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Does anybody read [books] anymore?

skibunny24

Enthusiastic Receiver of Reputation
Jun 16, 2010
3,281
585
Renton, WA


This was a lot like




Which I also just finished and LOVED. All 4 are great. Time for a new book.... Guess I'll browse this thread for something appealing!
 

skibunny24

Enthusiastic Receiver of Reputation
Jun 16, 2010
3,281
585
Renton, WA
With Zombies?

Am currently reading "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" by Christopher Moore. Funny stuff...
That's on my Amazon wish list--I read all of Tim Robbins' books a few years back (if you haven't, read "Jitterbug Perfume" and "Villa Incognito", though I really love them all); let us know how it turns out!
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,616
7,277
Colorado
Just finished Pirate's Cove (Tayman), and Foundation and Empire ( still need to read the others). I'm on the Colony (Tayman).
 
I'm not sure if asking this goes against the spirit of the thread...:weee:

Most of the stuff I read is in digital format, and it has two serious disadvantatges: requires a pc/notepad to view (which means you can't read in most places) and your eyes get sore after a while (which also happens with tablets). The number of pages involved discards printing as an option.
So, would an ebook be the solution, or just a fancy toy? Any alternatives ?
 
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skibunny24

Enthusiastic Receiver of Reputation
Jun 16, 2010
3,281
585
Renton, WA
I'm not sure if asking this goes against the spirit of the thread...:weee:

Most of the stuff I read is in digital format, and it has two serious disadvantatges: requires a pc/notepad to view (which means you can't read in most places) and your eyes get sore after a while (which also happens with tablets). The number of pages involved discards printing as an option.
So, would an ebook be the solution, or just a fancy toy? Any alternatives ?
I love my kindle, here's why:

1. The ink screen, it's easy on the eyes
2. The size. It fits in many different coat pockets, also, my purse.
3. Highlighting. You can highlight your fav. lines from any books and it stores them all in one place for review. No flipping pages!
4. Ease of downloading. From basically anywhere. I also like to peruse amazon.com for suggestions, and it's super easy to send the book to the kindle from a computer.

The only con is that so many of the books I would like to read are more than I really want to pay, and it isn't compatible with the library's e-reader format, so I can't check out books that way. The Joker's suggestion of audio books is nice--in WA we can download them from the library system and play them on our computer or mp3 player. I do like that as well!
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,616
7,277
Colorado
Our library allows it as well. Not always the absolute best selection, but still really good. What my family has started doing is having everybody use one Audible.com account, then buying books as we want them. Since there are so many of us, we get one of the premium packages to split costs. We also all have access to te books.
 
skibunny24, thanks for the info. My fear was that I would be "another gadget of questionable utility", a bit like buying a cheap mp3 player when you can do the same with a cell phone and a memory card.

The audiobook idea looks nice for novels and such when you feel lazy, but useless when you're dealing with mathematical expressions (>90% of what I read). :D
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,330
16,794
Riding the baggage carousel.




Also, don't know if it counts for this thread but I've been listening to the Dark Tower series on teh iPod. I read the first 4 many moons ago but didn't want to pick up the 5th without refreshing my memory. Found the whole series in .mp3 format on the web for free ninety nine. Think I'll probably do the same with Song of Fire and Ice. Picked up Dance With Dragons when it came out and can't hardly remember whats going on.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,330
16,794
Riding the baggage carousel.
Currently:

Gotta say, I kind of don't understand the fascination with this book, though I'm not finished. Decent story and all but nothing mind blowing IMHO.

Started a couple days ago:


In the que:
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,599
9,608
jo nesbo "the devi's star" right now....

another author binge....finished the headhunters and nemesis earlier this week.

harry hole is fvcking awesome....
 

Big J

Monkey
Jul 18, 2005
421
0
Chicago
zone one.jpg


I read this book when it was released and found this tale of the zombie apocalypse to have a few new twists I haven’t read or seen on the screen.

J
 

skibunny24

Enthusiastic Receiver of Reputation
Jun 16, 2010
3,281
585
Renton, WA

and the sequal: Hollowmen, great reads if you want some light zombie reading ;)

and the next two books in the trilogy

and the next two from this trilogy... it's really written for high school girls, I just need to finish this and forget I ever read it.

and the sequel, waiting on the third to come out
and a few others... I've been reading quite a bit lately I guess!
 

Kevin

Turbo Monkey
I hope they serve beer in hell - Tucker Max
Once were radicals - Irfan Yusuf
Marching Powder - Rusty Young
Down Under - Bill Bryson
The God delusion (2nd time) - Richard Dawkins

Currently reading:
Codename Renegade - Richard Wolffe
 
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mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,270
7,798
Transylvania 90210
Just finished The Book Of Drugs by Mike Doughty. What a tortured dude. Had no idea the guys in Soul Coughing hated each other that much. The book was an eye-opener and an hero-crusher.
 
I have been reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, which describes the destruction of the economies, with attendant kidnapping, torture, and disappearances, starting in in South America (Chile, Argentina, and others), abetted by the United States government, and, she argues, driven by Milton Friedman's free market economists. It also describes the spread of this general giveaway to corporations, creating crippling debt and transferring that debt to governments, destroying the working and middle classes in the process, and the evolution of that into efforts to stabilize economies according to Friedman's false models which is today destroying Greece, Spain and others in the name of austerity and stability for the 1%.

I have been peripherally aware of our interference in South America, our complicity with those who kidnap, torture, and assassinate, the destruction of the middle class, including here at home, and for years have been mulling over the ascendance of corporations over governments and their people, and the enrichment of a very few at the severe expense of the many, but I never had an integrating framework in which to consider these phenomena. Klein provides that framework.

This is a recommended read. :thumb:
 

DaveW

Space Monkey
Jul 2, 2001
11,212
2,739
The bunker at parliament
Finally getting around to reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
Been on my must read list for ages but yesterday I found a copy at a second hand books shop in mint condition for just $3. :)