[QwarkDreams]

Like the title says: what are you currently reading or what was (and what are your thoughts on) the last book you've read?

I'm currently reading a two books parallel.

H.P. Lovecraft - At the mountains of madness

As someone whos native language isn't English I would call this book a bit challenging. The writing style is kinda difficult (with almost all sentences being very long, having multiple commas and very scientific jargon).
The story itself is fascinating. I have an affinity for journal-like stories, especially if the plot is about exploring the unknown, mixing facts with fiction.
For the plot: an expedition to the Antarctica with the aim of exploring the soil underneath the ice turns into a horror trip when the team discovers unnatural artifacts which seem to be older than mankind.

The story - as far as I've read until now - creates a nightmarish feel which achieved only with very detailed descriptions of what the team discovers. It's the little details at first, that gives the reader the impression "uhm...something is very wrong here....I should probably turn on some more light in the room". Along with illustrations I looked up on the internet of the certain things the team discovers the atmosphere becomes very tense.

Arturo Prez-Reverte - The Club Dumas

This is basically the plot of the movie The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp as Lucas Corso but missing the sub-plot about the writings of Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo,...).
I've watched the movie many times and to be honest: the sub-plot is kinda annoying when you know that the movie does fine without it.

Some samples:

Frank Schtzing - The Swarm

I usually avoid "best-sellers" since they tend to push my expectations to a point where I only get disappointed when I read it (same goes for games and movies).
But this one caught my attention and at the end of the sample I wanted to continue reading.

Guillermo Del Toro - The Strain

Same as "The Swarm" but with the bitter taste of having read some reviews on Amazon which actually included spoilers of the ending -_-
Nonetheless I downloaded the sample and got quite hooked. Only reason why I haven't bought it yet is because I can't decide if I want to read it either in German or English.

Some short stories about the game "Diablo 3"

Man, I wish I would've read them sooner since they add so much more background to the characters and the world. Makes the atmosphere in the game much better and tries to compensate for the shallow main story in the game.

[N_LaRUE]

My current reading - The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success. I just started but I like the writing style. It's both fun and interesting.

I mostly read non fiction and most are probably either subjects that are not interesting to people or are overly scientific.

I just recently re-read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe trilogy in four parts. That's always good fun. :) If you like some funny sci-fi than this is a great series. Not too heavy.

A book that I found interesting was the somewhat biography of Richard Feynman - Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. He was quite a character. The book is a good read. It doesn't go into all his work, more skims it, which he says exists in all his books so he decided to leave that bit out. So it's mostly about his personal life which is interesting enough.

[jmshub]

I just recently re-read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe trilogy in four parts. That's always good fun. :)

I LOVE the Hitchhiker's Guide books. They're just that type of book that I could read again and again.

[Muessig]

Great idea for a thread. I'm currently reading through FAT by Rob Grant, which is a comedy book by one of the authors of Red Dwarf. Awesome humour but some satirical insights to pop culture too.

[QwarkDreams]

Damnit! I need to finish a book before I start with another....
Didn't finish any of the books in the first post, instead I startet reading some more.

Bram Stoker - Lair of the White Worm

It took quite a while for me to get accustomed to the writing style. The story takes place in England in 1860 and so is the language. (English is not my native language so....yeah). Still haven't finished it.

Wu Cheng'en - Journey to the West

I think I will need to do some more research about Chinese culture/traditions and Buddhism before I can really dive in.

Alan Moore, David Lloyd - V for Vendetta

Started it on November, 5th because.....isn't it obvious?

I really need to work on my attention span....

[jmshub]

My brother-in-law lent me the Stephen King book 11-22-63. It tells the tale of a modern time man who finds a wormhole that transports him back into the late 1950s. He lives out several years in the middle of the 20th century and finds himself in Dallas, TX to try to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating John F. Kennedy. It's a huge book, in Stephen King fashion, but also like King's books, it is a real page turner. I was handed the book on Thanksgiving and started to read it on Friday. I was reading about 150 pages a day through the weekend, and even though I've slowed down a little with this whole job thing getting in the way, I am about 2/3 finished.

Edit: I finished the book last night around 2:30 in the morning. My brief review is this: It was a very good book. Many of Stephen King's books are riveting tales throughout the middle, but fall apart as the book winds up. I think this may be my favorite book from King since maybe Desperation.

[vegardaleksander]

Just finished up "Zero to One" by Peter Thiel which is a fantastic read about how to build better companies and a better future. Highly recommended.

Currently I'm reading a couple books: "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal which is about human behaviour psychology and how to build the next generation products. Also started "Creativity, Inc" by Ed Catmull (President of Pixar).

[N_LaRUE]

My books of late might be a bit on the boring side for those who like fiction.

I'm currently reading The $100 Startup - The 100 Startup

It's a great book for anyone (regardless of country) wanting to start a business.

[QwarkDreams]

Took a break from reading novels and went back to comics for a change, the Fables series to be specific.
I ordered two comics (Fables Vol.17 & 18) and wanted to re-read the ones I already have but only made it to Vol.9 until the new books arrived.

I can recommend the Fable series to everyone who has a thing for fairy tales and wants to read a comic without the usual superhero setting.
But don't assume that "fairy tales" means "Disney" and lovey-dovey happily forever after. The characters are tough because they needed to survive in their homelands when the "Adversary" inavaded one fairy tale-kingdom after another. There's quite a lot of drama and fighting involved but romance and humor are not left out.
The fables - as the protagonists call themselves - had to escape into the human world where they live since centuries in New York, disguised as regular humans or living on "the Farm" in the countryside.

[Laura Knotek]

I just started reading this book.


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[Stefan Holder]

A friend (female of coarse) of mine introduced me to The Black Dagger Brotherhood series of books. These books are clearly intended for young adult women. It's a supernatural fantasy book with writing style that's chalked full of clichs. But, something about the premise is interesting. It's about a vampire race hunted to the brink of extinction, by a race called The Lessers. The Brotherhood are elite warriors that are tasked with defending what is left of the vampire race. Many of the myths and superstitions about vampires are thrown out the door. Which I like very much. It's an ok book but the author seems to need practice in blending ancient creatures in a modern day society.

[Stefan Holder]

I read At the Mountains of Madness before.. A really great book. But the excessive technical geographical jargon can be deal breaker to some folks. I think it hampers the accessibility of the audience. However, I dragged on through it all, cause my interest was peaked. The ending was fantastic though.

[Laura Knotek]

I'm currently reading this book.

[jmshub]

^ Nice. Over the winter, I read two rock biographies, Petty: the Biography of Tom Petty by musician Warren Zanes. I also read Heaven and Hell, the story of Don Felder, the guitarist who joined the Eagles and was fired in the early 2000s after falling out with founders Glenn Frey and Don Henley.

[Laura Knotek]

^ Nice. Over the winter, I read two rock biographies, Petty: the Biography of Tom Petty by musician Warren Zanes. I also read Heaven and Hell, the story of Don Felder, the guitarist who joined the Eagles and was fired in the early 2000s after falling out with founders Glenn Frey and Don Henley.

The book I'm reading has an appendix at the end which provides an analysis of some of the more complex ELP songs, such as the classical pieces and songs with variable time signatures or odd time.