Books

**cheezyflier** · October 2nd, 2009, 11:34

remember those?

do any of you still read them? i do alot of reading, most of it pretty light stuff. i like dean kootz, lovecraft, (no, i don't like stephen king)chrichton, clancy, arthur c. clarke, the old stuff from terry brooks, and a host of others who's paperbacks i've read but didn't impress me enough to remember their names. i recently finished medved's "hollywood vs. america, popular culture and the war on traditional values" and i am now reading "meoires of a geisha" (they made a book out of that?

)
i have to say, i didn't like the movie because it was grossly inaccurate in the details about geisha, and they used mostly chinese actresses. however, 36 pages into the book so far, and i am really impressed with the way it is written. the guy has talent and style in abundance.

sandar · October 2nd, 2009, 11:55

I do a lot of reading. Our library contains several thousand books of all genres.

Currently I am reading Most secret War by Dr. R.V.Jones (for the umteenth time) It is about British scientific intelligence, mostly for the RAF, during WWII. I am no physicist, but the book is easy to understand and fascinating.

I prefer historical based novels based on fact to science fiction or fantasy, although I was captivated by The Hobbit and the Lord of The Rings forty odd years ago, long before they were made into films. Some of my favourite authors include H.H.Kirst (Gunner Asch etc) Christian Jacq, Simon Scarrow, Bernard Cornwell, Sharon Penman, the WWI based book by Pat Barker and Sebastian Faulks to name but a few. I also like most of the books by Alexander McCall Smith. More recently I have been reading Phil Rickman and Patrick Robinson.

In addition I have a lot of books about WWI, aviation (now there is a surprise) and history in general. I still have most of my reference books left over from when I was studying for my degree (modern history) and still read them occasionally.

***Chacha*** · October 2nd, 2009, 12:08

Originally Posted by cheezyflier

remember those?

do any of you still read them? i do alot of reading, most of it pretty light stuff. i like dean kootz, lovecraft, (no, i don't like stephen king)chrichton, clancy, arthur c. clarke, the old stuff from terry brooks, and a host of others who's paperbacks i've read but didn't impress me enough to remember their names. i recently finished medved's "hollywood vs. america, popular culture and the war on traditional values" and i am now reading "meoires of a geisha" (they made a book out of that?

)
i have to say, i didn't like the movie because it was grossly inaccurate in the details about geisha, and they used mostly chinese actresses. however, 36 pages into the book so far, and i am really impressed with the way it is written. the guy has talent and style in abundance.

I have thousands of those, I mean thousands

I am reading Pride and Prejudice... Interesting book.

I just finished The Mark (a Left Behind Series) La Haye & Jenkins....

Once in a while I switched to a suspense thriller. My daughter and I are bookworms, so from Dr Seuss to T. D. Jakes.

I watched the Geisha, I will put that on my list, it is always good to read the book version than watch the movie, and yes the style is totally different.

**Tako_Kichi** · October 2nd, 2009, 12:24

Hi, my name is Tako_Kichi and I am a bookworm!

I too love books and if I find an author I like I tend to collect their entire works if possible.

I am currently into Science Fantasy (Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams etc.) and the Harry Potter series (don't knock it, they are actually VERY good books once you start reading them).

I also read and re-read the same book(s) many times over. I will start with the first book by an author and then read their works in chronological order until I get to the end and sometimes I will start right back at the beginning again. I am currently on my fourth or fifth time through the HP series (middle of book 5 at the moment) and I still find them interesting and fun to read. My collection of Spike Milligan's war memoirs have been read so many times they are literally falling apart now and I know I am unlikely to find replacements for them so they don't get read very often now.

My dream is to buy a branch of Chapter's or Indigo Books and then turn it into my private dwelling so I can have an endless supply of books! Of course there would be one corner set aside for flight simming too!

***Henry*** · October 2nd, 2009, 12:28

I have a series of Noddy goes to toyland
and Rupert the bear !
all Agatha Christies
most of the reading i do today are non fiction
and mostly WW2 variants
H

***Willy*** · October 2nd, 2009, 12:41

I do a lot of reading. It's hard to beat a real book in your hands. I'll read most anything except a romance novel.

Ernest Gann is a favorite. His "Fate is the Hunter" and "Flying Circus" are must reads for aviation fans.

More recently I've been reading a lot of Ben K. Green's horse books. If you like western type tales, then his "Horse Tales", "Horse Trading", "More Horse Trading" and "A Thousand Miles of Mustanging" are very good. I just ordered his "Cow Tales" from Amazon about an hour ago.

