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Author Topic: What are you currently reading?  (Read 478983 times)

Siibillam-Law

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #100 on: 18 Dec 2008, 13:26 »

People have been talking about me while I was away

It's Christmas now, and I got a month off as of tomorrow so hopefully I'll be reading loads more. Get American Gods outta the way, and maybe read BATTLE ROYALE (heart) once more.

I got a Divine Comedy I could read. Then I'll be all like "yeah I'm reading Dante"
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Jessidee

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #101 on: 18 Dec 2008, 21:06 »

currently reading the kite runner by khaled hosseini
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Nodaisho

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #102 on: 18 Dec 2008, 21:32 »

All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson. It's taking me a while, his books are usually rather slow reads, exception Mona Lisa Overdrive, and I haven't been reading much.
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celticgeek

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #103 on: 18 Dec 2008, 21:39 »

I am currently re-reading The Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukav.  I have read it before, but it is well worth the second reading.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #104 on: 19 Dec 2008, 08:46 »

The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman, a Professional Writer. It is funny as hell. After that probably a knee-high stack of comics anthologies. Plus Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie as my bedtime book, not because it's sleepy, but because short stories are good for bedtime reading.
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jimbunny

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #105 on: 20 Dec 2008, 12:23 »

I'm going on vacation, bringing a bunch of books along. Basically, a lot of finishing up things I've started, or have been lying around.

Cormac McCarthy, The Road
W.S. Merwin, Travels
Mervyn Peake, The Gormenghast Novels
Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night a traveler
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Aurjay

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #106 on: 20 Dec 2008, 16:42 »

Just Finished Moby Dick. It took me forever to read that book. Not that I didn't like it, but it was filled with absolutely everything I'd want to know about Whales, Whale Hunting, Whale Ships and so forth. I was expecting more of a Old Man and the Sea type book I guess.

So now for some light fare im reading Masterpieces of Mystery selected by Ellery Queen. By far my favorite collection of short stories.

If I ever work up the nerve again I will try and continue reading Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1890 Beautiful poetry that I just can't seem to get into.
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Dimmukane

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #107 on: 20 Dec 2008, 23:10 »

Moby Dick

I'm still reading this.  It's the only book I've had time to read in the last 4 months.
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #108 on: 21 Dec 2008, 09:22 »

Just Finished Moby Dick. It took me forever to read that book. Not that I didn't like it, but it was filled with absolutely everything I'd want to know about Whales, Whale Hunting, Whale Ships and so forth. I was expecting more of a Old Man and the Sea type book I guess.

Man, Melville and Hemingway are as different as can be. The Old Man and the Sea is waaaay too simplistic in plot and style to be anything Melville would have considered writing. Personally I think Moby Dick is one of the greatest things ever written in any language but that's just me.
My reading list has, thankfully, seriously decreased now that I'm on vacation from school. I'm reading right now:
2666 by Roberto Bolano
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

And that's it! It's a nice change of pace.
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Aurjay

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #109 on: 21 Dec 2008, 10:12 »

Just Finished Moby Dick. It took me forever to read that book. Not that I didn't like it, but it was filled with absolutely everything I'd want to know about Whales, Whale Hunting, Whale Ships and so forth. I was expecting more of a Old Man and the Sea type book I guess.

Man, Melville and Hemingway are as different as can be. The Old Man and the Sea is waaaay too simplistic in plot and style to be anything Melville would have considered writing. Personally I think Moby Dick is one of the greatest things ever written in any language but that's just me.

I agree with you on difference in style and simplicity. What I meant though about Old Man and the Sea is that the whole book was about him catching the fish while as Moby Dick he doesnt even see the whale till almost 500 pages into it. Just wasn't expecting to learn everything there was to learn about whaling. Again not to say I didn't enjoy it but seriously was not what I was expecting. 
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Joseph

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #110 on: 22 Dec 2008, 00:12 »

Working through Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov.  Easily one of my favourite writers, this memoir is as beautifully written as anything else of his I've read.  He certainly lead a fascinating life, and he captures it well.

Other than that, I've been reading a lot of comics.  DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume II, also by Alan Moore, are what I have on the go at the moment.

