What Are You Reading?

[HumanePain]

A Tour of the Calculus - David Berlinski

This is very entertaining! Witty and humorous, and with vivid imagery. This should be mandatory reading for every math or physics major before they begin calculus, or even trig.

[HumanePain]

I just woke myself up because I fell asleep with books arranged across the bed AGAIN, Photonics Rules of Thumb, Oxford User's Guide to Mathematics, Optical Systems and Processes, Optical Testing, reference books, blah blah blah and of course the heaviest one falls on the floor as I roll over in sleep and hits the floor with a loud THUMP!

Small wonder Mrs. Humane gets into the bed at all lulz.

[HavelockV]

After some months of borrowing a few books at a time from a friend, I have just completed reading the first 12 collected volumes of Fables from Vertigo Comics, and also the spinoff volume 1001 Nights of Snowfall. Fables truly is a creative and smartly-written series and I look forward to reading future installments.

Next up is Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove, which promises to be great fun.

[Twisted-mind]

Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. ward

[JCC]

Originally Posted by HavelockV

Next up is Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove, which promises to be great fun.

I was thinking about getting that, make sure to tell us if it's good.

[gothicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by JCC

I was thinking about getting that, make sure to tell us if it's good.

It's mediocre.

[Nexiah]

I know it's not fiction, but The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins is a pretty interesting read so far...mainly, how Dawkins systematically tears to shreds the notions of religion that has been held high for so long, with...logic!

[Corpsey]

What isn't mediocre, then?

Strewth, I could do with a good read.

[Beneath the Shadows]

"Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. If it's anything like "The Da Vinci Code," it should be a quick and disappointing read.

[Man In Room 5]

The Popular Novel In England 1770-1800--J.M.S. Tompkins

I recently finished reading:

Steele, Valerie, and Jennifer Park. Gothic: Dark Glamour. New York: Yale UP, 2008
Lovecraft, H.P., and Willis Conover. Lovecraft At Last. Arlington: Carrollton, 1975
Bayer-Berenbaum. Gothic Imagination, The. London: Associated UP, 1982

[Apathy's_Child]

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. It's pretty good, although reading it after Knut, there's only so much I can rave about it.

[JCC]

Joe the Engineer by Chuck Wachtel.

[Beneath the Shadows]

I was half right about "Angels and Demons." It was a quick read. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually thought it was pretty decent. The tiny chapters were quite annoying, though.

[Mir]

The Age of Reason - J P Sartre.

[Darcnyss]

The fourth book in the Forgotten Realms Harpers series - The Night Parade by Scott Ciencin

[Pineapple_Juice]

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Why yes, it is fantastic, thank you for asking.

[Pineapple_Juice]

Originally Posted by Beneath the Shadows

"Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. If it's anything like "The Da Vinci Code," it should be a quick and disappointing read.

Angels and Demons will disappoint you. The shame about it is the plot is really good. It's Brown's abysmal writing style that destroys it, which is why I'm hoping the movie might get it right.

[Beneath the Shadows]

You're a bit late. I already finished it. See above.

[Cicero]

The Bone Woman by Clea Koff

She has my dream career and the similarities between our lives are rather scary (I can't think of many other people I know who travelled a lot as a child due to their parents' work, developed an interest in bones from collecting dead birds, then visited Kenya when they were 9 years old and got even more excited about bones because they're all over the place there, then decided to study anthropology towards the end of their teenage years. And yet somehow all that is true for myself and Clea Koff).

[Pineapple_Juice]

Originally Posted by Beneath the Shadows

You're a bit late. I already finished it. See above.

Goddamnit. Well anyway I'm stoked on McGregor playing the camerlengo.

[Denchera]

Zombie Survival Guide, because you have to be ready.

[HavelockV]

Originally Posted by JCC

I was thinking about getting that, make sure to tell us if it's good.

I read Marvel 1602 last week but did not have an opportunity to post my thoughts about it until now. Generally it seems to be a very solid comic. Initially, I was delighted with the way recognizible Marvel characters were introduced and incorporated into the plot and time period. I admit that my knowledge of the Marvel comics canon is somewhat limited, so I had fewer expectations of fidelity to characters in this work.

The plot was quite engaging, though there were certain arcs that felt unnecessary and out of place. Likewise, it was clear that certain Marvel characters were merely used for the sake of inclusion rather than for any real constribution to the storyline. Indeed, in one particular case I felt that a character, who was little more than a familiar name attached to a nondescript personage in the book, was forced to act in a completely out-of-context manner in order to secure his powers. There are a few major plot twists and turns, though these are not entirely unpredictable.

The artwork is gorgeous, particularly the woodcut engraving-style cover images for each issue. The entire execution, from layout to pencils to coloring, is very dynamic and attractively presented. For the most part the costume designs were appropriate for the 17th Century, with the exception of the incarnation of the X-Men. Let's face it, muscle-hugging spandex simply did not exist back then.

Overall, Marvel 1602 was an enjoyable read. Particularly for those who are well-versed in Marvel, however, I advise leaving any preconceived notions of character behavior at the door before delving into this alternate universe.

[korinna5555]

The Complete Works of Dylan Thomas

[HavelockV]

I just completed Jingo, yet another brilliant Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. Next in line is Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by J. A. Scotti, the title of which is fairly self-evident as to the subject and contents.

[Saya]

So I recently finished Let The Right One In, decided to pick it up after hearing good things about it here. Best vampire novel I've read in a long time, I was so happy that it did have the "good guy" vampires but also had "make you piss in your pants its that scary" vampires too, I pictured that vampire as something between the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth and a patient demon from Silent Hill (with no face and all). Good good good read, I must say.

Trying to finish Walden and Dharma Rain (a book about Buddhism and environmentalism) right now, I think my dad got me a book gift card for my birthday so if he did I'll be getting the Chomsky Reader and Slaughterhouse Five next, and if I have any money left over after that, I Am Legend.