Book thread

[LadyGabe]

@HaydenRose - I first read the Sookie Stackhouse novels over 10 years ago. I loved them then! I didn't have the Louisiana accent in mind at all, and as I am a Brit, gosh I must have made it sound so dull with my accent in my head! Still adored them though.

When I saw the first episode of True blood I was sat there for ages trying to work out why it was so familiar and become very excited to realise it was my favourite books as a teen!

I still have the full set of books now and re-read them often as they are so easy to read.

I will never forget the first time I read the Sleeping Beauty trilogy by Anne Rice. Porn didn't corrupt me as a teen, but those books certainly did!

[idyllsend]

I'm currently on the first Game of Thrones book, not very far into it though. I used to love reading, but between work and the gym I have no time/no energy during the week.

When I was in Toronto in May I saw the chapters downtown was having a closing sale, everything was 50% off, so I grabbed whatever looked interesting as anything well known was already gone. I picked up:

Kindred by Octavia Butler

The Well of Tears by Roberta Trahan

Masks by E.C. Blake

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel

Hoping to get through GoT and one other this weekend (yeah long weekend!), the others by the end of the summer, and then I want to finish off the rest of the GoT series before the next season starts.

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[misterJ]

@idyllsend

Loved the game of thrones books. There is a depth and mythology in them

That goes way way beyond the show (love that too though)

Don't make the same mistake I did and power thorough them

Because it all lumps together that way.

[HaydenRose]

@idyllsend my mom claims The Clan of the Cavebear books are her favorite. And I've heard the same from other people who have read them. Next on my list... I'd say if you have time to finish Game of Thrones this weekend, then you have plenty of time to read! Haha it took me around a month to finish each book in that series and I read often.

@LadyGabe whenever a 50 Shades of Grey groupie raves about 50 Shades, I recommend the Sleeping Beauty trilogy ;) Those books were tough to get through LOL

[Breakme]

@HaydenRose I just visited Anne Rice's website and didn't realise there were more books after Queen of the Damned. That has made me very happy!

@idyllsend I read the clan of the cave bear books years ago and thoroughly enjoyed them. The GoT books are awesome, I refused to watch the tv series until I had finished them. Be prepared for a cast of thousands, and don't get too caught up on names if you can't remember who people are. I spent a bit of time going back and re-reading things when I was confused who someone was, in the end I realised it didn't really matter.

[semele]

I fell into comics last semester, and have become obsessed with Joe Sacco. Footnotes on Gaza and Safe Area Gorazde are two of my favorite books, period. I'm working through his collaboration with Chris Hedges now--Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.

I've also been digging Jason Lutes' work: Berlin 1 &2 are great, but Jar of Fools was something special.

[LadyGabe]

@HaydenRose - I do exactly the same! I tried reading 50 shades, but it was awful. I made it to the end of the 1st book and could not go on after that. I thought the girl was pathetic and the guy was just a douche bag! lol

@idyllsend - I wish I had stuck with the GOT books! Try to stay with them, I have heard it really is worth it!

I read the first 3, but found it a real struggle keeping up with all the characters and also watching the TV series at the same time. So many times I almost gave away spoilers, as I thought what I had read in the book, was what had happened on TV!

I might attempt them again during the next year inbetween series so I dont confuse myself between the 2! My boyfriend has read all of the books so far twice through...I don't know how he does it!

[HaydenRose]

@LadyGabe definitely finish the GOT books. I found 3 and some of 4 were a struggle, but 5 is worth it. Also I'm pretty sure the series has dabbled in book 4 (maybe even book 5) plots a little. Mainly because book 4 and 5 occur at the same time, but have different character POVs.

[idyllsend]

@misterJ Yeah I'm getting that, and that is probably why I dig it so much. And probably also why I've been able to read The Silmarillion by Tolkien quite a few times. I love the sense of 'history' in fantasy books.

@HaydenRose & @Breakme I read the Clan of the Cave Bear series a few years ago and loved it! I had borrowed my mums copies and figured I should collect my own. Did you know there was a movie starring Darryl Hannah based on the first book? It was so awful it was kinda awesome.

@LadyGabe I definitely will stick with them! I read ahead a lot on the a song of ice and fire wiki, and work with a lot of fans of the show, so when they speculate on what might happen, I really have to bite my tongue 'cause I already know. It'll become even worse after I've read the books!

