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

[seanathon]

I get pretty ADD with book reading...so depending on my mood:

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, in Korean to help me read faster.
Nothing to Envy (forgot who ;_;)
The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

Finished 1Q84 by Murakami a couple of months ago so those who haven't read it, definitely should pick it up..

Just finished 1Q84 too. I enjoyed Kafka on the Shore a bit more though. I want to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle sometime but I'm going to take a little break from Murakami for a few months. I picked up House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski in the meantime.

[hiphopopotamus]

I tried House of Leaves when it was first published, over ten years ago. A trip of a read. Hope you can get through the footnotes and "winding" text design! good luck!

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Bought Murakami's 'The Elephant Vanishes' yesterday.  Looks like a great read.  I really like his early short novels and story collections.  I love the down to earth human feeling in them. 'South of the Boarder...,' 'Norweigan Wood,' 'Sputnick Satellite' all works of art.

At the bookstore, I browsed through 'American Psycho.'  Couldn't bring myself to buy it, it is a great work and comment on modern America's culture, but not exactly an easy read.

Am really looking forward to get started on the Murakami collection later today with a cappucino after my sauana. I hope I can have the discipline to close the book after each story and ration them a day at a time, but I probably won't. 

I also bought a 'Guide to Shanghai' yesterday.  My weekend is Monday and Tuesday here.  So the plan is to visit at least one major tourist attraction every week and try a new dish in that area and the book is my companion piece to that.  Jingang Temple and Fuzhou Road were great half days out.  Today was going to be a visit Yeyuan gardens, but rain spoiled play so it's off to a Korean Sauna I found nearby that does Korean food also, hope they serve sundooboo chiggae as it was and is my favorite Korean dish.

I highly reccomend getting a good guide and maxing out your days off instead of staying in bed or drinking oneself silly all weekend, both degenerate and inveterate habbits that the fallout of which have driven and inspired me to start experiencing as many aesthetic pleasures as I can in Shanghai during my days off of work.  The weeks were starting to feel bland and repetitive and I had become to feel zombiefied.  Plus the walking will get me in better shape for summer.  And there is always the background anticipation that I might just meet someone special whilst out and about...  Yesterday I was on Fuzhou Lu and saw a group of European Uni students standing outside a large hotel and the gorgeousness of the sultry, tanned, slender women made me stop almost dead in my tracks.  It was if a light had been switched on in a dusty, dark room and my heart had been jump started.  I sauntered over on the pretence of checking out the Japanese sushi bar next door, looking half decent in my 'James Dean' go-to attire of Nikes, denims and a white v-neck with breast pocket and looking moderately toned from recent push up / crunches and squat sessions.  This absolute Aphrodite, tall, slender, bronzed in a light summer dress walked over, shot me the type of smile as she brushed her hand through her hair that could glue a man to the spot.  She stood next to me twirling a strand of hair in her slender hand and said 'looks pretty good no?' in a soft husky Italian accent and with a grin...   Silly me has been too preoccupied with gambling and drinking the past three years - yes three years - and is so out of practise that without meaning to I mumbled in a voice which seemed to be working independently of me 'yes, not bad' and my brain seemed clogged as I stood there silent whilst aware that usually I once would have began the small talk immediately and then when she asked about what something on the menu was, I mumbled again something about it being pork and not chicken and my brain seemed frozen and momentarily not in my control.  All the while I had a peripheral vision playing of how myself of a few years ago would have talked and acted and complimented her on her dress etc.  It was as though two film clips were being superimposed over one another. I felt like he was another person that had gotten away from me and needed getting back.

Basically, she walked off seeming disappointed.  I doubt she was as disappointed - nor as confused as I.  What had just happned / not happened?  This made me decide to start drinking less and getting out and about more...

So yeah, back on topic - get a decent guidebook and get to know your local environs better if you've been neglecting that.   :)

[recordingtime]

I get pretty ADD with book reading...so depending on my mood:

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, in Korean to help me read faster.
Nothing to Envy (forgot who ;_;)
The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

Finished 1Q84 by Murakami a couple of months ago so those who haven't read it, definitely should pick it up..

Just finished 1Q84 too. I enjoyed Kafka on the Shore a bit more though. I want to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle sometime but I'm going to take a little break from Murakami for a few months. I picked up House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski in the meantime.

Lucky me, I bought Kafka on the Shore not that long ago so it's on the list. My friend who recommended other Murakami books said she likes Wind-Up Bird so I'll probably read that after a while.

If you like Murakami, you'd like Kazuo Ishiguro, if you aren't familiar with his stuff...he wrote Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, two of his most popular ones.

[Sprite06]

about 65% through :




No plot spoilers but this book is quite a bit less eventful than Storm of Swords

[Chris33166]

I've been on a bit of a Chomsky kick.  Well, not really a kick--  I finished "Hegemony or Survival" about a week ago, and just started 'Manufacturing Consent."

Hegemony was a bit of any eye-opener, and I'm very cynical to start with!  Hegemony chronicles the lengths the US has taken to assert and maintain global dominance.  You'll learn lots about the cold war and Latin America.   Manufacturing Consent is the media side of this book--it analyzes how the media filters and promotes only what the organizations in power deem to be worthy.  I'm only about 70 pages in, but so far it seems to be accompanied by loads of case studies to make the point. 

I recommend both, and think that they both have the potential to increase cynicism, which is far too scarce these days!

Happy reading...

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

^^

Cynicicsm?  Realism more like.

There has always been a regional hegemony power base and global / partial global ones for centuries.  The US is doing nothing that someone else would be doing if they weren't doing it.

It's life.

[woman-king]

I recommend both, and think that they both have the potential to increase cynicism, which is far too scarce these days!

