What are you reading? (Besides books about 3d)

[Fizzy]

Well, I was sort of lost and bored with 3d for like 2 months now. I sort of lost heart in it because I'm still unemployed. That's neither here nor there. So I decided to take a break and try to get inspired. After many weeks of beer fueled depression I did two things - 1) rented a video of the comedian Bill Hicks (brilliant and surprisingly relevant to what's happening in the world today) and 2) read "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman.

I know most of you of a certain age have probably seen the movie, as did I, but if you like that type of humorous storytelling then I really recommend this book. It was just incredible because it is one of the greatest adventure story fairytale books out there, but you also get some interesting character background that a movie just can't go into without boring an audience to death. Also, the book is more than just a cleverly disguised kid's book - it's not just a kid's book at all and I could go into this a lot more but I don't want to bore everyone.

Needless to say, I finished this book and decided I just had to model some of the characters from it. Particularly Inigo Montoya I guess it's our shared love of drinking when things go wrong that drew me to him ;) .

This got me thinking, what books inspired you and why? Here's a list of more books I recommend...

The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams- Okay, so it's a trilogy in five parts and some aren't so great, but read at least the first book, if not the first two. It's just so clever. I wrote my Bachelor Thesis on the first book so I could say a lot more.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut- You may need to read this a few times because of the way the narrative jumps around so much. A great anti-war book and how people who experience extreme tragedy have to deal with it in extreme ways.

Vurt by Jeff Noon - If you've ever read any Cyberpunk type of book this one will blow you away. He just really messes with everyday objects and reinterprets and remixes reality in a very cool way.

Really the Blues by Mezz Mezzrow - This isn't fiction, but sometimes the guy is just plain out lying. He's a white guy from Chicago who gets into Jazz and decides that he's really a black musician. A strange examination of race in America that is also an amazing story. He claims to have got involved with Al Capone's woman, to have introduced marijuana to Harlem, then spent a year in a basement addicted to opium and more! I wrote my Master's thesis on this book.

So post your own, and I can list more later - I've read a lot.

[artchick]

Here are some great books I've read lately:

1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon:
In general, this book is about 2 kids growing up in NYC during WWII, who start their own comic book company. Especially cool if you are now, or have ever been, into comic books. One of my all-time favorites.

2. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
This book is non-fiction, but I read the whole thing in a couple of days because it was so interesting. It tells about how the fast food industry started in Southern California, and how it's responsible for most of our culture today, including the highway system and minimum wage. It may also turn you into a vegetarian.

3. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
A guy from India takes a Japanese freighter to move to Canada...the boat sinks, and he ends up in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. I had the feeling I was either going to end up really liking this book or really hating it...turns out I really liked it.

and my official entrance into total nerd-dom:

4. Lapsing Into a Comma : A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them
by Bill Walsh
This is pretty much a grammar book that will actually make you laugh out loud. If you dig the bad pun in the title, this book is for you.


Currently, I'm reading a book called
Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
by Christopher Moore

The title cracked me up...I just started, but so far, so good.

[Jenn]

1. The Chronicles of Narnia - who doesn't love these books?

2. His Dark Materials trilogy - I can't rate this trilogy high enough. I can't even begin to describe these books and to do so would give away everything. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440418321/ref=pd_ser_asin_1/102-2645136-0268941?v=glance&s=books

3. I've just finished Timeline by Micheal Crichton, What can I say? It's your typical Micheal Crichton book. It started out great and ended lame. The first half of this book will certainly entertain your inner geek. The second half is pure hollywood fluff.

[geoMan]

i am into science fictions u know...good ones.....only cuz they have some new and modern stuff...and i love fast things and technology...


i recently finished "pebble in the sky" by Asimov, "the first martian" by A.E.Van Vogtm "Madness from Mars" by Clifford A. Simak, "The lost machine" by Wells

i finish one , almost daily........i started " Voices of time" by Billard yesterday....its a bit big....but i'll finish it....:)

me reading so many books is the courtesy of my Uncle's home library....i found a compendium of Science Fiction stories.....they are lovely...

by the way....i will be bumping around this thread...just to get names of some more stories :D

cya!

