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The Official Novel Thread -What Are You Reading?

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  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    About 2 chapters into Dresden Files Cold Days. Pretty good so far. So happy it hasn't been spoiled for me yet.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. Not really sure how I feel about it yet.

    That is one of my favorite books and it took me reading it 2 times to really get what Dick was trying to say. But still a great classic piece of Science fiction.

  • Now reading volume 7 of the Eternal Champion: Corum: The Coming Of Chaos.
  • nweathingtonnweathington Posts: 6,748

    Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. Not really sure how I feel about it yet.

    I read it when I was in 5th grade. I got it through the monthly Scholastic book catalog they passed out in school. The Blade Runner movie had just come out, so this is what it looked like:

    image

    It struck me funny that while I couldn’t see the movie (rated R), I could read the novel. I didn't see the movie until a couple of years later when I taped the TV broadcast, so at the time I read the book I didn't know how different the two were. I love both, though it's been a long time since I read the book.
  • Chuck_MelvilleChuck_Melville Posts: 3,003
    edited January 2013

    Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. Not really sure how I feel about it yet.

    I read it when I was in 5th grade. I got it through the monthly Scholastic book catalog they passed out in school. The Blade Runner movie had just come out, so this is what it looked like:

    image

    It struck me funny that while I couldn’t see the movie (rated R), I could read the novel. I didn't see the movie until a couple of years later when I taped the TV broadcast, so at the time I read the book I didn't know how different the two were. I love both, though it's been a long time since I read the book.
    If I recall rightly, the title used for the movie (Blade Runner) was actually appropriated from another SF series because it was shorter and sounded cool. In that other series (I forget the author's name, unfortunately; A E VanVogt comes to mind, but I don't know if that's correct), 'blade runner' referred to a space medic or surgeon.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. Not really sure how I feel about it yet.

    I read it when I was in 5th grade. I got it through the monthly Scholastic book catalog they passed out in school. The Blade Runner movie had just come out, so this is what it looked like:

    image

    It struck me funny that while I couldn’t see the movie (rated R), I could read the novel. I didn't see the movie until a couple of years later when I taped the TV broadcast, so at the time I read the book I didn't know how different the two were. I love both, though it's been a long time since I read the book.
    That is the same cover my first copy had. I still have that copy plus a nice hardback copy.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. Not really sure how I feel about it yet.

    I read it when I was in 5th grade. I got it through the monthly Scholastic book catalog they passed out in school. The Blade Runner movie had just come out, so this is what it looked like:

    image

    It struck me funny that while I couldn’t see the movie (rated R), I could read the novel. I didn't see the movie until a couple of years later when I taped the TV broadcast, so at the time I read the book I didn't know how different the two were. I love both, though it's been a long time since I read the book.
    If I recall rightly, the title used for the movie (Blade Runner) was actually appropriated from another SF series because it was shorter and sounded cool. In that other series (I forget the author's name, unfortunately; A E VanVogt comes to mind, but I don't know if that's correct), 'blade runner' referred to a space medic or surgeon.
    You are right sir.
  • chriswchrisw Posts: 792
    They were still selling that cover even into the late '90s, because that's when I got mine. I sold it last year on eBay, not for a lot, but a little more than I expected, to someone specifically looking for that cover.
  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318
    just smashed Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain. gotta love Gretchen Lowell.

    Run Gretchen Run!
  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318
    Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2)
  • hauberkhauberk Posts: 1,511
    World War Z by Max Brooks and Memory of Light by Robert Jordan / Brandon Sanderson. Just wrapped up Paoloni's (sp?) Inheritance Cycle. My son had read and reallly enjoyed them. While I think that he may have had a couple of original ideas, it really was as derivative as I had heard before opening the books.
  • random73 said:

    Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2)

    I envy how many Reacher adventures you still have to read...
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    Cold days by Jim Butcher

    The newest of the Dresden Files series and wow this is one of the better ones. It has more twists than a 24 hour marathon of Chubby Checker songs. Plus the ending sets up the next book perfectly. Just sucks it will be at least 10 months,if not more,before that comes out.
  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318

    random73 said:

    Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2)

    I envy how many Reacher adventures you still have to read...
    i actually jumped into these out of order. my first Reacher read was Bad Luck and trouble which was really good. this is my 2nd one and it is only a coincidence that it also happens to be #2 in the series. at this point i do plan on jumping back to #1 and working through in order.

    dubbat138 said:

    Cold days by Jim Butcher

    The newest of the Dresden Files series and wow this is one of the better ones. It has more twists than a 24 hour marathon of Chubby Checker songs. Plus the ending sets up the next book perfectly. Just sucks it will be at least 10 months,if not more,before that comes out.

    OH i So cannot wait to dig into that one. 2011 was the Year of Dresden for me I read all 13 novels back to back and have been waiting for this one. so glad to know it is up to par.
  • Chuck_MelvilleChuck_Melville Posts: 3,003
    edited January 2013
    Currently into Sailing To Utopia, the eighth volume of the Eternal Champion saga... which puts me about halfway through the set.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    random73 said:

    random73 said:

    Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2)

    I envy how many Reacher adventures you still have to read...
    i actually jumped into these out of order. my first Reacher read was Bad Luck and trouble which was really good. this is my 2nd one and it is only a coincidence that it also happens to be #2 in the series. at this point i do plan on jumping back to #1 and working through in order.

    dubbat138 said:

    Cold days by Jim Butcher

    The newest of the Dresden Files series and wow this is one of the better ones. It has more twists than a 24 hour marathon of Chubby Checker songs. Plus the ending sets up the next book perfectly. Just sucks it will be at least 10 months,if not more,before that comes out.

    OH i So cannot wait to dig into that one. 2011 was the Year of Dresden for me I read all 13 novels back to back and have been waiting for this one. so glad to know it is up to par.

    I really enjoyed it. See I started reading the Dresden books back in late 2007. And read all the books that were out at that time. And since then read each book as they come out.
  • shroud68shroud68 Posts: 457
    Not a novel but even better, the long awaited third volume of Winston Churchill's biography. Europe in 1940 is so much more intetersting to read about than Westeros has been lately!
  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318
    just tore through the first Joe Pitt book Already Dean by Charlie Houston (Moonknight) and it was a hell train of awesome.
  • Re-reading the Dune books, and I am about halfway through Children of Dune. Lovin' it!
  • LibraryBoyLibraryBoy Posts: 1,803
    Stumbled across The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened by Don Roberts at the library last week. Well, more like it literally fell into my hands while I was shelving a book next to it... sometimes you find the book, sometimes the book finds you!

    So far it's awesome... great high school coming of age stuff without being really sappy or trying to ape The Catcher in the Rye or A Separate Peace. But about halfway through, it's shaping up to end sadly.
  • Reading Kane Of Old Mars, the 9th volume of The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock, which is the author's love song to Burroughs and John Carter Of Mars.
  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318
    finished Joe Pitt #2 No Dominion by Charlie Huston. Ostensibly just a brutal crime book set in a vampire infested New York but under the surface an intricate web of political machinations that honestly filled me with joy. Joe is not what you would call a criminal with a heart of gold. Joe'll straight murder a fucker. He is a black, tar filled, cancer ridden lung and damn if i don't love him for it. Think of Richard Stark's (Okay Donald Westlake's) Parker with fangs and you get an idea.
  • luke52luke52 Posts: 1,392
    I'm making my way through a couple books at the moment, not novels, but worth posting about.

    First, The Futher Adventures of an Idiot Abroad. This is the (retrospective) travel diary of Karl Pilkington. Taken from the show of the same name, he was tasked with completing several things from top 100 things to do before you die. I find Karl hilarious on screen and he's just as funny in writing. I've read the rest of his books, which are all great, and this is up there with them. His brutally frank and sometimes (most times) idiotic outlook on life, travel and culture is remarkable to say the least.