Happy reading...

Man.  I want to be friends with whoever you hang out with that gives you that perspective on the world.

[woman-king]

Recently:

-"Just Kids," Patti Smith's memoir.  Beautiful, best book I've read in a long time.
-"A Movable Feast" (Hemingway)

Slowly working my way through "Walden."  It has some really long-winded parts, but also some really luminous passages that make me want to go find a cabin in a forest somewhere...I miss big trees. 

My reading goal for the summer is to get "Dune" on my kindle--I've picked it up before but never really committed to it so of course never got very far.  Having it on a kindle will make it a lot easier to carry around.  :D

I also want to check out the "Game of Thrones" series too.

[woman-king]

I'm reading an interesting book called "Outliers" at the mo. I forget the author but its fascinating. it looks at anomalies in data (research) and then takes a closer look to see why they crop up. Usually ther is a story behind why and we discover that the anomaly is the result of some confluence of events rather than a fluke or miracle  or that the person is a genius.... it is very rare (and statistically it should be) for it to be 'miraculous' but when it is- thats a true outlier. Fascinating.

Malcolm Gladwell, I think.  I read a chunk of it on the flight from LAX to Incheon, and it was really interesting.  If you like Outliers, definitely check out another one of his, The Tipping Point.  Gladwell does a great job of bringing at times rather academic sociological and anthropological theory and experimentation into very real situations.  Also quite good at pitching a big idea, as in Outlier and Tipping Point.

Outliers was fascinating.  I've actually never gotten around to reading "Blink" despite seeing it referenced so much; doing that now, too.

[wrinklebump]

stephen king's 11/22/63 was an impressive read. main character is an english teacher!

highly recommended.

[wrinklebump]

also, i noticed there are quite a few posters reading fantasy novels. i'm curious as to whether or not anyone has read phillip pullman's his dark materials trilogy - those are my favorite fantasy novels, by no small margin.

[Frozencat99]

I'm also starting Not in This Family as my current non-fiction book. Getting to study with and learn from Heather Murray was one of the best experiences of my life, so I recommend her work to anyone at all interested in American postwar (WW2 specifically) history. Her expertise is within issues of privacy, sexuality, social history, and medical history... so she's also quite diverse.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Thinking of giving 'Mein Kamph' a shot.  Might be interesting for historical purposes. 

Anyone read it...? 

Probably a less disturbing read than 'American Psycho' I'd imagine....?  From what I've read about it so far, although Hitler's acts were disturbing, as well as his philosophies, the book itself isn't that bleak a read, more poorly written than anything, his style being somewhat convoluted and grandiose...

[sarahsunny]

I have been reading the Sherlock Holmes collection as of late. Thanks to the movies, I have been really interested in the series. Doyle did an amazing job and I have been very pleased with the series.

I am also reading some sci-fi. I love Asimov and would suggest the Foundation series.

Anyone, read the Twilight series...kkkkkk

[wrinklebump]

Thinking of giving 'Mein Kamph' a shot.  Might be interesting for historical purposes. 

Anyone read it...? 

Probably a less disturbing read than 'American Psycho' I'd imagine....?  From what I've read about it so far, although Hitler's acts were disturbing, as well as his philosophies, the book itself isn't that bleak a read, more poorly written than anything, his style being somewhat convoluted and grandiose...

reading mein kempf out of context isnt really a worthwhile endeavor. it is very much a product of the german experience after its defeat in world war 1, and should be supplemented with relevant reading.

[nathanpollard]

Interesting to see al the love for Murakami. Finished 1q84 last week; was a good read though towards the end of part two, it would have benefitted from a little more editing, however I felt it picked up nicely in book three. Not as good as Dance, Dance, Dance though.
Also have really enjoyed working my way through all the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels. I am so glad I bought a Kindle as I have finally got round to reading so many books I have put off; Tristram Shandy, Heart Of Darkness, A Tale Of Two Cities. Have generally been surprised how easy a lot of the classics are to get into. Only disapointment was Robinson Crusoe which got bogged down with his religious beliefs and inflicting it upon Man Friday.

[DWAEDGIMORIGUKBAP]

Thinking of giving 'Mein Kamph' a shot.  Might be interesting for historical purposes. 

Anyone read it...? 

Probably a less disturbing read than 'American Psycho' I'd imagine....?  From what I've read about it so far, although Hitler's acts were disturbing, as well as his philosophies, the book itself isn't that bleak a read, more poorly written than anything, his style being somewhat convoluted and grandiose...

reading mein kempf out of context isnt really a worthwhile endeavor. it is very much a product of the german experience after its defeat in world war 1, and should be supplemented with relevant reading.

Studied both WW1 and WW2 in historry at college, so am already aware of the social-political-economic backgrounds.

[wrinklebump]

Thinking of giving 'Mein Kamph' a shot.  Might be interesting for historical purposes. 

Anyone read it...? 

Probably a less disturbing read than 'American Psycho' I'd imagine....?  From what I've read about it so far, although Hitler's acts were disturbing, as well as his philosophies, the book itself isn't that bleak a read, more poorly written than anything, his style being somewhat convoluted and grandiose...

reading mein kempf out of context isnt really a worthwhile endeavor. it is very much a product of the german experience after its defeat in world war 1, and should be supplemented with relevant reading.

Studied both WW1 and WW2 in historry at college, so am already aware of the social-political-economic backgrounds.

then by all means, just beware that like most insane bastards, he drones on and on and on about the same topics endlessly

[Bohemian King]

Papillon by Henri Charriere for the umpteenth time.
Tagline reads as "the greatest true story of escape and adventure ever written", and although many challenge the authenticity of the various tales, it really is an outstanding piece of literature. Worth checking out for those with basically any literary taste.