Topic: What are you currently reading? (Read 67887 times)

LTK · « **Reply #600 on:** 11 May 2012, 04:41 »

Having just finished it as well, I can concur on the blowing-the-fuck-away-ness. But I don't think I would have wanted to read it earlier, because my younger self wouldn't have appreciated it as much. On the other hand, maybe if my younger self did read it, this book may have sparked this appreciation for a good book.

Basically, I would recommend this book to myself above any other book, although I'm not sure if that says more about me, or about the book. Maybe it's a strange thing to ask, but have any of you considered whether you would recommend a book to yourself after reading it? I think it has to do with a feeling that when you're done reading (or viewing, playing, or insert medium-appropriate-gerund-here) you have gained something, learned something, or are more complete than before.

smack that isaiah · « **Reply #601 on:** 11 May 2012, 08:39 »

You both ought to go out and read Ender's Shadow now. I loved that book to pieces. It runs parallel to Game, telling the story of Bean. I prefer it to Game by a good order of magnitude or two. I read both of them when I was in 6th grade. To sort of portray how amazing both books are: I picked up Ender's Game and was so enthralled I finished it in 3 days--skipping my favorite TV shows, losing sleep, finishing meals very quickly, etc. Then, I got Ender's Shadow and I finished it in 2 days--I was so much more into the whole everything of that story (partially cause I had already read Game, partially because it's just freaking amazing) that I finished it more quickly despite it being longer.

(Also, IMO, Ender's Shadow and the whole Shadow series feels like a much more appropriate sequel and follow up to Ender's Game than Speaker for the Dead and the rest of the Ender series were)

Mister D Nomms · « **Reply #602 on:** 12 May 2012, 04:47 »

I read the back of Speaker of the Dead and that was enough for me. It sounded terrible.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #603 on:** 14 May 2012, 07:22 »

Over the weekend I started and finished Let's Pretend This Never Happened. I actually had to put it down on three different occasions because it made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #604 on:** 21 May 2012, 06:02 »

Just finished reading The Baby Laundry for Unmarried Mothers, which was interesting but unfortunately just didn't quite work, either as a novel or as a memoir. It was co-written, with the woman whose story it narrates dictating to an author. I enjoyed the story and it was thought-provoking but not well written.

I'm also reading the collected works of Amy Levy, and a book called The Madness of Adam and Eve. Only just started that last one but it appears to be about how genius and schizophrenia have close genetic links - a lot of geniuses have family members with schizophrenia, or demonstrate schizotypial traits themselves. It tracks back to the origins of man (the evolutionary origins, despite the title).

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #605 on:** 21 May 2012, 07:22 »

I started reading This Is How by Augusten Burroughs last week. It's ok. Not really like anything else he's ever written. I usually eat his books up in an instant but this one is taking a while. I'm waiting for it to get funny but I don't know if that will happen. Now I know to read the description of the book before I buy it rather than just assuming I will love it because I love everything else the author has written.

The Madness of Adam and Eve sounds really interesting. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it when you finish it.

Carl-E · « **Reply #606 on:** 22 May 2012, 06:24 »

"Chances Are", a book on probability and popular misconceptions of that topic.

Elysiana · « **Reply #607 on:** 22 May 2012, 08:15 »

Quote from: smack that isaiah on 11 May 2012, 08:39

You both ought to go out and read Ender's Shadow now. I loved that book to pieces. It runs parallel to Game, telling the story of Bean. I prefer it to Game by a good order of magnitude or two. I read both of them when I was in 6th grade. To sort of portray how amazing both books are: I picked up Ender's Game and was so enthralled I finished it in 3 days--skipping my favorite TV shows, losing sleep, finishing meals very quickly, etc. Then, I got Ender's Shadow and I finished it in 2 days--I was so much more into the whole everything of that story (partially cause I had already read Game, partially because it's just freaking amazing) that I finished it more quickly despite it being longer.

(Also, IMO, Ender's Shadow and the whole Shadow series feels like a much more appropriate sequel and follow up to Ender's Game than Speaker for the Dead and the rest of the Ender series were)

I second all of this. As much as I loved Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow was just spectacular. I read both about every year or so heh. Just one of those mindless books I can blow through and enjoy, and pick up different things each time.

Right now I'm reading Rant by Palahniuk. A bit hard to follow because of the writing style, and I have no idea what it's about, as usual, but again, as usual, enjoying it immensely.

ackblom12 · « **Reply #608 on:** 22 May 2012, 09:09 »

I would actually suggest reading Speaker for the Dead. It's a very very very different book from Ender's Game, but it's probably the best sci-fi Card has written. Just... don't bother reading Xenocide or Children of the Mind. Pretend they don't exist.

