For the book readers on STR, what are you reading?

[thephat]

Working my way through Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac at the moment, which has been an incredible look into the roughshod fumblings and introspections of the emerging beat poets, all as they were all on the cusp of defining what became the beat generation. Written in Kerouac's stream-of-concousness style it's not for everyone, and flows at a certain cadence, but if you've ever read On the Road I highly recommend it.

Last weekend picked up Cormac McCarthy's The Orchard Keeper, one of ther few of his i have yet to read, along with Visions of Cody also by Kerouac, which discusses his relationship with Neal Cassady, his compatriot in On the Road and beat hero. Cassady also drove the Merry Pranksters bus in 1964, for those that have read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Nice to see other readers on here...

These are all good reads. I went through a faze where I read all the Beat fiction that I could find.

 

[amor587]

Just read "Into the wild"..... very good read IMO. I recently picked up Beautiful Boy by David Sheff (kinda a random Starbucks purchase) and half way through it, it is very good. A true story of a father's (the author) journey through his son's Meth addiction.

 

[thephat]

Not nearly as intellectual as some of you, but I'm reading "Into Thin Air" right now and have "Into the Wild" queued for after that.

FWIW, Justin and I both loved Atlas Shrugged. My senior (HS) english teacher recommended it as extra reading and I read it in about 6 weeks. Essentially all I did was go to school, read, and sleep. I didn't like the Fountainhead as much.

Other than that I'm looking into getting some training/cycling books, but not sure I'll order any.

Robert Heinline was clearly infuenced by Rand.

My older brother and I were just talking about that book.
He's a huge fan and told me it's a must read.

True cult classic.

You can almost draw real life philosophy from it.

 

[art23rockpile]

More great sci-fi writers:

"The Group" (all are/were friends)
Richard Matheson ('I Am Legend', 'A Stir of Echos', What Dreams May Come, + many Twilight Zone episodes)
Ray Bradbury
William F. Nolan
Charles Beaumont
Harlan Ellison

also...
Jack Vance
Fritz Leiber
Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, Minority Report, Ubik, Man in the High Castle)

 

[JoeTruth]

I was visiting with some friends (my daughters friends really) on Sunday and in conversation, the father told me he recently released a book on his self-biography. It's called "1001 Nights in Iraq" and is a true story about his own trials and tribulations in the Iraq war (Desert Storm). Very interesting and sad story. I was intrigued so I asked if I can buy a copy from him directly. I just started reading it but looks very promising. He now works for an Aerospace company out of El Segundo which is a contractor for the Air Force. From a POW to a government (indirectly) employee. Only in America!

http://www.amazon.com/1001-Nights-I...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208363621&sr=1-1

 

[allison]

Robert Heinline was clearly infuenced by Rand.

I read a Heinlein book in college taking a Sci Fi lit class. I can't remember the name, though. I should look and see if I still have it.

Some of my fave books from college, though (English major, so I read a lot), were probably Things Fall Apart (Achebe), Jazz (Toni Morrison), and I guess I'd probably throw The Sound & The Fury (Faulkner) in there as well.

Wish I could make time (note I didn't say wish I had time, just that I felt like making time) to read a bit more now. #-o

 

[Evil Chocula]

Richard Matheson ('I Am Legend', 'A Stir of Echos', What Dreams May Come, + )

"I am Legend" awesome book..... TERRIBLE movie.

 

[allison]

"I am Legend" awesome book..... TERRIBLE movie.

Ugh. I have one major complaint. It's a novella, not a novel. And when I bought it came with a series of short stories RIGHT after the ending. So for the first 10-20 pages I was sitting there wondering what on earth the mini-stories had to do with I am Legend. Nothing. They weren't part of the story #-o Unfortunately ruined the ending for me.

The movie was aight, but definitely a better story in the book.

 

[doulos]

I also like Douglas Adams. Very funny. Hitchhiker trilogy that's not a trilogy.

 

[thephat]

I also like Douglas Adams. Very funny. Hitchhiker trilogy that's not a trilogy.

The ever increasingly innacurately named trillogy is very good for laughs. I like the older stuff even better: Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, and Dirk Jently's Holistic Detective agency.

 

[allison]

Any of you sci-fi fans ever read King's set of Dark Tower series books? I think I read 1-4 or 5, but didn't read the last two or so. I started one of them and it seemed to not be as good as the others.

