What Book Are You Currently Reading?
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Author Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading?  (Read 396972 times)
Lasitten
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« Reply #825 on: September 15, 2013, 11:37:43 AM »

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Gustaf
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« Reply #826 on: September 16, 2013, 05:02:15 AM »

I finished Blonde, which was great although a bit depressing. And a bit long.

Then I read Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Totally amazing and had me in tears.

Tortilla Flat by Steinbeck, excellent read and lots of fun.

Torrents of Spring by Hemingway. I enjoyed it a lot, really funny. Doesn't seem to be generally liked though, but I'm a sucker for parodies.

The Moon and Sixpence by Maugham. Supposed to be great, but while well-written didn't really get to me.

Dracula Ugh. I'm not a fan of that genre. Too much fainting.

Currently I'm reading Röde Orm a classic Swedish viking tale.
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Nathan
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« Reply #827 on: September 18, 2013, 02:52:13 PM »

I've been meaning to pick up Idylls of the King. Is it worthwhile?
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Atlas Has Shrugged
ChairmanSanchez
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« Reply #828 on: September 18, 2013, 04:21:20 PM »

I just finished the Aquariums of Pyongyang. A very detailed insight into the dark world of the North Korean concentration camps.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #829 on: September 18, 2013, 06:56:52 PM »

I've been meaning to pick up Idylls of the King. Is it worthwhile?

Only if you have a thing for turgidity.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #830 on: September 18, 2013, 07:01:56 PM »

Dracula Ugh. I'm not a fan of that genre. Too much fainting.

It's absolutely atrocious, isn't it? You have the obvious issues with that genre, you have the almost Bulwer-Lyttonesque prose, and random displays of grotesque racism.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #831 on: September 18, 2013, 07:09:43 PM »

Anyways, I'm reading Red or Dead, David Peace's latest work. It's excellent.
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Nathan
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« Reply #832 on: September 18, 2013, 07:24:00 PM »
« Edited: September 18, 2013, 07:34:50 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

I've been meaning to pick up Idylls of the King. Is it worthwhile?

Only if you have a thing for turgidity.

It's funny. Tennyson's the kind of poet who should by most sober measures be completely irrelevant to my interests and if asked to argue that his verse is overwrought, ponderous, and in general dubious both aesthetically and politically I would be more than able to, but for some reason that I really don't understand I on some visceral level like some of his works (not all!) a lot. The development of Arthuriana is also something I've been interested in for a very long time.

Anyway, on further consideration I'm not sure he's the sort of turgidity I'm looking for right now, but I'll probably read it at some point. Down the list Idylls of the King goes for the time being. In that case I'm not sure what's up next.
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Gustaf
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« Reply #833 on: September 22, 2013, 03:29:03 AM »

Dracula Ugh. I'm not a fan of that genre. Too much fainting.

It's absolutely atrocious, isn't it? You have the obvious issues with that genre, you have the almost Bulwer-Lyttonesque prose, and random displays of grotesque racism.

Yes, yes, yes and yes.

"That good, good, sweet, sweet woman"

What sort of sentence is that? Tongue
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Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee
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« Reply #834 on: September 28, 2013, 12:01:30 PM »

I just finished reading "MEDUSA: A Kurt Austin Adventure" by Clive Cussler w/ Paul Kemprecos.

I had borrowed "The Serpent" from one of my teachers and read it back in 2009, so when I saw this real cheap, I snagged it.

It haven't any books since June really, when I started and didn't finish a book on Laura Bush. Just had other things to be doing over that period.

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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #835 on: September 28, 2013, 06:04:48 PM »
« Edited: September 28, 2013, 06:12:38 PM by True Federalist »

After coming across a quote from it that piqued my interest, I went to the library today and got a copy of The Problem of Pain by C.S.Lewis.  Fairly straightforward so far, with me being pretty much in agreement, but not finding anything especially profound, just reasonably well-written.  I'll reserve judgement until I've finished reading it to decide whether I'd recommend it.

