Books! (I figured here since they are not comics and not media)

[lugaru]

Reading Right now:

The Road - Cormac McCarthy (1/3 through): so far it is super depressing in a good way, and it's vision of a post apocalypse is really sober and realistic. Also since I really dont know anything about the book It has been terrifying, finding out little bits through the authors almost improvised and poetic prose.

Apocalypse in Retrospect - Kurt Vonnegut (barely skimmed): I love his works and I've just started skimming through this reading the introduction and a couple of the essays. I'll let you guy's know how it works out.

Up Next:

World War Z on audiobook.

Recently Read:

Dreams of my Father - Barak Obama. It is great, just like Audacity of hope was. I keep laughing every time I hear people use the phrase "we dont know the real Obama" because here are two books written by somebody who never dreamed of being president and who wrote down a lot of things that could of messed up his career. Also it establishes him as somebody who understands the third world and also it explained to me his exact views on religion. Finally as a foreigner I never really understood Affirmative Action (not that I was opposed, I just didint get it) until he explained it in like a short sentence.

Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein A damning work of political journalism colored with little blots of opinion. It explains how a specific school of economic thought takes advantage of disasters to usher in privatization for profit. It goes far to explaining why Katrina and Iraq played out the way they did and where all our tax money has disapeared to.

Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole It is a book about a morbidly obese and completely self absorved medieval philosophy buff that lives with his mother in Louisiana during the 60's. You read all these blackly funny adventures that never end well (like episodes of Its always sunny in Philadelphia) with little peeks at the civil rights movement and other historic events barely visible out of the corners of your eyes.

[Xenolith]

I read Confederacy of Dunces a while back.  I thought it was intersting that the author killed himself before the book was published.  It makes me wonder what was going on that he would write such a bizarre book and then end his life?

[zuludelta]

Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein A damning work of political journalism colored with little blots of opinion. It explains how a specific school of economic thought takes advantage of disasters to usher in privatization for profit. It goes far to explaining why Katrina and Iraq played out the way they did and where all our tax money has disapeared to.

Klein's "Shock Doctrine" is great stuff... she's probably the most high-profile writer (outside of Chomsky) to ever put out a book on the phenomenon of "disaster capitalism" and the recent profiteering being done at the expense of the lives of American and coalition soldiers in the Middle East (not to mention all those civilians). 

One thing I'd recomend, though, for people who read her material, is to do your own background research and such and try to develop a wider understanding of the interplay between the "free" market and how it stands to gain the most from disasters (whether natural or man-made)... while I agree with many of her points, I think it's always a good thing to not substitute an author's political opinion for one's own. I've met waaay too many people who've read her books and end up only mouthing her material without any real understanding, perspective, or opinion of their own (somewhat cruelly ironic, considering her stance that people should be independent thinkers). 

[lugaru]

@ Xenolith: Yeah, judging by what I saw the main character (Ignateus) was kind of a gross cartoon of the author since they had a few jobs and experiences in common. At the same time though the author sounds like a much better person, although if Ignateus was a reflection of how he saw himself It is not surprising how he ended up. Another thing: I kept thinking that Ignateus reminded me of a lot of people I met on the internet (especially on RPG.NET) and if he was a character of the 90's/2000's instead of 60's he would of been the big 30 y/o weirdo that rules the message board. You know, the 400 pound guy with a furry costume in his closet, ren-fair tickets, awkward bat-man fan fiction and a $200 dollar light saber.

@ Zulu: Yeah, I read "Legacy of Ashes" (an amazing and well documented history of the CIA); confesions of an economic hitman (not as well verified) and watched No End In Sight (interviews with the people in charge of planing the invasion in iraq) and When the Levees Broke. And yeah, everything she says had a creepy unifying effect on my previous research but I agree that I have heard people blame the oddest things on Disaster Capitalism, I'm surprise I havent heard "They are using the Skrull Invasion and Final Crisis to hoist a comic book price increase on shocked readers".

[laughing paradox]

I really enjoyed the approach taken on World War Z, with interviews from survivors after the attacks. I'm usually not a fan of audiobooks but I wonder if an audiobook would actually enhance the experience of the stories in this novel.

The Zombie Survival Guide is another great little book that is an excellent supplement to WWZ.

[Figure Fan]

I'm in the middle of Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut right now.

[stumpy]

Guys, this is a fine thread. But, please keep in mind that some political books are very difficult to discuss without going into their controversial theses or possible misrepresentations and those discussions would be inappropriate for this forum. Let's try and stay away from those books, so that people with different views aren't drawn into debate or left biting their tongues.

[stumpy]

BTW, I recently finished Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion which is a rundown of mental shortcuts and instinctive behavior people use when making decisions and how marketeers take advantage of those shortcuts to get people to buy things. Interesting read and now I barely see an advertisement without noting one of the techniques being used.

[daglob]

I really enjoyed the approach taken on World War Z, with interviews from survivors after the attacks. I'm usually not a fan of audiobooks but I wonder if an audiobook would actually enhance the experience of the stories in this novel.

The Zombie Survival Guide is another great little book that is an excellent supplement to WWZ.

