Currently reading:

Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to al-Qaeda by Robert Wallace. I've read a heck of a lot of books on the history and current state of the USA intelligence community in the past several years, but this one came as a bit of a surprise. It's much more entertaining than I would have expected, but not at the expense of a strong historical/political narrative. By default, it includes a lot of information about the British and Soviet intelligence agencies during the Cold War. Some remarkable stories and gadgetry. As one anecdote, it's been fascinating to learn that James Bond movies and even wacky spy shows like "Get Smart" actually had some inspirational influence on the development of spy tech.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. The current edition of THE classic text on "kitchen science." Although this massive tome is intended as a reference book, I'm reading it cover-to-cover, which is a lot more fun than I'd anticipated. Ask anyone who's interested in food and kitchen science ... they'll tell you that "the McGee" is "the bible." Superb book, but not exactly light reading.

Next up:

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt. My friends who finished this book praise it to high heaven for its breadth of scope and wealth of information, but I've been warned that it's very dry and will take considerable effort to read. I think I'll have to forgive myself for any retention issues with this one, but am looking forward to gaining a more solid basic chronological schema of the subject matter.

You can call me Mr. Bemis...because I am, if anything, a reader...I'm usually working on a half dozen books at any time...yes, all the books I need and all the books I want...

two books though worth reading...one is new, about the insanity of the collector's market surrounding the one almost perfect Honus Wagner baseball card in the world:



and an old favorite of mine that I try to get everyone to read is a memoir of this GM factory worker from Flint, Michigan...a guy who got his book published because he went nuts and appeared in "Roger and Me." It's really poignant reading...but also very, very eerie how many things mirror what's going on in the country as a whole now:

All the talk of Satanic Verses got my interest up. I remember back in the day all the controversy, but I'd never read it. So now I ordered it from Amazon and I'm about 100 pages in. This book is pretty amazing and not at all what I was expecting. Glad I picked it up.

The Unabomber Manifesto.

I just started reading Chuck Klosterman IV. I've had the book for a couple of years, had nothing to bring with me to read for the plasma appointment this morning. grabbed this. so far, like all Klosterman books before, this does not disappoint. my favorite paragraph so far:

"Spurlock (the Super Size Me documentary guy) criticizes McDonald's for not being up-front about the lack of nutrition in its food; this reminds me of people who sue tobacco companies because nobody told them that inhaling smoke is less healthy than inhaling oxygen. Spurlock attacks the prevalence of McDonald's advertising campaigns, and he hates the way they target children; this is intriguing, because I remember seeing thousands of "Just Say No" advertisements when I was young, and those didn't exactly take. All those "Got Milk?" ads don't seem to make people crazy for milk, either. Why is it that the only advertising campaigns that work seem to sell all the bad things people actually desire? Isn't that a weird coincidence?"

this dude is a genius when it comes to stuff that is not very genius....

I picked this up at the library the other day, and I really thought it was worth another read. Something told me that when I read it in school a couple of decades ago I didn't fully appreciate it. I was right.

Has anyone read The Men Who Stare at Goats?

I just bought it. It's pretty entertaining.

What have people been reading?
I'm considering picking up a few Christopher Moore novels.
Has anyone ever read these?
- Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story
- The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
- A Dirty Job: A Novel
And maybe The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

All of those are good reads. Anything by Moore and Gaiman is usually good, but 'Practical Demonkeeping' and 'Lamb' are my favorites for Moore, and 'Angels and Vistations' and 'Anansi Boys' for Gaiman

I'm re-reading some old favorites right now. Just finished "Satanic Verses". Up next is "The Moor's Last Sigh". And after that is "Moby Dick". After that I'll probably look for a new book.

Just finished this, and it's very very highly recommended. Child 44 is loosely based on the prolific Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo. Absolute page tuner, I couldn't put it down. More than just another crime novel, this really gave some insight into the average everyday life of a citizen of Stalinist Russia. Foreboding and full of paranoia. A must read.

Oh yea, last book I read was All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe.
Interesting story, but ending was eh.

I was on vacation, so I read A LOT these past two weeks:

Novels:
The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith (Good build up, but the ending fell flat)
Fevre Dreams by George R.R. Martin (good solid horror novel)
Let The Right One In by John Linqvist (Probably the best vampire novel I ever read)
Lies Of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (fun fantasy novel about con men)

Graphic Novels:
Fell, Vol.I by Warren Ellis (this is fucked up...in a good way)
Fables, Vol. 10: The Good Prince by Bill Willingham (great series)
Starman Omnibus Vol.2 by James Robinson (one of the best 'super-hero' comic books I ever read)

Also reread the following:
Saga Of the Swamp Thing, Vol.I by Alan Moore (Classic stuff)
Punktown by Jeffrey Thomas (my favorite sci-fi short story collection EVER)

"the card" looks interesting, might pick it up on amazon

one of the many interesting things in the book is Keith Olberman's involvment in the hobby...didn't know it before I read the book, but he's a really big figure in the cards collecting world. I guess an "expert." It's a cool read. I don't collect baseball cards, but there's parrallels with our whole deal here to say the least.

Picked this one up last year (Thanks Paul) as an extra Christmas gift for my partner.
We both loved this book. Some very witty moments w/ lots of dry humour and monsters.
Great line up of characters. Definitely worth checking it out.

Cool thread. Will have to look at picking up some other SBrainer's recommendations.

Glad you liked it! You should pick up Go-Go Girls Of The Apocalypse too, more great trash reading.

Christopher Moore x Quentin Tarantino? I'm sold.

Just finished Bukowski's last before he cashed out:

So far the funniest book I've ever read.

Halfway through:

just ordered it off amazon yesterday, will be one of the first books ive actually wanted to read. usually, the only books i read are the ones i have to read for a class. im sure this book wont dissapoint, and yea, the parallel with our collecting deal also triggered me to give it a try.

So who's reading what during the holiday break?



I just finished up this book. Very interesting. More info about the book here: http://www.nationbooks.org/book/192/Emp ... 20Illusion

I'm about to finish this graphic novel. This is a pretty deep autobiography.
Ever more personal than what Joe Matt does.

just finished this:


and now i'm halfway through with this:


both quick reads. it's interesting reading about their two different perspectives of the same events

I am a sucker for short story collections. In the time you would spend watching a television episode, a great short story can change your life. I also reread Winesburg by Sherwood Anderson religiously. You can find some nice collections of works by James, Flaubert, and Gogol for super cheap on Amazon.

Here are some of my favorites:

Great recommendations, Dostoevskij's "Notes from the Underground" is probably one of my favourite pieces of short prose... If unfamiliar, you might want to check out the equally brilliant works of Isaac Babel!