[Avatar of Justice]

So, OCR now has a successful anime thread which pleases me. Perhaps we could get a good thread for books going.

I'm currently reading The Amber Spyglass, third book of the His Dark Materials series. It looks like it will be the best book in a series that has been entertaining, but not quite as epic as I had hoped it would be. I heard that it was critical of religion when the Golden Compass movie was in theaters so I thought the series would be worth checking out. The religious angle has been interesting so far, and I'm hoping it'll all come together in some awesome fashion. Part of the problem is that I'm not part of the "Young Adult" book market (although at 22 shouldn't I be technically), its target audience.

I just finished reading Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, the guy who will be completing The Wheel of Time in lieu of Robert Jordan. I was pleased, as it was a good fantasy book that has no sequel, prequel, or tangent series to go along with it, contrary to the usual stuff. Sanderson seems like he'll be capable of finishing the Wheel of Time from both the book and the interviews with him I've read.

The best book I've read in the past year was The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It's ostensibly about a patricide, but gets into a whole religion versus atheism debate (among a bunch of other stuff). No other book made me think quite as much since Atlas Shrugged, which is funny since they are both by Russian authors, and the authors have the exact opposite views on religion.

So....say whatever is on your mind about books.

[zircon]

I just finished "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley and William Danko. Fascinating book that investigates the lifestyles, history, and mindsets of millionaires living in America today. The results are surprising, to say the least, and offer some great insight into what ANYONE living in the U.S. can do to generate (and maintain) wealth.

[The Damned]

This thread.

OK, seriously now. I'm not reading much these days.

[Black Mage]

This past month I finished The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, a story about an ex-nun who looses her lover to a gangster's bullet as he tries to save her from him, takes up the robes of a priest who dies in a flood, and poses as Father Damien Modeste at a reservation in North Dakota.

I read The Hobbitt (finally), no explanation needed here, I'm sure, and have been making my way through a book of the essays and poem of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Though that one is slow going.

Next I want to read Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy. It's about how our western society has lost it's sense of communal celebration and the spontaneous expression of joy.

I also want to read more works from Paulo Coelho. After having read The Alchemist I want to know more of his works. All the while I've been reading and re-reading The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.

[BardicKnowledge]

I recently started on R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books, and they're awesome. The way he describes a combat scene is particularly good. The only problem is that there's 14 of them to read (assuming you don't read Sellswords or Hunter's Blades), which causes much the same problem as Dragonlance...

[Brushfire]

I am America(and so can You) by Stephen Cobert. A firm reminder that being patriotic in this day and age is still okay.

A Soldier's 1000 Word RBI on Why You Should Never Leave Your Pancho Behind. A tale of one man's struggle with his Drill Sergant's way of punishing his trainees.

The manual for WWE Smackdown vs Raw feat. ECW. A firm reminder that this manual will tell you nothing that you want to know when faced in a "Last Man Standing" match against Matt Hardy.

[Skrypnyk]

Originally Posted by The Damned

This thread.

OK, seriously now. I'm not reading much these days.

I was going to post the exact same thing.

srsly.

[Zombie]

Song of Solomon. It is ok.

[Amayirot Akago]

Going through The Colour Of Magic for the first time at a snail's pace, tho I'm very close to the end. It's not a bad book, but there's not much in terms of story; it's simply Rincewind and Twoflower being dragged into all sorts of bizarre situations for 200+ pages.

Once I'm done with it, I'm getting started on Snow Crash.

[Darklink42]

The last thing I read was a bunch of Romantic era poetry. We're talking the staples: Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley. Overall, not my thing. There are a couple of good insights, but I think from now on I'm sticking with slightly more modern works.

Other than that, sadly, haven't read much in the way of new stuff. I think the last new book I read was Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis. Was pretty good, even though it had the mandatory Dark Tower tie-in. Sort of become his MO I guess.

And before that it was Scott Adams' book The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st Century which is a surprisingly thought provoking book when you read between the humor. The man is pretty damn genius.