Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you READING?

Finally finished "Supergods", it was great. Sorely tempted to try "75 Years of DC Comics" by Levitz next. At the very least I'll have bulging biceps by the time I finish it, given that the book is 20 pounds or so.

Hmmm, been quite a while since I've posted here.

Recently I've read the following books -

Mile 81 by Steven King. Its about some children in Maine who discover something horrific and eventually overcome it

Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. The novella that the Hellraiser movie was based on. I've read this before, quite a few years ago. I forgot how different the character of Kristie is in the book.

Currently reading Ethical Oil by Ezra Levant. I highly recommend this to anyone who has the slightest concern about Canada's "dirty oil". It raises many points I have put forth myself on "green" boards, except better expressed and expanded upon.

Also Hellbound Heart put me in the mood for more fantastique so I found a Barker book I haven't read before, "Imagica". If the tale continues the way it has so far it may surpass "Weaveworld" as my favorite Barker book.

Keep in mind that Levant is far from an objective observer on the matter though, having deep connections with both Harper and Sun Media. His position has it's fair share of critics.

I liked Imajica much more than Weaveworld, though it was probably about 1/4 too long.

@Dave...I work there and process the oilsand. I know what happens here, unlike the vast majority of protesters.
Levant is on the mark far more often than he is off it and for the most part I agree with him.

Currently reading Charlotte Bronte's The Professor. It's okay, but it's definitely no Jane Eyre.

I am going to give The Hunger Games another try... I picked it up a couple of years ago and couldn't get into it... with the movie coming out, I figure it's worth another look...

A People's History of the Supreme Court. I am up to the Brown decision.

I'm reading "Crash" by J.G. Ballard (which the Cronenberg movie was based on). It's equally disturbing and brilliant. It's hard to believe it was written before I was born as it doesn't read dated or like it isn't set in the present (except for the lack of cell phones, which could have short-circuited some of the plot).

I finished the Hunger Games and have started the sequel, .
Catching Fire...

Started the Chronicles of Prydain (aka the Black Cauldron)series again. Read them back in junior high and again in high school. It's been over 20 years now.

Great series. On the third book. Lloyd Alexander does an amazing job. I don't know how Disney messed this up. I would love to see Disney start from scratch with traditional animation and John Lasseter directing.

Each book translates perfectly into a movie. No changes needed. The scenes, pace and plot...perfect.

I once read that J.K. Rowling said that the Harry Potter series has some Chronicles of Prydain influences. I would agree.

Also just finished the 6th Dresden Files book (Blood Rites) and currently reading The Maltese Falcon.

Started Ender in Exile last night.
Nothing spectacular, but enjoyable enough to read.

Starting to re-read the Rachel Morgan books by Kim Harrison to refresh my memory before starting the last three that I haven't read.

The Company of the Dead by David J. Kowalski

April 1915: Dr. Wells, a time traveler, relaxes, believing he has altered the course of The Titanic just enough to avoid the iceberg. But 3 hours later, the ship hits another iceberg. Somehow, John Jacob Astor survives and Earth's timeline shifts.

April 2012: Major Joseph Kennedy, scion of the wealthy political clan, works for the Confederate Bureau of Investigation. However, he has clandestinely devoted his time and fortune to his own agenda, which is to restore Earth's original timeline. For his scheme, he must recruit Captain Lightholler, who has just brought The Titanic on her maiden voyage to the Japanese Protectorate of New York. He wonders if he should even exist, and he has a feeling that he's done all this before.

Europe is ruled by kings, Japan occupies New York and the west coast of North America, the Second Confederacy is allied with Germany, the Mexican Empire threatens and Quebec is free.

Throw in a few other time travelers, a mysterious journal rescued from the original Titanic's wreck, atomic weapons, Roswell, a psychopath running the CBI, ghost dancers, the Yakuza, T. S. Eliot and plots within plots and you've got a 750-page book that's very hard to put down.

"Night of the Living Trekkies"

It's zombies at a Star Trek convention. What's not to love here. So far it's just ramping up, but actually pretty good.

I'm back to trying this for the third time. The last two times I've started this, I've lost the book for an extended period of time. Last weekend while looking for backpack to take camping, I found this in the bottom of the closet. Before that I'd left it at my in-laws over Christmas two years ago. Let's see if the book defies my attempts to read it once more.

