Anybody actually READ around here?

[Koosh]

Just wondering... I pretty much gave up reading until this past Christmas when my brother got me the new book "Prey" by Michael Crichton. That seemed to have awakened me. Now I'm reading a book a week it seems like.

Some of the ones I reccomend to anyone:

"Prey" by Michael Crichton- Cool story about Nano-Robots run amok. It was pretty good, easy to tell that it is Crichton writing it though...

"Area 7" by Matthew Reilly- Seems like it was written to be an action movie. There is ALOT of shooting, death-defying stunts, and other things that are cinema quality story-telling. It was pretty good if not believeable

"Sleeper" (don't know the author at the moment)- Really good book about a genetically engineered monster killing people under the Pentagon, and it sets up some very tenseful situations as well.

"Dirty Jokes and Beer" by Drew Carey is pretty funny. There is one chapter alone that provides more laughs then most other comedy specials on HBO... It also has some good information on the life of Drew, and how he has even tried to kill himself twice! Didn't expect that out of Drew Carey...

"Marine Sniper" (I forgot the author at the moment as well...damn!) This tells about the military life of the greatest sniper the US has produced, Carlos Hathcock. Very good read, got to see how he lived, and what tactics he used. Also very good at showing the teamwork involved on being in a sniper team

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brian. This book is insanely good. Anyone who knows anyone in the Vietnam war needs to read this book! It is artfully crafted, you can read it for just the story, or you can pick it apart like I did in my AP english class, and either way it is still good...

I could go on, but I guess now I'm asking for suggestions. What are some good action-type books? Who are your favorite authors? What would be a good time-wasting read?

[Gitaroo Man]

I am going to read Prey (sitting on bookshelf)

I read The Things They Carried and a BUNCH of other war (wwII and vietnam) books

Hmm.....Band of Brothers was SWEET. I read it before it came out on HBO and loved it then and still love it. Also D-Day is pretty good but long. Also, check out Ghost Soldiers and Fallen Angels.

[dv8withn8]

reading is good

I'm currently reading "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. Great book for those who like history or would like a perspective you might not have gotten in high school or college. Good read.

Click here for more info

[tsc]

Ayn Rand- Atlas Shrugged. Good fiction, I like how it lays out her philosophy.

If you're up for some nonfiction that's hard to get through and nearly impossible to understand, check out Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics. Heck, i'll even send you my copy if you want it

David L. Robbins- The End of War. I normally don't like this genre, but the book was good.

Good luck finding reading material, I know it's a pain. I can't keep myself in books even when I try.

[joeyjoe367]

Meh, with one exception, I haven't done any recreational reading since the 7th grade.

the one book I *did* read was Steven Ambrose's "Band of Brothers." I watched the mini-series and was so impressed that I went out and bought a copy of the book.

I guess my lack of reading has to do something with my american-youth-lack-of-attention...

...oooh! a butterfly!

[Blennidae]

I am an avid reader. I have read 2 of the books mentioned, Drew Carey's and the Marine Sniper book. While I do read some fiction, I'd say most of the reading material I have is non-fiction.

When I geek out I need to know as much about the subject of my interest as I can. I'm a military aircraft freak and a scale modeler, so I have boatloads of aircraft reference type books.

[RamboPreacher]

Dean Koontz.
enough said.

[PzYcO]

The only time i read is when its required, or if its a paintball magazine, or....here..

[Rebel46_99]

Blennidae: I think you would like Dale Brown and his "Flight of the Old Dog" series. He is as in-depth and technical as Tom Clancy, and equally as suspenseful.

[Will Wood]

I used to be a BIG reader. I would go through books like nothing. I've gotten out of that habbit, and now I'm the computer most of the time..

I love history/war. Any book about it I'll most likely enjoy, unless it is for school. That usually ruins it lol.

Marine Sniper sounds interesting, I'll have to pick it up.


I usually like the sci-fi/horror/fanatasy (Like Dragons and Knights stuff, not like fairies and stuff) books.

[MantisMag]

your post is too LONG. i'm not going to read all that.

haha j/k. i read fantasy and scifi pretty much exclusively. i read about 100 pages in an hour, that's on hardcover books. so i make my way through books pretty quickly. i like stuff that up until recently was unthinkable to do in a movie. stretch the imagination.

the dune series is excellent. the original trilogy is a must. if you liked the miniseries on the scifi channel at all pick them up. there's so much going on that can't make it into a screen adaptation.

ender's game by orson scott card. it's about a genius kid who has to save the world from alien invaders. they really screw this kid up training him to general the earth's armies. if you've seen the movie Soldier think of the training there only a whole lot more of a mind game.

The Far Kingdoms by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch. great fantasy book. tale of a young man's journey in search of the great riches and wonders to be found out there just beyond your reach.

anything by David Eddings. i really like his writing style. i find all of his novels extremely amusing. his sense of humor just seems to match mine very well. i love the dialogue he writes for his characters. It'd be great to see some of this stuff make it to the movies but most of his books are involved in series that are more than 5 books in legth. he only has one stand alone novel, The Redemption of Althalus.

[wyn1370]

I try to read as much as possible
I've quit an extensive collection, but of only a few authors
David Eddings
Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman
R.A. Salvatore
Terry Brooks
Tolkien
Star Wars
Crichton

that's all I can think of right now

[wyn1370]

Originally posted by MantisMag
he only has one stand alone novel, The Redemption of Althalus.

he's got a few others
High Hunt
The Losers

[FactsOfLife]

ahhh books, an author's soul in print...

my current list:

Savage Nation(Michael Savage, excellent)
Brain Droppings(George Carlin, also excellent)
Bruce Catton's Civil War. THE definitive civil war history book.
Also by Catton, Evening Train, and Bruce Catton's America. SUPERB.

Rereading the Matador series by Steve Perry.

The dune series is ALWAYS nearby. Usually on my palm pilot.

The Bible. natch.

and just for fun, David Drakes stuff. Mostly Hammer's Slammers.

[AutoMaggot]

"Marine Sniper" (I forgot the author at the moment as well...damn!)

Charles Henderson, I believe. Great book indeed!

... oh, and Tim O'Brien was a friggin' hippie!