Read Any Good Books Lately?

If you like football (and by that I mean Soccer! ;)) then Inverting the Diamond by Jonothan Wilson is a very interesting book about the evolution of formations and tactics since the game's inception.
 
paulfish4570 said:
i have been meaning to read some gibson.

"Call me Ishmael." Zeno, how does one write that in german? it is one of the greatest lead sentences ever written.
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Paul, it´s a direct translation: „Nennt mich Ishmael."; in my second book (Manesse Verlag) it´s translated: „Man nenne mich Ismael."
 
thank you, Zeno.
another great novel lead is this: "The last camel died at noon." just six words to set place, time and circumstance. it is the opening to ken follett's the key to rebecca.
 
petronius said:
Moby Dick, for the x. time, in a new german translation, that blows all the others I read before.

Christopher Hitchens: God is not great

Charles Bukowski: Poems

Bruce Sterling/William Gibson: The Difference Engine
William Gibson: The Neuromancer/Count Zero/Mona Lisa Overdrive
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good list. early gibson is phenomenal. later gibson... not so much.
 
If you are a Gibson fan, his new book of non-fiction essays, Distrust that Particular Flavor, is a treat. Not sure if it would convert someone who is not already a fan of his fiction but it elaborates on some of his obsessions.

Just finished Gods Without Men. I thought it was a bit uneven. It weaves together 3 different stories from 3 different time periods which converge on a single location. I enjoyed one of the story lines very much and found myself less interested in the other two. It was a somewhat clever, though not very original idea, however the execution wasn't great. An enjoyable read nonetheless.

Also recently read the new Murakami book "IQ84" and the new Neil Stephenson book "Reamde" both again interesting but neither of their best works. IQ84 desperately needed some editing as it was much longer than necessary and Murakami's language lacked it's usual vivacity. Reamde was also overly long, although not by Stephenson's standards, and was more of a plot driven page turner than the feast of interesting ideas facilitated by a plot.

Next up Pierre Bourdieu's Distinction about how class influences or even dictates our attitudes toward art and beauty.
 
i've been trying to finnish up "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" for a while so i can move on to something a little lighter. maybe some steinbeck or hemmingway.
 
"The Grand Design" and "A Brief History of Time," both by Stephen Hawking. Particle physics--quantum mechanics--is mind-blowing. The notion that a particle can be everywhere at once, or can take all possible paths from A to B simultaneously, is beyond mind-blowing. According to Hawking, it's been experimentally proven. And he says that gravity, like light, is considered both a wave and a particle. And did you know that bodies have only a limited amount of gravity energy, and eventually run out of it? Like an empty gas tank. Well, if Stephen Hawking says so, I guess I believe it.
 
stupidfish said:
i've been trying to finnish up "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" for a while so i can move on to something a little lighter. maybe some steinbeck or hemmingway.
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I'd like to re-read that. Robert M. Pirsig, right? I'll have to find me a copy.
 
"Dead Men's Secret" by Jonathan Gray.
You'd have to decide whether he's a lunatic, or he's on to something.
 
Thank you Paul for reminding me of Ken Follett; I liked "Storm island/The eye of the needle very much; both film and book.

I re-read the Marlowe books of Raymond Chandler regularily. Great stuff!
The Wallander books of Henning Mankell are on my fav list too.

Speaking of physics and SF: I love the books of Stephen Baxter.
 
oooh... Gibson... can still remember the first time I read Neuromancer and the impression it left on me...

Currently reading Haruki Murakami - 1q84... started of in part 2 a couple of days ago... think it is brilliant like the other books I have read of him, but you must like surrealism I guess...

Another recommendation would be Orhan Pamuk - Snow... and if you're interested in russian literature you might want to try Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita.

Just some books that have left an impression on me personally... but so much more I still have to read...
 
Red Plenty by Francis Spufford. It is not really history and not really fiction about the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Very well done and shows aspects of that society that either never occurred to me or that I was unaware of.
 
Anyone want a few stories by Dale Brown? He writes about military/Air Force adventures. I have a few I'm done with to give away:

Tin Man
Wings of Fire
Satan's Tail

And also a navy story, "Go in and Sink!" by Douglas Reeman.

Speak up, I'll mail them to you.
 
1491 by Thomas C Mann-----a technical examination of the indigenous peoples of the Americas before Columbus arrived, and immediately after.

1493----the sequel.

Known & Unknown A Memoir by Donald Rumsfeld---------an indepth look at decades of government service at the highest levels.


Texsport
 
Suspense, spy story and thriller fans: Eric Ambler wrote the book. Start with A Coffin for Dimitrios. Then: Alan Furst (all), mid-career LeCarre (Karla trilogy, start with Tinker Tailor; Little Drummer Girl), Steinhauer (Milo Weaver series, start with The Tourist), Nesbo (Harry Hole series, start with The Redbreast).
 
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