[Jyncus]

Originally posted by Jenn-3DT
3. I've just finished Timeline by Micheal Crichton, What can I say? It's your typical Micheal Crichton book. It started out great and ended lame. The first half of this book will certainly entertain your inner geek. The second half is pure hollywood fluff.

Haha so true..
I'll admit I was definitely intrigued by the idea(s) introduced in the beginning of the book...but like you said, the ending is all action. Too much coincidence in the book for my taste.
I heard the movie was pretty lame too..havent seen it yet myself tho.
:)

As for my reading, I just finished up this book called Digital Fortress by Dan Brown - same guy who wrote The Da Vinci Code. An interesting book (err, if your a geeky kinda person). Lotta action throughout the book and a nice fairytale ending.
:p

[Fizzy]

"Lamb" was a pretty fun read. Again, I tend to gravitate towards that style of writing, but it sort of goes pear shaped at some points. I've been meaning to get my hands on "The Life of Pi" for a little while now.

I hate to mention this Jenn but I didn't like the Narnia books. I don't know why but I tried reading them when I was a kid and they didn't hold my attention for some reason. If you get a chance I recommend "The Screwtape Letters" by the same author whose name escapes me at this moment (I'll feel like an idiot when it hits me - it's on the tip of my tongue....aaaaaahhh!). -EDIT- It just hit me as I lay in bed last night C.S. Lewis - yay.

For a good mystery try "Witch Hunt" by Ian Rankin, written as Jack Harvey. If you're looking for it second hand it may be under either of the author's names.

[Mike-3DT]

Currently finishing up "on the road" by Jack Kerouac. Gotta love those carazy gone beat kids, daddio...

Before that I also read the amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay (As recomended to me by artchick up there,) which was excellent.
Also recently finihsed fast food nation (spooky Heather...) - I was vegetarian prior to reading it & it certainly didn't compel me to turn back to eating meat. Very interesting though.

Other recent reads:
The catcher in the rye - excellent. Everything I was hoping it would be.
To kill a mockingbird - words cannot describe this book. one of my all time favourites.
Stupid white men & adventures in a tv nation both by michael moore.
I think therefore I laugh - the humour of philosophy & the philosophy of humour.
The Tao of Pooh & the Te of Piglet by benjamin hoff - chinese philosophy as described through Winnie the Pooh. A personal favourite, I must read this once a year.
The hitchhikers guide books - I love anything by adams & must read the full 5 book series at least once a year too.

[Chris-3DT]

Hey Fizzy, i'm studying Literature sciences and would love to read your bachelor thesis, would you email me a copy, please?


From the end of Feburary until the end of April there are no seminars and lecutres in German universities, so the comparatisic students are obliged to do what we have to do most: read.

From the beginning of the lexture-less time till now, I read these (in alphabetical order):

---Abdolah, Kader: The journey of the empty bottles.
A book written in Dutch by a persian refugee. He's picked up a lot from Shakespeare's The Tempest, if you ask me. The book is about Bolfazl, persian reugee in the netherlands, trying to fit into his new life while still being attached to his old life. it is good allthough nothing to die for.

--- Allan Poe, Edgar: The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether

--- Allan Poe, Edgar: The literary life of thingum Bob

--- Allan Poe, Edgar: How to write a Blackwood article

--- Allan Poe, Edgar: A Predicament

--- Allan Poe, Edgar: The business man
the last 5 are all short stories. They are brilliant and dead funny, apart from the urgen legend kind of thing (literature scientist-wannabe or not, i can't be botherd to argue precisely here). I especially loved the literary life but the buisness man was also hilarious.

--- Auster, Paul: The New York Tilogy
a remakrable book made by a comparatist (comapring literature-scientist) for comparatists. Auster quotes from many important pieces of world literature. this trilogy is simply breathtaking and highly advised to anyone. If you like Kafka and Beckett chance are good you will love these three.


