GateWorlder's Book Club and Reading List

[methuselah]

Sssssoooooo. What are you reading right now? And what's on your reading list?

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. It's about a couple girls from circa 1805 and their marriage games.

I want to read Heidi next and then The Fabric of the Cosmos and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire next. Is that delusionally ambitious? I finished War and Peace (unabridged) so.....

[Callista]

I'm reading a book called "The Known World" but I'm having trouble getting into it. I went on a Kurt Vonnegut spree this summer. I recommend "Cat's Cradle" if you haven't read any of his stuff.

[Nem2k]

Im reading a book called Neuromancer by William Gibson atm

its a book based on the cyberpunk genre, infact, i think this was the book that brought the genre to a more mainstream crowd. and its quite dark, gritty and moody, i like it

next I want to pickup a copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. anyone read that? Ive seen Bladerunner and loved it, so I wanna read the book that started it all off

[gatehorse]

I'm reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. For some reason, people don't know that it was a book before it was a movie! My friend actually said "It's a book? Well, I love Wicked...." and I said that Wicked was written after it and that there would be no Wicked without TWWoO! *shakes head*
I finished Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I'm on to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I plan to finish all five hitchhiker books.

Other than that, I have to read 1984 for english (whoops, I need to get started!), and I'm not sure if we're doing Pride and Prejudice...I may start it anyway.

[xfkirsten]

Hmm... I recently finished "Freeing Keiko." Great story about the life Keiko (aka Willy the whale) and well told... and unfortunately, very, very biased. The author turns what could be a great biography into a sort of condescending rant about captivity - never mind the fact that he gets killer whale facts wrong along the way. Still, it was fun to read for entertainment, but from what I've heard it's not exactly to be trusted as the gospel truth.

Also recently finished "Listening to Whales" by Alexandra Morton. Amazing book! It's basically her autobiography. She's a biologist who's spent most of her adult life studying dolphins, and moving to a remote island in Canada to study killer whales. Beautifully written, and by a well-respected (and skeptical, yet open-minded) scientist, no less.

Next up on the list: "Life of Pi"!

...yes, I have an animal book theme going on.

Im reading a book called Neuromancer by William Gibson atm

Oooh, I read that one in high school. Great book, and a real scifi classic! I should go back and reread it, it's been so long...

[Vee]

Other than that, I have to read 1984 for english

Oh, that is such a good book! I've read it more times than I can remember. But I never get tired of it.

As for me, I like a mix of fiction and non-fiction. I recently read "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse. I'm still not sure how I felt about it. I'm not a spiritual person and I couldn't help but feel you should be in order to connect with this book. But it was a touching story.

I also re-read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein recently. I can't explain why I like this novel so much. It is a very dark story. But I enjoyed it.

At the moment I'm reading "Common Nonsense" by Andy Rooney and "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garret. I've been wanting to read Plague for years but never got around to it. It's basically all about infectious diseases and the dangers they pose. I've just started it but I heard great things about it for a long time from some acquaintances. It sounds like it should be fairly compelling.

After I'm done with those I think I might pick up something about the Civil War. I love reading about history.

[gatehorse]

As for me, I like a mix of fiction and non-fiction. I recently read "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse. I'm still not sure how I felt about it. I'm not a spiritual person and I couldn't help but feel you should be in order to connect with this book. But it was a touching story.

We read that at the beginning of the year. I think you're right about needing to be spiritual to connect with it. It wasn't great, but it was ok...certainly better than Catcher in the Rye, which we've also read this year. Couldn't even finish that book.

[NoRsTaR]

I read a lot of novels (about 10 a month). Actually, I just purchased 5 new novels yesterday. I read pretty much anything, with a personal preference to Star Trek & Covert Op's books.

[Ascended Times.2]

At the moment, i'm reading "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini, is the sequel to Eragon, by the same guy, got it to Christmas, oddly enough, I havan't read Eragon, so i'm a little lost, even with the "The story far" pages...Oh well, from what i've read, this one's better.

Oh, and I just finished the first book of "The Wheel of Time" series called "The eye of the world" by Robert Jordan, omg, omg, I just couldn't put that one down, and i'm going to completely snurch the next one the second I can find it.

In the general genre of books, i'm a big fantasy fan, i'm a mediocre(sp?) fan of Sci-fi books, and documentaries.

[Trek_Girl42]

Finally found a book thread!

I'm reading "On Basilisk Station" by David Weber, "Children of God" by Mary Doria Russell, "The Salmon of Doubt" by Douglas Adams, "Inkspell" by Cornelia Funke, and I'm flipping through "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene (I'm one of those people who reads multiple books of a variety at once.....).

Anyone have recommendations?

[xfkirsten]

I just finished "Zamba: The True Story of the Greatest Lion That Ever Lived" by Ralph Helfner. WONDERFUL story - very sweet and heartwarming. I highly reccommend it for any animal nuts out there!

[Trek_Girl42]

I just finished "Zamba: The True Story of the Greatest Lion That Ever Lived" by Ralph Helfner. WONDERFUL story - very sweet and heartwarming. I highly reccommend it for any animal nuts out there!

I'll take a look for it.

[Reefgirl]

At the moment I'm reading the new Atlantis book, next in line is Peyton Place, and following that No Adam in Eden both by Grace Metalious

[Trek_Girl42]

I highly recommend "On Basilisk Station"- got two chapters left and it's great- first few chapters are a bit difficult as it goes into this lengthy monologue on the technicalities of weapons and manouvers of the ship and such (if you're into that thing, you'll like it, if not, skimming that bit might be best), but after that it's great.

[1DanielForMe]

I tend to read a lot of non-fiction, or at least semi non-fiction. Currently I'm reading "Don't Know Much About History" from Kenneth C. Davis, for the second time. It's incredible, addressing and filling in so many holes in American history, bringing to the forefront events and behaviors which are hidden, or at best, sugar coated in most text-books these days.