The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I read Anthem a couple of years ago. I don’t like her too much, but my dad does. That’s irrelevant anyway, because I have to write an essay on it.
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad is my fun happy book. I got it because I like Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Beat Happening, Mission of Burma, and the Replacements, but it has also gotten me curious about the Minutemen, and has reinforced my belief that Henry Rollins is an asshole.
I am also reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard for my English class. I have to do a seminar on it, but at least I got to pick what book to read.
I started 1984 by George Orwell a few months ago, but it’s been pushed to the backburner by all the other books I have to read (including the Harry Potter books).
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. A first hand account of the ill-fated SCott expedition to the South Pole. A little dry and slow at first it really picks up when Cherry-Garrard describes the hellish Winter Journey to the Emperor Penguin rookery.
On deck… The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinnis L.A. Confidential James James Ellroy
Hey, thanks! That’s always nice to hear. I’m glad you liked it.
And, to stay with the OP, I am reading Beyond Velikovsky by Henry Bauer. It’s a pretty fair assessment of the whole Velikovskyaffair. Bad science never stops…
swannguy, I’ve just recently “discovered” Saramago for myself. I just finished All the Names and I really liked it, though I see what you mean about his style. I want to find Blindness soon and see what that’s like.
Right now I’m wading through the biography John Adams by David McCullough. It slow reading, but good stuff. McCullough really does a nice job capturing the time, and he has a lot of interesting insights to share.
Just read and loved “Salt” by Mark Kurlansky. A strong reccomendation to young readers and their teachers.
To celebrate the season:“Lincoln and the Law, " Lincoln in New York” and AnthonySampson’s “Mandela” (four stars) also “Real Thai-Best of Thailand’s Regional Cooking”
I tried to read them last summer and couldn’t get past the first one - they kept losing me. I may try again soon, if I can find them in the library.
My current reading includes Free Expression in the Age of the Internet, The Digital Dilemna: Intellectual Property in the Age of the Internet, The Responsive Public Library and a bunch of articles on reserve in the library.
Beyond class, I’m not finding much reading time lately, so for light reading just before bed, I pulled Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban off the bookshelf - because I’ve read it before, I won’t get so sucked in that I forget to go to sleep.
Johnny LA, I don’t know much about the “editions,” but I’ve enjoyed most of the books you listed. If you haven’t read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, you should. I’m a big fan of speculative fiction. Though I am an English teacher and I should be reading The Classics, I enjoy sci fi/horror/fantasy a hell of a lot. I also like fiction with a twist, like The Lovely Bones. Basically, during the school year, I want to read books that are FUN, not ponderous. I think enough on the company’s dime.
In the middle of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Series right now, just finished Enemy of God and am starting into Excalibur.
I’m really enjoying it. It’s an enthralling retelling of the Arthur stories, but Cornwell combines a sort of semi-historical accuracy with a sense of wonder. He sets his story in Britan as it was circa 500 a.d. So Arthur’s horsemen are not knights, they don’t wear platemail, and the castles are a mix of wood and stone. Christianity is not yet the common faith, it vies with the older pagan tradition as well as other cults introduced by the romans for influence. I’m liking it.
The Autobiography of King Henry VIII: With Notes By His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George: Historical fiction (and a lot of fact) about King Henry VIII.
Harry Potter y la Camara Secreta: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Spanish- I am determined to have a better grasp of that language!
For the Love of a Dog by Elisabeth Rose: Basically, sweet, heart-warming little stories about the author and the animals she’s come in contact with over the years.
And, as soon as I get a chance to go out and get it, I am going to read Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain. I saw it recommended in GD by Deathstatic, and it looked interesting.
Yeah, I should probably learn to read only one book at a time…but that just makes too much sense!
Finally started Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren. It’s every bit as weird and fascinating as my very persistent sources had been telling me.
Next up? No idea, but I bet it’ll be something on this list. The only thing I’m really chomping at the bit to read (Le Guin’s next volume of short fiction, Changing Planes) isn’t due out 'till July, alas. So I think it’ll be something I’ve always meant to read but just haven’t. Some Wodehouse, for instance…hmmm.
I’m two-thirds of the way into Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It’s dragging at the moment, but definitely had some good parts. My high-school principal actually recommended it to me, knowing I like things that are trippy and like Douglas Adams, whose writing the authors are compared to excessively.
I was also reading The House of the Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne, for the sole purpose of proving to myself that I can get through another Hawthorn book and not wanting my whole opinion of him based on The Scarlet Letter. But I haven’t touched the thing since last month.
I just finished Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter by Ruth Rendell, which was definitely not her best book. In fact, it may be her worst. Very disappointing.
Thanks to the “Funny Book” thread, tonight I’m starting Confederacy of Dunces.
Quote:
swannguy, I’ve just recently “discovered” Saramago for myself. I just finished All the Names and I really liked it, though I see what you mean about his style. I want to find Blindness soon and see what that’s like.
Avalon - I think “Blindness” is his best…I’d suggest you have a try at “The Gospel according to Jesus Christ”. It sure gives you a new look on Christianity…
No, no, thank you for writing it!
I thought some of the examples you gave made the issues extremely clear. For example: Why is the sky blue-although I liked the technical explanation too, I still like how you condensed it into a nice easy explanation using stuff falling from trees. I was trying to explain the longer answer to my fiancé and I kept screwing up, so finally I relied on the short, sweet, leaves falling from trees answer (when I try to explain things I usually get tangled up in the explanation).
I also like the humor you sprinkled into the book. The last chapter (on Hollywood mistakes in movies) was also great. Dang, I suppose I could go on and on…
I just finished Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans, which i give a resounding “meh.” I couldn’t get involved with the characters or plot at all. I’ve started Plane Insanity by flight attendant Elliot Hester, and it’s really opening up a horrifying world of the nasty things people do on airplanes. While it’s not the best-written book, I’m enjoying the shock, repulsion, and giggles I feel when I read about all-out brawls in the cabin, hookers working the coach lavatories, and the woman who snuck an aquarium with octopi and fish into her carry-on.
I’m in the middle of Lord of the Rings of which I read at night before bed, and A Clockwork Orange that is my book I read on the train.
I’m not sure what I will go onto next, I’ve read a bunch of books that I really haven’t liked lately. I need to go back and read some more Philip Dick and Kundera.
