What Book Are You Currently Reading?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I recently finished Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh. I liked the characters and the prose was gorgeous but holy sh**t what a gelid, despairing book.

Now finishing up a reread of Endō's Silence that I started earlier in the year and after that either a reread of We Have Always Lived in the Castle (which is objectively about as downbeat as Sword of Honour but which I find a ton of fun to read because it has one of the best narrative voices I've ever read) or the new Beren and Lúthien book that I pre-ordered months ago and that really should have arrived by ow.

[Alabama_Indy10]

Have any of y'all read Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Have any of y'all read Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero?

My family owns it. Never read it. I read half of the Matthews book on Kennedy and Nixon. 

[vanguard96]

Finishing up Atlas Shrugged for the first time through.

Next is a choice - Gulag Archipelago or Brothers Karamazov

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

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Both sound like great goals; neither have I read.

[vanguard96]

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Both sound like great goals; neither have I read.

Yes, I've been partisan for a good time recently. Stepping back from time to time is good.

[Gustaf]

I'm currently reading the 4th part of Ferrante's Neapolitan series. Excellent and moving read.

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To comment on stuff:

Also loved Feast of the Goat and I don't think it portrays Balaguer as very sympathetic.

Agree with Nathan that Soseki>Murakami

When it comes to Dostoevsky I'd recommend Crime and Punishment or the Idiot as the first read I think. Brothers Karamazov is amazing but it's longer and I think I benefitted from having read some Dostoevsky beforehand.

[SingingAnalyst]

The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker.

[JA]

'Foundations of Christianity,' by Karl Kaufsky (1908)

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

The Old Testament. Simply the greatest crime/gore novel of all times.

[TheSaint250]

Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis

[Kamala]

Seeing as there is a "What are you are listening to" thread, I was also wondering what kind of novels, comic books, nonfiction, etc. you are all reading right now.

I'm currently reading or planning to read:
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

[Mr. Smith]

robert caro's 3rd volume of LBJ.

[dead0man]

the third Game of Thrones book, whatever it's called

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

In no particular order, these are the books I have started or re-started reading this summer:

The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt
On Revolution, Hannah Arendt
The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire, Bryan Crozier
Injustice: The Social Origins of Democracy & Dictatorship, Barrington Moore, Jr.
The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention, Richard H. Immerman
Piercing the Reich: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American Secret Agents During World War II, Joseph E. Persico
Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century, Jerome Blume

I doubt I will finish most of these.

[KingSweden]

"The Witchwood Crown" by Tad Williams

[Kamala]

In no particular order, these are the books I have started or re-started reading this summer:

The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt
On Revolution, Hannah Arendt
The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire, Bryan Crozier
Injustice: The Social Origins of Democracy & Dictatorship, Barrington Moore, Jr.
The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention, Richard H. Immerman
Piercing the Reich: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American Secret Agents During World War II, Joseph E. Persico
Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century, Jerome Blume

I doubt I will finish most of these.

Arendt is great - I really like Benhabib, who builds off and is influenced by her.

[Enduro]

After spending some time working on a dozen books at a time, I've realized it wasn't working and calmed down on the number of books I read.

It by Stephen King
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Also found The New Avengers omnibus at my local library, so I guess that's my main project in terms of comics.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

In no particular order, these are the books I have started or re-started reading this summer:

The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt
On Revolution, Hannah Arendt
The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire, Bryan Crozier
Injustice: The Social Origins of Democracy & Dictatorship, Barrington Moore, Jr.
The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention, Richard H. Immerman
Piercing the Reich: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American Secret Agents During World War II, Joseph E. Persico
Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century, Jerome Blume

I doubt I will finish most of these.

Arendt is great - I really like Benhabib, who builds off and is influenced by her.

I was introduced to her in a political theory class my junior year, where we read parts of "Totalitarianism" and "On Violence" (an article which I read in full this summer). She was the one that most gripped me--outside of perhaps Hegel--out of those we reviewed, and her choice of subject matter was right up my alley. Most of what I read seemed to be either things I had thought but never put into words, or observations that made sense when articulated--others might disagree. I picked up both of the books I have by her from a used bookstore in Seattle last summer, and I'd like to finish at least one this summer. I also have a printed version of an article she wrote in the wake of the Hungarian Revolution.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Neon Genesis Evangelion, vol 1

[Mr. Smith]

LBJ: Master of the Senate -Robert Caro

[Blair]

Citizen Clem. I'd be lying if I said that I've loved it, or that it's been an effortless read, but it's been rather interesting even if the pre-wars years were a bit dull.

The funny thing is that Attlee comes out of the book as rather average; a steady chairman, who was underestimated by everyone, but was really a quiet revolutionary.

Am hoping to move onto some lighter novels for August; am a bit sick of political books

[Lord Halifax]

The funny thing is that Attlee comes out of the book as rather average; a steady chairman, who was underestimated by everyone, but was really a quiet revolutionary.

That doesn't sound average to me.

[Mr. Smith]

Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World

Kirsten Gillibrand