what book are you reading right now? (1570 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.28 on 108 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by loki (View user info) at 2008-05-14 20:08:25 EDT
I just finished Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. I loved it, but I wish I had paid more attention in my history classes because I started getting lost as to who was whom in the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War. There was a red army, a white army, the brotherhood, partisans, and of course Bolsheviks.
It would also be more helpful if people didn't change names. I have a hard enough time with the Russian names without Pasha suddenly becoming Strelnikov.
I don't know why I picked it up really. I just seemed to constantly run into the book and when Chris McCandless was reading it in Into the Wild it was the last straw and I had to read the book.
My next move is to hunt down some literary criticism to explain to my tiny, little mostly math oriented brain what certain passages in the book that I knew to be significant mean. Something about it reminds me of all those English classes when I found out that even though I read the book and thought I knew what happened I actually had no idea.
I'm lying - I never read the required reading in school.
I've somehow gotten into some sort of Russian epic phase. I have War and Peace ordered god help me. If I make it through that Anna Karenina is next. I've listened to it on one of those downloaded audio book things but that doesn't really count.
So what are you reading right now and why?
I always find the "why" part more interesting than the "what".
true story
"What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth." Boris Pasternak
User Reviews
Submitted by lowsodiummonkey (user info) at 2008-05-30 12:56:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The 33 Strategies of War
http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=1065378545878925842
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2008-05-19 14:16:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
1.) Anna Karenina - because I am a Russian lit person and have no sense,
2.) The Other Boleyn Girl - because everyone says I should (so far so good),
and 3.) The Third Reich: A New History (Michael Burleigh) - read Burleigh's "Sacred Causes" for an Ideology & Revolution course this past semester and loved it so needless to say I went right out and bought his 2 inch thick book about Hitler.
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2008-05-18 08:41:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm reading "The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst", by Nicholas Tomalin & Ron Hall.
It's about the Golden Globe; a single handed, round the world sailing race in 1968. Crowhurst hoaxed it by sending in false positions and sailing in circles and he eventually commits suicide by jumping off the back of his boat in the middle of the Atlantic.
I'm reading it because I like sailing and it's a good exploration of the mystery as to what really happened to him in his last days.
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2008-05-18 02:05:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-16 16:49:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:38:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:55:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
HA!!! Can you say pretentious Uberers? I knew you could.
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Bubba, I tried really hard not to think you were an idiot, but this whole "OMG IM in infraweb warz with people and they keep -2ing me" and then "Uberers=pretentious because they read words on PAPER for FUN!!!!" shit is ridiculous.
Don't be a fucking douchebag, douchebag.
=======================
Coley, I think you missed my meaning. Reading for fun IS the point. The ones who piss me off are those who denigrate popular authors, usually because they ARE popular. Maybe you should look up pretentious. It means claiming something that is unjustified; coming across as holier-than-thou; basically, being a hoity-toity asshole.
Call me an idiot or a douchebag if you will. YOU were the one who missed the point that I was calling the majority of Uberers a bunch of condescending bozos. Thanks.
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Bubba, I DID miss your meaning. All I saw was "HA!!! Can you say pretentious Uberers? I knew you could." Which to me translates to you, ironically, being CONDESCENDING. About people reading. Whatever it is they like to read.
Sounds douche-y to me.
Submitted by jasumthin (user info) at 2008-05-17 01:17:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Just started Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk.
Just finished jPod by Douglas Coupland.
Submitted by HellRazer (user info) at 2008-05-16 20:12:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Right now I'm in a Graphic Novel phase. I'm re-reading the Preacher series and I'm tackling Transmetropolitan as well. If you like comics, and haven't read these yet, you need to get off your fat, white, virgin ass and go buy these(there's boobs in them!!). If you don't like comics, you can go fuck yourself with a chainsaw, then read 'The Watchmen' and see if that doesn't change your mind.
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2008-05-16 18:39:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I always like these posts to get more ideas for things to read.
