What are you reading?

Nothing to do with movies but I'm just curious

What books are you reading at the moment?

I'm not a big reader, I generally give up half way through or even before.... Unless I really really like the book, and that is the case at the moment

I'm reading Les Derniers Hommes (the last men) sci-fi book from Pierre Bordage

Quote :

Pierre Bordage (born January 1955, La Réorthe, Vendée, France) is a French science fiction author. He won the Cosmos 2000 prize in 1996 for his novel La Citadelle Hyponéros.
Pierre Bordage is one of France's best-selling science fiction writers. With more than 20 novels published in just over a decade, his books often touch on the spiritual aspects of society, in a style that combines the best of classic adventure stories with reflection on the future and the present.
Bordage's books are best-sellers in France, and have been translated in several European countries, but there still remains the difficulty of getting published in English, especially in the United States. This is not a problem that Pierre alone is confronted with; authors of all sorts meet this relative silence from American publishers.

Les derniers hommes (the last men) : A near future, after the third world war. In a Europe devastated by chemical, nuclear and genetic pollution, the rare intact resources are shared between nomadic tribes who have taken charge of the exploitation of a specific element. Solman the lame man from the Aquarius tribe – who discovers and controls water sources -, has a gift of clairvoyance : this gift puts him apart from everybody, as people do not trust him. Except the guerisseuse Raima, the mysterious kadija and an old scientist of the old world who accompany him on his quest to escape the apocalypse which seems to menace the last men.

It is soooo good, I advise it everyone, one of the best book I have ever read. Epic, captivating, inteteresting, mystical, really one of the kind

World War Z, about the zombie wars.

High Five (one of the Stephanie Plum Novels) Written by Janet Evanovich!

Euhrm...well...

I read A LOT...don't know how I come up with the time...it just happens...

At the moment:

- Niks relatief, by Vincent Icke, about the special theory of relativity
- Dune, by Frank Herbert, not only the film is amazing, the books are as well
- (rereading) A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking, to fill in some of the parts I didn't remember that well anymore
- Smoke and Mirrors, by Neil Gaiman, selected short stories by my favourite author

Artemis Fowl The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer.

The Fourth book in the series...

Artemis Fowl is a millionaire a genius and a criminal mastermind, he get's involved in the fairyworld and that means a lot of trouble! Very nice books to read, fast, interesting and different!

pornologic wrote:

- (rereading) A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking, to fill in some of the parts I didn't remember that well anymore

nice!

is the book by vincent icke also nice?

thats also the writer of fight club, or not?
is it nice?
think there's going to be made a new movie form one of his books.

toffetomas wrote:

nice!

is the book by vincent icke also nice?

Yeah, Icke's book hits the right spot! He explains the special theory of relativity without formulas in the first half of the book, then you have to turn the book over, and he explains again, this time with the mathematics involved...

So now, I'm polishing up my calculus, "differentiaalrekening" I can do, but having a little trouble with "integraalrekening"

toffetomas wrote:

thats also the writer of fight club, or not?
is it nice?
think there's going to be made a new movie form one of his books.

Yes, yes and yes.
They've already made 'Choke', as far as I know,
it was played at the Sundance festival:

Trailer

Interview with director

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/choke/

http://www.slashfilm.com/tag/choke/

-edit- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024715/

they even won the Special Jury Prize there!

aha, nice!

Les Fourmis
From Bernard Werber

Quote :

Les Fourmis (English: The Ants) is a 1991 science fiction novel by French writer Bernard Werber. It was released in English as Empire of the Ants. The book sold more than two million copies and has been translated into more than 30 languages. It was also taken to video-game format.

Les Fourmis is first in a three-part trilogy, followed by Le Jour des fourmis ("The Day of the Ants", 1992) and La Révolution des fourmis ("The Revolution of the Ants", 1996). The three novels are commonly known as Les Fourmis trilogy.

The plot begins as two stories that take place in parallel, one in the world of humans (in Paris) and one in the world of ants (in a Formica rufa colony in a park near Paris). The time is the early 21st century (the recent future, relative to the time when Werber wrote the book). The human character receives a house and a provocative message as legacy from his recently passed away uncle. He begins to investigate the life and mysterious activities of his uncle and decides to descend into the cellar of the house but does not return. His family and other people follow and disappear. The ant character is a male whose foraging expedition gets destroyed in one strike by a mysterious force that comes from above. He suspects the mytical and powerful five pink Fingers, and attempts to meet with the queen and to rally other ants to investigate the disaster. However, he attracts the attention of a secret group of ants within the same colony that appear to want to conceal information about any interaction with the Fingers and to kill anyone who spreads it. As the plot unveils, the humans and the ants encounter new mysteries and participate in challenging events, including a war between different ant species. The descriptions of ant morphology, behavior, and social organization as well as their interactions with other species are engaging, detailed, and scientifically based, although Werber significantly exaggerates the reasoning and communication capabilities of the ants (rendering his work science-fiction).