Puddin ♥ · « **Reply #609 on:** 22 May 2012, 10:14 »

I actually just started reading The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. Its turning out to be kind of interesting!

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #610 on:** 24 May 2012, 11:04 »

Rimjin-gang, from Asiapress. North Koreans who make brass monkeys look like eunuchs smuggle interviews, photos, and video across the border for publication.

Interesting so far: an official at a state-run company describes corruption and outright looting reminiscent of the end stages of the USSR. If the reporters are reporting things straight, then the people they're interviewing are talking with shocking frankness about their country. Like, for example, the one who was willing to tell a stranger that he hoped Kim Jong-Il would die.

Someone was interviewed who (2008) was on the security team that protected public appearances by Kim Jong-Il. He described how he prepared for a visit to a military base. It involved kidnapping soldiers and their families, moving them to a guarded location at some distance, and replacing them with ringers of better-known loyalty.

Multiple interviews in the book confirm what we've heard about malnutrition in the military.

Mister D Nomms · « **Reply #611 on:** 27 May 2012, 10:44 »

I was very excited to start reading this series I knew nothing about called The Steampunk Chronicles. I just finished up my current nonfiction book (I try to alternate between fiction and nonfiction) and got started. I was immediately upset to see that the publisher is Harlequin Teen. I didn't even know there was a whole section of Harlequin just for teens and there probably shouldn't be. By the end of the fourth page, I was done and for the first time ever in my life, I was so dis-satisfied with a book that I felt compelled to give it a bad review on Amazon. I will also point out that on the dedication page, the author thanks somebody for seeing Twilight with her.

LTK · « **Reply #612 on:** 02 Jun 2012, 10:34 »

Quote from: ackblom12 on 22 May 2012, 09:09

I would actually suggest reading Speaker for the Dead. It's a very very very different book from Ender's Game, but it's probably the best sci-fi Card has written. Just... don't bother reading Xenocide or Children of the Mind. Pretend they don't exist.

Picked this up on your recommendation, and because a friend found the hierarchy of alienness to be an interesting one. I finished the book now, and I got the impression that it was as much, or even more, about people as it is about science fiction. I don't remember many books I've read that are like that. While it's interesting to read about the implications of instantaneous communication combined with the relativistic effects of near-lightspeed travel, they're obviously subservient to the stories of the characters' themselves.

One thing I really didn't expect in Speaker for the Dead was an AI. Card never really uses that term, but it is. I recall that in Ender's Game, the term 'intelligent program' was deliberately downplayed by one of the characters, who preferred to say "it's complex". That was an attitude I could relate with, because I recently realized that artificial intelligence as described in the majority of science fiction is based on some extremely anthropocentric assumptions about what it means to be intelligent. The notion that a spontaneously arising AI would have any sort of higher agency it didn't possess before is frankly absurd. So I was somewhat disappointed to see exactly this sort of AI in Speaker for the Dead, given that Card hinted before that he didn't 'believe' in it. I did, however, like the bit where Ender realized he has no idea how to use a computer.

Finally, after reading this book I realize that I still have no idea why faster-than-light communication breaks causality. For all its hard sci-fi, the book never addresses that - though I hardly think it should. Just, y'know, wondering.

Sorflakne · « **Reply #613 on:** 03 Jun 2012, 06:37 »

I'm under the impression that the ansible (spelling?) sends the information via quantum wormhole.

I'm about to start 1493, which is a sequel to 1491. Which is probably the best book on pre-Columbian history of the Americas I've read.

Lummer · « **Reply #614 on:** 08 Jun 2012, 03:13 »

Quote from: BeoPuppy on 13 Aug 2010, 04:31

Quote from: FIXDIX on 22 Jul 2010, 04:34
I'm about 300ish pages into The Passage by Justin Cronin. I can see what the hype is about and I'm enjoying a lot more than I thought I would.

Reading this aswell. Great opening, weak middle, signs of a great sprint into awesome at the end.

Necro-replyin' like it ain't no thang.

Currently reading this, and by GOD does this middle section fuckin' suck. It just drags, and draaags, and draaaags along, with a leaden stride to nowhere. It's a real chore getting through, I feel. The only reason I haven't put it down is because my girlfriend (who recomended it to me) promised that the end section more than makes up for it. Also, it gets a lot of rope because the first section was mindblowingly good.