I'm struggling through The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland. The problem I'm having is not illiteracy, contrary to popular opinion. This guy is one of my favourite authors and his books normally kick ass. This one is incredibly awful. I keep reading out of loyalty and in hopes that it will start to pick up and get interesting, but....it just keeps sucking.
Oh well, it was bound to happen after so many awesome novels.
Submitted by JustAnotherStudent (user info) at 2008-05-16 17:38:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Since I've read it before, I can skip all the boring parts (who wants to read 30 pages straight about agricultural methods???) and read all the fun wannabe soap opera parts.
And yeah... historical stuff can throw you off when you read the Russians. Those fuckers really like to date their pieces with current events.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-16 16:49:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:38:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:55:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
HA!!! Can you say pretentious Uberers? I knew you could.
----------
Bubba, I tried really hard not to think you were an idiot, but this whole "OMG IM in infraweb warz with people and they keep -2ing me" and then "Uberers=pretentious because they read words on PAPER for FUN!!!!" shit is ridiculous.
Don't be a fucking douchebag, douchebag.
=======================
Coley, I think you missed my meaning. Reading for fun IS the point. The ones who piss me off are those who denigrate popular authors, usually because they ARE popular. Maybe you should look up pretentious. It means claiming something that is unjustified; coming across as holier-than-thou; basically, being a hoity-toity asshole.
Call me an idiot or a douchebag if you will. YOU were the one who missed the point that I was calling the majority of Uberers a bunch of condescending bozos. Thanks.
:)
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2008-05-16 15:29:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
IV, cause I'm a whore for Chuck Klosterman
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-05-16 15:26:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The novelization of a great fart fetish porn movie I saw a couple weeks ago.
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2008-05-16 15:13:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good luck with Anna Karenina. I read about half of it and though it was good, also very slow going. God only knows where it is now.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-05-16 15:09:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I must know this as well - Can you Uber on Kindle!??!
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-05-16 14:48:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
oh SWEET!!
There are books on the Kindle site that I've been (haphazardly) searching for an unable to find.
now to some how come up with the $100 difference in price.
what do you think about how the Sony ebooks can be used on mac or PC while the Kindle E-books can't?
(although that kind of defeats the pack-and-go epaper whole deal)
Anyone wanna help me buy my birthday present?
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-05-16 14:32:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
hmmmm..
how disparate are the original prices?
also - I know Sony is second gen now - isn't Kindle still in it's first iteration?
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-05-16 14:18:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
yes
get a kindle instead
the amazon connectivity is awesome, books are cheaper, library is thousands of times bigger, built in 3G wireless that is free and downloads books/magazines without using your pc, browse the store, wikipedia etc.
it's got some flaws but the e-ink screen is better than the sony's too, it really is like reading a book screen-wise.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-05-16 14:08:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
ooh oh oh oh...
I've just now seen the Sony E-Reader thingy for the first time.
I want one!
Anyone have any tips?
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-05-16 13:51:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2008-05-15 15:59:34 CDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"travels with stanley in the congo"
Its about HM Stanley who "found" Dr Livingstone whilst wandering around click-click land. It was written in the 40-50s or thereaboust and is amusingly racist.
i love those old books, i read a book the other month and the line was:
"Don't send the horse across that creek, it's too dangerous, send Bourneville instead."
Bournville was his aborigine 'employee'.
Most amusing.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2008-05-16 13:32:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2008-05-15 10:28:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 Dr. Zhivago.
I'm reading "god Is Not Great- How Religion Poisons Everything," by Christopher Hitchens.
________________________
That Hitchen's book is fuckin' great...
Submitted by retrospect (user info) at 2008-05-16 13:04:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
i just read Phantom Prey by john sandford. pretty pretttty pretty good
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2008-05-16 00:13:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I hear that, iddy.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2008-05-15 23:26:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-05-15 00:01:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm rereading Palahniuk's 'choke' and, to be honest, i'm very underwhelmed this time around.
---
palahniuk is a one-trick pony. as are most - if not all - writers, its just that chuck's shtick wears thin faster than most.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-05-15 20:26:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
airport reading: The Bancroft Strategy, robert ludlum
and one more historical fiction novel I can't remember the name of at the moment. And I'm too lazy to dig in my bag
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2008-05-15 20:26:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
The credit card statement I just got in the mail READS like a fucking book....good grief.
