Books

la-henry

Just wondering what books (if any) people like to read. I'm into more of the fantasy type. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (RIP), Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, anything by R.A. Salvatore, the Mistborn series and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, the Halo series, and Hithikers Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

madurofan

I've heard great things abou Wheel of Time. I'm not much of a fantasy reader usually. TYpical John Grisham, Dan Brown kinda guy. I am reading Gamorrah By Robert Saviano true Naples mafia stories.

urbino

I don't read a lot of fantasy, either, but one of the 3 or 4 best novels I've ever read of any kind is John Crowley's fantasy novel, Little, Big.

In general, I read literary fiction. Right now I'm re-reading Moby ***, to see if I like it any better the second time through. I'm also about to finish Richard Price's new one, Lush Life, which is sort of a literary crime novel. I recommend it.

urbino

la-henry:

Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

My older brother used to read a lot of George R.R. Martin. Can't remember any of the titles, though.

urbino

urbino:

Right now I'm re-reading Moby ***

Ha! It filtered out the second word in the title. Hilarious. Anyway, it's the one about the white whale. cackle

madurofan

You can't even type Moby ***? What is this world coming to!

urbino

How 'bout this: Moby Richard

kuzi16

madurofan:

You can't even type Moby ***? What is this world coming to!

wow that kind a sucks.


at the same time though i guess i could understand where they are comming from. they want to keep up the good name that cigar.com has worked so hard to build. many times four letter words lead to anger and a forum full of angry people will do them no good. they still need to make money. Believe me that if this forum started to lose them money they would shut it downso fast all of our heads would spin.

madurofan

kuzi16:

madurofan:

You can't even type Moby ***? What is this world coming to!

wow that kind a sucks.


at the same time though i guess i could understand where they are comming from. they want to keep up the good name that cigar.com has worked so hard to build. many times four letter words lead to anger and a forum full of angry people will do them no good. they still need to make money. Believe me that if this forum started to lose them money they would shut it downso fast all of our heads would spin.

very very true.

urbino

Yeah, I totally understand why they do it. If I ran a forum, I'd probably do it, too. It just has funny side-effects sometimes.

Scrambler

Right now I am hooked on the Blackford Oakes novels by William F. Buckley Jr.

I just finished the 4th book, and ordered books 5 through 9 from Amazon. There is a total of 11 books in the series. They are a lot of fun, sort of James Bond-ish, but about an American CIA agent. Very well written, if you don't know who Bill Buckley is, he was, among other things, the founder of National Review magazine. The books are very entertaining, with some clever references to Buckley's non fiction works.

Mr. Buckley passed away 4 months ago, which is what prompted me to read these books. Ironically (for discussion on this site), 2 months before his death he blamed his failing health on "the idiocy of cigars inhaled".

urbino

Isn't his son a novelist, too?

Scrambler

urbino:

Isn't his son a novelist, too?

Yup, Christopher Buckley wrote Thank You for Smoking, on which the movie of the same name was based. Another of his books I enjoyed is The White House Mess.

j0z3r

I like a variety of genres myself. I've been known to get fully engrossed in a fantasy series, one of my favorites being The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson. And your standard fare King, Koontz, Grisham, Crichton, and too many others to think about.

I've wanted to settle down and read The Great Gatsby again... that seems like it would be a good cigar book.

urbino

j0z3r:

I've wanted to settle down and read The Great Gatsby again... that seems like it would be a good cigar book.

Definitely.

madurofan

Scrambler:

2 months before his death he blamed his failing health on "the idiocy of cigars inhaled".

I agree that inhaling cigars would not be advised.

rdnstn

I have a wide range of stuff I like. Of course there are the old standbys like everyone else, Dan Brown, John Grisham, and the like. I also really like Dale Brown if you haven't read any of his stuff. Mostly I like military fiction and some history. I also read anything that remotely involves scuba diving like Shadow Divers. Right now, I am reading a book that was written by one of my SCUBA instructors. It's kind of rough because its his first book, but pretty entertaining. Especially since I know the guy. You can see a lot of his personality in the writing and the characters.

madurofan

I keep picking up Dale Browns books and going wow a new Dan Brown. Then realizing its not Dan I set it down, maybe I'll actually buy the next one I pick up.

