Now reading (The Book Thread)

Yeah I'm liking God Emperor of Dune so far. It took a little getting used to, because all the characters that had been established in the first 3 books except for Leto II and one other character (don't wanna spoil anything) have been gone for about 3000 years and the culture has changed drastically.
I don't know, I guess I thought they would follow the Golden Path chronologically (which they did, they just skipped about 3000 years rather than picking up a year or two after Children of Dune). But the fact that they skipped so much time is making me curious as to what they thought is so much more important :D
 
1. The Beach - Alex Garland
2. Laborynth - Kate Mosse
3. Eragon (by someone..!)
4. Evil Star - Anthony Horowitz
5. my geography revision book which is mind numbingly boring

who cares about mid latitude depressions and anticyclonic gloom?

not me!
 
Liveship Traders

Just finished Ship of Magic, by Robin Hobb. And I suppose it's about time. I think I bought the copy from her, had her sign it at the Book Festival ... man, was that eight years ago? The thing is that I'm generally not a reader of books that fall under the heading, "Fantasy". There are a few authors, though, whose works draw my attention despite the genre. Robin Hobb is one of them. I can't believe it took me so damn long to get around to this one. It took me a while with Assassin's Apprentice, too. Even the title grates a little bit. So I should have known better about Ship of Magic. As with any proper genre series, though, the book ties up no loose ends before the last page. That would simply be improper. I think my jacket copy blurb would be "Defiant, entertaining storytelling!" Oh, maybe that one's been used before by someone else. Of course, who the hell cares?
 
I'll rate them out of 5. 5 being the best.

In the past few weeks I've read -

Almost Heaven - David Fletcher 3
Them (Adventures with Extremists) - Jon Ronson 4
Voyageur - Robert Twigger 5
Call of the Wild - Guy Grieve 4.5
Are You Dave Gorman? - Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace 4

and I've been looking through

(Collins need to know) Outdoor Survival - John 'Lofty' Wiseman 3.5

I still need to get his SAS survival one, but I imagine it's much the same.

Still to read -

Attention All Shipping - Charlie Connelly
Vroom with a View - Peter Moore (then I'll have read all his books)
Diaries - Michael Palin (the size of it scares me, it's fecking huge)
and
The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin

Should keep me going 'til Christmas... but I'm planning a book buying extravaganza come Boxing Day.
 
I don't know, I guess I thought they would follow the Golden Path chronologically (which they did, they just skipped about 3000 years rather than picking up a year or two after Children of Dune). But the fact that they skipped so much time is making me curious as to what they thought is so much more important
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3500 years of enforced peace (the Golden Path) is mind-numbingly boring. That's why.

That's sort of the point. Hope you've finished the book before you read this.
 
Just finished:

Clapton's Guitar
Why Gender Matters
The God Delusion
Breaking the Spell
The Long Tail
The Progress Paradox

Getting ready to start:

The Feeling of What Happens
Wealth of Nations
 
"Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film" by Maya Deren

As a filmmaker to be I've found this book to be encouraging and from the start giving me insights which I would probably have found after years of thinking.
Maya's philosophy on creating films is something worth reading, something revealing.

Book Description (from Amazon)
Until now, Maya Deren's essays on the art and craft of filmmaking have not been available in a comprehensive volume equally handy for students, film enthusiasts, and scholars. Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film contains all of Deren's essays on her own films as well as more general essays on film theory, the relation of film to dance, various technical aspects of film production, the distinction between amateur and professional filmmaking, and the famous 1946 chapbook titled "An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film," which has been reset here for the first time. There are hard-to-find articles written for magazines and art journals, as well as lectures, Q&A sessions, program notes, and manifestoes. This book will be particularly welcomed by the large audience that saw Martina Kudlacek's documentary, "In the Mirror of Maya Deren," during its theatrical release in the U.S. and Europe in 2002. The importance of Maya Deren's films and writings is further evidenced by the American Film Institute having named its highest award for independent filmmaking the "Maya Deren."
 
just read "the stranger" for the first time - funny huh?
Anyway, I wasn't blown away -camus is pretty awesome, but the stranger didn't do much for me. Did anyone here really love this book? Why?

Now reading, "camus' hellenic sources" -don't know how accurate this can actually be regarding camus himself, but I don't care, it is very interesting. How many lifetimes can I need? I need an extra one just to go to the mediterranean and read greek stuff for a few years.

Also, "how (not) to speak of god".

About to open up Jorge luis Borges, selected non-fiction, seems interesting from the few things I have scanned out of it.
 
leopold99 said:
i have read "the caves of steel" and "the rest of the robots" by asimov
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'Pebble in the sky' is a wonderfull book by Asimov. And who can forget 'Andromeda Strain'!! Right now im reading ' How the Irish Saved Civilization', Tom Clanceys 'Without Remorse', and William Shattners 'Tek War'!! lol
 
I'm strangely and curiously drawn into the 1998 (I think) revision of Hawking's A Brief History of Time. One of the things I'm getting from it, actually, is that more of what my generation takes for granted was, in fact, groundbreaking when put before the people during my lifetime. Abstract social comment, at least as it occurs to me at this very moment: No wonder people are disappointed.

I couldn't possibly explain it right now.
 
just read "the stranger" for the first time - funny huh?
Anyway, I wasn't blown away -camus is pretty awesome, but the stranger didn't do much for me. Did anyone here really love this book? Why?
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The Stranger had some interesting things to say about it, but for the most part wasn't really the spokespiece for existentialism that most see it as.

Meursault didn't really make choices. In fact, he tended to avoid them. He just sorta went with the flow. And, I suppose, many think that this is what existentialism is.
Of course, it's not.

Meursault was damaged, in many ways. He was, so to speak, a physiolgical existentialist. He lived in the moment, surely. But not from choice.

I find it interesting how he convinced himself that it was foolish to think that he was being judged by the people at his mother's funeral, when, of course, he was being judged. He found this out the hard way at the end when he was convicted and sentenced to death, not for the murder of an Algerian (who were seen as less than human), but rather for not crying at his mother's funeral.


The Plague is far better in my opinion.

Those are the only two Camus books I've read. I've got the Fall around here somewhere, I should get to that one of these days.
 
I think i might revisit "Frankenstein"

Very good book...and nothing of what popular culture perceives it too be.
 
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"Hiroshima"

I gotta say the line between reality of the situation and sci-fi like imagery seems to intertwine at times. With every paragraph, I grow much more optimistic of the world I live in.
 
Currently reading The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman, having just finished Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds. Working my way through the books from Christmas still. Another book I've read recently that I enjoyed was The Shadow of the Wind.
 
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