Submitted by Darth_Famine (user info) at 2008-05-15 18:51:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Creepy_guy (user info) at 2008-05-15 13:51:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by FALLEN (user info) at 2008-05-15 08:33:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wolves of the Calla
because after 5 years or so I want to finish the damn story.
_________________________________
I just started that one as well. I've had the books for a while, but never found the time to make it past the second one. I re-read them right from the start with no real breaks; what a great story that is.
----------------------------------
King's best work, keep reading it gets better
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2008-05-15 16:59:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"travels with stanley in the congo"
Its about HM Stanley who "found" Dr Livingstone whilst wandering around click-click land. It was written in the 40-50s or thereaboust and is amusingly racist.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-05-15 16:11:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2008-05-15 13:11:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
My reading is a bit random as I've been getting books for free from here:
http://bookmooch.com/
I'm reading something dreadful from Oprah's book club called "Map of the World" and next I'm reading something by Michael Moore.
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You're not reading anything by Michael Moore. Michael Moore can't write. I don't mean "He's a crap writer" can't write, I mean "He signs his checks with an X" can't write.
Submitted by Badlands (user info) at 2008-05-15 15:48:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
American Psycho by Brent Easton Ellis.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-05-15 15:21:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2008-05-15 09:28:27 CDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 Dr. Zhivago.
I'm reading "god Is Not Great- How Religion Poisons Everything," by Christopher Hitchens.
i read that
Submitted by Creepy_guy (user info) at 2008-05-15 13:51:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by FALLEN (user info) at 2008-05-15 08:33:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wolves of the Calla
because after 5 years or so I want to finish the damn story.
_________________________________
I just started that one as well. I've had the books for a while, but never found the time to make it past the second one. I re-read them right from the start with no real breaks; what a great story that is.
Submitted by Darth_Famine (user info) at 2008-05-15 13:20:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am currently re reading
Dead Beat
by Jim Butcher
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2008-05-15 13:11:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
My reading is a bit random as I've been getting books for free from here:
http://bookmooch.com/
I'm reading something dreadful from Oprah's book club called "Map of the World" and next I'm reading something by Michael Moore.
Submitted by Lib (user info) at 2008-05-15 13:00:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Breaking Open the Head - Daniel Pinchbeck
Serpent's Tale - Ariana Franklin
And
Bundori- Laura Joh Rowland
Submitted by ilikesteak (user info) at 2008-05-15 12:45:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm reading The Double by Dostoyevsky.
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2008-05-15 12:06:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Persuasion by Jane Austen because I feel like I need to do something that actually requires brainpower.
Submitted by BubbaEarl (user info) at 2008-05-15 12:02:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
r. crumb's sex obsessions.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:50:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm reading 'The Glass Castle' it's similar to 'Running With Scissors' but different.
Submitted by mitchmarron (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:31:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:24:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Last book I started reading was Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I never read it in school, and always thought I should. I put it down a few weeks ago and haven't been in the right mindset to pick it up again, but needless to say, it's an emotionally daunting book.
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She dies at the end.
FACE.
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:30:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I arm smrt. It's because of all the readings wot I do.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:29:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
OMG YOU SURE MADE ME LOOK FOOLISH!!!!!!! LOLZZZZ
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:26:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
What...The one called Hells Angels?!
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:10:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:09:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by creep_firebombing (user info) at 2008-05-15 14:10:04 BST (#)
Ranking: 0
I've been hot for travel books lately, specifically ones having to do with epic motorcycle trips. Right now I'm reading Lois On The Loose by Lois Pryce. It's a travelogue by a woman who had a boring office job at the BBC and decided to ride the entire length of the Pan-American highway from Alaska to the southernmost tip of Argentina.
I've always loved motorcycles and I have neither the time nor the money to ride anymore. So I read and stay up nights fantasizing about dirt roads, boder crossings, strange languages, and stranger foods.
