[Zagreus]

I just finished The Road yesterday, going to Barnes and Nobel after work to pick something up. Any suggestions on something similarly written?

Have you read his other works? Blood Meridian is great, though a little slower and more stylized. All the Pretty Horses is stunning.

As for other authors, Don Delillo is great, but can be a bit hit or miss-- White Noise is one of the greatest postmodern novels I have ever read. Libra is also fantastic, if you are interested in something a bit more complex (plot-wise) but written in a similar style.

If you are looking for more post-apocalyptia, I'd have to start talking about graphic novels and that sort of feels out of place in a thread about reading books

 

[SkaredShtles]

Just finished "With the Old Breed" by Sledge. Very gritty. I liked it a lot. Those poor bahstids.

Just finished "Semper Fi" and "Helmet for my Pillow"...

"Helmet" was just fantastically written.

Those poor bahstids.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

 

[Polandspring88]

Read this

this

and this

in short succession. So good, on #4 right now.

 

[daisycutter]

Starred Review. War is insanely exciting.... Don't underestimate the power of that revelation, warns bestselling author and Vanity Fair contributing editor Junger (The Perfect Storm). The war in Afghanistan contains brutal trauma but also transcendent purpose in this riveting combat narrative. Junger spent 14 months in 2007–2008 intermittently embedded with a platoon of the 173rd Airborne brigade in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, one of the bloodiest corners of the conflict. The soldiers are a scruffy, warped lot, with unkempt uniforms—they sometimes do battle in shorts and flip-flops—and a ritual of administering friendly beatings to new arrivals, but Junger finds them to be superlative soldiers. Junger experiences everything they do—nerve-racking patrols, terrifying roadside bombings and ambushes, stultifying weeks in camp when they long for a firefight to relieve the tedium. Despite the stress and the grief when buddies die, the author finds war to be something of an exalted state: soldiers experience an almost sexual thrill in the excitement of a firefight—a response Junger struggles to understand—and a profound sense of commitment to subordinating their self-interests to the good of the unit. Junger mixes visceral combat scenes—raptly aware of his own fear and exhaustion—with quieter reportage and insightful discussions of the physiology, social psychology, and even genetics of soldiering. The result is an unforgettable portrait of men under fire. (May 11)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

[Sandwich]

i just read "all quiet on the western front" by that dude and "the road" by mccarthy. Both pretty great books.

 

[metalhead119042]

Read this
this
and this
in short succession. So good, on #4 right now.

For some reason I had trouble getting into the series, I'll have to try again at some point though because I never hear a bad thing about the Dark Tower.
Working on:

Last read

and

 

[Polandspring88]

For some reason I had trouble getting into the series, I'll have to try again at some point though because I never hear a bad thing about the Dark Tower.

How far in did you get? I'll admit that the first book was kind of hard to get into, but once I started getting into the second thats where things got REALLY good. Read at least the second book (third if you can manage), and if its not happening for you after that then it might be a lost cause to go any further.

 

[Fool]

I'm in the middle of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Great post-apocalyptic take on the end of petroleum dependence, the collapse of global food supplies by natural and genetically engineered plagues, and the rise of bio-engineering.

Yeah, a real feel-gooder.

 

[mattmatt86]

I'm going on a corporate training trip for the next week so I decided to pick up some reading material based on some of your suggestions.

Just got back from Barnes and Noble, this is what I came home with...

I spotted this on the clearance rack for 5.99 on the way to the register

 

[Red Rabbit]

Just finished

and

now reading

 

[zdubyadubya]

based on an NPR recommendation, just finished winter's bone. very very good, but also very intense.

 

[BikerBoy28]

Just read this, then watched the movie. Pretty freakin good book. Im also really into reading EU star wars books, most recently finished SW book below. Timothy Zahn is hands down the best Star wars author ever.

 

[DaveW]

Currently reading:
Cradle to cradle,
The E myth revisited,
The Idiots guide to dealing with difficult employees.

Just finished reading:
War with the Newts,
Plants of the Gods,
Sharmans through time, 500 years on the path to enlightenment.


Next up I have:
Tijuana straits,
Ecology of commerce.

 

[scottishmark]

just read:

currently reading:

 

[Pesqueeb]

Decided to re-read this for some reason the other day. It is an excellent book.

 

[Bicyclist]

Bump for books. Just read Shibumi, pretty damn good for what is essentially airport literature. The observational passages between action segments can be just awesome, then it jumps back into Clive Cussler mode. Overall a good book to read when you want to pick up a page turner but want something with a bit of substance to make you think as well.

Gonna read "Why I Am Not a Christian" by Bertrand Russell next, or at least that's the plan.

 

[norbar]

I stopped reading fantasy books quite a while ago but recently a friend recomended me Peridido Street Station. It has no silly Tolkien like stuff (no pun on Tolkien) but tries to build a world that is completely orginal and different from classic fantasy. I think the genre was called - new weird. Good story, amazing world. I was really sucked in. Now Im reading the City and the City also by Mieville and its a crime novel, not fantasy book. Its good but I think not on the same level as perdido.

Viral Loop was also good if someone is interested in web 2.0 stuff.

 

[Batman]

Re-read the George RR series in anticipation of the HBO series this spring....

Just started this the other day...already picked up the next 5 books in the series

 

[Kevin]

Allmost done. Bryson is an amazing story teller. After reading some of his other stuff I just had to read this one.

For anyone familiar with popular science its probably has a lot of info that you allready knew about, but the additional background information was interesting enough to keep me reading.

 

[mattmatt86]

currently reading:

and

first one is more philosophical, 2nd is more like an instruction manual

 

[jdcamb]

I have been reading the chinese newspapers I find in the bike boxes.

