What are you reading now?
 

I didn't see any book threads, go ahead and close if I missed an existing one.

So reading people: What are you reading now, or what are the last few books you've read? Would you recommend them? I'm always looking for new things to read so go ahead and recommend us books you've read in the past as well.

Currently reading:

Buddhism Plain and Simple, Stephen Hagan
The World As Will and Representation, Schopenhauer

Last few books I've read:

The Story of B, Daniel Quinn
The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser

Bought and unread yet:

Memoirs of a Geisha
The World's Religions
The DaVinci Code (now that the bandwagoning is over everyone says this is crap so I'm holding out...didn't see the movie either)

I don't always read so much pseudointellectual faggoty stuff, I'm just feeling introspective lately. I would definitely recommend The Story of B, as well as Daniel Quinn's other books - one of my favorite authors. I also highly recommend The Elegant Universe. Skip Fast Food Nation, parts were interesting but most of it was very dull.

Last book I read was Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind. After I read it and before I picked up the next book in the series (off my desk, I got Faith and the following book last Christmas) I went to amazon.com and read some of the reviews for it and the ones following. It seems he gets more and more preachy and has less and less of the storytelling that put his books on bestseller lists. So I'm hesitant to continue reading because I don't want the series I've been enjoying to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Other things I've been reading off and on:
Nothing in This Book Is True, but It's Exactly How Things Are by Bob Frissell
Everything You Know Is Wrong
The Alphabet of Manliness
Mythology and You
The Odyssey

Right now I'm reading The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway and Song of Susannah (Dark Tower VI) by Stephen King. Both of them humgonous hard-cover editions from the library, too. I had to keep switching hands when I was carrying them home.

The Hemingway stories are incredible, my favorites so far are "The Short Happy Life of Francis McComber" on the longer side and "Hills Like White Elephants" on the shorter side. What I really love is how at the beginning they may not make much sense or seem to have a point, but by the end it becomes very clear. This is probably a naive realization on my part, but I haven't read many short stories until recently.

Song of Susannah is, as all the Dark Tower books have been for me, a real page-turner. It's somewhat thick, but I've blasted through more than half of it in only a few days. Probably the most notable thing about the book, though, is that King has the balls to use himself as a character in it. It's fantastically self-indulgent, but I think he pulled it off really well, and it's been appropriately built up to.

Well I haven't actually received the book yet but I will be reading "A Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood I think the author is for my English class over the summer. I've already read the first few chapters in class and it seems interesting enough. I started reading Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" on holiday last year but I never did finish it, I read loads when i'm on holiday but when i'm at home I just never get round to reading.

Actually, there's already a book thread here.

Good. Don't see the movie. Just read the book. It's not the most historically accurate piece ever written, but it sure is entertaining.

Excellent! I just gave that book to my daughter to take with her on a trip to Texas. Just yesterday, in fact.

Oh, and pissy...Memoirs of a Geisha is unbelievable.

I just finished reading In Her Shoes, which is about as unpretentious as it gets. Not the sort of book I usually read, but it was surprisingly good.

Memoirs of a Geisha was fantastic! It's too bad that the film is a piece of shit.

I'm currently reading a bunch of comic books...

Right now, I'm slowly moving through The Fabric of Our Cosmos by Brian Greene. Fjordor sent it to me and it's fascinating stuff. (Fjordor's not a bad guy, folks.)


I'm in the middle of Ethics for a New Millenium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as well.

In lighter fare, I've been meaning to finish off Reaper Man, by Terry Pratchett so that I can begin Dreamland Piranha, by Dale Brown. Moon sent me that last book in the Box Exchange project, so I had ought to at least give it a shot.

A short while ago, at Skexis's recommendation, I read Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz, and was surprisingly pleased.

I've also been thinking of hitting up the library for Haven (I don't know who wrote it) and some Machiavelli theory.

I'm currently binging on science fiction, hence having finished both The Mote In God's Eye and The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I just started reading Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds last night, which is proving much better than it's predecessor in the series.