Still I'll share with you a quote I found interesting:
"We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven — a senile benevolence [...] whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be said at the end of each day 'a good time was had by all.'"
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Flake
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« Reply #836 on: October 05, 2013, 07:06:17 PM »

They poured fire on us from the sky
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Mopsus
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« Reply #837 on: October 09, 2013, 05:39:45 PM »

So far, I've found "Book VII" of Paradise Lost to be the most enjoyable to read.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #838 on: October 14, 2013, 02:16:12 PM »

Local history:
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Atlas Has Shrugged
ChairmanSanchez
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« Reply #839 on: October 14, 2013, 03:33:44 PM »

Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne Heller. A critical and detailed look into the life of a very secretive woman.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #840 on: October 16, 2013, 01:04:05 PM »

Anyways, I'm reading Red or Dead, David Peace's latest work. It's excellent.

Finished it a couple of weeks ago and, yeah, excellent. Would recommend it strongly to anyone that likes football.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #841 on: October 16, 2013, 01:05:14 PM »

Started reading The Luminaries the other day and like it a lot. Agreeing with the Booker judges is always a little concerning, but stopped clocks and all that.
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Gustaf
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« Reply #842 on: October 16, 2013, 01:12:42 PM »

I finished Blonde, which was great although a bit depressing. And a bit long.

Then I read Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Totally amazing and had me in tears.

Tortilla Flat by Steinbeck, excellent read and lots of fun.

Torrents of Spring by Hemingway. I enjoyed it a lot, really funny. Doesn't seem to be generally liked though, but I'm a sucker for parodies.

The Moon and Sixpence by Maugham. Supposed to be great, but while well-written didn't really get to me.

Dracula Ugh. I'm not a fan of that genre. Too much fainting.

Currently I'm reading Röde Orm a classic Swedish viking tale.

So, the first part of Röde Orm was nice enough. Left the second volume until later.

Then I read The Secret Garden. Cute little book but a bit underwhelming.

Short story by Vonnegut called 2BR02B which was all right but far from his capacity.

My main project at the moment is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Murakami. Which is the best by him I've read so far. However. What is UP with this man and women who can't orgasm? It's like a dominant theme of his (at least in the ones I've read). Crazy stuff.
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Tetro Kornbluth
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« Reply #843 on: October 18, 2013, 09:05:54 PM »

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Great book. Don't expect explanations though. It's Murakami (spoiler?).
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #844 on: October 18, 2013, 09:48:27 PM »

City of God by Augustine of Hippo.

I'm currently in the middle of the second of the twenty two essays, and so far I'm not impressed.  He's coming across as more sanctimonious than sanctified so far.  I think I see why the preface suggested a first time reader might want to skip over the first ten essays and come back to them later.
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Gustaf
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« Reply #845 on: October 22, 2013, 04:37:37 AM »

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Great book. Don't expect explanations though. It's Murakami (spoiler?).

Yes, I'm enjoying it. And I sort of saw that aspect coming. Tongue
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© tweed
Miamiu1027
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« Reply #846 on: October 23, 2013, 11:46:32 AM »

Does God Exist? - Hans Kung has been taking up much of my time.  my mom is going to give me the P/V translation of Dostoevsky - The Idiot for my birthday come Sunday.
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Nathan
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« Reply #847 on: October 23, 2013, 08:22:16 PM »

Murakami's always felt a little same-y to me, in that he's more influenced than influential and cosmopolitan in a way that seems (for me, and this is entirely subjective) bland rather than cultured. He also can't write women to save his life. He's got really good instincts for imagery and mood, though.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #848 on: October 23, 2013, 09:11:21 PM »

I went ahead and returned City of God to the library after finishing only the first three essays. Maybe I'll some day read the rest (or at least the eleventh and later essays), but neither his style nor his theology were all that appealing to me. More than a trace of Augustine's former Manichaean beliefs are fairly evident, which likely contributed to that assessment.  I fully believe there is such a thing as evil, but I don't need a dualistic theology to explain how there an be both evil in the world and a God who is good. To paraphrase Shakespeare, "The fault, dear Augustine, is not in our devils, but in ourselves."
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afleitch
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« Reply #849 on: October 25, 2013, 12:26:07 PM »

Morrisey
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