CoN 25th Anniversary: 1997-2022
What book(s) are you currently reading?

Posted: 28th July 2011 14:29

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@ Black Company:

An excellent series. I read it awhile ago, and I've actually been fairly surprised recently at the large numbers of people I've run across that have just found and read this great series.


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If nothing else, you can read that thread for some hilarious seven-year-old Mogmaster action.


I also recommend you all get your lulz in.

Just finished Dance with Dragons, actually. Currently doomed to seven more years of agony while GRRM takes his sweet bloody time, and hits every comicon in the damn world.

Perusing through Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics and/or Aesop in the bathroom, various dialogues of Plato out-loud with friends and gearing up to tackle the Silmarillion again. A far cry from my last summers reading, but then again, I'm employed this year and don't have whole days free to punctuate with reading in between shuffling around aimlessly and eating from dumpsters.

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Posted: 15th August 2011 01:38

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I'm reading and rather enjoying Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter at the moment. For those who aren't in the know, it's a piece of historical fiction (obviously) in which Lincoln's ambition for the White House is driven by the loss of his loved ones to vampires. It's not a comedy, as much as it might seem, but it's pretty clever. I especially like it because it references a lot of things and places around where I grew up, since the real Lincoln spent a huge chunk of his life around there.

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Posted: 11th October 2011 22:48

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Since I'm the only person literate here these days, it seems, I'll gush a bit about the book I just finished. It's called Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline; I didn't recognize the name until later, but this is the same guy who was behind the movie Fanboys a few years ago, the movie about the Star Wars nerds who try to break into the Skywalker Ranch (I haven't seen it, though this reminds me I really should).

Ready Player One is a kinda-familiar setting - science fiction set in a dystopian future in which the energy crisis hits full tilt and destroys the entire worldwide economy. People escape their dreary lives by spending as much time as possible in a virtual reality simulation/MMO, and then one day the supernerd responsible for creating it dies of old age, leaving behind a quest for all players to inherit his fortune.

The really fun thing about the book is not just that it's entertaining, but that it's entertaining both by featuring a more extreme type of the massively multiplayer games we experience today but also by way of idolizing nerd culture of the seventies and eighties by way of incorporating the music, TV, and movies - and especially the games - of the decade in the in-game quests. It might lose some of its luster for you younger folks out there who didn't experience it firsthand, or it might work even better for you because you might have the same feeling of nostalgia-without-direct-experience that the characters in the book have.

Really fun read, all in all - I finished it in about two days with the help of having an annoying cold today. Worth grabbing when you have a chance.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 12th October 2011 17:17

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Posted: 11th October 2011 23:29

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Quote (Rangers51 @ 11th October 2011 18:48)
Since I'm the only person literate here these days

dry.gif

A few of the novels I've read in the last month and a half include Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard, a phenominal book about a Brittish boy in Shanghi on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack. His childhood has been lived out entirely in war, and as a result he learns to be unphased by the conditions around him and to admire the strong Japanese. It can get a little disturbed at times, but in the most natural of ways.

I really enjoyed Jean Toomer's Cane, which is without a doubt up there as one of the most influential pieces of African American literature. It's actually not a novel but rather a collection of short stories, poems as well as what might be long enough to consider a novella. The collection transitions and inter-relates really well. Everything in the volume has a poem-like thickness that makes it a real complex and rich read.

I guess I'll give a poem shout-out to Seamus Heaney's Mycenae Lookout. It portrays the alienation of the lookout at Mycenae, posted to warn Clytemestra of Agamemnon's return so that she is not caught with her lover (post-Trojan War). It examines conflict and parallels the lookout's position to the conflict between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland before ultimately concluding with a vision of peace. I've been through a ton of poems so far this semester, but Mycenae Lookout takes the cake.

I'm currently finishing reading William Faulkner's Light in August. For me, it isn't as compelling a story as many of Faulkner's other powerhouses: Absalom, Absalom! (my favorite novel of all time) or The Sound and the Fury, for example. While his narrative also seems to be of less significance here, Faulkner's writing itself and his use of technique are at full form. On the surface, it's a novel about the plight of a mixed-race man; at a richer level, it is about the predestination and fatality of individuals and how the mixed-race man is able to actually escape it. As I said, I'm not finished yet; knowing Faulkner, I expect the ending to impress.

