*What book are you reading ?

[Jo/Joe]

Currently 'THe Elegant Universe' Brian Greene , about superstring theory, although it explains relativity and quantum mechanics to get you up to speed. Have to admit that it is very interesting to a non-physicist like me.

Also just read 'Straw Dogs' by John Gray, a philosophy book that trashes a lot of ideas that we as humans like to believe, eg. salvation, progress and philospophies that put the human perception at the centre of everything. We just fuck everything up as we act like bacteria taking over everything. He says we are just animals (and should be content with this), most of what we perceive does not even register with our consciousness (86%) and so on. Very interesting and essential ideas to ground us.

 

[Soft as Shite]

Originally posted by bruise


If you want the scariest-in-a-completely-level-headed-matter-of-fact-way type book, I don't believe you could find worse than 'Exquisite Corpse' by Poppy Z Brite (who's name alone is brilliant).

I read that a while ago! It is deeply dsturbing but quite gripping. I agree that it didn't really jump out as anti-gay, the fact that the characters are gay is just who they are, not a statement about the morals of gay people. I hope so anyway!

Chrissie- one of the books I read in between my Jilly fest was "Atonement" by Iain Banks. I was a bit disappointed, after an excellent start and a promising idea, it just seemed so bleak and uncompromisingly hopeless. I'd be interested in your views.

I've now broken my Jilly cycle and am reading "An Equal Music" by Vikram Seth. Quite good, but not really my sorta thing.

 

[Mooncat]

I'm currently reading Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield. Its good if youre planing on building such wonderful things as herb spirals and chicken powered greenhouses

 

[chez]

Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield,

this is my next in my pile of books to read. well into permaculture

I subscribe to the permaculture magazine aswell.

nice to know theres some fellow permies on the boards mooncat

 

[Blagsta]

Currently reading "Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century" by Greil Marcus.
Only just started, but it seems to be trying to draw comparisons between dada, situationism, political and cultural revolution, punk and the Sex Pistols. Interesting so far.

 

[Mooncat]

I've just started getting into it Chez. I don't even have a garden at the moment but I'm putting some money in to a land share with some friends.

It's fascinating is ‘stacking’ where plants and livestock thrive a lot better together than they would apart. You can chose your plants in such away that the pest controlling abilities of one plant benefit the whole bed

 

[blip]

Originally posted by roxy



at the moment I'm reading Dirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Gutierrez....it's rather rude as the title suggests but I'm obsessed with all things Cuban...and I'm partial to a bit of rudeness too

My mom borrowed this off me, never mentioned what she thought of it though. I can't bring myself to ask if the evocative passages on unwiped sexual partners and unintentional cannibalism influenced her desision to go to Peru instead.....

 

[Swearing Nonna]

Well I'll have to use the past tense as I've just finished The Pilots Wife - Anita Shreve.

A really gripping read, didn't manage to predict the ending which for me is generally a bonus. I picked it up lunchtime on Tuesday and finished teatime today, trouble is you get left with an empty feeling having finished an enjoyable book. A rumage round my shelves is now on the cards or indeed a rumage through this thread for possibilities.

 

[Dubversion]

in danger of sounding like a ponce (but hey, i have just read the Phillip Pullman kids books so i need some variety)..

Lipstick Traces by Greil Marcus

not an easy read, and he makes some pretty broad claims in places (but he's much more erudite than me so i can never quite work out why he's wrong )

basically, he takes the emergence of the Sex Pistols as a culmination - conscious or otherwise - of centuries of radical and negationist thought, from the Lollards and ancient French heresy through Marxism and Nietzche to the Situationists and the 60s..... it's dense but bloody engrossing and is the best short(ish) summary of Situationism i've yet read outside Stewart Home (but he tells fibs...)

 

[Blagsta]

Originally posted by Dubversion
best short(ish) summary of Situationism i've yet read outside Stewart Home (but he tells fibs...)

Met Stewart Home briefly last year, interesting chap. Never read any of his books though.

 

[Dubversion]

weird one blagsta - wrote my one without noticing your entry about the same book! oops..

worth the effort, isnt it? the way he wrote about "Roadrunner" by the Modern Lovers made my neck hairs stand up and made me dig it out again...

i do really like stewart home, btw, love all his art-trash books and conspiracy theories.. but he's not to be trusted!

 

[Furvert]

sorry if i'm a bit late in the day, but i couldn't help noticing a couple of entries earlier, talking about the joys of being a secret jilly cooper reader.

i too, having sunk the depths of depression (too much george monbiot, and too many cunts on the number 133 bus) decided to dig out my old jilly books for a bit of light relief, and what joy they have brought!

unlike the other two jilly readers, i have no shame what so ever in saying it loud - i'm a jilly fan and proud!

in fact, i may have to cut this message short and get back to my half read copy of 'prudence'. i think ace (dark, brooding with a muscle constantly ticking in his manly cheek) may just be about to give our heroine a right good seeing to...!

 

[cynical_bastard]

Lyonesse by Jack Vance

 

[silky]

Rory-you mean that people actually read books without underlining!

 

[Soft as Shite]

Furvert- you misundertand me! I am a proud Jilly fan and constantly extol her virtues to my mates (many of them hardly ever read anyway, let alone give our Jilly a chance). But I can't help fallling into the trap of re-reading her books over and over when I'm down (and you're right, they are a natural cure to depression IMO)! There's so many books I wanna read, i can't help but feel bad to be reading the same books over and over.

(have you noticed her obsession with wild garlic? It seems to pop up all over her books when she does her descriptive passages...what's going on?)

