[Chris]

For those of you that can read.

I just finished:

State of Fear by Michael Crichton. Loved it, total page-turner, never a slow moment, cool plot and tons of actual facts about global warming worked into the storyline. Highly recommended.

/ 5

Prior to that, I picked up:

Whiteout, by Ken Follett, an author I'd never heard of. To be honest, I was in the market for something to read since I'd finished up something the night before and read about 2 hours a night before I go to bed every night. Really good book, cool story, more nifty-science-facts mixed into it and an all around solid read.

/ 5 for this one as well.

[Shannon]

I recently checked out "Rock N Roll Gearhead" by Billy F Gibbons (ZZ Top). Cars and guitars = awesome.

[Chris]

And since I'll start it tonight, I'll be reading:

Dean Koontz's Forever Odd, the sequel to Odd Thomas which was absolutely awesome.

[The Dark Wolf]

I'm reading-

FICTION
'River of Blue Fire', by Tad Williams. Book 2 in his 'Otherland' series. A series of 4 books set in the near future where a huge, incredibly realistic Virtual Reality network is contructed, so that the creators, who somehow steal the minds of children to ... feed... the VR network's sentient AI Operating system, may live forever in a completely realistic simulated world. Awesome. Like a modern, epic, cyber Alice in Wonderland-meets-The Wizard of Oz-meets-TLotR.

I'm also reading 'The Young Caesar', by Rex Warner. And I'm reading book one of 'The Complete Calvin and Hobbes', by Bill Watterson- a Christmas present from my fiance. EVERY C&H strip, all collected into a beautiful hardbound collectors edition.

NON-FICTION
I'm also reading 'Economic Literacy: What Everyone Needs to Know About Money and Markets', by Jacob DeRooy; 'Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion', by Alan Burdick (a book about how non-native species of plants and animals get brought into new areas, and wreak havoc on the local ecosystem there, typically through human accident or misplanning); and 'A+ Certification for Dummies', by Ron Gilster.

[Vegetta]

Here is a list of the better stuff i read last year:

China Mieville - Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council
Nice dystopia here excellent characters and great plot highly reccomended

Neal Stephenson The Baroque Cycle - Quicksilver, The Confusion, System of the World

Ouststanding historical fantasy very long but well worth the read.

[Chris]

If you're at all into new age thinkings/indian philosophy and hell, books about a guy on peyote absorbing native american culture written by a gentleman that can write like a motherfucker:

Read Carlos Castenada's Don Juan Series

They're abso-fucking-lutely astounding.

[Chris]

And of course, I have to mention my alltime favorite series:

The Dark Tower Kicks Absolute Ass.

[Drew]

I'm in the middle of re-reading Fyodor Dostoeyvsky's "Crime and Punishment." It's a seriously mentally disturbing book, I read it right after "Notes from Underground" while in college, and by the time I was finished with this one I found myself becoming indrawn and distrustful and not really talking to people. It completely draws you into its world. And, Svidrigalov is probably the greatest tragic villian in the entire world literary canon.

Prior to that, Vonnegut's "A Man Without a Nation," a short nonfiction work (i hesitate to call it a collection of essays, but I don't know what else fits) I got for christmas. Fascinating read.

Immediately before that, David Foster Wallace's new essay collection "Consider the Lobster," which was also excellent.

[Drew]

Here I will also insert my stock exhortation for the readers on the board to read David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" and Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow," and the non-readers to read Joseph Heller's "Catch-22."

[eaeolian]

Hmm. Just started The Republican War on Science, and I just finished 1491, which was excellent. It certainly changed my view of the Americas before Columbus.