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music and entertainment » Books Read

Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
I thought it would be pretty sweet to have a thread which just listed books just read. We can about everything else in other threads.

#. Title, Author, Genre, Format, A one line value judgment

Example:
1. The City and the Stars and the Sands of Mars, Arthur C. Clarke, Scifi, Audio-Book, Entertaining
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
redundancy? http://thinktankforums.com/thread.php?thread_id=88
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
I thought it would be pretty sweet to have a thread which JUST listed books just read. WE CAN TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE RELATING TO BOOKS IN OTHER THREADS. I don't want to have to read through a thousand lines of other stuff just to grab a few good titles or authors.

#. Title, Author, Genre, Format, A one line value judgment

1. The City and the Stars and the Sands of Mars, Arthur C. Clarke, Scifi, Audio-Book, Entertaining
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
r2, link
Fsmart
I thought it would be pretty sweet to have a thread which JUST listed books just read.

#. Title, Author, Genre, Format, A one line value judgment

1. The City and the Stars and the Sands of Mars, Arthur C. Clarke, Scifi, Audio-Book, Entertaining
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
2. Mission Song, John le Carre, political drama, audio-book, elements of african and linguistic ecstasy but subverted by a typical 007 type plot
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
3. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, cyber punk, audio-book, parts of it original and humorous
lucas's avatar
15 years ago
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lucas
i ❤ demo
what about books listened?
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
books consumed
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
mmm consumed. that's better
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
4. Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion, Malcolm Hulke, tv-knock off type book, audio-book, title says it all :)
nestor's avatar
15 years ago
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nestor
nestor
more like book eaters anonymous
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
only it's not anonymous
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
alright if nobody else is going to contribute i will let this thread die :p
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
reading takes time, be patient :)
nestor's avatar
15 years ago
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nestor
nestor
i'm reading...

financial statements, mostly, but i'm still reading!
dannyp's avatar
15 years ago
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dannyp
dʎuuɐp
notes from underground, nearly done

keep track of my books and shit here:
http://www.goodreads.com/profile/projectdp
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
good thinking
Fsmart's avatar
15 years ago
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Fsmart
test <a href="http://www.goodreads.com">my link text</a>
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
albertine, christian krogh
touching
dannyp's avatar
15 years ago
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dannyp
dʎuuɐp
Most recently I read:

Life of Pi
Anthem

In progress:
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing
Development as Freedom

(need to update my goodreads!)
phi_'s avatar
15 years ago
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phi_
... and let the Earth be silent after ye.
Just finished up:

Loosely Based by Storey Clayton
The White Hotel by D. M. Thomas
Vengeance is Mine by Mickey Spillane
The Dwarf by Par Lagerkvist
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
sangen om den røde rubin, agnar mykle
exciting
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
uten en tråd, jens bjørneboe
funny
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
doppler, erlend loe
inspiring
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
i assume audiobooks count here...

A briefer history of time - stephen hawking

How to talk to anyone anywhere any time - larry king (i didn't realize larry king wrote this until i loaded it up in itunes. Not very good.)

The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time - Mark Haddon

The measure of a Man - Sidney Poitier


--

Listening to:

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

A gigantic Spanish course.. 8 cds worth. - Michel Thomas

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
also listening to

1984 - George Orwell
frightening :D
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
the fabric of the cosmos, brian greene
long :o
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
Finished:
tipping point - awesome stats and how little things affect big things
1984 - still frightening!

in prog:
The Bhagavad Gita
Atlas Shrugged
Spanish
and i should be finishing Animal Farm by Orwell tomorrow morning.
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
pretty awesome. along the same lines as Tipping Point

Animal Farm - George Orwell
similar in concept to 1984 only with animals that talk

The Bhagavad Gita
kind of disappointing. Krishna seems full of himself
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
i thought animal farm was a metaphor for russia/the soviet union during the 20th century
lucas's avatar
15 years ago
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lucas
i ❤ demo
yeah
phi_'s avatar
15 years ago
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phi_
... and let the Earth be silent after ye.
Re-read and annotated Rendezvous in Black by Cornell Woolrich.

Read The Moral Revolution of 1688 by Dudley W.R. Bahlman alongside Paradise Lost by John Milton.
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
I like this author a lot.. case studies about extraordinary people and why they are set apart from others.

The Ancestors Tale - Richard Dawkins
Interesting/fun
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
I am America and so can you - Stephen Colbert
funny, but I think i got a little tired of him by the end of it.. does this make me un-american?

