Just looking to continue this thread which was pretty lively in the old forum [moderators note: link to old forum is here:  http://twitchfilm.net/forum/index.php?topic=232.0].

Recently finished The Road, after reading a post by Kurt (i think?) on the front page not too long ago. Absolutely loved it. Very interested to see how the film turns out, and how they cast it. Personally I think Daniel Day Lewis would be perfect as the father.

Also reading Kitchen Confidential....not a big Anthony Bourdain fan usually, but the book is entertaining.

More interested to hear what everyone else is reading…

-mike

I’ve successfully learned how to read books VERY slowly, so I am still reading Peter F.Hamilton’s “Pandora’s Star”, and loving every page.

Thankfully there’s a lot of them and the second half of the story ("Judas Unchained") is patiently waiting for me…

pilibeen - glad you enjoyed the road.  It’s a sparse and intense novel.  That it even works is amazing.  It’s certainly the best new novel I’ve read in years.

What Have I been reading lately…

Going thru (slowly) Moby Dick (I read it 15 years ago or more, and revisited it on a lark, it’s a tough but very good read if you like emphasis on texture over narrative!)

Currently I’m also reading Douglas Coupland’s The Gum Thief.  He uses an interesting structure with this novel which really, really works with his style of writing.  Thus far it’s really good, but I’m not sure if this isn’t just a response to JPODs awfulness such that anything would look good.  Strike that.  It is DAMN good and really funny in that ironic Coupland way (Which if you hate the author is really going to grate on you).  As I wrote in the comments section on the main site:  “I much prefer Mr. Coupland when he is operating in downbeat Elenor Rigby/Hey Nostradamus/MissWyoming mode than the upbeat mode of JPOD/Microserfs/ShampooPlanet. Apocalyptic meditations on Death and the infinite of the universe thru the aisles of big-box stores told as a gigantic riff on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  Oh Yes.  Yummy”

Lined up in the queue is a bit of non-fiction:

Bambi vs. Godzilla - Been meaning to read this David Mamet book/rant on the movie industry for months. 

The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein is one of Canada’s most readable investigative-journalist/activists out there.  Here NO LOGO is a veritable bible of branding-ideology.  From Amazon - ”The neo-liberal economic policies—privatization, free trade, slashed social spending—that the Chicago School and the economist Milton Friedman have foisted on the world are catastrophic in two senses, argues this vigorous polemic. Because their results are disastrous—depressions, mass poverty, private corporations looting public wealth, by the author’s accounting—their means must be cataclysmic, dependent on political upheavals and natural disasters as coercive pretexts for free-market reforms the public would normally reject.”

I finally started on the Road too. Am about 50 pages in now. Very intense indeed. Beautiful use of language also.

Before that I read “Out of the Silent Planet” from C.S. Lewis. A Space adventure story with interesting ideas about language, exobiology and mythology (although it’s only aimed at a teen level). I can see why he was good friends with Tolkien. The only drawback for me was the very Christian angle to the whole thing, so I decided I much rather read the Road than the other two parts of the space trilogy this book is part of.

And next? Haven’t decided that yet but, like with movies, I have piles upon piles yet to go through. After seeing A Scanner Darkly I really wanted to read some Philip K Dick novels and bought some. Maybe I’ll start on Do Androids Dream… before my Blade Runner Ultimate Edition DVD arrives

I loved The Road! Cormac is an awesome writer.

I remember reading Blood Meridian and being blown away by how beautiful it was written. It was a hard read, but totally worth it.

The last three books I’ve read:

- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson. Old personal favorite.

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The best book I’ve read this year.

Haven’t had a whole lot time for reading with the end of the semester looming...but i’m stocking up on stuff to start reading over the holidays…

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Without Feathers
A Canticle for Liebovitz

I’m looking for some good scifi if anyone has suggestions…

Right now I’m reading Anatomy of Dependence by MD Takeo Doi.
It’s very interesting...he talks a lot about how to understand a country’s psychology, you must learn the language.
It focuses also on the differences between western and eastern society.

I’ve also been reading Neuromancer but I lost my copy...derr

oh! and pilibeen, have you read any novels by Neal Stephenson? He does great sci-fi! I love a book he wrote called Snow Crash.

Hiya, im new to this site so Hello everybody.
At the minute i’m reading H.P. Lovecrafts At the Mountains Of Madness.  Ive always been a huge fan of Lovecraft. Sometimes its a bit slow and unwinding to get into but this stories holding me there.

Icy…

No I haven’t read any Neal Stephenson...though i’ve been meaning to. I’ve heard about Snow Crash and Cryptomonicon...just ordered Snow Crash so I guess that’ll be my introduction. Thanks for the reminder!

I just finished up A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin, which I really enjoyed. It’s been a song time since I’ve been so engrossed by a fantasy series. I started reading the Song of Ice and Fire back in August, and just breezed through all of the books. Of course, now I’m waiting with bated breath for the fifth novel to come out (hopefully in spring/summer of 2008).

Cell (Stephen King)
and starting to read Black House (Stephen King and Peter Straub)

Seems to be a few SF fans round here so I might fit in. Just finished reading Matter, the new Culture novel from Iain M Banks, and great stuff it was too. But then I don’t expect any less from a writer of his calibre.

In a Kurt Vonnegut groove at the moment, and it is a very good thing.  Just read his last, ‘A Man Without A country’ and the brilliant ‘Breakfast of Champions’. Just tucking in to Slaughterhouse 5 now....

Currently reading The Stand (Stephen King). Which i do every year! It really needs to be made into a proper film (tv film is really bad) but persuading movie execs to make a modern day LOTRs would be difficult!

Just started Spring Snow by Yukio Mishimia. Finished The Rules of Attraction a few nights ago. After Spring Snow I have Sentimental Education to go through. I don’t read that much though, just little spells over a few weeks at a time.

While waiting on Feist to finally finish his new book, i started reading books by Robin Hobb. Currently reading Fool’s Fate by her.