The other book I'm currently reading is By the Lake (know by a different title on the other side of the Atlantic, I believe) by John McGahern, the central figure of the Irish ruralists and one of the most important recent Irish authors. It's a beautifully simple book (it doesn't really do much of anything that one would consider 'plot' besides the ordinary life of a few farmers) that calls up the tired spirits of a quiet countryside.

The book next on my radar is from Bret Easton Ellis, of American Psycho fame. It's called Less Than Zero and it deals with his usual: a group of teens hopelessly drowning themselves in a 1980's radicalized culture of sex and drugs. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this and the other two I'm currently reading over the course of fall break.

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Posted: 11th October 2011 23:49

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Quote (Death Penalty @ 11th October 2011 18:29)
The book next on my radar is from Bret Easton Ellis, of American Psycho fame. It's called Less Than Zero and it deals with his usual: a group of teens hopelessly drowning themselves in a 1980's radicalized culture of sex and drugs. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this and the other two I'm currently reading over the course of fall break.

Great movie, for what it's worth, though I have not read the book. smile.gif

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Posted: 12th October 2011 02:13

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Quote (Rangers51 @ 11th October 2011 14:48)
Since I'm the only person literate here these days, it seems...

Not quite the only one, but probably close. These days I'm reading a lot of Korean textbooks for class. It's only fun in the way that doing all challenging things is fun; it's always boring in that "Why am I reading about this guy's plans to do laundry?" sort of way.

Anyway, outside of my classes, I just finished reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. It's a very strange novel, with parts written in the second person, parts ostensibly the books that the main character is reading, and all of it strange. Conceptually, I enjoyed it, but felt that it dragged in several places because Calvino insists on using more academic language in parts--the opposite case (read: poetic, visceral; not abstract, recondite) being true in my favorite chapter, "On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon". Anyway, if you're okay with experimental fiction, I highly recommend it; if not, you might still check out the first chapter and "On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon" (the latter chapter is best if you're a fan of strange erotic love triangles in your Japanese fiction written by an Italian translated into English).
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Posted: 12th October 2011 16:08

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Quote (Kane @ 11th October 2011 22:13)
Quote (Rangers51 @ 11th October 2011 14:48)
Since I'm the only person literate here these days, it seems...

Not quite the only one, but probably close. These days I'm reading a lot of Korean textbooks for class. It's only fun in the way that doing all challenging things is fun; it's always boring in that "Why am I reading about this guy's plans to do laundry?" sort of way.

Anyway, outside of my classes, I just finished reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. It's a very strange novel, with parts written in the second person, parts ostensibly the books that the main character is reading, and all of it strange. Conceptually, I enjoyed it, but felt that it dragged in several places because Calvino insists on using more academic language in parts--the opposite case (read: poetic, visceral; not abstract, recondite) being true in my favorite chapter, "On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon". Anyway, if you're okay with experimental fiction, I highly recommend it; if not, you might still check out the first chapter and "On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon" (the latter chapter is best if you're a fan of strange erotic love triangles in your Japanese fiction written by an Italian translated into English).

I just looked it up on wikipedia, Kane, and that looks like a really interesting novel. He said that Nabokov was an influence on him, which seems to make a lot of sense given that Calvino's structure of work-within-a-work is quite similar to what Nabokov does in Pale Fire. I think I'll have to add that to my list, especially keeping in mind that starting next year I'll be learning Italian, which would allow for an interesting second read in the original language someday.

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Posted: 12th October 2011 17:10

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Been plowing through the Dresden Files series recently. They're really entertaining, and fortunately there are like thirteen already out, so at least at this point I've always had more to look forward to. Sadly, I finished the tenth one last night, so I am approaching the end until the author releases more of the series. I will probably end up reading Ready Player One at Josh's suggestion after catching myself up on this series.

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Posted: 12th October 2011 18:05

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Recently finished Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. Recommended it to a friend too. It's a great read, especially if you're a musician. Sacks is a psychologist and researcher on the Columbia University faculty who presents, as he calls it, "tales of music and the brain". In very entertaining and easy-to-read format too.

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Posted: 13th October 2011 01:44

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Quote (Death Penalty @ 12th October 2011 08:08)
I just looked it up on wikipedia, Kane, and that looks like a really interesting novel. He said that Nabokov was an influence on him, which seems to make a lot of sense given that Calvino's structure of work-within-a-work is quite similar to what Nabokov does in Pale Fire. I think I'll have to add that to my list, especially keeping in mind that starting next year I'll be learning Italian, which would allow for an interesting second read in the original language someday.

