Author Topic: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?  (Read 192743 times)

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #690 on: June 22, 2009, 12:08 AM »
Finished "Children of the Storm", now reading "Forever Odd" by Dean Koontz.



Besides having an unusual moniker, 21-year-old Odd Thomas (whom readers first met in Koontz's 2003 novel of the same name) has some very unusual powers, chief among them his ability to see the dead. He can see, feel and talk to them, too (though they don't talk back: "Perhaps they know things about death that the living are not permitted to learn from them"). These days Odd is still hosting the ghost of a morose Elvis Presley, still grieving for his dead girlfriend, Stormy, and still worrying about his very fat friend P. Oswald Boone, whose cat, Terrible Chester, likes to pee on his shoes. Late one night, Odd is summoned by the ghost of Dr. Wilbur Jessup to the Jessup home, the site of a gruesome murder. Dr. Jessup is the father of Odd's best friend, Danny, who is afflicted with osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bones. Odd finds Dr. Jessup's body, but Danny is missing. Since Odd has what he describes as "psychic magnetism," he can follow an invisible mental trail, which in this case leads him to his endangered friend. After he finds Danny in a spooky, burned-out Indian casino, it is Odd who becomes the quarry. The beautiful and stunningly evil Datura, aided by two frightening minions, wants to use Odd for his supernatural abilities—and then kill him. Odd's strange gifts, coupled with his intelligence and self-effacing humor, make him one of the most quietly authoritative characters in recent popular fiction.
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Offline Nathan

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #691 on: June 26, 2009, 07:11 PM »


"The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, the homeworld Mace barely remembers, has become a battleground in the increasing hostilities between the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba—Mace’s former Padawan and fellow Council member—to Haruun Kal to train the local tribesmen as a guerilla resistance force, to fight against the Separatists who control the planet and its strategic star system with their droid armies.

But now the Separatists have pulled back, and Depa has not returned. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording left at the scene of a brutal massacre: a recording that hints of madness and murder, and the darkness in the jungle . . . a recording in Depa’s own voice.

Mace Windu trained her. Only he can find her. Only he can learn what has changed her. Only he can stop her."


It's basically (and consciously) Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now set in a Star Wars milieu, with Depa Billaba playing the Colonel Kurtz role.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #692 on: June 27, 2009, 07:45 PM »
Reading "Brother Odd" by Dean Koontz.



The third adventure of Odd Thomas, the boy (well, he's 21, but still . . .) who sees ghosts, has a lighter feel to it than the gruelingly suspenseful Forever Odd(2005) and the funny and moving Odd Thomas (2003). It's reminiscent of a sunny monster-movie sequel--say, Son of Frankenstein--in which stock characters do their shtick with a wink and a nod: "Dontcha just love us?" In this case, yes, we do. Odd has retreated to a monastery in the Sierra Nevadas that permanently hosts a billionaire physicist in an underground lab. The mogul has given his entire fortune to support the monastery and attached convent in their work of housing and educating severely damaged children, the most interesting of which is now a 25-year-old artistic savant. As the story opens, bodachs--animated shadows that gather in anticipation of lethal violence, which only Odd among the living sees--are invading the children's quarters. Can Odd mitigate the coming cataclysm? Of course he can, despite the arrival of murderous bone creatures and grim Death itself, for the monks include quite a contingent of reformed martial sinners, most memorably Brother Knuckles, formerly of the New Jersey Mob, and another guest, a mysterious Russian librarian from Indianapolis, who is more and different than Odd thinks he is. Koontz salts Odd's narration with some wonderful zingers at the expense of cultural degeneracy and political folly. A darned good time should be had by all readers.
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Offline Brian

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #693 on: June 29, 2009, 10:02 AM »
I finished up re-reading the last two HP books, so I got back to finishing up the LOTR trilogy now.  I'm working on Return of the King.  For some reason, the LOTR series is a lot slower reading for me than something like Harry Potter - so I'm guessing this will take a bit longer :).

Offline Chris M

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #694 on: June 29, 2009, 11:22 AM »


Just about finished reading my book on several of the founding fathers.  Pretty good read.  I'm a huge Clive Cussler fan so I had to pick up a few books.  We are headed to Disney World in a couple of weeks, so I needed some fiction to read for the week.  So Sahara is the first of the three books I picked up and I started reading the first few chapter Saturday night.  I love Cussler's writing.
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Offline Nathan

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #695 on: June 30, 2009, 12:30 AM »


A collection of reprinted interviews, essays and articles from throughout his career on a variety of topics (Dune, UFOs, the environment, the craft of writing, etc.) selected by Frank himself just before his death.

