Read a good book lately?

[HenryDorsetCase]

Arse. For those who aren't familiar with him, search youtube for "hitchslap".

agreed. RIP Hitch.

[youtube]mQorzOS-F6w[/youtube]

I think it [religion] should be treated with ridicule, and hatred and contempt and I claim that right.

Fuck yes,.

[HenryDorsetCase]

ZONE ONE by Colson Whitehead. Brilliantly written. This guy is good. Went to Harvard and won a bunch of prizes. Oh yeah, its genre fiction: Post Zombie-Apocalypse, set in New York.

Absolutely brilliant.

Dont pay $40+ from your local bookshop: the hardback is $25 from bookdepository. and it will be here in a week or so.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Zone.../9781846555985

[Indiana_Jones]

While I was waiting for my computer to run some tests I sat down a read 'Wilt', I have read it before I think, but certainly have seen the film.

A fucking classic book and very funny.

Have a few more Tom Sharpe books lying around and should crack into them.

-Indy

[Brett]

Bear Grylls: Mud, Sweat and Tears. A really interesting read about the life of the man. Not quite what I expected, I think it showed him to be a humble, family guy who simply loves the outdoors and pushing his limits and is not particularly fussed about a) being a celebrity or b) about making money. He does it for the love of it.
An interesting example of the type of character he is; to raise some money for a friend who needed new prosthetic legs, he and a mate thought it would be a great idea to sail a bath tub down the Thames, through London nonetheless, while completely naked.

Definitely worth a read, apparently books are sold out in NZ though.

[Usarka]

Neal Asher - The Departure

I've pretty much enjoyed all his books since someone recommended neal asher in this thread about a year ago (thanks to whoever that was). For those familiar with his stuff, this appears to be a prequel to the Polity before the point where artificial intelligence starts to take over ruling the earth. But this can easily be read standalone.

It has a very strong 1984 theme running through it, and I found the concept has a greater impact now that it's brought up to date with technology and culture being more believable to the modern reader. Lots of references to how freedom gets slowly removed without people caring, the corruption of power, and what happens when the numbers become more imporant than the poeple you're supposed to be looking after.

How did it get the people to willingly forgo all control over their own destinies? Simple, really; it used the formula proven by governments that were it's original components. First make the people afraid........

In a nut shell, a rather violent sci-fi that's easy to read but with enough depth to satisfy those who want it. Sweet.

[bogan]

Was probably me who recommended Asher, read all his books I could find about a year ago, will have to go and get my mitts on The Technician, and The Departure now.

John Ringo is another one I've been heavily into at the moment. A very of a different take on intergalactic warfare, but very well though out and written.

And I also have some Orson Scott Card to catch up on.

[Winston001]

And I also have some Orson Scott Card to catch up on.

Yeah.... Liked Enders Game, thought Speaker for the Dead was interesting, Enders Shadow good but overall Card is a dark writer. Too dark for me. Each to their own.

[dmoo1790]

Was probably me who recommended Asher, read all his books I could find about a year ago, will have to go and get my mitts on The Technician, and The Departure now.

John Ringo is another one I've been heavily into at the moment. A very of a different take on intergalactic warfare, but very well though out and written.

And I also have some Orson Scott Card to catch up on.

+1 for Neal Asher. Watch out for John Ringo's Ghost (I think) series though. Seriously sick in an unpleasant way. Not like the invasion series at all.

[nudemetalz]

Reading a great one at the moment called "Roberts Ridge"

A true story about a bunch of US special forces soldiers in Afghanistan in 2003 that get shot down in a Chinook and have to fight their way back.
Sorta along the lines of Blackhawk Down (another excellent book and better than the movie).
Very very hard to put the book down !!

[Usarka]

Sorta along the lines of Blackhawk Down (another excellent book and better than the movie).

Cheers for the rec....

Mark Bowden (wrote black hawk down) also wrote a book about Pablo Escobar - called Killing Pablo. Not a shabby read either....

[neels]

A prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving.

As excellent as I expected, he is excellent at writing strange characters, kind of a book about religion but not really.

[gonzo_akl]

^^^ best google search results ever!

So I just finished REAMDE (not a typo) by Neal Stephenson.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Ream.../9781848874480


Get this and read it, thank me later. Excellent Bourne-style boys own adventureI. Stephenson is probably best known as a science fiction/fantasy author, as is William Gibson (another of my favourites) but all of their latest output is definitely set in the present tense real world, and any science fictional aspects are just tweaks on current tech that you will find in your mobile phone in a year or so's time.


Anyway, REAMDE is totally recommended.

Thanks for this recommendation - took me a while to get into mainly because i started reading it leading up to christmas and I had a bit on.

So thanks had a good read over an average christmas.

Cheers

[Usarka]

Dispatches - Michael Herr


Probably the best vietnam war book I've read. Herr was a correspondant in vietnam for Esquire, and he focuses on the grunt in the field rather than what's going on in press conferences. It's a collection of short and long snippets that are hectically structured but (usually) flow really well, almost poetically in a style that has some similarities to Hunter S Thompson.

After reading a couple of familiar scenes I found out Herr went on to screenplay Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. Such as a chopper door gunner being asked "How can you shoot women and children?" with his reply "Easy, you just don't lead them as much"

Check out the reviews http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dispatches-P...7887677&sr=8-1

[nudemetalz]

Dispatches - Michael Herr


Probably the best vietnam war book I've read. Herr was a correspondant in vietnam for Esquire, and he focuses on the grunt in the field rather than what's going on in press conferences. It's a collection of short and long snippets that are hectically structured but (usually) flow really well, almost poetically in a style that has some similarities to Hunter S Thompson.

After reading a couple of familiar scenes I found out Herr went on to screenplay Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. Such as a chopper door gunner being asked "How can you shoot women and children?" with his reply "Easy, you just don't lead them as much"

Check out the reviews http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dispatches-P...7887677&sr=8-1

Thank you. This will be my next read.

[Usarka]

Quarantine - Greg Egan

I'd run out of books by my fav sci-fi authors so i used http://www.literature-map.com/ and found Greg Egan.

Quarantine probably falls into the "hard" sci-fi camp (whatever that means), and is set around 2080. It dives head first into the mind bending subject of quantum mechanics, multiple probability states etc, all while being a bloody good read. If the rest of his stuff is like this then yay I have a new author to read.