[Jan] What are you reading?

[D+1]

Well, since the beginning of December I've read:
Pattern Recognition - William Gibson
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Verne
Journey to the Center of the Earth - Verne
From the Earth to the Moon - Verne
Round the Moon - Verne
Eaters of the Dead - Micheal Crichton
The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

I now have standing by:
Robert E. Howards Conan novels
Vances Dying Earth novels
Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds - Charles Mackay, LL. D.
some more Jules Verne
Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett

I just finished Monstrous Regiment today and I think I'll start on Dying Earth tonight, but after that I'm not sure what order I'll go through these in.

Edit - oh yeah, I still want to pick up the sequel to Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.
Edit - Oh, and I need to get that Lewis & Clark one by William Least Heat Moon from my parents place where I left it at Christmas

 

[Hand of Evil]

Due to another thread I have gone back to my old books, reading Clifford Simak's Enchanted Pilgrimage.

 

[Datt]

*snip* I can read the Other Shore, the newish 5th Earthsea book, *snip*

Don't you mean the Other Wind?

 

[Storminator]

I started Color of Magic by Pratchett, but left it on the plane. I'm more than half way thru Wild Cards. Both have been pretty good, tho radically different.

I tried to do Dying Earth... again ... but I find it less than compelling. I'm not sure if all these separate stories are going to come together or if they stay isolated vignettes. I'll try it again at some point.

However! I've also read the best book of all time! Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. Absolutely awesome. I'm an old metalhead from waaaaay back, and this book lays out the entire history of the music I've been listening to for 20+ years. It's been quite the nostalgia kick. Naturally, it's probably not the best book of all time for others, but it was for me.

PS

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

However! I've also read the best book of all time! Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. Absolutely awesome. I'm an old metalhead from waaaaay back, and this book lays out the entire history of the music I've been listening to for 20+ years. It's been quite the nostalgia kick. Naturally, it's probably not the best book of all time for others, but it was for me.

PS

But does it cover the "real" metal or give a lot of time to the hair rock and glam stuff? Does it cover stuff like King Diamond/Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Venom, Iron Maiden, etc? I've looked at a few "metal" books and magazines that equate metal in the 80's with Motley Crue, Warrent, & Poison.

Do they have a chapter on Manowar? Does the book hail and kill? Will poseurs and false metallers run from it's power?

 

[Storminator]

But does it cover the "real" metal or give a lot of time to the hair rock and glam stuff? Does it cover stuff like King Diamond/Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Venom, Iron Maiden, etc? I've looked at a few "metal" books and magazines that equate metal in the 80's with Motley Crue, Warrent, & Poison.

Do they have a chapter on Manowar? Does the book hail and kill? Will poseurs and false metallers run from it's power?

Abso-ing-lutely. There's an extensive breakdown of metal genres, with breakdowns of which albums were real milestones: To Mega Therion, Melissa, Black Metal, Reign in Blood...

It covers everything. The glam bands have their chapter, but it's clear they were poseurs: it quotes Rob Halford as calling them "T&A metal."

It even describes Manowar's concert ritual: find a kid in the crowd with a Metallica shirt, pull him up on stage, baptise him in ridicule, rip the shirt off, give him a Manowar shirt, and send him back.

But it's more than just the bands, it talks about how the fans networked, and how we lived the music. It goes on and on and on about bootleg tape traders swapping bands... and I look at my old tape collection -- half are homemade recordings. It talks about how metal was built on headbanging in your car -- my first car had a kickin stereo, and I needed it. It talks about the importance of shows, because you didn't hear the real bands on the radio, the concert tee uniform... and I look in my dresser, my Iron Maiden Powerslave shirt is paper thin, but it's still there.

I too have seen the BS books, that were written by those who knew squat. This guy (Ian Christe) knew his , and it shows. I'm telling you, this is the best book of all time! I've already bought copies for my highschool metal buddies. If you like metal, read this book!

PS

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I've added it to my reading list. Too bad I don't have a icon for the metal horns like on the Iron Maiden BB.

Up the Irons!

I just looked at the cover on amazon. Before I even read anything I was convinced that was the best book ever.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

I just finished the Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, which I thought was very good, though I had a hard time believing a few actions taken by some characters.

I've just recently started Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis.

 

[Krug]

Just finished Comic Book Nation. Pretty good except it pretty much ignores all the publishers except the Big Two. Hard to believe that an issue of X-men sold 8 million copies at the height of the collectible frenzy. I think last year's best-sellling comic Batman #619 barely sold 250,000 copies.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Reading the Black Company, some Terry Pratchett, Slouching towards Gomorrah, Otherworld by Tad Williams, and looking forward to soon reading the newer Dark Tower and WoT books.