Once done with this, I'll likely start reading some more books on social commentary or politics that I've been putting off.

That's one of my favorite Discworld novels; of course, all the ones with DEATH are my favorites :).

I've really slacked off with my reading. It embarasses me, because I have a backlog of about 175 novels to slog through at some point in my life. And to make things worse, I'm re-reading one I've already read! Damn me.

- Faust:: Johann von Goethe
Yeah, I've read it before. But this is a 'new' (not really -- it's an old used book) translation in verse that supposedly retains most of the rhythm and meaning of the original German. And it has nifty illustrations by Harry Clarke, in a handsome cloth binding. It's a 'good' copy, which is why I bought it to supplant my crappy paperback.

- The Devil in Music:: Kate Ross
Bought it for the romantic mystery plot with a strong emphasis on opera. I didn't know it was part of a 'series' (you know, the kind of series that mystery books have, where it doesn't necessarily follow a set order), but it's too late now. I've only read a little bit, so I don't really have an opinion yet.

-So Long and Thanks for all the Fish:: Douglas Adams
Do I really need to say anything about it? I mean, it's Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's witty and brilliant. Yeah. Only have one more chapter on this one. It's unfortunate that I hear Neil Hannon singing every single time I think of the title.

I'm currently reading Shadowmancer by Graham Taylor. It's a little confusing and fairly complex, but I'm doing a decent job of keeping up.

I recently checked out two books from the library, which I will get to after I finish the one. I forget their names right now.

That one happens to be my least favorite of the five-book trilogy. It's not as funny as the rest and doesn't really explain itself. The explanation for how the events in that book can occur isn't given until the next book. Needless to say, I was rather confused as I read it. At one point, I just had to accept that it wasn't going to be explained and just enjoy it as it is...

Well, I really should start from the first book. My experience of the series has been an amalgam of sources: I saw the BBC mini-series and the US movie, then my friend dictated half of the first three books to me, and I discovered that I had bought this book a long time ago because it was .25 at the library. Since So Long... is the only actual book of The Guide that I have, I figured I'd give it a go.

I don't mind it, really. I think it's pretty good (especially the American express thing), but I agree about the explanations kind of...erm...lacking. Someday I'll read the others, but at the moment I don't think I need more books :(.

I think I tend to like factbooks more than actual novels, so I finished reading
Native Tongues some time ago, which a bargain hardcover that states
all sorts of intriguing linguistic facts that many people come to false
conclusions over (eg. USA has no official language).

Right now I'm on Chapter 31 - Holidays, Festivals & Celebrations, of the
Ripley's Believe It or Not! Encyclopedia of the Bizarre, so I'm not even
halfway through this other bargain hardcover featuring a storehouse of random
facts.

I would like to eventually read Memoirs of A Geisha considering how the movie is one of my top three favourites ever, and I heard that the two are somewhat different.

This is the same guy that wrote The Elegant Universe! So, I think I should probably read this at some point.

I've never read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I keep forgetting it even exists. And for the Memoirs of a Geisha fans, it's coming soon. I'm just backlogged, I buy a ton of books over a 6 month period and then read them all at once during a couple book binges yearly.

"Rising Sun" by Michael Crichton. I got his whole collection a couple weeks back for five bucks, so I'm working my way through them. Fourth book so far, 69 pages in. Very weeaboo.

In my spare time I am reading The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. It's the book that the movie Gettysburg is based from. I have about 130 pages left and it's been great.

Right now I'm reading The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima. Seven year after writing this novel, the author barricaded himself in government offices and he and a friend committed ritual suicide. A pretty interesting fellow. The book, curiously enough, was made into a film in the mid-seventies starring Kris Kristofferson.

Well, right now, I just got started on Vector Prime. Its a book in the Star Wars universe, following Return of the Jedi. Its part of The New Jedi Order books. Yes, I am indeed a nerd.

The last book I read was Deception Point by Dan Brown. I though it was pretty good.

Right now I"m reading Shōgun by James Clavell.

