What book are you currently reading?

[Byzantine Prince]

Hi, I was trying to think of some good books to read in the future so I decided "what the eff?" let's start a thread.

Well currently Im reading Voltaire's Candide. It's kind of a funny book. It's a lot like those morning cartoons with hillarious characters. The chapters are like 2 pages, lol.

Well how about you guys?

[makkyo]

Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein"

[Goofball]

"Retreat, Hell!" by W.E.B. Griffin, the latest book in his The Corps series. His books are total bubblegum, but I like them.

[Big_John]

"homicidal psycho jungle cat" by bill watterson. i should be finished in a few minutes.

[Mouzafphaerre]

-
Vol. 16 of Britannica, localized edition (1989).
-

[Byzantine Prince]

Watsup Mouzafphaerre? Are you going on a game show?

lol, I read the encyclopedia often too. Unfortunately I only have it on the computer. Or maybe that's a good thing. I don't have that much room for all those volumes. It's fun to read though. Especially when you come across something you haven't heard before.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Michael Burleigh's A New History of The Third Reich. I have just finished Star of the Sea by Joseph O' Connor-Highly reccomended.

[pyhhricvictory]

Viking Age Iceland and Medieval Iceland by Jesse Byock. Both are pretty good books if you like the time period. Iceland has a more interesting history than most of Europe at the time.

[discovery1]

All Quiet on the Western Front

[Mouzafphaerre]

-

Watsup Mouzafphaerre? Are you going on a game show?

Nope. I'm done with the first 15 volumes, that's why...
-

[Beirut]

Just finished a bio of Lawrence of Arabia by Liddell Hart.

Still perusing "Righteous Victims: a History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1998". I've been reading it on and off.

Next up is either Liddell Hart's bio of General Sherman or Livy's The War with Hannibal. Not sure. I got them both as gifts. Just love getting books as gifts.

Will probably read the bio of Sherman and save The war with Hannibal for the front porch when I can fall asleep outside in spring. Also planning on getting Sherman's memoirs to read this summer. $120 at Amazon for the hardcover! But I'm getting it. Also getting the original 1922 text of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence. That one is about $75 hardcover. Really looking forward to that.

Damn those books are expensive.

[Tribesman]

Michael Burleigh's A New History of The Third Reich
Heavy going Just started his "Germany Turns Eastwards" book .
For lighter reading , I just finished "Monstrous Regiment" by Pratchett and started "Dance of the Voodoo Handbag" by Robert Rankin

[Shottie]

Im reading Shogun by James Clavell's. Basically its about an English man that is sailing a Deutch ship and the ship runs into a strom and sinks. Blackthorne (the englishman) and his men are on the Japans, anf its basically about him and how he lives and learns the japanese ways, its awesome, Im loving it. Here is what the book says about it

"A bold English adventurer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful women torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in a might saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust and the struggle for power....."


Its a really good book so far, I can get you guys a link for it if you want.


Goofball what does "total bubblegum" mean? Ive read a few of W.E.B Griffin's books, they are pretty good.

[Medieval Assassin]

^^^^ Read that book when I was 11, read it again at 13, reading it again now.
I LOVE SHOGUN!1!11!111

[Shottie]

^^^^ Read that book when I was 11, read it again at 13, reading it again now.
I LOVE SHOGUN!1!11!111

I agree totally with you!! It is a very well written book and its just awesome all over. Also, James Clavell has a good number of Asian Culture related novels.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...046181-0387858

These would be the books.

[Spetulhu]

Ian Watson's Inquisitor trilogy (Warhammer 40K fiction).

[JAG]

Nausea by John Paul Sartre. A strange yet compelling and awesome book. It is a classic. Has all his philosophy in it, deep rooted.

[Somebody Else]

Just looking at the books scattered around my bed... several Pratchetts, The Sea Wolf - Ian Grimble, Heroes - Lucy Hughes-Hallet, The Enemies of Rome - Philip Matyszak.
I'm actually floating at the moment - can't quite build up the impetus to pick a book off my shelf.

[Ser Clegane]

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami.

Almost finished though... so I need something new

[Byzantine Prince]

Clegane, may I recommend I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. It's a great new book about frat students who get drunk and have sex all the time. It's kewl. Taht's what Im going to read next. Hopefully I'll get my copy tommorow. I'll tell you more once I read it.

[Quid]

Sahara by Clive Cussler. Non historical, non intellectual, just a generally good read.

Quid

[Ser Clegane]

Clegane, may I recommend I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. It's a great new book about frat students who get drunk and have sex all the time. It's kewl. Taht's what Im going to read next. Hopefully I'll get my copy tommorow. I'll tell you more once I read it.

Funny - just yesterday I read an article that mentioned this book (interestingly it mentioned that GWB likes that book).
I might have a look at it.

[TonkaToys]

Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Edgar Allan Poe.

First time reading any of his stories... most of the way through the Golden Bug story.

[King Edward]

Executive orders by Tom Clancy

[frogbeastegg]

Just finished: a large pile of assorted medieval murder mysteries borrowed from my library at the same time as the book below. Fluff reading and really not as good as the Cadfael series, which is itself akin to popcorn in a frog's literary diet. So simple I was reading one every few hours.

Dark Tower book 4: Wizard and Glass. A library book and the first one in the series available; my other option in this series was the last book I don't really like it much so I shall finish it quickly and not bother with the rest of the series; I'm glad this one time my local library actually had what I was looking for (sort of) so I didn't have to buy.

Doomesday to Magna Carta, from the Oxford History of England series. Good, history, medieval ... I'm sure you can guess the rest. Mine and therefore a much more satisfying read than the literally stinking library books.

[SwordsMaster]

Reading for the first time: "A short story of nearly everything" Bill Bryson.

It is really good, gives you a good idea of ALL sciences and what are the main figures, discoveries and aims in every branch. Highly recommend.

Also "Greek legends and myths" by A.N. Kun. Pretty good, although it doesn't get into much detail.

Re-reading: "The Prince" MAquiavelli, "El Lazarillo de Tormes", anonimous,

"The art of war" good old Sun Tzu.

[Ser Clegane]

Reading for the first time: "A short story of nearly everything" Bill Bryson.

It is really good, gives you a good idea of ALL sciences and what are the main figures, discoveries and aims in every branch. Highly recommend.

Indeed - read it a couple of months ago. Very interesting and also quite entertaining - a rare combination.

[Adrian II]

I agree totally with you!! It is a very well written book and its just awesome all over. Also, James Clavell has a good number of Asian Culture related novels.

He's been on some weird downward spiral if you ask me. King Rat is his best, Shogun is also a fine book (as a novel, not just a historical panorama) but after that he started writing scripts for Hollywood and his style suffered from it. The two HOng Kong novels are OK, but they're airplane reads. Whirlwind is bad, it's a series of movie scenes written down. Same happened to Gore Vidal, his novels got worse when he discovered tv and Hollywood. Interesting how movies can destroy literature that way. I'm not saying that script-writing is per se bad, or that movies are. Dangerous Liaisons for instance is a good example of a great book that was turned into a magnificent movie. No criticism there.

[Boohugh]

Armageddon by Max Hastings. Its a detailed history of the invasion of Germany in 1944/45. Integrates the views of the soldiers involved with the big picture very well.

[Pausanias828]

At the moment at work, only during breaks of course (looks round sheepishly), I am reading The Histories by Tacitus, translated by Kenneth Wellesley. At home I have just started (please don't laugh) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, as I thought I better see what all the fuss is about.