2666 by Roberto Bolano

I've heard quite good things about this, and Bolano in general.  Is there a particular book that you (or anyone else) would recommend starting with for him?  I've been meaning to pick up The Savage Detectives for a while.

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

I read the first book of this, City of Glass, and wasn't nearly as impressed as I thought I would be based on what I'd heard, though it certainly was an enjoyable read.  How do the other two books compare?
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #111 on: 22 Dec 2008, 07:30 »


2666 by Roberto Bolano

I've heard quite good things about this, and Bolano in general.  Is there a particular book that you (or anyone else) would recommend starting with for him?  I've been meaning to pick up The Savage Detectives for a while.

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

I read the first book of this, City of Glass, and wasn't nearly as impressed as I thought I would be based on what I'd heard, though it certainly was an enjoyable read.  How do the other two books compare?

In regards to Bolano: I'm am definitely firmly on board the Bolano hype wagon. I think the man's a genius and his writing immensely compelling. 2666 is actually absurdly good so far but it might not be the best one to start with. Just the size is a little daunting and he has a fairly particular style (very long sentences, the whole thing, thus far, is purely anecdotal and so on) that, if you're not really into, would get really frustrating. Still, although I'm not finished, I can't recommend it enough. As far as an introduction goes, however, it makes sense to start small. He's written several rather brief novellas. By Night in Chile is a 100-page rant by a dying priest who spent much of his life helping the Pinochet regime in some shadowy way. Distant Star is about a sky writining propagandist for the same regime. I still haven't read Amulet but I've heard good things. Anyway, all three of those are around 100-150 pages and all are probably good to start with, just as a way of becoming acquainted with Bolano's general approach to telling a story. I started with The Savage Detecttives and loved it so it's certainly not a bad place to start, it just isn't the easiest. He's also written some short stories and some fairly bizarre poetry that I recommend looking at if you like the novels.

As far as Auster goes: I think he's a really cool writer. Probably not as great as some make him out to be. He's not "the American writer of our time" or anything like that. In fact, as far as the list of great living American writers go, I don't think Auster would be on it (my list, for what it's worth, includes Pynchon, McCarthy, Delillo, Updike and a handful of others). I actually am only on the first book on The New York Trilogy and like it a lot, but I don't love it. I really love detective fiction in general (and so, as a matter of fact, does Bolano, and it often shows in his writing) so a weird, existentialist pulp approach to the genre is simply stylistically interesting for me to read. Long story short, I don't think I'll end up loving the book(s) but I do/will rather enjoy it for what it is.
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Aurjay

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #112 on: 22 Dec 2008, 09:04 »

Oh and another book I finished reading recently that truly changed my viewpoints was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Loved that book eventhough it kinda annoyed me that as soon as he went to Socialism all his troubles were soon gone.
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Joseph

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #113 on: 22 Dec 2008, 11:52 »

as far as the list of great living American writers go, I don't think Auster would be on it (my list, for what it's worth, includes Pynchon, McCarthy, Delillo, Updike and a handful of others)

Have you read any Philip Roth?  I would certainly put him above everyone on there, with the possible exception of Updike.  I've yet to be impressed with McCarthy, though I'll likely give The Road a spin soon.  I'd also say your list is quite lacking, in that it doesn't include any of America's wonderful female writers, who are easily the equals of those you've included.  Joyce Carol Oates and Marilynne Robinson are notable omissions, in my mind.
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #114 on: 22 Dec 2008, 14:50 »

Just a note: that is not my complete list in any sense. Roth would be on it as well, as would Joyce Carroll Oats and probably Joan Didion. John Ashbury, Robert Kelly and several others would be on there as well if we're including poets. I haven't read any Marilynne Robinson so I can't comment on her work. Maybe, if I get around to it, I'll put together a full list. Hopefully, if it happens, it'll be a bit less lacking than the very abbreviated one above
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Joseph

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #115 on: 22 Dec 2008, 23:53 »

I figured it wasn't the complete list, what with the "handful of others" bit.  I was just trying to see what else might've been up there.  I really love hearing what other people enjoy to read.
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TheFuriousWombat

