never fucking mind I'm too stupid to post pics.

I'm not really a prodigious reader, I go through reading "phases" where I read a lot, then nothing for a while. I read Ursula LeGuin's The Birthday of The World not too long ago, and am currently re-reading V.S. Ramachandran's Phantoms in the Brain, because it is so fascinating.

My favourite three books (I know no-one asked but I felt like telling ya ) are Carl Sagan's Contact, Geoff Ryman's The Child Garden, and Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. Hooray for sci-fi!

Currently, reading the seventh, and final book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Sure he's not a highly regarded 'literary giant', but dangit if I don't find his books to be great page turners.

And the Dark Tower series has kept me reading right through all seven books where a lot of other books can't even get me to read all the way through. As such I would recommend the series.

As for the best book I've read recently... hmm... tough one, mostly because I forget what I've read recently really. Nope, I'd have to line up the books I've read over the past year to be able to answer that, because I just can't remember what I've read!

See, that's exactly why I (nerd alert) keep a book journal, where I keep track of all the books I've read, when I finished them, and a brief review of each. I do the same thing for films. It actually comes in handy, particularly if you have a terrible memory, as I do.

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Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space

Unfortunately I haven't had time to read anything for the past month or so, but before that I read three really good books in a row:

Life of Pi
Suite française
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

They were all great, but I think The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay was the best. However I don't think you can go wrong with reading any one of those three.

And a while back I read a short humor book called Letters from a Nut. It's a light but very entertaining read. And you know who else writes light yet very entertaining books: David Sedaris.

Anyone read any REALLY GOOD sci-fi recently? I used to be a total sci-fi geek, but haven't found anything that's really piqued my curiosity lately. I'm open to suggestions.

Well, whether it's technically sci-fi or not is probably up for debate -- but I really loved the Time Traveler's Wife.

I recently finished reading Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, and it was pretty interesting.

Currently reading Wikipedia, I brought only one book on my trip and I read it twice already. So Wiki is filling a large void, did you know that SS uniforms were designed by Hugo Boss? No wai!

As for the book, if you can call it that it's called "The Know It All Book" and basically covers topics on Science, Philosophy, History, Visual Arts, Music, Literature and Religion. A sort of refresher course, expanding horizons and completing education shindig (I totally got that off the back cover). But at least now I can say that late 19th century Romanticism is for douche bags with some certain authority.

Recently I also read Richard Herman's "Against All Enemies", this is about as airport trash as you can get, and the man is totally phoning in Tom Clancy, still a very good page turner though afterwards I felt like I simply wasted my time. I just noticed on Nexttag that he has some perverse pleasure in having the front cover of his books ripped in two, must be some stylistic thing, but god it annoyed me when I was reading the book. It's selling for less then a dollar now... its worth less then the paper its printed on.

Before leaving Kuwait I read Fear up Harsh - An Army Interrogator's Dark Journey Through Iraq which was a great first account of someone whose idealism for helping his nation win a war slowly wanes after witnessing pressure to produce 'results', using dubious techniques. It's a very human account, highly recommended reading for those trying to get an insight into how Army Intelligence operated in Iraq, both good and bad. The comments on Amazon.com are hilarious really -

"No matter how poignant, timely, or interesting Mr. Lagouranis's story may be, or how sincere and intelligent he comes across in an interview on television, we are at war, ladies and gentleman. Our soldiers' lives are risked every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. Efforts such as Mr. Lagouranis's, written in the safety and shelter of the United States, undermine theirs so far away, and play into directly the hands of our sophisticated enemies."

Which shows the person hardly read the book at all.

On my last trip here I read two books of Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Tunnel In The Sky. Both excellent sci-fi books, especially the Moon Is A Harsh Mistress which reads like a manual for rebellion against an oppressive government, especially interesting if you read Starshi
p Troopers.

I also read P.D. James' Children of Men, which was adapted into the movie, and wasn't surprised that I liked the book far more then the film as it is beautifully written, far darker then the film and ends differently.

PS: If you are looking for some good Sci Fi to read, its always good to consult Hugo Award winners, here is a list on Amazon for pre-2000 winners, there is another for post-2000 as well.

PPS: I also highly recommend Life of Pi, one of the best books I read.

Now I will shut up.

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Moon is a Harsh Mistrss is great Heinlein. He does love his libertarianism- also some ... interesting views on marriage and incest.

I believe thats a misconception, reading his other books he also comes on the side of right wing almost fascist pro-Military structure in something like Starship Troopers. Even in the end of the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, you see the narrator of the story look back on how the great revolution had fallen into disarray with over regulation and control. I don't think there is much of his personal political views in it, but rather an exploration of various stances.

With regards to marriage and incest it's interesting and totally relevant to the book contextually, we learn Luna is colony where criminals and others were simply forced to occupy much like Australia was by England, the ratio of males to females was astronomical, leading to different structures in terms of marriage, but giving more power to the female over the male due to their prized status. Its all very interesting.

There was another thread on this a while back. Lots of good stuff in that one.

I just started reading Creation by Gore Vidal. The only other Vidal novel I've read is Live from Golgotha, which is an absolute riot.

Best last year? Third reread of the Dune series. It's almost ruined science fiction for me because it's so damn good.

At the moment I am reading "Brooklyn Follies" by Paul Auster and I am really enjoying it. It´s a lot lighter than some of his other more twisted stuff.

I also have "Advertising Now - Online" lying around to flip through every now and then. The "Advertising Now"-Series is a really enjoyable collection of the worlds best ads. I own the "Print" Edition as well and love it.