Penheart · « **Reply #615 on:** 17 Jun 2012, 01:34 »

"Oliver Twist", "What it's like to go to War" Gulliver's Travels", "Mid Summer Night's Dream", and "The King Must Die"

I recommend all the first four books, especially "Gulliver's Travels" and "What it's like to go to War" for anyone and everyone who likes to read.
I'm only 35 pages into Oliver Twist and I already feel more sorry for a person than I've ever felt for anything. I just want to hug him and tell him that it'll be alright.

Mister D Nomms · « **Reply #616 on:** 17 Jun 2012, 08:32 »

I started reading American Gods recently. I read Neverwhere for a school project and then found out later that Neil Gaiman was married to Amanda Palmer and that he wrote it. I was doing pretty well and flying through that book, having a grand time doing so, but lately I've been too busy drinking and feeling sorry for myself to do much reading.

Skaltura · « **Reply #617 on:** 22 Jun 2012, 08:36 »

and

nekowafer · « **Reply #618 on:** 22 Jun 2012, 08:52 »

I finally finished reading the entire Animorphs series. And the cliffhanger at the end just pissed me off.

Mister D Nomms · « **Reply #619 on:** 23 Jun 2012, 03:19 »

Did you lose a bet?

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #620 on:** 24 Jun 2012, 02:09 »

"The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future"
Victor Cha

This adds to the literature in giving a detailed history of diplomatic efforts and gives informed opinion about the motives of the NK leadership, but isn't about the internals of NK (except for an interesting list of coup attempts, about which he's oddly confident of details that other sources consider uncertain).

He describes a growing belief among involved parties that the only solution is reunification.

LTK · « **Reply #621 on:** 25 Jun 2012, 05:53 »

The Flinch, a free kindle book. I like books that tell me something about myself, even more when they're not trying to. I don't like books that tell me something about myself that I already knew, even less when they're trying to. This book falls in the latter category. Though it seems like a good excercise of free will. I wouldn't recommend it to myself, so I don't feel like I can recommend it to anybody else, but if you want to read it, you can download it from Amazon for free.

Linds · « **Reply #622 on:** 25 Jun 2012, 10:15 »

Re: Ender's Game conversation...I didn't particularly care for Ender's Game. I can't tell you why exactly, because it's been a while, but would I probably like Ender's Shadow better? Or should I just try different sci-fi?

The first three books I've got lined up to read are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Botany of Desire, and Last Child in the Woods. I've been meaning to read Philip K. Dick for aaaaaaaages and I managed to snag a copy at Half Price Books. (I've seen all the movies based off of his works, I think it's high time to actually READ them.) The other two I had the intention of reading while I was working on my thesis (I did manage to read a bit of Last Child in the Woods - it was good), but, ha, I never had time because I was swimming in articles and writing. So yeah. Here's hoping I manage to find time now that I'm trying to re/decorate a house and here's hoping I can manage to pull myself away from Diablo III when I'm not doing house stuff.

Elysiana · « **Reply #623 on:** 25 Jun 2012, 01:15 »

Linds, I think it depends on what you didn't like about Ender's Game

I know a lot of people couldn't stand Ender's character and that's part of why they preferred Ender's Shadow. I don't think I could pinpoint why I prefer it to Ender's Game; I just found Bean to be a more enjoyable character, and part of it may have been that it filled in a lot of the storyline of Ender's Game - if I'd read ES first, maybe I would have preferred EG. If you don't care for OSC's writing, though, none of the books will really appeal to you, most likely.

Linds · « **Reply #624 on:** 25 Jun 2012, 03:21 »

It wasn't the writing, I enjoyed the writing. I think it was all of the violence centered around children that left me a little uneasy. Which mostly centered around Ender, so he was probably the problem for me. I do remember liking Bean, so maybe I'll give it a shot.

ackblom12 · « **Reply #625 on:** 25 Jun 2012, 04:08 »

Actually, there are kind of a lot of problems with the message in Ender's Game if you look at it with a critical eye. I enjoy the book, but part of it is that Ender is portrayed as a totally blameless murderer. It wouldn't be so problematic if Ender was a lot dumber than he was supposed to be, but can you seriously believe that Ender thought he was beating someone into submission rather than trying to kill them in the descriptions of his fights?

Here is an essay on a lot of the problems with the book. I don't necessarily agree with every point made, but most of it is pretty spot on from my readings.

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/Killer_000.htm

Of course I refuse to give any money to Card anymore anyways. Fucking bigot.

Mister D Nomms · « **Reply #626 on:** 26 Jun 2012, 07:06 »

I was already a huge Evangelion fan before I read Ender's game, so whiny protagonists and violent children do not bother me anymore.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #627 on:** 29 Jun 2012, 08:18 »

_The Crisis of Zionism_, Peter Beinart.

