What do Macheads read?

[ScottW]

Read? Your joking right?

Oh, wait, I have ADHD. Reading is a chore.

[nixgeek]

About all I read nowadays are magazines, books, and online articles about technology, be it computer or musical (as I also play keyboards and love to program on synths....trying to get back into that after a hiatus from it ).

My wife always harasses me about it, but that's me.

[Qion]

My reading really doesn't stay on one topic for too long; example: Just got done reading "Hunting Down Amanda" by Andrew Klavan, and before that, I read "Phantoms of the Brain" by VS Ramachandran. The nuerology/psychology novel was far more interesting to me than the fiction novel, however, I tend to lean towards fact more than fiction.

Although, The Notebook was quite good...

[ora]

Some things I've liked

Non fiction:
Whatever random history I find. Recently:
Ataturk by Andrew Mango
Persian Fire by Tom Holland (on Persian wars)
Herotodus - The Histories (gives +2 to intellectual snobbishness , goes with one above)
Some pop-ish science, i really enjoyed Into the silent land by Paul Broks (looking at brain disorders from an experiential point of view).

Fiction:
Haruki Murakami, all of it (weird but wonderful japanese chap)
Umberto Eco (the reason I cannot stand Dan Brown)
Paul Auster (American weirdness)
Some Amitav Ghosh (he seems very inconsistent)

..plus a now departed youth of SF reading
I still like Neal Stephenson, but pre this Baroque stuff which really drags
Gibson, Douglas Adams, Dan Simmons, bits of Iain M Banks etc.

Short fiction:
Raymond Carver
Checkov
Zoran Zivkovic (Serbian, weird semi-fantastics stories)
(plus many SF shorts from my younger days, ex interzone subscriber)

Poetry:
Theodore Roethke (nostalgic american)
Don Paterson (interesting Scot)

Playwrights
Shakespeare (thankfully i went to see productions before i had to study it, Richard III still a huge favorite)
Ibsen


Some questions.
Is Borges really that good? Lots of people rave about him, and I love short fiction, but the one time i tried, rushed as I was, didn't quite get there. If I try again where shoudl I start?

Comments on Calvino? Again many mates like it but I know little about it. What style/where to start?

[Esquilinho]

Well, I agree Borges is not for everyone. The short stories I've read are a bit weird or strange, to say the least. It's not the same as reading Raymond Carver's short stories. (I don't even know if I can call Borges' short fiction "short stories"…). You either like his style or you don't. It's almost like the twighlight zone, but better!
The ones I've read are Ficcions, The Aleph and The Book of Sand and they're all the same style, so… try maybe first The Aleph. I prefer Ficcions, but that's because it has more to do with my studies (Literature).

The same applies to Calvino. It's a universe of its own. The one I recommended before is a sort of a literary exercise, almost, so not many people will find it interesting. But try one of the stories like Cosmicomics, The baron in the trees or The cloven viscount.

[fryke]

Oh. Ray Bradbury. Almost forgot to mention him. He defines Science Fiction for me.

[CaptainQuark]

I don't read fiction, with the exception of Tolkien. Mostly history, military history and parrot psychology.

Although, having said that, I did have a good giggle recently at the DaVinci Code – just to see what all the fuss was about after a veritable rash of TV programmes and newspaper debates.

[Rhisiart]

Wow, this is manna from heaven. I originally posted this thread out of simple curosity. Now I have a whole list of recommendations to try out!

Originally Posted by adambyte

The Complete A**hole's Guide to Handling Chicks by Dan Indante and Karl Marks

Where can I get this? Don't get me wrong, I have a lovely wife, but I really could do with a good hearty laugh right now.