Ooh, I would love to be able to read a translation along with the original. That would be incredibly interesting. You should definitely do it. I know there were a few words in my English translation that I don't think really exist in English, but that the author felt important and so just turned them into loanwords. I wonder what the connotations of those words are. You'll have to let me know if you notice something similar.
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Posted: 13th October 2011 03:22

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I just yesterday started The Metamorphasis by Franz Kafka. I'm about 5 pages in, but it's a short story, so I should be done with it soon. So far I don't know why Kafka was such a well-known, influential writer, but I guess 5 pages aren't enough to show that. He's my mother's favorite author, so that says something for him, at least.

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Posted: 18th October 2011 01:32

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I've heard a statistic in the United States that 39% of people don't read a single book after high school (outside of coursework or a job requirement). So it's really less of a stretch to appear to be the only literate one. That aside, here are some readings I've gone through lately.

The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stowall

Multi-billionaire dies realizing he's ruined his family as people by providing for all their material needs. He senses a spark of hope in a great-nephew and leaves instructions in the will for his friend to aid in undergoing a salvage operation.

There are some interesting lessons within for those who look for them. The book has the decency not to beat the reader over the head with them so it's also accessible to a casual reader.

On a lighthearted note, I enjoyed the phrase about dealing with "inlaws, outlaws, and assorted misfit relatives."

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Fascinating though somewhat heavy in places. Explores factors behind success stories that often go unrecognized such as the extraordinary opportunities Bill Gates had before dropping out of college to form Microsoft and the chain of events experienced by Bill Joy, who would go on to write much of the code used to access the internet.
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Posted: 18th October 2011 01:40

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Oh man, Malcolm Gladwell. Here is a very interesting guy who has written three or four books to be food for thought for quasi-intellectuals and fake philosophers. I actually prefer his New Yorker articles and basketball writing to his books (of which I've read Tipping Point and Outliers), because they're the same thing every time: thought-provoking and definitely not bad, but extremely inclined to make tools reading them sound smarter than they are.

Currently reading a bunch of manga and comics (New 52! New 52!), plus The Pyrates by George MacDonald Frazier. Not as good as his fabulous Flashman novels, but pretty solid historical fiction.

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Posted: 18th October 2011 16:38
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Quote (Kane @ 12th October 2011 02:13)
Anyway, outside of my classes, I just finished reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.

One of my very favorite books!

I am reading Richard Feynman's autobiography, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Mr. Feynman seems like kind of a dick, which isn't quite what I expected.
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Posted: 18th October 2011 17:40

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About a boy by Nick Hornby because of a school assignment.

I'm pretty disappointed in it... I mean, it's not bad per se, but most characters feel kind of stupid and some stuff exaggerated. And it's humour is not really the kind I enjoy. You're supposed to feel sad for the main character, but at some points he kind of comes of as a jerk which at least for me makes it hard to like him.
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Posted: 19th October 2011 02:55

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At Home - Bill Bryson

Anyone else like Bryson? I can't get enough of him. His books are just so entertaining, not to mention fascinating, insightful, witty, and amusing. The guy could make any subject interesting. He's really great on audiobook, too. I'll put it this way: if there were one person with whom I could sit down and have a few pints at a pub, I'd probably pick Bill Bryson.

This book is a look at the history of the home and everything in it, along with domestic life in general. I'm not too far into it yet, but it's really interesting so far. He goes into why people began to settle down in one place and how homes evolved into what they are today. There's even a lot of great etymology; he talks about where we got some of our domestic words and phrases, such as "room and board" (the board originally referred to an actual board which people placed across their lap as a table during meals).
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Posted: 19th October 2011 04:23

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Quote (Reod Dai @ 18th October 2011 18:55)
At Home - Bill Bryson

Anyone else like Bryson? I can't get enough of him. His books are just so entertaining, not to mention fascinating, insightful, witty, and amusing. The guy could make any subject interesting. He's really great on audiobook, too. I'll put it this way: if there were one person with whom I could sit down and have a few pints at a pub, I'd probably pick Bill Bryson.

This book is a look at the history of the home and everything in it, along with domestic life in general. I'm not too far into it yet, but it's really interesting so far. He goes into why people began to settle down in one place and how homes evolved into what they are today. There's even a lot of great etymology; he talks about where we got some of our domestic words and phrases, such as "room and board" (the board originally referred to an actual board which people placed across their lap as a table during meals).

