Reading World War Z right now. It's pretty good, but I don't recommend taking a very long break from reading in the middle of it.
I haven't read it yet, personally, since it just came out and I don't have time to read anything that's not directly related to my thesis, but I love his voice and humor.
Also, if you're looking for more like American Psycho, you could always look into other of Ellis's novels. I've heard it's different in tone, and perhaps not quite as good, but the main character of his Rules of Attraction is Patrick Bateman's little brother. Could be good for follow up reading.
Reading World War Z right now. It's pretty good, but I don't recommend taking a very long break from reading in the middle of it.
Same for Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, incidentally, which was the last of the books I tried to read over the summer. I enjoyed what I've gotten through so far, but I never got to that point where I had to just keep reading, and really none of it has stayed with me since I put it down at the beginning of the semester. I'll likely finish it at some point, but I'll probably have to start over from the beginning because the first half left zero impression.
Yep. It's almost a tragedy to bear witness to it.
Same thing with "The Stand." That book (the extended cut) is a life changing event when freshly read. Even the subsequent readings I found affected me. Then that GD movie came out and I watched it and it sullied the memory of the book in my mind. I can keep them separated, but, the visions of the movie are palpable, vulgar and poor. The visions I'd created in my mind before the movie were sacred, pure and timeless.
Cabinet of Curiosities by Patrick Mauries is a good suspense/thriller, albeit kind of an oldie.
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk was pretty effed up too.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a great read if you've never read ay Thompson stuff. Then again, I may like it just because I can replay the movie in my head while going through it....can't help but read everything in Depp's voice.
American Gods / Neil Gaiman
If you've never read through Catcher in the Rye, also one of my favs.
I love Lullaby, but it barely scratches the surface of effed up in Palahniuk's oeuvre. That le is probably shared by Haunted and Invisible Monsters.
Rant is also particularly good.
American Gods is great. Salinger's Glass family books are way better than Catcher in the Rye imo - Nine Stories, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters/Seymour - An Introduction, Franny and Zooey.
I never got the fascination with Chuck Palahniuk, read a little seemed like pulpy crap.
I read the first page on Amazon, and I didn't know what the I had just read.
Hey ag, did you check out the Fabric of the Cosmos series he just did on Nova? The Quantum Leap episode was awesome, as was the space one. The Universe or Multiverse? hypothesis about parallel universes with copies of ours sounds ridiculous though, unless spacetime can be thought of as a finite lattice.
Yeah, I did. The multiverse theory is definitely "out there" but it's born of observable physical signatures in our own neighborhood. I'll dig up the thread I posted in the Political Forum about it.
What sort of conceptual framework would be appropriate is anyone's guess. I don't believe that there's enough data for fruitful discussion. I won't pretend to be familiar enough with the theory to give a well-educated guess on that.
I second the American Gods recommendation. Absolutely fantastic book.
Great book. You'd probably like this one also. Debut novel from KJ Bishop.
Unfortunatly, she never has followed up with anything else. But Etched City was excellent.
http://www.amazon.com/Etched-City-K-...2758536&sr=1-1
EDIT: Thought I read this book but was thinking of Neverwhere.
Last edited by cantthinkofanything; 04-09-2012 at 12:00 PM.
I just ordered it. Can't wait to get it.
Neverwhere is pretty good too.
Another author who's really good and offbeat is Darly Gregory. He's written three novels, all differerent from each other but all excellent. In order from my favorite:
Pandemonium
The Devil's Alphabet
Raising Stony Mayhall
I went ahead and picked up the Elegant Universe for the drive home tomorrow. Gotta love Kindle Edition prices and delivery.
PNS Nova did a three-part series based on The Elegant Universe a few years ago; shouldn't be too hard to find online. They also just did a four-part series for his new book, Fabric of the Cosmos, about a month or so ago. All of the episodes are worth checking out.
Oops, didn't see that I just discussed the Nova episodes 9 posts up from that one. LOL not reading the thread.
for all the history and geography buffs, this book is incredible...
http://www.amazon.com/Shaping-Americ.../dp/0300038828
if you're into supernovas and whatnot, this is a great text one of my professors wrote...he was pres of the AAS at one point. its a very easy read.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Cos.../9780521651950
I finished Survivor a few days ago and just started Choke. Choke already seems 2x more interesting than Survivor.
I approve this purchase.
Wheeler.......name rings a bell. I've probably bumped into him a time or two during my time at FERMILAB.
Thanks for the suggestion.
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