Too bad it isn't in print any longer, but many of the articles (current topics in the 1950s and 1960s) are terribly dated now.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #696 on: June 30, 2009, 12:52 AM »
Also reading "Code to Zero" by Ken Follett.



48 hours that could change the world's political landscape...A man wakes up to find himself lying on the ground in a railway station, his mind stripped bare of all recollection. He has no idea how he got there. He does not even know his own name. Convinced he is a drunken down and out. it isn't until a newspaper report about a satellite launch catches his eye that he begins to suspect all is not what it seems...The year is 1958, and America is about to launch its first satellite, in a desperate attempt to match the Soviet Sputnik and regain the lead in the space race. As Luke Lucas gradually unravels the mystery of his amnesia, he realizes that his fate is bound up with that of the rocket that stands ready on launch pad 26B at Cape Canaveral.
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Offline Darth_Anton

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #697 on: June 30, 2009, 11:35 AM »
I finally started Band of Brothers, I can't put it down. Truly awesome book.
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Offline Chris M

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #698 on: June 30, 2009, 12:04 PM »
^^Excellent read.  I've been through that book several times.  If you like it, you should also try more of Stephen Ambrose's writing.  All of his books have a very "folksy" way of reading and are always interesting.
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."  Ben franklin


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Offline Mikey D

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #699 on: June 30, 2009, 02:24 PM »
Started:



Hope to read while on vacation next week:



and

Common sense isn't so common

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #700 on: July 8, 2009, 06:32 PM »
Just started "Grave Peril" by Jim Butcher. Book 3 of the Dresden Files. This is suppost to be the one that gets the series in high gear.



Wizard Harry Dresden stars in the third installment of the Dresden Files (following Fool Moon), a haunting, fantastical novel that begins almost as innocently as those of another famous literary wizard named Harry. In the opening scene, Dresden and his knight friend, Michael, battle the ghost of a woman who is terrorizing a local hospital's maternity ward. From there, the novel quickly evolves into an unorthodox tale spiced with sexual innuendo and subtle humor (Dresden carries his ghost-hunting gear in an old Scooby-Doo lunch box). Due to the weakened barrier between the spirit world which Butcher refers to as "the nevernever" and the actual world, obsessive and violent ghosts are on the loose in modern-day Chicago, and they seem to be targeting Dresden and Michael. Horny vampires and possessive demons join the mix as Dresden journeys into the spirit world to hunt down the villains who are terrorizing him and his friends. Butcher narrates Dresden's story in the first person, which limits the amount of detail he can inject into the lives of his secondary characters. Despite this narrow point of view, Butcher successfully lends human dimensions to vampires and spirits through his vivid descriptions and colloquial dialogue. (Sept.)Forecast: A vivid cover showing glowing barbed wire wrapped around a pair of cemetery gates is misleading as is a cover quote appealing to fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff but it will catch the browser's eye.

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Offline Nathan

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #701 on: July 12, 2009, 12:00 AM »


Quote
My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

I kept seeing this in various stores and passed because it looks like the most generic fantasy work ever committed to paper. But the barrage of glowing reviews wore me down, and I saw the author on a panel at a local con and he seemed interesting, so I picked it up from the library.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2009, 12:01 AM by Nathan »
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #702 on: July 12, 2009, 10:26 PM »
I'm taking a couple of books with me on vacation.

Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle



After being thrown out the window of his luxury apartment, science fiction writer Allen Carpentier wakes to find himself at the gates of hell. Feeling he's landed in a great opportunity for a book, he attempts to follow Dante's road map. Determined to meet Satan himself, Carpentier treks through the Nine Layers of Hell led by Benito Mussolini, and encounters countless mental and physical tortures. As he struggles to escape, he's taken through new, puzzling, and outlandish versions of sin--recast for the present day. 


and

Lord of the Flies by William Golding



William Golding's classic novel of primitive savagery and survival is one of the most vividly realized and riveting works in modern fiction. The tale begins after a plane wreck deposits a group of English school boys, aged six to twelve on an isolated tropical island. Their struggle to survive and impose order quickly evolves from a battle against nature into a battle against their own primitive instincts. Golding's portrayal of the collapse of social order into chaos draws the fine line between innocence and savagery.
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Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #703 on: July 12, 2009, 10:32 PM »
Just finished A Portrait Of An Artist As A Young Man. Reading The Dubliners.

I wanna read a post apocalyptic book next. Maybe The Stand, or Earth Abides, or something.

Offline Carpeteria3000

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Re: JD Book Club: What Are You Reading Now?
« Reply #704 on: July 12, 2009, 11:04 PM »
If you're game, Brad, try out Ulysses (though I'd suggest getting a Cliff's Notes to go along with it, just to keep up with it). I teach a lot of Joyce, especially from Dubliners. It's a great collection.