 

[Furvert]

soft as shite, forgive me for not recognising your true jilly fandom.

naturally, i can understand your concern with re-reading her books time and time again, but fear not little one, for they too have their own educational function.

for example, if it weren't for the jillster, i would still be pronouncing canapes and antibes incorrectly - the social mortification of it!

as for the wild garlic, can't say i've spotted that one. those poor mediterranean prawns do have a hard time of it though...

 

[fairygrrl]

i am reading a book called "the power of myth" right now. it is basically joseph cambell and bill moyers , (who are just big huge throbbing brains with mouths), talking about mythology in different cultures and how it has shaped them and about a million other things that i am nowhere near smart enough to talk about. but i totally, totally recommend it.

 

[Nathaniel]

Unshrink by Mckeown & Whiteley and Others

I was sent a free chapter by a friend ( from www.unshrink.org) - It's all about the links between self-fulfillment, insitutional damage to individuals, value creation, and the world economy. Will order on amazon.co.uk and see if the whole book answers the questions that this chapter asks.

Also reading the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. They are fantastic!

"I am sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant".. and so it continues.

A blast for a childrens book.

Also re-reading Asimov's "Earth is room enough" (Why doesn't anyone turn his short stories into blockbuster films?

(Finished Tom Wolfes A Man in Full - Excellent!)

 

[Nina]

Just finished Dave Pelzer's 'A child called It'
My God
The most harrowing book I have ever read.
Felt compelled to continue to the end even though I was nearly physically sick.

...and who says reading's fun eh?

seriously, have a go if you think you're hard enough.

 

[Voley]

Reading '1984' again after the recent thread about it.

I'm enjoying it more the second time. I must've been about 13 or 14 when I last read it. In 1984, probably.

 

[Soft as Shite]

Just finished an "Equal Music" by Vikram Seth. Not sure i'd recommend it unless you're into classical music + v middle class, though good writing skills.

Just started "The Death of Vishnu" by Manil Suri. Lovely evokative images of Bollywood, Bangles and Bharma! I like........

 

[Masseuse]

Just read "Loves executioner" By Irving Yalom - a truly magnificent reading experience. Psychotherapy case studies treated with great warmth, humour, and compassion. The scary thing is you will see aspects of yourself in all these "crazy" people.

Very readable, jargon-free, and entertaining while being hugely educational.

If you guys can tear yourselves away from jilly for a bit!

 

[twinkle]

completely unoriginally i'm reading fast food nation.

i like it - schlosser quietly draws you in with empathic descriptions of real lives then hits you with the horrible truth. didn't go near these places anyway but now considering taking part in some kind of more pro-active protest.

most interesting. should be on the national curriculum.

 

[WasGeri]

I'm reading a book by Mo Hayder, can't remember the name but it's a murder novel set in Brixton. Quite scary, I read her first one 'Birdman' which was excellent.

 

[Nathaniel]

Body Floating in the VAT of Blood

I agree about fast food nation being on the national curriculum - that would interest people in English lessons!!

I remember one harrowing section:

"At a National Beef plant, Homer Stull climbed into a blood-collection tank to clean it, a filthy tank thirty feet high. Stull was overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes. Two coworkers climbed into the tank and tried to rescue him. All three men died.

Eight years earlier, Henry Wolf had been overcome by fumes while cleaning the very same tank; Gary Sanders had tried to rescue him; both men died; and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later fined National Beef for its negligence.

The fine was $480 for each man's death."

Awful isn't it..

The Unshrink book by Mckeown & Whiteley explains that kind of thing as managers following the creed that "greed is good", "winning at all costs", and "work comes before life".

The problem Unshrink says is that:

"‘Winning at all costs’ is a phrase that can blind participants to
what the costs really are. It hints that winning a particular prize requires ruthlessness and the sacrifice of all other valuable
rewards; that one must trample on others to succeed."

Has anyone found a web site to go with the fast food nation? I can't. The one for unshrink is www.unshrink.org

 

[pennimania]

Originally posted by Furvert

as for the wild garlic, can't say i've spotted that one. those poor mediterranean prawns do have a hard time of it though...

I realise one of the things I love about the books is the way they linger on food -someone's always packing into crusty bread and butter and home made chocolate cake round a scrubbed kitchen table. I always like books that mention food, one of the reasons I like Rumer Godden. Elizabeth David is a damn fine read too - not just a book of recipes.
Fast Food Nation - I think I'm afraid to start and I never ever even look into McD's.
I'm not ashamed of reading jilly, but wish I spent more time tackling challenging stuff eg I'm still reading The Alexandrian Quartette which I'm sure I mentioned near the beginning of this thread.

 

[Rollem]

what book are you reading

1984

again

 

[Blagsta]

Still reading "Lipstick Traces", but its a bit heavy going, so I started reading "Manchester, England" by Dave Haslam last night.
Its subtitled "The Story of the Pop Cult City" and is a surprisingly well written and well researched book about the history of Manchester, pop culture and the entertainment industry in the city.

 

[Alc0p0pz]

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe.
Sadly though, I've been 'reading' it for months.
I should read more.
And get out more.

 

[quamp]

Originally posted by fairygrrl
i am reading a book called "the power of myth" right now. it is basically joseph cambell and bill moyers , (who are just big huge throbbing brains with mouths), talking about mythology in different cultures and how it has shaped them and about a million other things that i am nowhere near smart enough to talk about. but i totally, totally recommend it.

Yea, they really water everything down in that book. A Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell is a little better.

The book I'm reading now is called A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilbur. This is a heavy read not for its length, but for the topic discussed. It's a very deep psychological theory presented by the same guy who wrote Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: the Spirit of Evolution. I tend to favor the very deeply metaphysical stuff. Another book I've read recently was Real Magic by Dr. Wayne Dyer (although like Campbell and Moyers, he waters things down a bit.)

Here's where you can buy A Brief History of Everything:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...8305616/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-1875937-7737716