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Excuse my presumption (that you haven't hear of it) creep but have you seen Ewan McGregor + Charley Boormans Long Way Down and Long Way round.. two books you should check if not.
***
Or what about the book that Hunter Thompson wrote about the Hells Angels?
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:09:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by creep_firebombing (user info) at 2008-05-15 14:10:04 BST (#)
Ranking: 0
I've been hot for travel books lately, specifically ones having to do with epic motorcycle trips. Right now I'm reading Lois On The Loose by Lois Pryce. It's a travelogue by a woman who had a boring office job at the BBC and decided to ride the entire length of the Pan-American highway from Alaska to the southernmost tip of Argentina.
I've always loved motorcycles and I have neither the time nor the money to ride anymore. So I read and stay up nights fantasizing about dirt roads, boder crossings, strange languages, and stranger foods.
-------------------------
Excuse my presumption (that you haven't hear of it) creep but have you seen Ewan McGregor + Charley Boormans Long Way Down and Long Way round.. two books you should check if not.
Submitted by shadow (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:06:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I picked up Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It's a super slim volume, so I might actually be able to finish it in a day or two.
It started off really good, but then dulled out a bit. Now I'm just waiting to see what happens.
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:01:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm reading Ravelstein by Saul Bellow.
Why? Because he's a good writer.
Submitted by Cyrus (user info) at 2008-05-15 11:00:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy, a childrens book I first encountered in about 2nd grade. Love the illustrations.
Submitted by JulsInsane (user info) at 2008-05-15 10:37:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:22:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...next one i'm sending around on the uberbooks circuit...
____________________________________
I've begged, I've pleaded, why can't I be added on?
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2008-05-15 10:28:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 Dr. Zhivago.
I'm reading "god Is Not Great- How Religion Poisons Everything," by Christopher Hitchens.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2008-05-15 09:46:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ted Dekker is a fantastic author. Just finished "Blessed Child", but by far his best works are the series "Black", "Red", and "White". "Three" is pretty good too, and I think AssHoly already mentioned "Blink."
Seriously, the man cannot write a bad book.
"Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller is a good read too, not so intense as Dekker's stuff if you want a lighter read.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2008-05-15 09:13:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:52:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excalibur, 3rd Arthur book from Bernard Cornwell
(1st was The Winter King and 2nd was Enemy of God)
No magic, a historical "could have", I didn;t stop between second and third.
________________________
That's sounds REALLY fuckin' cool.
I tried reading "Seventh Son" by Orson Scott Card, but couldn't get into it.
I know his book "Ender's Game" is highly endorsed, so I think I'm gonna try that next...
Submitted by creep_firebombing (user info) at 2008-05-15 09:10:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I've been hot for travel books lately, specifically ones having to do with epic motorcycle trips. Right now I'm reading Lois On The Loose by Lois Pryce. It's a travelogue by a woman who had a boring office job at the BBC and decided to ride the entire length of the Pan-American highway from Alaska to the southernmost tip of Argentina.
I've always loved motorcycles and I have neither the time nor the money to ride anymore. The two weeks vacation I get a year is now spent lounging on a beach somewhere because my 2 year old daughter is too young to go adventuring and my wife wants absolutely fuckall to do with adventuring. So I read and stay up nights fantasizing about dirt roads, boder crossings, strange languages, and stranger foods.
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-05-15 09:00:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
A Prayer for Owen Meaney
Very very good.
Submitted by FALLEN (user info) at 2008-05-15 08:33:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wolves of the Calla
because after 5 years or so I want to finish the damn story.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-05-15 08:32:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sadly, I'm much too busy to read at the moment.
Submitted by MudWhistle (user info) at 2008-05-15 08:00:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
yeah I dunno...I watched No Country for Old Men when it came out so I've been on this McCarthy kick lateley.....Just finished Blood Meridian and I have one or two more of his to read.
