Topic: Currently Reading What (Read 20202 times)

elcapitan · « **on:** 23 Sep 2005, 23:50 »

I know there's another one of these threads further down, but I figured we should start from a clean slate.

So. What are you reading at the moment? Tell us about it - good, bad, godawful, amazing? Recommended?

To start, I'm currently reading:

The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon. It's a LOT more accessible than Gravity's Rainbow was, and a shedload shorter too. Darkly funny and extraordinarily intriguing. Recommended to everyone who wants to (or has) read Gravity's Rainbow and wants to see what Pynchon can be like in a slightly easier form.

Olympos, by Dan Simmons. This one's the sequel to Ilium, and it's shaping up to be awesome. Since the storyline clash at the end of Ilium borked the Iliad storyline's semi-predetermined nature, all bets are off and Simmons is doing whatever the hell he likes with his characters. Achilles and Hector joining forces and besieging Olympos? Hells yeah! Recommended to anyone who likes good sci-fi and who has read Ilium.

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I'm not sure about this one yet. It's certainly well-written and engaging, but I haven't got enough into to really understand any of the characters yet. I'll see.

Mnementh · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 00:10 »

Thud! by Pratchett
MATLAB® Primer 7th ed.

elcapitan · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 00:15 »

Thanks Mnem, that reminds me:

Principles of Concurrent and Distributed Programming, M. Ben-Ari.
Logic and Discrete Mathematics: A Computer Science Perspective, Grassman and Tremblay.
Software Design, Braude.
Analysis 1 Honours brick, by some random lecturer at ANU.

Not recommended. Hard, boring, boring, and mind-bending respectively.

mooface · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 05:39 »

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde.

If the man wasn't gay and dead, I would totally have his babies.

1patheticloser · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 08:09 »

I just finished Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I have Stardust by Neil Gaiman next on my list. It sitting right there...just waiting....waiting to be lovingly opened and devoured.

KaosPilot · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 08:30 »

'The Spirit Level' by Seamus Heaney. It's for my coursework (for once i will be AHEAD on the reading), but since he's one of my favourite poets anyway I'm absolutely loving it. Although when I'm reading poems for the first time I like to whisper them aloud....anyone else do this?

Stifled Dreams · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 08:34 »

'The Naked Sun' by Isaac Asimov and 'Of Mice and Men' by Steinbeck. The former is a really old copy my dad found that used to be his, and I like reading his old books. The latter is for school.

Tedd · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 08:36 »

Well, right now I'm reading a few books:

Resident Evil 1 and 2
PHP and MYSQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Andy Harris (Quite a useful book for old hands at PHP or beginners, comes with a good disk for help)
A Catcher in the Rye (for about the fiftieth time) by J.D. Salinger.

And finally, the worst book in existence, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. I hate this book so much.

Eldirial · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 08:55 »

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1592400876/qid=1127577281/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6996602-0028024?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

It's easier to link to it than explain, really. Interesting book.

Martin · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 09:02 »

Currently I'm reading two books.

Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis and a book from the norwegian Erlend Loe called Doppler. Franz Kafka is just weird, but great. Erlend Loe is also.

Sythe · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 10:13 »

Pattern Recognition - William Gibson
Forums are scary!

salada · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 16:32 »

woo! i'm reading william gibson's idoru at the moment. and also glue by irvine walsh.

well, truth be told i'm not reading either of them, since i'm crazy buried with work at the moment.

Simulacra · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Sep 2005, 22:52 »

excellent choice on the Gibson piece Salada.

I'm almost finished with "Burning Chrome", also by William Gibson, making "The Difference Engine" and "Virtual Light" the only two books of his i don't own yet. This one is a collection of short stories from much earlier in his writing career. It's kinda fun to look through the short stories and pick out some of the archetypes he uses in his later books.

liberation_party · « **Reply #13 on:** 25 Sep 2005, 18:47 »

I'm currently reading The Decameron (or, more accurately, its introduction with the intention of THEN reading The Decameron), which thus far looks to be a collection of literary porn. Honestly, why must every commentator focus solely on the most controversial aspects of a text in place a round analysis of multiple facets? I'll EVENTUALLY get to the book itself. I doubt each and every story is a censored pit of vice.