Yeah, I really like Bryson. He presents anecdotal history in such a comforting and familiar way that it's entirely engrossing and hard to put down. I read The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and really enjoyed it, and then had my mom read it since she was born the same year as Bryson. It allowed her to revisit the exact times in which she grew up, and it gave us a lot of things to talk about.

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Posted: 28th October 2011 17:47

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Quote (Kane @ 11th October 2011 21:13)
Not quite the only one, but probably close.

See, I brought the readers out of the woodwork by accusing them of being stupid. smile.gif

I'm currently slowly reading through Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, a story about the construction of the iconic house told largely from second-hand reporting of first-hand interviews and excerpts of letters among the major players in building the house: Wright, his major lieutenants, the house's owner, his son, the builders, etc. Wright is probably my second-favorite architect, and it's neat to read directly his thought processes and his own words confirming his reputation as a bit of a jerk.

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Posted: 29th October 2011 01:35

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Quote (Rangers51 @ 28th October 2011 09:47)
See, I brought the readers out of the woodwork by accusing them of being stupid. smile.gif

I'm currently slowly reading through Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, a story about the construction of the iconic house told largely from second-hand reporting of first-hand interviews and excerpts of letters among the major players in building the house: Wright, his major lieutenants, the house's owner, his son, the builders, etc. Wright is probably my second-favorite architect, and it's neat to read directly his thought processes and his own words confirming his reputation as a bit of a jerk.

You've figured out the secret to increasing traffic to the site: hit us where we're most defensive. We're all gamers here, so next you should jab us regarding our "physiques."

Also, I'm impressed that you have a second favorite architect at all since I really only know Wright. The fact that you have a second (possibly third, fourth, etc.) architect to use in ranking architects impresses me.
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Posted: 16th November 2011 13:20

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Quote (Kane @ 28th October 2011 20:35)
Also, I'm impressed that you have a second favorite architect at all since I really only know Wright. The fact that you have a second (possibly third, fourth, etc.) architect to use in ranking architects impresses me.

It really only goes as far as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and then Wright. I mean, I. M. Pei and Frank Gehry are both awesome as well, I think anyone would say that, but it's Mies van der Rohe and Wright that I've been exposed to the most.

Anyway, back on topic - I just finished a book by Misha Glenny called DarkMarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops, and You. After hearing an interview with the author, I thought it sounded like an entertaining book about the culture of online fraud. I was wrong. The source material was interesting enough, but the book itself was painful to read in a lot of ways; for one, I thought the author gave a lot of reverence to the criminals - while credit card scammers are certainly a very intelligent lot, I don't see any reason to treat them with the adulation the book seemed to at times. Additionally, there was a lot of editorializing for a book that I would have imagined better without it, especially when it came to just about any chance to point out how many times Western governments failed to keep cybercrime in line. Finally, there was obvious baiting to set up a sequel - which I found out actually did happen for Kindles just a few weeks ago.

If the concept of a look into the underworld of online fraud appeals to you, try to find another book. I might try Kevin Poulsen's soon, since he actually knows of which he speaks as a reformed hacker himself.

I'm also picking up the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels from my library. Unfortunately, they have so few copies that the teenyboppers have them all sucked up - I have books one and three at home right now but no indication when I might get two. :\

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Posted: 16th November 2011 15:35

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Quote (Quad @ 12th October 2011 23:22)
I just yesterday started The Metamorphasis by Franz Kafka. I'm about 5 pages in, but it's a short story, so I should be done with it soon. So far I don't know why Kafka was such a well-known, influential writer, but I guess 5 pages aren't enough to show that. He's my mother's favorite author, so that says something for him, at least.

Kafka's just a really neat writer. He expressed the disparity between him and the society in which he lived and wrote in really interesting ways, which is why he's so well known. Metamorphasis is a great example of that, but reading a lot of his shorter works/parables really hits the point home. An Imperial Message is a great example of the short parables he wrote.

I've finished the couple books I'd mentioned in my previous post as well as several others. Corregidora is the story of a black woman, the grand-daughter of a black slave who was raped by the plantation owner who fathered her. Through an accident, she has lost the ability to bear children, the one thing emphasied by her family as a way in which the family's terrible past (documentation of which has been destroyed) can be preserved. At the same time, she is not sure if she wants the past to be preserved. A pretty one-trick story, concerned with the past and its preservation.

