The Book Review Thread.
 

So I'm hoping there might be one or two other people on this forum who can read. I realize my sights might be set a little high for the demographic of the place, but it might be worth a laugh or two.

This thread has only one rule... NO POLITICAL DISCUSSION!


So... the wife reads A LOT. She reads so much it actually makes me feel dumb. But she also knows exactly what I like and when she says "You need to read this", I usually finish whatever it is in a single sitting.

Last night after the kids went to sleep, she finished up a book and handed it to me as she went off to shower... her only words were, "I give you until midnight." It took me until about 1230 because I was partially drunk for the first 200 pages.

The book... "The Hunger Games."

I know it's a movie, and now the movie will probably suck. The book was awesome. There are 3 of them in the series and a friend just dropped off the other 2 in hardback... of course the wife gets to read them first.

Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games

I'm far too busy to actually sit down and read a book, unless it pertains to work or car stuff. My wife, on the other hand, most likely has read every book that James Patterson has written. She mentioned something about the women's murder mystery series? I'll tell you, they must have been good, cause she was sucked in BIG TIME.

The last book I read was "Making the Corps" by Thomas E. Ricks. It's about Marine Corps history and a platoon of recruits journey through bootcamp. I learned a lot about both subjects and would recommend it, especially to those interested in the Marines or military politics. As an added bonus I felt better about going to bootcamp after finishing the book, and will read it again before shipping out.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330916893

Before that, the last book I can remember enjoying was "The Driver" By Alex Roy. It's about driving in general but it focuses on Roy's record setting drive (and attempts) from east to west coast as well as his participation in road rallies like Gumball 3000.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330916893

Iran is one big ------- mystery. It's nice to get some insight into it.

American Wings, Iranian Roots.

It's a great book, a great story, and a great way to get a peak into the REAL Iran. And by that I don't mean the current regime. Regimes come and go.

Basically a story of an Iranian wrestler (wrestling is/was BIG in Iran). He ends up fleeing Iran, then helps his family get out. It's a crazy story.

Check it out.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...SH20_OU01_.jpg

A thread after my own heart :party:

If you are into reading physical books and buy used (like me), check out Better World Books You can buy 4 used books for 10 or 12 bucks, bargain bin books are 3 dollars and shipping is always free. I probably 5 or so books a month from them :NERD ALERT

My last order came in this week.
-The Lord of the Rings 1/2/3
-His Dark Materials 1/2/3/
-Titus Groan

7 books for 20 bucks, shipped :)

Any who, right now I am rereading Parasite Eve. Yes, it was originally a book before it was a super awesome video game. Probably my 4th or 5th time reading it. It's incredible. A must for horror buffs. It's been out for a long time, but was recently translated into English and done very, very well.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330919394

Just finished rereading, The Outsiders. I have no idea how many times I've read it. Easily my favorite story.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330919394

Now....Titus Groan....this is a weird piece of literature. It's written in a poetic style, fast paced, short chapters, but packed with tons of content. It honestly felt like I was reading Moby Dick again. It's a strange, strange novel (?), but I think I'll enjoy if I can figure out how to properly read it.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330919394

Almost forgot, to get into the spirit of joining the military, I was recommended by a bar tender at my work to read, War is a Racket. I highly recommend this to anyone, especially you, Gearhead!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iocs2fDZkb...t_cov_rev.jpeg

This was a very interesting and well written book. Not dry at all and full of witty stories about inside crap that has gone on in the auto industry. One chapter deals with the American attempts to spy and discover the secret of the Japanese auto industry's success.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330919579



And this was just an enthralling look at what they didn't teach you in school about the past. It is broken down into short chapters on each subject so it works well for reading in multiple short sittings if necessary. Funny and interesting stuff in there.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330919579

in before Brain posts some Ayn Rand bullshit.

The Family Trade series by Charles Stross is a good one. If ya like more of the Sci Fi stuff but not too star treky Glenn Cook and the Enders game/Enders Shadow are a good pair or Richard Morgan with the Takahashi Kovacs series is AWESOME. Makes you want lasers and kill people and screw ho's

I highly recommend The Laundry series starting with "The Atrocity Archives" by Charles Stross. Imagine an occult James Bond that is subject to all of the soul crushing bureaucracy one would expect from a gov agency and you have the gist of it. The main characters job title is "Computational Demonologist". I rest my case.

Oh ----, Parasite Eve is translated? Buying that ASAP! Props bro!

Steven Pinker - the better angels of our nature.
A Book about how violence actually continually declines in the world, and the reasons why. (and some about the reasons that you on the othermside of the pond like killing each other more than europeans).

Justin Cronin - the passage.
Apocalypse / postapocalypse / monsterbook, same feeling as the stand or the road, ie, a really good read. However, it is the first in a trilogy, and the rest of the three are still unreleased.

Sam, the the next books are equally epic, I loved all three. The movie seems to have promise, but it's not out yet. I'm doing it the smart way, reading the book far enough in advance that by the time I see the movie my memory of the book is too foggy to notice differences.

I wish i had come to this thread earlier on. I read a pretty large amount of books, a lot of them on my phone. Im pretty much obsessed with apocalypse type stories. The Hunger Game series is really good. Along the same kind of line is a series called The Maze Runner.

I just finished the 6th book in a series that gave me a kind of Firefly feel, called Grimspace. Sci-fi cowboy spaceman kind feeling. I am a member on a site called GoodReads that lets you have a digital book shelf and give and receive recommendations based on how you rate books youve read.

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3095862-darren-r

Edit: post #2200

I mean, she only wrote two novels, which of course are my favorite books ever: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. All ---- aside, those are amazing books.

But I'm a huge fan of Clive Cussler and John Grisham books. I love the Kurt Austin and Dirk Pitt series; I've read them all.

Yup, you missed a lot in the last 12 hours.

They also have an amazon store.

Recently finished this one:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330963732

Liked it a lot.



Just started this one, hoping to learn to understand my internet addiction and control it:


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x...305_100614.jpg

hellz yeah!

I think Inca Gold is my favorite.

Here' s a list of all I've read:

Dirk Pitt Series -

Artic Drift, Treasure of Khan, Black Wind, Trojan Odyssey, Valhalla Rising, Atlantis Found, Flood Tide, Shock Wave, Inca Gold, Sahara, Dragon, Treasure, Cyclops

Oregan Series -

Golden Buddah, Sacred Stone, Dark Watch, Skeleton Coast, Plague Ship, Corsair

Kurt Austin -

Serpent, Blue Gold, Fire Ice, White Death, Lost City, Polar Shift, The Navigator, Medusa

Oh the Issac Bell series is great if you like Sherlock Holmes type ----, set in the 40s -

The Chase , The Wrecker

looks like there's 3 more in that series alone. I'm behind in my reading. Both of these were really good.


damn, I'm a ------- scholar!

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson is a pretty good serious non-fiction book. About the US ambassador to Berlin 1933-37 and his family. Not great writing, but a good story about how the world looked the other way while Hitler took over.

Also everyone needs to read 1984, Animal Farm, and Fahrenheit 451