway, I think it's fine for economists to think outside the box.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']I started and finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows today, too.[/quote]

Ditto. Probably gonna read either Anthem by Ayn Rand or A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess next.
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']Reading Song of Susannah atm. I HOPE NO ONE SPOILS THE ENDING FOR ME IT WOULD MAKE ME CRY.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't dare.
 
Now that I'm through with the drama and sentiment that was Deathly Hallows, I'm reading Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. I can't seem to shake the feeling that he's telling me nothing that wasn't obvious years ago, but maybe that's the point.
 
[quote name='SneakyPenguin']Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Then it's most likely going to be Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and then one of the many unread books I have.[/QUOTE]

Hey, I just finished that book about a month ago and rented the movie this past weekend along with A Clockwork Orange after I finished that book.

Long stupid explanation:
Finished reading ACO a couple of weeks ago and tried to rent the movie, but both times it was out. Imagine my luck! I remember thinking to myself "This movie can't be that popular that people have rented it out for the past two weeks". Then I go in again, tell the clerk my story, and it's still out! So I walk out with a different movie and then hear someone call me. What do you know, a lady was just turning it in. So I went in and rented that and remembered that Fahrenheit 451 was made into a movie and a remake was in the works. Luckily, they had that and I walked out with both! :D

A Clockwork Orange [BOOK]
Honestly, I didn't really like ACO at first. I decided to read it while driving through Texas on vacation and I had to put it down. The character was such a jerk in my eyes and I couldn't stand reading about him beating people and raping women. Definitely not vacation reading, lol. Anyways, I picked it back up and became more interested. Now I have to say I really liked the book and understand that the author was just establishing his character and how bad he was before trying to turn him good. Very good read.

SPOILER - Chapter 20 vs. Chapter 21 Endings
I guess it's worth mentioning that I read the version with all 21 chapters as it was originally intended. The Kubrick version only went up to 20 chapters and followed the original American release. Looking at only 20 chapters, I had to say that I was disappointed in Alex for not learning anything and not wanting to change. He was just bad at heart and nothing was going to change that. This is reflected well in the movie. However, going that extra chapter and seeing him starting to want to change, it left me happy for him to change his destructive lifestyle. Then again, I am torn.

You see, nowadays (it may have been always, but I'm still young and am just making an assumption) American audiences expect good/happy/perfect/optimistic endings. I've seen this many times where audiences bash a movie because the ending wasn't happy. Knowing this, I find it funny that the original ACO ending is optimistic and is what audiences today would expect. However, the original publisher said that Americans are hardened and can take an unhappy ending and that's why he suggested dropping the 21st Chapter and leaving it at 20 with Alex remaining bad. Times may have been different when the original book was released so I'm not sure how the response was to it, but I do know the film got nominated for a few Oscars and I wonder if one of the reasons is because it wasn't an optimistic ending.
Either way, I appreciate each ending in their own and I must say that that 21st Chapter does make a big difference in my eyes.

Fahrenheit 451 [BOOK]
Another book that I was only a little bit interested in when I started reading it. Honestly, this book didn't really capture me until the end and it never let me go. Definitely a great read. If you're not digging it, I say just work through it and the ending pays off your hard (if somewhat short) work.

Anyways, just started reading Brave New World and it's really interesting so far.

Will get to the new Harry Potter whenever my sister decides to buy it and read it since I'm too cheap to buy it.
 
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