What Are You Reading, Again?

[mitsho]

Well, I am currently reading (or better hav already read) and thinking on quite a lot of books, as I have the oral exams next week, the list would look like this:
Busch: Fromme Helene (Pious Helene)
Lessing: Nathan the wise
Büchner: Leonce and Lena
Lebert: Der Vogel ist ein Rabe (the bird is a crow)
Nagib Machfus: the children of my quarter
Shakespeare: Much Ado about nothing
George Orwell: Homage to Catalunya
Julian Barnes: A history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters
Charierre: Papillon
Dubois: une vie française
Verne: une fantaisie du dr. Ox
Oh, and in my free time (as a distraction), I'm reading Rafik Shami: A handful of stars

mitsho

 

[mrtn]

I finished Giantslayer by William King yesterday.

 

[Turner]

Venus, Inc., Fredrick Pohl and C M Kornbluth
The Short, Victorious War, David Weber
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

 

[Fifty]

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

[BlueMonday]

Just finished with "Memoirs of a Geisha". I figured that since the movie was on its way, I should read the book first so that I could complain that the film wasn't as good as the book. And hey, it was a good book to boot.

 

[FredLC]

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Is it good?

I have read "Crime and Punishment", and found it a bit boring - common for books so old - and the action too sparse. Great, elegant writing, but a bit of a pain to get to the end.

I was thinking of reading "The Brothers Karamazov", but I'm not so sure...

 

[Fifty]

Is it good?

I have read "Crime and Punishment", and found it a bit boring - common for books so old - and the action too sparse. Great, elegant writing, but a bit of a pain to get to the end.

I was thinking of reading "The Brothers Karamazov", but I'm not so sure...

Well perhaps my opinion may not be of too much merit to you because Crime and Punishment is my favorite book of all time, so perhaps we have a bit different taste!

Anyways, I am actually JUST starting, as in first 20pages or so. I'll post a bit more here once I get into it more substantially. The prospect sounds so good though... an exploration as to whether Christ-like love can prevail in our world. Dostoevsky found it difficult to construct Prince Myshkin's character because "beauty is the ideal, and neither my country, nor civilized Europe, know what that ideal of beauty is." I just thought that sounded cool.

After reading Crime and Punishment I decided that Dostoevsky is my favorite author, and bought The Idiot, Demons (aka The Posessed), and The Brothers Karamazov (buy two get one free sale!)

I've tentatively decided to make myself something of a minor Dostoevsky expert over the next year or so



Speaking of Dostoevsky, the following passage made me really appreciate the notion of parental love and feel like crap for all the classic teenage ingratitude I exhibited. Made me think about my dad and late mother a lot, very sad but amazingly written. He wrote this in his notebooks after his infant daughter died:

"This tiny, three months old being, so pitiful, so miniscule--for me was already a person, a character. She began to recognize me, to love me, to smile at me when I approached, when I, with my ridiculous voice, sang to her, she liked to listen...and now they tell me, in consolation, that I will have other children. But where is Sofya? Where is that little individual for whom, I dare to say, I would have accepted crucifixion so that she might live"

I just thought that was one of the best passages I have ever read, and wanted to share it!

 

[Zwelgje]

Joe Simpson - Touching the void.
I like these kinds of books and this one isn't an exception. If you're into mountaineering books this is a must.

 

[Hornblower]

Panzer General - Heinz Guderian

 

[CartesianFart]

"What is it like to be a bat",by Thomas Nagel.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

I am reading, somewhat extremely sparingly, "The First Blood" by Lou Cameron (NOT RAMBO, THIS IS ABOUT WW2).

I also parouse those extra sections in the back of "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King".

 

[The Fjonis]

(...) I have read "Crime and Punishment", and found it a bit boring - common for books so old - and the action too sparse. Great, elegant writing, but a bit of a pain to get to the end.

I was thinking of reading "The Brothers Karamazov", but I'm not so sure...

I quite liked Crime and Punishment, but I haven't gotten around to reading any other books by the same author yet.

I only brought The Very Best of my book collection to my flat where I live now, but "War and Peace" by Tolstoy And "Crime and Punishment" were among the selected few. I like those books very much, and hope to explore more of what they've written.

Anyone got any recommendations to other books by Tolstoy or Dostojevski? I'd appreciate it! Christmas holidays are right around the corner, and I need something to read.

 

[thetrooper]

Anyone got any recommendations to other books by Tolstoy or Dostojevski? I'd appreciate it! Christmas holidays are right around the corner, and I need something to read.

En trønder!

Anna Karenina. Read it ages ago. I don't remember much though...

 

[Sophie 378]

I have a list of thirty-nine articles to read just for one module. And I have to finish my dissertation and do the reading from the other module too, and there are several non-compulsary ones I'd like to read too. o_O
Example: A regulatory role for cAMP in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/p70 ribosomal S6 kinase-mediated DNA synthesis in platelet-derived-growth-factor-stimulated bovine airway smooth-muscle cells. Scott et al Biochem. J. (1996) 318, p965-971

 

[thetrooper]

You're just showing off Sophie!

 

[Sophie 378]

I wish.

Oh, ok, they're not so bad once you're reading them, but I can feel my brain overclocking if I try to read more than one per day. :suicide:

 

[FredLC]

Ok, lemme clear something here: C&P is a very good book, with a helluva history, great caracthers and a very strong and artistic writing. I liked the book very much, and I once even considered opening a thread here about Raskolnichov's "theory of great men", found in the book.

But it is still a book written a long time ago. Writing became more dynamic since them, and the pace of the book is a bit too slow, Should you compare him with modern authors such as Garcia Marques, or Saramago, for example.

It's in that sense that I found it hard to keep reading - things take forever to happen. The Showdown between Lúdin and Raskolnichov, the side tale about the former employer of his sister, his love story with the prostitute, all these were lined out a little before the middle of the book, and all explode virtually at the same time, very close to the ending. This means half a book of waiting things to happen, what was a bit boring, even if very well written.

Anyway, I rarely judge an author for one book only (either positively or negatively), so perhaps I'll read "The Brothers Karamazov", or maybe even "The Idiot", which I saw on sale as a pocket book yesterday.

Regards .

 

[thetrooper]

@ Sophie: My turn:

I have to do a combined Rietveld analysis of synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction data using the GSAS program package. Special attention to the pseudo-Voigt profile function and thermal parameters for ternary intermetallic hydrides. I'm not kidding.

 

[Till]

"Computational Intelligence: A logical approach" by Poole et all.
A real yawner, but neccessary for uni!
In my free time i'm currently reading some of Poe's short stories

 

[Radagaisus]

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (third and last in the trilogy of His Dark Materials) - oh, the potential is killing me. The Golden Compass, the first in this trilogy, was one of the finest books I have ever read. the second was really just a good adventure book, but this one - err, the theory, the story, the science, the theology, the adventures; if he would have rewriting this a bit it would have been the best trilogy I have ever read. No kidding. So far: 7.5 (and the first book in the series definitely gets ten out of ten).

The Divine Comedy by Dante – pretty cool so far, great poetry.

After those two I'm planning on Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.