Poll: BOOKS!!!

[Dr Snakeman]

I've recently begun reading in earnest again, yes. Sci-fi and fantasy is my realm. Serious books based more firmly in reality are usually depressing. Indeed, "classics" aren't usually known for their lightness of tone; I read principally for escapism.

Comedy books are also awesome.

Looking forward to Christmas!

After reading some above posts, one wonders...do people read because they enjoy reading? Or because it's something that makes them seem culturally competitive? Do you set yourself a goal of reading a book or do you just let it happen?

Well, in all honesty, it's a little of both for me. I honestly love finding a book that is gripping, that I really love reading. However, some books, like The Count of Monte Cristo, I read just because I feel like I need to read them in order to be a well-rounded person. I guess there's a bit of "I'm better than all these non-reading imbeciles" in there. Not proud of it, but it's there.

However, a book that definitely falls into the former category is a book called "A Fighter's Heart", by Sam Sherridan. It's a documentary of sorts, as a guy writes about how he traveled the world learning about fighting arts and, more importantly, just why it is we feel compelled to fight as a sport. It's awesome, and will definitely put hair on your chest.

 

[Khada]

Night Angel Trilogy, Magicians Guild Trilogy, The Painted Man Trilogy (only 2 out).

Srs, if you like fantasy thats not for kids, get those books. Painted man is especially good.

I guess three really is the charm.

Hah yeh, tho I often wish there were more. For me it can take up to halfway through the first book before you really get into it. So i suppose having another 2.5 books afterwords makes it worthwhile.

 

[TehCookie]

I love reading, but I can never find many books that interest me, I just never know where to look.

 

[Koroviev]

I love reading, but I can never find many books that interest me, I just never know where to look.

What interests you? What books have you read and enjoyed?

 

[TehCookie]

I love reading, but I can never find many books that interest me, I just never know where to look.

What interests you? What books have you read and enjoyed?

I love a good supernatural or sci-fi story (Moongazer and Changeling being my favorites but aren't very popular). The problem is I tend to like the pacing and fantasy worlds found in the young adult books and want more mature characters and deeper plots.

 

[Panda Mania]

Ooo! I love books!

Good ones? My dear sir/madam, the sheer amount of them is obscene! But of course, one can remember some...

I personally liked A Clockwork Orange (the movie's good too, but very different, visually). Its invented language gave it strong personality. Shakespeare's plays (okay, so they're not technically books) always offer something new. And yes, 21st century books can still be masterful literature. You just have to know where to look...

As of right now, I'm trying to complete several books: The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Monster Show, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Half the Sky. All are proving to be enjoyable, each in their own way.

I haven't read Half the Sky, but I always look forward to Nicholas Kristof's columns.

Heh. I just discovered his blog/columns after I read the book. It's truly great stuff he and his wife are doing. Half the Sky should be required reading for...oh I don't know, everyone

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I do enjoy reading. I spend my waking time playing games or sitting on the com in my free time, then I read at night.

 

[Koroviev]

I love reading, but I can never find many books that interest me, I just never know where to look.

What interests you? What books have you read and enjoyed?

I love a good supernatural or sci-fi story (Moongazer and Changeling being my favorites but aren't very popular). The problem is I tend to like the pacing and fantasy worlds found in the young adult books and want more mature characters and deeper plots.

I'd give Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World a look. It's by Haruki Murakami and it's a surrealist affair. What I found compelling, and continue to find compelling, about Murakami's work is his emphasis on the main character's thoughts. I've also heard great things about The Book Thief, which is a young adult novel in America, however, was targeted at adults in its native Australia.

 

[clicketycrack]

I loves me some Kurt Vonnegut. H. P. Lovecraft is a close second.

 

[TehCookie]

I love reading, but I can never find many books that interest me, I just never know where to look.

What interests you? What books have you read and enjoyed?

I love a good supernatural or sci-fi story (Moongazer and Changeling being my favorites but aren't very popular). The problem is I tend to like the pacing and fantasy worlds found in the young adult books and want more mature characters and deeper plots.

I'd give Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World a look. It's by Haruki Murakami and it's a surrealist affair. What I found compelling, and continue to find compelling, about Murakami's work is his emphasis on the main character's thoughts. I've also heard great things about The Book Thief, which is a young adult novel in America, however, was targeted at adults in its native Australia.

Thanks for the recommendations, the first one does sound extremely interesting and I'll have to check that out.

 

[JonnoStrife]

The First Law series by Joe abercrombie is fantastic. So are the first 5 books of the Dark Tower Series. The last 2, especially book 7, kinda die.

 

[RandallJohn]

Yup. I usually carry a book and my DS in my bag for spare time. Lately, the book's been gaining favor over the DS, though.

 

[Burck]

I'm awful at reading books quickly, which usually results in me not finishing them. Between the internet and well... the internet, I have enough media to keep me intrigued when I'm at home or in my dorm at college.

However, when I'm separated from all that, it becomes much easier for me to read.

When I was in Peru for two months with no available or crappy tech, I managed to read through Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead which is quite the behemoth in under three weeks.