I'm also notorious for reading tech and/or repair manuals on stuff that I'm interested in as well.

As far as movie vs book, the movie almost always seems to come up short when compared to the book.

***WarHorse47*** · October 2nd, 2009, 13:05

I am an avid reader and collector. My library is over 500 books strictly on aviation. This includes biographies, air craft designers, speciifc aircraft, and other various aspects of aviation history. Even have some about the Reno Air Races and aircraft restoration and archeology.

I read every night after spending most of the day on a computer. At the moment I'm reading Launch the Intruders by Carol Reardon which is about VA-75 "Sunday Punchers" attack squadron during the Vietnam War.

--WH

***PRB*** · October 2nd, 2009, 13:21

Just came back from the Barnes & Noble with three more books! One is on the middle ages, by William Manchester, which I am now starting. I was inspired by "Timeline", by Michael Crichton, which I just finished.

***gigabyte*** · October 2nd, 2009, 14:34

I have to admit I was never much of a reader, I hated English Lit in High School, rarely read any of my text books, but always passed my classes. The funny thing for me was I started to read when I lost my hearing and couldn't watch movies (I hate captioning). I started with books that had inspired a couple of my all time favorite movies, The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, (can you see a Tom Clancy theme developing), when I finished those two I was hooked... I had to collect all of Clancy's books in Hard Cover. Then I was introduced to Clive Cussler (I now have most of his in HC as well), Vince Flynn, Jack Higgins, and on and on. I have not stopped since, in 5 years I have collected 4-500 books, and read most of them (all of the Clancy and Cussler several times), I am working on starting up with Freeman Patterson and Stephen Coonts now, I can't believe what I missed, I have to have a book on the go at all times, sometimes several. Strange how we adapt, but now even though I do enjoy movies thanks to my Cochlear Implant I can't put down the books, there is a reason for everything I guess.

**brad kaste** · October 2nd, 2009, 14:35

.....My 'library' can't hold anymore more books. Mostly military in origin. I now schlep to the local libraries to pick new ones.
....I was wondering has anyone used the electronic 'kendle (?) put out by Amazon and how do you like it in comparison to a conventional book?

**rpjkw** · October 2nd, 2009, 15:24

My library consists of almost 500 hard bounds ( I'm not a fan of paperbacks). MOstly military history or military novels with a strong emphasis on aviation. Over the last 3-4 months I've bought close to 50 books dealing with naval/merchant marine history, ships, shipping, etc. I ordered 8 more books, I think, yesterday from Alibris and Amazon.

What I need now is MORE shelf space.

Reading, IMHO, beats watching TV 10 ways to Sunday.

Bob

***PRB*** · October 2nd, 2009, 15:32

Originally Posted by brad kaste

...I was wondering has anyone used the electronic 'kendle (?) put out by Amazon and how do you like it in comparison to a conventional book?

That kindle device would be good for reference books, programming references, and other work related stuff. But in my house I like real books. I like the way they look (my office looks like a 'li-berry') and the way they smell, and the way they feel. Gotta have real books all over the place.

***Chacha*** · October 2nd, 2009, 15:36

Originally Posted by brad kaste

.....My 'library' can't hold anymore more books. Mostly military in origin. I now schlep to the local libraries to pick new ones.
....I was wondering has anyone used the electronic 'kendle (?) put out by Amazon and how do you like it in comparison to a conventional book?

I purchased Kindle for my sister. I loved it. I am saving money to purchase one for me. Scratch has a Kindle and he enjoyed it. Ask him! And someone else has one too, and I hear all positive reviews!

**strikehawk** · October 2nd, 2009, 15:54

I dropped $75 at B&N and $110 at Borders last Sunday. And I do that every payday. I always have book near me even at work. Right now the majority of my reading is manga and Japanese "light" novels, mostly the stories that the Anime shows are based on. That said I also get sci-fi, most based on the Warhammer 40K miniatures game, Military history and books on the par-normal and UFOs.

Last serious book I read was about the HAL-3 Seawolves from their commissioning to the Tet Offensive. Right now I'm re-reading William Gibson's "Neromancer" for the 10th time. I figure that I could fill at least one shelving bay with my manga collection, I'm afraid to even start on putting my "normal" books an the shelf as that collection goes back to my Jr. High days. :isadizzy:

**paiken** · October 2nd, 2009, 16:53

My wife & I are both avid readers. She's into the lighthearted stuff and true crime drama (In Cold Blood, etc.) while I delve heavily into Science Fiction...not the wizards and elves, but the real deal, with hard scientific facts to back up the premise...Arthur C. Clarke, Phillip K. Dick, and the true master, Robert Heinlein. I also enjoy Spider Robinson's books a lot, funny stuff. I'd love to go to Callahan's place out on Long Island some day, but of course that's not really possible.