Already Dead: A California Gothic by Denis Johnson. This is the same author who wrote the book that the movie Jesus' Son was adapted from. I think I love that movie. This book is pretty good, so far. I'm not very far into it, but already I can say that the prose is consistently ... I don't know. The descriptions are unique, even odd and perverse, but very endearing and funny. Romantic, I guess, but strangely so. I don't know how great the plot turns out, but so far it's off to a tight, compelling start. I think the characters are all somewhat altered by drugs, either presently or in the past, and I get the impression the same can be said about the author. There's that sort of wonderful, out-of-touch-with-reality quality of a stoner conversation, but the story still seems very well planned out.

Oh, what's it actually about? Well, so far there's a guy who's being chased by a couple thugs hired by a drug dealer to whom he owes money from a trafficking run gone wrong. He's cheating on his wife and growing pot in a secluded canyon. There's also this ex-soldier guy who visits his schizophrenic (I think) military buddy to let him know that he'll die very soon. These two guys' lives collide. There are other characters who are all equally intriguing, but I don't yet know how they fit in.

The last book I read was...

Johnny Got His Gun

I've been reading 1984, but I haven't finished it yet. Oh! And I read a smidge of A Scanner Darkly, but I had to take it back to the library before it was done. =(

I tend to pick up books, read a few chapters and then get bored with them. The book has to be really great for me to read the entire thing.

Right now I'm reading 24 Declassified: Veto Power by John Whitman. For a book based on a TV series, it's not that bad, and for 24 fans, it's a pretty good read.

It takes place about a year after the first book in the series, 24 Declassified: Operation Hell Gate, which was the last book I read before this one. So far, I still like the first one better, as it had a better story (Hell Gate more or less focused mainly on Jack Bauer and was more action-oriented, while Veto Power focuses on multiple characters and has a more political-oriented plot), a better use of the 24 characters (Hell Gate used just about everyone that appeared in CTU during season 1 (Jack, Nina, Tony, Jamie, Milo, Mason, Chappelle, and Richard Walsh were all used) while so far Veto Power has only used Jack, Nina, Chappelle, Walsh, and Paulson (who was just a minor character on the show, as he is here), and a better writing style (the books have different authors, as Operation Hell Gate was written by Marc Cerasini).

I read Angels & Demons and enjoyed it very much. However, I read probably up to Chapter 7 in The DaVinci Code and suddenly lost all my motivation for finishing it. I suppose I should get around to completing it! I refuse to see the movie until I finish the book..

I'm reading Selling Out by Mark Green for one of my summer classes. It's pretty cool. It's basically about how 'big money corporations' have gained and maintained influence in our political system. It explores why anyone who has less than a $20mil budget will always lose during a campaign, which leads to the government caring more about their special interest beneficiaries than society's well being!

I'm currently reading Watership Down by Richard Adams. I must have read the novel over ten times already, and I still don't get tired of it. People may think it's a stupid book because it stars rabbits, but it's really quite violent and fascinating.

I've purchased FFVI AC: Reunion Files just recently but I haven't read it all yet. Since it isn't a novel, though, I don't think that counts.

Besides reading crappy economics Heilbroner, I picked up The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho about a month ago while waiting at the Hong Kong Airport.

I can't think of anyways to describe it except classical. A simple, classic story about following your dream, the language is plain but effective in conveying the message and inspiration. I believe everyone should read this book. I haven't finished it yet but I can be safe to say it's well on its way on becoming one of my favorite books.

I also shifted through Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis while in the bookstore at Hong Kong. I don't usually like autobiographies by musicans and actors, usually because they're overly pretentious without any real content except on how fabulously rich and awesome they are but Scar Tissue was a highly entertaining read. Like a eating a giant bag of Lay's potato chips with a 2 liter bottle of Coke, it's nothing deep but Kiedis does have a way with words and his story is relatively interesting, if you're into Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Mote in God's Eye is an excellent book, though I can't recall reading The Gripping Hand. If you like Niven's work you should check out the Ringworld books as well.