I'm also plodding through Plato's Republic, skimming over key sections of Aquinas' Summa Theologica (damned logician-theologian), and have just finished The Odyssey. I've got bookmarks in a dozen more books I don't have proper time to READ, including Dune Messiah, The Tempest, The Care and Feeding of Books Old and New, On the Subjection of Women, The Name of the Rose, Walden, More About Paddington, Notes From Underground, Watership Down, and By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept.

liberation_party · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Sep 2005, 18:51 »

Quote from: KaosPilot

Although when I'm reading poems for the first time I like to whisper them aloud....anyone else do this?

Always, dear girl. Always. Poetry is meant to be read aloud. I just wish I could recognize this when I'm writing.

Inlander · « **Reply #15 on:** 25 Sep 2005, 19:55 »

Absolutely. If you don't want to read a poem out loud, at the very least you must mouth the words. Savour them, like you would a fine wine.

Anyway, due to financial restrictions I'm finally catching up on all the books I've had sitting on my bookshelf for the last 10 years, which means right now I'm reading The Bird Artist by Howard Norman. It's okay, but it's not nearly as good as the quotes on the cover would have you believe: a lot of the dialogue in particular is horribly clunky and unrealistic.

Before that, I read Waxwings by Jonathan Raban, which was absolutely fantastic. Not flawless, certainly, but it definitely made me want to seek out more of his books.

In between, I'm trying to read my own damn awful handwriting.

Eldirial · « **Reply #16 on:** 25 Sep 2005, 20:55 »

For reading- I've just written a paper for my American Lit class on some of the poems of Stephen Crane (Best known for writing The Red Badge of Courage) and I must say... this guy had some very, very interesting poetry- the kind which holds true when you read it a hundred years after he wrote it, and I am sure longer.

Never even knew this guy had written poetry... X.x

I need to read more, and I allready read so much!

est · « **Reply #17 on:** 25 Sep 2005, 21:15 »

just finished reading A Storm of Swords - book 3 of the Song of Ice & Fire series by George R R Martin. it was super happy awesome. Fantasy that reads kinda like European history. pretty cool!

i am halfway through a couple of philosophy books that i can't remember the titles of. i pick them up every now and then and read a few chapters. i find that they turn my brain to mush if i try to read them like a novel.

started on "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter S. Thompson this morning. it's a really recent release too, as it talks about his suicide and so forth.

Stranger Dan · « **Reply #18 on:** 25 Sep 2005, 21:36 »

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish: Yeah this will be the third Hitchhiker's Guide book I read this year. So much for variety.
I just finish the sixth Harry Potter. I thought that it was pretty good but I swear these kids get dumber every year.

Simulacra · « **Reply #19 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 00:56 »

okay, just finished "Burning Chrome" and next is a toss up between "Wolves of the Calla" by Stephen King or St. Augustines "Confessions" help me out kids, do I want mindless pulp fiction fluff or a mental exercise in theological speculation?

edit: I think I might have just broken the English language

Abattur · « **Reply #20 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 02:24 »

The complete guide to coffee.

Coffee.. Mmmm...

elcapitan · « **Reply #21 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 04:52 »

Quote from: Simulacra

I'm almost finished with "Burning Chrome", also by William Gibson, making "The Difference Engine" and "Virtual Light" the only two books of his i don't own yet. This one is a collection of short stories from much earlier in his writing career. It's kinda fun to look through the short stories and pick out some of the archetypes he uses in his later books.

I like most of Burning Chrome, and I love some of it. In particular I'm a fan of the story The Winter Market - I think it's a brilliant example of how to write humanist cyberpunk.

The Difference Engine is well worth it, although it's... different to the rest of Gibson's work. Haven't read Virtual Light.

mrjjbobo · « **Reply #22 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 08:21 »

I'm reading Giri by Marc Olden... it's pretty much the most offensive litterature i've ever read. I play a game called "open up to any page and be disgusted". It's trashy and I picked it up from a girage sale but still... it has action and drama and a butt load about Japanese culture (even if some of it is a tad distorted).