**bluediamond** · October 2nd, 2009, 16:53

I'm on the road driving a lot so most of my reading is actually listening to books from audible.com on my iPod.I usually take a real book along and read before going to bed.Mostly read and listen to nonfiction but enjoy the occasional Michael Connelly or Cormac McCarthy novel.On my iPod I am currently listening to Jon Krakauers' Where Men Win Glory about Pat Tillman and am reading Not A Good Day To Die by Sean Naylor and next up is Apache by Ed Macy.

Michael

**safn1949** · October 2nd, 2009, 17:31

Read about 400 words a minute,so yea I like to read,however I lost my library to a fire in 2006.I only have about 20 books now,I travel pretty light these days.:USA-flag:

**cheezyflier** · October 2nd, 2009, 19:14

i don't keep alot of books, just the ones i really really like. i just don't have the room for that. besides that, most of the books i get through freecycle, or the book exchange in my building. it's like the leave-a-penny/take-a-penny thing. there are 2 bookshelves in the lobby of our building, and if you have some books you can leave them, if you see something you can take it.

strikehawk, if you like warhammer stuff, one day i'll post some pics of my stepsons army of space marines and orcs. he has about 500 guys, + some stuff that looks like a cross between a tank and a dozer, artillery pieces, etc.
i can't believe the artistry he channels to paint these things. he puts pupils on these little guy's eyes and they are little tiny figures! he relics and battle scars the equipment and creates new weapons out of junk he finds laying on the ground. if they all came to life they could conquer canada.

**stiz** · October 2nd, 2009, 23:55

still read em here .. mostly militry ones, currently reading on about special forces and what the did in the invasion of france, and for a refreshing change it doesnt concentrate hard on the SAS but the AOG (american operational group), Jedburgh teams and the french resistence. Also goes into the political side of things and how france was split into zones and what not, intresting read ... next up is wild blue by stephen ambrose.

Me mum still has all the biggles books in the attic .. under all the junk thats piled up over the years .. if i wanna read em i have to clean out the attic ... swear she did that on purpose!

**brad kaste** · October 3rd, 2009, 05:02

stiz,..........Ambrose's "Wild Blue" is an excellent read. However,...Ambrose got himself in legal hot water for lifting passages from the book "Wings of Morning" written by Thomas Childers (The story of the last American bomber shot down over Germany in WWII). Basically,...he had plagiarized from Childers' book. Which I highly recommend. If you can get your hands on the book,..do so,...you won't be disappointed.

**cheezyflier** · October 3rd, 2009, 09:12

oh, just in case there's on or two of us that haven't already read it, there's
"border pilot" a really cool book (sort of) that you can read on-line:

http://borderpilot.com/

thedude247 · October 3rd, 2009, 09:19

There is only one book that I want to read, Frank Herbert's DUNE.

***Willy*** · October 3rd, 2009, 10:51

Border Pilot is great. I bookmarked it a long time ago.

***OBIO*** · October 3rd, 2009, 11:03

Originally Posted by thedude247

There is only one book that I want to read, Frank Herbert's DUNE.

Read the entire series....it is well worth the time and a great read all around.

I love books. Have a small library of keepers that I will always have on hand...but usually I pick books up used, read them, and pass them on.

I also have a thing for OLD books....the smell of a book that has celebrated its 100th, 150th birthday is something that few people understand why I like the smell of. Not the smell of old musty books that have gotten damp and moldy. But the smell of an old book that has been properly stored, properly cared for. I have small, carefully arranged collection of books that are more than 100 years old...the oldest was published in 1806..and the smell of that book is better than the smell of even the finest leaf tobacco, hand rolled cigar (also another passion of mine).

OBIO

**JimC1702** · October 3rd, 2009, 12:39

I'm an avid reader. I go nuts if I don't have a new book to start when I finish one. I've read every book by Nelson DeMille, and also Stephen Coonts. I'll read anything that catches my fancy.

If anyone ever read any of the "Wingman" series written by a guy using the name Mack Maloney, he is a friend of mine and he included me and a few friends in a few of the books. That was kind of fun.

Jim