Dave's reading group

Post: Hamilton (by kiehl)

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:27:52 +0000

If you were wondering whose brilliant idea our current huge government was, look no further than AH - founder of the National Bank, co-author of the Federalist, first Secretary of the Treasury, ardent defender of Corporations, etc, etc, etc...

Post: word (by dave)

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:53:26 +0000

I guess I'mgoing to have to add this one to the list of stuff to read. Damn you!

Post: Pynchon ?? (by bethaney)

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 22:24:57 +0000

Are you trying to scare people away?? ;) Barely got through him in college with a very good Prof leading the way.

Post: Dec 2006 reading (by dave)

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 22:21:14 +0000

I started off December with "Infinite Jest", which Jon gave me. Quite a workout. DFW is a great writer whose tragic flaw is that he can't plot for crap. Interesting story, just keep in mind it's the journey, not the destination, with this guy.

I saw Glen Heggstad talk recently about his round the world trip, and took the opportunity to finally buy his book, Two Wheels Through Terror. It was a pretty amazing read. Although my trips aren't nearly as interesting and certainly don't feature any hostage takings, I may start recommending it to people who want a better idea of what adventure riding is all about.

I've started re-reading Gravity's Rainbow to get me back into a Pynchon mood for his new book. I probably won't finish it until January.

12/30 - Plowed through "This Immortal". Zelazny is only good for short stories, but at just under 200 pages I thought this one might be good. It wasn't. This is the same tired writing most of his novels feature. Ah well.

Post: Jan 07 (by dave)

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:02:20 +0000

Well, I'm done with the first book for the year: "A Hip Hop Story", by Heru Ptah. I wasn't overwhelmed with it, although I guess it didn't suck, either. You've got to wonder if the two main characters were modeled after anyone: Biggie and 2pac, Canibus and LL Cool J, etc.

Gravity's rainbow is still in progress. We'll see what I pick up at the library today.

Post: (by dave)

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:44:54 +0000

I grabbed Hamilton from the library today. I hope I'm not going to have to head out to PA to kill you. The book certainly is big enough.

Post: (by dave)

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 22:12:26 +0000

Well, I finished "To Die in Italbar" last night. It contains two short Zelazny stories. The first one was OK, the second one was like a tiny study for his Aurora series. The Aurora series sucked and so did the short story. The first story, however, was OK.

The more Zelazny you read, the worse you realize his writing is. Or should I say: "How bad his writing is, I did not know."

Hopefully in the future I'll be able to ignore him.

Post: (by dave)

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 04:50:09 +0000

American Gods just got recommended to me highly, so I've put it on the list. Although with Hamilton, Pynchon, and the random easy books I've got going in January, I'm thinking this is a February book.

Post: (by dave)

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:19:14 +0000

Well, I just finished Thud, and it was pretty good.

Apparently I can use this to figure out what to read next:

Post: January is almost over (by dave)

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:19:58 +0000

I'm about halfway through Gravity's Rainbow, but I needed some easier reading for the weekend so I grabbed Ray Bradbury's "Quicker Than The Eye". It's decent, it is actually mostly non-science fiction. And it was, in fact, easier than GR for the weekend, so mission accomplished I guess.

Post: Feb 07 (by dave)

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:32:33 +0000

Well, I read Pratchett's "Guards!!! Guards!!!" to start off February. Apparently this is the first in the night watch series, it cleared up a lot of things that I didn't know when I was reading the other books. A quick and entertaing read.

I'm about 450 pages into Gravity's Rainbow. It's still slow going. I'm catching a lot more Byron references this time though. It's probably a book you need to read 4 or 5 times before you start to have a complete picture of what Pynchon was getting at. Hopefully I can finish it this month.

Post: (by dave)

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:12:39 +0000

Well, I read "Let's All Kill Constance" this weekend. I've been giving Bradbury a chance because of his reputation and because of some stories I thought I remembered reading as a kid that I'm trying to find again, but so far I'm 0 for 2 with his stuff. I thought the writing was good, and there were a lot of amusing drinking euphemisms, but the story didn't do anything for me.

Post: More procrastination... (by dave)

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:52:07 +0000

I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I read "The Arrival" the other day. It's the first in a series of books that apparently are a prequel to a television series. The next one is "The First Protector", which I guess I'll read if I'm desperate again in the future, which I probably will be. The writing is mediocre but at least there was a story.

Post: (by dave)

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:54:31 +0000

I re-read Doorways in the Sand today. I've really grown to hate Zelazny but this is an excellent book, possibly better the second time. Unlike much of sci-fi, it's a plotline I don't think I've seen before.

Post: (by dave)

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 04:56:38 +0000

I finished re-reading Gravity's Rainbow on Friday. I'm not sure I have enough energy left to comment on it. It was worth the effort and I got more out of it this time, so that's good. Now I have no excuses, other than 3 books recently arrived from the library, for not reading his new book. Or something.

Post: (by dave)

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 15:37:59 +0000

I read "Riding with Rilke" on Sunday. I couldn't resist it at the library since it was motorcycle related and Rilke had made a few appearances in Gravity's Rainbow. The parts about riding were actually pretty bad, but the other parts were interesting.

Post: (by dave)

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:12:06 +0000

Finished Pratchett's "Interesting Times" today. Amusing as usual and Pratchett continues to impress me with the quality of his writing.

Post: MAR 07 (by sandman235)

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:03:58 +0000

What are you reading this month? I might start on The Regulators by Richard Bachman.

Post: (by dave)

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:26:48 +0000

Wow, march is almost over and I haven't read much. I just finished Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis. The beginning is reasonably accessible and I was able to learn a lot by searching wikipedia for many of the concepts. After a while the math was way over my head but the history (really more like current events) was still interesting.

I'm returning Bukminster Fuller's "Synergetics" today. He's always virtually incoherent but he's really insane in this one. Too bad.

I'm also readking parts of "An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers" again, trying to pick out extremely basic concepts I might be able to turn into children's games.

It's probably time for some lighter reading again.

Post: (by sandman235)

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:43:13 +0000

Well, I did as I said I would. I just started chapter 5 in The Regulators. If you are a fan of horror, this is a great read.

Post: (by dave)

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:52:45 +0000

I took a break from the serious stuff and a hint from the adventure riders yesterday and checked out Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. He's a pretty good writer. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was reading Neuromancer with wearables instead of decks, and that any minute the rabbit was going to reveal that his real name was wintermute. Ah well. Still, I'll be reading more Vinge. Probably soon.

Post: Apr 07 (by sandman235)

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:45:33 +0000

What are you reading this month?

Post: MAY 07 (by sandman235)

Fri, 18 May 2007 20:25:43 +0000

What are YOU reading this month?

Item: Quicker Than The Eye by Ray Bradbury First

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:21:54 +0000

Item: Guards!!! Guards!!! by Terry Pratchett

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:30:12 +0000

Item: Let's All Kill Constance by Ray Bradbury

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:10:06 +0000

Item: The Arrival by Fred Saberhagen

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:45:09 +0000

Item: Doorway in the Sand by Roger Zelazny

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:49:13 +0000

Item: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:12:59 +0000

Item: Riding With Rilke by Ted Bishop

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 15:36:14 +0000

Item: Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:10:22 +0000

Item: Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis by Dan Rockmore

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:52:12 +0000

Item: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:50:08 +0000