# Who the piss reads books anymore?



## Kipple (Oct 16, 2009)

Not a rhetorical question! Books can be entertainment too! They're not just for looking smart or hiding your weed and handguns. FAF might have a Books thread somewhere around here or in the General Discussion Sluice, but I think it's fossilized by now.

For the purpose of this discussion, we will not be talking about Graphic Novels, Comics, Manga or Mongo. Get your own thread. And if it isn't too much to ask, let's also actually discuss book things. This isn't "Now Playing: The Book Version." This is real life. Post what you're reading, what you think about it, and what you think about other people's literature. Maybe recommendations, too.

At the moment, I am reading The City of Saints and Madmen. It's a bundle of short stories and miscellany by Jeff Vandermeer. The prose is a bit indulgent in parts, but it's appropriate and, at the very least, fun. 

Each story involves the fictional city of Ambergris, a place sprawling on the water, home to mushroom people and the humans that marginalized them. Most of the subject matter is dark with a funny or weird twist. One of the stories consists of two narratives, one told by an art critic analyzing the paintings of the late Martin Lake, the other told through Martin Lake himself and the experiences that actually inspired his work - one of them being a beheading at a masquerade.

It's atypical fantasy and, as far as I've read, relies very, very little on swords or sorcery, telling the stories of a bizarre city through a historian, a missionary, artists and their critics, and, if the next story is of any indication, a fictional version of the author, in our Chicago, that believes his creation is real.


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## Dass (Oct 16, 2009)

The Bluest Eye, for English class, I haven't started yet. But having read the back of the cover, I doubt I'm going to like it. It's about a black girl growing up in a racist community. LIKE I HAVEN'T READ BOOKS LIKE THAT 5.3K TIMES FOR SCHOOL! Unfortunately, I can't remember the title of a single other one. Also, I keep wanting to call it Behind Blue Eyes. Which is of course a song by The Who.

Personally, I prefer books like Hitchhiker's Guide and Good Omens. Humour is a good genre of entertainment.


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## Takun (Oct 16, 2009)

HI NYLAK HOLY FUCK BRO.


Also, I have Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to read but MR. EASOG hasn't picked up his copy.


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## Skittle (Oct 16, 2009)

Just finished The Rage Plague and Zombie Haiku. I am now reading Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead. Its an anthology of like 30+ zombie stories, 700 pages long and only cost me $20. I was thoroughly pleased.


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## Zhael (Oct 16, 2009)

Reading Breaking Dawn again (I like it, sue me), and I just read through World War Z again.  I need new books.


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## Skittle (Oct 16, 2009)

Zhael said:


> Reading Breaking Dawn again (I like it, sue me), and I just read through World War Z again.  I need new books.


..How can you combine utter shit with completely and total win? Honestly?

World War Z is one of the best books ever written in my opinion.


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## Zhael (Oct 16, 2009)

skittle said:


> ..How can you combine utter shit with completely and total win? Honestly?
> 
> World War Z is one of the best books ever written in my opinion.


Max Brooks is a freaking genius.
Stephenie Meyer is a freaking psycho. She just writes well.


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## Dass (Oct 16, 2009)

Zhael said:


> Stephenie Meyer is a freaking psycho. She just writes well.



Flames in 3... 2... 1......


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## Takun (Oct 16, 2009)

Zhael said:


> Max Brooks is a freaking genius.
> Stephenie Meyer is a freaking psycho. She just writes well.



> Implying Stephenie Meyer writes


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## Attaman (Oct 16, 2009)

Fuck, the last book I started reading was... Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, because it'd been a while.  I haven't sat down and truly read a book in over a _year_.  It's funny how most of my reading is done in one of two places:
1)  Vacation
2)  _School_.  Oddly, the reading I get done in school is not the books assigned (those gather dust), but short novels I brought in with me to class to pass time.


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## Jashwa (Oct 16, 2009)

Zhael said:


> Max Brooks is a freaking genius.
> Stephenie Meyer is a freaking psycho. She just writes well.


Get your head checked out.


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## Skittle (Oct 16, 2009)

Zhael said:


> Max Brooks is a freaking genius.
> Stephenie Meyer is a freaking psycho. She just writes well.


Meyer's...writes...well? Are you alright? Like seriously? I couldn't get through 30 pages without feeling like half my brain died.


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## ramsay_baggins (Oct 16, 2009)

I read loads. I love reading. Haven't had much time to read as much as usual recently cos I moved countries to go to Uni and stuff, but I fully love reading.

Taught myself how to read when I was a kid and had read LOTR by age 7, I love all Terry Pratchett books (I've read em all) and The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. You also have to check out the books by James White about a space hospital. They are AMAZING.


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## Torrijos-sama (Oct 16, 2009)

Good Book for everyone to read:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence.


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## Corto (Oct 16, 2009)

Reading through Crime and Punishment at the moment. I suggest everyone here to read John Dies at the End by Cracked editor David Wong because it's my favourite book.


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## Dass (Oct 16, 2009)

Dass said:


> Flames in 3... 2... 1......





Takumi_L said:


> > Implying Stephenie Meyer writes





Jashwa said:


> Get your head checked out.





skittle said:


> Meyer's...writes...well? Are you alright? Like seriously? I couldn't get through 30 pages without feeling like half my brain died.



I'm psychic!


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## Duality Jack (Oct 16, 2009)

I read allot. Everything from human sciences, history and Literature.


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## Adamada (Oct 16, 2009)

I'm reading Black Boy for my English class. It's an okay book, but nothing I'd really want to read, without it being related to school.


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## Ibuuyk (Oct 16, 2009)

I used to read 200 pages per day, but now that I've moved out, I dunno where to find a library xD


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## Morroke (Oct 16, 2009)

The current book I'm reading?

_The Ashbringer..._


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## Ibuuyk (Oct 16, 2009)

I actually own a few books, first book of the Golden Compass trilogy.  Mythology.  Tristan & Iseut.  The religious.  And finally, my fave:  Collapsing Universe, Story of Balck Holes. (yea, there's a typo in the title, actually).  Isaac Asimov wrote wonders.


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 16, 2009)

I just ordered the Ghormenghast trilogy from inter-library loan.  I wonder if anyone else has even heard of it, and knows if it's any good.  I was so desperate to find some decent fantasy that I spent a whole morning browsing a list of recommended fantasy books online.  That one seemed unusual and interesting, so I went ahead and decided to try it out.
Last book I read was A Clockwork Orange.  Boy was that peculiar.  I didn't realize it was written in a made-up language.  When I viddied the first page, my rot fell open in surprise, my droogies.


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## Kipple (Oct 16, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> I just ordered the Ghormenghast trilogy from inter-library loan.  I wonder if anyone else has even heard of it, and knows if it's any good.  I was so desperate to find some decent fantasy that I spent a whole morning browsing a list of recommended fantasy books online.  That one seemed unusual and interesting, so I went ahead and decided to try it out.
> Last book I read was A Clockwork Orange.  Boy was that peculiar.  I didn't realize it was written in a made-up language.  When I viddied the first page, my rot fell open in surprise, my droogies.


The first two books of Gormenghast are a treat, but I didn't care for the third very much. What do you usually look for in fantasy?


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## Ty Vulpine (Oct 16, 2009)

I just finished reading "Two To The Fifth" by Piers Anthony.


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 16, 2009)

ETC said:


> The first two books of Gormenghast are a treat, but I didn't care for the third very much. What do you usually look for in fantasy?


Creativity.
Honestly, that's all I really need.  As long as I don't run into any more generic LOTR ripoffs or other generic crap, I'll be happy.  And it helps if the writing is good, too.
What about A Song of Ice and Fire (George Martin)?  Is that any good?  I've heard it was decent, but it's always hit or miss when it comes to the genre, so I didn't know.


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## Attaman (Oct 16, 2009)

I want to read this book.  It beckons me.


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## Takun (Oct 17, 2009)

Morroke said:


> The current book I'm reading?
> 
> _The Ashbringer..._



What you did there. I see it.