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

In the past month I've read:

Ed Viesturs - No Shortcuts to the Top
Ed Viesturs - K2: Life and Death of the World's Most Dangerous Mountain
Robert Birkby - Mountain Madness (Scott Fischer biography)

Just started Anatoli Boukreev's "The Climb" and after that will read Nicholas Howe's "Not Without Peril" (stories of climbing in the White Mountains)



I'm on a mountaineering kick.

 

[norbar]

Allmost done. Bryson is an amazing story teller. After reading some of his other stuff I just had to read this one.

For anyone familiar with popular science its probably has a lot of info that you allready knew about, but the additional background information was interesting enough to keep me reading.

It's a good book although it got a bit boring for me in the middle part. Maybe because I've red it before.
You must be joking mr. faynman is also a good book based around science though if you like hard science that's easy to swallow look for bbc horizon docus. Some of the suck but some of them are amazing.

 

[Pesqueeb]

About done with this:

About a guy who walks across Afghanistan in January 2002. Not all that particularly well written but fascinating none the less. Makes any other travel writer I've read look like a major pvssy.

When I'm done with that I'm going to depress myself with another financial book, which ironically, I got for free cause it was left on an airplane:

 

[Austin Bike]

Name the last 3 (...or 1) book you have read.

I'll start:

Amazon.com: When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management…

Amazon.com: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (9780316346627): Malcolm Gladwell: Books

Amazon.com: Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use (9781585422272): Jacob Sullum: Books


Does anybody else have a bunch of downtime (i.e. commuting to work) and read a lot? Recommend away!!

When genius failed and the tipping point are both on my kindle. I don't buy physical books any more but read a lot on planes.

 

[denjen]

Read this

this

and this

in short succession. So good, on #4 right now.

Read all 7 in a row last summer. Awesome series.

 

[SkaredShtles]

In the past month I've read:

Ed Viesturs - No Shortcuts to the Top
Ed Viesturs - K2: Life and Death of the World's Most Dangerous Mountain
Robert Birkby - Mountain Madness (Scott Fischer biography)

Just started Anatoli Boukreev's "The Climb" and after that will read Nicholas Howe's "Not Without Peril" (stories of climbing in the White Mountains)



I'm on a mountaineering kick.

That's a good kick to get on... have you read the Boardman/Tasker Omnibus yet? If not... get it.

 

[jdcamb]

Zhou got busted again. Kid is bad news...

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

That's a good kick to get on... have you read the Boardman/Tasker Omnibus yet? If not... get it.

Hadn't even heard of it.....reading the description and reviews on Amazon and I'll definitely have to check it out soon. Thanks for the suggestion man!

Must spread rep......so instead for now!

 

[norbar]

Read all 7 in a row last summer. Awesome series.

It's a bit uneven though. Some books are better, some worse.



Though for all Dark Tower fans I have news. - The guy who did Frost/Nixon is planing to do a megaproject on it.

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/movie-news/and-the-dark-tower-awaits-ron-howard-for-t-v-and-film.php

 

[Kevin]

It's a good book although it got a bit boring for me in the middle part. Maybe because I've red it before.
You must be joking mr. faynman is also a good book based around science though if you like hard science that's easy to swallow look for bbc horizon docus. Some of the suck but some of them are amazing.

Well I usually read books that are a lot harder to swallow.
Among my favorite authors are David Deutsch, Charles Seife, Manjit Kumar, Stephen Hawking or Sir Roger Penrose.
This might have had something to do with the fact that Bryson got a little boring.

After reading "A walk in the woods" by Bryson I was just really curious about "A short history of nearly everything", and I would definitly recomend it to anyone whos interested in well, everything.

 

[denjen]

It's a bit uneven though. Some books are better, some worse.



Though for all Dark Tower fans I have news. - The guy who did Frost/Nixon is planing to do a megaproject on it.

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/movie-news/and-the-dark-tower-awaits-ron-howard-for-t-v-and-film.php

I agree 100%. The series as a whole was very good, but there were a few points when I wished it would just get done. Have to say the ending pissed me off greatly.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Couple of tough SOB's.

The Ian Bremmer book is some slow going, interesting, just heavy material.

 

[ridiculous]

I feel like most of the news ive read over the last 3 years has signaled the end of the free market.

 

[Bldr_DH]

Just finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson -- good read. Entertaining and caters to the more geeky crowd.

Next up is Godel, Escher, Bach, which I hear is a difficult read, but well worth it.

 

[SuzyCreamcheese]

In the past month I've read:

Ed Viesturs - No Shortcuts to the Top
Ed Viesturs - K2: Life and Death of the World's Most Dangerous Mountain
Robert Birkby - Mountain Madness (Scott Fischer biography)

Just started Anatoli Boukreev's "The Climb" and after that will read Nicholas Howe's "Not Without Peril" (stories of climbing in the White Mountains)



I'm on a mountaineering kick.

See if you can lay hold of a copy of Galen Rowell's "In the Throne Room of the Mountains Gods", Warren Harding's "Downward Bound" and Guy Waterman's "Yankee Rock and Ice". Myself, I just finished re-reading Yukio Mishima's tetralogy "The Sea of Fertility"

 

[stevew]

new years day i read dennis lehane "moonlight mile"....what a turd.

 

[lamp]

This is a collection of his work . . . my two favorites so far have been The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and The Call of Cthulhu. Starting At the Mountains of Madness . . .

also read recently Achilles in Vietnam and Less than Zero

post-apocalyptia

Have to recommend Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers . . . if you dont read russian there is a translated .pdf in wikipedia's external links section of the roadside picnic page.

Monkey Wrench Gang was fun.

agree

 

[Kevin]

Re-reading