Author Topic: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?  (Read 189691 times)

Offline Nathan

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #780 on: October 24, 2009, 04:31 AM »
On Labor Day I started a job at a used book store so I've been loading up on tons of **** for super cheap. Kind of hard to control myself when I spend my day sorting and shelving genre fiction and get a 50% emp discount to boot.

Recent and current reads:





« Last Edit: October 24, 2009, 04:36 AM by Nathan »
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Offline JediJman

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #781 on: October 24, 2009, 11:57 AM »
I'm waiting for the latest SW series to hit on paperback, so I decided to go back and read older SW books that I picked up ages ago, but never got around to reading.  First up is Heir to the Empire!

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Offline Carpeteria3000

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #782 on: October 24, 2009, 09:12 PM »
Oh man, I read those so long ago. They're actually pretty fun, and well written as far as geeky sci-fi book standards go.

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #783 on: October 28, 2009, 01:24 AM »
Finished "Your heart belongs to me." Now starting "Taran Wanderer" (The Chronicles of Prydain) by Lloyd Alexander. This is book four of five in the series that Disney based the movie "The Black Cauldron" on.



Taran Wanderer, the fourth book of the Prydain chronicles, is, in my opinion, the best book in a wonderful series.
All four books focus on the character of Taran of Caer Dallben, an orphan who is raised by a wizard (Dallben). The plot of Taran Wanderer focuses on Taran's quest to find out who his parents were. Taran hopes that he will find that he has the "noble" blood that he believes would give him the right to ask the Princess Eilonwy to wed him.

Needless to say, he does not have an easy time, wandering the length and breadth of Prydain searching for parents he does not know, who can barely remember him.

The book's joy, however, does not lie only in its plot, but also in the development that Taran undergoes through the course of the book. In Taran Wanderer, more than any other book, Taran grows into manhood. The trials he passes through temper and shape him, as he journeys through both familiar and strange lands. His experiences teach him lessons, but he learns even more from the people he meets.

Make no mistake. This is not a pure novel of character. Taran travels from one end of Prydain to the other, meeting kings and wizards, and also farmers and tradesmen. Along the way, he has many adventures and faces many hardships. As said earlier though, the solid plot is not the highlight of this book. The characters are. The myriad of people Taran meets in his travels provides a welcome break from the pattern of the other Prydain chronicles, where almost everyone seems to be either a king, a bard, or a magician (or some combination of the three). After so many books walking the heights, Taran finally returns to earth.

For those who have read the earlier books, you will see many familiar faces, including faithful Gurgi, the (not quite) bard Fflewddur Fflam, King Smoit, and even three old friends from the Marshes of Morva. You'll also be intrigued by new characters, some of whom have had hidden influences on characters you already know. And through it all, the beautiful tapestry of plot that Lloyd Alexander has woven will captivate you.

Taran Wanderer is a great book. I recommend it to readers of all ages.

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Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #784 on: November 2, 2009, 03:06 PM »
Last book of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. Good series, so far.

Offline Scott

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #785 on: November 4, 2009, 10:37 AM »
Finally got around to reading Children of Hurin this week and I am about half way through...it is pretty depressing

I also just finished the second Magician (master) book, I didn't care for it as much as Book 1 (apprentice) but it was still good High Fantasy

Offline Rob

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #786 on: November 5, 2009, 03:35 PM »
Just put in an order for:



And you wouldn't believe how excited I am.

Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #787 on: November 6, 2009, 02:27 AM »
Finally got around to reading Children of Hurin this week and I am about half way through...it is pretty depressing

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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #788 on: November 6, 2009, 04:40 PM »
Talking about scary things, I'm now starting "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" by James Rollins.




Everyone’s favorite globe-trotting, wisecracking archaeologist is hurtling headfirst into high adventure and relying on his wits, his fists, and his trusty bullwhip to get him out of deep trouble.

