Which three books do you have? The Omnibusses?
I'm reading those too currently and really do like them. The english is a bit hard for someone who isn't a native speaker but it's quite OK.

Besides that I'm reading 'Stupid White Men' by Michael Moore currently, and I have to say I really like that one, if you haven't read it yet, go and do so. 

currently re-reading the Honor Harrington series... good space warfare...

read Camus' "The Plague" and "The Stranger"...
"Count of Monte Cristo" is pretty good, but long...
Anne Rice's vampire chronicles are also pretty entertaining...
um... yeah... that's more or less it... 

read Camus' "The Plague" and "The Stranger"...

Do you mean 'The Outsider'? Or is 'The Stranger' a different book?

The Outsider is a classic, for all us existential gothy loners ( well, it helped me get an A in Higher English :P ) 

Jennifer Diane Reitz's Unicorn Jelly is shaping up to be a very nice two-part series.

I should know. I'm one of the editors. 

Yeah, I checked it out from your site link - really cool stuff. I like the universal map. And the shatterel storm is a nifty idea; I like that sort of stuff. 

Just finished that last week, and amazing book, though it slackens in pace an humour to a dull ending which left me wanting more, and asking, did he have anyone read this and tell him, heh, you never wrapped it up. 

I felt like there was so much more Gibson could have done with this book. It has been some time since I read it, but the whole rock icon thing really reminded me of the believability factor of Bill & Ted's excellent adventure. I think the closest thing to this would be Bono of U2, and does anyone truly take him seriously? Rez was pretty lame imho, so lame in fact, that after Gibson spent most of Idoru emphasising the fact that Rez was so amazing he seemed to transcend all of the fads, only to become a fad himself in All Tomorrow's Parties. All Tomorrow's Parties also could have ended after the third chapter, there really is no meat to the book, just set-up loads of filler and an ending...I will admit though that the ending is cool and all considering what the Idoru does, but.....heh...

Whats the worst book you ever read?

I read this book titled Format C: one time....it sucked ass.

I have to admit to reading two fo the the Left Behind books. While they are loaded with Christian themes which might piss many off, the story itself is rather good. Might as well see what the fuss is about I figured. Kinda got sucked into them much in the same way the Harry Potter books can be major addicting. 

Have you read The Stand and Hearts in Atlantis? There are some major relations between The Stand and Dark Tower books. Good read if you never read it, and having read the DT books, you will see loads of links. It is over 500 pages or so but a really interesting story. There is also some inference to The Dark Tower in Hearts in Atlantis....Some characters we have yet to see in DT books called Low Men, and The Breakers.....at least I cannot remeber them. 

I can't believe that no-one has mentioned Iain M Banks/Iain Banks yet!

Feersum Endjinn
Use of Weapons
Inversions
The Bridge

All fantastic, but for different reasons. Holding them all together, though, is excellent writing style and some brilliant narrative structure/styles, mostly involving skewing the reader's perception of an event or series of events and then slowly revealing an altenative reality. I can't praise them enough :) 

Seconded - although I'd swap Use of Weapons and Inversions for Player of Games and Walking On Glass....Feersum Enjinn and The Bridge are superb though, first 1/2 of the bridge is one of the best things I've read... 

I'll forgive you both for missing out Excession. Probably my most read book, think I'm up to about 8 times now.

Bal, go read PKD. 

A lot of King's books seem to be related to the Dark Tower, including:
Salem's Lot
The Stand
Insomnia
Hearts in Atlantis
Black House

Also, if you go to Stephen King's website, www.stephenking.com , there is an audio excerpt from the upcoming fifth Dark Tower book, read by King himself. It's fairly interesting, a flashback depicting the demise of Alain, Cuthbert and Jamie de Curry. 

No, not the Omnibuses. I hadn't heard of those, actually. The titles are:

The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death
The Transition of H. P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness
The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre 

Those ones I'm talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0586063226/qid=1052839440/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-8530110-1898516?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0586063242/qid=1052839440/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/102-8530110-1898516?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0575003391/qid%3D1052839593/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr_11_1/102-8530110-1898516

Altho I'm wondering why the third one isn't available on amazon.com but is available in english over amazon.de... *shrug* 

The Stranger and The Outsider are one and the same, although, the actual title, L'�tranger, more litterally means Stranger than outsider. I guess it depends on who translated the book... :) 

Great book that. Horrorshow.

Is it just me that imagines John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols fame) doing the "talking book" version?

