What book are you currently reading, or recommend?

[Smudger]

 

[knapplc]

Four Novels of the 1960s (by Phillip K. Dick)

The Man in the High Castle
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ubik

The library had this compilation. I'm starting with the emboldened and underlined basis for Blade Runner. Rather entertaining so far, and I really dig the style of writing. When finished with it, I'll determine if I'm going to read the other three or not.

I would recommend skipping the rest of the "series" of Androids, written (IIRC) by different authors. They are not even remotely similar to Androids, and should be avoided. Bleh.





I just read, because of the movie, the first three John Carter/Mars books. They are crap. They have no plot, they are all fluff, zero character development, utter garbage. They are like a child's drawing of the Mona Lisa - you may get an idea what a novel/story is from reading them, but they should not be mistaken for fine art.

I mean, they were OK. But I would not recommend them.



I just started This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. So far it's OK.

 

[muffler dragon]

I would recommend skipping the rest of the "series" of Androids, written (IIRC) by different authors. They are not even remotely similar to Androids, and should be avoided. Bleh.

I didn't know there were more. I'm going through the NPR Top 100 list that Muck had presented here last year. It's been a good ride so far.

 

[ScriptOhio]

On a recent vacation I read these:

Willie Mays has always been my all time favorite baseball player so I found his bio intertesting. The Alonzo book was surprisingly good.

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

Read "Blood Meridian"

Thanks for the advice. I was recently on an extended trip, and I was able to get quite a bit of reading in. Of the 8 books that were read, the best one was Blood Meridian. It is something better than great, and a couple of months later I am still disturbed by it and have had trouble finishing books since. The only book I finished after this was Rabbit, Run by John Updike, and while I appreciate the genius in Updike's work, it left a lot to be desired compared to Blood Meridian.

Right now, I consider Blood Meridian to be the best book ever written. Realizing that it is still relatively fresh in my mind, I am eager to see if that contention holds true over time. The interplay between the Kid, Judge Holden, and the Priest did not hit me until the end of the book. And while I'm guessing there are some who would take issue with the way the story was ended, to me it was brilliantly done.

 

[Smudger]

The first part of a sequel by Paul Carrell about the Eastern Front of WW2. Came highly recommended by my dad. Very enthralling book thus far & very, very detailed. If you're into this kind of stuff I would recommend it as well.

 

[darbypitcher22]

 

[muffler dragon]

Four Novels of the 1960s (by Phillip K. Dick)

The Man in the High Castle
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ubik

The library had this compilation. I'm starting with the emboldened and underlined basis for Blade Runner. Rather entertaining so far, and I really dig the style of writing. When finished with it, I'll determine if I'm going to read the other three or not.

The Library of America anthology of his early novels, it's a great volume and was my introduction to PKD. I would recommend reading them all - the Man in the High Castle was my favorite, and UBIK shows up on some of those greatest English language novels lists.

Finished Stigmata last night, and that was the last of the four. Glad I followed your advice and read them all. Personally, I rank Sheep and Ubik close and as my favorites, then High Castle, and lastly, Stigmata. Interesting author and very intriguing writing style.

Now, I begin Hunger Games.

 

[Magua]

I ordered the Song of Ice and Fire 1-4 collectors set and am reading the first book Game of Thrones now. Just started this week and already the first few chapters give way more story and detail than the TV shows.

 

[jwinslow]

Moneyball

It's fascinating to see how resistant baseball was to change & evidence of their flaws.

Having read about 2/3 of the book, it is a bit tedious and could've been a lot shorter without losing much at all. I don't like baseball at all (other than in person) and I have enjoyed it.

 

[MaxBuck]

Brilliant.

If you like any of the following, you'll love this book.

Jazz
African-American culture in the early to mid 20th century
Germany at the beginning of World War II, or the Holocaust
Canadian culture
Character development

 

[THEWOOD]

So, the wife wanted to read Hunger Games. She finished it in about 3 days. I decided to check it out. I finished it in 6 hours, unable to stop reading. Thought it was well done. Now I need to read the other two in order to see how this whole thing plays out.

 

[BayBuck]

Just finished Lev Grossman's "The Magician King", the 2011 sequel to "The Magicians" from 2009.

These are really a fun pair of books, the first about some very special young people finding a Potter-ish magical-college (Brakebills) and a fairy-tale world that's a lot like Narnia (Fillory), and the second about those young people as magical kings and queens of that magical land. The twist that makes it not seem so cliched or derivative is that it's set in very contemporary America, so it's very conscious of itself as a part of the fantasy genre. The main character Quentin Coldwater seemed kind of whiny in the first book, but he does start out as just a modern-day suburban teenager, and another convention of the genre is the coming-of-age story. Probably set up for another sequel; I'll read that one for sure.

 

[muffler dragon]

KBL (Kill Bin Laden) by John Weisman

 

[PlanetFrnd]

Re-reading this The First Man by Camus