Not the best peice of litterature nor my proudest to have read, but still worth a read if you have nothing better.

Also just finished Fight Club by Chuck Pahlinuk (probobly butchered the spelling). It makes the movie make a lot more sense. I got the whole split personality schtick (I don't see how some people were confused by it) but it really makes you understand the motivation Tyler had for doing what he did better (this is assuming that people reading this have watched and/or read Fight Club before). Also very different from the movie

1patheticloser · « **Reply #23 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 08:24 »

THANKS ALOT YOU JERK FOR RUINING THE MOVIE!

kidding

xravenx · « **Reply #24 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 08:49 »

I just started Hitchhikers Guide.

happybirthdaygelatin · « **Reply #25 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 09:36 »

Ghengis Khan and The Making of the Modern World.

Eldirial · « **Reply #26 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 11:09 »

Quote from: Simulacra

okay, just finished "Burning Chrome" and next is a toss up between "Wolves of the Calla" by Stephen King or St. Augustines "Confessions" help me out kids, do I want mindless pulp fiction fluff or a mental exercise in theological speculation?

edit: I think I might have just broken the English language

I vote for Wolves of the Calla, assuming you haven't finished that whole series- I rather enjoyed the ending, so I would have to point you in the direection of reading the rest.

lordjim · « **Reply #27 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 11:59 »

Simulacra: I'll suggest Wolves of the Calla, assuming you have read the previous 4 books in the series. If not then it will suck. Also if you like the gunslinger "world/mythos/whatever" check out http://www.thedarktower.net. This would be handy too: http://www.thedarktower.net/connections/roadmap

I just finished Fight Club yesterday. mrjjbobo is pretty spot on with his statement. If you watched the movie then it should be required to read the book. Though the ending did throw me a little.

Just started Stephen King's It this morning. I'm on a big King kick right now. Picked up several hardbacks in great shape for $3 a pop. I'm so happy, I do the dance of joy!

Praeserpium Machinarum · « **Reply #28 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 13:48 »

I am reading Oriana Fallaci - A Man, which is the size of a brick and written really close-knitted, and she writes dialog like this hey-my-name-is-Oriana. I am intrigued

And I am also about to embark on a childrens book called The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbøl. It's supposed to be good... Just finished The Earth and The Heavens by Ebbe Kløvedal(the equivalent of Rivendell in english, he took name after the 70' community he lived in. Lucky for him, he did it after they changed the name from Maos Lyst(Mao's Lust/Craving) Reich.
It was good, it was mostly about the city Alexandria, where a filosopher called Hypatia was killed and her image of the city was created and called Hypathea and so on, it's a bit complicated.

Switchblade · « **Reply #29 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 14:16 »

I'm stuck in the middle of about five or six series at the moment. these being the ones I'm still reading (all at the same time! Aren't I a clever clogs?!)

Revelation Space
The Reality Dysfunction
The Saga of the Seven Suns
The Commonwealth Saga
The Ethos Effect
The "Culture" series

shrimp · « **Reply #30 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 16:41 »

I am reading Orcs- which is an omibus by Stan Nicholls and I'm attempting to read a book Negative Creep sent me... regenroman which is tough going as its in german and my german is mediocre at best but the story is pretty damn compelling.. or at least it will be once I get to read the translated version I appear to be writing!

pip_helix · « **Reply #31 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 16:50 »

art [objects] by jeanette winterson. i need it for class, but it's sooooooooooo good. love it.

FreshJive787 · « **Reply #32 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 18:59 »

the book of illusions.

JLM · « **Reply #33 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 21:53 »

Brutal Imagination by Cornelius Eady.