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## Endless Humiliation (Oct 17, 2009)

_House of Leaves _(Yeah yeah I know dudes totally sold out)_, Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture, _and _V._ (Slowly making my way through Pynchon's _OEUVRE_).


Also gonna finish _Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth _before it has to go back to the libary.


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## Kipple (Oct 17, 2009)

Load_Blown said:


> _House of Leaves _



dude you forgot to put house in blue for authenticity

and Zampano is totally johnny but from the future


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## Endless Humiliation (Oct 17, 2009)

ETC said:


> dude you forgot to put house in blue for authenticity
> 
> and Zampano is totally johnny but from the future



NO


oh god



hold on gotta write long ass list

Fadeless Decision
Faint in Pain
Fairy Mirror
Faiv Dee
Falaris
Fast Draw
Fastkill
Fatima Hill
Faze
Fei-rei-shen
Fenrisulf
Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation
Flat Ricide
Flatbacker
Flower Travellin' Band
Flugel des Stahles
Fluorite
Flying Vision
Followbane
Force (Jpn)
Force Skeletor
Forcefield (Jpn)
Fortbragg
Four
Freaksxx
Freewill (Jpn)
From My Soul
Front Guerrilla
Frozn
Fucho
Fuga
Fuga Elements
FugÃ¼e
Fullmoon (Jpn)
Fulltrap
Fumihiko Kitsutaka
Funeral Elegy
Funeral Moth
Funeral Rites (Jpn)
Furthest Krueger
G-Zas
G.A.T.E.S.
G.I.S.M.
Gabish
Gaia Prelude
Gaisen March
Galactica Phantom
Galatea
Galeon
Gallhammer
Gallows the Villain
Galmet
Galneryus
Garadama
Gargoyle (Jpn)
Garnet Grave
Gashulla
Gaspanic
Gastunk
Gates of Hopeless
Gellonimo
Genoa
Genocide (Jpn)
Genocide (Jpn)
Gestalt (Jpn)
Gevotais Borken
Ghoul (Jpn)
Gibbed
Giga Virus
Gigatic Khmer
Gigaton
Gilt Face
Girl Tique
Glossectomy
Glueh
Gnome
Goatcore
Goats
God Silence
Godgrind
Gokuraku Jodo
Gonin-Ish
Gore Beyond Necropsy
Gored (Jpn)
Gorevent
Gorg


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## Bandy (Oct 17, 2009)

*Right now I am reading Hunger by Michael Grant.*


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## Shark_the_raptor (Oct 17, 2009)

Reading The Dark Tower, book 7 of the Dark Tower series.  About halfway through.  It's getting good.  Definitely wanna finish it.


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## Surgat (Oct 17, 2009)

Currently reading some essays out of _Mortal Questions_, by Thomas Nagel, and Kafka's _The Trial_.


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## Tewin Follow (Oct 17, 2009)

Load_Blown said:


> _House of Leaves _(Yeah yeah I know dudes totally sold out).


 
I stopped reading. *sheilds face from projectiles*

I really only cared about Navidson (I think? It's been a while) exploring the house and how holy-shit-help it was.

I'd personally rather it were just a story about that (and how hard it was to trace the information etc.)


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## NerdyMunk (Oct 17, 2009)

I had to read two Marilyn Monroe based books as well as poems.
Now I am reading about John Wilkes Booth.
What I read outside of school is His Dark Materials


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## Ridge (Oct 18, 2009)

I just finished the Historical Fiction of Julius Caesar's life from boyhood to his murder in the Roman Senate.  I had wanted something fictional and I love history so the series felt good.  The first book had been a gift anyway so I just bought the other three.  A good read even if the history isn't as perfect as some people would like.

I also just finished Marco Polo's "The Travels" and am reading right now about Joaquin Murieta.  

One of my favorite books I read over 10 years ago and I managed to find a first edition copy that was printed in 1983.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it since it's a Stephen King book but I was a kid and I liked it, I wasn't as hardly well read as I am today.