The book you are reading sounds right up my alley FC.
I'll have to check it out!!

Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom

The author describes his book as the follow-up to Vance Packard's Hidden Persuaders. Lindstrom reviews a number of techniques that companies use to get us to buy their stuff. He still works in the industry, so I bet he's saving the best stuff for his clients!

I have read a number of books on the dirty tricks manufacturers use to get us to eat more junk and processed food, but this book was a good eye-opener to how manipulative other products can be - even marketing to you in the womb and targeting very young children. Scary! Given the way some of this stuff works to rewire our brains makes me wonder if future generations will even be able to choose whether or not to buy material goods.

Did you know that some brands of lip balm are addictive? That marketers understand nostalgia better than we do and use it to get us to buy more?

He did have some interesting things to say about grocery stores, using Whole Foods as an example, regarding how they work on our senses with their displays and set-ups. Fresh flowers at the entrance set the stage and make you think everything is fresh. One totally new thing to me: digital pricing, so the price can vary according to time of day or how many shoppers are in the store (for example, raising the price of snack foods in the evening).

Also an interesting chapter on Royal Families - the only brand with a 75-year marketing plan, according to Lindstrom. And I thought it was all about the hats!

I'm just about finished the Ender book so I downloaded "The Company of the Dead" to my Kindle a few minutes ago.
Thanks for the recommendation FC!
I read a sample on the Amazon site and it sounds even better than you described.

Hope you enjoy it! It's very complex, but I didn't want to put all the details into the review - it would take pages. When you finish, explain to me what happened to Lightholler - that one left me a bit confused.

For my book club... "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier... just started it last night... lovely use of language...

I read "Rebecca" a few months back. Completely awesome, Imo.

"Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis. I have made about 6-7 attempts to read it over many years to no avail. I always seem to get distracted. I found a receipt in it from a prior attempt in 2004. I have loads of time on the commuter bus, so 8th time's the charm.

I have some time on my hands this week, so I decided to finally sit down and read Max Brooks' zombie epic "World War Z". I'm about a quarter thru it so far, and it's pretty gripping and has a believability to it that I wasn't expecting.

It's told as a series of interviews post-apocalypse in such a way as we experience the story chronologically from the earliest stages all the way through. It includes perspectives from opportunists who found a way to underhandedly capitalize on the epidemic...to those who were there near the presumed ground zero...to government officials who handled the impending threat in an attempt more to assuage the masses rather than actually do much to combat it...to unexpected and logical ways the plague spreads...to simple but harrowing stories of survival.

And that's just a sample of what I've already read in less than 100 of 350-ish pages. We're barely into where the shit really hits the fan, and it's already a major page-turner!

My wife's had the book for over a year, and I always intended to get around to reading it. Well, the time is now, folks. If you're into the zombie subgenre or horror in general or just gripping reading told in an uncoventional manner, I can already tell you that "World War Z" is for YOU! It clearly deserves its reputation as a quality book.

EDIT: Oh yeah, first zombie work I know of that shows the global perspective!

LardLad, "World War Z" is a spectacular book!

Walking Dead fans need to read this book!

It is terrifying, because it shows exactly what a "zombie apocalypse" would be like if it really happened.

I can *totally* see myself being amongst the millions of people fleeing to northern Canada simply to avoid being eaten alive... and then realizing the only alternative is starving/freezing to death among the millions of refugees. Chilling stuff.

I'll admit, though, the chapters detailing the rebuilding of the military, economy, infrastructure, etc. were a bit "dry" for my tastes.

Apparently this will be a movie starring Brad Pitt sometime this coming December, but they are abandoning the "survivors tell their tales of survival" format in favor of a traditional action "Brad Pitt tries to prevent the zombie apocalypse" format...

Recent reads include Henry James's Portrait of a Lady, which started out kind of slow, got pretty good for awhile, slowed down a bit again, got interesting once more, then kind of annoyed me with the ambiguous ending.

Currently reading the Hugo-nominated space opera Leviathan Wakes. Fun read for the most part so far, but I'm reserving judgment until I get to the end.