woua it was so nice, these last 2 books were amazing. That is what I needed to motivate myself to start reading again

So here is my next one

Getting Near the End
From Andrew Weiner

Quote :

Getting Near the End is an Orwellian type glimpse of a future time (2023) when the world is in chaos and big brother style governments and institutions are running amok. This apocalyptic vision, graphically and convincingly realistic, is complemented by an array of strong, compelling characters many of whom are uniquely gifted and tragically flawed. A manned space flight to Mars provides the metaphor; escaping from a desperate reality by diverting attention to an enticing possibility. Martha Nova and her followers introduce the premise and the promise of a Messiah who can create a better place. A wonderful and intelligently crafted yarn.

Roald Dahls Revolting Rhymes!

So funny! This is the rhyme of Cinderella, you should read them they are hilarious!

I guess you think you know this story.
You don't. The real one's much more gory.
The phoney one, the one you know,
Was cooked up years and years ago,
And made to sound all soft and sappy
just to keep the children happy.
Mind you, they got the first bit right,
The bit where, in the dead of night,
The Ugly Sisters, jewels and all,
Departed for the Palace Ball,
While darling little Cinderella
Was locked up in a slimy cellar,
Where rats who wanted things to eat,
Began to nibble at her feet.

She bellowed 'Help!' and 'Let me out!
The Magic Fairy heard her shout.
Appearing in a blaze of light,
She said: 'My dear, are you all right?'
'All right?' cried Cindy .'Can't you see
'I feel as rotten as can be!'
She beat her fist against the wall,
And shouted, 'Get me to the Ball!
'There is a Disco at the Palace!
'The rest have gone and 1 am jalous!
'I want a dress! I want a coach!
'And earrings and a diamond brooch!
'And silver slippers, two of those!
'And lovely nylon panty hose!
'Done up like that I'll guarantee
'The handsome Prince will fall for me!'
The Fairy said, 'Hang on a tick.'
She gave her wand a mighty flick
And quickly, in no time at all,
Cindy was at the Palace Ball!

It made the Ugly Sisters wince
To see her dancing with the Prince.
She held him very tight and pressed
herself against his manly chest.
The Prince himself was turned to pulp,
All he could do was gasp and gulp.
Then midnight struck. She shouted,'Heck!
Ive got to run to save my neck!'
The Prince cried, 'No! Alas! Alack!'
He grabbed her dress to hold her back.
As Cindy shouted, 'Let me go!'
The dress was ripped from head to toe.

She ran out in her underwear,
And lost one slipper on the stair.
The Prince was on it like a dart,
He pressed it to his pounding heart,
'The girl this slipper fits,' he cried,
'Tomorrow morn shall be my bride!
I'll visit every house in town
'Until I've tracked the maiden down!'
Then rather carelessly, I fear,
He placed it on a crate of beer.

At once, one of the Ugly Sisters,
(The one whose face was blotched with blisters)
Sneaked up and grabbed the dainty shoe,
And quickly flushed it down the loo.
Then in its place she calmly put
The slipper from her own left foot.
Ah ha, you see, the plot grows thicker,
And Cindy's luck starts looking sicker.

Next day, the Prince went charging down
To knock on all the doors in town.
In every house, the tension grew.
Who was the owner of the shoe?
The shoe was long and very wide.
(A normal foot got lost inside.)
Also it smelled a wee bit icky.
(The owner's feet were hot and sticky.)
Thousands of eager people came
To try it on, but all in vain.
Now came the Ugly Sisters' go.
One tried it on. The Prince screamed, 'No!'
But she screamed, 'Yes! It fits! Whoopee!
'So now you've got to marry me!'
The Prince went white from ear to ear.
He muttered, 'Let me out of here.'
'Oh no you don't! You made a vow!
'There's no way you can back out now!'
'Off with her head!'The Prince roared back.
They chopped it off with one big whack.
This pleased the Prince. He smiled and said,
'She's prettier without her head.'
Then up came Sister Number Two,
Who yelled, 'Now I will try the shoe!'
'Try this instead!' the Prince yelled back.
He swung his trusty sword and smack
Her head went crashing to the ground.
It bounced a bit and rolled around.
In the kitchen, peeling spuds,
Cinderella heard the thuds
Of bouncing heads upon the floor,
And poked her own head round the door.
'What's all the racket? 'Cindy cried.
'Mind your own bizz,' the Prince replied.
Poor Cindy's heart was torn to shreds.
My Prince! she thought. He chops off heads!
How could I marry anyone
Who does that sort of thing for fun?

