What Books Are You Reading?

I loved that book!
One of the best twist endings EVER![/quote]

Is it wrong that I laughed almost hysterically at poor Esmeralda? I studied this book in university and my fellow students were a little disturbed by my enthusiasm for it. That and Irvine Welsh’s ‘Marabou Stork Nightmares’. I also remember enjoying ‘Morvern Callar’ by Alan Warner.

More recently I’ve been stocking up on Haruki Murakami, and I’m close to finishing the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Philip Pullman which has been a delight to read.

One more much loved book. Hats off to anyone who gets the reference.
Viskovitz. Viskovitz. Viskovitz! :laughing:

I’m reading a biography of Rudolf Steiner. You ever herad of theosophy, or Madame Blavatsky.
Makes Crowley seem normal.

I just finished World War Z. Great book.

1 Like

I just read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.
I loved it. I didn’t much like the end. I thought it was one of the funniest things I have read in a long time.
I wish Adams was still alive to write new funny books. :frowning:

Recently finished ‘The Tesseract’ by Alex Garland, the guy who wrote The Beach. Several unrelated stories coming together at the end, clever maybe, but a bit without direction.

Since then have started two books about becoming your own boss, Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink - which is a more academic book with stats and all - and Real Success without a Real Job by Ernie Zelinski, more of a ‘happy go-go-go’ book.

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. It extends the story to include a narrative about King Philip’s war in 1675, which ended in widespread enslavement and deportation of the native Americans of southern New England. We need to own our history.

The Hero and the Crown - 1984 Newbery Award winner, although it borderlines on being an adult novel because of its complexities. Almost tempted to reread Catch-22 for the third time this year. I read Curious Incident… a few years ago when it was first published. I still remember how interesting it was when the mood of the book changes so quickly as we learn more about the main character. It was almost like the camera went from being a close-up to suddenly panning out and showing us the whole picture. I might just re-read it again.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency was okay, but personally, I liked The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul better. And the beginning of The Salmon of Doubt sounded like it would have been the best of the three Gently books if Douglas Adams had lived to finish it. Damn him. I’m still sad and angry about his all-too early death.

I’m back to children’s books for now since I am being sought for opinions and recommendations on recreational reading for my students and novel study books for my school. I’m going back to The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo, one of my favorite children’s authors.

“Collapse” by Jared Diamond

Not quite as good a read as “Gun, Germs and Steel” but pretty damn good.

It’s basically about why certain empires (i.e. Mayan, Eater island etc…) vanished from the face of the earth.

Good stuff

Finished Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the New World Order. Not as fun as Sid Meier’s Civilization II. Actually pretty dry and academic, not much fun at all. Written in 1996 and looking pretty prescient at this juncture. Get your burkha out, the West is doomed.

After I finished that, I hit Casino, the real life saga that Martin Scorsese based his film on. Written by the same guy who researched and wrote Wiseguy. Gripping true-crime mob rags to riches to drug overdoses and mob hits and federal indictments story, extremely entertaining and a bit of a light, easy relief after the Huntington tome.

Boning up on a bit of ancient history with Michael Grant’s The Fall of the Roman Empire. A slim, 200+ page volume that covers the basics for the layman. Concurrently reading The Master and the Margarita by Bulgakov. Rolling Stones trivia buffs will recognize it as the book that inspired Mick to write “Sympathy for the Devil”. Like most Russian novels, sledgehammer heavy with the deep philosophy, but there’s also lots of humor and playfulness, so far - I only started the first chapter last night.

Finished reading:

  1. Blink
  2. Tuesday’s with Morie

Almost done with Hard Facts Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton.

Next up -
Data Quality: The Accuracy Dimension by Jack E. Olson

Sounds exciting!

Le Rouge et le Noir, trying to read more French. It’s beating me, though. Keep peaking at my Penguin translation.

And December’s Elle.

[quote=“Quentin”]Finished Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the New World Order. Not as fun as Sid Meier’s Civilization II. Actually pretty dry and academic, not much fun at all. Written in 1996 and looking pretty prescient at this juncture. Get your burkha out, the West is doomed.

After I finished that, I hit Casino, the real life saga that Martin Scorsese based his film on. Written by the same guy who researched and wrote Wiseguy. Gripping true-crime mob rags to riches to drug overdoses and mob hits and federal indictments story, extremely entertaining and a bit of a light, easy relief after the Huntington tome.

Boning up on a bit of ancient history with Michael Grant’s The Fall of the Roman Empire. A slim, 200+ page volume that covers the basics for the layman. Concurrently reading The Master and the Margarita by Bulgakov. Rolling Stones trivia buffs will recognize it as the book that inspired Mick to write “Sympathy for the Devil”. Like most Russian novels, sledgehammer heavy with the deep philosophy, but there’s also lots of humor and playfulness, so far - I only started the first chapter last night.[/quote]

Master and Maragrita is a classic classic book. Woland is the man!
‘Heart of a dog’ isn’t too shabby by Bulgakov either.

I’ve been going through audio books at an incredible rate lately. At the moment it’s James Surowiecki’s, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, and it’s one of the best since Blink.

Much of the most interesting stuff I’ve read in the last five years seems to be coming out of behavioral economics or cognitive science. I may have to go back to school, again. (I may have to win the lottery.)

I’ve got my head in “Highways to a War” by Christopher Koch. It’s a fiction based on fact account of photographers and journalists in Vietnam and Cambodia from the mid 1960s to the mid 70s. Quite good - there’s not nearly enough written about those guys.

The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga by Carl Jung. I like it.

Had more time to read lately - the last 2 I read were

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - an extraordinary novel considering it was written by a 16-year-old girl in 1895.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith - this book was absolutely fantastic, it had me laughing hysterically in some places, one of the best debuts since, well, Miles Franklin!

Now I’m reading Perfume by Patrick Suskind. This is also really well written, am enjoying it, looking forward to seeing the movie.

[quote=“taipei_swan”]Had more time to read lately - the last 2 I read were

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - an extraordinary novel considering it was written by a 16-year-old girl in 1895.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith - this book was absolutely fantastic, it had me laughing hysterically in some places, one of the best debuts since, well, Miles Franklin!

Now I’m reading Perfume by Patrick Suskind. This is also really well written, am enjoying it, looking forward to seeing the movie.[/quote]

I love Perfume, the English translation is very good.
(No Spoiler)
I have seen the movie version of Perfume; I love the first half of it but quiet disappointed with the miracle.

I am rereading the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, it is so humorous and Sarcastic.
I am listening to my audiobook, the Dante Club, too.

[quote=“taipei_swan”]Had more time to read lately - the last 2 I read were

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - an extraordinary novel considering it was written by a 16-year-old girl in 1895.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith - this book was absolutely fantastic, it had me laughing hysterically in some places, one of the best debuts since, well, Miles Franklin!

Now I’m reading Perfume by Patrick Suskind. This is also really well written, am enjoying it, looking forward to seeing the movie.[/quote]

I love Perfume, the English translation is very good.
(No Spoiler)
I have seen the movie version of Perfume; I love the first half of it but quiet disappointed with the miracle.

I am rereading the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, it is so humorous and Sarcastic.
I am listening to my audiobook, the Dante Club, too.

Im reading ‘Private Dancer’ - a novel about a guy that falls in love with a Thai Go-Go dancer in Thailand, and the inevitable disaster that ensues…

Its pretty badly written, but has some interesting insights into the bargirls and their hidden lives…