Anyway, it's The Talisman, by King and Peter Straub.  Yes, now I'll go hide in the corner for admitting I've read some of his books.


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## Chukkz (Oct 18, 2009)

I used to read a lot more before I got into drawing and the internet. ;_; But then I found more things appealing... maybe its just missing goodness that keeps me from reading more.

Right now I re re re read some of the Barrayar series books by Lois McMaster Bujold, I also read all of the Harry Potters (and I think it got worse with every book). 

My absolute fav author though atm would be Matthew Reilly, he writes action novels and hollywood movies look weak compared to those... I am waiting for the new year where they release Five Greatest Warriors (the previous book "Six Sacred Stones" was the first real book I read in english). James Rollins is okay too.

To all of you who have to read things in school, do not let them break your motivation to read incase you hate it... I always hated what I had to read, I like to pick what I spend my day with.


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## Scarborough (Oct 18, 2009)

Load_Blown said:


> _House of Leaves _(Yeah yeah I know dudes totally sold out)


How is that book?

My friend convinced me to buy it from a used bookstore. And then just took the book herself and read it. I get the feeling that she was just using me.

Just finished _Kiss of the Wolf_ by Jim Shepard, which is neither romantic nor about wolves. Am going to look for something by Donald Barthelme next time I'm in a library.


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## Kipple (Oct 18, 2009)

Scarborough said:


> How is that book?
> 
> My friend convinced me to buy it from a used bookstore. And then just took the book herself and read it. I get the feeling that she was just using me.
> 
> Just finished _Kiss of the Wolf_ by Jim Shepard, which is neither romantic nor about wolves. Am going to look for something by Donald Barthelme next time I'm in a library.



It's, at the very least, worth a shot. There aren't very many books like it. If you're like most people, you'll probably find the "Johnny Truant" segments dumb and boring, though I rather liked the ones where he goes off the deep end.


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## Zombie_Genocide (Oct 18, 2009)

I just Finished a book for school called "My Sisters Keeper"

The Ending is a Giant "fuck you" D:<


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## JMAA (Oct 18, 2009)

Divine Comedy, by Dante Allighieri.
Now I'm at the Falsifiers, under the Fraudulent.
This is much of how it feels there:


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## SailorYue (Oct 18, 2009)

i only read romances that have paranomral or scifi feel to it. ive also rread a few non-romantic scifi books, like the Dresden series (it came BEFORE the tv show!)


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## Fay V (Oct 20, 2009)

I won't bother posting the books i need to read for class, I'm an english major, the list would be long. 
For entertainment, in the past month I've been reading discworld books. moving pictures, eric, and i reread making money recently. I also read pride, and prejudice and zombies. It made me . The adventures of sherlock holmes and the case book of sherlock holmes is fun if you've never read it.and fragile things, which is an anthology by neil gaiman. I rather want to get my hands on the red dwarf books now.


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## Stawks (Oct 20, 2009)

jesusfish2007 said:


> Good Book for everyone to read:
> 
> Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence.



This book is amazing. Everyone in this thread, read it.

Right now I'm reading The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave and Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Dense doesn't even begin...


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## Surgat (Oct 20, 2009)

jesusfish2007 said:


> Good Book for everyone to read:
> 
> Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence.





Stawks said:


> This book [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence] is amazing. Everyone in this thread, read it.



You guys are serious, aren't you? D:


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## Scarborough (Oct 20, 2009)

Stawks said:


> This book is amazing. Everyone in this thread, read it.
> 
> Right now I'm reading The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave and *Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace*. Dense doesn't even begin...


Easily the best book ever. Don't forget to read the (200 pp. of) footnotes. DFW got carried away w/r/t details.


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## Digitalpotato (Oct 20, 2009)

Me? And not just for school. I think "Night Watch" is a pretty good book.


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## Lukar (Oct 20, 2009)

_Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment_ by James Patterson. I read it back in eigth grade, but I'm reading it again.


