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Topic Starter Topic: Re: currently reading....
Underpants?
Elite
Elite

Joined: 21 Oct 2001
Posts: 6436
PostPosted: 01-22-2008 01:41 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


R00k wrote:
I'm about 60 pages away from finishing Crime and Punishment.

What a wonderfully written book. :up:


OK well I'll go with it but if there are references to prison sex contained within those pages, consider your invitation to my birthday party canceled, fuck-knuckles.
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R00k
straight at you
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Joined: 18 Dec 2000
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PostPosted: 01-22-2008 03:36 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


You wouldn't dare!

Besides, what's a birthday party without two grown, hairy men awkwardly having sex with each other? Those are some of my best memories as a child. I was so happy when I got a trampoline that year....
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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
Canadian Shaft
Canadian Shaft

Joined: 01 Mar 2001
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PostPosted: 01-22-2008 04:07 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


werldhed wrote:
HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:
Currently reading: How Soccer Explains The World


Rook and Werldhed, you have to read Ulysses to understand why people love Joyce.

Crime and Punishment is a classic.


I don't doubt that his stuff is good; his writing is really impressive. It just so happens that particular book of his blows. Similar to how Crime and Punishment is great, and The Idiot sucks. Some writers just have moments of shit.

Will check out Ulysses at some point. Is Finnegans Wake any good?

Finnegan's Wake is rewarding but slow going. It's more difficult to read than his other stuff.
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R00k
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PostPosted: 02-03-2008 01:43 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I haven't had a lot of time to read lately, but I finally finished Crime and Punishment this morning.

It's certainly one of the best books I've ever read, if not the best, in terms of overall satisfaction in having read it.

Something about the story and the characters throughout the book seems entirely too real, and is much too compelling to ever stop before finishing the story. It's a book full of gray areas that leaves you with a lot to think about after it's over. The main character/protagonist, Raskolnikov, is very complex in his thoughts and emotions, but at the same time you're frequently compelled to consider him in a certain light, as a certain "type" of person or ideologue, and paint him in a black or white brush. But these urges always fall apart, and you're left reflecting on your self and your own views, trying to determine if humans are even capable of passing the kind of judgment that all of us ultimately want to, in an instinctive way. The fact that the harsh truths of reality sometimes preclude us from being capable of even seeing all the parts that make up a life in that reality, and that many people aren't remotely (perhaps even physiologically) capable of seeing reality through a window on it that isn't their own, or stranger yet (to me) seemingly aren't even capable of a desire to do so, at times makes the whole pursuit of any kind of truth seem like a hollow victory when it is actually achieved.

But even so, to me, it's not amazing when people stray from the reality that exists in the majority consciousness by definition (in terms of mental health, delusions of grandeur, or even simple dreams); what's amazing is that so many people can and do share enough parts of their own reality with others, intentionally or not -- what's really amazing is that through the millions of years of evolutionary change that has produced the human mind and its ability to be aware of reality, we are somehow able to express a shared majority view of things at all. The miracle of the human mind is that insanity is even a word; that it's an aberration instead of the norm. And that in itself seems to be a victory that we can all share (even Roskolnikov), by realizing that we're contributing to it every day.
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Canidae
Immortal
Immortal

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PostPosted: 02-03-2008 08:59 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


R00k wrote:
Just started reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson.

I tried to read Snowcrash, but all that cyberpunk crap really turned me off -- especially since the technical aspects were dumbed down to the point of being meaningless. I only read about 100 pages or so.

Quicksilver is good so far, I just hope it focuses a little less on alchemy later on. :smirk:

I put down my Hunter S. Thompson for a bit to read it.


I'm plowing thru the 1050 pages that is Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicron and its not exactly gripping either, but I did like Snowcrash.

I think I'll go back to Neil Gaiman and Robert J. Sawyer books than this guys other stuff. :shrug:



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Ryoki
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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 12:53 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Finally started in The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.



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Grudge
Approaching the singularity
Approaching the singularity

Joined: 28 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 09:36 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I got Iain M Banks new Culture novel 'Matter' in the mail today, so I'll be reading that.

