What book are you reading?

[Viking]

Started reading LOTR. It's number two of the Norwegian translations. This one is in Nynorsk and features words rarely spoken anywhere anylonger. The hobbits, orcs etc. all speak different dialects. Found it pretty sweet; don't know what other translations or the original English version are like.

Admittably, I do not read much, though I finished all of the eleven books in the Wheel of Time series in a few months.

[Togakure]

Taipan by James Clavell.

[Big_John]

the dark ages by asimov: meant for children, very quick and enjoyable reading, though i suspect the history is a bit dated, and the PoV isn't exactly neutral. just started this.. up to the kingdom of toulouse. apparently isaac asimov wrote a series of histories. i'll have to check out the other ones.

nazism: a history in documents and eyewitness accounts ed. by noakes & pridham: a fascinating and definitive history of the rise as fall of the nazism. two volumes, about 60-70% is historical documents/accounts. just started this.. only up to ~1923 thus far.

the peloponnesian war by tritle: small book, just finished it. good and informative. has a short (20 page or so) overview of the conflicts writen by tritle, and then some more specific history of greece at the time as well as thucydides' explaination of the war.

the oxford history of ancient egypt ed. by shaw: what you'd expect from an oxford history. not exactly exciting, but very informative. though it does cover a huge timespan, so it glosses over some things. just jumping around in this one at the moment.

the roman emperors by grant: short (3-4 page) biographies of the roman emperors from 31bc to 476ad. too cursory on the well-known emperors, but interesting source of info for the lesser-known. jumping around.

someone comes to town, someone leaves town by doctorow: just finished it. often considered a masterpiece of modern sci-fi (a contemporary classic, if you will). i wasn't so impressed by it though. the book followed two stories (connected), one of which was interesting, the other not so much. this is the second book of doctorow's that i've read and i don't think i care for his style. specifically, doctorow's devotion to cyber-themes is tiresome (to me).

[Banquo's Ghost]

Just finished Norman Mailer's "The Castle in the Forest". Robustly written as ever, with an interesting conceit - the perspective of the demon responsible for guiding Adolf Hitler's childhood into evil.

Not ground-breaking, but thought-provoking.

[MilesGregarius]

The Imjin War by Samuel Hawley about Japan's invasions of Korea in the 1590s.

[Quirinus]

I just finished Warriors of God by James Reston Jr. two days ago-- it's about the Third Crusade, and specifically about Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. Pretty good read.

Finished rereading Anno Dracula by Kim Newman last week. It's definitely one of my favourite books. It's based on Bram Stoker 's Dracula, and speculates what might have happened if Van Helsing and company had not killed the Impaler in Chapter 21. Prior to the start of the book, Dracula went on to marry and turn Victoria, transforming London and England into a sort of haven for vampirism. The book features many characters, but I don't think more than five of them are original characters-- Newman draws interesting characters from real 19th-century London, as well as from contemporary 19th-century literature, cheesy vampire movies, and from is previous work.

For example, Florence Stoker, Arthur Holmwood, Lestrade and Henry Jekyll are important characters in the novel. Jack the Ripper also makes a prominent appearance, this time as a killer of vampire whores.

Definitely an interesting read, if you're familiar with 19th-century history and literature, Bram Stoker's book and/or vampire lore.


Right now eating through Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Good stuff. Pullman does a good job in depicting a world in which personal daemons are taken for granted almost like having a head are in our world. Lyra is a believable pre-adolescent-- she's clever, but she's also occasionally petulant.

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

I am currently reading 'Eagle in the Sky' by Wilbur Smith, but i have just finished 'River God' by him, aswell as 'Warlock', by him, 'Monsoon' by him, and 'Birds of Prey', by him. An interesting few books about people in Anxient Egypt, the gunpowder age and Africa, and a modern day war in Israel.

[Motep]

Book two of the Tamuli, by David Eddings. Good read.

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

Isnt david eddings the author who wrote the Mallorean series and the belgariad, they were good books

[Motep]

Yes, he is the author of those titles.

[Beirut]

Just got A History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucidites from a buddy.