It’s 1957, and the Cold War is heating up. A ruthless squad of Russian soldiers crashes Indiana Jones’s latest expedition and forces the unwilling Indy along as they brazenly invade American soil, massacre U.S. soldiers, and plunder a top-secret government warehouse. Commanded by a sword-wielding colonel who’s as sinister as she is stunning, the menacing Reds have one objective: a relic even more precious–and powerful–than the mythic Ark of the Covenant, capable of unlocking secrets beyond human comprehension.

Quick thinking and some high-speed maneuvers help Indy narrowly escape certain death. But the Russians are unrelenting, and their next move leads Indy into the depths of the Amazon on a desperate rescue mission. With a hotheaded teenage biker as his unlikely wing man and his vengeful new Russian nemesis waiting for a rematch, Indy’s back in the game–playing for a prize all the wonders of the world could never rival.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #789 on: November 6, 2009, 05:31 PM »
Also reading "Watermind" by M.M. Buckner.



Buckner (War Surf) theorizes a brand-new intelligence emerging from electronic trash in this cautionary near-future tale. When troubled MIT grad school dropout CJ Reilly encounters bizarre ice covering steamy Louisiana's polluted Devil's Pond, she has visions of saving the world after she analyzes a sample and discovers its power to purify water. Then the mysterious substance responds to music and begins to move, and Reilly becomes convinced of its sentience. When it kills a man, scientist Roman Sacony, whose company owns the pond, is determined to utterly destroy the emerging life form, while CJ insists on trying to save it. Despite the suspense and nonstop action, unlikable characters make it hard to root for anyone, and the scientifically sound ending is narratively unsatisfying. The story succeeds best when it traverses Louisiana's geography, and only indifferently when it traverses the human heart.
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Offline Mikey D

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #790 on: November 10, 2009, 02:08 PM »




(Couldn't find a better picture of the cover - The book is "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip".  I'm a huge fan of C&H and can't wait to read it.

Got about another day left on the first one.  The Calvin and Hobbes book hasn't come in yet, so next I'll be reading:



Looking forward to it.  It's been getting great reviews and is said to more along the lines of IT and The Stand (not necessarily plotwise, but overall "epicness"), probably my two most favorite King books.  And for $9.50 at Walmart due to a pre-order, I couldn't resist.
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Offline Sprry75

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #791 on: November 10, 2009, 05:59 PM »
I'm reading this:



And it is blowing me away.  Really well done.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #792 on: November 16, 2009, 10:32 PM »
Starting "The Navigator" by Eion McNamee.



This fantasy by Irish author McNamee introduces Owen, whose father has died mysteriously, and whose mother has sunk into a depression. Out in his wilderness hideaway, he catapults into a time vortex where he meets a girl named Cati and her fellow Wakeful. Their eternal task is to fight the Harsh, a powerful ice people who upend time, running it backward so that humans no longer exist. Owen, Cati, and other Wakeful set out to find the Puissance, the place where it is foretold that the Navigator, a legendary figure, can defeat the Harsh and restore proper time. Readers who head for D. J. MacHale's "Pendragon" (S & S) and Garth Nix's "The Keys to the Kingdom" (Scholastic) series may like this one as well, but it sometimes strains credibility. The idea that time is moving backward (from modern to medieval times by novel's end), but that all humanity immediately disappears (even though there were humans back then) is hard to accept. And while Owen and Cati are plucky adventurers, the descriptions sometimes fall flat, and the transitions are occasionally abrupt. Consider this title an additional purchase; acquire where Kenneth Oppel's Airborn (HarperCollins, 2004) and similar titles are popular.—
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #793 on: November 24, 2009, 07:59 PM »
Don't Panic! Currently reading, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.   :)



Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms.
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Offline Nathan

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #794 on: November 25, 2009, 06:06 PM »
^ I actually just started that yesterday. I've never read them before, but I picked up an omnibus edition with all five novels and the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe."

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