The Books/Reading Thread

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Hayek is one of the few libertarian writers that I have on my bookshelf. I've read portions of his book The Counterrevolution of Science, which have been very good.
 
for the weird fiction/True Detective fans in the house, may want to pre-order this:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Carcosa-Lovecraft-Chambers-Masters/dp/1590179439/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_mrai_3_dp[/ame]

Table of Contents looks pretty solid
 
I picked up a book called Galveston a few days ago when i was skimming through the bargains section of Vromans ... it's written my Nic Pizzolatto. Haven't gotten started on it yet.

I was printing some stuff out at one of our local libraries and decided to check out their clearance section and ended up grabbing these ...

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paperback were 25 cents each and the hardcovers were 50 cents.
 
When you really think about it, Faulkner and McCarthy just bleed through the dialogue of True Detective. It may draw from a lot of horror fiction, but the writing is aesthetically modernist.

Now reading this:

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Half way thru. Good read.

The Russian army is a dangerous place, even in peace, even miles from the enemy. One Soldier's War is probably at its most disturbing - and most powerful - when Babchenko describes the younger soldiers cowering in fear of the older men. Drunk, seemingly deranged bullies drag them out of bed, half-kill them, threaten to rape them and then beat them all over again for daring to have black eyes.

But almost as shocking is the inability of Russia to provide even the basics for its soldiers. Babchenko describes soldiers grazing on berries "like moose" or drinking water tainted with rotting human flesh. A soldier, he believes, has the best chance of survival when he no longer cares whether he lives or dies. "If you think 'a year after the war I'll become a writer', then fate will get you - kill you. Fate is a very subtle, a very sensitive system. You need to be as imperceptible as possible. Then maybe it won't touch you."

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/nov/21/biography
 
The US GI has had it fairly posh for the last two decades (infantry excluded), and especially compared to most other militaries. If I remember right, the Soviet officers at at least some of their nuclear launch sites were still burning coal and/or wood for heat.
 
Finished the following books over the past couple of months:

The Eye of the World (Book 1 of Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan. I know dak expressed some hesitance regarding the series and its quality long term. That being said, I really enjoyed The Eye of the World. It read real quickly, and the last 200 pages were pretty solid. Definitely gonna continue the series.

The Martian by Andy Weir -- This had been in my pile for a while and wanted to read it before Ridley Scott ruins it. It was good, but it wasn't amazing. I read it in maybe 3 days

The Gunslinger (Book 1 of The Dark Tower) by Stephen King -- Post apocalyptic western? Fukk yea. This was great. Read it in a few days. This is one of those books I've been meaning to read for a long time, so I'm glad I finally did. Will definitely continue the series


...and now for nothing but student papers for the next 16 weeks :(