Book recommendations - what are you reading?

[RunDownHouse]

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I am currently reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. The prose is amazing, he flows thoughts and sentences together so fluid, the whole thing is poetry but very nasty things happen. If Whitman were alive today writing westerns it would probably come out something like this.

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If you haven't read any of the "Border Trilogy," definitely pick those up. McCarthy does some great work.

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

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The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

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Please elaborate, this looks like an interesting book.

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I'm reading this as well...It's excellent. Dawkins' arguements do an extremely convincing job showing the absurdities of relgion and debunking the arguments of its supporters. I'm only about 80 pages in, but he seems to cover anything you could think of on any given topic. I've read a couple other books on atheism and this is my favorite so far.

-Craig

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I am currently reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. The prose is amazing, he flows thoughts and sentences together so fluid, the whole thing is poetry but very nasty things happen. If Whitman were alive today writing westerns it would probably come out something like this.

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If you haven't read any of the "Border Trilogy," definitely pick those up. McCarthy does some great work.

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I do have them, I've read All the Pretty Horses and will read the others subsequently.

[amplify]

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The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

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Please elaborate, this looks like an interesting book.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm reading this as well...It's excellent. Dawkins' arguements do an extremely convincing job showing the absurdities of relgion and debunking the arguments of its supporters. I'm only about 80 pages in, but he seems to cover anything you could think of on any given topic. I've read a couple other books on atheism and this is my favorite so far.

-Craig

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I leafed through this and at first glance I was kind of put off by his tone. He seemed to want not just to present logical arguments, but to ridicule believers. That was just from reading one paragraph at the bookstore though, maybe he doesn't maintain that tone throughout.

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

Another book I read fairly recently that was the most interesting thing I've read in a while was Stumbling On Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.

It basically talks about what makes actually makes us happy, what we think will make us happy, and how we live our lives based on that. Very well written, and I notice things Gilbert talks about all the time in day to day life.

-Craig

[Wynton]

I'm finishing Fortress of Solitude, which I recommend.

Next on the list is the new book by David Maine, "The Book of Samson."

I read his previous book, "Fallen," and thought it was great. Maine extrapolates from bible stories, inferring all sorts of psychological motivation from the slightest of biblical passages. And "Fallen" was told in reverse chronological order.

[notfar]

Richard Dawkins writes really great books that examine behavior and the universe from a very scientific and logical standpoint and in general does an excellent job of not overstating his points. In previous books he has looked at thinking and the mind, evolution and the universe in general. In this book he is looking at religion.

He is a little more preachy and hostile in this book than his other books. He is actively speaking out against religion and promoting the creation of athiest lobbying groups and things like that. At any rate it is interesting and very well written like his other books. I think most people will get turned off when he kind of goes on a few tirades in the book but it has kind of been coming from him for a long time-- he has put up with a lot of crap from religious groups for his other books.

[sushijerk]

The Things They Carried - Tim O'brian. EXCELLENT book. I'm not much for books about vietnam but this one has some great writing that is not confined to the limitations of war.

Also recommend:
A Confederacy of Dunces
Edward Strange and Mr.Norrel
Native Speaker
Interpreter of Maladies
The Lovely Bones

Larry David, if you haven't read Richard III then you definitely should. One of the best tragedies with one of the most devious and charismatic main characters in literature. Ian Mckallen starred in a movie adaption of this play that is extremely awesome.

[BCPVP]

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all quiet on the western front

this book is amazing. his style is so fresh. the cover says it's the greatest war novel of all time.

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Weird, I just finished this as part of a class (History of Modern Europe). Started The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas Woods Jr with How Capitalism Saved America and The Real Lincoln by Thomas DiLorenzo on deck.

[steel108]

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Harry Potter 1-6
Simply Amazing!

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I didn't think I would like the series, but I too loved it. Just finished reading "The Historian." Really good novel based on Dracula. Must read. Also check out Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress."