What Book Are You Reading? Volume 9

[Narz]

I liked the film version of the Road. Depressing but moving & well made.

 

[Fifty]

Speaking of The Road, I'm reading The Road to Serfdom!

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

I just finished "Nine Lives", a book about nine people in New Orleans who represent a cross-section of the city.

 

[Agent327]

This thread should go in the new Arts subforum, right?

I think I requested that, but it helps if the threadstarter PMs a mod.

 

[Narz]

Speaking of The Road, I'm reading The Road to Serfdom!

My mom likes that one.

 

[The Imp]

Speaking of The Road, I'm reading The Road to Serfdom!

Did you blow your brains out yet? If you don't respond, i'll take that as a yes.

 

[galdre]

reading The Secret Knowledge of Water by Craig Childs (a nature writer)

fascinating, but books like this always depress me a bit with the evidence of human destructiveness you see in the natural world

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Finished Clash of Civilizations by Huntington.
My verdict: At least 60% nonsense. I can agree with much of the first half of the book apart from him lumping the islamic world from Morocco to Indoniesia together, and all but openly saying religion=civilization.
In the second half it really deteriorates when he equates islam and islamism, predicts a sino-islamic axis which wouldn't make any sense in a world where politics is dictated by cultural differences/similarities i.e. the very world he postulates in this book, and states that Greece shouldn't be a member of the EU because (no it's not about their economy, this was written in 1996) they are orthodox and western civilization is catholic/protestant.
Now after all the bad things I had previously read and heard about this book I was impressed in the first chapters just to come to the final conclusion: Less stupid than expected but still stupid.

Now reading :
The Changing Chinese Legal System 1978-Present by Bin Liang and
China's Long March toward Rule of Law by Randall Peerenboom.

 

[Gilder]

I finished Maggie Cassidy by Jack Kerouac and Rimbaud Complete, the complete works of Rimbaud as translated by Wyatt Mason.

 

[CurtSibling]

Just finished a book by Marc Olden, called "Poe Must Die!".

A great read - Dark magic and violence in a squalid 1840s New York backdrop.
Good characters and many historical figures added for flavour...Highly recommended!

 

[Martacus]

Just started reading M*A*S*H. Not very far into it yet, perhaps thirty pages or so. It looks promising, however.

 

[CurtSibling]

In the action/inspiration mood lately!

"Best of 2008" Sci-Fi compendium.
"No Surrender" by Hiroo Onada.
"Blood Pact" by Dan Abnet.
"White Wolf" by Dave Gemmell.

Many others to wade through later...!

 

[Smellincoffee]

I've a few books up in the air at the moment:
- It's Raining Frogs and Fishes!
- The Ethics of Star Trek
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Human Zoo

 

[Gilder]

I just finished The Call of the Wild by Jack London. I enjoyed it, it was fairly short, London has an enjoyable style.

 

[Babbler]

A Practical Introduction to Phonetics by J. C. Catford -- neat intro to phonetics, with lots of great little "experiments" to see how various sounds are made in the vocal tract. Highly recomended, although you probably do those in public.

 

[Cutlass]

Rereading an old book off my shelf. Dog Wizard by Barbara Hambly. It's a fantasy. Hambly is different from the other fantasy authors that I know in that she's much darker. Most fantasy is "it's always darkest before the dawn." Hambly is more "It's high noon, it's midsummer's day, it's dark, and there's a storm coming". It's not going to get any brighter.

 

[CivCube]

I'm only a couple chapters into Lord Foul's Bane, and Stephenson's already exposition-dumped a conventional fantasy story. Oho, Another Quest(tm)! He's going somewhere with this, hopefully. The first two chapters have already sent off Thomas Covenant in an entertaining way. Somehow reminds me of Up's first few scenes depicting loss.

Halfway through Infoquake, by David Louis Edelman. Hardly the best writing, and the characters are two-dimensional. The setting is the reason to read this: personalized governments with insurance company-like behavior. Nanomachines that repair and improve the body with programs, as well as plug a society-wide Internet into your head. The private sector is full of freelance Googles that constantly update their bodyhacks. And then the Next Big Thing is released...

 

[flyingchicken]

I just finished "Looking for Alaska" by John Green this morning after cutting it in half last night after reading through "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. They were both deeply depressing as I found it hard to relate to the protagonists, them having these zany, interesting, and loyal friends.

 

[Harald]

A while back I decided that I would read all Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett.
Last week I finished Jingo and right now I'm reading The Fifth Elephant.

 

[Azale]

I just bought some books, good haul but I'm going to kick myself to the moon if I see these cheaper at Half Price next week...

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X/as told to Alex Haley
The Penguin History of Latin America by Edwin Williamson
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
The Essential Chomsky by Noam Chomsky/edited by Anthony Arnove