What Books are you reading???? just curious!

[notanartist]

I just read The China Lover by Ian Buruma.  It's about a Japanese singer posing as Chinese during WWII a decade or two after.  It's told through the point of view of three men - two Japanese and one American.  (The woman who the book is "about" doesn't get a voice in the book.)  Reading about the culture clashes highlights a lot about Japanese culture and its Confucian origins, and I think a lot of things apply to Korea, too.  It made me think a lot about the foundations of our (American/western) culture.  I definitely recommend it, especially if you're starting to get frustrated with the way things are done in Korea.

[kps1]

I just read some of steve niles omnibus comics, then DC's Identity Crisis. My buddy recommended V for Vendetta and I'm having the hardest time reading it because its so cheesy and the dialogue is terrible. I also just read three warhammer books, was never into that kind of stuff, but it was pretty cool.

[Aqvm]

I'm working my way through all of Graham Greene's books right now. Finished Our Man in Havana recently and will re-read The Quiet American next week.

[taingray]

Now I'm reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. I'm only about 30 pages in so I don't know if I like it or not yet!

I also just finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and I really enjoyed it, although it's very sad! It was one of the most heartbreaking books I've read in a long time, and very well written, I thought. I have to admit that before I read this book I only had a vague understanding of Afghanistan's recent history and the things that devastated the country even before American troops were sent there. The novel's descriptions of the Taliban are particularly frightening. But the book itself is more the story of the friendship between two boys and the very different paths their lives take in the midst of all this violence. 

Before that, I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (suspenseful but not one of my favorites), Emma by Jane Austin (blah until the last third or so), The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (I really liked this one), and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (liked this too!). 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Blood Meridian is certainly a little different from the other books in your list. Have you read any of his other work? I'd recommend reading No Country For Old Men or The Road before diving into Blood Meridian. It's not an easy read by any stretch.

I'm reading a bio of Vladimir Putin right now because I realised I knew nothing about him and this one was featured on the Daily Show.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/1594488428/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331888192&sr=8-1

[flasyb]

Blood Meridian is certainly a little different from the other books in your list. Have you read any of his other work? I'd recommend reading No Country For Old Men or The Road before diving into Blood Meridian. It's not an easy read by any stretch.

I'm reading a bio of Vladimir Putin right now because I realised I knew nothing about him and this one was featured on the Daily Show.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/1594488428/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331888192&sr=8-1

I'd go for All the Pretty Horses (or even the entire Border Trilogy) first. Cormac is my favourite writer. Blood Meridian is Cormac at his best but it might not be the first novel of his that I'd recommend. All the Pretty Horses is the most Romantic book I've ever read and I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed more than a few tears over it. Funnily enough, the name of the book sounds really "girly" but a rough synopsis would be, "Boy, 15(?), loses entire family and only means of living (horses) in raid. Resolves to chase raiders to Mexico and get horses back." Not the most stereotypical "girly" storyline that I can think of.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Blood Meridian is certainly a little different from the other books in your list. Have you read any of his other work? I'd recommend reading No Country For Old Men or The Road before diving into Blood Meridian. It's not an easy read by any stretch.

I'm reading a bio of Vladimir Putin right now because I realised I knew nothing about him and this one was featured on the Daily Show.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/1594488428/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331888192&sr=8-1

I'd go for All the Pretty Horses (or even the entire Border Trilogy) first. Cormac is my favourite writer. Blood Meridian is Cormac at his best but it might not be the first novel of his that I'd recommend. All the Pretty Horses is the most Romantic book I've ever read and I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed more than a few tears over it. Funnily enough, the name of the book sounds really "girly" but a rough synopsis would be, "Boy, 15(?), loses entire family and only means of living (horses) in raid. Resolves to chase raiders to Mexico and get horses back." Not the most stereotypical "girly" storyline that I can think of.

Good choice. I haven't actually read All The Pretty Horses, but I was going to recommend it, anyway.

Blood Meridian was so dense and everything is a reference to a reference. I genuinely hated it in patches when I read it about 5 years ago. I remember thinking, why doesn't he just tell the story? That's my fault, not the book, though. I'm thinking about reading it again, but I have about 8 books on the go at the moment, so it might have to wait.