The Prince cried, 'Who's this dirty slut?
'Off with her nut! Off with her nut!'
Just then, all in a blaze of light,
The Magic Fairy hove in sight,
Her Magic Wand went swoosh and swish!
'Cindy! 'she cried, 'come make a wish!
'Wish anything and have no doubt
'That I will make it come about!'
Cindy answered, 'Oh kind Fairy,
'This time I shall be more wary.
'No more Princes, no more money.
'I have had my taste of honey.
I'm wishing for a decent man.
'They're hard to find. D'you think you can?'
Within a minute, Cinderella
Was married to a lovely feller,
A simple jam maker by trade,
Who sold good home-made marmalade.
Their house was filled with smiles and laughter
And they were happy ever after.

-- Roald Dahl

It is the longest post ever!

The Thanatonauts
From Bernard Werber

Quote :

The book, which one could classify as philosophic science fiction (with a hint of fantasy), takes us on a voyage to the last unexplored continent, death. The term thanatonaute is derived from "thanatologie", comes from the Greek god of death Thanatos and nautis (navigateur) and thus signifies navigator of death or explorer of death.

The novel tells the story of a researcher Michael Pinson and his friend Raoul Razorbak who go explore the Ultimate Continent (called New Australia): the continent of death. This adventure takes us across the different zones of the continent of the dead to the famous light. In doing these explorations the thanatonautes voluntarily risk their lives to discover the mysteries of death.

The book is scattered regularly with a number of different sacred texts drawn from mythology, religion, and cosmogony from all over the world. And it is astonishing to see that each of these points of view resemble each other and tell the same story just with different words and symbols.

Second time I read this one, it's brilliant

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cory Doctorow

Really cool cyberpunkish stuff!

Continuing with Bernard Werber....

2nd part of the trilogy of the ants

Le Jour Des Fourmis (The Day of the Ants)

Plot summary

The Day of the Ants again, just as its predecessor has several connected plotlines, some of which take place in the world of humans, while others - among ants. A year has passed since the time of The ants. 17 people including several relatives of the pioneer of the deceased inter-species communication Edmond Wells are still trapped under an ant nest. Since a new queen has been in charge in the ant nest, the supplies of food given by the ants to human are growing smaller and smaller. Meanwhile strange murders are happening in the city of Paris, when several producers of insect are found dead in peculiar circumstances and no explanation of how the murders were committed. A wolve-fearing police detective and a woman afraid of humans, the niece of Edmond Wells, combine their knowledge in order to find out who or what is behind these murders.

Themes

Learning from each other
One of the central themes of the novel is that humans can learn a lot from the civilisation of the ants and vice versa. The people living under the ant test are acting more and more like ants and thus reach spiritual enlightenment. Meanwhile some of the ants from the nest through humans discover religion and start praising humans (or Fingers as ants call them) as gods.

Humans are not the owners of the earth
In one chapter of Edmond Wells' Encyclopaedia or relative and absolute knowledge the protagonist is ask about the best way to get rid of ants in ones apartment. To this Edmon Wells says that there is no reason why one should consider himself more of an owner of his own flat than ants. He claims that merely the fact that you buy something from another human doesn't mean that this something is yours now - you have merely more rights to be its owner now than other humans. Ants in this novel consider themselves the masters of the Earth and even claim to have been the cause why dinosaurs became extinct. Meanwhile cockroaches feeding from human trash consider humans their slaves.



I really love it, once again it is so detailed and so many truth in it that you quickly lose track of what is real or what is sci-fi. An epic journey with a deap meaning. It is fun to read and in the same time makes you think about the human race.
This writer is unic

Sexual Behavior in the Human Female by Alfred Kinsey!

Quote :

The Kinsey Reports are two books on human sexual behavior, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), by Dr. Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and others. Kinsey was a zoologist at Indiana University and the founder of the Institute for Sex Research, more widely known as the Kinsey Institute.

The research astounded the general public and was immediately controversial and sensational. The findings caused shock and outrage, both because they challenged conventional beliefs about sexuality and because they discussed subjects that had previously been taboo.

Totally interesting! Though hard to read somtimes because of the statistics, tables and figures.

Continuing my Sci-fi/anticipation Bulimia (which will continue for a while )

Ravage (aka Ashes, ashes)
From René Barjavel

Ravage is a science fiction novel written by René Barjavel, set in 2052 France. It was first published in 1943 by Denoël. The English title is Ashes, ashes



In the storyline, a civilization much more advanced than ours falls to its knees when electricity suddenly disappears. Chaos, disease, and famine ensue, which readers witness through the adventures of a small group of survivors led by François Deschamps. The group leaves Paris and starts a journey toward Provence where the survivors will create a new patriarchal society with Deschamps as their leader

This is THE brilliant Sci-fi French masterpiece. I actually had to study it at school but think at the time it was a bit too complicated and didn't totally understand all the politicall pov. It is really good: a classic at the same level of 1984 or Brave New World. Amazing that this was written in the 40's cause it is so close to what we are living today... scary...

Now I am reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and I like it greatly. It is a detective with the elements of history.