Read/reading any good books, lately?

Prob Lem · December 08, 2012, 05:56:04 PM

Sadly, of late, I've found that video games have less to offer me than ever before (most series that I like have ended or ceased to be in one way or another, and there are only two or three outfits that actually produce games of any interest to me, now), and I've been doing a lot more reading as a result. I usually read on a tablet computer, using the Amazon Kindle app (I previously owned a Kindle device, so I get on very well with this), as I find backlit LCDs to be much kinder on my eyes than paper, for some reason.

I was just wondering if anyone wanted to share book recommendations and the like.

I tend to have a lot of books on the go at once, as I like to dip in and out of various things, and I'm currently working through the following;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watership-Down-Puffin-Books-ebook/dp/B002RI9L76/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354988032&sr=1-1" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Watership Down, by Richard Adams - Said by some to be the genre-defining work of "http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Xenofiction" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">xenofiction", Watership Down follows the trials and tribulations of a group of rabbits who flee from their warren after one of their number - a seer by the name of Fiver - foretells of its destruction, and the deaths of all who remain. Richard Adams builds up a brilliant world, fictional language, belief-system, and canon of rabbit folk-tales, for the protagonists, all of which exists right under the noses of humans, in addition to the main story itself, which blends the fictional elements with real-world ones relating to the species on which it's focussed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Time-Youre-Wasting-ebook/dp/B004GEAM1S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354988046&sr=1-1" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">It's Your Time You're Wasting: A Teacher's Tales of Classroom Hell, by Frank Chalk - I originally bought the paperback edition of this, and later purchased the revised Kindle edition, which includes some additional content and updated information as of the 2010 UK General Election. It's Your Time You're Wasting is an exploration of the state of British schools, and the attitudes that have made them this way, told by a former teacher. The tales therein will be readily identifiable by both teachers, and those who simply attended schools in the vein of those in the book. It's equal parts hilarious and depressing, and, thankfully, also has a sequel ("Education: My Part in its Downfall"), and http://frankchalk.blogspot.co.uk/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">an associated blog, here.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delete-This-Your-Peril-ebook/dp/B006WAYWM4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354988061&sr=1-1" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Delete This at Your Peril - The Bob Servant E-mails, by Neil Forsyth - Via transcripts, this book tells of the antics of a man named Bob Servant, who, much in the vein of the scambaiters from http://www.419eater.com/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">419 Eater, anonymously strings along scammers in order to waste their time and keep them from real victims. The yarns spun by Bob, and especially the responses from the scammers, are oftentimes hilarious. Though it wasn't my own introduction to the genre, I'd have to say that it's a good introduction to reading the amusing results of scambaiters' work, for sure.

In addition to the above, I'm also going through http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grimms-Fairy-Stories-ebook/dp/B0082UXYTE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354987993&sr=1-1" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Grimm's Fairy Stories, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aesops-Fables-ebook/dp/B004UJSZQ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354987979&sr=1-1" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Aesop's Fables, the ten (out of twelve, as two of them aren't available as separate Kindle editions) colour-coded Fairy Books collected by Andrew Lang, and various collections of folk-tales and fairy-stories from around the world (such as two specifically covering stories from Greece and India), as I have quite an interest in these sorts of stories, and find them a lot more fun to read than the bowdlerised, Disney-influenced modern equivalents.

I've also got a small list that I want to pick up when I've next got the spare money, too, but I'll cover that some other time, should this thread go anywhere.

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

So, what're you all reading at the moment?

mobius · December 08, 2012, 08:44:00 PM

I noticed everyone here seems to have lost interest in video games latley.

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" class="smiley" />
You could do what I do and procrastinate everything or do things slowly to the point where it takes months to read a book or video game then you don't get them all done too fast.

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" /> (you probably shouldn't do that)

I'm currently reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's pretty epic. It can get a little slow in areas but then speeds up again, and it's strange.

If you like comedy I recommend stuff by David Sedaris--very funny. I'm reading 'When you are Engulfed in Flames' and I'd like to get 'Chipmunk seeks Squirrel'
Some other I've seen recommended on other forums:
How Not to Make the Same Mistake Once by Barry Farber
Uh-Oh and It Was on Fire When I Lay Down On It by Robert Fulghum

If your into strange and crazy there's chuck Palanuik. He's the author of Fight Club (of which the movie was based on). His stuff is pretty different but can be gross.

I've also recently read the 'Myst' books. Written by the same people that made the video game. I wasn't expecting much but the first one so far turned out to be very good. There's three in total.

If you like sci-fi or fantasy; anything by Stephen King. (If you don't like fantasy there's 'Different Season' his one of few non-fantasy books that contains 'The shawshank Redemption'. Excellent book.
Also Michael Chrichton. Two of my favorite books of all time; 'Andromeda Strain' and 'Sphere'.

There's a ton but I'll just make a short list of great one's I've read.
1984 - George Orwell
2001 A Space Oddysy - Arthur C. Clark
White Fang - Jack London
Hatchet, The Transal Saga by Gary Paulsen
Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku

Proxima · December 09, 2012, 04:20:37 PM

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=709.msg15481#msg15481">Quote from: möbius on 2012-12-08 14:44:00

I noticed everyone here seems to have lost interest in video games lately. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" class="smiley" />

Not me -- I've been needing them to help me cope. Lately I've gotten back into the DROD series, though I wish I wasn't so bad at it and I wish I knew why I'm so bad. I'm an intelligent person; I should be able to do puzzle games

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" class="smiley" />

But anyway, books. In the last few days I've been re-reading the Haruhi Suzumiya series, of which I have the first six, and I think I may get the next one for my birthday present to myself. I've also been given The Casual Vacancy, which I've not yet started reading, so I can't say whether I would recommend it.

mobius · December 09, 2012, 07:55:40 PM

sorry to go off topic but thanks for for mentioning DROD that looks like a fun game I have to try!
The name reminds me of the 'Deadly Danger Dungeon' by Rolf AVGN.

and happy birthday

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />

grams88 · July 21, 2013, 12:37:29 PM

Read/reading any good books, lately?

Prob Lem

mobius

Proxima

mobius

grams88