LTK · « **Reply #628 on:** 13 Jul 2012, 03:17 »

I've been reading Ray Bradbury's short stories (R is for Rocket). It's undeniably sci-fi of the 'just go with it' variety. Otherwise, I like it.

Welu · « **Reply #629 on:** 14 Jul 2012, 07:53 »

Finished Five People You Meet In Heaven. Simple enough, sweet wee story. Short, about 250 pages and jumps back and forth in time and through different scenarios but is very easy to follow. Read it over four nights so I'd recommend it if you're in between books.

Rereading Misery for the God-knows-what time now while I'm waiting for someone to lend me Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I've seen the film but long enough ego my memory has blurred slightly for the finer details and I won't be constantly comparing it.

Redball · « **Reply #630 on:** 14 Jul 2012, 08:08 »

Albom, the author of Five People... is a sportswriter here in Michigan. It's definitely worth a read, but I've never read his first one, Tuesdays with Morrie. I read all of The Girl series and saw all three Swedish films with English dubbing. Despite that, preferred the Swedish film to the American Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Omega Entity · « **Reply #631 on:** 14 Jul 2012, 09:47 »

We read Tuesdays with Morrie for English class in high school. Awesome book, but damn, it made me cry.

Redball · « **Reply #632 on:** 14 Jul 2012, 01:02 »

Guess I'd better read it. I won't say making me cry is necessarily the mark of a good book, but it's certainly the mark of an engaging one. I was in tears, sobbing -- this belongs in confessions -- when Ayla's Neanderthal mother died in Clan of the Cave Bear and wondered if I was substituting my own mother. For better or worse, I was much more detached when she died more than a decade later.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #633 on:** 15 Jul 2012, 04:08 »

_Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origin of Modern Sexuality_, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha.

They argue, based on comparative anatomy, consistent features of sexual behavior, and study of contemporary hunter/gatherer groups, that humans are not "designed" for lifetime pair bonds but are at heart more like bonobos, sharing partners and child-rearing responsibilities with the other members of a tribe of at most 150 members. In their view, the widespread current paradigm of a man buying exclusive access to a woman is an artifact of the recent change to agricultural societies.

Provocative, and full of horrifying historical material.

Extensively researched, though I'm not qualified to evaluate the quality of their work.

May be worthy of a Discuss thread if anyone else reads it.

ackblom12 · « **Reply #634 on:** 15 Jul 2012, 04:43 »

Sex at Dawn is actually a really common book suggested to people looking into non-monogamy/polyamory/etc. I've got mixed opinions on it for that purpose, since I think that Evo-Psych is kind of a horrible basis for relationship advice.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #635 on:** 20 Jul 2012, 10:11 »

"The Silver Ship and the Sea", Brenda Cooper.

EDIT: "Cats in the Sun", Hans Silvester. It's a collection of photos.

EDIT: "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", Adam Smith.

Redball · « **Reply #636 on:** 07 Aug 2012, 11:27 »

Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 20 Jul 2012, 10:11

Can you buy a Maxtor at a Mac store?

No, and you can't buy a Mac at a TJ Maxxstore. Not that I've tried.

Welu · « **Reply #637 on:** 07 Aug 2012, 03:22 »

Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. I started reading it before and loved it but stopped for some reason. Loving it again.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #638 on:** 10 Aug 2012, 09:30 »

"Erotic Tongue: a Sexual Lexicon", Lawrence Paros. A history and compendium of sexual euphemisms and slang, almost all from English, going back to Chaucer.

A fun book for people who see English as an inexhaustible toy.

Elysiana · « **Reply #639 on:** 11 Aug 2012, 08:36 »

"Bossypants" by Tina Fey - happened across it so I figured why not. Amusing, and some fun anecdotes, but it felt very scattered, like she didn't know what to write about so she just wrote down whatever was in her head at the time and nobody thought to try to make it all cohesive. It felt like she wasn't sure whether to make it an autobiography or a book of anecdotes or an inspirational book, and she couldn't decide whether she liked herself or not.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #640 on:** 13 Aug 2012, 12:52 »

Brenda Cooper, "Mayan December".

Abyssalin · « **Reply #641 on:** 14 Aug 2012, 04:47 »

Currently reading Murder on the Orient express, Agatha christie,

I have a fondness for the Poirot books.

VonKleist · « **Reply #642 on:** 15 Aug 2012, 05:22 »

I think "Death in the clouds" was the first english fiction I read outside of school

right now creeping through "Light in August"

and "The 7th cross" by Anna Seghers.

jwhouk · « **Reply #643 on:** 15 Aug 2012, 05:43 »

The Last Christian, by David Gregory.

