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[The Take Out Bandit]

What books are you people reading?

Working on:

Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It

God's Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth's Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpower Plot

Must find issues 4-16!

 

[Kabouter]

After I'm done with that book, I will read:

However, both are on hold now for this book (school):

 

[Wes]

When it comes out in 5 days time anyway...

 

[nitewulf]

i've been on a salinger kick lately, after reading "raise high the roof beam carpenter..."

all the stories in nine stories are adorable, gut wrenching and awesome. my favorites are "just before the war with the eskimos", "pretty mouth and green my eyes" and of course, "a perfect day for bananafish".

also,

heh, i actually have the same edition pictured, published in 1971. ross macdonald's lew archer novels are literary noir. he is quickly becoming one of my favorite noir authors after hammett and chandler. its a shame that he is pretty much forgotten today. the movie, "harper" starring paul newman was based on the first lew archer novel.

 

[thomaser]

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

This is actually the very first book I wanted to read when I first started reading around 7 years ago, but I didn't. I read Eco's Foucault's Pendulum instead. After that, I've read all his other novels and a ton of his non-fiction. So now it's high time for this. I just wanted to wait until I found a quality hardcover edition, and this one is very nice indeed. Haven't read much yet, but I know it will be good

Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann.

Halfway through, and I like it very much. Dense and wonderfully written story about a prodigous composer and his "deal with the devil", as told through the words of his childhood friend. It's over my head at times with all the detailed discussions about music, psychology, history, theology and philosophy, but it's told in such an unhurried and pleasant way that it's fun to read anyway. It also helps that I'm in a period where I listen a lot to classical music... fans of Beethoven especially should get a lot out of this. Thomas Mann is a strangely underrated writer, by the way. I'd recommend him to everyone who's interested in early 20th century-literature and who's not afraid of a challenge.

 

[nitewulf]

When it comes out in 5 days time anyway...

what!!! what!!!! MUST GET!!!

 

[TemplaerDude]

it's my kind of book.

 

[Alucard]

I'm in post-school term pleasure reading mode. So far this month, I've read...

...and right now I'm reading:

 

[Tralfamadore64]

Just finished

and then took a break from my physics kick to take in some Vonnegut

Now I'm reading

And plan to get these and a few more in by the month's end:

That's all I can remember while I'm at work.

 

[Tokubetsu]

3/4 of the way through! Almost at the end of the series. After these are done, I've got a pretty big list of scifi stuff I've been meaning to check out.

 

[JzeroT1437]

 

[JzeroT1437]

I'm in post-school term pleasure reading mode. So far this month, I've read...

...and right now I'm reading:

These are four of my favorite books! Dystopia fan?

edit: SORRY BOUT THE DOUBLE POST

 

[scorcho]

about 70 pages in, and the author weaves together multiple character studies quite gracefully. hopefully it lives up to the acclaim.

 

[Barbacoatl]

glad to see j.d. salinger getting some love

here's what i'm reading this month, latin american goodness (vila-matas' from spain, but still...)

piglia- ricardo piglia
wilcock - juan rodolfo wilcock (god)

 

[nitewulf]

glad to see j.d. salinger getting some love

here's what i'm reading this month, latin american goodness (vila-matas' from spain, but still...)

piglia- ricardo piglia
wilcock - juan rodolfo wilcock (god)

are you familiar with the works of Paco Ignacio Taibo II?
i've been meaning to check out some of his stuff, but not sure where to begin.

 

[Eric P]

I'm reading Kings of Infinite Space by James Hynes.

Imagine Sarte's No Exit mixed with Office Space. Hell isn't other people. It's central texas.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Murakami's Nowegian Wood.

 

[DjangoReinhardt]

Finished:

The General in His Labryinth - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Wait Until Spring, Bandini - John Fante
The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon
After Dark - Haruki Murakami

Reading:

Dictionary of the Khazars (Male) - Milorad Pavic

 

[perryfarrell]

Good stuff so far. Some say he's an heir to Whitman, definite similarities. Abundant yet controlled, sensuous etc. Better than much of what's being written today.

This book was high on the NYT list of best American novels of the last 25 years. I just finished it but read it too quickly so some stuff has definitely been lost on me--should read it again prolly. The writing style is definitely good. She even invents words, like 'lucifaction' (!).