I just finished some book by Orson Scott Card. The fifth and final in the series, though I can't recall the title of it at the moment. I am currently reading The Binding Curve of Energy which details the early, care free days of nuclear weapon development with a paralell commentary on the faesibility of a person being able to contruct and detonate a nuclear weapon single handedly. Interesting stuff though possibly a little dated since it was written in 1975.

I'm currently reading 2 books by Ayn Rand:
Anthem
and
The Fountainhead.

Recently finished Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Vol. 1, although it really can't be considered a book, but instead a manga, which is in my opinion, a genre unto itself.

Want to make out?

I've read that one two or three times myself, and you've inspired me to read it again since it's been about seven years since I've read it.

The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan.

This is only my second time reading it. I probably read the novel about four or five years ago during the summer, but went through it too quickly for a class. I'm taking my time now.

The user manual for a HP DesignJet 5500 series printer. The one at work is broke, and I have no idea how to fix it.

I never thought it was a stupid book, as it has very mature themes and such in it, but I didn't think it warranted the amount of attention lavished on it by my school district. I had to read it twice: once in 7th grade and again in 10th. Most the people in my English lit. class had read it in 7th, most didn't like it, and we thought it was pretty redundant to go through it again. But OH WELL.

Have you read the 'sequel' of sorts, Tales from Watership Down? Since I was one of the 2 people in school that didn't completely loathe the novel, I found it and bought it. Never read through the whole thing, but it was interesting. As with most anthropomorphic animal novels, the main attraction is the invented myths and culture of the animals, which is what Tales... is all about.

For my money, I've always been fond of Mary Stanton's Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West and the sequel, Piper at the Gate. It's similar in construction to WD, but with horses and more emphasis on the myths of the horses.

I've read that one. A great thing about it is that people can read it, just as I did, without reading its predecessor (I need to get around to reading that...). Rather fond of mythology, the tales of El-ahrairah were quite enjoyable. I also found it quite clever of Adams to incorporate a rabbit language. Ingenious.

Currently reading:
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo (pg. 150 out of 1500... grrrr)

Just finished:
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert

Harry Potter: Scorcerer's Stone. Yeah, I am late but I barely remember the movie so the book is still refreshing.

I recently found a copy of Shadows of the Empire at work and snatched it up. I enjoyed the N64 game back in the day, but I'm liking the book a lot more. It goes a lot more into Prince Xizor's character than the game, which didn't even touch it, aside from being jealous of Darth Vader and wanting Luke Skywalker dead so he could take his place, if I remember correctly.

en~i am a new person,i am in china ，i am reading the book-The Da Vinci Code recently ^^

Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. Lately I've been losing so much interest in books (which is horrendous, since I don't really have time for them during school and now is the perfect time)... but this one is thoroughly entertaining, disturbing, and captivating. Once your brain gets into the rhythm of the phonetic dialect, it's excellent, ken? I haven't actually seen the entire film, though I prefer the novel already. Ewan McGregor just isn't Rents.

I've been reading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin as of late. I just finished A Feast for Crows and am eagerly awaiting the next installment.

I'm also reading the Inheritance trilogy by Christopher Paolini. Its alright and a fairly easy read. Not the best I've ever read, but I'd be interested in seeing what this young author produces later on in his writing career.

I've been trying to get into Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and the Margarita but I keep getting distracted and such. It's a shame, since it's a good book (from where I got) and I would like to finish it. I know I will have more chance for focus in August so I will try again then.

Oy, my favorite book, ever. Hands down. I've been trying to do a comic or something based on it, but like most of my projects it doesn't go anywhere. Which translation do you have (unless you're reading it in Russian, of course ;)). After you read that, you might want to check out Heart of the Dog, also by Bulgakov -- or you could read that one first. It's much shorter and not as heavily written, so you wouldn't have to devote so much time to it.

Also, check out this website after or while you're reading the novel. ;)

Im reading tuesday with morrie (kind of an old book huh). gotta read intuition by allegra goodman and march by geraldine brooks after it. damn, got too many books with too little time.

