I think they try to get all the NYT best sellers for 9.99.

So many of the books I get are not on the kindle that it would be of limited use for me. Big as their selection is, it is still very mainstream.

Lots of good suggestions itt that I added to my Amazon wish list today. Thanks, guys. I'll probably have to pick up "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" sometime soon. Haven't heard of the title before, but Vonnegut is awesome.

Next up is probably "Freedom" by Franzen. I've read a few not so well-written reviews that both say he was trying for something really big and ambitious with this novel, but comes up a little short in the end. Since I have no experience with any of his previous work, maybe it would be a better idea to start with another one of his works first.

I've been following the reception of this novel since I read it. As I noted earlier, the first reviews were extremely enthusiastic, followed by some negative ones. The newest of those expressing reservations, James Lever's in The London Review of Books, is the best of the three I've read (including Myers' in The Atlantic and Franklin's in The New Republic), giving what I feel are legitimate reasons for his reservations: chiefly that Fanzen employs some predictable plot lines and introduces some stereotyped minor characters that exist for the sake of the author's points. But these objections could be levelled at a lot of very interesting novels. I still find myself regarding Freedom very highly.

Lever also argues that The Corrections is a better book and I am inclined to agree, so you might well like to start with that.

For those interested, here's the link to Lever's review: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n19/james-l...o-long-lalitha

Read Feynman's book a while ago and loved it. Highly recommend it to everyone to give a go even if you think you aren't interested in physics.

Checked out the Feynman on Amazon. Sounds great and it's gone n my wishlist. I've sworn not to buy any more books before xmas though.

Wheel of time book 13, and They call me Baba Booey.

Me too. I should be done by tomorrow night, or maybe very very late tonight.

Um, whoa. I think page 116 is pretty damn important. Didn't get to read much yesterday.

Gonna finally read (hold the derision) two books whose film adaptions I’ve seen and loved: A Clockwork Orange and American Psycho. I’m especially interested in Burgess’s final chapter (omitted from Kubrick’s film).

Just re-read Liar's Poker. It is nonstop magnificent, one of the best nonfiction books I have ever picked up. Another is Seabiscuit. The movie is OK, but does no justice to the book.

just finishing up Shantaram. it's a book that i probably never would have found if i hadn't gotten it from this thread and i thought it was excellent. a bit long and wordy in some parts and i thought all the deep philosophy stuff was a bit over the top, but a very interesting read.

thanks to those who mentioned it.

time to start perusing the thread for my next choice...

still finishing up 'Where Men Win Glory' , story of pat tillman...very good.

i bought 'Cloud Atlas'...anyone read this? it was recommended to me.

ty for the link.

And +1 for Liars Poker. I found it fascinating.

I picked up Franny and Zooey. Looking forward to it. I also picked up that other Salinger book, too. The Barn one or whatever. I forget the name right now.

Finished The Passage on audiobook, read by Edward Hermann, who I feel has played some great roles but never took my notice until now. The story is yet another take on a vampire apocalypse. The first third of the book is a story about events leading up to an outbreak of the virus that causes vampires. The last 3/4 of the book is set 100 years later and focuses on a small group of surviving descendants. With the exception of some confusing jumps in time, sometimes positioning flashbacks within flashbacks (and the confusion was probably exaggerated because of the audiobook format), it was an entertaining thrill ride. As I said in a previous post, it mixes some of the things I love most about Michael Crichton and Stephen King.

Starting Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is just astounding in how well it's written. Also starting The Lovely Bones.

I commented on my reading of this in an earlier posting. I'm now two-thirds of the way through (juggling two other books, not really the best way to read Cloud Atlas given its SIX narrative lines).

But I'm enjoying it. It's a real tour-de-force, a Russian doll of a novel. Six stories open, one after another, each later in time, each referring back to the previous one. Then they close, one at a time, working their way back.

And, re the Kindle question that has been raised recently in this thread. I'm reading this on my Kindle and find it frustrating for this book because I would like to be able to flip back and forth between the parts, and that isn't easy. But for travel, the Kindle is great.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver:

Halfway through, it's a very nice read. It is a work of fiction told in letters about a woman whose son has committed an atrocity at his school. Won the 2005 Orange Prize for Literature (a UK prize given to a female author of any nationality). Some very crisp prose, and some pretty stunning insights throughout.

Currently being adapted for film, apparently.

Good Q&A session with David Mitchell on Cloud Atlas here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wbc

Interested in reading some light (whatever that means) psychology books. A starting point, I guess.

I glanced over the wiki page for Civilization and Its Discontents and it seems incredibly interesting.

I've been reading lots of fiction and non fiction history lately and would like to pick up something thats more along the lines of philosophy/psychology. Any recs appreciated.

Yea! Another one for the Shantaram fan club

Try googling The Standing Babas. They are for real.

Stephen King, Skeleton Crew.

Moneyball - Micheal Lewis Great book. How a small money baseball team broke with tradition in a tradition filled sport. I think the fact Billy Beane( Oakland A's Manager) took so much abuse that he wrote the book says a lot. Some good reviews in this thread. Also recommend his "THe Big Short" on what caused the 2008 global meltdown and the stupidity that led to it...and more. Moneyball requires some interest in baseball and THe Big Short requires some interest in how our world works. Both are fun and informative.

Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson - About a writer and his out of shape friend trying to walk the Appalachian Trail..mostly. Not as good as his "A Short History of Nearly everything" which is in my Top 10 Non-ficition of all-time list, but fun.

Currently reading Generation - Matthew Cobb on the 17th century scientists that figured out sex causes babies and that you cannot get bees from buried bull horns. Basicly on how creatures reproduce. Seems hard to believe that the people that could make St. Pauls Cathedrial and such, did not know insects came from eggs?? Written a bit like a text book, but interesting material.

Much of what we consider rational thought, was not used until the 1600s... How much of what we see as common sense and rational thought is based on 1000s of years of bit by bit progress. .... Reminds me of a Heinlein book Methuselah's Children? with a race of not so smart aliens that through 100,000s of years of a organized gradual climb became more advanced than humans.... Are we bright or just good at writing down the ramblings of the geniuses that appear every now and then.... And go."that makes sense" and "you don't have to be a genius to figure that out"...but maybe you do?

Last fiction was Bourne Identity - Ludlum.... Does not age well. See the movie, forget the book. Book and movie are not close. Dialogue is cheap thriller dialogue from the 60s. Plot is interesting but the writing get tedious.....just like mine.

I finished the Hunger Games Trilogy. The first book is awesome, the second one okay, but the third one sucks. I mean: it REALLY sucks. Without being part of the trilogy, I don't think she would have been able to find a publisher for it.

I disagree with the last part. There are some absolutely AWFUL adolescent lit books. That would have gotten published, I bet.

I liked the third one enough, but given some time and perspective, I am disappointed in how rushed it felt.

First one is still omgwtfbbq delicious.

Merek, it is interesting to hear you say that because, for the same reasons you cite, I formed the opposite conclusion. I saw the Bourne movies and loved them. Then I read the books and, despite the groaning aspects, thought the complicated story was far preferable to the film adaptation.