*What book are you reading ?
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Dr. Christmas
ca suffit
Pushkin's collected short stories. Some brilliantly witty observations of the decadence of Tsarist Russia- stories like The Blackamoor of Peter the Great, The Queen of Spades, and The Captain's Daughter
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
Isn't that supposed to be filled with dodgy fascist ideology or am I thinking of something else?Dethloc said:
mango5
Endeavour era
Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years by Bruce Sterling. synopsis here. And The Scheme for Full Employment by Magnus Mills
Orang Utan said:
I do not know what other people get out of it, but what I have got out of it personally is as follows..
Most people in life can be bought, they will give up on their dreams for the all mighty dollar. People make judgements not by expierencing or being apathic but would rather follow the crowd. To me in " The Fountainhead " Howard Roark doesnt do this, he loves what he does and will continue doing it reguardless of what life has to throw at him and he does it his way no matter what.
It is hard to explain but I see in myself the potential to cave in and be what society thinks I should be. But my innerself wants me to be more and not to compromise or give up on the things in life I want to accomplish or am passionate about. I guess in reading about the character I find something that is as hard as stone about an ideal. I find that comforting to know that the struggle however vain or fruitless, is worth it just for the struggle.
So I do not know if the book gave this to me or that if I am reading to much into it or I maybe i am just a little bit crazier than I thought.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Started it this morning.
Astonishing.
Astonishing.
onemonkey
winmonkey
here's what I read in March..
Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett
TP takes on war, the military and misogyny on his own terms and after his own now famous style. The setting is of course Discworld and the technology of the day, is approximately C18 in old money, but as always the parallels and satires apply very well to the present day. The one criticism being that he is just a bit too jolly to give these bastards the savaging they deserve.
Expecting someone taller - Tom Holt
TH's first book, Wagnerian gods, Rhinemaidens, Nieblung and a unprepossessing accidental hero called Malcolm. I was pleasantly surprised by it, normally I am quite mocking of Tom Holt, and while it is second division stuff (when compared to the greats of English comic fiction) it has its moments and his heart is in the right place.
Rethinking Innateness - Elman, Bates, Johnson, Karmiloff-Smith, Parisi, Plunkett
A ground breaking collaboration that aimed to mark a break with boring old ideas of nature and nurture and to develop an approach to and outlook on cognitive neuroscience that is properly informed by the very latest thinking in neurophysiology, connectionist simulation and developmental psychology.
Luminous - Greg Egan
Another one of his head spinning, neuron tangling collections of cognitive science fiction short stories. Almost better than his extended books, so many different ideas introduced and delivered with enough detail to get you thinking but not so much as to do it all for you.
The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru
U75 march bookgroup choice.. wrote about this one earlier
The Sexual Outlaw - John Rechy
A cockumentary (if you will) on the ins & outs of gay cruising and hustling in mid 70's Los Angeles. Mostly a mixture of unrelenting sex-hunting, vain insecurity and posing and monstrously unjust legal persecution by the police. But with occasional moments of true tenderness, passion and poignancy.
The Act of Creation - Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler must have eaten whole shoals of fishes in his time, and surely has to wear his baseball caps on the widest popper; He's one sharp cookie. As this sweeping survey of the creative impulse in arts and sciences ably demonstrates. The breadth and depth of his learning are illustrated with countless quotations and insightful analysis of the works of diverse creative geniuses. Joyful and inspiring (if a little sweeping in its theorising!)
Reefer Madness - Eric Schlosser
The author of Fast Food Nation (which taught me that chipped potatoes really are made cartoon style with a water cannon and a tennis racket ) returns to take a meticulously researched look at marijuana, soft fruit and pornography - the perfect ingredients of a quiet night in.
Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett
TP takes on war, the military and misogyny on his own terms and after his own now famous style. The setting is of course Discworld and the technology of the day, is approximately C18 in old money, but as always the parallels and satires apply very well to the present day. The one criticism being that he is just a bit too jolly to give these bastards the savaging they deserve.