rdnstn

Dale Brown is not near as intellectual as Dan Brown or Dean Koontz, but he is still entertaining. My stepfather turned me on to him and he found him in much the same way you did except he actually bought the book before he realized it.

madurofan

Thats cool. Thats what I like about Grisham, don't get em wrong I like an itellectual book also but sometimes I want to read a good story that I don't have to think about what I'm reading.

zacharyp

Good choice of books. It's a real shame Jordan didn't live to finish his epic series of novels. And Salvatores Dark elf books hold a special place in my home library. As for other books, I found this one blog a few weeks back called "100 books every man should read".~google it and you'll see. In it were classics as recent as only a few years ago, going as far back to biblical and even greko roman times.(books like Lord of the Rings, Biography of Teddy Roosevelt, Plato's republic, King James Bible, Brave New World etc..) Taking the advice of the reviews I just recently read Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five", amazing book btw, and have just recently started Earnest Hemingway's "For whom the Bell Tolls".

urbino

Sounds like a fun list, zach.

Matt Marvel

I enjoy reading Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, and Louis L'Amour. I'm looking at reading some of Kurt Vonnegut's works, but I'm having trouble finding his books. I'm going to have to order off the internet.

j0z3r

zach: Slaughterhouse Five certainly was an interesting novel, and I quite enjoyed it myself. Though to be perfectly honest, I think I need to read it again as I'm fairly sure I missed out on something, some deeper meaning.

Matt: If you'd like, I can lend you my copy of Slaughterhouse Five. At least that way you won't have to go out and buy it. Anyhoo, if you want to borrow it, pm me with your address and I'll lend it out to you.

Bad Andy

I have been listening to some audio books in the last several months, I prefer them, I just read to slow and my mind wonders. The last I two finsihed though were by Malcolm Gladwell. Interesting books on how the mind works. I've also listned to some 'Why Marines Fight', decent but I was expecting a little more. I started listening to 'One Bullet Away' a month ago while traveling across the desert by helicopter, still need to finish that one. I prefer nonfiction and mostly history. I am actually reading the New Testament and slowly making my way through The Moses Code.

madurofan

Still Reading Gommarah but I'm almost done and about to pick up McMafia I think.

Matt Marvel

j0z3r:

zach: Slaughterhouse Five certainly was an interesting novel, and I quite enjoyed it myself. Though to be perfectly honest, I think I need to read it again as I'm fairly sure I missed out on something, some deeper meaning.

Matt: If you'd like, I can lend you my copy of Slaughterhouse Five. At least that way you won't have to go out and buy it. Anyhoo, if you want to borrow it, pm me with your address and I'll lend it out to you.

I appreciate the offer, but I'll just buy a copy. It takes me awhile to get through a read, unless I'm really into it anyway. And I wouldn't want you to have to go through the trouble. Thanks though. Has anyone here read "The Moon is Down" by John Steinbeck? That's another one I'm going to order here soon, that I'm can't find. I haven't come across many people who've even heard of it.

urbino

Matt Marvel:

Has anyone here read "The Moon is Down" by John Steinbeck? That's another one I'm going to order here soon, that I'm can't find. I haven't come across many people who've even heard of it.

I know of it, Matt. I'll be interested to hear what you think. From what I can tell, it ties with The Pearl for the least Steinbeck-like of all of Steinbeck's books. That may be good, or it may be bad, depending on the individual reader.

I just finished a book called Resistance, by Owen Sheer. It's an alternate-history novel set in Wales during a German occupation of England in 1944-45. Good read. Very thought-provoking.

Matt Marvel

That sounds like something I would love Urb. I'll have to check that out. A little tid-bit about "The Moon is Down", it's the novel that inspired the idea for the movie "Red Dawn".

urbino

I didn't know that. Interesting.

Resistance isn't very military-focused, btw. It's about a group of Welsh farm women whose husbands leave to join the underground, and a German patrol that occupies their valley, and the compromises they all make (or don't make) to get through the winter.

la-henry

I've just started to read the Vampire Chronicles by Anne rice. (the books that the movies Interveiw with a Vampire and Queen of the Damned are based off of)