It's been a while since I read a book.. but I'm starting to pick some up. I just started Da Vinci Code and I like it a lot. I like suspense and character development in books.

This is easily one of my favourite books. I highly recommend it as well.

I'm reading I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan. I'm only 30 pages in, but it seems interesting. God has offered Lucifer a chance to get back into Heaven, but he has to live a good life on Earth first. Lucifer is the narrator, and he gets off topic a lot, so it's kind of annoying, but still amusing.

The last book I read was Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I had to read it for class, but I loved it. It was like reading a soap opera.

Re-reading A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick before I see the film.

I want to see the fucking film NOW. It's not in UK cinemas as far as I know though :(

That is one amusing book! I really liked it (although I usually like anything to do with the devil/angels/demons, especially when it's British). Since you've only just started reading it, give it some time. The only funnier book I've come across in that vein is Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman; if you haven't read it, you really should.

Also, if you want the 'soundtrack' to I, Lucifer by The Real Tuesday Weld/Clerkenwell Kid, I have it. Just PM me.
That is, if you haven't heard it yet.

Just started Greg Keyes 'The Blood Knight', which is the 3rd book in his Kingdoms of Thorn & Bone series. The series isn't as epic as, say, Martins Song of Ice & Fire, but it's some pretty fun throwaway fantasy in a well-developed world.

After that will be Terry Pratchett's 'Monstrous Regiment'.

Finally finishing American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. After that it's either Glamorama or the Informers.

@Arkhangelsk, I meant people who haven't read it are the ones who just assume the novel is stupid/kiddy after they hear the story is about rabbits.

I've read Tales of WD and it's not really that great. The myth stories weren't as good as the ones in WD. I do have the novel though. It got it at a book sale for cheap, and it has a nice cover.

I haven't read a book in some time. In fact, I think it was Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: Outbound Flight and that was in March. I go through short stories pretty regularly or pick up an old favorite and skim parts I don't remember very well.

For the most part, I'm keeping in formation with Harlan Ellison, Robert E Howard and Steven King short stories.

"Mrs. Todd's Shortcut." Best SK short story ever.

Jerusalem's Lot, honey

I just JUST got Eats, Shoots, & Leaves in the mail today and am about to read it after I click 'Post Quick Reply." Being the grammar Nazi that I am, I expect to find this book immensely enjoyable (as it deals with such grammatical and punctuation issues in the English language).

<3 Amy Tan. Most of her other stuff is really awesome, too. I haven't read her newest book yet, though.

I'm currently reading all the Blue Monday TPBs by Chynna Clugston-Major, except for Painted Moon, which I don't have yet. I read these at the beginning of every summer, just about. They're so cheerful.

I just finished reading Night, by Eliezar Wiesel, which I picked up for a buck at a used book store, and Obasan, by Joy Kogawa. Both despressing WW2 books, but very worth the time. Night is especially short and minimalist. Extremely powerful.

Night is a great book. I read it about 5 years ago, but I still remember it very well. It was so short, but it's made such a lasting impression on me.

I'm reading a book called Duel in the Sun, by John Brant. It's about the '82 Boston Marathon. If you're not into running, it probably wouldn't be as interesting, but I think it's a good book so far.

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings
by Edgar Allan Poe

I've only read some short stories by Poe in school, but lately, I've been reading alot of horror themed books and I'm really starting to like it alot. My sister recommended this one and she even bought me this copy, along with H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu (can't wait to get my hands on this one, from what I've read about it and some excerpts, it seems very interesting). So far, Poe's writings have proven to be more than I expected. For the first time I ever, I feel like I've found my "genre".

Heh, that's what I said a while back. If you like Elie Wiesel, then you'd better not read "The Holocaust Industry" by Norman G. Finkelstein. You may not like him so much afterwards. Coincidentally, I just finished both books about a month ago. :)

I'm reading "A Lesson Before Dying" for school now, "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast, and the newest book by Robert Fisk, "History of Civilsation in the Middle East."