[RoryQ]

Re-reading Steven Pressfield's "Gates of Fire".

The definitive historical fiction account of the battle at Thermopylae? I think so*.

I'm enjoying it a lot more the second time around. Getting a decade or two of adult working life under my belt has allowed me to appreciate the plight of the helot narrator a lot more. It's about finding the parallels.

Him: Whippings at the post. Me: Mortgage payments. Him: Parents murdered during sack of his polis. Me: I cannot find my favourite hoodie for the last year. Etc

*I've not read any others, but I did see "300".

[tatB]

My girlfriend stumbled across this gem last night. This would make a good gift for your friends or favorite tattoo artist...

"Tall, dark, and lethal...

Trouble just walked into Nicholas Rixey's tattoo parlor. Becca Merritt is warm, sexy, wholesome--pure temptation to a very jaded Nick. He's left his military life behind to become co-owner of Hard Ink Tattoo, but Becca is his ex-commander's daughter. Loyalty won't let him turn her away. Lust has plenty to do with it too.

With her brother presumed kidnapped, Becca needs Nick. She just wasn't expecting to want him so much. As their investigation turns into all-out war with an organized crime ring, only Nick can protect her. And only Becca can heal the scars no one else sees.

Desire is the easy part. Love is as hard as it gets. Good thing Nick is always up for a challenge...

[suburbanxcore]

I'm teaching an entry-level college reading course for kids who are just shy of the entrance criteria to the university. The primary course text is Frederick Douglass's narrative. I haven't read that in years, and it's nice to re-read it. There are a few other texts for the course as well, but the only other one I'm really into is Maus (a graphic novel). Pretty cool.

[Raven]

Sticking with tattoo themed books - I can recommend, 'A Good and Useful Hurt' by Aric Davis.

It's a tad gruesome in places, both with the serial killer and the descriptions of the body modifications in the shop... It's an interesting premise and an enjoyable read.

Blurb:

Mike is a tattoo artist running his own shop, and Deb is the piercing artist he hires to round out the motley crew at his studio of four. The last thing either expects is romance, but that’s exactly what happens when they follow their off-kilter careers and love lives into complete disaster.

When Mike follows a growing trend and tattoos the ashes of deceased loved ones into several customers’ tattoos, he has no idea that it will one day provide the solution—and solace—he will sorely need. And when the life of a serial killer tragically collides with the lives of those in the tattoo shop, Mike and Deb will stop at nothing in their quest for revenge, even if it means stepping outside the known boundaries of life and death.

Ink that is full of crematory ashes, a sociopathic killer, and pain in its most raw form combine for one of the most imaginative, haunting thrillers in recent memory. Full of wit and heart, A Good and Useful Hurt delivers the goods with the pain of a needle in skin.

[polliwog]

I recently read some of Karen Russell's short story collection Vampires in the Lemon Grove. I find her writing show-offy -- unusual word choices can be good, but not when they bump me out of reading -- but there's an interesting story about a veteran who's cured of his PTSD when a masseuse manipulates the tattoo on his back. I was able to suspend my disbelief because the story was satisfyingly creepy.

Has anyone here read The Electric Michelangelo?

[suburbanxcore]

I'm down the shore for the weekend and spent a lot of time reading on the beach today. I finally had some time to start reading a book for pleasure (and not just for class). I started Moon Palace by Paul Auster. I like it so far, but I'm not sure where it's going quite yet

Bonus: Grez from Kings Ave designed the cover. When I get tattooed by him next week I'm gonna ask a few questions about it. Haha.

Also, this is the first time I've tried to upload a pic from my phone, so we'll see how this goes.

[WhyMista]

I rarely read anything fiction but when I do recently its been Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

I primarily read academic books. Currently reading Mask of Sanity and the Psychopath test. I'm a psych major and find it far more interesting to do research than to read most fiction. I am mainly focused on psychopathy, sociopathy, schizophrenia and borderline PD. I read most fiction on my nexus 7 but for academic stuff I want a hard copy although I do have the dsm-IV-TR and dsm-5 on my nexus 7 as well for reference.

[RoryQ]

Bit of space opera meets country house murder mystery...

...David Brin's 'Sundiver'.

