The Book Club

[Have At You]

Okay, who's reading what? What do you recommend? Got any insightful comments or questions?

Come on in, grab a glass of whatever, and let's hear it.

[Army Fencer]

I just read Hemmingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls; I have to say it was excellent. Hemmingway's sparsed down grammatical style forces the reader to notice everything, because everything seems to be important. Despite his heavy reliance on to be verbs, he still manages to be incredibly descriptive, engaging the all the senses. I'm very happy that I read it.

I'm reading Inside Al Qaeda right now. It's a very scary book. I don't read it before bedtime, because I know that it will give me bad dreams otherwise. It's a very interesting and relevant book, even 4 years after it was initially published.

[sips at his Grande, No-Whip, Peppermint, Decaf Mocha]

[Gav]

I'm reading Alexander the Great by Robin Lane Fox.

It's very good.

Though occasionally it meanders a little the author does a lot to explain what the wider context for some of the legends about Alexander are. The only problem with the book is that the editor didn't hire a decent proof read and so there occasional errors which grate on the eye. It occurs to me, from reading this and Gibbons (Decline and Fall...) that the more things change the more they stay the same. Our current set of leaders should read a bit more history.

[Sboard1019]

I am currently reading a few books... mostly college books. Reading for my own enjoyment is hard in college. Some of the better books i have read are:

Islam Undersiege By Akbar S. Ahmed
The Count of Monte Cristo
Most of Mark Twain
Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes are actually pretty good (and short which is great for college)

as for just fun books

George RR Martins Series A Song of Ice and Fire

and I happen to really enjoy the Spencer Novels by Robert B Parker. Short easty reads but the characters are suprisigly well developed and very funny.

[Zelda]

the Mould in Dr Floreys Coat. Cant remember the author. Really interesting read about the politics and history of the development of penicillin.

[Zelda]

Originally Posted by Gav

I'm reading Alexander the Great by Robin Lane Fox.

It's very good.

Though occasionally it meanders a little the author does a lot to explain what the wider context for some of the legends about Alexander are. The only problem with the book is that the editor didn't hire a decent proof read and so there occasional errors which grate on the eye. It occurs to me, from reading this and Gibbons (Decline and Fall...) that the more things change the more they stay the same. Our current set of leaders should read a bit more history.

Werent you reading that when I was visiting??????

[Gav]

Nope. I only bought it last week.

I was reading Gibbons when you were round.

Alexander dates from before the Roman empire.

[gtmac]

At the moment I'm reading a novel titled Red Plains written by a friend of mine. He's trying to get it published. It's till a little raw, but it's an interesting story.

I'm also re-reading the fantastic play, A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt.

[latenight]

Perfume by Suskind. Best book ever.

[Hades]

HA! I love how on every forum when anyone asks this question it garners a response filled with classics, dusty tomes and interlectewal works.

I have just finished reading Batman: The Killing Joke. Woo! Go me!

I would heartily recommend the following books for being fantastic reads however:

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
The Lincoln Lawyer - Michael Connelly
Anything by David Gemmell or Dean Koontz

Of course it is subjective and what is one person's cup of tea is another American's badly made hot drink with no finesse or quality.

[Allen Evans]

I'm almost done with:

"Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell, a book about rapid cognition with a lot of fencing application.

I'm starting:

"Calculus" by Thomas Apostle, a classic on the subject, and having nothing to do with fencing at all.

I'm re-reading:

"Epee, a Complete System" by Vass, for reasons I can't understand.

Allen

[latenight]

Blink was really good too....I read it flying from the east coast to Fresno.

[VELISARIOS]

I read couple weeks ago the 'the mountains of Madness' of H.P.Lovecraft. it is strange book.Now I am gonna read the 'The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great' of Steven Pressfield. I heard that is good book not as the 'Gates of Fire'.

[Have At You]

I just finished the Count of Monte Cristo, and it was a pretty good read. My translation was over 1400 pages long, but it read like a 400 page beach novel. Fun story, a kind of disturbed Batman for the 1800s.

Now I'm starting "The Heiress of Water" by Sandra Rodriguez Barron. An acquaintance of an acquaintance says Isabel Allende* told her it's a phenomenal first novel, and I'm looking forward to finding out for myself.

[would anyone else like some of this surprisingly buttery chardonnay?]


*wow, there really aren't that many degrees of separation, are there

[chefencer]

Originally Posted by Gav

I'm reading Alexander the Great by Robin Lane Fox.

It's very good.

Though occasionally it meanders a little the author does a lot to explain what the wider context for some of the legends about Alexander are. The only problem with the book is that the editor didn't hire a decent proof read and so there occasional errors which grate on the eye. It occurs to me, from reading this and Gibbons (Decline and Fall...) that the more things change the more they stay the same. Our current set of leaders should read a bit more history.

Gav, have you read any Mary Renault? The Nature of Alexander was good non-fiction and I really enjoyed her novels about Theseus: The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea.

I just finished "Clearing the Path to Victory" by Kogler and found it a useful introduction to sports psych, although the rather artificial attempt to widen the book's appeal by pasting other sports onto the ends of sentences every so often was a little annoying.

[Gav]

Gav, have you read any Mary Renault? The Nature of Alexander was good non-fiction and I really enjoyed her novels about Theseus: The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea.

Hey Che,

No, I've not read these but I'll keep an eye out for them.
The irony of my own "eye-grating" typos is not lost on me either.

[Five Rings]

Gav - try also Memnon by Scott Oden. About a Greek general fighting for the Persians against Alexander. New book.

Other books currently reading:

The Immortal Game - A History of Chess
Mountains of the Pharoahs (about pyramids by the Egyptian archaeologist who shows up on the History Channel)
A biography of John Mortimer
Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People
Runny Babbit

(You can tell I have kids)

[Gav]

Gav - try also Memnon by Scott Oden. About a Greek general fighting for the Persians against Alexander.

I just read about this guy in the history! Pity I know what happens at the end!

[Five Rings]

Originally Posted by Gav

I just read about this guy in the history! Pity I know what happens at the end!

Wow. This is a novel though. In the vein of Pressfield's books.

[tehcow]

I guess I have a lot less literary cred than the majority of this forum. I started The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett earlier this week, and last week I finished Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake after a struggle that lasted for almost a year. It was the first book I've finished since last November, and in the same week I finished a book called The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. While the Peake book did take me ages, I thoroughly enjoyed it though the ridiculously flowerly language was difficult to get through quickly. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was interesting in that it looks like a children's book, reads a bit like a children's book, but the actual subject matter is really not very childish.