JayJay · « **Reply #644 on:** 15 Aug 2012, 05:51 »

Hi there people

I'm re-reading "a dance with dragons"
anyone read that too?

I'm a big fan of the songs of ice and fire series

VonKleist · « **Reply #645 on:** 16 Aug 2012, 01:29 »

I may be an anomaly. I read "Shadowmarch" and "Dragonbone Chair" and didn't read any further.

Unicorn · « **Reply #646 on:** 25 Aug 2012, 11:48 »

Quote from: ackblom12 on 15 Jul 2012, 04:43

Sex at Dawn is actually a really common book suggested to people looking into non-monogamy/polyamory/etc. I've got mixed opinions on it for that purpose, since I think that Evo-Psych is kind of a horrible basis for relationship advice.

What would you recommend w/r/t/ books on non-monogamy? I rather loved The Ethical Slut (I loaned it out but it never was returned to me) and would like to read more.

Mostly I learn just from being in Seattle. Seriously, at least 90% of the people I know here are poly.

ackblom12 · « **Reply #647 on:** 26 Aug 2012, 08:01 »

The Ethical Slut, more specifically the 2nd edition, I personally found great, but I think it is for a slightly narrower audience than I would prefer It does go a litle more into the philisohpical side of poly and I think is a little more geared towards folks who are already mostly convinced Poly is for them and gives you more tips on how to be ethically non-monogamous, how to deal with jealousy and has a bit of the hippy dippy thought process behind why it is kind of a better option for most and also kind of delves into the spiritual aspects a bit. The main problem the book has, which was greatly reduced but still present in the 2nd edition, is the over use of the spirituality and anti-monogamy rhetoric.

I think the more universally useful book on the subject is probably Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships. While the book does cover some aspects of the spirituality of polyamory that makes so many Atheist, such as myself, roll their eyes, it isn't part of the core philosophy as it is with The Ethical Slut. It goes into just how difficult it is to try and start up the levels of communication required for non-monogamous relationships, how poly got started in the US and what exactly are the social, mental and sexual benefits of going into the lifestyles. What it does best with though, is that it's very monogamous friendly and is actually written in such a way as to help those who are monogamous understand the concepts and does it in such a way that it doesn't try to invalidate either choice. It's an especially great read for those who are trying to make the shift from mono to poly/open/etc and those who are simply trying to understand the lifestyle better, whether it's because they want to stop judging their friends who are non/monogamous or just for curiosity sake.

Sex At Dawn is just... dodgy I think. Outside of it being Evo-Psych, which makes me incredibly skeptical the moment it's brought up anyways, it also has a lot of somewhat dodgy logic, science and a lot of extremely eurocentric and heteronormative problems. It's well liked by a good chunk of folks, but it's to be taken with several grains of salt.

Unicorn · « **Reply #648 on:** 26 Aug 2012, 06:38 »

Quote from: ackblom12 on 26 Aug 2012, 08:01

The Ethical Slut, more specifically the 2nd edition, I personally found great

Well, I was rather already convinced that polyamory was right for me, I was just not...experienced in dealing with it. I got the second edition myself, and never read the first, and

Quote

how to deal with jealousy

this bit was probably the single most useful piece out of all of it.

Quote from: ackblom12 on 26 Aug 2012, 08:01

I think the more universally useful book on the subject is probably Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships.

I do like the sound of this one a lot. I plan on getting it and reading through it and sending it to my father to see what he thinks of it (not because I think he would benefit from polyamory, but to help him understand - he seems to accept the fact I am poly, even though he doesn't seem to understand it at ALL).

Thanks!

Blyss · « **Reply #649 on:** 29 Aug 2012, 01:49 »

Currently been reading the 'Odd Thomas' books by Dean Koontz. I didn't realize he'd gotten up to 5 of them now, and some comics thrown in to boot - but I find the character (Odd Thomas) to be a wonderfully likeable person. He feels real, and that definitely makes me like him, so yeah...

Also, looking to find a copy of 'Freakonomics'. Been wanting to read that for a while.

Hmmm - reread all of the Dresden books, because 'Ghost Story' left me wanting more, and who knows when the next one will be out.

Also, reading 1Q84, which might be the strangest book that I have enjoyed. I can't really tell you why I like it, but I absolutely do.

Oh, and somewhere in there, I finished 'Under the Dome' by Stephen King. It was fun, if not too deep.

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Author Topic: What are you currently reading? (Read 67887 times)