Expecting someone taller - Tom Holt
TH's first book, Wagnerian gods, Rhinemaidens, Nieblung and a unprepossessing accidental hero called Malcolm. I was pleasantly surprised by it, normally I am quite mocking of Tom Holt, and while it is second division stuff (when compared to the greats of English comic fiction) it has its moments and his heart is in the right place.
Rethinking Innateness - Elman, Bates, Johnson, Karmiloff-Smith, Parisi, Plunkett
A ground breaking collaboration that aimed to mark a break with boring old ideas of nature and nurture and to develop an approach to and outlook on cognitive neuroscience that is properly informed by the very latest thinking in neurophysiology, connectionist simulation and developmental psychology.
Luminous - Greg Egan
Another one of his head spinning, neuron tangling collections of cognitive science fiction short stories. Almost better than his extended books, so many different ideas introduced and delivered with enough detail to get you thinking but not so much as to do it all for you.
The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru
U75 march bookgroup choice.. wrote about this one earlier
The Sexual Outlaw - John Rechy
A cockumentary (if you will) on the ins & outs of gay cruising and hustling in mid 70's Los Angeles. Mostly a mixture of unrelenting sex-hunting, vain insecurity and posing and monstrously unjust legal persecution by the police. But with occasional moments of true tenderness, passion and poignancy.
The Act of Creation - Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler must have eaten whole shoals of fishes in his time, and surely has to wear his baseball caps on the widest popper; He's one sharp cookie. As this sweeping survey of the creative impulse in arts and sciences ably demonstrates. The breadth and depth of his learning are illustrated with countless quotations and insightful analysis of the works of diverse creative geniuses. Joyful and inspiring (if a little sweeping in its theorising!)
Reefer Madness - Eric Schlosser
The author of Fast Food Nation (which taught me that chipped potatoes really are made cartoon style with a water cannon and a tennis racket ) returns to take a meticulously researched look at marijuana, soft fruit and pornography - the perfect ingredients of a quiet night in.
Time Out's guide to New York (the 1994 edition !)
Getting ready for my trip over there at the end of the month. I'm sure a lot of the information is irrelevent now , but the general geography of the city is more or less the same so I'm sure it will help me prepare for my trip.
Incidentally , I have NEVER read a guidebook before going somewhere new ; I'm that excited about going to NYC though thatr I thought I'd do some homework up-front.
Getting ready for my trip over there at the end of the month. I'm sure a lot of the information is irrelevent now , but the general geography of the city is more or less the same so I'm sure it will help me prepare for my trip.
Incidentally , I have NEVER read a guidebook before going somewhere new ; I'm that excited about going to NYC though thatr I thought I'd do some homework up-front.
Col_Buendia
sort code
Jonathan Coe's The House Of Sleep, and I'm loving it... read his What a Carve Up! years ago, and it has always stuck in my head as a fantastic book.
And then at work, I'm supposed to be reading Emma Goldman's The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. As well as Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed
And then at work, I'm supposed to be reading Emma Goldman's The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. As well as Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed
miss direct
misfungled
I'm reading the bookseller of Kabul.
Just finished John Simpsons "strange places, questionable people", and a book about an Australian guy who travelled from London to Sydney overland. Forgot the name but it was a good read.
I like to read travel books and non fiction rather than fiction. Any recommendations would be welcome.
Just finished John Simpsons "strange places, questionable people", and a book about an Australian guy who travelled from London to Sydney overland. Forgot the name but it was a good read.
I like to read travel books and non fiction rather than fiction. Any recommendations would be welcome.
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
miss direct said:
Have you read 'Hunting Mr Heartbreak' or 'Badlands' by Jonathan Raban? Both are travel books of a sort. The first takes in NYC, Alabama and Seattle, the second describes a trip through Montana. Both are excellent, and as much about him as about the places he visits.