I also read The Fuckup by.....Arthur Nersesian a couple months back....for a book that cost 6 bucks, sitting sideways on top of of the rack in the health section I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Submitted by CarterPFly (user info) at 2008-05-15 06:40:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm reading "With fire and sword" a polish historical novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
Its required national curriculm reading in poland and is a tough read due to its gritty insights into the warriors mind and the politics of war.
He is a Nobel prize winning author who also wrote the book Quo Vadis.
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2008-05-15 04:38:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close By Jonathan Safran Foer because I'd read Everything is Illuminated by him and it was an awesomely different book.
Everything is Illuminated
'With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man - also named Jonathan Safran Foer - sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past. As their adventure unfolds, Jonathan imagines the history of his grandfather's village, conjuring a magical fable of startling symmetries that unite generations across time. Lit by passion, fear, guilt, memory, and hope, the characters in Everything Is Illuminated mine the black holes of history. As the search moves back in time, the fantastical history moves forward, until reality collides with fiction in a heart-stopping scene of extraordinary power. An arresting blend of high comedy and great tragedy, this is a story about searching for people and places that no longer exist, for the hidden truths that haunt every family, and for the delicate but necessary tales that link past and future. Exuberant and wise, hysterically funny and deeply moving, EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED is an astonishing debut.
Didn't enjoy the second book so much, but such is life.
And because I read constantly... always have a book on the go. Omce one is done another gets picked up. A lot of what I read is random stuff picked up at the local St Claires hospice charity shop (ALL books 20p a pop) and the rest is made up of recognised authors that I ebay or amazon.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2008-05-15 04:29:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2008-05-15 01:38:08 BST (#)
Ranking: 2
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami. Afterward, I'm going to read South of the Border, West of the Sun, also by Murakami.
It's a rare author who can alter your very consciousness with words alone. Murakami is one of these.
========
If you liked those, check out 'Norweigan Wood' and 'Dance, Dance, Dance'. You will not be disappointed.
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-05-15 04:04:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Tom Sharpe - Riotous Assembly.
Some good racist shit in there.
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2008-05-15 03:56:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Gods War - Christopher Tyreman
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2008-05-15 02:53:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Adolf- Walter Moers, a german comic about, well guess.
I read a lot about the new satellite networks we're deploying, no real fun but helpful.
There is some Mark Knopfler scheduled for the near future...
Submitted by matnotharry (user info) at 2008-05-15 02:34:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Physical Chemistry, 8th Ed. - Atkins and DePaula
I hate revision : (
The last decent book I read was Shantaram (- Gregory David Roberts), which tells the (mostly) true story of an Australian convict who escaped jail and started a second life in Mumbai, India. Dont be put off by the brick like appearance of the text, it's a well paced, engaging, beautiful and brutal read. Massively recommended, particularly if you've ever been to India
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-05-15 01:09:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Anyone that liked "A brief history of time" and followed it (i understood all of it except Hawking's conception of the 3D spacetime sphere thing that went from big bang to big crunch) should definitely read "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by i don't know who. Totally badass layout of modern physics.
Submitted by beer-turtle (user info) at 2008-05-15 00:52:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm not reading anything terribly interesting at the moment.
Having just finished the semester with a 4.0 I am giving my mind a rest.
Although the last novel I read was Micheal Crichton's "Next" about genetic manipulation etc.
Submitted by HateMudkips (user info) at 2008-05-15 00:37:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
whoops
Submitted by HateMudkips (user info) at 2008-05-15 00:37:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I thought the same thing when I re-read Choke.. funny, that.
Currently reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.. and halfway through the "run with the hunted" compilation of Bukowski's works.
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:01:46 PDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm rereading Palahniuk's 'choke' and, to be honest, i'm very underwhelmed this time around.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-05-15 00:32:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:51:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:22:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...next one i'm sending around on the uberbooks circuit...
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*is intrigued*
skrapmetal.at.ratpackcycles.com
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i'll fill you in tomorrow, skrap.
i think it's something you might be interested in.
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2008-05-15 00:03:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't know if I would reread it, but I read it once and liked it.
