We should start an Ayro bookclub :rolleyes:

That might be a good idea.

What's everyone think? Want a separate section for threads about books?

Good idea. Might even grow into its own section

Too much of the reading I do is mandatory, but I'm always looking for an excuse to pick up something that I actually find interesting. I think a section for books would be a good addition to the forums. We could even have like a book of the month that a different person could pick each month to read together and have discussion on. It could definitely add a very interesting dynamic to the political discussions we have in RLNAG.

I'd be up for this. I just recently joined one at work and the first book was The Kite Runner. Great book.

Can we include Maxim as a book ? Microwave generation Literature 4tw :)

But sounds like a great idea.

Ive just started reading a book.

Since it fits the original genre of the board, i think it would be appropriate.

The Malazan series by Steve Erikson.
http://www.malazanempire.com/site/index.shtml

People ive talked to have compared it favorably to ASOIAF

http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Moon-Book-Malazan-Fallen/dp/B000E6UWE4/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201397027&sr=8-2

Its the opposite of Martin though.. this is Ultra High Fantasy.. magic is everywhere, gods are murdered, Heroes are epic in proportion..
I guess its like if you crossed the early Silmarrillion with GRRMs story telling ability.

Ive actually ordered the whole series because I dont like reading at my computer.. but if you are REALLY cheap.
http://www.ebookee.com/Steven-Erikson-Malazan-Book-of-The-Fallen-Books-1-6_144822.html
If you like it.. I urge you to go buy it.. but thatll get you started.

A book club is a great idea...Ainwein ftw!

Let's gauge interest and try to get a list going. I figure we could probably work through 2 books a month, depending on the selections. I do something very similar to this on another message board and it has not only spurred me to finally work through some of the classics, but also introduced me to new material that I would have never found without.

Sounds great, as long as LL doesn't pick all the titles. I like to read without a dictionary and thesaurus as a reference.

Can we include Maxim as a book ?

Haha! Thats all I read this Africa trip. Had a stack of them in the four hole burn out. Nothing tempers the smell of shit, piss and diesel fuel like Maxim.

Haha! Thats all I read this Africa trip. Had a stack of them in the four hole burn out. Nothing tempers the smell of shit, piss and diesel fuel like Maxim.


OMG, you have no idea the flashback you just gave me!!!

Believe it or not, the guys who got the shit-burning duty in Nam mostly all went home with wads of cash in their bank accounts. Why? Because the civilian contractors were paying them separately from their military pay, and as disgusting as the job might have been, the money was huge!

And for those who might recall, the first odor to hit your nostrils when deplaning that first day in Viet Nam was the odor of burning shit.

Omg, that's a cool idea.

Can it include history books? Cause, uh, that's all I read. But some are narrative and fun, honest.

Great idea. Ill participate always up for new reading ideas. been re-reading some of my old F. Pohl for lack of new material.

Great idea. Ill participate always up for new reading ideas. been re-reading some of my old F. Pohl for lack of new material.

Heh, along the same lines of a lack of new stuff, I have been re-reading much as well, mostly Piers Anthony (The Magic of Xanth series, The Apprentice Adept series, and The Incarnations of Immortality series) because of the fantasy escapism, and Fred Saberhagen's Berserker books for a vicarious fix while waiting on the conclusion of BSG.

I have not seen much new stuff other than Clapton's biography that I was willing to sit down with, since re-reading the Harry Potter set.

I'm in!!!

I used to love Piers Anthony, and at one time owned most of his books, but now every time I start one of them I have a hard time getting past his rampant sexism. Every female character, unless she's the protagonist, is usually reduced to a sex icon, and the men aren't a whole lot better. There are some great stories, the man just needs to progress a little in his thinking.

If you're a fan, read his biography (Bio of an Ogre, I think). It's interesting how many elements of his own life he incorporates in his books.

Omg, that's a cool idea.

Can it include history books? Cause, uh, that's all I read. But some are narrative and fun, honest.

I think as long as everyone uses some discretion we should be fine. Guns, Germs, And Steel, for example, is a history book that I will most likely be putting forth as a monthly selection. The scope of the book is enormous, but it is presented in an easy to digest manner. I would not, however, expect anyone to read The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy or anything horribly dry like that.

After another day or two I'll look through all the posts here and get a cursory list going.

Does Dianetics count as a fiction selection, or is it religious?

While this sounds like a good idea, unfortunately I don't have time to read much. I won't be able to participate. Well that and I'm not much of a science fiction/fantasy reader, so half the books that I am sure will be recommended will be of little interest to me.