 

[Odysseus]

i haven't read anything in months, i really need to cut the cord on the internet and game consoles for a while

 

[Alucard]

These are four of my favorite books! Dystopia fan?

edit: SORRY BOUT THE DOUBLE POST

I've never actually read much utopian/dystopian literature, and thought I would start with some of the best and most well-known. Out of these 4, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 have been my favourites. Thomas More's Utopia was a little frightening (although I'm all for the 6 hour workday), Huxley's BNW was really fascinating, but something about his writing style and heavy use of science terms tainted my enjoyment of the book. The last 3 chapters were my favourite part, as they brought everything together, and I always love talk of God, religion, and the human condition. Great stuff. Orwell will probably be one of my favourite writers as soon as I make it through 1984. After this and Animal Farm, I just really love his direct style. Not a sentence wasted.

 

[VALIS]

I read... er, listened to Cormac McCarthy's The Road yesterday. Meh. Not sure why this was so highly regarded, but I did listen to the audio book and maybe the reading just threw me off, which was annoying.

 

[Manabanana]

Orwell will probably be one of my favourite writers as soon as I make it through 1984. After this and Animal Farm, I just really love his direct style. Not a sentence wasted.

I take it you've read Politics and the English Language then? If not, go look it up. It's a short essay by Orwell about his principles of writing. You can find it online with relative ease. Orwell is my favorite author, but I got spoiled reading a lot of his stuff. It gets harder to read Huxley's fluff after reading 1984.

I'm currently working through Asimov's Foundation series. One more to go after I finish

They've all been really solid so far.

Also WTF @ that cover. Their ship isn't supposed to have any weapons on it.

 

[Memles]

Started reading it on the bus this morning. I've been on the bus every weekday for two weeks but haven't been alert enough to do any reading; now, I appear to be ready, because I was enraptured by it. It's great thus far, and having seen the movie recently it's interesting to see the signs coming (And yet not, in a weird way). It's making the film adaptation all the better.

 

[Eric P]

this weekend i purchased

The Instance of the fingerpost

and A Game of Thrones. I hate fantasy, but I'm curious about this one.

Both were two bucks a pop, so no big loss if i dislike either of them.

 

[maladroit]

 

[John Dunbar]

I've felt like starting reading more books lately, but I suck at picking them. I really like Ernest Hemingway and John Irving, so can someone recommend some books I might like?

Currently I'm reading Moby Dick. I actually started it quite a while ago, but I totally forgot it and have now started again.

 

[ronito]

Re-reading it. Man, I forgot how much I loved this book

 

[Alucard]

I take it you've read Politics and the English Language then? If not, go look it up. It's a short essay by Orwell about his principles of writing. You can find it online with relative ease. Orwell is my favorite author, but I got spoiled reading a lot of his stuff. It gets harder to read Huxley's fluff after reading 1984.

I haven't read that essay, but I will certainly track it down after I get through 1984. Thanks. And I definitely enjoy Orwell's style more than Huxley's, based on the little I've read of both authors. I find it a lot more involved and directly pertinent to the reader, whereas I felt there was a smokescreen barrier between the reader and the text throughout most of Brave New World. I still enjoyed it and loved much of it, but Orwell strikes me as much more direct, accessible, engrossing, and poignant.

 

[Nostrildamus]

 

[tehrafe]

Finished this one:

and started this one:

 

[Mifune]

Finished:

The General in His Labryinth - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon
After Dark - Haruki Murakami

How were these? I've got the new Chabon on deck.

 

[kablooey]

I started on Don Quixote a couple weeks ago, which was amusing and readable enough, but I ditched that a quarter of the way through in favor of something more contemporary: White Noise, by Don Delillo. I'm almost done with it. I felt the first half meandered a bit and came off as unfocused, but fortunately I stuck with it (not that I had a choice...I was on a 5-hour plane ride with nothing else to do), and the second half has been really incredible and provocative.

When I'm done with that, I'll either resume with Don Quixote, or pick up something else.

 

[impirius]

Just finished:

The Truth (with Jokes) - Al Franken
Good, but not as good as Lies. I think I read them too close together, as Franken's writing style started grating on me about halfway through this one.

Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
An easy read on an interesting topic. I kept waiting for him to tie everything together, though; this seemed at times more like a collection of related articles than a cohesive book, and I'm not sure what to take away from it since the advice and findings were sometimes contradictory.

Now reading:

Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman

Next up, finishing:

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett

 

[neuroticphil]

Just finished

Just started

 

[BlueTsunami]

I recently finished

I'm thinking about picking up "1984"

 

[Star Power]

 

[BlueTsunami]

I'm about to finish...

Finished this one:

and started this one:

:O

I may have picked up "The Godfather" due to your post (subconciously). How are the rest of Puzo's offerings?

 

[Holtz]

Just finished it.

Awesome book, felt just like an extra episode of the show, and so epic too.