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Currently reading through Charlie Brooker's Screen Burn which is pure jokes.
Gonna follow this up with Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk

melivilles confidence man is good but kinda pomo - hard to follow like diderot's jacque the fatalist, erasmus's conversations, sterne and etc. whos that one brit satirist who wrote the tailor tailored? like stern if he was into german romantic poetry?

for a mix of harry potter fantasy and literature - maybe try the ORLANDO epics. super fast moving epic ultra violent bawdy rabalaisian fun. a big influence on fairie queene (the longest poem in the english language) - which influenced shakespear

or whatsitcalled. jurgen by cabell - about a pawn shop owner that cheats death, seduces teh devils wife adn etc. from the late 1800s. mark twains favorite author.

my fav book right now is mysteries of london - a free penny dreadful ebook http://www.victorianlondon.org
a mix of crime, horror, comedy, romance and revolutionary politics.

I have read everything by Richard Morgan and I am now sad that I read them all

I'm reading Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

saphyre wrote:all right now could someone recommend some interesting pop science books along the lines of bill bryson's history of nearly everything

Not strictly pop-science, but accessible and interesting metaphysics - Travels In Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time by Robin Le Poidevin. He's Professor of Metaphysics at the University of Leeds, and an awesome/hilarious lecturer.

Currently making my way through the second half of Transmetropolitan, "classic" comic series from the late nineties/early naughties. The writing is so good. The protagonist reminds me of several of the characters on here actually, albeit more charismatic in putting his views across. The artwork is also gorgeous and detailed, always amazed how the artist managed to draw quickly enough to keep up with the monthly publishing schedule.

As for pop science books, might be worth taking a look at Brian Greene's books (although those might be a it too focused on physics). If you like sci fi then it might be worth checking out Evolving the Alien. For general stuff, there's a series of books that collect interesting questions posed in The New Scientist, eg Does Anything Eat Wasps, which might be of interest.

I am finding Dice Man really boring, doesn't hold my interest for more than two chapters at a time. Can't put my finger on a reason why, although I suspect it is because I have been reading a shed load of sci-fi and sociology books lately. Just finished this too, pretty interesting. The chapter about nicking a black guy who was an ambassador because he had a Merc' was un-fucking-believable.

finishing this, about to start

Choke

Worth it for the short story about a guy who makes a suit out of cockroaches to survive a nuclear war, which is brilliant.

The rest are distinctly average, or poor, apart from the story about a guy who wants to have his brain outside his body, to fit in with the latest fashion/fad, which is pretty decent.

I had this on pre-order and it's just been shipped:

The Silent State: Secrets, Surveillance and the Myth of British Democracy. The author is the woman who kick started the MP's expenses scandal.

Deep

Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions" is incredibly evocative and hilarious. Also in the middle of Freakonomics. I highly suggest both.

These two.

Bret Easton Ellis - Lunar Park.

about finished... and I still have "Musashi" about halfway through.. hehe. Read chunks of it every couple months or so, in between other novels.

deepfiend wrote:

Deep

Yessss.. The first book. Genesis, the garden of eden, etc. The serpent was actually a symbol of truth, etc? I'm guessing you'd like Robert Anton Wilson.. and have you read "Hamlet's Mill"?

zoso wrote:Choke

have you seen the film?

seen film, not read book. yet. basically fed up of reading books and being disapointed with film version, so started doing it the other way around. however i liked the choke film... so guessin book is good

just finished. pretty fuckin good. one of those ones that starts out on a pretty average flex then gets incrediply deep epic and philosophical.

Disco Nutter wrote:

Read that last year... don't often read fiction, but a mate recommended it and I really enjoyed it.