Having recently reread Anchee Min's Red Azalea and finished another title of hers, Becoming Madame Mao, I took an interest in communism and Mao Tse-Tung. I've a copy of Mao's Selected Military Writings of Mao Tse-Tung from my East Asian Military Traditions class so I've been reading selected passages here and there. It's a rather tedious read, as you can imagine, and I much prefer Sun Tzu's The Art of War, but once you cut through Mao's ego it's not too bad.

For lighter fare I keep my copy of Golding's Lord of the Flies at work for slow lunches and Anchee Min's Wild Ginger on my nightstand. Oh, and assorted manga, too.

I forgot to mention that I've been reading that one on and off here lately. I downloaded an eBook version of The Call of Cthulhu as well as 'The Cats of Ulthar.' So far Cthulhu has been pretty good...I even started sketching the statue. I figure there's been enough fanart for that particular book, though.

I was initially intrigued by that in the context of Survivor's Quest, but dismissed it as proposterous when I saw that Obi-Wan and Anakin were in it. Though I suppose I should have more faith in Timothy Zahn.

I just finished reading The Ditchdigger's Daughters. It's a biography about a poor black family--with 5 girls--whose father wants them all to be doctors. They work extremely hard (despite having many doors closed to them because of their race--but their father insists that they only use that as an excuse to try harder) and all become very successful women.

It was a very interesting read, and addressed racism in a unique way. The main character (the middle daughter) describes it like the frog whose leg is tied down because scientests want to see how long it will take it to atrophy, but it ends up being the strongest leg because he struggles against the rope for so long.

During my enormous flight delay home I picked up the Perfect Dark Zero novel, Initial Vector. I finally had time yesterday to sit down a read some of it.

At first glance it's very technologically detailed in explaining situations. The story is so far is a bit scattered. The exposition has always been my least favorite part of books. I'm hopeful that it won't disappoint.

There will be a sequel to this book released in August so I'm guessing it might be a bit of a cliffhanger.

At this point I'd like to bring up my hatred of the classics. I think it's no wonder that today's schoolchildren don't enjoy reading, when they're forced to read such droll and unbelievably boring titles. We did read a few great books (such as Night, which I loved), but for the most part I hated school-assigned reading, and I love to read.

My least favorite books, that I would not use for anything other than wiping my ass:

- The Scarlet Letter
- Great Expectations
- The Grapes of Wrath

I'm sure they were more but I've forgotten them, which is really no surprise since these books were dull, depressing, and totally lacked any vision other than encyclopedically cataloguing melodramatic human misery. I hate Charles Dickens beyond words - he specialized in this genre.

There are plenty of 'classics' that I thought were good reads. In fact, that's the reason I took AP World Lit. in high school (not that I couldn't have read the books outside of school, but I figured I might as well get credit for reading them :)). I mean, these were 'required reading' for me when I was young, and I enjoyed them then and now:

- Anything by Edgar A. Poe
- Jane Eyre
- Wuthering Heights [yes, it's completely depressing, but still is a good book]
- Ender's Game
- Brave New World
- Dante's Inferno
- Watership Down

Also, I did not have to read the Grapes of Wrath (argh I hate John Steinbeck) or anything by Dickens. It seems that writings about human misery are almost guaranteed to be lauded 'the best book ever' and are bestsellers, like Frank McCort's Angela's Ashes. I have no idea why this is, because I really don't like to be depressed by my entertainment. But whatever -- my grandma likes that kind of stuff, so maybe it's the old people that dictate this.
There are other classics that I think should be read in American schools (ie: The Master and Margarita or the Gormenghast novels), but they're not.

I just finished reading An Apology of Mathematics (actually, I read it in a day) by GH Hardy.

Now I'm reading Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh. It's rather un-technical, but I guess that's okay since I'm only an A-level (end of high school) student anyway. It's more of a story book about how Andrew Wiles solved it, and the origins and relatives of the theorem itself (The theorem goes something like "For integers x, y, z, n, x^n+y^n=z^n will never be true for n>2").

