The Fancy Bastard Forum

@melkor: Haven't read "Little Brother" yet, but I'm planning on it. I did really enjoy "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" - I think partly because my wife's a Disney fanatic and it's starting to wear off on me.

Posted By: Mike Brady@melkor: Haven't read "Little Brother" yet, but I'm planning on it. I did really enjoy "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" - I think partly because my wife's a Disney fanatic and it's starting to wear off on me.In Soviet Russia, Hoop-Dee-Doo reviews you!

Posted By: Not Mandatory

Posted By: kyleblakely42Meh. It's sort of childish, but you should also check out the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I have yet to read the third book, but the first two were actually pretty good reads while we're all waiting on mr. Martin to freaking write the next book. Jeez, jerk. Hurry it up.

I just finished her non-Twilight book "The Host". Apparently it was her first "adult" novel. It was pretty good, so I may give the Twilight series a shot.Book: If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of Hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

Posted By: Mike Brady@melkor: Haven't read "Little Brother" yet, but I'm planning on it. I did really enjoy "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" - I think partly because my wife's a Disney fanatic and it's starting to wear off on me.

For the literary geeks: I quite like Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. Set in an alternate 1984 with time travel, pet dodos, and the Crimean war continuing to the present day, the series follows Thursday Next, a LiteraTec, as she solves novel mysteries. (Pun intended.)

@Dram: In the favorite spaceship thread, you talk about wanting to enter a story and interact with the characters. Well, that's one of the central ideas in this series.

Posted By: dougFor the literary geeks: I quite like Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. Set in an alternate 1984 with time travel, pet dodos, and the Crimean war continuing to the present day, the series follows Thursday Next, a LiteraTec, as she solves novel mysteries. (Pun intended.)

@Dram: In the favorite spaceship thread, you talk about wanting to enter a story and interact with the characters. Well, that's one of the central ideas in this series.

@ Mike Brady: Literary Maven, i like that.

I've also read the Twilight series, and it's not bad. It'll be interesting to see how the movie turns out.

As far as guilty pleaseures goes, my old rommate and i stumbled up on a young adult series a while ago. The first book is Wuthering High, and the second is the Scarlet Letterman.... and they are pretty much what you'd expect. You kinda have to know some of the classics to get the references, but for a couple hours-reading, they're not bad.

OH! Just remembered, the Eragon series is very good, and the third book comes out this summer. Ignore the movie, the books are fantastic.

Posted By: Kristi

OH! Just remembered, the Eragon series is very good, and the third book comes out this summer. Ignore the movie, the books are fantastic.

Posted By: larnsturt
I didn't really like Eragon. Sure, it was amazing that it was written by a teenager, but for all of that...eh...it was kinda boring and predictable.

As for the movie, gag, but for all it's badness, it was a very pretty, pretty film. Still, movies based on boring books will be boring and bad.

The first Eragon is entertaining, but still predictable. As for the sequel, 2/3 of the book was composed of the main character sitting around talking to small forest animals and continuing to be retarded...
I won't even comment on the movie.

Survivor by Chuck Pahlinuiukkkuy.

His books have gotten incredibly repetitive and based around as much shock as possible, but survivor is an incredible book.

im currently on wolves of the calla. dark tower 5. all of them have been incredible so far.

Here are a few non fiction books I've read recently that I've really enjoyed.

Cooked
The author of the book used to be a crack dealer. He was responsible for a lot of the crack that was available in Los Angeles in the 90s. The first half of the book consists of his life as a crack dealer and creator as he also cooked up the crack. The second half consists of him getting busted and learning to love cooking. It then details his life as he gets out of prison and makes his way to becoming a head chef. One of the things I loved about this book was the criminal element. I was reading this at the same time as I was watching the wire which really makes me want to become a drug dealer.

Ask the Pilot
Written by an airline pilot, this book tells you everything you've ever wanted to know about Airline Airplanes as well as stuff you may not want to know. I learned so much about airline planes from this book that it really reignited my love of flying. I'd done a fair bit with my job and it was beginning to become routine but after I read this book I had a new found respect for all elements of flight. Also this book made me want to be an Airline Pilot. Even though it isn't made out to be the best job in the world.

