Episode 42 – Favorite Books

Summary: Let's face it.  If it wasn't for books, we could hardly classify ourselves as geeks.  From the stacks of tomes in our tabletop roleplaying libraries to the shelves lined with everything from history to science fiction, if a geek is anything, they are well read.  Join us this week as we discuss our favorite books and authors, as well as the works that have been most influential on our creative minds.  Be sure to grab your custom bookmark, set aside those reading glasses, and put that awesome book back on the shelf (just for a bit!) as you settle into that comfy reading chair and listen to a whole new episode of Monkey in the Cage! (00:46) - Matt finally joins the ranks of hipsters around the world, bends it like Beckham,  and helps build a statue. - iPhone 4S, Flick Kick Football, and the D&D Limited Edition reprints. (06:15) - Ramses lays a timed reading challenge on Robert, revels the greatest superpower of them all, and talks about the largest lollypop ever! - The Book That Can't Wait, Batman, Iron Man, and See's Candies (13:00) - Karen and Ramses finally watch Inception and the X-Men: First Class sequel gets a name! Plus, Scotland gets terrorized. - Ultimate X-Men (19:33) - Battle Royale is coming to The CW? (21:11) - Thanks to an awesome Bane parody,  Ro-bert replaces his circuit boards and hardrives with a real actual heart, soul and feelings! - Pitch Perfect, Battle of the Year 3D, The Great Gatsby and Step Up Revolution (32:28) - It's topic time! We start with horror as Ramses leads us off with The Strain Trilogy, Matt talks Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Karen discusses I Am Legend and Steve Niles' Criminal Macabre.  Meanwhile, Robert read the stories of Anita Blake... (39:03) - We get to the heart of the matter and talk about what everyone wants to hear: Fantasy novels! - The Bard's Tale series, The Wheel of Time series, The Dark Elf series, The Cleric Quintet, The Dragon Below trilogy, The Tales of the Last War, and of course The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  Plus, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. (47:30) - We briefly discuss Gregory Maguire's Wicked, the L. Frank Baum's OZ series; Robert talks about The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss; while Matt gets his Dwarf on with the Gotrek and Felix series and Grudge Bearer. (51:48) - Ramses hates Earth's Ultimate Conflict but loves Johnathan Maberry's Joe Ledger series, Matt loves Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down, and Robert talks about the works of Terry Pratchett like Discworld and Good Omens. (55:35) - Karen talks about her love of Children's Literature. - J.K Rowling's The Harry Potter series, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi.  Plus, The Tale of Desperaux, Matt "vagues it up," and Watership Down. (1:00:05) - Robert guilts Matt and Ramses over their failure to read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. (1:04:18) - We close out with a brief listing of our all time favorite authors/works. - Mike Mignola, The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, and the works of Neil Gaiman. Closing Song - UKF Dubstep Tutorial - Presented by Dubba Jonny