Screen Gems Book Club
- Thread starter Black King
- Start date
Insomniatic
fo sho, yo
I'm a huge fan of the Twilight series. If anyone hasn't read it... I recommend it if you enjoy vampire fiction.
I also love the Uglies/Pretties/Specials trilogy by Scott Westerfield which almost satirizes today's fascination with physical beauty and plastic surgery by setting it in a post-apocalyptic futuristic society who classify their citizens by their physical beauty. There's also a another book set in the same world as a continuance called Extras. It's really a very fascinating concept.
I also love the Uglies/Pretties/Specials trilogy by Scott Westerfield which almost satirizes today's fascination with physical beauty and plastic surgery by setting it in a post-apocalyptic futuristic society who classify their citizens by their physical beauty. There's also a another book set in the same world as a continuance called Extras. It's really a very fascinating concept.
Black King
Lord of Darkness
over my Thanksgiving break i read Dante's Equation by Jane Jensen. I thought the i was pretty good and I loved the way she mixed mystics and theoretical physics definitely a book that provokes a more free way to science and religion that worked really well.
BTW we still reading the Historian as a group or we doing it separately? and anyone who wants to join in now is a great time to . . . .
BTW we still reading the Historian as a group or we doing it separately? and anyone who wants to join in now is a great time to . . . .
Black King
Lord of Darkness
Already part way through the Historian (just finished part one). I'm liking it so far something besides the usual Dracula vampire flair.
Flashforward
Overachiever
Reading Ron Paul's The Revolution: A Manifesto. I don't usually agree with the guy but I do think he has some solid reasons for his political stances, most f which are described in the book.
Flashforward
Overachiever
I'm going to start on the book tonight. I need a break from the Twilight series for a little bit.
Black King
Lord of Darkness
So bump and finished the Historian (late i know) and i got to say any book that feels like reading a history text when going through it not that great. it wasn't bad but not particularly good till then last third of it.
Flashforward
Overachiever
Okay, it's time to revive the dead. We need more readers on this site so that we can keep the book club thread going!
Recent Reads:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: A Solid read. A+ mystery novel by the late Swede, Stieg Larsson. The sequel, "The Girl who Played With Fire" also just came out in hardcover. One more to go and it completes his Millennium trilogy.
The Strain: Intriguing vampire/plague story supposedly by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Good set up, but be prepared to be locked in for the long haul, as this book is mostly set up for the next two that are to follow in a planned trilogy.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: A pure nerdgasm. Diaz strikes the perfect tone with his novel about an uber nerd on a search for love. The constant references to comic book storylines and characters, like Darkseid's omega beams for instance, were enough to keep me engaged and waiting to see how many more embedded references there were to other elements of popular culture. A well-deserved recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, this novel is by far one of the most entertaining and engaging reads written on behalf of geekdom and the hispanic community in the literary history of the world. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
When You Reach Me: A novel that experiments with mixing very simple and very complex story elements, namely adolescence and time travel. I have to be honest and say that I didn't like it very much, probably because I'm not exactly the core audience that the novel was meant to appeal to, however, it's a fun book for young adults that does some interesting and noteworthy things. Plus, it's worth mentioning that its relatively short at 250 pages or so, and therefore makes for a quick read that can be done in a single setting.
The Things They Carried: Classic collection of short stories about the Vietnam War by Tim O' Brien. I've read it many times before and like fine wine, it just keeps getting better with age.
The Worst Hard Time: A book relating first-hand accounts from survivors of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and 40s that decimated the Midwest and was chronicled in John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath. While it got dull at times, especially in the beginning, the book picks up when the ecological disaster hits, and the narrative constructed by the author really encapsulates the "never say die" perspective of American society.
Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave: I have to be honest, while I agree with the premise of the book, I really didn't like reading this very much. The author structures his chapters in odd ways, going back and forth between topics without really creating a narrative thread through the cultural miasma that he wanders into. Naturally the book doesn't even try to be balanced (and why should it), but the author manages to make a few insights that might make one stop and think no matter what side of the aisle you stand on, and really consider what it means to live in a country that is as stupid as ours (where many believe that humans and dinosaurs existed together, like in the Flintstones, despite the hard evidence that proves otherwise).