Brave New War
After trying to describe this book 5 times I'm going with the amazon editorial description.

The counterterrorism expert John Robb reveals how the same technology that has enabled globalization also allows terrorists and criminals to join forces against larger adversaries with relative ease and to carry out small, inexpensive actions—like sabotaging an oil pipeline—that generate a huge return. He shows how combating the shutdown of the world’s oil, high-tech, and financial markets could cost us the thing we’ve come to value the most—worldwide economic and cultural integration—and what we must do now to safeguard against this new method of warfare.

Posted By: kertapHere are a few non fiction books I've read recently that I've really enjoyed.

Cooked
The author of the book used to be a crack dealer. He was responsible for a lot of the crack that was available in Los Angeles in the 90s. The first half of the book consists of his life as a crack dealer and creator as he also cooked up the crack. The second half consists of him getting busted and learning to love cooking. It then details his life as he gets out of prison and makes his way to becoming a head chef. One of the things I loved about this book was the criminal element. I was reading this at the same time as I was watching the wire which really makes me want to become a drug dealer.

Ask the Pilot
Written by an airline pilot, this book tells you everything you've ever wanted to know about Airline Airplanes as well as stuff you may not want to know. I learned so much about airline planes from this book that it really reignited my love of flying. I'd done a fair bit with my job and it was beginning to become routine but after I read this book I had a new found respect for all elements of flight. Also this book made me want to be an Airline Pilot. Even though it isn't made out to be the best job in the world.

Brave New War
After trying to describe this book 5 times I'm going with the amazon editorial description.

The counterterrorism expert John Robb reveals how the same technology that has enabled globalization also allows terrorists and criminals to join forces against larger adversaries with relative ease and to carry out small, inexpensive actions—like sabotaging an oil pipeline—that generate a huge return. He shows how combating the shutdown of the world’s oil, high-tech, and financial markets could cost us the thing we’ve come to value the most—worldwide economic and cultural integration—and what we must do now to safeguard against this new method of warfare.

This book had a profound effect on me. I read it in January and I'm still thinking about it. Whenever I hear about an attack in Iraq, Afghanistan or any where else in the world I think of this book.

The last two books I read this week:

"The Last Basselope" by Berkly Breathed. Yes, its a kids book, and its gorgeous. The memories of Bloom County brought literal tears back.

"The difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. I have read it before, but I just got done re-reading it. Brilliant book.

Just got both at my local half-price books.

Tomorrow is my half price books day, I've got a pretty long iPhone list. Last week I bought "This side of Paradise" by F. Scot Fitzgerald and I'm digging it so far.

The Dresden Files Series by Jim Butcher is excellent. Funny, good character development and manages both self-contained and longer story arcs simultaneously.

anything by James Elroy - great writing style, very entertaining

Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsey. The first two are great, fun books about a serial killer with a really charming narration style. The third, however,
just pisses all over the goodwill from the third one. Do not read it. It just reeks of writer's block. It's like a M Night Shamaylan "what a twist" for an entire novel.

David Sedaris - Everything he has ever written has been funny. I just listened to his most recent book recorded by him, very entertaining.

I beg to differ about David Sedaris, some of his memoirs are funny and others are just kind of "bluh."

I brought along a copy of "Naked" on the last tour, I was so excited to read it(!) but a little let down that the stories weren't as funny, heartbreaking, dazzling, or wonderfully odd as I had heard. None of the stories were bad, they just weren't all that they were cracked up to be.

I haven't read any of his stuff in years but back when I was a kid/teen I loved stuff by Roald Dahl. No idea if it still holds up. I do have memories of my aunt loving to read anything he put out so I may have to go find some.

The Man Who Folded Himself - David Gerrold
The time travel in here really just kind of blew my mind. I work graveyard and time/dates are kind of hard for me to remember and the book really just made it horrible for a couple of days.

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey -Candice Millard
I would vote for Roosevelt if he was alive now. FOR EVERYTHING!

Scar Night - first of three in a trilogy by Alan Campbell.