There si a similar book ot The Zombie Survival Guide entitled How to Survive a Robot Uprising.


And here I am reading The Arabian Nights Murder by John Dickson Carr and Pig Boats by Theodore Roscoe (one is in the house, one is in the car).

[lugaru]

About World War Z on audiotape it has a TON of actors doing all the voices and it is supposed to be amazing. I have not purchased it because it says "abridged" on audible and I refuse to do abridged, so I want to find out if there is a full version first. BTW audiobooks have changed my life...

[BlueBard]

Well, this straddles the line, but I recently read a novel entitled "It's Superman!"  I forget the name of the author.

It's mainly set in the post-depression 1930's in the original Superman timeline, ala Siegel and Shuster, and it is yet another Superman origin retelling.

I will say that it is an engaging storyline, rich in detail, with plenty to like.  And plenty not to like, for me.  Nothing that follows is a real spoiler.

All of the characters sleep around, so it's not a G-rated book.  And there is some death and gore.  More like PG-13 or even R.  None of the characters are very deep and many of them are rather shallow, if quirky.

There is no Jimmy Olson; he's been replaced with an opportunistic con man whose first love is photography. And Clark... well...

Clark Kent is portrayed as a slightly dull and passive man with issues connecting to other people emotionally.  He's not just pretending to be an unsophisticated nerd, though the character does evolve as the story progresses.  He doesn't really become Superman until later in the book, but there is plenty of opportunity to see his superhuman attributes in action throughout.  If you can't deal with an unflattering portrayal of Clark Kent, this is not the book for you.  I'm not sure I care for it, but I have to admit it's different.

Lois Lane is pretty well done as an ambitious woman reporter, though she too has issues.

Lex Luthor, however, is SPOT. ON.  You'll love to hate this guy.  That's all I'll say about that.

So, if you have any interest in the original Superman stories or you're looking for a real twist on the usual versions of his origin, you might like this book.

[lugaru]

That sounds pretty out thyere, I'm going to check it out. I pretty much by rule dont read novelizations of superheroes and movies and role playing games but this sounds like pretty much the oposite of that...

[Reepicheep]

At the moment, I'm reading

Red Dragon - Thomas Harris

Stonehenge - Bernard Cornwell

And would reccomend them both to anyone who likes to read about the obscure.

[Gremlin]

Well, this straddles the line, but I recently read a novel entitled "It's Superman!"  I forget the name of the author.

It's mainly set in the post-depression 1930's in the original Superman timeline, ala Siegel and Shuster, and it is yet another Superman origin retelling.

I will say that it is an engaging storyline, rich in detail, with plenty to like.  And plenty not to like, for me.  Nothing that follows is a real spoiler.

All of the characters sleep around, so it's not a G-rated book.  And there is some death and gore.  More like PG-13 or even R.  None of the characters are very deep and many of them are rather shallow, if quirky.

There is no Jimmy Olson; he's been replaced with an opportunistic con man whose first love is photography. And Clark... well...

Clark Kent is portrayed as a slightly dull and passive man with issues connecting to other people emotionally.  He's not just pretending to be an unsophisticated nerd, though the character does evolve as the story progresses.  He doesn't really become Superman until later in the book, but there is plenty of opportunity to see his superhuman attributes in action throughout.  If you can't deal with an unflattering portrayal of Clark Kent, this is not the book for you.  I'm not sure I care for it, but I have to admit it's different.

Lois Lane is pretty well done as an ambitious woman reporter, though she too has issues.

Lex Luthor, however, is SPOT. ON.  You'll love to hate this guy.  That's all I'll say about that.

So, if you have any interest in the original Superman stories or you're looking for a real twist on the usual versions of his origin, you might like this book.

Tom De Haven. I picked this up from the library the other day, and I have to say, I loved it. It's such an interesting take on Clark and Luthor, and the period fits the story perfectly.

[Mr. Hamrick]

"No Reservations", The Les Halles Cookbook, "The Nasty Bits", "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain - After watching The Travel Channel show of his called "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations"

"Kitchen Confidential" - This is the book that pretty much made Bourdain somewhat of a "celebrity chef".  It is a memoir of his life up till the end of the 1990s and contains some assorted insight about both the restaurant industry and life in general.  After reading this, I don't know that I will ever order the seafood special on Monday ever again.  
"No Reservations" - This is a collection of photos that were taking while they were filming the first three or four seasons of the series.  There are some assorted captions and notes about the photos and the locations as well as other notes about traveling and eating abroad.  
"The Nasty Bits" - This is a collection of articles that Bourdain has wrote for various publications and sources.  Some of them have been wrote while he was putting together episodes of "No Reservations" and some are just there.
The Les Halles Cookbook In addition to offering some interesting and complicated recipes, cooking advice is offered.  I have not tried any of the recipes yet but hope to do so soon.

[lugaru]

I loved Red Dragon, especially since I prefer Hannibal as a peripheral character than as the main dude. I prefer when psychos are psycho, like Bateman form American Psycho (the novel) foaming at the mouth and chasing pigeons.