Book Worms

[Titmar]

Bookworms, sound off.
What are you currently reading? What are some of your favorites? Etc.

Try to keep images to a somewhat small size, such as the one posted below.

inb4 gameofthrones


I'm currently reading:

Betrayer of Worlds (4th book of the ringworld prequels)

If you've never checked out the Ringworld series, you really should. I got into it when i was in grade school, before Halo ever existed. It's a really great series. There are quite a few parralels to the Halo universe, but it is much more of a hard scifi thing as opposed to the action opera type shit that the Halo story does. I'm almost positive that any Halo fan would enjoy it.

Hard scifi on a grand scale = my favorite type of shit.

My favorite genres are scifi and fantasy, and i've read quite a buttload of books. I built a 20 foot tall bookshelf to hold them all.
I'll post more in this thread once i see how much people feel like contributing to it.

 

[Insane54]

I don't have as much time to read as I used to, unfortunately. Me and my girlfriend had both coincidentally read this book before we met for completely different reasons (she had read it before from a psychology standpoint, I was reading it on an engineering/programming usability standpoint), it's a really really great read from arguably the biggest expert in the field of usability, Donald Norman of Nielsen Norman Group. If you're at all into programming, engineering, psychology, or just want to learn about how we think in an easily digestible little book, check it out. This is absolutely not a textbook, though it's obviously pretty heavy on information.

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman

 

[Lights]

Currently making my way through Glasslands.. pretty slowly, only a little over halfway, but its good so far. I basically only read while on breaks and lunch at work, and not on all of them.

I plan on starting Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy soon after I finish Glasslands

 

[Titmar]

AAAAH! thats fucking awesome man, The Foundation trilogy is on the very top of my Best list.
It's so amazing in so many ways... your mind is going to be blown by it.
Asimov is unrivaled.

If you dig stuff like that, also check out Arthur C. Clarke's RAMA series.

 

[pinohkio]

I'm currently knee deep in my annual readings of the work of Tolkien. You can never get enough lore out of Middle Earth

 

[Titmar]

what did you think about all the changes in The Hobbit ?

 

[TexturedSun]

I got the 7-book collection of the Game of Thrones books, so I'm about to start reading that.

The last book I read was Dune. Soooo much better than the film was, as is always the case. If you have never read it, I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone; plenty of action and politically charged plotting. The Dune universe is knee-deep in awesome history; just reading through the backstories of the great houses / historic events is fantastic in its own right.

 

[Titmar]

Well i've only read the first dune trilogy twice. I havent gotten around to moving on to the other books... i wasnt really motivated to do so because i heard that they werent quite up to par. But yea, Dune is also at the top of the list. it really doesnt get much better than that. I honestly cant believe how bad that movie was.


You will love the A song of Ice and Fire series. looking forward to hearing your opinions of it.
Also, i hope you like reading about food. (youll understand that joke later)

 

[Tedium]

what did you think about all the changes in The Hobbit ?

Oh ho, that's a thread in itself. Long story short, after I got past the 48fps, I thought the changes weren't bad at all. Especially for the first of a trilogy, The Hobbit seemed a lot better than Fellowship, and I'm sure the trilogy's epicness will rise similarly.

Edit: On topic, I'm reading a story called Project Horizons, by I-don't-know-who. It's pretty freaking amazing.

 

[Titmar]

The stupid 30 minute long intro of Bilbo and Frodo hanging out was a shitty and pointless hollywood cameo.
The pale orc was a retarded villain, and only there because of stupid film hollywood jerks think they HAVE to have a villain.
The scene with Sarumon and Galadriel and Elrond was another dumb cameo that pissed me off.
"Look! Look at us! We're in the movie too!"
Anyway, those were my main complaints. It was still a good movie.

 

[pinohkio]

what did you think about all the changes in The Hobbit ?

I didn't mind them very much, actually. I'd been avoiding the film because I thought I wouldn't like it, but it was pretty good. I can see why PJ made the changes that he did, I mean it's the start of the new trilogy and all that. My only big gripe was that I had imagined everything to have a darker tone, but I can understand that it's PG13.

The stupid 30 minute long intro of Bilbo and Frodo hanging out was a shitty and pointless hollywood cameo.
The pale orc was a retarded villain, and only there because of stupid film hollywood jerks think they HAVE to have a villain.
The scene with Sarumon and Galadriel and Elrond was another dumb cameo that pissed me off.
"Look! Look at us! We're in the movie too!"
Anyway, those were my main complaints. It was still a good movie.

I liked the intro, I found it connected the story more to Lord of the Rings, especially considering I watched the trilogy again before seeing the Hobbit. The pale orc I'll admit was drawn out a little much, but it didn't really distract from the pacing of the film IMO, and it gave reason for some fight scenes that otherwise wouldn't have happened. Sarumon, Galadriel and Elrond made the Rivendell scene worth watching for me, I didn't see the point of the dwarves eating salad, it just didn't appeal to me at all.

I can't wait for a mega-box set with director's cut editions of all six films though, that's definitely on my buy list when all the films are out.

 

[Essias]

By the guy who wrote/directed 12 Angry Men (an AMAZING film) Network, and a bunch of other classics. He worked with a ton of incredible actors and details his process very well. He doesn't resort to cheap shots about people he doesn't like (that he needs to mention sans names for examples) and is very thorough and an awesome writer.

I was about 80% of the way before I dropped it because of school and stuff, will probably get back to it soon.

 

[FrozenGoathead]

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Not to be confused with The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.

 

[Titmar]

so... whats it about?

 

[FrozenGoathead]

so... whats it about?

About the most unluckiest black guy in the world.

 

[Titmar]

Betrayer of Worlds (4th book of the ringworld prequels)

so, i finished this book last night.
it was a nice book. but the ending was absolutely garbage. it felt like being shit on.
the connection to the ringworld books (this is the final book of the prequel sagas) was bullshit, basically it was about 5 sentences long.
it did kinda blow my mind for a second, but the fact that it was just thrown in there like that really pissed me off.
the ending was very anti-climactic and disappointing.

that being said, it was still a decent book and it is an essential part of the ringworld series.
just dont expect it to live up to the original ringworld trilogy, or the other Of Worlds books.


next book on my list to read is:

 

[Tedium]

I'm still working my way through Stephen King's Dark Tower books. I made it all the way up to Wolves of the Calla before getting distracted. Wasn't too impressed with Wizard and the Glass, but based on the awesomeness of the ones prior, I still adore the series.

Oh! Oh! Has anyone read 11/22/63?

 

[Epic Tusk]

OH COOL. I usually read through two books at a time, so when I kind of get bored with one I can hop over to the other. The First one I started is The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes From Around the World

The other is The Sun Also Rises

The Art of Fermentation is the one I started first and is super awesome and really cool to read through. Right now I'm up to the third chapter which is kind of the last of the intro pages before it gets into type of fermentations processes that people use for food. And the reason I'm going to read The Sun Also Rises is because my dad gave it to me probably about a year ago after I graduated, he told me I would like it, and I lost it about three weeks after. I found it when I was packing for my move so when I get tired of all the science-y stuff, I'm going to start on that.

 

[FrozenGoathead]

I made my own wine, once. Twas the most nastiest shit I have ever tasted. At least I succeeded in creating alcohol.

Anyways, I just read Lord of the Flies in one sitting. It was interesting, and can definetly see what the author was going for.

 

[mazdak26]

Hitchikers guide to the galaxy. Instant classic. Fucking long.