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-05-15 00:01:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm rereading Palahniuk's 'choke' and, to be honest, i'm very underwhelmed this time around.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:38:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
i agree, and the fall is tops also.
was leaving for uni this morning and needed a book for the train that was small enough to fit in my back pocket, as i didnt take a bag today. camus is always good for that - nice succinct books.
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:38:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:55:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
HA!!! Can you say pretentious Uberers? I knew you could.
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Bubba, I tried really hard not to think you were an idiot, but this whole "OMG IM in infraweb warz with people and they keep -2ing me" and then "Uberers=pretentious because they read words on PAPER for FUN!!!!" shit is ridiculous.
Don't be a fucking douchebag, douchebag.
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:32:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The outsider is great, but depressing. Mind you, existentialist Frenchmen don't exactly promote optimism.
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:29:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm reading "Marvel 1602" by Neil Gaiman, because the weather is terrible and I feel all curl-up-on-the-couch-and-read-a-graphic-novelish.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:13:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
and im reading the outsider by camus. again. to take the same advice i just gave you.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2008-05-14 23:11:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"My next move is to hunt down some literary criticism to explain to my tiny, little mostly math oriented brain what certain passages in the book that I knew to be significant mean. "
WHATEVER YOU DO, DONT DO THAT.
just re-read the book, if you liked it, and draw your own conclusions - thats as much meaning as is possible to get from that or any book. some critics' opinion about this or that passage's "meaning" is just that - his/her OPINION.
Submitted by Fungah (user info) at 2008-05-14 22:34:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and a collection of Irving Layton's poetry.
Submitted by beeltea (user info) at 2008-05-14 22:24:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I call a fatwah on below...
me? oh... "Tallgrass" by Sandra Dallas... I no nothing about the author; I just borrowed the book at random from a friend to entertain me during a flight. It's okay so far.
Submitted by Zampano (user info) at 2008-05-14 22:18:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Grimus - Salman Rushdie's first novel
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-14 22:06:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Suckboy below.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-05-14 22:01:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
dolt below
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:55:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
HA!!! Can you say pretentious Uberers? I knew you could.
Submitted by Sinistral (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:52:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I just started The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton. So far so good, it's like The Sting only longer and more in depth.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:51:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:22:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...next one i'm sending around on the uberbooks circuit...
-----
*is intrigued*
skrapmetal.at.ratpackcycles.com
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:37:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm just about to finish The Devil's Teeth, which was actually really good despite my thinking that it was going to be a dud. It's probably not something I would have picked up on my own, but my father recommended it... I've found that in the last few years we've bridged a lot of estrangement through books/reading.
http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Teeth-Obsession-Survival-Americas/dp/B0013TIZWC/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210814807&sr=8-1
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:30:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
reading several.
1) carl sagan - billions and billions
2) the design of everyday things
3) pilliars of the earth - some d bag
thats all
Submitted by BeforeEmily (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:23:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk --- because I want to understand depression.
The Call of the Wild, Jack London --- because I want, need, to go to Alaska and I understand it's a prerequisite.
Beowulf, A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney --- because my friend and I were gonna read it at the same time and both found it boring, so neither of us have finished it.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:22:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
ummm...rereading papillon while i wait for some books i ordered from amazon to show up. chose this one off the shelf because i hadn't visited it in long enough that much of the detail had left me. also, this is the next one i'm sending around on the uberbooks circuit and if it doesn't make it back i'd like to have read it once more.
before that haunted by chuck palahniuk.
before that some biography of thomas jefferson
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:14:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm reading "Commercial Applications of Company law" because if i don't i get an F!
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:13:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"Revelation Space" by Alisrair Reynolds. Opening line: "There was a razorstorm coming in".
It gets better. It has to.
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-05-14 21:02:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith" because I enjoy stories with morbid endings.
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:58:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"Surface Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy: Methods and Applications (Methods of Surface Characterization)" by Suetaka and Yates
<kills self>
Julie Christy was at her hottest in Dr. Zhivago.
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:58:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
May I suggest "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk (sp?)
also
I just finished "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth someoneorother. Amazing. (correction: I finished it six months ago, but it still rocked.)
