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Matt Reed
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Robotmod

Joined: 16 April 2004
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 11:26am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Not comics, but books.  Fiction.  Non-fiction.  Coffee table.  Art.  Whatever.  What are you reading now or have read recently that you recommend to the board?

THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins - Already a hit with the teen crowd, this is going to blow up once Lionsgate ramps up production of the film.  I found this book to be wildly fun and entertaining.  Yes, it's another Young Adult (YA) book, but it's definitely got something for everyone.  What I enjoy about it is the female protagonist, Katniss Everdeen.  She's written in such a way as to really believe that she's a 16 year old girl fighting for her life in the annual Hunger Games, which pulls a male and female contestant from each of the 12 districts to compete in a fight-for-your-life nationally televised event.  Win and you are forever immortalized, your family set for life.  Lose and you are no longer among the living.  Fast paced, exciting action, characters you care about and relationships that feel real, this first book in a three-book series is a ton of fun to read.  I got the other two books as gifts, so they're next on my reading list.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN by John Ajvide Lindqvist - Exceptional book upon which the equally exceptional Swedish film is based.  Having seen the movie before reading the book, I was a little concerned that I had seen and learned everything there was to know about the story.  I was wrong.  There are entire stories and characters excised for the film, understandable as the story needed to be trimmed for a feature.  The writing is fantastic, the characters compelling, and the story itself feels fresh in an age where it seems even the most lame vampire story will get exposure (I'm looking at you, TWILIGHT).  Highly recommended even if you've seen the movie.

THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi - Non-fiction account of the gruesome serial killings that occurred over a 15 year stretch in and around the city of Florence, Italy.  Not only is it a straightforward and compelling look into the investigation, but it's also a look into the Italian judicial system. Spezi is a journalist who was present at the discovery of the first Monster killings and Preston is an American novelist drawn into the crazy conspiracy theories cooked up by an aggressive Chief Inspector and prosecutor.  As the story goes into more detail, I can't count the number of times I was absolutely flabbergasted at the contrivances, absurdities and lengths to which people at the highest levels of law would go to substantiate them.  Their one and only source?  An extremely conspiracy-minded blogger who inexplicably was able to bend the ear of prosecutors and who nearly ended up destroying many lives in the process. 

So what's been on your reading list?

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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 11:30am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Michael Palin's 1969/79 diaries, "The Python Years" at lunch. Almost finished this one, in fact.

For bedtime reading, finally getting around to "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young", a non-fiction book about the War (one battle in particular) in Vietnam.

Floating around, to dip into when I feel the urge, I am also rereading "M*A*S*H".

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Ryan Maxwell
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 11:31am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I'm working my way through most of the Deryni novels by Katherine Kurtz again.  Medieval fantasy, swords, magic and all that.  I've read them all before at least once and always enjoy revisiting them.  So many of the main characters are killed off, there's one heartbreaking book after another.
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Paul Kimball
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 11:50am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Rex stout's "the final deduction"
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Paulo Pereira
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Joined: 24 April 2006
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:00pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

The LORD OF THE RINGS.
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Michael Tortorice
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:01pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Just finished FAHRENHEIT 451. I've never read it before, and that's a shame because I really liked it. I also found it terrifying; its amazingly close to where we are now.

Currently, I've gone back to Edgar Rice Burroughs, A PRINCESS OF MARS. Its been at least twenty-five years since I've read any of the John Carter books. I'd forgotten how much I loved them.




Edited by Michael Tortorice on 07 January 2011 at 12:52pm
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Mike Purdy
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Just finished Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.  Loved it.  I am now reading The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson and I find it to be very entertaining.
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:05pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

THE MENTAL FLOSS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.


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Thomas Moudry
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Just finished The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury, and now I'm dipping
into Sh*t My Dad Says. I just started The Templar Salvation.

Over Xmas, I re-read The Poisonwood Bible, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby,
and The Body of Christopher Creed because I'm teaching all of them this
semester.

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Michael Cross
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

JB, i read Hal Moore's We Were Soldiers Once, and Young a few years ago.  Great read about the encounters in the jungle, going into so much more details and battles than of course the movie ever did.
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Kevin Brown
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:08pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading the PENDRAGON series by D.J. MacHale.  Just about to begin book 8.

Next up, hopefully, will be the DRESDEN FILES series of books.

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Jason Mark Hickok
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Posted: 07 January 2011 at 12:13pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Reading TARZAN OF THE APES at the moment.
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