Psychonaut
Well-Known Member
ive just finished catcher in the rye - just found out it was originally banned in the US, which shocked me beacuase it seemed so subtle - people must've been really up-tight in the 50's!
about to start Heinlein's 'the moon is a harsh mistress'. its a sci-fi novel but said to have powerful political overtones - i think the descriptions of clandestine hierarchies were used by one of the 60s 'acid families' who were plotting to spike the water supplies.
about to start Heinlein's 'the moon is a harsh mistress'. its a sci-fi novel but said to have powerful political overtones - i think the descriptions of clandestine hierarchies were used by one of the 60s 'acid families' who were plotting to spike the water supplies.
Dimension Line
Displaced and displeased.
Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
Chester Copperpot
Triple stones
This Is Your Life >>>
The last book i read was This is your Life by John O Farrell, i have to say i find him incredibly entertaining, and am wincing laughing with every page,
That'll be two cappucini please, i also read The Best A man can get, wonderful truly insightful, and just damn funny...
P.s tis nance posting under bren here
rorymac said:I'm reading three at the moment...very sloooowwwwly mind...
Millroy the magician...... Paul Theroux
He's Louis Theroux's dad.
Damn good it is too.
Fast food nation....*
and
Out of it...*
* Both are in me motor and I can't be arsed to go and get them but they're both big sellers at the moment.
ps and quite rightly so.
The last book i read was This is your Life by John O Farrell, i have to say i find him incredibly entertaining, and am wincing laughing with every page,
That'll be two cappucini please, i also read The Best A man can get, wonderful truly insightful, and just damn funny...
P.s tis nance posting under bren here
jeff_leigh
What happened to Dubversion ?
The Walkaway - Scott Phillips
Just finished Timoleon Vieta Come Home, by Dan Rhodes. I loathed it. It is sentimental, sick and cruel (a good example, perhaps, of sentimentality and brutality being two sides of the same coin). The author has one trick, which he plays over and over and over again, ad nauseam -- literally.
I can't remember when I have ever before finished a book and wanted to give the author a good, hard punch up the froat.
To borrow a phrase from Pickman's Model's formidable verbal armoury: putrid tripe.
I can't remember when I have ever before finished a book and wanted to give the author a good, hard punch up the froat.
To borrow a phrase from Pickman's Model's formidable verbal armoury: putrid tripe.
Have you read Things can only get Better? It was like reliving my life as a young, starry eyed Labour party campaigner during Thatcher's evil reign.The Doctor said:
(I'm a lot more left wing than I was
)
The Samurai Garden
Based in the early 1930's and seen throught the eyes of a young Chinese boy sent to convalese at his families summer home in Japan into the care of the gardener, just before the Japanese invade China...
Interesting tale that tells more than one story, Son and Father relationship, Adolesence, good historical back drop that has been well researched, good plot.
Actually a better book than my review would have you believe.
Based in the early 1930's and seen throught the eyes of a young Chinese boy sent to convalese at his families summer home in Japan into the care of the gardener, just before the Japanese invade China...
Interesting tale that tells more than one story, Son and Father relationship, Adolesence, good historical back drop that has been well researched, good plot.
Actually a better book than my review would have you believe.
Dr. Christmas
ca suffit
The White Lioness by Henning Mankell.
Mankell is a great detective writer- his main character, Inspector Wallander, is a kind of Swedish John Rebus.
This one's about mixes a senseless and apparently motiveless murder of a Swedish estate agent together with a plot to assasinate Nelson Mandela. Top stuff.
Mankell is a great detective writer- his main character, Inspector Wallander, is a kind of Swedish John Rebus.
This one's about mixes a senseless and apparently motiveless murder of a Swedish estate agent together with a plot to assasinate Nelson Mandela. Top stuff.
mickskyvitch
Sober since 3/1/2003
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant,again.
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