I used to love Piers Anthony, and at one time owned most of his books, but now every time I start one of them I have a hard time getting past his rampant sexism. Anthony was one of my earliest regular reads, but after 3 dozen or so books I got fed up with this, too, and moved on to Heinlien and Asimov.

I wish I had time to participate, but 3 classes and work don't leave much time for outside reading.

Yeah I have no time either. I received 13 books for Christmas and I'll probably only be able to read half of those before the end of the year...

Anyway, I am always on the look out for new series/authors.

Perhaps I'll post a list of my all-time favorite reads. I've read the most popular ones like Heinlien, Jordan, Clancy, Martin... but there's some unknown treasures you guys might be interested in.

I recently finished Confessor by Terry Goodkind which was the conclusion to his Sword of Truth series. I really enjoyed that series :)

I'm now reading The Golden Compass and a friend just gave me Jon Katz latest book about his stories on his farm with Border Collies... Dog Days. I have a border collie and one sheltie border collie mix, I love the way this guy writes he's an awesome story teller. I recommend him if you're looking for something a little different than fantasy/Sci Fi.

Also, I love this idea lots! I read as often as possible and am always looking for new things to read. :)

BTW, seeing there are some other Heinlein readers here, I have to make mention of "Stranger In A Strange Land" being my all-time favorite sci-fi novel. The concepts that were presented, the attention to detail, and the obvious comparisons to another 'prophet' and his followers made this a book that I can easily pick up every five years and reread with as much pleasure as though it were new again. The one concept of being a trained "Witness" is one that I fully expect will become a reality at some point.

Not sure if any are really interested, but the 1632 alternative-history series by Eric Flint is pretty good. I like the north and south series by Harry Turtledove but it's like 10 novels long tho.

I may read Saberhagens sword trilogy again as i loved it when it first came out. Been reading Dune again as the classics never get old imho....:D

Anthony was one of my earliest regular reads, but after 3 dozen or so books I got fed up with this, too, and moved on to Heinlien and Asimov.

I wish I had time to participate, but 3 classes and work don't leave much time for outside reading.

Anthony was one of the first authors I started reading as well, starting with the incarnations of immortality series. Good books for back then. I've been reading a lot of Jennifer Fallon lately.

Always looking to broaden horizons, count me in.

I've read all the Dragonlance books that have been put out, as well as Steven King's (All except Cellular).
I've also read Asimov, Piers Anthony, Salvadore, Anne Rice, Tolkien, Crichton.....
I generally stay in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror genres.

I tended to only read Horror/Thrillers, but I haven't read a novel since Hannibal I think. With work, a three year old, and a wife, I don't have time to read any novels if I still want to watch any of the shows I enjoy and play any games.

I recently finished Confessor by Terry Goodkind which was the conclusion to his Sword of Truth series. I really enjoyed that series You might be interested in knowing that Sam Raimi plans on making a weekly series (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i062b16e707aa9991beca376ab4ce2189) out of The Sword of Truth entitled Wizard's First Rule. Plans in the works for a fall launch.

Sam Raimi the guy who done Spiderman 2? If so, then good.

I tended to only read Horror/Thrillers

I may have mentioned this series before, but a fantastic set of books on serial killers and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has been written by a group of attorneys under the pen name Michael Slade (at least, this is how the pen name was explained to me). GHOUL and HEADHUNTER were the first two I read, and I was hooked at the detail and forensic knowledge, and investigative techniques. I always look for neew titles, and have read five or six now.

For horror, Clive Barker was great at eliciting a "holy shit" from me with some of his short stories.

And the classic writing of Anne Rice, THE MUMMY and the Lasher/Taltos series being more impressive to me than her Vampire novels. THE MUMMY was an incredible departure from any preconceived ideas, usually taken from the old Karloff movies, hehe.

You might be interested in knowing that Sam Raimi plans on making a weekly series (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i062b16e707aa9991beca376ab4ce2189) out of The Sword of Truth entitled Wizard's First Rule. Plans in the works for a fall launch.


OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You just made my damn day! :)

Ok so about this book club thing... are we going to like come up with suggested reading and then discuss it on the forum what our thoughts and such are about the book? I'm losing all the good ideas for books within this thread.

I think I've started the Vampire Lestat 3-4 times. I just dont' seem to like Anne Rice's style. My favorite two authors historically have been Robin Cook and Thomas Harris. I have enjoyed many Stephen King books, with two of his non-horror novels/series being two of my favorites (Hearts in Atlantis and The Green Mile series).