(If your wondering, I read it because of Bioshock, thought it was amazingly intriguing at the time, loved how addictive the writing was, understood the metaphorical significance of the sexual content, but still thought it was awkwardly handled, and several months ago debunked its theory as humanism bastardized by neoliberalism which amounted to a wet dream for the return of oligarchy.)

Besides that, I've only managed to read the first three books of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Money Secrets by Dave Barry.

Everything else has been mandatory school reading. I still enjoy reading, its just that its hard for me to dedicate enough time to reading anything that doesn't have me either totally intrigue me or make me laugh a lot.

 

[Koroviev]

I love reading, but I can never find many books that interest me, I just never know where to look.

What interests you? What books have you read and enjoyed?

I love a good supernatural or sci-fi story (Moongazer and Changeling being my favorites but aren't very popular). The problem is I tend to like the pacing and fantasy worlds found in the young adult books and want more mature characters and deeper plots.

I'd give Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World a look. It's by Haruki Murakami and it's a surrealist affair. What I found compelling, and continue to find compelling, about Murakami's work is his emphasis on the main character's thoughts. I've also heard great things about The Book Thief, which is a young adult novel in America, however, was targeted at adults in its native Australia.

Thanks for the recommendations, the first one does sound extremely interesting and I'll have to check that out.

I'd read the preview on Amazon. You might find yourself confused by the second chapter, but it makes much more sense as you go further along. The odd chapters concern the Hard-Boiled Wonderland, while the even chapters concern the End of the World. I won't spoil the details for you, but the book deals with the relationship between these worlds.

 

[Koroviev]

I'm awful at reading books quickly, which usually results in me not finishing them. Between the internet and well... the internet, I have enough media to keep me intrigued when I'm at home or in my dorm at college.

However, when I'm separated from all that, it becomes much easier for me to read.

When I was in Peru for two months with no available or crappy tech, I managed to read through Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead which is quite the behemoth in under three weeks.

(If your wondering, I read it because of Bioshock, thought it was amazingly intriguing at the time, loved how addictive the writing was, understood the metaphorical significance of the sexual content, but still thought it was awkwardly handled, and several months ago debunked its theory as humanism bastardized by neoliberalism which amounted to a wet dream for the return of oligarchy.)

Besides that, I've only managed to read the first three books of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Money Secrets by Dave Barry.

Everything else has been mandatory school reading. I still enjoy reading, its just that its hard for me to dedicate enough time to reading anything that doesn't have me either totally intrigue me or make me laugh a lot.

I was reading Ayn Rand's Anthem, but I didn't finish it. At first I was rather intrigued by the presentation, however, at a certain point it just became too heavy-handed. It's not particularly long, so I may still set aside some time to finish it.

 

[Koroviev]

Those archaic wood pulp methods of transferring stories are...well, outdated. I don't need them to get the stories...if I want to read them in the first place. Reading does tend to bore me. But when I get a burr up my ass I'll just get a DRM-free e-book and read that.


That being said I do keep a few actual genuine books on hand. Specifically, the Haynes manuals on the vehicles my family owns. Kinda hard to read my CRT when I'm on my back underneath a minivan wondering just what the fuck just fell off and hit me in the head...

I don't necessarily agree with that. Have books been around for a while? Sure they have, but then so has the spoken language. Every form of media has its own pros and cons.

What I meant by outdated is the physical medium. Books are stone-aged tech. We have better ways to transmit the stories they contain. Books are heavy, they take up a ton of space, they're a fire hazard and they're pretty fragile. I much prefer getting the same exact text in another format. My 1TB harddrive takes up the same physical space as a single paperback, but I could fill it with an entire library's worth of books.

It's like a laserdisc copy of Star Wars V. The movie may not be outdated, but the medium on which it is transferred sure as hell is.

Video Games
Cons: Often not as deep as other media

This drives me nuts because I insist my games have a good story.

Ah, I see. While I look forward the expansion of the e-book market, it is not without its faults. One major problem, at least as it concerns copyrighted content, is that distributors such as Amazons can view, and even remove, your purchases. In one particularly ironic instance, Amazon fessed up to removing a certain version of 1984 from Kindles. It's unnerving to think that the technology is still such that distributors can restrict access to items you have already purchased.

 

[Mr.France]

Yeah, I do read ocasionally, right now I'm reading The Picture Of Dorian Gray.
Some authors I apreciate: José Saramago, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Hesse (Demian might be my favourite book ever), I can't say Tolkien because I haven't read The Lord Of The Rings (my great shame)... at least not yet.

 

[Amy Sorel]

I read the Harry Potter books up to the 5th, and then i got bored.

 

[Koroviev]

Ah, I see. While I look forward the expansion of the e-book market, it is not without its faults. One major problem, at least as it concerns copyrighted content, is that distributors such as Amazons can view, and even remove, your purchases. In one particularly ironic instance, Amazon fessed up to removing a certain version of 1984 from Kindles. It's unnerving to think that the technology is still such that distributors can restrict access to items you have already purchased.

That's why I said DRM-free e-books. They can't do that if there's no DRM that lets them.

Yes, that's true.

 

[Caligulove]

I try to read 5 (non school related) books a year.

Right now, I'm reading Lord of Light [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light] by Roger Zelazny.

I had to read it when I read an interview with Neil Gaiman (favorite modern author) where he named it as one of his favorite novels