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #116 on: 23 Dec 2008, 07:42 »

Oh me too! I guess "handful" is a fairly vague term. Of course, if these are my picks for "the best" than it can't be too long since any such list aught to be fairly short. Anyway, my list would look something like this (although, come to think of it, this is more a list of "great" living American writers, not the "greatest" living American writers to me):
Philip Roth
Don Delillo
Thomas Pynchon
Cormac McCarthy
John Updike
Joan Didion
Joyce Carroll Oats
Toni Morrison
Mary Caponegro
Emily Barton
Francine Prose
Michael Chabon
Jonathan Franzen
Tom Wolfe
Bradford Morrow

I'm sure the list would go on if I thought about it more. These are just writers of fiction, no poets of essayists included. Um....yeah. Your comment made me think of more women authors that I like and there are certainly a bunch (more than I thought there would be, to be honest). Anyway, this is my list of "great" living American authors. If I had to pick a top 5, however, it would still be something like:
Roth
Updike
Pynchon
McCarthy
Delillo
Fairly standard, I know, but these guys are revered for a reason.
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TimA

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #117 on: 23 Dec 2008, 11:55 »

I'm behind the curve, but I just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Good fun, and a great read. I'm delaying reading anything else, to give that one a chance to get out of my system. Just enjoying the afterglow for now.
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jimbunny

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #118 on: 23 Dec 2008, 22:33 »

I was a little let down by The Road. Parts of it were brilliant, but if you've read a bit from the "postapocalyptic" genre (e.g. The Stand) there's not much new here, save for some quality writing. I don't regret reading it at all, though, and it goes quickly.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #119 on: 25 Dec 2008, 16:26 »

Finished Breakfast At Tiffany's by Truman Capote, and I'm currently reading The Joke by Milan Kundera. Way too good.
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MrSteevo

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #120 on: 25 Dec 2008, 23:58 »

I just finished the Book "Atlas Shrugged". Now will look into a different Philosophy with "War and Peace" (which I hope isn't as boring as my friend said)
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Joseph

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #121 on: 26 Dec 2008, 00:30 »

War and Peace is excellent.  If you can make it through a chapter of Ayn Rand, I can't see it being a problem for you.  Seriously.  Which translations are you going to read?

Yesterday I read The Breast by Philip Roth, which was absolutely hilarious.  Very self-consciously Kafka/Gogol-esque, it's an absurd little book.  Engaging and short enough to read in one sitting, I highly recommend it, though it's still quite far from my favourite Roth.

Began Jealousy by Alain Robbe-Grillet.  It's really interesting so far, a novel written to evoke film-like imagery.  Before now I'd only read about Grillet, who originally came to my attention due to reading Nabokov mention him repeatedly in interviews.  Going to try to finish it up before I go to bed, as it is quite short.
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NeverQuiteGoth

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #122 on: 29 Dec 2008, 22:23 »

... The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Good fun, and a great read. I'm delaying reading anything else, to give that one a chance to get out of my system. Just enjoying the afterglow for now.

OMG /agree
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #123 on: 30 Dec 2008, 19:47 »

I'm currently reading The Joke by Milan Kundera. Way too good.

Holy crap Kundera is awesome. I just finished the joke a few days ago. Has anyone here read The Art of the Novel? best book about writing I've read.

Right now the only thing  have access to in english is Razor Wire Pubic Hair/i], by Carlton Mellick, and it's not nearly as good as his other stuff so far. Anyone else here into Bizarro fiction?
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Ikrik

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #124 on: 30 Dec 2008, 21:44 »

Working on Moby Dick

Hyperion

and Thirst for Love

First is by Melville...second is by....I don't know but I almost want to say it's Dan Simmons and the third is by something Mishima...damnit, all my books are in boxes or are two far away.
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NeverQuiteGoth

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #125 on: 31 Dec 2008, 01:29 »

I'm just finishing The First Half of the Book of the New Sun. Weird stuff.
I'm planning to read a book called Luthiel's Song next.

