New Books

[Graves]

Have you guys read any new good books latley?
More in the terms of novels and such, what do you recommend?

[WanderingOak]

I'm not one for fiction much. I recently read World Made By Hand by J. H. Kunstler. It is a post-collapse novel, taking place in upstate NY. If you are looking for a fictional primer on Peak Oil that accurately depicts the problems that will arise if we aren't careful, this would be it.

I also recently read the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, mainly because of the stink raised by the fire-and-brimstone screaming fundamentalists over the recent Hollywood movie. It is definitely an interesting read, but I am not sure why the author considers it to be 'children's literature'. I would say that a reader would have to have quite a bit of intellectual and emotional maturity to finish the series. It definitely causes a person to think about Christianity, and religion in general...

[JimOfferman]

Originally Posted by WanderingOak

but I am not sure why the author considers it to be 'children's literature'.

He doesn't, actually. People just assume it is aimed at children, because the main character is a child...

I highly recommend the book(s), though. Exciting stuff. I also very much like Dean Koontz' Odd Thomas trilogy.

[niche]

I've also read [u]His Dark Materials[u]. It's great. Really leaves you with a lot to think about which is the kind of stuff I really enjoy. This trilogy is definitely on the side of fantasy though. So if you don't like fantasy, you may not enjoy the book.

Another fantasy (I really like fantasy novels) I enjoyed is The Giver. This is not a new book and you may have already read it. The author is Lowis Lowry. It may actually be more science fiction though than fantasy but these two often cross lines. Anyway, it's a good read and will keep you thinking for days.

The Eragon trilogy is good as well. The third novel has yet to be released but the first two books should give you some good reading.

Also, The Dresden Files are pretty good too. This is a fairly lengthy series of books. There was a season on the Sci-Fi channel of it, but it was cancelled after that. I with they'd bring it back cause it was really good. If you haven't heard of it, Dresden is a modern day wizard/private investigator of the "weird stuff" that goes on the world.

[Graves]

Wow, all these sound really really really good. I've never heard of them before, but I'm gonna for sure check them out.
Thanks

Yeah, I have already read the Giver, but I'd probably read it again any day. It really is a ridiculously good book.

[Brutha]

A good fiction that I read lately is Zeitgeist by Bruce Sterling.
A good nonfiction book would be The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

[AlexG]

Just read the "The Alchemist".

Amazing book.

[Perhin]

I usually read fantasy. If you're into it, I highly recommend anything by J.R.R. Tolkien.