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## Dass (Oct 20, 2009)

Update on _The Bluest Eye_

23 pages in and it is really boring. That and I'm way too 16, male, and nerdy to like this book. Screw Oprah's book club.

Still able to resist the urge to call it Behind Blue Eyes.


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## LotsOfNothing (Oct 20, 2009)

The Lovely Bones.  I'm gonna punch the film adaptation right in the face if it sucks.


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## Monkeykitten (Oct 21, 2009)

Currently re-reading a book of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft, mostly because it is almost Halloween and it just made sense to me. c: The last book I finished was... Animal Farm. I had never read it in High School and it looked like a pretty easy read, so I went for it. I quite liked it. c:


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## KiloFox (Oct 21, 2009)

I actually read books quite often as i enjoy it... i'm not reading anything at the moment because i'm too busy with other stuff... school, games, Boondock Saints 2 coming out... etc... but the last book i read i finished not a month ago (fairly thick novel, took a few days outta my week...) it was one of the Wolveriene novels, (at least i think there's more than one...) and the only real reason i read it was because a friend wanted me to... but i'm probobly gonna re-read Brian Jaques Marlfox sometime soon...


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## Arcadium (Oct 21, 2009)

Just finished Kevin Franes (Rikoshi)'s Novel: "Thousand Leaves". Very good book, highly recomended. It's Non super sexual Furry fiction, which is an open change to me.


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## Steel_Wolf (Oct 21, 2009)

My dad is making me read â€œEndurance Shackleton's Incredible Voyageâ€ it is to long for me to focus.

Oh hey check out Bo Burnham welcomes you to YouTube


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## Gavrill (Oct 21, 2009)

I've just started reading Beastly and Really Unusual Bad Boys. Both are werewolf novels.


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## KiloFox (Oct 21, 2009)

my question is, who uses "who the piss...?" anymore? it's usually "who the hell...?" or "who the f***...?"

censored just in case... it didn't say mature up front, i won't break the combo


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## Kipple (Oct 21, 2009)

KiloFox said:


> my question is, who uses "who the piss...?" anymore? it's usually "who the hell...?" or "who the f***...?"
> 
> censored just in case... it didn't say mature up front, i won't break the combo



I feel it's more emphatic. People are desensitized to the common phrase. Also, I think piss is kind of a funny word.


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## Skittle (Oct 21, 2009)

LotsOfNothing said:


> The Lovely Bones.  I'm gonna punch the film adaptation right in the face if it sucks.


I want to read this so bad yet keep forgetting to get it.


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## Ozriel (Oct 21, 2009)

Zhael said:


> Stephenie Meyer is a freaking psycho. She just writes well.



....
Your reading Comprehension level must be really low, along with your penis.


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## Steel_Wolf (Oct 22, 2009)

Ubu Roi is a great book and I can't really explain why it's great.


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## Attaman (Oct 22, 2009)

Well, just finished with Hitchhiker's Guide.  So I finally managed to finish a book from start to finish.  Woo.

Next up I might read Darkwalkers on Moonshae, or try snagging Dan Simmon's Olympos series.


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## CrispSkittlez (Oct 23, 2009)

I highly recommend "The Night Angel Trilogy" should you ever come across it.
They're quite a good read.


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## Ammonsa (Oct 24, 2009)

The Night Angel Trilogy is fantastic. I miss Durzo...


I'm reading Fool's Fate, the last book in the Tawny Man Trilogy and possibly the last book about FitzChivalry.


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## lictor alpha (Oct 24, 2009)

The wasp factory by ian banks, Brilliant book.


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## Jelly (Oct 24, 2009)

I recommend the Illuminatus Trilogy.
Its bullshit.
I don't really read fiction. I'm reading Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm by Murray Bookchin. I hate his writing style.


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## Scarborough (Oct 24, 2009)

I tried slugging through part of a Tom Clancy novel yesterday.

He's like the most boring writer. What the hell. No, I don't care about this stupid golf game that's lasting ten minutes or about your _thoughts in italics, separated by a paragraph break_, or about specific divisions of the FBI/CIA/whatever, or how specific things at the dinner party sounded like. It doesn't build an atmosphere. It makes it boring and dumps useless info into my lap.