 

[art23rockpile]

"I am Legend" awesome book..... TERRIBLE movie.

I haven't seen the movie, but i've heard from many that it doesn't measure up to the novel (in the 70's it was filmed as 'The Omega Man' with Charlton Heston). The movie 'What Dreams May Come' was downright ghey... especially the ending, which is completely different than in the book.

 

[DownHillPhil]

"Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion" by Dan Simmons

All of the above are found in the sci-fi section, although they combine sci-fi/fantasy/horror. A few of them won major awards. Some may be out-of-print. All are quite unique.

+10000 on Dan Simmons. there is a third book called Endymion in that series.

I also recommend "Ilium" and its sequel "Olympos"

also "The Terror" by our boy Dan Simmons

For those into far-future science fiction, there are a number of really awesome books written around the Warhammer 40K universe.

Eisenhorn
Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium
The Space Wolf Omnibus
and of course the vaunted Horus Heresy

definitely caters to the geeky crowd though. I'd say Wikipedia it and check it out. Or give me a call. Between the two of us, me and Andrew have like 20-30 warhammer books

Any of you sci-fi fans ever read King's set of Dark Tower series books? I think I read 1-4 or 5, but didn't read the last two or so. I started one of them and it seemed to not be as good as the others.

Yes - I liked them a lot! I found the ending to be terribly appropriate.

 

[art23rockpile]

Any of you sci-fi fans ever read King's set of Dark Tower series books? I think I read 1-4 or 5, but didn't read the last two or so. I started one of them and it seemed to not be as good as the others.

Read the first two, but lost interest during the third. :-k
King's best 'recent' (within the last 20 years) seem to be "Rita Hayward and the Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile".

 

[DownHillPhil]

BTW I recommend books on how much I enjoyed them.. I am no prose snob or literary fluidity or any of that crap.

if I liked it I recommend it

Things that get the stamp of disapproval:
books with a lot of typos
poor descriptive language
lack of character definition


thats about it.

 

[allison]

Read the first two, but lost interest during the third. :-k
King's best 'recent' (within the last 20 years) seem to be "Rita Hayward and the Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile".

His books before the accident were all pretty good. Since, not so much.

My fave is probably The Stand, though.

Seemed like it could have been a good series (Dark Tower) but I think too much time lapsed in between the first few and the later ones that were released like post-2002 (I think they came out 03, 04?)

 

[cbHarping]

For a funny read, I love David Sedaris.

I also love checking out writers' debut novels. Something I always watch out for.

 

[Evil Chocula]

Any of you sci-fi fans ever read King's set of Dark Tower series books? I think I read 1-4 or 5, but didn't read the last two or so. I started one of them and it seemed to not be as good as the others.

I loved the first 4 too; he kind of lost it on the last two though. I think he had trouble wrapping it up. There's talk of Dark Tower movie, which I'm sure will be complete crapola!

Also a big "The Stand" fan.

 

[lardbutt]

Books

For you science fantasy dweebles out there, it's hard to beat Terry Brooks. His Shannara series is fantastic reading with lots of great character development. Start with Sword of Shannara and then read First King of Shannara. There is a spot in First King that will curl your toes and make your hair stand on end if you read them in that order. Trust me, you'll know the spot when you get there. Never had a book do that too me before! (Am I sharing too much here??? :lol

And for more recent fiction, read anything by Nelson DeMille, especially his recent Wildfire. Scary stuff, but I hope it exists! His Cardinal in the Kremlin is a fantastic read too. And for sheer "24"-type kick the bad terrorist guys in the teeth reading, anything by Vince Flynn, but especially Memorial Day. Flynn has great character development too!

Jeesh, I think I need to read less and ride more! 8-[

 

[Zippy]

Any of you sci-fi fans ever read King's set of Dark Tower series books? I think I read 1-4 or 5, but didn't read the last two or so. I started one of them and it seemed to not be as good as the others.

I devoured that series. Even have a few hardback versions. I also really enjoy stuff by David Eddings, though his stuff starts to seem VERY similar the more you read it.

Oh yeah, Crichton's books are amazing and Dan Brown spins a good yarn. Just realize that Brown makes some HUGE leaps when coming to conclusions about the "facts" he claims to have uncovered.