BTW, apparently the twenty-first chapter was dropped from the initial American release, and from Kubrick's film, according to this copy's intro. Burgess was mighty upset. End of uninteresting historical aside. 

wow, those sound really uplifting!

:) 

necros: yes of course, I forget that I read a translation :/ thx

wrath: they are very cheery :) 

Yes. I think the names were chosen to sound (gasp!) horrifying. Instead it came out cheesy. But it's all Lovecraft on the inside, so what does it matter? 

Ooooh, some fans of Roland and company.
The Dark Tower Books are an annual read for me and I do love all of the tie-ins in many of the other books mentioned. There is a semi-short story about Roland that takes place before he meets Jake at the waystation. It can be found in the short story compilation called "Everything's Eventual". Many of those short stories are King at his very best.

My all time favorite read would have to be "Boys Life" by Robert R. Mcammom. Its the story of a young boy in a deep south town in Alabama USA back in the 50/60's. It is reality with a very strong twist of majic thrown in. Not Harry Potter majic but boyish imagination majic.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671743058/qid=1052955396/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/002-0169923-0887236

There is also a very interesting series of books that fall under the "The Lost Regiment" banner. William R. Forstchen mixes Civil War soldiers, sci-fi, time travel and man-eating nasties in the series. These books are sleep stealers, once started and the night hours just dissapear. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Forstchen%2C%20William%20R./002-0169923-0887236 

is it uploaded somewhere else? 

These books I think are the best King's creation. The atmosphere is very interesting.
I don't think that my english is able to discribe all that I think about the Dark Tower books and Gunslighter's adventures. But even here, at mapper's board I found fans of this story.
The Stand is also King's masterpiece.
I think reading of these books is not only interesting but IMHO is also very inspiring in mapping and some other kinds of creativity. 

I'm quite impressed how much discussion this thread got. I thought people had given up reading in this day and age. All hail nerds eh =). So what's Smabler read in the last 8 months??

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville - Fantastic steampunk, one of the best books around, dripping in atmosphere although runs out of steam (!) a little.

The LiveShip Trilogy - Robin Hobb - Surprisingly really good fantasy - coherent, multi-stranded and clearly written.

The Crow Road - Iain Banks - Missed this out when I first got into Banks....not twisted enough but still pretty sharp.

On - Adam Roberts - Bleak, discolated sci-fi, vaguely similar to Banks' sparser moments, a bit dissatisfying.

Salt - Adam Roberts - Political sci-fi again with a Banks feel, again sparse on feeling and involvement.

Jerle Shannara Trilogy - Terry Brooks - typically weak fantasy - nice premise but illogical and not involving enough.

A Shadow On The Glass - Ian Irvine - incoherent fantasy, doesn't flow nor make much sense.


Next I will be reading something from quite a few books I've bought recently:

The Scar - China Mieville (if it's anywhere near as good...), Schild's Ladder - Greg Egan (sci-fi so hard it makes my brain hurt), Redemption Ark - Alastair Reynolds (kinda cool dark sci-fi), The Chronoliths - Robert Charles Wilson (a clear, sharp imaginative author), Geomancer - Ian Irvine (read 1/2, grim & intriguing fantasy, vast improvement over first series), Heresy - Anselm Audley (fantasy, sounds good), Speed Of Dark - Elizabeth Moon (sounds a bit cheesy but entertainment 'lite'). 

Im glad to see new books are coming out, and thats a huge understatement, I finished Wizard and Glass my 8th grade year, and have been anxiously awaiting the 5th book, and now Ill get to read it as a sophomore in college.
I have noticed a lot of tie ins with the Dark Tower, but the main one that sticks in my memory is The Eye of the Dragon, which involves a character, a wizard, named Flagg, and a child named Roland. It was the first King I ever read.
I dont really feel that The Stand was his masterpiece, although it was a great story, up until its end which I was quite disappointed with, but the character of Nick was wonderful.

Poppy Z Brite is definitely worth checking out, however Ive only read Drawing Blood (or was it Lost Souls ? its been years and I get the 2 mixed up, regardless it involves the house in north carolina and the 2 gay guys). She is quite good at her style though.

Id love to read more Lovecraft, but I have such a hard time finding the actual stories, everything is stuff inspired by him which turns out to be bad ripoffs... Ive found sites with them online, but when it comes to reading stories, I vastly prefer a book in my hands while laying on the couch.
Can anyone recommend the names of publishers or collections of short stories of Lovecraft that are authentic and I can pinpoint on amazon or such ? 

See my post #30. Also the stuff mentioned in Gom's post #31 seems to fit your requirements as well.