I also read Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. A great novel to be sure, set in a difficult though interesting style and centered around the question of 'what can last?' The characters are concerned, above all, with their own mortality and whether or not their actions and creations in the present can even stand the test of time. The message is ultimately a tempered yet hopeful one. Definitely a work of art.

Also re-read Heart of Darkness, though that really requires no detailing here as it's probably one of the most read pieces of literature ever.

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Posted: 17th November 2011 11:53

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Quote (Death Penalty @ 16th November 2011 07:35)
I also read Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. A great novel to be sure, set in a difficult though interesting style and centered around the question of 'what can last?' The characters are concerned, above all, with their own mortality and whether or not their actions and creations in the present can even stand the test of time. The message is ultimately a tempered yet hopeful one. Definitely a work of art.

Also re-read Heart of Darkness, though that really requires no detailing here as it's probably one of the most read pieces of literature ever.

I can't remember if I mentioned earlier that I just finished To The Lighthouse, but I did, and I agree that it's definitely a work of art. Of course, I'm a huge fan of basically everything that Virginia Woolf is or does--with the possible exception of her swimming technique (too soon?).

As for Conrad, I have never read anything by him, and I majored in English. (That fact doesn't change the fact that you are right about Heart of Darkness being one of the most widely read pieces of literature ever.)
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Posted: 17th November 2011 18:01

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Quote (Kane @ 17th November 2011 07:53)
Quote (Death Penalty @ 16th November 2011 07:35)
I also read Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. A great novel to be sure, set in a difficult though interesting style and centered around the question of 'what can last?' The characters are concerned, above all, with their own mortality and whether or not their actions and creations in the present can even stand the test of time. The message is ultimately a tempered yet hopeful one. Definitely a work of art.

Also re-read Heart of Darkness, though that really requires no detailing here as it's probably one of the most read pieces of literature ever.

I can't remember if I mentioned earlier that I just finished To The Lighthouse, but I did, and I agree that it's definitely a work of art. Of course, I'm a huge fan of basically everything that Virginia Woolf is or does--with the possible exception of her swimming technique (too soon?).

As for Conrad, I have never read anything by him, and I majored in English. (That fact doesn't change the fact that you are right about Heart of Darkness being one of the most widely read pieces of literature ever.)

I'm going to go with not too soon, as it was her own damn choice tongue.gif

To the Lighthouse was actually the first thing of hers that I've read, but I definitely came away wanting to read more. The way she works with text is briliant, and her philosophical insight, while not exactly the most joyful thing I've ever read, is fascinating.

As far as Conrad is concerned, you need to give him a read. He is one of the authors of whose work I have read quite a bit (Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Secret Agent, a fewshort stories). You really ought to do yourself a favor and at least read Heart of Darkness: it's short enough that it's easily read while still containing everything that defines Conrad's work, narrative technique and perspective. You really can't go wrong with it. Lord Jim is quite good as well, but it's Nostromo that really shines for me. That is one solid novel; Conrad spends the entire thing lining up all the tumblers perfectly so that by the end you can't help but want to slap him on the back and say 'well done' at the end. A really stunning testament to the futility of human action and the corruptibility of ideals (so another happy novel, yay!). The Secret Agent is interesting as well, though it is distinctly from the later variety of his fiction (it has a lot of the same general themes, but an even more jumpy narrative and no relation to seafaring at all).

So yeah. I'm a fan biggrin.gif

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Posted: 18th November 2011 00:55
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Heart of Darkness is also one of my favorite books, for what that's worth. I have read no other Conrad.

I got sidetracked on Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman and I've been reading economics stuff. Currently, Money Mischief by the late Milton Friedman. He's a little too freemarkety for me to recommend him enthusiastically, but the guy has a certain dry sort of humor and really knows his money. Each chapter is about a different episode in monetary history, though there are actually a few chapters devoted to gold and silver standards in the 1800s, particularly in the US. The book is easy to follow for the most part but you would probably want to have had an economics class or two before reading all of it. Friedman occasionally gets in depth and assumes you know certain things that you might not know.
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Posted: 18th November 2011 02:56

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Quote (Death Penalty @ 17th November 2011 10:01)
As far as Conrad is concerned, you need to give him a read. He is one of the authors of whose work I have read quite a bit (Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Secret Agent, a few short stories). You really ought to do yourself a favor and at least read Heart of Darkness: it's short enough that it's easily read while still containing everything that defines Conrad's work, narrative technique and perspective. You really can't go wrong with it. Lord Jim is quite good as well, but it's Nostromo that really shines for me. That is one solid novel; Conrad spends the entire thing lining up all the tumblers perfectly so that by the end you can't help but want to slap him on the back and say 'well done' at the end. A really stunning testament to the futility of human action and the corruptibility of ideals (so another happy novel, yay!). The Secret Agent is interesting as well, though it is distinctly from the later variety of his fiction (it has a lot of the same general themes, but an even more jumpy narrative and no relation to seafaring at all).

