AR Book Club

[Dr. Insomniac]

Books! Yes, books. Oh... yeah... books... 

In short, talk about what you're reading here and/or give other guys some ideas as to which books they should read.

[Avaitor]

Been reading Dune lately.

I would continue to get into Herbert's stuff if my library had a copy of Children of Dune, but until then, I'm too lazy to go to another library so I'm not reading much now.

[Foggle]

Finished reading Tokyo Vice. Absolutely amazing book if you enjoy reading well-written non-fiction accounts about the Mafia (in this case, the Yakuza).

In other words, if you're me.

[Avaitor]

That does sound pretty good.

I'll have to look into it.

[Foggle]

It's an excellent read. The author has a great sense of humor and writes it kind of like a Noir mystery at times.

The last few chapters are really depressing and kind of scary. You can tell that his experiences greatly effected him and influenced him as a person.

[Pharass]

One of the books I'm reading at the moment is The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay, which can best be described as a mix between historical fiction and fantasy, set in a thinly disguised version of Spain during the Reconquista. Highly recommended if you like fantasy, historical fiction or just good storytelling in general.

[Avaitor]

Just finished Brave New World for the first time and loved it. I would be playing Iron Maiden's album of the same name now (the title track of which is based on the book), but my copy's been acting up lately.

Until then, I'm starting The Big Sleep up. I wasn't crazy on the movie as much as I like Bogart and noir, so I'm hoping that I'll find the original book more interesting. Raymond Chandler is a great writer either way.

[Angus]

Trying to make a dent into Lord of the Rings. The chapters are a bit longer than in The Hobbit but gotta love the detail that the movie glosses over.

[Pharass]

Finished Mistress of Mistresses by E.R. Eddison recently and while it does suffer from an almost painfully tedious introductory chapter (a problem it shares with Eddison's more famous work, The Worm Ouroboros) it soon takes of and the reader gets involved in a world rife with political intrigue and warfare. The characters are also interesting particularly The Vicar of Rerek who is now one of my favorite villains of all time.

[Avaitor]

I finished The Big Sleep earlier today, and I wonder what I was on to not dig the movie, because the book is great, and I couldn't help but imagine Bogart's voice while reading it.

Looks like I have to rewatch the movie, and I'm also looking for the rest of the Philip Marlowe stories.

Also, Raymond Chandler is one of the coolest people ever and if you haven't read any of his Marlowe books or seen any of the movies he wrote yet, you should feel ashamed.

[Avaitor]

Almost done with Farewell, My Lovely now. It isn't as tightly constructed as The Big Sleep and the use of the n word dates it a bit, but I still think it's a solid addition to the Marlowe line.

After I read all of Raymond Chandler's books, I have a big list to catch up on of what to read.

Do you think it would be too obsessive if I add every book that Iron Maiden has based a song off of to my list?

[Pharass]

I really should read more Chandler, considering that I quite enjoyed The Big Sleep.

I've recently finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami and while at times, it felt like the plot wasn't going anywhere in particular, I still found the book worth my time. The characters were all vividly drawn and memorable and there were enough interesting moments in the book for me to recommend it to those who haven't read it yet. Overall, I think I'll check out more of Murakami's works in the future.

[Avaitor]

Starting my Maiden voyage now. I skipped ahead and read "Murders in the Rue Morgue" at Barnes & Noble the other night, and now I'm going back to reading Phantom of the Opera.

Next up I'll check what is required reading based on NOTB.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Reading Heart of Darkness for school, and Witches Abroad for boredom. The former's an absolute slog, while the latter's proof I should get in more Pratchett.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Read Cat's Cradle, and it was an odd book. Didn't hit the right notes for me, but kept me interested enough to read it throughout the whole bus trip.

But then again, I never really got Slaughterhouse-Five either. Maybe I'm just not a Vonnegut kind of person.

So it goes.