Other than that, I'm slowly going through 'The Emperor's New Mind' by Roger Penrose.
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R00k
straight at you
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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 09:41 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I can't decide what to read next

Blackwater
The Alpha and Omega
Confessions of an Economic Hitman

or a Sci-Fi book by Harry Turtledove that a friend loaned me.
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scared?
What I feed my kids
What I feed my kids

Joined: 02 Mar 2007
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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 09:48 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


lol...what kind of a moron reads fiction?...
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seremtan
Etile
Etile

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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 10:25 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


just finished

'counterknowledge: how we surrendered to conspiracy theories, quack medicine, bogus science and fake history' - Damian Thompson. similar in kind (though shorter) to Francis Wheen's epic survey of stupidity in 'how mumbo-jumbo conquered the world'

currently reading

'panic nation: exposing the myths we're told about food and health' - eds. Stanley Feldman & Vincent Marks. everyone should read this book

god i love a good debunking. watching the idiocies and intellectual prejudices of 'smart' people get bent over and fucked silly is way more exhilarating than watching some council estate gormie not being able to locate uzbekistan on the map
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scared?
What I feed my kids
What I feed my kids

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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 10:37 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


example or it didn't happen...
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Memphis
Intoxicated
Intoxicated

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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 10:42 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Terry Pratchett - Small Gods
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seremtan
Etile
Etile

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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 10:46 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


scared? wrote:
example or it didn't happen...


every thread you've ever made?
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Geebs
Will Hench for Food
Will Hench for Food

Joined: 08 Feb 2005
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PostPosted: 02-04-2008 10:47 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Canidae wrote:

I'm plowing thru the 1050 pages that is Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicron and its not exactly gripping either, but I did like Snowcrash.

I think I'll go back to Neil Gaiman and Robert J. Sawyer books than this guys other stuff. :shrug:

Reading the whole Baroque Cycle is a waste of time. Cryptonomicon, Diamond Age and Snow Crash are worth it though.
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Canidae
Immortal
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PostPosted: 02-10-2008 08:45 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


If you're a fan of Neil Gaiman you can vote on which of a selection of his books you would like to read for free and the one with the most votes will be available online.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/02/birthday-thing.html
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Fender
Jesus of Suburbia
Jesus of Suburbia

Joined: 14 Jan 2001
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PostPosted: 02-10-2008 09:11 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Purchased Richard Dawkins - How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think today. 25 "reflections by scientists, writers and philosophers."
It was equally cool and depressing that the evolution section at Cleveland's natural history museum had such a large selection of book about evolution vs creationism, all in favor of evolution, of course. I usually don't see all those together. Good to see somebody is fighting the good fight, but a shame they need to.
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Mat Linnett
Shambolic
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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 01:07 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


In my search for another decent zombie genre novel I've read a lot of dross, but turned up another decent one finally:
The Words of their Roaring: London's Falling

Written by Matthew Smith, ex-editor of 2000AD, it gets a lot of things right.
It focuses on strong characters and their relationships and struggles rather than the zombies themselves.

Granted, it also makes mistakes, some purely personal bugbears (the idea of intelligent and evolving zombies) and some schoolboy science errors that make you wince (referring to virii as bacteria and vice versa), and it makes the number one mistake of trying to explain the origin of the zombie outbreak, but it's written with such passion and verve that you can forgive these slips.

Not a World War Z by any stretch, but a metric shit-tonne better than most of the other crap out there.
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werldhed
EYE gee EM!
EYE gee EM!

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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 01:21 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Currently reading: students' assignments. :down:
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chopov
The Afflicted
The Afflicted

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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 02:50 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Pascal Mercier: Night train to Lisbon
Just began reading it, can't tell if its as good as everyone says.
Charlotte Roche: Feuchtgebiete ("wetlands")
Ex-Viva-(MTV-like channel here in Germany)- presenter writes semi-biographical about a stay in a clinic after cutting her sphincter during shaving her private parts (sic!). About her collection of avocado pits :paranoid: she not only uses for growing new avocado plants....and a lot more indecent, nasty, kinky stuff... :ducky: :D Fun to read... :owned:



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R00k
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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 03:40 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I started reading Next by Michael Crichton, but put it down halfway through for In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.

First time I've read any Crichton, but I'm not overly impressed thus far.
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Canidae
Immortal
Immortal

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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 03:52 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Canidae wrote:
If you're a fan of Neil Gaiman you can vote on which of a selection of his books you would like to read for free and the one with the most votes will be available online.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/02/birthday-thing.html


The winner was :American Gods.

Free for the reading here: http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060558123&WT.mc_id=author_AmerGods_FullAccess_022208



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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
Canadian Shaft
Canadian Shaft

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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 04:03 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


R00k wrote:
I started reading Next by Michael Crichton, but put it down halfway through for In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.

First time I've read any Crichton, but I'm not overly impressed thus far.