[VanIslander]

Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants by Katy Payne
The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende
The Youngest Goalie by Brian McFarlane

These are the books with bookmarks in them, on my bathroom and beach shelf, partially read, sure to be done in the next few weeks.

I dunno why people like to talk about books they are reading (or haven't even read!!). I would MUCH rather talk about books I have FINISHED reading, as it is AFTER one is done with a book that one either wants it to continue via thought and discussion or else one wants to warn others to stay away from it. I rarely wish to talk about a book I'm actually in the middle of. It's like talking during a movie.

Books I've recently finished:

A Peep into Korea by Kevin J. Hayes. It's on par with Dispatches from the Peninsula by Chris Tharp, both blog-like writing and equally poor book editing. Both written about prejudices and excesses of foreigners in Korea though intended as an outsider's perspective of the culture. Both unworthy of a second thought, full of "impressions", so it would hardly be fair to point out the many factual inaccuracies based on personal experiences. Really, both texts are for those who taught here a year and pine to re-live the inane initial experiences.

I've been re-reading Korea Bug by J. Scott Burgeson, a complilation of zine interviews and stories from the nineties, very interesting and insightful about the history and culture and people one finds in South Korea, both traditional folk like mudang and foreigners like filipinos in Seoul. It's one book I love re-reading about this country. The interview with a bbondegi manufacturer is awesome for advanced classes. The Jesus-came-to-Korea legend is memorable! I recommend this book.

I just finished Shadrin has scored for Russia! by Kevin Sylvester and it's a hilarious what-if take on hockey's future in a world in which the Soviets rather than Canada won the 1972 Summit Series. It's a small CBC publication by the sports reporter of CBC Radio 1. Pretty funny.

I don't recommend Hockey Dreams by David Adams Richards, a memoir by a hockey fan, which is so ultra-nationalist Canadian that anyone who doesn't think Don Cherry is totally awesome would find bothersome. The author has written some reputable fiction but this life account of his childhood is hard to stomach with its continual chest thumping for his country (mine too) and his lament over foreign involvement in what he doesn't see as the "growth" of the game. He's a small town New Brunswickian with a huge chip on his shoulder. A waste of time to read. (The spelling of Steve Izerman and Peter Forsburg really hurt my eyes too.)

I recently re-read How to be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson, a Brit's reflection on a life less busy, more relaxed, chatty, basically an appreciation of life away from work for those who work a lot. He is trying explicitly to support through philosophical and literary historical references a lifestyle that's anti-capitalist, but he comes across as a pub-crawling middle class whiner. The first time I read it I found the ideas awesome, but on re-read a few years later I find him immature and worse, pimping a perspective that is only possible from within the overworked lifestyle he seeks to escape. That is to say, once one gets out of the rat race, his prescriptions seem less applicable. It's a book for those who want to be idle because they are too busy working. That's not me nowadays.

Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss. A diappointment on first read as I had thought it would be like many of his other books: a good resource for class lessons. But then as bathroom reading I started re-reading it OUT LOUD and suddenly its rhymes and pacing were magical. I should have known better and read it aloud the first time! I've read it several times and am eager to try it out with an advanced class in the coming week.

The Far Side Gallery 4 by Gary Larson. The wolf driving into the city full of straw towers, thinking "Oh man, I've been away too long." A bottomless resource of class-starting discussion, especially since one bus is often late, so a couple of minutes of interesting asides to the main lesson is worthwhile.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I dunno why people like to talk about books they are reading (or haven't even read!!). I would MUCH rather talk about books I have FINISHED reading, as it is AFTER one is done with a book that one either wants it to continue via thought and discussion or else one wants to warn others to stay away from it. I rarely wish to talk about a book I'm actually in the middle of. It's like talking during a movie.

That's quite funny. This is one of the tabs open in my browser right now.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/13/why-finish-books/

[VanIslander]

This is one of the tabs open in my browser right now.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/13/why-finish-books/

In the ADHD quick hit short text tech culture of today it's no surprise that reading an entire book is considered passé.  And I notice you didn't say you read the article, just that you have it available. Having a book on a bookshelf has never seemed impressive to me, and it really irked me when I started a book club in university to discover that most of those who attended the meetings hadn't actually read the novels but thought the NY Times Book Review, other lit crit or some coles notes summary of the author and book would suffice to b.s. their way through discussions for hours. I am cut from a different cloth. The only time I am tempted to stop reading a good book is when I am enthralled with its thought-provoking contents and wish to delay closure. I am not talking about plot-driven pulp fiction, but I guess a similar impulse applies.