If you've been through a divorce or difficult breakup, wondered what the hell you're doing with your life, looked for fulfillment and meaning in all the wrong places, yearned to travel, paid attention to all the amazing randomness that happens in life or just want to get your shit together..you will enjoy this book.
And if you don't; you have bad taste.
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:57:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm reading "Physics of the Impossible" by Michio Kaku because I'm a fat, friendless virgin
Submitted by stone8946 (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:56:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:54:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-14 17:26:48 PDT (#)
Ranking: 2
naked - a friend made me read me talk pretty one day and i loved it so i went back out to find more. bought it a while ago but got tied up with schoolwork so i couldnt finish it.
------------------
naked is awesome
david sedaris rocks
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:53:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
yeah, im about 100 pages in and i keep feeling like any second i'm going to bust out laughing, but it never happens.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:52:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excalibur, 3rd Arthur book from Bernard Cornwell
(1st was The Winter King and 2nd was Enemy of God)
No magic, a historical "could have", I didn;t stop between second and third.
Why?
I picked it up from a friend. There are some people that just shock you when you realize they read things besides history or read at all. He swore by this series.
Submitted by moneyshotforyou (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:41:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
loki=auto+2
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:41:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I have areas of my expertise. I don't know how I feel about it, parts of it were really good but some of it I couldn't get into. The hobo names would be good uber alters. I think that a lot of what makes Hodgman so funny is his delivery. It doesn't really translate well in writing.
Submitted by Linus (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:40:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Dammit loki, now I have no excuse to post this separately, which I was planning to do:
"My Big Boy Potty" by Joanna Cole (Author) and Maxie Chambliss (Illustrator)
Why?
It's highly motivational.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:38:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Does the June issue of Playboy count as a book?
If not, I finished "First Sunday in April: The Masters" (A Collection of stories and Insights form a bunch of random dorks) last Sunday at the Beach.
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:38:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami. Afterward, I'm going to read South of the Border, West of the Sun, also by Murakami.
It's a rare author who can alter your very consciousness with words alone. Murakami is one of these.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:36:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
soz
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:36:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
the brain that changes itself
norman doidge
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:26:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
sorry i didnt read the post the first time.
the why's:
blink, tipping point, read you like a book - suggested by a friend, and i like reading psychological shit like this.
areas of my expertise - i saw it on the daily show about a year back and i couldnt find it at the time, but when i went out to buy i can read you like a book i found it on an endcap in borders. i've wanted to check it out for a while. it's kind of like stephen colbert's book, but not really.
naked - a friend made me read me talk pretty one day and i loved it so i went back out to find more. bought it a while ago but got tied up with schoolwork so i couldnt finish it.
the appeal - birthday present, so i have to report back and tell her how great it was when i finish. only thing i've read by grisham was the first half of the client, but he is my dad's favorite author and i've always wanted to get into his stuff so who knows, maybe i'll love it.
closing time - catch-22 is one of my two favorite books.
what is the what - eggers' first book, a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, is my other favorite book. never really got a chance to get into his other stuff though until now.
i was actually planning on reading war and peace this summer before i piled all these books up. another friend told me to devote a summer to it so i could appreciate it, so i will. next summer.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:24:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Last book I started reading was Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I never read it in school, and always thought I should. I put it down a few weeks ago and haven't been in the right mindset to pick it up again, but needless to say, it's an emotionally daunting book.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:21:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I read for enjoyment. I am about halfway through "Inca Gold" by Clive Cussler.
A great story, and a lot of fun.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-14 20:18:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i've got a few books lined up for the summer.
Just finished blink last night.
I'm in the middle of Naked by David Sedaris.
This morning I was reading The Areas of my Expertise by John Hodgman. It's okay.
the others i'm planning on getting to soon, in no particular order:
the appeal, john grisham.
the tipping point, malcolm gladwell (same author as blink)
what is the what, dave eggers
the art of seduction, robert greene
i can read you like a book, by a couple people.
closing time, joseph heller (sequel to catch-22)
this should all keep me busy for a while.