I'd have to agree with you. He's popular but he's a hack.
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Sevensins
The Afflicted
The Afflicted

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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 05:48 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The Three-Pound Enigma: The Human Brain and the Quest to Unlock Its Mysteries
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R00k
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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 06:08 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:
R00k wrote:
I started reading Next by Michael Crichton, but put it down halfway through for In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.

First time I've read any Crichton, but I'm not overly impressed thus far.

I'd have to agree with you. He's popular but he's a hack.


The way it skips around might work if he knew how to develop the characters. But none of them are memorable in the slightest, and since they're all in the same industry or business it's hard to remember which story line you're even following. The book seems like a good concept, but he's not pulling it off very well.

If his other stuff is more of the same I probably won't bother with any of it - although I've heard Timeline is supposed to be worth reading.
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HM-PuFFNSTuFF
Canadian Shaft
Canadian Shaft

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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 06:27 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


R00k wrote:
If his other stuff is more of the same I probably won't bother with any of it - although I've heard Timeline is supposed to be worth reading.

Timeline is the book of his that I read. I had the same impression as you. His characters are undeveloped, unsympathetic and unmemorable. It's a good concept and there's lots of action but it's pretty crap overall.
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R00k
straight at you
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PostPosted: 03-04-2008 06:38 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Thanks, I'll probably leave it alone.
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Dr_Watson
Black Magic
Black Magic

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PostPosted: 03-19-2008 02:41 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


resurrecting this thread from the grave because i just finished Alan Weisman's "The world without us".
Fucking fantastic book.
One of the few i've encountered recently that have the ability to fundamentally change your outlook on the environment and humanity.
it's like reading the selfish gene for the first time.
highly recommended. :up:
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7zark7
Knight of the Sad Countenance
Knight of the Sad Countenance

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PostPosted: 03-19-2008 02:51 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The football factory, John King.

( 3rd reading )

Still waiting for his new one...



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A lot of people would say it's a bad idea, on your first day out of prison, to go right back to stalking the tranny hooker that knocked out five of your teeth. But that's how I roll..
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Mat Linnett
Shambolic
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PostPosted: 03-19-2008 03:21 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Just last week finished Rant by Chuck Palahniuk and have now moved on to yet another zombie novel, this one a set of four stories by different authors called "Headshot Quartet".
The first story, "Million Dollar Money Shot" is typically pulpy and occasionally sloppy but wins points for managing to squeeze Cthulhu into an otherwise run-of-the-mill zombie romp.

Rant was typically brilliant, although I'm not sure whether I liked the sci-fi aspect of the book.
Chuck's at his most unsettling when he makes me believe his situations could happen to me or are happening all around me every day without my knowledge.
The sci-fi element wasn't convincing enough, although it did make for some mind-bending thoughts after I had finished.
I kinda felt the same way with Lullaby and his exploration of the spiritual and witchcraft.
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7zark7
Knight of the Sad Countenance
Knight of the Sad Countenance

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PostPosted: 03-19-2008 03:28 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I liked RANT... I really fell into the documentary talking heads feel with the oral biography idea...
It wasnt his best...but I liked the ideas..

" never trust a historian"



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A lot of people would say it's a bad idea, on your first day out of prison, to go right back to stalking the tranny hooker that knocked out five of your teeth. But that's how I roll..
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Wabbit
Elite
Elite

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PostPosted: 03-19-2008 07:47 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The Story of Archaeology in 50 Great Discoveries - Justin Pollard
XXX: 30 Porn-Star portraits - Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
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Memphis
Intoxicated
Intoxicated

Joined: 26 Sep 2001
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PostPosted: 03-20-2008 09:09 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Rob Grant - Colony
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Captain Mazda
i shave my ass
i shave my ass

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PostPosted: 03-20-2008 11:19 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I need to try and grab a copy of Brian Fagan's "The Great Warming".
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Plan B
foolproof
foolproof

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PostPosted: 03-21-2008 12:22 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


That Bill Bryson's 'Short history of nearly everything'.

It's OK, but not very well written, IMO.
He drops a name, takes a page or two to describe the scientist and moves onto the next name.
Don't exactly know what I was expecting, but I miss a stronger context.
It all seems a bit chaotic, and doesn't make things more clear for me.

Only just started, so it may get better.
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Underpants?
Elite
Elite

Joined: 21 Oct 2001
Posts: 6436
PostPosted: 04-10-2008 07:59 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Ryoki wrote:
I went a little crazy at the bookstore today:
...
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army - Jeremy Scahill
....


what did you think?
great read, imhobbles
private, religio-right-wing special forces? scared?(tm), 2000-2008 fuckcakes mcdishwasher
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