The Books thread.

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:10 am

You guys read some interesting, yet completely unappealing, books.
If I owned a camera, I'd post the stack at the end of my bed.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:34 am

I got myself 2 books on Japanese cooking, one on snacks and finger food and one on BBQ.

I am mostly interested in the Japanese cooking books, since I have practically no experience with Japanese cookery.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:38 am

I wanna get some chinese food recipes so I don't have to go out every week and spend a fortune.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:51 am

Oh, before someone messes something up, I got 4 books in total. 2 on Japanese bukakke and 1 on BBQ and 1 on snacks.
Anyway, check some of the major food forums, they're really good. The good thing about cooking forums is the fact that there are actually some people with skill and they experiment a lot and put all their gastronomic goatse online so you can cook it at home.
Chinese food is overrated anyway. Look at them chinks, being all 150 cm small and skinny and they fall apart when you look at them for too long.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:05 am

Japanese aren't chinks?

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:18 am

No, they're Japs, baka!

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:51 pm

breaking news: william h. gass wrote some pretty intense short stories. currently reading cartesian sonata and it is icon_google

to the core

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:16 am

so I went to the local super-size chain bookstore to get "The Witcher" or whatever - not coming out 'til May 1st - icon_anger

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:43 am

am reading kurt vonnegut jr.'s slaughterhouse-five

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:36 am

Currently reading Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein. It's fairly short. I started last night and should be done later tonight or tomorrow. The book is sorta post apocalyptic (that reminds me, maybe I should post more reviews in my thread sometime) in that WW3 happens and these people trapped in a bomb shelter under their house score a direct hit and are launched 2000 years into the future.

I really enjoy Heinlein's writing up until the 2/3 mark. Starship Troopers was somewhat consistent then got boring. Stranger in a Strange Land was very interesting and funny then got way too preachy and predictable. Farnham's Freehold is the best out of the three, only because I'm halfway through and it moves at a faster pace.

A couple days ago I finally completed Arthur C. Clarke's Rama quadrilogy. If you're gonna read the first, Rendezvous With Rama, you might as well read the following three to fully understand what the fuck is up if you hate stories ending without everything explained. I love Clarke, his visions of the future feel so authentic, even if they were written half a century ago in most cases. But there's one thing about him I can't stand. Almost all of his books contain at least two quick, raunchy, and totally out of place sex scenes. I believe it was in Rama Revealed (the fourth and final book) when he describes how Kate, one of the daughters of the main character, uses anal beads on her boyfriend. What the fuck. We go from humanity's not alone in the universe, families sticking together, giant fucking space ships, alien spider dudes who talk in color, lots of cool far out stuff to mother fucking ANAL BEADS?! Maybe I'll blame that stuff on Gentry Lee, who co-authored the last 3 Rama books. Or maybe Clarke is the dirty old man I suspect him to be.

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:24 am

(Had to settle because I couldn't find the WTF!?!?!? smiley)

Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:22 am

Clarke got weird towards the end.

Satlink from a shack Sri Lanka.

When it was cool to do that shit back in the 90s.

"Global World" and all that.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:55 am

The Rama series isn't bad. Feels more like what would actually happen, as you said. I skipped the sex scenes the instant I found them though.
Don't give the slightest bit of shit about sex in novels.

If you want good Heinlein, find some of his short story compilations or some of his lesser well known books. My avatar is from Methuselah's Children.
I loved Sixth Column, it's gotta be nearly the top of my favorites.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:15 am

My favorite Heinlein novel is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which I also think is the best. I think another great book he wrote was Job: A Comedy of Justice. I really like his books, he's probably my favorite author.

I liked The Cat That Walked Through Walls, also, because it tied in Jubal and Long, which along with Mike (from Harsh Mistress) are probably my favorite characters he's made.

You should definitely read more Heinlein if you've only read a couple of his books.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:49 am

you want an interesting read?

well, there's this odd set of books that quite a few authors contributed to, the story/stories are
set in of all places , hell.

here some of the writers : Janet Morris , Michael Armstrong , Nancy Asire , C.J. Cherryh,
David Drake , Bill Kerby , Chris Morris,
Diana Paxton , and Robert Silverberg.

just to name a few, its all basically one story that links together in odd manners.
one of the books is names "WAR IN HELL"
another is "HEROS in HELL"

there interesting, odd, funny, riveting, serious.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:32 am

Gore, do you know how to read?

Because you sure as hell don't know how to spell or comprehend written text.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:30 am

How are your bookshelves organized, guys? I usually come up with a different system for each shelf*: sorted by color, size, gut feeling, general category -> specific category (works best for non-fiction), alpha by author, protagonist's date of birth party

(I only have one book on this shelf so far so this one probably doesn't count), date of publication, etc.

*Bit vague, that word. A single shelf or the whole multi-shelf furniture piece? Here: the former.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 2:21 am

I have it by author and by the books name/number in the series. Its a pretty basic configuration I suppose.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 2:58 am

Finished Farnham's Freehold and it managed to not fall apart towards the end. It had some shocking stuff, and was a little strange, but stayed interesting. A more enjoyable read than Stranger... and Starship Troopers. Highly recommended.

I picked up The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and will jump into that after finishing Brian Keene's Dead Sea. Then maybe I'll start Asimov's Foundation series.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:24 am

With the Foundation Series I think the first three were the only real good ones, I don't like where Asimov took his books in trying to combine them all together and I didn't like the whole Gaia thing. I mean, it was like a 30 year gap between the third book and the fourth.

I imagine its just personal preference.