I don't feel strongly one way or another. I've read both of those books and find them good beach reading but they aren't much more than that imo.

never read the art of war.

wondering if others have and have a copy/edition that they think I should look into. os many different books not sure which is closer to home or easier to read

The Art of War itself is really short (maybe 2 hours of reading?), so even if you don't like it you won't waste much time. I have an edition that discusses historic examples in relation to the book, so I kinda enjoyed it.

edit: I think I have the German version of this one http://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Sun-Tzu/dp/0385292163 but I am not sure.

2nd edit: I read the amazon reviews and I seems that I have a different version after all. Clavell is still the publisher of my book, though

thanks. I would like to read it but there are so many copies and some reviews are ragging on books. all Im getting in reviews is "this is just cliffnotes" to the original.

Looks like imn gonna have to do more searching to find a copy thats close to the original. or i may settle for a cliffnote one

The Astrological Diary Of God - Bo Fowler.

Gloriously weird and incredibly funny.

Starting the dark tower.

Trying to slog through Spook Country by William Gibson.

I read his Neuromancer book a little while ago based on all of the recommendations, and although I liked the story, I did not like his fragmented writing style. Something about the way he writes never allowed me to get into a flow while reading and I often found myself having to reread sections of it.

Spook Country has an even worse flow. Even sentence is parenthetical and it is annoying. I hate stopping half way through a book so I will finish it, but I will not read anymore Gibson.

I've also been reading a lot of graphic novels recently. I pounded through Y: Last Man Standing and I've started the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman which has been outstanding so far. The writing is really amazing and the stories are highly entertaining. The characters really come alive. I've also read a few of the "big" Batman graphic novels (The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum and both were good.)

The graphic novels are a nice light change from reading novels. They are fast, and provide a lot of reward for the effort.

excellent book and a great read have fun with that one

Since you liked Y and are enjoying Sandman, here are a few other graphic novels worth reading:
Fables
Death: The High Cost of Living
Ex Machina

Those 3 should be enjoyable given the examples you mention.

I've read the first book of Fables and enjoyed it a lot and will continue reading those ones for sure after I get through the current batch. The others you mention I haven't seen so I will look into them. I was also thinking about exploring The Preacher.

What got me into this was reading Watchmen, which surprised me on how good a comic could be, and then Maus, which blew me away and cemented the fact that graphic novels have just as much going on, if not more, than a lot of novels.

They are also light, so when I need a break from reading heavier fiction/non-fiction they fit.

Gibson's writing abilities are terrible. He is an excellent ideas man though.

I've also read Fables up to about #80 - it's an excellent series.

The Walking Dead is solid at the moment - it's extremely addictive though.

I agree about graphic novels. I rarely read a novel these days - I usually listen to it, given a preference. Is that 'reading' a book? But many a graphic novel have so much creativity and depth to them these days, I prefer them to virtually all modern fiction novels.

The Walking Dead is pretty good, although I am getting a bit tired of it.
My favorite ongoing series right now are Fables, Chew and Irredeemable.
Chew is very creative, hilarious and, it happens to have an interesting plot. I can't recommend it enough.

nearly done with the 4th book in the song of ice and fire books: feast of crows. i'm a bit disappointed with this one for a few reasons; the primary being that not a whole lot really happens relative to the other books. that said, it's still good reading and i'm excited to start the next one soon enough.

also, semi related brag: cousin works at google and george martin visited there. she got me a signed copy of the 5th book. beat: i won't get it until i head back to san francisco, in like a week.

I am reading a few books now, the priority is Moneyball. I have been enjoying it a lot so far. I am also reading A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber (a tale set 5 centuries before the tales of the Honor Harrington). Pretty enjoyable so far, but not as fun for me as reading about stats in baseball.

I wasn't enjoying A supposedly fun thing i'll never do again as much as consider the lobster, but the lynch essay was magnificent.

Just finished the last Malazan book. It is an extremely epic, dark fantasy series. 13 books written by 2 different authors to date. For an epic fantasy, it is very original with completely novel races and magic systems For me it took a couple books before I really got into the characters and started to understand what is really going on, but once I did I was hooked.

Starting the Name of the Wind book now, based off some google searching of what good fantasy series are out there (that I have not read yet).

You won't regret NotW imo. Fantastic book, so is the next book in the series, the Wise Man's Fear.

Love both books.

Yes, I agree with this. Like I said he's not the greatest genius of all time, and the books are definitely disposable (and I think the author would agree with that). The point was merely to point out that to say he has "no insight at all" is a ridiculous statement.

Klosterman's first two books were a lot of fun. But Killing Yourself To Live was just godawful whiny and narcissistic, unless I'm just missing some post-modern third level irony.

Jailbird - Kurt Vonnegut - 1979

A memoir/story of a man that does not much but a lot happens to him...but really a story of capitalism, hopes, dreams, handicaps, how nasty people can be, america, Harvard, unions, greed, history of american labour movement, the red scare, the truth hurts and kills, being nice can pay off, foregiveness can come from anyone, but so can hate....don't expect reason.......

The man is a amazing writer 8/10

So my oldest picks what book to read for his back to school report? ****in' Anthem, buy Ayn ****in' Rand.

Gotta have a looong talk with that boy.

Is the second book also good? I loved the first one but I have heard some really mixed reviews of the second. Basically that it doesnt progress any of the mysteries that were set up in the first one and that it rambles and could use a series edit. I am holding off on reading the second until the third one comes out, if the third is as great as the first then I will probably continue with that series.

Yeah second one was pretty slow, pretty long, and nothing really happened. Certainly not as good as the first.

I agree with what you have heard in that the 2nd volume of the Kingkiller Chronicles isn't the equal of the first. The Name of the Wind is wonderful. The Wise Man's Fear is slightly less wonderful.

It suffers from the same problem that so many middle volumes of trilogies or even longer series suffer from in that there is neither a true beginning nor a true end e.g., the Two Towers is great but taken on its own merits is inferior to The Fellowship of the Ring and is considerably less compelling than the Return of the King. Put the three together and you have a masterpiece.

When dealing with series like this I think it's important to remember just because you are reading a different physical book doesn't mean you are reading a different story. Too much is made of not "advancing the plot" or "leaving loose ends." It's the writer's story and he will wrap things up or answer the overarching questions of the plot/mythology/world when he decides to, if at all. Just enjoy the ride and realize that all of the big questions will likely be answered and hopefully most of the small ones as well.

If you loved The Name of the Wind then you owe it to yourself to read the next book.