So yeah. I'm a fan biggrin.gif

I didn't know there were such stalwart fans of Conrad out there. Anyway, when I get back to the States, I'll definitely have to give him a shot. (I realize that his work is old enough to be on Gutenberg, but I hate reading on a computer screen, so it'll have to wait another month.)
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Posted: 16th December 2011 14:18

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Quote (Rangers51 @ 16th November 2011 08:20)
I'm also picking up the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels from my library. Unfortunately, they have so few copies that the teenyboppers have them all sucked up - I have books one and three at home right now but no indication when I might get two. :\

It took until last weekend for me to get the whole series. I've now read them all. I agree with those who prefer the books to the movies, though I guess that's not surprising; however, I still think that the books had a lot of filler panels and that kind of annoys me. Since I don't read manga, though, maybe that's just the way it is in O'Malley's source of inspiration?

In the meantime I also finished up the Hunger Games trilogy. Man, Suzanne Collins is almost Rowling-like in her zeal to kill off characters in her final volume. Good series in all, though it's true that you can easily read just the first book and still come away with the best experience of the lot.

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Posted: 17th December 2011 18:03

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Just finished reading the Swedish translation of Disgrace. It wasn't as good as I heard it was, but it certainly wasn't bad.
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Posted: 19th December 2011 22:51

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I'm trying to read Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent, but it's really difficult because it's so academic (and long-winded: the introduction is 40 pages!).

My brother I think has ordered me Chris Hedges' Empire of Illusion. I don't know... I guess with all the political and economic problems going on I've just been deeply into that rather than anything else.

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Posted: 29th December 2011 22:35

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It's winter break for me, which means time to read like crazy.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen - About time I get around to some Franzen, and it was really worth while. The Corrections is about a midwestern family's struggles in an evolving world. On one hand, the parents struggle against their advancing age; on the other, the grown children find themselves overwhelmed in the fast-paced world they've thrown themselves into. All the characters, frustratingly, find themselves in a position where they serve another master, whether that be Parkinson's, a wife, a love interest, an addiction, guilt or sense of deficiency. They find themselves, in one way or another (sometimes subconsciously) seeking the simpler past, yet looking back proves to be as empty as their current pained existences. And I won't say anything more, because you should read it tongue.gif

Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham - Imagine his earlier novel The Hours, except with Walt Whitman as the central author instead of Virginia Woolf. That isn't exactly it (Whitman himself plays less of a role), but the general creative direction seems rather similar. The novel is divided into three sections: one centered around a poor family in the heart of the industrial revolution, another around a cop story in more or less present times, and the final in a futuristic world with aliens and androids. In each case, the role of technology and the human spirit are explored, sometimes in contrast and at other times in tandem with Whitman's views on nature/human spirit.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - A really nice rural novel. Gilead is the story of John Ames, a dying pastor in Iowa, who is writing a long letter to his young son. In this letter, Ames hopes to tell his son all the things he might have gotten around to had he been able to watch his son grow up: family history, the town's history, his view of the world and the way he understands God. It's a really beautiful novel, sweet and sometimes sad but always enlightening. It explores the concepts of memory, vocation, happiness and death with both depth and aesthetic skill.

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser - Going a bit old school with this one. I only just started, so I can't say too much, but it's about a girl moving into the city and having her roots shaken. Will comment more at the end of break, once I've finished this and a few other novels.

I've also been reading various essays from Heidegger, Altheusser, Derrida and Faucoult. Fun stuff, but I imagine the interest doesn't exist here, so I won't waste the space wink.gif

Now, back to more reading!

This post has been edited by Death Penalty on 29th December 2011 22:36

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Posted: 30th December 2011 06:22

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Diary by Chuck Pahlaniuk! It started of kinda slow, and it's juuust now getting intriguing. We'll see how it ends, whether or not I like it!

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