I just don't like him. [/personal taste]

Finished _Snow White_ by Donald Barthelme, which was pretty much amazing. Also finished _The Little Prince_ by that one French author whose name I cannot remember, which was also pretty much amazing.

On queue: _Perks of Being a Wallflower_ by Chbosky, _Things They Carried_ by O'Brien.


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## Altamont (Oct 24, 2009)

I do! In fact, just today I bought a collection of the novels of samuel Beckett, master Irish playwright


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## Aeturnus (Nov 3, 2009)

Right now I'm reading two books.

The first one is Wolf's Blood by Jane Lindskold. For the most part I'm enjoying it, but she has a thing of over describing things. I don't think it's important to mention a character 'kicking over the chair she was sitting in.' 'She kicks over her chair' would've been better. For the most part, I prefer the first three books in the Firekeeper series.

The second book I'm reading is Out of Position. Like with Wolf's Blood, for the most part it's okay. It's been a while since I last read anything from it.

The next book I'm planning on reading is Death and Honor by W.E.B. Griffen and William E. Butterworth IV.


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## CryoScales (Nov 4, 2009)

Scarborough said:


> I tried slugging through part of a Tom Clancy novel yesterday.
> 
> He's like the most boring writer. What the hell. No, I don't care about this stupid golf game that's lasting ten minutes or about your _thoughts in italics, separated by a paragraph break_, or about specific divisions of the FBI/CIA/whatever, or how specific things at the dinner party sounded like. It doesn't build an atmosphere. It makes it boring and dumps useless info into my lap.
> 
> I just don't like him. [/personal taste]



Tom Clancy's target audience is older males who wished they could join the army but instead went to college and are now in their 40s. Who surround themselves with info on how America defends itself. Or shellshocked army veterans who want to get over their past experiences by reading how fictional characters get over their past experiences.

Anyway, I am currently reading Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. For the first James Bond novel it's quite good.


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## CrispSkittlez (Nov 4, 2009)

Ammonsa said:


> The Night Angel Trilogy is fantastic. I miss Durzo...
> 
> 
> I'm reading Fool's Fate, the last book in the Tawny Man Trilogy and possibly the last book about FitzChivalry.



I know, I nearly passed out when I finished the second one because I didn't see it coming at all.


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## GothDragon666 (Nov 19, 2009)

I love books, right now working on HP Lovecraft's MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, and CHILD OF A DEAD GOD. Dean Koontz is really awesome, but my favourite writer is actually my best friend, Makenzi, but she needs to FINISH her damn book.


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## Kanic (Nov 19, 2009)

I personally enjoy Rob Thurman's books. She's an author that loves to keep the action and asskickery going.

The titles are in order: Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse, Deathwish

I highly recommend them :3


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## Tweet (Nov 19, 2009)

Currently, I'm re-reading Battle Royale, and finishing up Fight Club.


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Nov 19, 2009)

I'm reading the original version of "Marley and Me" off of which the movie was based. After that, I might read Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything". If I had to describe it in one phrase, I'd call it "Douglas Adams writes a science textbook".


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## Lukar (Nov 19, 2009)

Reading Ethan Frome for my English class.

Spoiler: It sucks.


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## Mangasama (Nov 19, 2009)

I'm currently wading through a book on applied thermodynamics. Dull, dull, dull.


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## Ak-Nolij (Nov 19, 2009)

I read Clive Cussler and Scott McCloud books only at the moment.

AMIKOOLYET?


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## Ozriel (Nov 19, 2009)

I was reading "The art and craft of clay".

Some neat stuff on how to use the wheel and stuff.


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## Winkuru (Nov 20, 2009)

Well i read alot and i men ALOT. Lately i read Dantes Inferno, Warcraft Rise Of The Horde, Sorry Right Number, Carrie and Bag Of Bones.

Most of the books i read are fantasy or horro but i also read some biographys (Mao Zedong,Fidel Castro, Rasputin)


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