I have a ton of new books up on my "to-read" list, and starting in a few weeks, I'm going to start up a book-a-day project, where I'll hopefully be reading a book a day in preparation for the coming semester. Assuming that everything does as planned, I'll update this thread at the end of each week with my thoughts.
Get reading, people! :heee:
Recent Reads:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: A Solid read. A+ mystery novel by the late Swede, Stieg Larsson. The sequel, "The Girl who Played With Fire" also just came out in hardcover. One more to go and it completes his Millennium trilogy.
The Strain: Intriguing vampire/plague story supposedly by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Good set up, but be prepared to be locked in for the long haul, as this book is mostly set up for the next two that are to follow in a planned trilogy.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: A pure nerdgasm. Diaz strikes the perfect tone with his novel about an uber nerd on a search for love. The constant references to comic book storylines and characters, like Darkseid's omega beams for instance, were enough to keep me engaged and waiting to see how many more embedded references there were to other elements of popular culture. A well-deserved recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, this novel is by far one of the most entertaining and engaging reads written on behalf of geekdom and the hispanic community in the literary history of the world. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
When You Reach Me: A novel that experiments with mixing very simple and very complex story elements, namely adolescence and time travel. I have to be honest and say that I didn't like it very much, probably because I'm not exactly the core audience that the novel was meant to appeal to, however, it's a fun book for young adults that does some interesting and noteworthy things. Plus, it's worth mentioning that its relatively short at 250 pages or so, and therefore makes for a quick read that can be done in a single setting.
The Things They Carried: Classic collection of short stories about the Vietnam War by Tim O' Brien. I've read it many times before and like fine wine, it just keeps getting better with age.
The Worst Hard Time: A book relating first-hand accounts from survivors of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and 40s that decimated the Midwest and was chronicled in John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath. While it got dull at times, especially in the beginning, the book picks up when the ecological disaster hits, and the narrative constructed by the author really encapsulates the "never say die" perspective of American society.
Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave: I have to be honest, while I agree with the premise of the book, I really didn't like reading this very much. The author structures his chapters in odd ways, going back and forth between topics without really creating a narrative thread through the cultural miasma that he wanders into. Naturally the book doesn't even try to be balanced (and why should it), but the author manages to make a few insights that might make one stop and think no matter what side of the aisle you stand on, and really consider what it means to live in a country that is as stupid as ours (where many believe that humans and dinosaurs existed together, like in the Flintstones, despite the hard evidence that proves otherwise).
I have a ton of new books up on my "to-read" list, and starting in a few weeks, I'm going to start up a book-a-day project, where I'll hopefully be reading a book a day in preparation for the coming semester. Assuming that everything does as planned, I'll update this thread at the end of each week with my thoughts.
Get reading, people! :heee:
Black King
Lord of Darkness
I'm always welcome a another shot at a group reading and i'm always trying to read more especially if it distracts me from schoolwork lol
since the last time this thread was around i read the Dresden Files book series. Its a series about wizard for hire Harry Dresden and his life as Chicago's only professional wizard (in the phone book and everything). Great urban fantasy series and i really enjoy the characters over the course of the books (11 so far) i really give it a read.
Also read 2 of the Incarnations of Immortality books by Piers Anthony. On a Pale Horse and Bearing A Hourglass both books (and the series as a whole) is about the daily lives of the normal people that work as the Anthropomorphic Personifications of concepts like Death and Time.
since the last time this thread was around i read the Dresden Files book series. Its a series about wizard for hire Harry Dresden and his life as Chicago's only professional wizard (in the phone book and everything). Great urban fantasy series and i really enjoy the characters over the course of the books (11 so far) i really give it a read.
Also read 2 of the Incarnations of Immortality books by Piers Anthony. On a Pale Horse and Bearing A Hourglass both books (and the series as a whole) is about the daily lives of the normal people that work as the Anthropomorphic Personifications of concepts like Death and Time.