I'm gonna read some infinity book, after, and possibly Hawking's A Brief History of Time.

Because I am just the apex of cool.

Well. Naw, I'm gonna have some interviews for university soon, so I want to look like I'm a well read character, who reads as well as counts.

Okay, I guess I only meant certain classes. I never got to read any of the good ones. Several you listed I KNOW are good books. And I love depressing things, it's just that the protagonist has to be someone that I can actually feel for instead of wishing them a slow and painful death.

Just picked up a new copy of Lords of Chaos: History of BM. I've owned 2 different copies in the past, but i've loaned them out to people, before i've ever gotten the chance to read it and never got the loaned copies back.

That book sounds really interesting! I can't read fiction books i just don't see the point but i enjoy reading biographys and true storys, im currently reading Cosa Nostra by John Dickie and it's superb. It focuses more on the sicilian mafia and also explores Sicilian and italian history. I can't put it down, really interesting yet quite shocking.

Started House of Leaves a few days ago. Man it's weird. It was suggested to me by many of my friends. Unfortunatly i can't give a good description on what it's about but it's about a man who buys a house that's bigger on the inside than on the outside, and weird shit starts happening in this labyrinth type deal he finds in his house.

It seems to be a written documentary about this thing, it's really interesting. Has anyone else read this? They'd probably be able to give a better idea as to what it's about.

Hell's Angels - HST. Interesting read albeit a bit slow in parts.

Wow, what a coincidence!
I just finished this book. Great commentary on the media.

I was thinking picking up Thompson's Rum Diary, but I started on One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest instead.

Just started A Closed Eye by Anita Brookner. Her writing definitely brings to mind Henry James (and apparently Jane Austen, though I've never read anything of hers), with loads of great insight into the minds of the characters.

A while ago, I started reading War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, and I made a bet with my sister that I would finish it before I started reading anything else. Good news is that I've kept my end of the bet and I'm relatively close to finishing the book. Bad news is that I made that bet over a year ago. :tpg:

I'm not a slow reader, but during the school year I simply have no time to read. Maybe I'll get through a chapter a night, but the book has 20-30 chapters per book (the novel War and Peace is comprised of 15 'books' and 2 epilogues). Take that times 17 and it'll take me like a year and a half to finish the book. :tpg:

But anyway, I've only had time to read on the weekends, and I've always had something better to do. I'm more interested in the book now, so I'm taking time during the day and reading a few chapters at a time during my lunch break, but I still have almost two hundred chapters to go. >_>; It's one hell of a book, but I really love it. I am very, very glad I decided to sit down and read it (and stick with it, at that).

Next up, The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky. (Well, maybe C&P can wait, since it's ridiculously huge as well. :tpg: I need to start diversifying, or all of this 19th century Russia will be the end of me. ;_;)

I found an old copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People so I gave that a quick read.

I'll be traveling soon so I'll have to pick up something. Actually I'll probably just do crossword puzzles, but I'd like to read a book for a change. I'd love to finish Pynchon's V., which I did get about 2/3 through back in high school, but at this point I'd have to start from the beginning for what would be the third or fourth time. Maybe I'll try Gravity's Rainbow instead--I think I have a copy somewhere.


<3 Death. =D


Really, Ender's Game as a requirement? I'm jealous. I think I was the only person in my class who legitimately enjoyed "Brave New World". We did a lot of Shakespeare in AP Lit--ugh--but thankfully we also did some Eugene O'Neill. It was the same with novels; I suffered through "Heart of Darkness" and Dorian Gray to get to Vonnegut and Salinger.

I'm now working on the Bhagavad-Gita. I finished the books I was reading before but I'm not starting any new ones, I'm too busy right now.

Books I wish I'd had to read in school: Catch-22, Fahrenheit 451, Ender's Game, since everyone says they're good. I'll probably never get around to them now though.

I finished the book I was reading before a week ago and now I am on Congo by Michael Crichton. Seems like it should be an entertaining read.