    Second I'm just finishing up Marvel Comics the Untold Story. We've all heard of this and it is such an interesting read I'm loving it. I'd love to read a DC version. Are there any more books on comic history out there that I could pick up? Is the Stan Lee autobiography worth getting?
  • hauberkhauberk Posts: 1,511
    Have now wrapped up both World War Z and Memory of Light. I very much enjoyed both.

    World War Z was an interesting and compelling read. What I found most interesting was how Brooks used the idea of a zombie outbreak to highlight what he perceived as significant societal breakdowns which could contribute to a global pandemic. Having now read it, I absolutely cannot see how the movie can come close to doing it justice.

    Memory of Light was, for me, a very satisfying conclusion to The Wheel of Time. Sanderson did a nice job or wrapping up so many of the plot points (and in many cases throw-aways) from the story. There were one or two things that I feel maybe didn't get wrapped up in the way I would have liked, but all in all, it was a good read, had an utterly tremendous butcher's bill and left me feeling like I hadn't wasted the past 17 years spent following the series. Both my son and daughter have started to express interest in them. I'm eager to see what they think.

    Next up: Either Ian Cameron Esslemont's Orb, Scepter, Throne or David Drake's Legions of Fire possibly with a brief stop back with Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    hauberk said:

    Have now wrapped up both World War Z and Memory of Light. I very much enjoyed both.

    World War Z was an interesting and compelling read. What I found most interesting was how Brooks used the idea of a zombie outbreak to highlight what he perceived as significant societal breakdowns which could contribute to a global pandemic. Having now read it, I absolutely cannot see how the movie can come close to doing it justice.

    From the couple of trailers I have seen for WORLD WAR Z it looks like they took the title of the novel and that is about it. I think adapting the novel as a one season TV show might be better.

  • chriswchrisw Posts: 792

    I bought Michael Chabon's new novel 'Telegraph Avenue' yesterday. It's phenomenal. If you liked 'Kavelier and Clay' give it a shot. Chabon is the greatest living American writer as far as I'm concerned. Maybe some authors have written better books, but no one can match Chabon's consistency in my opinion.

    I finished this last week. I personally enjoyed it, but found it a little bit all over the place to recommend it to other people over something like Kavalier & Clay, which I think is probably an easier read for most people. I got the pop culture references sprinkled throughout the book, but a lot of them were pretty obscure, so I can imagine them confusing a lot of readers. Anything that casually drops references to Wakanda, the blue area of the moon, Fred Williamson, Star Trek and Bruce Lee is right up my alley, not so much for others.

    Amazon seems to offer Chabon's stuff on sale for Kindle quite often, and I've accumulated a number of his books, so I think I might try to read all his works. I've only read Kavalier and Clay and Telegraph Avenue so far, but loved them both.
  • chriswchrisw Posts: 792
    I've added the complete works of Mark Twain to my reading rotation, so I'm currently reading his first book, a travelogue entitled Innocents Abroad. It's okay, with some interesting historical details, but it's still a travelogue written in the 1860s, so it's a bit of a slog, and at over 600 pages, I'm a little daunted at how long it may take me to finish it. I'm already eager to read something else, but I'll get through it.

    Interestingly, I read online that this was his best-selling book during his lifetime, even more than Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and others that I would have assumed held that title.
  • PlaneisPlaneis Posts: 980
    Just had surgery. Gonna be home for a while. May have gone overboard at the library. Got a bunch of books and Our Worlds At War (Superman) and Knightfall.

    Currently reading Our Worlds at War. Just finished the 8th Confession (James Patterson) and started 9th Judgement (Patterson again).

    Really need to start on some books I got for Christmas like a history of James Bond and some Woodward books about Pres. Obama.
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087
    Planeis said:

    Just had surgery. Gonna be home for a while........

    wishing you a speedy recovery :)>-
  • PlaneisPlaneis Posts: 980

    Planeis said:

    Just had surgery. Gonna be home for a while........

    wishing you a speedy recovery :)>-
    thank you. nothing serious, just tore a tendon.
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