I still have all 3 lord of the rings to read and The DaVinci Code, both of which my wife bought for me. Like I said, I just don't have much time to read.

The DaVinci Code

Cannot say enough goods things about this book.

I think I've started the Vampire Lestat 3-4 times. I just dont' seem to like Anne Rice's style.I'm the same way: too many flowers.

I can't recommend Neil Stephenson enough, though: primarily The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Cryptonomicon.

Well it is Election year soo.....
Maybe we should put forth a few worthy candidates to moderate/administrate the book club. I.E. look for a good title to profer forth and let us sheep follow and be amazed by thier wisdom.(sorry Halo your out! The economic effetcts of the Punic wars on the economy of upper mongolia probably won't work very well.)

P.S. by worthy i mean SUCKERS!!!

I'm not sure how we should do it. I had imagined that we each sign up, and each month maybe one or two people get to choose a book that we all read together. I think it's fun because it provides good dicussion and also gets us to branch out from our normal selection. I think that there should be a forum on books, but if all we do is post books here and there no one is going to have time to keep up. I can finish a 300-400 page novel in 2 weeks on toliet time - I think this is a pace we can maintain. :D

I can finish a 300-400 page novel in 2 weeks on toliet time - I think this is a pace we can maintain. :D

I refuse to be subject to Ain's toilet habits!

Cannot say enough goods things about this book.I finally got caught up on this book over the summer, and I was very disappointed. Da Vinci code leaves the reader out of the story - all of the puzzles are too neat and clean and are designed only for the heros to solve, but they're so outlandish it makes it hard to buy into. The ending was a little too neat and pretty for me. I've heard Brown's other books are better, but I'm not sure how motivated I'll be to look them up now.

I finally got caught up on this book over the summer, and I was very disappointed. Da Vinci code leaves the reader out of the story - all of the puzzles are too neat and clean and are designed only for the heros to solve, but they're so outlandish it makes it hard to buy into. The ending was a little too neat and pretty for me. I've heard Brown's other books are better, but I'm not sure how motivated I'll be to look them up now.

DaVinci Code was about the hero's ability to solve those puzzles; methinks you may have gone into the read with the wrong, or at the least a misinformed, approach to the story. Puzzle solving was his specialty. He was the expert on symbology.

However, I saw no problem in setting the book down, and trying to figure out what things meant, or were leading to; it was a fast paced book, taking place over less than 48 hours, so of course it was not going to be designed to let the reader be a participant as much as a spectator.

Are we talking about DaVinch's code or National Treasure?
Toilet time books are great and all(at 40 YO, toilet has means so much more than it used to for me =) , ) my point was more i'd love for us to put someone under the gun who has to look for something new and interesting to bring to the table that we(I) might not be inclined to read otherwise.
New or older doesnt matter. just think many of us probably find ourselves in a rut as to reading habits.
Me i'm in that rut as is so I would'nt be a good choice for the first few rounds.Inspire me in this endeavour and who the hell knows what I might pull out my ass, could be good , could be be bad. right now i'd have to offer up Samuel Delany's "Dhalgren" as the most under-appreciated and under-read novels of the laterhalf 20th century.

'I think as long as everyone uses some discretion we should be fine. Guns, Germs, And Steel, for example, is a history book that I will most likely be putting forth as a monthly selection. The scope of the book is enormous, but it is presented in an easy to digest manner. I would not, however, expect anyone to read The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy or anything horribly dry like that.'

- Oh well of course, narrative history only. I wouldn't subject anybody here to some of the mindless crap I have to read.
An author I might recommend if we get this going, for example, would be Tom Holland (makes history super-cool), his "Rubicon" and "Persian Fire" are great, fun reads.

Definately sign me up for the book club.

I can finish a 300-400 page novel in 2 weeks on toliet time :D

See that's the problem, I have 3 Magazine subscriptions for my toilet time. Two of those are weekly and one is monthly (Sports Illustrated, US News and World Report, and Electronic Gaming Monthly). Doesn't make a bunch of sense for me to stop reading those since I already paid for them.

DaVinci Code was about the hero's ability to solve those puzzles; Oh I know, I just find books like that to be a little lazy on the author's part. You can write anything you want as long as the hero is the only one who can fix it - it just made some of the puzzles a little far fetched, especially in light of just how complex the study of symbols really is. What was that movie in the 90's about the guy who reverse engineers technology, then they wipe his memory, except one time he leaves random items to solve problems with behind? Same idea - just a little too lucky to pull the whole thing off.