He has hundreds of excellent books in his workshop/store. The only problem is many of them come from his very nice, but very often drunk ex-neighbour who would have a few snorts and then go mad underlining every third word in the book until she fell asleep. It's a bit distracting, but the the books are good and they're free.

Also picked up a hardcover Collected Short Stories of Mark Twain from him and a book Mark Twain wrote about writing and publishing.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Just finished John Steinbeck's most unfortunately incomplete "The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights". Too bad he stopped after the Lancelot & Guinevere following years of research, preparation and study, apparent from the letters printed with the book.

A great writer, as well as a great man he is.
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[Subedei]

"Genua aber war mächtig...." by ...I will look that up...

Basically it is a book dealing with the history of Genoa, esp. in the 11.- 16. century. I love books like this one, in which the author concentrates on one city, country....They open up the perspective of one folk on the world.....

[Rolo]

Colleen McCullough's Rome Series: Extremely good, I would recommend them to anyone.

Roy Keane autobiography: Very informative and written well for an auto.

Neil Lennon autobiography: Not quite as good as the Roy Keane book but his early life especially is rather interesting.

CSC Celtic Soccer Crew: As with most football violence books In they can be quite graphic in places but overall it was fine.

[Raz]

Is anyone else reading the Tomorrow series by John Marsden?

[Sigurd]

A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin.
The latest in his A song of ice and fire series.

I must say, a damn well written story that makes you seethe with emotion.
Some of the characters in this fantasy epic I would personally punch in the face if they were real.
If you love the medieval fantasy genre, Martin is unique... he is far beyond the cliché stories of his collegues.

A must read.
(A song of ice and fire cronologically:)

A Game of thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow
A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold
A Feast for Crows

[rajpoot]

Just read L'Amour's Fallon, excellent as the rest of his books!

[Martok]

*Finally* finished up the second Foundation trilogy a few days ago -- I will not be reading any more Asimov (or related works) for a very long time now, methinks.

Just started reading Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore, which was his first book. I thoroughly enjoyed his novel Lamb (in fact I own it), so am looking forward to this one.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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I took on W.H.D. Rouse's Odyssey translation after a long interruption filled in with Tolkien (The Lost Road aOW) and Arthurian legend (Steinbek's The Acts) and I've been thoroughly enjoying it.
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[BananaBob]

I just ordered Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick and am trying to dig up my copy of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I stopped reading the later because I cheaped out and got a smaller more portable version. The problem is, the font in the hand held thing is size 6, which is impossible to read. Guess I will have to go for the mammoth $40 version in a week or two.

[Quintus.JC]

Has anyone red the book 'Water Margin'/'水浒传'?

[Beirut]

Has anyone red the book 'Water Margin'/'水浒传'?

What's it about?

I'm reading The Collected Short Stories of Mark Twain. The man is a genius. Funniest stuff I've read in ages, perhaps ever.

[naut]

I picked up World Without End from the library, haven't started it yet.

and am trying to dig up my copy of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

You seriously want to read that book?

[Quintus.JC]

What's it about?

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Water Margin

[Mete Han]

I read of Maeglin from Silmarillion before going to sleep last night... I read Silmarillion like 6 times I guess in the last 6 years. But I guess I can never maintain a level of concentration to read the whole book again or the LOTR.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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I read it three times from start to end and for unknown times segments.

Considering that I'm on Vol. 5 of the HoME, I'm an incurable Tolkien nerd.
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[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I'm reading George MacDonald Fraser's memoir Quartered Safe Out Here, written about his time as a soldier in the British/Imperial campaign in Burma during WWII. It's a very evocative and moving book, written with all the elan you'd expect from Flashman's creator (love those books too, read them if you have a sense of humour at all).

[Tristuskhan]

Carlo Levi's "Christo si è fermato a Eboli", french translation.

[CountArach]

"Failed States" - Noam Chomsky (Yes he has his fans )

"Who was who at Waterloo - A biography of the Battle" - Christopher Summerville - Re-reading it.

And assorted textbooks, especially for Greek and Roman Myth and of course for Latin...

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Still Rouse's Odyssey but I've received my Kalevala today!
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