Woot for obscureness. :roll:
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Josefbugman

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #126 on: 31 Dec 2008, 01:51 »

At the moment, reading "nation" by terry Prachett (soon to be SIR terry Prachett)

"Zombie survival guide"

and "The man who ate bluebottles: and other Great British Eccentrics"

When I go back to uni its going to be medieval stuff and a large amount of victorian reading as well :-)
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Katherine

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #127 on: 31 Dec 2008, 08:11 »

I am currently reading the Wiley CPA Exam Review 2008: Business Environments and Concepts.  Its, uh, awesome.  Great plot line and such.
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kaitco

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #128 on: 31 Dec 2008, 09:06 »

I am currently reading the Wiley CPA Exam Review 2008: Business Environments and Concepts.  Its, uh, awesome.  Great plot line and such.
It sounds riveting.

I am currently re-reading Stephen King's The Stand again. I read my mother's copy of the original version when I was twelve, and I remember loving it, but it took close to eight months for me to read so much of it is a blur. It just makes re-reading the uncut version all the more interesting because of the many "Oh yeah...I forgot about that." moments.

Also reading, Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and re-reading Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. I had started reading Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment at the gutenberg.org, but I know it is going to require my full attention, so I have tabled it until after The Stand. If mangas count, I am reading Bleach Volume 4, too.

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TMac91

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #129 on: 31 Dec 2008, 09:30 »

I've got "Child of a Dead God" by Barb and J.C. Hendee
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Blyss

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #130 on: 01 Jan 2009, 12:18 »

How to Kill - the complete history of assassination, and The Lucifer Effect.

 8-)
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vollmond

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #131 on: 01 Jan 2009, 16:37 »

Working on Moby Dick

Hyperion

and Thirst for Love

First is by Melville...second is by....I don't know but I almost want to say it's Dan Simmons and the third is by something Mishima...damnit, all my books are in boxes or are two far away.

Yeah, Hyperion is Dan Simmons. Absolutely one of my favorite books ever :-)

I just finished the Fark book. My wife gave me a copy of Snow Crash for Christmas, and once I finish that World War Z is glaring at me...
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Fishboy

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #132 on: 01 Jan 2009, 17:18 »

I just finished the Book "Atlas Shrugged".

You are a different man than I, I could never stand Rand. War and peace however, hopefully you will enjoy, I adored it.

I am currently flicking through a collection of Chekhov's stories, an anthology of Ginsburgs work (not the complete one, I could not afford that), and am just about to begin reading Midnights Children, on recommendation from my sister. I just having finished Huxley's The Doors of Perception/Heaven and Hell and Trotsky's The Russian Revolution for the umpteenth thousandth time.
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Surgoshan

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #133 on: 01 Jan 2009, 17:49 »

Chekhov is great.

Nuclear Wessels?
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Fishboy

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #134 on: 01 Jan 2009, 23:39 »

Chekhov is great.

I echo your assertions, Chekhov is brilliant. I am actually learning Russian at the moment so I anticipate the day when I can read it as it was intended.
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Vendetagainst

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #135 on: 02 Jan 2009, 13:22 »

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

<3

I can never remember the rules for underlining, quotations, and italicizing
« Last Edit: 02 Jan 2009, 13:33 by Vendetagainst »
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Tom

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #136 on: 02 Jan 2009, 13:30 »

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, I only just started it and it's taking a while to actually get into the book.

Also, maybe it's just me but it's bugging me slightly that people are forgetting to put the names/titles of novels in italics.
« Last Edit: 02 Jan 2009, 13:31 by Tom »
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vollmond

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #137 on: 02 Jan 2009, 13:49 »

Also, maybe it's just me but it's bugging me slightly that people are forgetting to put the names/titles of novels in italics.