Jed · « **Reply #34 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 22:42 »

Wild Swans - Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

Dara · « **Reply #35 on:** 26 Sep 2005, 23:10 »

Just finished Eliot Perlman's (sp) "Seven Types of Ambiguity" and I didn't like it much. I like what he did - told an ongoing story from seven points of view that overlap and show deep rifts between how people experience similar traumatic events and explain their existences. But the characters all seemed written in the same voice, and the coincidences in the story were too unbelievable. I felt a bit suckered in by the drama and despair that kept me wanting to know how it ended. Needless to say I didn't like how it ended...

spoilers below:

It seemed like the literary-minded scholar/teacher type, despite arguably being the most unlikeable character, had everything go right for him in the end - at the expense of every other character. Perlman presents human interconnectivity in a very negative light. Actually he presents almost everything in a very negative light. I wanted to finish this book because a couple people I know have read it and I wanted to talk about it with them, and I can't resist a breathtaking story. The way he constructed the narrative was good, but I just didn't like his writing.

Cpt.Fantastic · « **Reply #36 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 10:55 »

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi - about the Charles Manson Family murders, as if you didn't already know.

On The Road by Jack Kerouac - for about the 6th time, my favourite book.

StrikeThePostman · « **Reply #37 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 17:31 »

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

It's one of those books my mom gave me to read - I've only gotten a few pages in, but I think I'll like it.

practicality · « **Reply #38 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:11 »

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. I probably won't finish it for a long time due to school.

dessa · « **Reply #39 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:55 »

la terre by emile zola (its written in french so its taking ages to read properly)
beyond good and evil by nietzche

1patheticloser · « **Reply #40 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:59 »

Quote from: practicality

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. I probably won't finish it for a long time due to school.

Hot. I condone this activity with all I can condone....something....

Condone.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #41 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 19:59 »

buddha and the terrorist by Satish Kumar

Simulacra · « **Reply #42 on:** 27 Sep 2005, 22:45 »

Quote from: Jed

Wild Swans - Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

that was a damn good book. very informative and personal at the same time.

shrimp · « **Reply #43 on:** 28 Sep 2005, 11:10 »

Yeah I read wild swans too, it was my big sisters attempt at making me more cultured, it was a good book though, bloody massive but I read it in like 3 days and reread it twice.

keyoung · « **Reply #44 on:** 17 Oct 2005, 14:07 »

Quote

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde.
If the man wasn't gay and dead, I would totally have his babies.

I will fight you for the honor of having gay-dead-Mr.Wilde's babies. I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray last week and am already contemplating re-reading it (it was my first Wilde read). SO GOOD. I think I'm gonna have to buy his complete works next.
Currently reading Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter. It's a very quick read. Good too.

Inlander · « **Reply #45 on:** 17 Oct 2005, 16:02 »

I'm currently (re-)reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jermoe. Funniest Book Ever.

Tinjessla · « **Reply #46 on:** 17 Oct 2005, 16:21 »

I'm reading 'Nobody Nowhere' by Donna Williams. The author is autistic and the book generally just tells her story of growing up and the experiences she encountered. I wasn't expecting much but i've been pleasantly suprised so far. It's very insightful.

Lunchbox · « **Reply #47 on:** 17 Oct 2005, 21:08 »

Faye's gom jabbar reference a while back got me started reading Dune again.
My boyfriend has an entire shelf full of Dune books, so I should be going for a while.

SuperPablo13 · « **Reply #48 on:** 17 Oct 2005, 21:21 »

I am currently reading The Physics of Superheroes. It's pretty interesting, but right now it's hard to read. I'm in the middle of semester, reading about 20 other books for research and a book about physics isn't really what I look forward to when I have some free time. Other than that I'm just reading normal comic books.

noise_wave · « **Reply #49 on:** 17 Oct 2005, 21:42 »

ULYSSES by James Joyce
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster

All of these, so far, are pretty good. I am almost finished Ulysses, which is by far the best out of the four. I am finding it really difficult to really get into The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. *sighs* Though I know that I will finish it, because I find it impossible to start a book and not finish it.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Currently Reading What (Read 20202 times)

Mnementh

mooface

1patheticloser

Stifled Dreams

Tedd

Eldirial

Martin

Simulacra

liberation_party

liberation_party

Eldirial

Simulacra

mrjjbobo

1patheticloser

xravenx

Eldirial

lordjim

Praeserpium Machinarum

shrimp

pip_helix

Dara

Cpt.Fantastic

StrikeThePostman

practicality

dessa

1patheticloser

Simulacra

shrimp

Tinjessla

SuperPablo13

noise_wave