Books Read: 2011

[Croooow!]

The Dune books are so epic. I've only read until God Emperor but I've read the first one about 5 times.

Yeah easily my favorite book series. My first time through the series I made it through God Emperor but then made the huge mistake of trying to read the Butlerian Jihad trilogy. I got about halfway through the second book and quit reading it, and I never quit a book partway through. I having a blast working my way through the core series again, Children is still my favorite.

[Snickerd00dle]

Lost Girls: Alan Moore's porno take on Alice in Wonderland/Wizard of Oz/Peter Pan--- interesting read, amazing art- very sexually graphic, but very good read and interesting take on stories you know very well

[saturnfan]

1. Disquisition of Government - John C. Calhoun
2. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
3. Breaking the Backcountry: Seven Year's War in Virgina and Pennsylvania, 1754-1765 -Matthew C. Ward (New)

The first of many, many books I need to read for school. Although I doubt I will be able to read them all cover to cover, I have fully completed this one. It was about a neglected aspect of the Seven Year's War; primarily focusing on the fringes of colonial society in Pennsylvania and Virgina that were devastated by relentless Indian raids. The outcome of a decade of warfare helped transition the frontier peoples into a more war hardened state that ultimately encouraged them to gladly enter the fight when the colonies would decide to rebel against Great Britain.

[noiseredux]

just finished this:

[Bradtemple87]

just finished this:

I have been wanting to read this for too long

Your review?

[lordofduct]

well it's still the beginning of the year.

So I'll highlight my 2010 end of year closing...

December included:
Voltaire - Candide
The Daily Show - Earth
David Sedaris - Chipmunk and the Squirrel

And highlights of the year included:
Margaret Atwood - Year of the Flood
Augusten Burroughs - (blew through Sellevision, Dry, and Running w/ Scissors)
Heinlein - Starship Troopers
Vonnegut Jr. - Timequake

Heinlein and Vonnegut always being great re-reads. And Burroughs being so hilarious that after reading him, I then had to get it on tape and listen to him. It was a great replacement for my David Sedaris kick of 2009 where I blew through just about everything Sedaris had written and recorded.



My start of the year line up includes:

Gary Shteyngart - Super Sad True Love Story
Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl (my neighbour and good friend is telling me I must read it)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes (full collection)

The Sherlock is going to take probably all year. My girlfriend and I stopped in to the book store the other day and she found the entire set of Sherlock Holmes stuffed into two hardcovers for 7.50 each book. She knew I was a huge Sherlock Holmes fan (I made her watch several movies and was hence forth convinced I was Holmes... though she also says I could be the doctor; I told her NO, I'm 'The Specialist... dur dur durrrr'... yes we're that kind of nerdy). So yeah she nabbed that up and I slammed that bitch right on the back of my toilet... in bitch I mean the two books, not my girlfriend.



There is also always the ever persistent stack of text books as well. Ranging all the usual suspects in science, mathematics, and computer programming.

[noiseredux]

just finished this:

I have been wanting to read this for too long

Your review?

very brief, but interesting. mainly because it discusses a lot of weird things I'd never realized were so huge (sticker booths, claw games, card battlers) and sheds some interesting insight on gaming as we don't know it. Did you know in Japan they have like Fighter cabs set so you never see your human opponent??

[Bradtemple87]

just finished this:

I have been wanting to read this for too long

Your review?

very brief, but interesting. mainly because it discusses a lot of weird things I'd never realized were so huge (sticker booths, claw games, card battlers) and sheds some interesting insight on gaming as we don't know it. Did you know in Japan they have like Fighter cabs set so you never see your human opponent??

That's awesome, I'll have to check the book out. I have not seen it anyplace beside Amazon though.

[sevin0seven]

just finished this:

i love the cover.

[Gamerforlife]

Finished Fables vol 3 and while it would be nice to go through the whole series and post my thought, I believe the series is still ongoing

Anyway, I like what I have read so far. It's always interesting to see contemporary takes on fairy tale characters. This is why I have enjoyed American MgGee's Alice and the movie Enchanted and also am a big fan of B.B. Hood from Darkstalkers(a.k.a. the insane asylum worthy Little Red Riding Hood).

Each volume has its own story arc that always is resolved in a satisfactory way by the time you finish the volume. The real hook is not the plots themselves but seeing how the characters act and how they evolve. The way each of the fables have changed to adapt to the real world makes a lot of sense. The most interesting part of this series for me is the mystery of who is the Adversary, who drove the fables from their homelands and forced them into "our" reality

Fables has a lot of funny moments too, like Pinochio being pissed after being turned into a real boy because he is permanently stuck at that age level and will never go through puberty and get laid Then there is people talking behind Snow White's back about her tawdry affair with the seven dwarves

The artwork on these books is fantastic, especially the covers. I really, really love the kind of books Vertigo puts out. Lots of original and fun to read comics

I don't know if I will finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is rather boring in the early going, but a friend told me that it starts slow and gets better. However, I don't think I have the patience to wait for it to get better. Patience is something I am low on these days