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
great sci-fi. first book of the 8 in the series
Étrangère's avatar
15 years ago
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Étrangère
I am not a robot...
I can't believe you hadn't read any of the Ender's books!
I've read all 8. I don't even like sci-fi...guess that tells you how much I like his writing style. :P
bluet's avatar
15 years ago
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bluet
doppler, erlend loe
yes, again :)
nestor's avatar
15 years ago
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nestor
nestor
just got a new bukowski anthology
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
Civil Disobedience - Thoreau

The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
good. the audiobook was excellent quality and a fine voice for the part.

Dress your family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
funny and depressing at the same time.
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
American Gods - Neil Gaimen
pretty awesome! I loved his movie "mirrormask" and this book is completely different and a fun read :)
Étrangère's avatar
15 years ago
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Étrangère
I am not a robot...
You should also read his books Good Omens and Neverwhere
His humor is fantastic
andyp's avatar
15 years ago
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andyp
nothing is wrong - what are you scared of?
those are on my list after i read "Anansi Boys"
dannyp's avatar
13 years ago
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dannyp
dʎuuɐp
Hamlet's BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age
Tips garnered from lives of significant figures dealing with technology in their age: Plato, Seneca, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, Thoreau, Marshall McLuhan.
nny's avatar
13 years ago
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nny
M̮͈̣̙̰̝̃̿̎̍ͬa͉̭̥͓ț̘ͯ̈́t̬̻͖̰̞͎ͤ̇ ̈̚J̹͎̿̾ȏ̞̫͈y̭̺ͭc̦̹̟̦̭̫͊̿ͩeͥ̌̾̓ͨ
American Gods was one of the best modern books I think I've read if not the best. That's sure to be an classic.
Étrangère's avatar
13 years ago
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Étrangère
I am not a robot...
The Gambler - Fyodor Dostoevsky

The story itself was engaging and laugh-out-loud funny in several parts. I felt the urge to quote him constantly. The book I checked out included a short story by one of Fyodor's real-life lovers, and a selection of letters. I was excited for the letters but they proved hugely disappointing. I was hoping for wild romanticism, though, so I guess I should have known better. Even the best 'romantics' aren't necessarily good at it in reality. Also, her short story sucked.

The Rules of Attraction - Bret Easton Ellis

Picked up because it was recommended to me as a "dark comedy" wrapped in satire. Plenty of satire, but not a trace of real dark comedy...just circles of irony. Everyone sleeps with everyone and everyone is miserable and everyone falls in love with the wrong person, only to discover that that person isn't the one he/she wants anyway. I'd like to re-read this later in my life, when I'm not in such an emotional place and can't relate to so many aspects. This book made me want to cry almost constantly. Still, I won't say I didn't appreciate it.

...His writing style was intense. So hard to sort through for the first few pages, but—similar to being dropped in the middle of a conversation in a foreign language—once you get over trying to interpret every phrase, the book flows along easily.

Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger

Full of fantastic language and emotional rampaging. Depressing as shit for me, though. A beautiful character exploding with fucked-up-ness (maybe this is why he was so beautiful for me?)

And Salinger does a great job making me want to smoke tons of cigarettes in bathtubs or on sunny couches with rags on my head and a cat in my lap.

The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion

Falling in love word by word—
lucas's avatar
13 years ago
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lucas
i ❤ demo
> The Rules of Attraction - Bret Easton Ellis

this has been on my list for a while. i'm glad you liked it. you review tells me that i'll probably like it as well.

> Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger

yeah, smoking in the bath while reading a letter is the best.
nny's avatar
13 years ago
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nny
M̮͈̣̙̰̝̃̿̎̍ͬa͉̭̥͓ț̘ͯ̈́t̬̻͖̰̞͎ͤ̇ ̈̚J̹͎̿̾ȏ̞̫͈y̭̺ͭc̦̹̟̦̭̫͊̿ͩeͥ̌̾̓ͨ
I leave a copy of "The Practical Guide to Racism" on my shelf to confuse people. It's one of a number of books that exist just to cause people to go "what the fuck?" when they are perusing it.
Étrangère's avatar
13 years ago
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Étrangère
I am not a robot...
> The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion

> Falling in love word by word—

I finally finished this on Thursday. It's really an amazing text on grief and mourning. Took forever to get through, but I love how she writes. She remembers these details that are really affecting...

I was hoping this was the first book I could use my little stickies on, to mark the passages I liked in particular, but a few pages in I realized the book would be bursting with them by the end. I'm still going to quote a few, though!