*What book are you reading ?

[Dirty Martini]

Now onto 'The Pity Of It All: A Portrait of Jews in Germany 1743-1933' by Amos Elon.

Finished it, liked it. A history of German Jewish intellectuals and public figures mostly, lots of anecdotal stuff but some real surprises and some good solid history-writing in there too.

What next? I'm on a roll.

 

[kakuma]

a book that doesn't let him indoors know that i'm reading

 

[muser]

Reading a prelude to mathematics by W W Sawyer. Some of the concepts are hard, but it is told in a style that I find helpful.

 

[LadyofScott]

Lord of the Vampires. It's book 3 of a 3 part series. It's pretty clever in that it is supposed to be the diaries of Dracula's relatives and all they went through. I recommend it. It's easy reading and good.

 

[Shandril19]

Much thanks to this thread for giving me some great recommendations, first Hussein's "Kite Runner" and now I just finished Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore". Really enjoyed it.

One of the things I most miss about living in London is the culture of reading. Books and book reviews/advertisements being such a part of daily life.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil. Not sure whether I'm dipping into it or reading it for real.

 

[Iam]

oh, god, don't put yourself through it

I have to say, I'm starting to wonder why I'm bothering.

I can imagine that they would have been dreadfully disappointing to read as separate books. I've just finished the second (of the first chronicles) and it was a long, ponderously-worded wander along a path to... nowhere in particular.

I'm almost perversely intent on finishing at least the first one (curse my Amazon-ing, but I have the 2nd chronicles and the final book, too ), and I'm a bit non-plussed, cos it was highly recommended and I'm sure I remembered enjoying his Gap series of sci-fi books.

Ho humm.

 

[jeff_leigh]

Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil. Not sure whether I'm dipping into it or reading it for real.

got that one myself a little hard going aint it?

 

[phildwyer]

James Boswell's 'London Journal,' its hilarious. Mostly concerns brawling with hookers in the Strand.

 

[maya]

.

 

[chooch]

A history of German Jewish intellectuals and public figures mostly, lots of anecdotal stuff but some real surprises and some good solid history-writing in there too.

Sounds good. The library calls...

 

[Dirty Martini]

got that one myself a little hard going aint it?

It is, but in a strange way. You understand every word, you can read it almost like you would listen to a very clever bloke down The Philosopher's Arms, and then you come to the end of a section and realise that he's miles ahead of you and has anticipated each of your reactions to what he's written. High comedy.

A very big brain.

 

[bluestreak]

i just finished reading jon ronson's 'them' which is a funny old read. but doesn't change my view towards conspiracy theorists at all!

 

[Masseuse]

The Hidden Messages In Water by Masaru Emoto. A mad japanese hippy who shows water nice pictures of flowers or chants "your beautiful" many times then photographs the ice crystals that result (very pretty). For balance he shows them pictures of mobile phones and shouts "stupid" at them and also records those images (weirdly wrong).

It's ace.

 

[Ceej]

Mark Billingham's 'Buried' - fantastic. 6th book - he just gets better and better.

 

[Orang Utan]

The River Cottage Meat Book - not got to any recipes yet, but Fearnley-Whitingstall's got some very interesting things to say about meat production.

 

[purves grundy]

Gulag by Anne Applebaum

 

[Dirty Martini]

Finished 'Chess' by Stefan Zweig
Now 'Judaism A Short Introduction' by Norman Solomon

 

[pootle]

I just finished "Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction" I never thought an Adrian Mole book would move me to tears, but it did.

I must be on an anti-war tip atm, cos I've just started Ian McEwan's "Saturday". Only on the first few pages, but the descriptions of neurosurgery are making me feel a bit queasy. I hope they don't feature frequently in the book!

 

[Dubversion]

finished Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential which had some good passages but was generally a bit 'meh'.

Following that with Pelecanos' The Sweet Forever - one of the DC quarter - because I've always meant to get round to reading one of his books. So far, it's also a bit 'meh'. Not exactly the sharpest crime writing i've read, and the attempt to inject some contemporary flavour ("then we went to see Scream at such and such a club and they were very good") can be anywhere between awkward and plain embarassing.

 

[brahaminda]

Re Reading Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

Lot better than I originally thought

 

[bluestreak]

just started jeanette winterson's written on the body. captivating stuff so far, i love her writing style.

 

[Boogie Boy]

I've finally passed the 1000 page mark of the 'Count Of Monte Cristo', which I am pleased with, although given that there is probably less than 200 pages to go the plot seems to have suddenly changed pace significantly. I'm starting to wonder what I shall read after this.

BB

 

[spartacus mills]

'Outer Gateways'. Headspinning occult weirdness from Kenneth Grant.

 

[Hollis]

Seeing that I moaned about the last one: Ian McEwan - Atonement

 

[kyser_soze]

Re-reading 'Player of Games' by Iain M. Banks

Still don't think it's the best Culture book, but I'm seeing new stuff in it with this re-read...

Best recent book has to be 'Science of Discworld 2nd Edition' By Pratchett, Cohen and another scientist dude. Should be a required read before anyone ploughs into a science debate on Big Words, Big Thoughts and Bigger Egos...

 

[pootle]

Seeing that I moaned about the last one: Ian McEwan - Atonement

Did you moan about "Saturday" Hollis?

I loved Atonement, but then I'm a big Ian McEwan fan anyway (although I hated Amsterdam)

Ho hum

 

[elevendayempire]

Gave up on Quicksilver on the grounds of its appalingly turgid prose. And the fact that I'd have to read three books' worth of it. I've now started Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White. Aah. Much better.

SG

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Reading a book called the Skull Mantra, a murder-mystery set in Tibet. Quite good so far.

 

[Hollis]

Did you moan about "Saturday" Hollis?

I loved Atonement, but then I'm a big Ian McEwan fan anyway (although I hated Amsterdam)

Ho hum

Indeed, I ended up thinking both the author and the main character were smug complacent gits.. still it must have struck a chord somewhere, as someone mentioned he's a great writer though.. (IMHO).