--- Auster, Paul: The red notebook
a collection of (socalled) true stories (i'm not convinced that they are yet), that tell strange coincidences and happenings. It is not worth buying for 10US$, but if you see it in the library risking to read it won't hurt.

--- Beckett, Samuel: Molloy
hard to describe but worth to be read. it is dark, kafkasque (i really dislike to use this overused adjective, but here it applies). The complete senselessness of life (or at least a good deal thereof) presented in one volume.

--- Beckett, Samuel: Waiting for Godot
do i have to say anything about didi and gogo?

--- Beigebeder, Frédéric: don't know the title right now, but it's a series of (very) short essays on 50 books chosen by 6000 frenchmen as the canon of literature from the 20th century. some funny remarks in there.

--- Frisch, Max: Stiller
[i]brilliant insight, nothing to add

--- Frisch, Max: Gantenbein (Mein Name sei Gantenbein)
wow! an imagined individual imagines to pretend to be blind... great, just great

--- Gran, jegor: Ipso Facto
the auhtor is trying to go for a grotesque bt it backfires. maybe it's the translation but as i read it is was simply no good. sorry.

--- Hasz, Robert: The Garden of Diogenes
offers some ground for comparison with The journey of the empty bottles.

--- Kafka, Franz: Ein Hungerkünstler (A hunger arist?)
After having read most of Kafka's stuff this was still there to be read. especially considering i'll have to read Auster's The Art of Hunger soon.


currently i'm reading Umberto Eco's il nome della rosa (Name of the rose), which I hope to finish soon to move on to Ingeborg Bachmann's Malina or some more Becket...we'll see...

[Jake The Snake]

I've been reading the redone version of Stephen King's Dark Tower series

[happychopper]

Michel Houellebecq : Atomised - the greatest book I've ever read - finished it last week - blew me over. Took me a day to recover from it - the final 50 pages leave you feeling like you've just been knocked over by a train. Gagging to read his other two.

Read it!

Phil

[Ironbuket]

I dont really read that much, and when I do its usually only books recommended to me by others. I dont often take the risk of just choosing something myself.

The last thing I read was "Quest of the Three Worlds - Cordwainer Smith". Recommended to me as "the best Science fiction story ever". I thought it sucked :P

Right now I am reading "Nomads of Gor - John Norman". One of a series of books. I was told this is one of the better ones. So Im going to try this and if I like it maybe get the others too.

[Fizzy]

This winter I was on a huge Sci-Fi reading binge. But I don't think I've read anything considered recent.

I decided to do an exploration into the past of Sci-fi. I started by re-reading Neal Stephanson's "Snow Crash." It's just a really fun read and a workout for your arms - it's HUGE! Great characters and I like how he flips all the anti-establishment ethos of cyberpunk on its head and gets away with it.

Then I borrowed Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. I liked it at first but by the third book I started to get bored with it all. Just too much of the same - it happens. Like when I rented the first season of 24 on DVD and loved it, then started renting the second season right away. It's just overkill even though I like it.

Next up was Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days." I always thought there was a hot air balloon in that story - there isn't. I discovered it's just one of those cultural myths like when Bogart says "Play it again, Sam." - he never actually says that in Casablanca. What happened, I think, is that the original version of "Around the World ..." was released with the story "Five Weeks in a Balloon" and they sort of became one idea. (I think that's the name of the story.

Finally, I read "Frankenstein" and loved it. I was amazed at just how modern the book is. It reads really well and basically sets up the ruling notion behind all science fiction that followed.

I'm currently reading Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" - only four pages in so I have no opinion.

[USED]

I am also reading,
Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems

[Daniel]

The books I usually like are horror. I really like Stephen King, the best of his work to me though is his Dark Tower series, I've read them all at least 3 times each. He did release the 5th one not too long ago, but the book is only out in hard cover that costs 60$, so I'll wait for the paperback.

another author I really like is Dean Koontz, a few of my best would be seize the night, the watchers, from the corner ofhis eye, cold fire.

I also like some of Anne Rice's work having to do with the series 'interview with the vampire'.

so yeah these are my types of book, but I haven't read a book in about 6 months I think, maybe I'll read one this summer :roll:

[Chris-3DT]

Fizzy, for beginnings of scifi try Stanislaw Lem: Solaris.

Great book!

[Emperor]

I'm a fantasy kind of guy.

ATM on my second run of the main Tolkien works, excluding the Hobbit. Just finished the War of the Ring trilogy and started reading the Silmarillion.

Other books that I really like are those about the Sword of Shannara. Very good indeed!

Found a copy of Star Wars episode IV some while ago and found the book lots better tehn the movie since it gave much more insight about the characters in that way only books can.

[TheOne]

I like the books of and about Musashi.

I'm currently reading "Musashi" by "Eiji Yoshikawa", ist very good! :)

[XLNT 3d]

Real Estate investing and stock investing. It is the only way to secure your future retirement. CG isn't going to do it unless you setup some solid royalties.

[happychopper]

Papillon by Henry Charriere - why all the Sci Fi/Fantasy stuff? The best stories come from real life (err, other than the book I mentioned earlier) Don't bother with the film - far too much cut out - the book is a lesson for all in how to endure some of the worst injustices that can be landed on someone.

Go read!

Phil

[Fizzy]

happychopper - I loved that book! It's kind of funny though, I bought it in French because I wanted to make sure I could still read French. It took me about 50 pages before I really knew what was happening so I went back and re-read the beginning. The book is just too amazing to be fiction (which I know it isn't). Also, for me, I was never a huge Sci-fi fan except for the Star Wars movies, but after two degrees in English Lit, I decided that I had finished nourishing myself on literature and it was time for dessert. So now I'm more interested in fun plots and characters so it's mostly sci-fi and mysteries that I'm reading.

Chris-3DT - Thanks for that, I'll try to find it. I'm about to bring a whole load of books to the Second Hand shop. I'm going to keep an eye out for "Ender's Game", "The Chrysalids", and "Day of the Triffids." I'm sure I spelled those last two incorrectly.

I also recommend "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemmingway. I recommend these if you are having trouble with storytelling. He uses very simple undescriptive language but the stories are incredibly moving and powerful. He uses language similar to how we learn to animate. First you just do it, then go back and take out all the stuff that doesn't need to be there. :)

[Psistorm]

my absolute favourite author is terry pratchett!
I read a lot of his discworld novels, I have like 20 or so here right now :) (most of em in english, I started out with german ones a few years ago. now I try to get em all in english, since they are so much better)

the last book I read was "monstrous regiment", and before that it was "night watch", which I would call one of the best books I ever read! the downside is that you should have read a few more of his books before that one, since it features a time jump 30 years in the past of the discworld, and shows the early years of many well-known characters :)
anways, I can recommend this book to anyone who knows a bit about the discworld and read a few books, its really worth it!

edit: I read paul auster´s "moon palace" in school, or should´ve read, lol!
the book looked a bit odd to me at first, reading the first chapters, but after looking at it closer in class, I realised how connected everything in this book is, and Ill read it again thoroughly after I finished school :)

and greetings to chris-3dt, I live near Karlsruhe btw :)

[Jenn]

Psistorm, I couldn't agree more. Terry Pratchett is awesome. I've only read a handful of his books but they are so much fun!

Another author I can recommend is Harry Turtledove. He writes alternate history fiction and is absolutely brilliant.

[Fizzy]

For a while I was reading books about Death. Not the process but the metaphysical personification. I stumbled across "Mort" by Terry Pratchett and just loved that book. I definately recommend it to anyone with a somewhat silly somewhat dark sense of humour. I also read "Soul Music" because it had death riding a bone-chopper harley. I ended up making my own 3d version called "The Death of Rock" - he's on my website (shameless plug).

I also really liked "Good Omens" by Pratchett and Neil Gaiman about the end of the world. Death also features in that.