What Are You Reading?

[schooey]

And while I'm no Dawkins apologist - it is a bit hard to write a book called The God Delusion and retain any sort of impartiality.

Indeed... but having a firm opinion and being one minded are a little different. After reading it you could easily imagine Dawkins grabbing people from the street like a rabid dog chastising their intelligence for having any sort of faith.

You open up to the inside title page and it says: Shantaram - A Novel

It's the roadshow promotion that skewed the fact from fiction.

Yep... I got that. My point was that the sales job was done as much as if the 'novel' factor was very much in the fine print.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Surface detail, Ian M. Banks.
Guantanomo - My Journey, David Hicks.

I also listen to talking books in the car to and from work just finished listening to The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It was really good.

cheers

grant

ahh thanks mate, I wasn't aware that that Banks book was out yet.

Did it make your brain hurt?? I like it when he makes my brain hurt.

At least the SF stuff doesn't make me want to hide under the bed and cry like a little girl - cant say the same for his non SF stuff released under just the plain old Iain Banks name.

 

[kuntushi]

Anarchy Evolution: Faith, science, and bad religion in a world without God - Greg Graffin.

This any good? Saw it being flogged on the BR website recently.

If you've heard Graffin talk before, or read interviews and things, it's basically just like that. He's got a quirky way of explaining things, which I find interesting.

 

[Yob]

Currently reading IPA, Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale by Mitch Steele (Stone Brewing)

A mighty fine read thus far, debunking the myth that IPA's were made for the India market.. bollox he says, was brewed for 100 years before then... good stuff :super:

 

[WarmBeer]

A Feast for Crows. Not really getting into this one as much as the other books. This is mostly because all my favourite characters are being split off into the still unfinished A Dance With Dragons. I'm not really getting into the story surrounding the Iron Islands either, and it's taking up a lot of pages.

I hear you - can't wait for A Dance with Dragons to come out. Having said that, being someone who has been reading the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time (still unfinished... only one to go!!) series since it's inception (first book came out in 1990), you would think I would be used to waiting! If you enjoy GRR Martin I can also recommend the "RRestrospective", which is a collection of his short stories - some of them are crackers.

Have just finished the most recent in the Ghengis Khan series by Conn Iggulden (and those Mongols were bad, bad men) and am just about to start the 'prequel' to the Wheel of Time after years of silent protest for Jordan writing a prequel before finishing the actual series :angry:

Anyone read anything by Brandon Sanderson (the guy now completing the Robert Jordan series following his untimely death)? I just ordered a trilogy from bookdepository - $15 incl delivery!! Gotta love booko.com.au

Necro recommendations (thanks Yob for bringing this back up into the Latest Threads)

Just finished Gardens of the Moon, book 1 of a 10 book series. Full of the whole grim-dark fantasy that GRRM pioneered, then dropped the ball on. Heavy on the magic, battle, intrigue, politics and blood splatter. Not so heavy on 3 page descriptions of pan-fried stuffed eel recipes, or people riding boats for weeks on end. If you liked the first 3 A Song of Ice and Fire books, definitely worth giving it a go.

Also, in a similar vein, Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy. Funny, gruesome, action-packed, morally ambiguous and bloody. Great characters that you will hate, then love, then love-hate. Plus, he writes at an average of a book per year, so you're not left hanging 6 years for the next bloated pile of disappointment.

Brandon Sanderson. He's okay. Mistborn was a bore, but The Way of Kings was great. He's just a little too chaste, it's okay to kill hundreds of innocent folk in battle, but society is going to come to a crash upon the viewing of a bare breast. Mormon sensibilities.

 

[bum]

Been reading little bits of Mosher's Radical Brewing for ages. Also been reading big bits of the Java API. Little bit sick of alphanumeric characters, to be honest.

 

[tricache]

Just finished the Batman: The Black Mirror story arc (STFU everyone who thinks comics aren't reading haha) and got to say it was pretty awesome!!

 

[chunckious]

What yer reedin four?




Sorry, couldn't resist

 

[jlm]

What yer reedin four?




Sorry, couldn't resist

Yer meanta chew yer gum first waffle waitress.

Anyway. Recent highlights have been "An American Demon" by Jack Grisham. As a massive fanboy of TSOL (a band) Found this a must read. Even if not a real autobiography good stuff. Finding christ seems like a suitable punishment for someone who was such a renound ******* in the early days of hardcore punk.

"Soldaten, German POW's on Fighting and Dying" by a couple of krauts. Interesting yet depressing. Who would have thought if you put a bunch of young blokes together they'd talk about chicks and getting laid heaps. And war crimes. After that should read some fiction to cheer up a bit....

"Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy. Nope that didn't work. Do love his work though, still intrigued that some one is trying to adapt Blood Meridian into a film.

Noonan's book has been sitting on the bedside table for about 6 months but remains relatively untouched. I'll get around to it one day.

 

[givemeamash]

AHB

 

[Bribie G]

Reading, now that's an interesting concept.

I bought a heap of Terry Pratchett novels a couple of years ago - enjoyed the early ones then he went a bit silly, especially the Take-off of Australia book so I left them all in the lunchroom when I retired. There's a neat little library here in Old Bar and there's a beach down the end of the street. Now that could be a good match - especially since it's stopped feckin raining for 10 minutes.

I can use my Galaxy Note as a kindle but most ebook companies don't want to know me as I'm not in the U S of A (which seems strange as 30% of Americans are functionally illiterate according to surveys).

Can anyone recommend any decent Android App with that really neat "flick to turn the page - wow there it turns and look you can see the corner of the page as it goes by and you get that real cool sound of rustling paper" features? Also a source of E books I can get for free or pay for in Australia?

The only readin' books I've got in the house nowadays are the Helliconia Trilogy, the Silmarillion, Hobbit and LOTR. Might start in on them again. Might go for Red/green/blue Mars trilogy as well as I don't mind Aldiss.

Edit: Well there you go, the Mars series ain't Aldiss. Might be ok nonetheless.

 

[tricache]

Reading, now that's an interesting concept.

I bought a heap of Terry Pratchett novels a couple of years ago - enjoyed the early ones then he went a bit silly, especially the Take-off of Australia book so I left them all in the lunchroom when I retired. There's a neat little library here in Old Bar and there's a beach down the end of the street. Now that could be a good match - especially since it's stopped feckin raining for 10 minutes.

I can use my Galaxy Note as a kindle but most ebook companies don't want to know me as I'm not in the U S of A (which seems strange as 30% of Americans are functionally illiterate according to surveys).

Can anyone recommend any decent Android App with that really neat "flick to turn the page - wow there it turns and look you can see the corner of the page as it goes by and you get that real cool sound of rustling paper" features? Also a source of E books I can get for free or pay for in Australia?

The only readin' books I've got in the house nowadays are the Helliconia Trilogy, the Silmarillion, Hobbit and LOTR. Might start in on them again. Might go for Red/green/blue Mars trilogy as well as I don't mind Aldiss.

Edit: Well there you go, the Mars series ain't Aldiss. Might be ok nonetheless.

I still find the Kindle good, I can just buy books on Amazon (or get a heap of free ones!!) and I have it setup to sync to my Kindle account. As for the "turn page animation ect" I know the version on my phone doesn't have it but on my iPad it does. Another cool thing with the Kindle account/app it syncs between devices so if I'm reading on my phone and go to my iPad it remembers where I was reading from.

 

[sp0rk]

Just about to start reading Beer - Tap Into The Art And Science Of Brewing
and
Beer Is Proof God Loves Us

once those are done i guess i'll be starting on Brewing, Science and Practice

 

[DU99]

"How to Brew" John Palmer.. AG section

 

[bum]

Bribie, you can buy books through the Google Play app on your phone. The Google Books app (which you should have unless Samsung removed it) has a 3d page turn animation but no sound.

You can get free books on the internet. Google will tell you where, funnily enough.

 

[jyo]

Haven't picked up a book in ages. Just started Dirt Music, Tim Winton.

 

[kymba]

i haven't read a real book in a long time, the last one being 'the plague' by albert camus almost 10 years ago


i want a new book...any thoughts on 'the grapes of wrath'?

 

[warra48]

Just finished Uncommon Soldier by Chris Masters. Well worth a read, as it gives a balanced insight into the Aust defence forces and its work, particularly in Afghanistan.

Now reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. I know, I know, but I'm a softie at heart. It really is quite a pacy read. There's a good reason it's survived now for 200 years as a classic.

 

[bconnery]

i haven't read a real book in a long time, the last one being 'the plague' by albert camus almost 10 years ago


i want a new book...any thoughts on 'the grapes of wrath'?

Grapes of Wrath is an excellent book, but then again I think it is hard to go wrong with Steinbeck in general.
Just re-read it this summer actually. Every bit as good as I remembered.

 

[manticle]

Been a while since I read anything that wasn't a conservation text (cultural material, not environment) or brewing text.

I used to be an avid fiction reader and now I have been out of study for close to 1 year, I thought it time to get back into some.

Currently part way through Umberto Eco: Name of the Rose.

Loved Island of the day before and enjoying this similarly so far.