You're not the only one. :-)
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The Voice

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #138 on: 03 Jan 2009, 18:23 »

The Zombie Survival Guide  by Max Brooks
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Three Case Histories by Freud
Ghosts/Aliens by Trey Hamburger

For some reason I can not read just one book at a time.
« Last Edit: 04 Jan 2009, 00:51 by The Voice »
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TMac91

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #139 on: 03 Jan 2009, 18:58 »

Kitty and the Midnight House - Carrie Vaughn
I may get I Am The Messenger by.. I forgot..
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #140 on: 03 Jan 2009, 20:11 »

Kitty and the Midnight House - Carrie Vaughn
I may get I Am The Messenger by.. I forgot..
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Three Case Histories by Freud
Ghosts/Aliens by Trey Hamburger

Grrrr
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #141 on: 04 Jan 2009, 22:34 »

I'm currently reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. To be honest, I've always confused it with Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, and I never found any of them appealing enough to bother distinguishing them in my mind, much less read them. I only decided to read this because supposedly my dad named me Cathy/Catherine after the character in the book.

Now I'm less than halfway through. I am trying to do a 'blind' reading of it, in that I didn't read up anything about it beforehand, so my impressions are probably going to sound dumb. I find the narrator presumptuous and patronizing. The domestic setting is bleak and the relationships are painful to read about. I didn't expect it to be so intense and awful, actually, but it's a welcome surprise.

I'm very ambivalent about Catherine. She's so manipulative, and typically I can't help feeling a little envious in response to what I perceive as that girl, who is attractive and powerful because of it. But it might be a false othering on my part - I still haven't decided, because part of me still believes it's a true distinction. In any case her manipulation is motivated by a real desperation so I end up feeling sympathy for her despite my own petty hangups.

I'll see if I change my mind when I'm through.

I'm honestly so glad to be on break from being a student because I finally get to read. It's dumb, probably, but I'm reluctant to go into academia because I feel like I won't have time to read the books and watch the films I want to.

After this I'm probably going to read A Better Angel, short stories by Chris Adrian. Then I have some Truman Capote and Steinbeck. There's just so much I haven't read, and I feel so slow! I hope I can just get through this pile of books, small as it is, before class starts again.
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E. Spaceman

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #142 on: 04 Jan 2009, 22:55 »

I just picked up In Search of Lost Time by Proust again. They are one of my favourite (maybe my favourite) series of novels. I will attempt to not read other books to not get distracted. I should have finished by August i hope.
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Puki

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #143 on: 05 Jan 2009, 03:12 »

Olympos - Dan Simmons
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #144 on: 05 Jan 2009, 06:11 »

Following discussions earlier in this thread, I'm reading No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym. I regret to say that about a hundred pages in, I'm not really enjoying it all that much. I find the characters rather irritating, and the plot rather overly reliant on coincidence. But I'll finish it, and I've got Excellent Women by her too so I'll give that a go, before I dismiss her entirely.
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Cicero

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #145 on: 05 Jan 2009, 06:40 »

A turn of the century (20th) book in German on World History.    Has that damn crazy type.   It's like trying to read monkey spit.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #146 on: 05 Jan 2009, 15:04 »

Hyperion

ohmygod ohmygod please let me know when you've finished all four books because i desperately want someone to talk with about how amazing those books are. i never thought science fiction could change my life, but those books did. also, if you like Dan Simmons i highly recommend his newest The Terror. it's fantastic. be warned, though, that it's not science fiction it's actually the exact opposite: historical fiction. really great book though.


oh and to stay on topic: i just started reading Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. i love me some Vonnegut.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #147 on: 05 Jan 2009, 21:31 »

His Excellency, George Washington by Joseph Ellis. It's really interesting for people who want to know the man behind the myth.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #148 on: 06 Jan 2009, 13:35 »

Just finished Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar. Funny and enlightening.

Before that I read Apathy and Paying Rent by Zach VandeZande. He used to draw Animals Have Problems Too, but stopped it a year-plus-ish ago. The book was decent. Written in a weird way - the author talks to the reader - and the ending was disappointing, but altogether a decent book.

I have The Gone-Away World on my bookshelf, plus four books on ethics and leadership but haven't opened any of them yet.
« Last Edit: 09 Jan 2009, 13:51 by mberan42 »
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n0tj3sus

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #149 on: 06 Jan 2009, 17:05 »

everything is illuminated by jonathan safran foer
catch 2 by joseph heller
if you havent read either of these books, do it.
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