That said, it was a nice, fast paced book if you didn't get your hopes up for anything too deep.

Why is it in every Dan Brown book the villian is the old or crippled guy in the wheelchair? That bugged me about Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code and there was another can't remember name....Digital something or other? Ok, maybe not EVERY book but the only ones I've read of his anyway :p

because every Dan Brown book is utter shite?

I kinda liked Angels and Demons, but yeah... The rest are pretty ass.

just think many of us probably find ourselves in a rut as to reading habits.

This is what I am driving at. The idea is to expose people to material that A) They have never heard of or B) Have been too apathetic to tackle in the past. Towards this, I'd like to heavily avoid books like Da Vinci Code and other pop-culture phenomenon.

Also, while I know this is an EQ board and EQ is fantasy, let's not make every selection a Robert Jordan book. I enjoy many different genres, and would like to have free-reign to choose whatever book I want without being pigeonholed into something anti-fantasy because the last 4 books have been about wizards and elves.

Anyways, Sanchek told me is going to set us up a forum and then I'll get this going underway. One thing that we need to think about though is do we want 1 or 2 books a month? I suppose I can make a poll once the forum is created, but keep this in mind.

That's all fine and good but in my opinion if a book doesn't seem interesting to me then I'm just not going to read it. I like fantasy/sci fi/horror it's what I gravitate to, but that's just me. While it might be noble to want to expose people to other things, I will be resistant to crap I deem boring! ;)

Ainwein
L2
Anterak
Grift3r
Nekko
Rover
Lummus
Bylimet
Halo
Velvetsilence
Fandros
Sixee
Filiden
Fadorn

Anyone who isn't on that wants to be just let me know - same goes for the other way. 13 at the moment, which means everyone gets to pick about two a year if we keep the pace of 2 books a month.

And to address Filiden - I do understand that we all have different tastes. The idea is to pick books that transcend their particular genre. When proposing a book you'll have to post a short abstract on why you chose this particular book.

I'd appreciate any input on all of this. I've also been thinking about doing 1 book a month for the entire board (Probably fiction, at the very least an entertaining read), and then a non-fiction work for a smaller group of people who are interested in that. Some look for entertainment value in book groups, others look to expand their knowledge. I like to look for both, but I do feel that we should set this up in a way to encourage participation without alienating people.

Sounds good :)

i suggest that you all read the entire discworld series btw!

I love the idea and will try to keep up. It took me months to finish DaVinchi though, because I'm so busy and trying to keep up with reading a lot of theory books for work right now. But tag me in, I'll do my best.

Add me in! :) (even if I'm french!)

What if we've read discworld series already? Read it again, but in Swedish??

This may not be for everyone, but "Atlas Shrugged" By Aynn Rand (Not sure if i spelled it right) is an interesting read. It gets long-winded at times, and was written in the 30's i think, but i enjoyed it.

This may not be for everyone, but "Atlas Shrugged" By Aynn Rand (Not sure if i spelled it right) is an interesting read. It gets long-winded at times, and was written in the 30's i think, but i enjoyed it.


QFT

The Fountainhead is another great book by Ayn Rand.

What if we've read discworld series already? Read it again, but in Swedish??

i was thinking ancient nordic, though i would allow icelandic.

I am a slow reader of books. Not my actual reading speed, its just I don't have much time to spend reading fiction. I spend most of my time online or in syntax textbooks.

Once the first book has been selected however I will try and read through it and keep up with the conversations here.

If I were to suggest a book I would offer: "The God Delusion". I am about 1/3 the way through it and have enjoyed it. The book is confirming a lot of my thoughts on religion and the non-existence of God, and its giving me a lot to think about as well. I am not an atheist yet, but after reading the whole book I may be very close to it.

All in all it would make for a very good forum debate.


Cheers,

Count me in, and I'd definitely like to see regular non-fiction offerings on the list :).

Regards,
Nydia

Ya'll want to do this, or not?

I think at this point it's not going to work. I read daily, and would gladly engage in discussion about any type of book, but as far as a 'book club' goes, it does not seem that there is enough interest.

Well, it was worth a try.

Sorry, but between shortages of personnel at work causing extra work, and the onset of spring temperatures (meaning outside chores beckon) and getting a new scoot, reading is taking a back seat to most everything. I don't even have time for more than a couple hours a week of EQ or WoW.

Sorry I was not able to contribute.

I'll leave the forum open for now. Feel free to just start threads about any books you have enjoyed or intend to read.

We can try this as a literary equivalent of the movie/tv board.