Other than that mostly books on pregnancy and parenthood, so at least I know some theory before little maatcs arrival.

Re Heinlein. I'm re reading my dads collection, so have only recently read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Tunnel in the sky. Just finished Glory Road. His views are interesting, but are not as clear cut, just as Farhad shows, as he tends to explore things in his books. It's possibly they are/have reflections of his true feelings, and their apparent evolution/revolution/subtle changes reflects his views at the times of writing of each book. i've noticed how "sex" is often almost completely ignored as a human trait, when exploring some of the stories with an adolescent male protagonist (anything up to 25 ish) and his female characters have a lot of consistent traits (although to be fair, his male chars are often very samey too). I'll get around to stranger in a strange land again in a bit, but The one i finished last night was Glory Road. It tackles the relationship/cultural aspects of sex obliquely, considering how different parallel universes (interconnected) allow utterly diverse and somewhat isolationist evolution of culture. How very different attitudes and norms can be seen as moral, given an appropriate context. Just as TMIAHM allowed the moon penal colony context to justify exploring stable and appropriate social adoptions/human relationships, Glory Road presents the idea that there are as many possibilities as you can come up with.

He also shows a strong hint of a dislike at the sexual culture of America at the time, and an acknowledgment that "enlightenment" as to their unreasonableness is not the same as being free form it's influence. He condemns earth pretty harshly, by declaring it to be the only place that had invented Prostitution, in any form, with all other places considering Sex to be High Art, worthy of much study and respect. The concept of Prostitution, or of sex being a commodity, had so pervaded the culture that it influenced every aspect of relationships, referencing examples of dowry, and men paying for dates, as cultural transaction. However, the lead female is almost fearful from the start, that her promiscuous nature and past will cause the Hero to see her as a slut. At the end, he makes the following point:

"The typical American female is sure that she has genius as a couturiere, as an interior decorator, as a gourmet cook, and, always, as a courtesan. Usually she is wrong on four counts. But dont try to tell her so.
Unless you can catch one not over twelve and segragate her, especially form her mother -- and even that may be too late.
But don't missunderstnad me, it evens out. The American male is convinced that he is a great warrior, a great statesman, and a great lover. Spot checks prove that he is as deluded as she is. Or worse. Historo-culturaly speaking, there is strong evidence that the American male, rather than female, murdered sex in your country."

"What can I do about it?"

"Slip over to France now and then. French women are almost as ignorant but not nearly as conceited and often are teachable."

But he also mentions: ".. is where they tried to outlaw sex entirely. I had seen enough of that dreary graveyard in ..." which i think was referring to the UK, but cant be certain. Almost certainly somewhere in Europe. So his disgust at our attitudes and behavior regarding sex is world wide, and not just at America of the time. (its dated 1963 for ref)

I think he had strong practical, anarcho, very small government, butt out and leave it alone views about organization, with an acknowledgment that a sizable portion of the populace have opinions too ill educated to be considered as needfully relevant to the organizing body/government, whomever.

I'm reading The Star Beast now. thats fun.

Given the time frame when Heinlein was writing I always also struck how all his female characters were strong, powerful and in many ways equal and in some cases superior to their male counter parts.

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I think Heinlein would vote for Ron Paul.

I'm finishing The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (i love his style). Otherwise I'm addicted to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series - the man writes like 2 books a year so no fear of withdrawal symptoms yet. I also just re-read the whole Takeshi Kovacs trilogy by Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon, Broken angels, Woken Furies) and two of his other novels called Black man (aka Thirteen in the U.S.) and Market forces.

98% of what I read is online, but for old-fashioned books I'm reading:
The March -- E.L. Doctorow
My Life -- Bill Clinton
Next of Kin -- Roger Fouts
Textbooks

The only old fashioned book I totally read cover-to-cover in the past year was HP7, and it was mediocre.

just finished teh Kushiel trilogy - not bad, pulls you in slowly although some of the writing is a bit juvenille and skirts the edge of romantic fiction. The battle sequences were tight and taut. The sex...meh I'm not into S/M so it didn't turn my motor but they were interesting and definitely crucial to the storyline.

Also just read Jhereg and Yendi by Stephen Brust. I loved them... nice easy light but fun and intruiging.

Don't think it counts but Soupskin just bought me two PostSecret books and of course I "read" them that night. I will treasure them for a long time.

Best of last year? Hmmm...Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk I guess.

THe Moon is a Harsh Mistress is one of my permanent favorites; I read it in high school for English class. THe Story of Pi is a favorite too, but I happen to dig math-related stuff.

I still need to read Pi. been on my list for a while.

Over Christmas I went on a massive Christopher Moore binge starting with Stupidest Angel. Comedic horror, am I'm not a horror fan at all. Lust Lizard, Fluke, You Suck, Dirty Job, Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue..devoured em all. Couldn't get into Biff, though it may be his best work.

Just finished Positively Fifth Street - Middle-aged guy takes a writing assignment to cover the World Series of Poker. It's well written and weaves together poker action, a man's struggle to control his impulses, and a lurid ongoing murder trial. Even if you're not a poker buff this is a good read.

Goodreads.com looks like an interesting social site..I'll ask em about embed's to have reviews shareable / mashable. I created a VideoSift group there if anyone's interested.

I'm reading Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon. I've read her other books: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart and Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance. All books in the series address issues of the creative process.

Another book I still need to finish is Nicholas Mirzoeff's Visual Culture Reader. Some of it went over my head.