Reading one book all afternoon is so much more rewarding and long lasting than hours of surfing the 'net or flipping through magazines. Some people understand this outdated way of being.

[minstar16]

I'm reading a Korean book, which is called 외톨이(The Loner)
The book is quite interesting, and it describes the teenagers' lives.

[Rusty Shackleford]

This is one of the tabs open in my browser right now.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/13/why-finish-books/

In the ADHD quick hit short text tech culture of today it's no surprise that reading an entire book is considered passé.  And I notice you didn't say you read the article, just that you have it available.

I was being slightly facetious.  :D And you did call my bluff. I sent the article to my Kindle, but haven't actually read it yet.

Having a book on a bookshelf has never seemed impressive to me,

I don't keep books simply because I live a transient lifestyle. I could probably see myself buying a well made book case of the western canon, of which I have read only a few and will probably never get around to reading all of.

Reading one book all afternoon is so much more rewarding and long lasting than hours of surfing the 'net or flipping through magazines. Some people understand this outdated way of being.

Agree entirely. I hate that feeling of it being 9.30 at night and realising you just spent 9 hours tooling around on the net and have no idea what you achieved by it.

[snufkin]

"Ghost Rider" by Neil Peart - fantastic book so far!

[vrlonghorn]

I'm so glad I found this.  I've been looking for more books to download on my kindle.  There are so many great ideas here.  I just finished "The Tea Rose" by Jennifer Donnelly, and it was great.  There are two more books in the trilogy that I also plan to read.  It's a little slow at times, so it won't keep you up all night, but it's a nice book to read a few chapters every day.  The other books in the series are called "The Wild Rose" and "The Winter Rose".

[williethewimp]

Just finished. December 1941 and Rachel Maddow's book Drift. Talk about contrasts on how America views and is engaged in war. The Maddow book is not what you would expect from liberal like her. Yeah she bashes (and rightfully so) Reagan's handling of Grenada and Iran-Contra etc to the privatization of war policy that started under Clinton and continues today. She makes a great case that we need to become more engaged on when, how and why we go to war.

Just started The Lady and the Peacock, a new biography of Aung San Suu Kyi. Heard it got good reviews.

[lexsays]

Plan on starting to read diplomacy by Kissinger.  Does anyone know if there is a online  Korean book store that sells Kindle readable Mobi files? 

Thank you

[williethewimp]

Plan on starting to read diplomacy by Kissinger.  Does anyone know if there is a online  Korean book store that sells Kindle readable Mobi files? 

Thank you

there are torrent sites that have them, few times i've picked up entire NY Times bestseller lists, think the Kissinger book on China was on it recently

[Snowdog11]

"Ghost Rider" by Neil Peart - fantastic book so far!

Awesome! I'm guessing many people only know of him through his drumming (and hopefully Rush), but he is a very well-spoken individual and a gifted writer.  If you haven't already, try out The Masked Rider - it's about Neil cycling in Africa.

BTW, I'm currently reading A Code to Keep: The True Story of America's Longest-Held Civilian POW in Vietnam.  Though a bit tiring at times - you might get a sense that the author is very, very high on himself - I still respect what the man lived through, and I'm glad I decided to give it a go.

[Gilligan]

I'm reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time.  Pretty interesting stuff.

[TheWB18]

Just finished Last Exit to Brooklyn.  Not quite what I expected...was really interesting to see how Selby treated the intersection of working-class Brooklyn and alternative lifestyles, mainly gay/transgender lifestyles, which aren't usually treated together.  It was also a lovely reminder of home and growing up, which I really appreciated as I feel a bit cut off here in Korea.

Starting a Jean-Philippe Toussaint novel...can't remember the name, actually, it's with his occasional Marie character.

Looking forward to the weekend so I can get focused and start my way into Thus Spoke Zarathustra.  First Nietzsche I've read for a little while, so I'm excited.