Books discussion

[Limabean]

I also got into the "V for Vendetta" serie lately. I did not see the movie, but I loved the comic

lol, I didn't even know there was a comic . I liked the movie so I might need to check that out.

[Turuk]

I didn't even know there was a comic

Probably because you were not born yet. It was written during the 1980's. It is interesting to note how closely the movie followed the original work.

[In_My_CrossHairs]

I'm currently reading
1: Warlords By Simon Berthon
2: The Siege of Mecca By Yaroslav Trofimov

I'm not sure about your perspective while reading Warlords (given your idiotic title), but if you want a more in depth idea about some of the common traits possessed by great war statesmen, I encourage you to read Eliot Cohen's Supreme Command. It covers Four great leaders and how they interacted with their militaries during a time of crisis; Lincoln, Clemenceau, Churchill and Ben-Gurion.

. Actually, Warlords is about WWII, but whatever

Just finished those two, now starting:

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

The Day of Battle (About the battles in Italy and Sicily during WWII)

[bert1]

Great (war statesmen) rather than (great war) statesmen, I presume.

[bonehead11]

Neuromancer, Im almost at the end...great book.

[Elvish_Pillager]

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

I tried reading that. Couldn't stand it.

Ironically, I listened to an interview with George R. R. Martin and highly enjoyed it.

[thespaceinvader]

The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond. Fascinating.

[TheGreatRings]

I'm not reading a lot of books these days. The last new pieces of fiction I read were the newest sequel to Erragon and The Last Command, an old Star Wars novel.

The former was more original in its story, I felt, than the first two, but I actually thought it was worse in terms of likable characters and quality of writing. I'm finding it harder and harder to feel much respect or sympathy for the characters, who seem to be taking more of a "end justify the means" approach (though maybe that's realistic in a war), and Eragon's brother is the subject of much wank on the part of the author (killing over a hundred men almost single-handedly ). And his story was actually the most interesting in book two.

The Last Command was ok, but the ending was rather contrived, and focussed too little on the fleet battle (is it just me, or does it seem like their is way too little focus on fleet combat in Star Wars?).

[Lord_Aether]

The Last Command was ok, but the ending was rather contrived, and focussed too little on the fleet battle (is it just me, or does it seem like their is way too little focus on fleet combat in Star Wars?).

If you like fleet battles, you might consider trying David Weber's Honor Harrington series.

[TheGreatRings]

The Last Command was ok, but the ending was rather contrived, and focussed too little on the fleet battle (is it just me, or does it seem like their is way too little focus on fleet combat in Star Wars?).

If you like fleet battles, you might consider trying David Weber's Honor Harrington series.

I was expecting someone to mention this, so let me just say this:

I don't like Honor Harrington. I read a lot of the series, but finally I just gave up. The writing style is melodramatic and becomes repetative, the politics (pro-vigilantism, and pro-military) of the series is grating to me, their are so many minor characters who seem poorly defined and hard to keep track of, and I find their life-prolonging treatments creepy (20 year olds that look like children ). All in all, the series just pisses me off on so many levels. The first and third books I found ok (never read number 2), but the fourth offended me, the next few were mostly acceptable with ups and downs, and in the end I just couldn't keep reading it.

That said, if they'd ever made a movie off of it, Angelina Jolie would have made a good Honor. Though it would be a waste of a good actress.

[Corvvs]

It's not strictly "fleet combat", but Scott Westerfeld's Succession books have the best space battle description I have ever read in them. The first book, The Risen Empire, essentially is just a normal sci-fi book, but the second (and final, unfortunately), The Killing of Worlds, is an entire book dedicated to a space battle.

[martenzo]

Right now, I'm only reading "Father Goriot" by H. Balzac.

[Girgistian]

The Killing of Worlds, is an entire book dedicated to a space battle.

Wow. Must be a pretty diverse battle then. Unless the book's about the events around the actual fight (which are, in a way, a part of the real battle).

[Corvvs]

IIRC it's all the battle. There might be interlude chapters though... blast can't recall.

ATM I'm reading: The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe. Good stuff...

[turin]

ATM I'm reading: The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe. Good stuff...

Excellent choice.

As soon as I can get back to the public library I'm going to check out the Book of the Short Sun, so I can finally be done with the Urth Cycle (my first reading of it, anyway).

Till then, I'm stuck reading Mansfield Park for my literature class. And I've started reading Madame Bovary for some reason.