What are you reading right now?

[Hiro Protagonist]

Title says it all.

Looking for some good books to read,
and this way hoping to amplify my perspective.

Please include your impression and a summary as well,
so we have stuff to talk about apart from the mere list thing.


So I'm currently reading:

E. A. van Vogt, "The Voyage of the Space Beagle".
Fairly old school science fiction novelette, think Space 1999.
Liking it so far, but it's really fairly conventional compared to more modern authors.


Ryo Mizuno, "La Sorciere Grise".
French translation of a Japanese fantasy classic (the base for the anime Lodoss War). Irrelevant book for children, but my French doesn't serve for more right now.

[Kambei Shimada]

Just finished the 'Border Trilogy' by Cormack McCarthy and am now reading some classic Sci-Fi in 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman.

I would highly recommend both.

[superangryfish]

Currently Reading "out of the dark" by david Weber

I would class it as Hard Military Sci-Fi

Brief Plot - alien Invasion Humans fight back Guerilla style, with a very odd deux ex machina at the end.

7/10 worth a go, not brilliant

[judoka_uk]

Literally, right now, I'm reading a chapter in 'Consumption and the World of Goods' about East West trade imbalances in the 17th and 18th centuries.

[cufaol]

I'm reading Robert Harris' LUSTRUM, the sequel to IMPERIUM. A fictionalized version of the life of Cicero as told by his slave Tiro. He stays pretty close to the actual political events. What really grabs me is how Harris manages to tell a story - of which I already now the plot - in such a way that I'm sitting on the edge of my seat. Highly recommended.

I'm also reading De Bello Gallico, Ceasar's account of his time in Gaul. I read it in High school and enjoyed it thoroughly. I can only say that my latin has become very rusty indeed so it will take me a while to finish this.

Then there's also a very good translation of Il Principe that is waiting for me. (I am forced to read the dutch translation since my Italian is not nearly good enough to read the original)

Science Fiction wise: I finished re-reading the Night's Dawn trilogy (Peter F. Hamilton) last week. I found it almost as thrilling as I the first time I read it and that's saying a lot since I usually do not re-read fiction. 8/10

[Soldiermedic]

I am currently reading, "The Bucolic Plague" a memoir about a gay Manhattanite couple who buy and try to operate a small goat farm in upstate New York. The author, Josh Kilmer-Purcell also writes for the Village Voice and NPR. He also had a previous book about how he balanced a successful advertising career while also maintaining a drag queen persona. Both are really engaging, and very well written. Even though there are a lot of situations in both books that you would probably never be in, the way they are written makes them seem somehow normal.

I just finished reading, " Getting Stoned With Savages" by J. Maarten Troost. Its a memoir of a guy who takes his wife and lives in Vanuatu and Fiji in the South Pacific. Its short, and entertaining, and tries to balance well between pithy observations of the local governments, pithy observations of the behacior expatriates, and throws in some interesting facts about the local kaston religions.

[MEGALEF]

I'm about 850 pages into Atlas Shrugged. According to the Internet, when I'm finished I will have become a worse person.

[Matt Phillips]

I'm about 850 pages into Atlas Shrugged. According to the Internet, when I'm finished I will have become a worse person.

Har kommer Ajnni Randstrump
tjolahopp tjolahej tjolahoppsan-sa
Har kommer Ajnni Randstrump
Ja, har kommer faktis jag

[Kovacs]

I'm still reading the Ravenor omnibus by Dan Abnett. It's very good pulp sci-fi but it's worth reading into a bit of it's background lore first as it's taken for granted that the readers already familiar with it.

[Kovacs]

Just finished the 'Border Trilogy' by Cormack McCarthy and am now reading some classic Sci-Fi in 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman.

I would highly recommend both.

I'd second that recommendation on both books (okay, book and trilogy).

If anyone likes The Forever War check out Forever Peace.

[Matt Phillips]

To actually answer the question, I'm reading Amazon.com: Paradoxes of Rationality and Cooperation: Prisoner's Dilemma and Newcomb's Problem (9780774802154): Richmond Campbell, Lanning Sowden: Books . It fuckin rocks :)

Also Civilized Warring by Pete Cunninham, but I don't think that counts/

[PointyShinyBurn]

London Orbital: Amazon.co.uk: Iain Sinclair: Books which is kind of a visionary journey round the M25. It is dense and slightly self-absorbed, but very rewarding.

[superangryfish]

I am a massive Pratchett fan, thanks I will check that out now

[PointyShinyBurn]

I am a massive Pratchett fan, thanks I will check that out now

Be warned, zero cosiness and spoofery and much, much more viciousness.

[superangryfish]

Be warned, zero cosiness and spoofery and much, much more viciousness.

ordered, will be here tomorrow :)