[Cork]

Finally finished Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Took the bastard 24 years to finish it, even after he died in 2006 (to which Brandon Sanderson finished). Forget Song of Ice and Fire. After The Wheel of Time I vowed to never start reading a series that isn't already finished. 24 years! I started this series in 1998.

Although I'm bitter about the whole thing, the last couple books that Sanderson wrote were phenomenal. Overall the series was decent. I'd recommend it if you have a couple years to kill. Or the audio books... a paltry 19 days worth of audio. I would describe it as incredibly detailed fantasy adventure, or is that what they referred to as "epic" fantasy? I don't know much about specialized genres. Overly detailed in some aspects. In some of the books you could skip entire paragraphs and not miss anything important except understanding how the drapes were hanging in someone's bed chambers in a castle. The detail can become tedious, but the weaving in and out of different story lines is good. And this series was written before some of the other popular magic/fantasy type literature, and you can see influences in those other books pulled from this one.

[WhyMista]

Oh I am reading A Good and Useful Hurt Its about a tattooist and is supposed to be a bit "off" still early into it though.

[Breakme]

@Cork this series is definitely on my to read list. I have a friend who has read it, she loved it, although she did complain about the very long wait for the books too. Glad to know it is finished as that was one of the reasons I held off getting into it.

[exmember88]

I listen to books on audio (don't judge me) while I'm driving, cooking, cleaning, etc.

on my virtual shelf: The Dresden Files series, Mercy Thompson series (starts with Moon Called), The Sookie Stackhouse series (starting with Dead until Dark), Harry Potter series, Something from the Nightside series, and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series.

on my real book shelf: The complete works of William Shakespeare, The Harry Potter series, Lemony Snicket series, The World of Chas Addams, Wicca, a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, Complete Book of Witchcraft, Living Wicca, To ride a Silver Broomstick, etc. I have an entire library of books about witchcraft, I have a ton of books to many to list here but they are mostly witchcraft, history, or fantasy.

Currently listening to the last Sookie Stackhouse book, if you want to know what it's about go watch an episode of True Blood, it's like that only well written and less stupid, actually the first season of True Blood was close to the first book, and then I don't know what happened.

[RoryQ]

Reading 'Abbadon's Gate' by James SA Corey, on the strength of it's endorsement by George RR Martin.

It's the first in a big space opera series about tensions and intrigue between 'inner' planets and a colonised 'outer belt' in our solar system. I was worried that it looked a bit dry but so far it has really hooked me... Very very readable and feels a bit like there are elements of everything from 'Total Recall' (the underrated movie) to 'Bladerunner', 'Star Wars' etc.

When I was getting tattooed in Tokyo I read Larry Correia's 'Monster Hunter: Nemesis'. Don't judge! I just wanted something easy and distracting. This is like childhood Saturday morning cartoon action in a book form for adults.

[str8shuutr45]

I'm reading two books right now on my Kindle - "The Devil's Water" by David L. Robbins novel about Air Force PJs and "A Soldier of the Great War" by Mark Helprin. A novel about a old WWI soldier that walks across Italy with young man that he meets along the way. During the walk, Alessandro talks, sometimes only remembers, his triumphs, failures, terrors, regrets, and his loves during WWI. Helprin really spins a great yarn that gets the reader involved. His graphic account of life in the Italian trenches of WWI are very moving.

[misterJ]

Reading

Coyote blue

The maze runner (sue me the commercials peaked my interest)

Gonna give abbadons gate a try if you see some Philip k Dick elements in the story I'm game.

[Dusk]

Reading 'Abbadon's Gate' by James SA Corey, on the strength of it's endorsement by George RR Martin.

It's the first in a big space opera series about tensions and intrigue between 'inner' planets and a colonised 'outer belt' in our solar system. I was worried that it looked a bit dry but so far it has really hooked me... Very very readable and feels a bit like there are elements of everything from 'Total Recall' (the underrated movie) to 'Bladerunner', 'Star Wars' etc.

When I was getting tattooed in Tokyo I read Larry Correia's 'Monster Hunter: Nemesis'. Don't judge! I just wanted something easy and distracting. This is like childhood Saturday morning cartoon action in a book form for adults.

I will have to check out this book. I like a good space opera.

Larry Correia's books are a guilty pleasure of mine. I've read all his monster hunter books lol

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