What Are You Reading, Again?

[Megabyte]

Hi!

Right now i´ve finished "The Swarm" by Frank Schätzing and have begun reading the "At the End of Time"-trilogy by Michael Moorcock.

 

[thetrooper]

This evening I will pick up Ondskan by Jan Guillou. Mainly because of the Fight or Flight thread! I believe that Evil is the English title (Swedes out there?).

 

[Yoda Power]

A Short History Of Byzantium- John Julius Norwich. I bought it years ago, but my english wasn't that good back then, so now I'm trying again.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

'Settling Accounts - Return Engagements' - Harry Turtledove and 'Queen of the Demonweb Pits' (Paul Kidd) which is quite a rollicking rendering of the old module.

 

[WickedSmurf]

This evening I will pick up Ondskan by Jan Guillou. Mainly because of the Fight or Flight thread! I believe that Evil is the English title (Swedes out there?).

Thou areth correcteth Mr Trooper.

 

[thetrooper]

A wicked smurf to the rescue! Have you read the book?

 

[WickedSmurf]

Mais non monsieur.

I haven't even seen the movie...

 

[thetrooper]

Keep those eyes rolling then

 

[Richard Cribb]

This evening I will pick up Ondskan by Jan Guillou. Mainly because of the Fight or Flight thread!

An excellent choice, sir!
It's quite good.

 

[thetrooper]

And inspired by the history quiz - I may dig into my old philosophy notes

 

[YNCS]

'Settling Accounts - Return Engagements' - Harry Turtledove

This book is #7 in a series. The first six books are:

The Great War: American Front
The Great War: Walk in Hell
The Great War: Breakthoroughs
American Empire: Blood and Iron
American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold
American Empire: The Victorious Opposition

I would strongly recommend starting with American Front or, at least, Blood and Iron. If you drop into Return Engagements without reading the other books, you won't have any idea of who these people are or what is going on.

 

[cgannon64]

Just finished: The Wrong Side of Paris, Balzac; Resistence, Rebellion, and Death, Camus; The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus.

Trying to find and possibly read: The Possessed, Dosteviesky (sp?); The Brothers Karamasov, Dosteviesky; anything I can find by Jean-Paul Sartre; The Castle by Kafka (I've read it once but its worth a re-read).

If you can't tell, I am hopelessly confounded and fascinated with existentialism. It is exremely romantic and logical and clearly the philosophy of the intelligent person - who has decided life has no meaning. In The Myth of Sisyphus Camus talks all kinds of talk about "leaps" - but that is one that is very hard to make. (Put it another way, if I wasn't so Catholic I'd be existentialist.)

 

[Keirador]

Dostoevsky.
Read some Kierkegaard. He's exactly what you're looking for, cgannon. One of the very first existentialists, arguably THE first. His existentialism also rests on a Christian rather than an atheist or nihilist foundation. Also of interest, all his notable works were written under pseudonyms. Sometimes, he would criticize former work of his under a different pseudonym. Tricky guy.

 

[Keirador]

As for me, I'm about to sample some more F. Scott Fitzgerald with "The Beautiful and Damned". I'm indulging my everyday taste for the dystopian with Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange".

 

[cgannon64]

Camus mentioned Kierkegaard in a very favorable way which made me want to pick him up.

I saw "Fear and Trembling" in Barnes and Noble - I have to see if its in my library. First off, the title alone makes me want to get it. Then I see its about God's call for Abraham to sacrifice his son - and that is a topic I desperately want to understand. Then I read that he's a Christian existentialist - a damned awesome thing, by the sound of it.

In short, I really need to find stuff by him.

 

[Keirador]

Camus, though an atheist through much of his life, died a Christian fundamentalist. His primary influences in this were Kierkegaard and an American minister called Howard Mumma, who is now writing a book about his theological discussions with Camus. Perhaps you might look into that as well, cgannon.

 

[thetrooper]

Ingar Sletten Kolloen: Hamsun Svermeren (2003).
Ingar Sletten Kolloen: Hamsun Erobreren (2004).

I don't know if there are any English titles for those, perhaps Hamsun - The Dreamer and Hamsun - The Conqueror?

Anyway Sletten Kolloen has written two books about Knut Hamsun (the Norwegian author, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920).

 

[cgannon64]

Camus, though an atheist through much of his life, died a Christian fundamentalist.

Wha??? Do you have a link to his biography online? (Then again, I shouldn't be that surprised. I detected a liking of Christianity is the stuff I've read.)

Anyway, I got from the library, Barnes and Noble, and my bookshelf:

Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre (I finished it. Quite excellent.)
The Brothers Karamasov, Dostevesky
Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard
Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard

I'm reading the Brothers K and Sickness Unto Death. Kierkegaard is quite dense, but interesting. I'm getting the basics, but I can tell I'm going to have to read it a few more times before I fully understand it.

 

[eyrei]

Wha??? Do you have a link to his biography online? (Then again, I shouldn't be that surprised. I detected a liking of Christianity is the stuff I've read.)

Anyway, I got from the library, Barnes and Noble, and my bookshelf:

Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre (I finished it. Quite excellent.)
The Brothers Karamasov, Dostevesky
Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard
Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard

I'm reading the Brothers K and Sickness Unto Death. Kierkegaard is quite dense, but interesting. I'm getting the basics, but I can tell I'm going to have to read it a few more times before I fully understand it.

The Brothers Karamasov is probable the best novel I have read. Quite a story.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Currently reading Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown. On page 100 or so, and really into it. I'll probably finish it in the next few days at my pace.

Anyone read this? Did you think this or the Da Vinici Code was better?