Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Masada]

Why didn't we holiday here before? Snow, ice, cold water and not a leopard seal around.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

But then they'd have been hunted by the French.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Skin Game
by Jim Butcher

Dresden Files #15 and it's still good!

 

[Cutlass]

Why didn't we holiday here before? Snow, ice, cold water and not a leopard seal around.

 

[cramstpuee757]

I just started reading the Inferno of Dan Brown :3 So far, so good

 

[Paul in Saudi]

Commander Cantrill in the West Indies, a classic in the original English no less.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I just finished The Vikings by Rob Ferguson, followed by Ayn Rand's Anthem. Anthem is a shorter work of hers (80-odd pages). I only read it because it was a free ebook. As I am sure that would make her roll in her grave, I had to read it just to relish in the irony. It's set in a future where the triumph of collectivism has resulted in a deteriorating to near-medieval conditions; the human family is destroyed and everyone belongs to artificial institutions created by the state. The individual as a concept is dead; from birth people are members of a cohort, either in school or at work, and the pronoun "I" does not exist; every character refers to themselves as "We", which took some getting used to. The story is one of a lowly street sweeper with an insatiable curiosity about the world discovering a place to hide and explore questions forbidden to him, later discovering the reality of individualism for himself and running away into the woods with his own version of Julia from 1984 to plot a rebellion. The main character's break from the stifling oppression of the state is inspirational, but by the last few pages he's become a rabid preacher. When Julia says to him, "I love you", using "I" for the first time, his response is not to respond to her love, but to make a speech about the politics of the word "we" and the importance of the word "I" and it goes on for half a page before he gives himself a name, Prometheus. I don't care for the ego-worship at the end, but most of the tale was fun. I always enjoy man vs state stories.

I'm not sure what I'll read next; I'm trying to get into CS Lewis' That Hideous Strength.

 

[Azale]

Anthem, at the very least, sounds like it be a more exciting movie. Less overt rich people worship doe I guess

 

[Smellincoffee]

Anthem, at the very least, sounds like it be a more exciting movie. Less overt rich people worship doe I guess

It's right in line with Enlightenment-era liberal individualism, so it's definitely an easier sell than the utter worship of self, especially considering that by the tale's end the Winston and Julia-esque characters have a baby on the way.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

First book I probably ever bought for myself. NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette by Nathan W. Pyle is a short, illustrated paperback about the titular subject, written in a light-hearted manner. Most of the tips apply to almost any large city (e.g. let people get off first before going in trains or buses) and the New York-specific tips will be useful when I visit someday. Definitely worth keeping on my shelf.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Anthem, at the very least, sounds like it be a more exciting movie. Less overt rich people worship doe I guess

It was adapted into a song.

 

[Cutlass]

The Magicians by Lev Grossman. It's pretty good.

 

[Masada]

The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng: I should have enjoyed this book more than I did given the setting Malaya and the theme: can a victim of a Japanese work (death?) camp deal with what she saw and participated in? The answer is not really, of course, but the getting there was long and rather boring. The amount of exposition was also obnoxious and the tone... reminds me why I'm getting less and less sympathetic to Chinese Malays.

The Governess and Other Stories - Stefan Zweig: I really enjoyed these, the translation was immaculate and the writing lively and engaging.

When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishigura: Barely readable. The plot was silly. The main character is clearly mentally hank paper, although the author assures us he's highly intelligent. The writing is flat to the point of being boring. Naturally, I finished it.

Sanshiro - Soseki Natsume: Fantastic. Natsume is one of my favourite authors and by a large margin my favourite Japanese author.

Seven Japanese Tales - Junichiro Tanizaki: Extremely good. A Portait of Shunkin and A Blind Man's Tale being the stand outs.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Masada, I'm going to just pretend you're reading a biography of Segata Sanshiro, so I can be jealous.

But not too jealous, because I'm reading Nick Lloyd's Hundred Days, and it's FANTASTIC.

 

[Masada]

Segata or Sugata Sanshiro?

 

[ParkCungHee]

Segata. Still haven't gotten around to watching Sugata.

 

[spider1]

Lucky Planet: Why Earth is Exceptional—and What That Means for Life in the Universe [Kindle Edition] David Waltham (Author)

Publication Date:April 8, 2014
Why Earth’s life-friendly climate makes it exceptional—and what that means for the likelihood of finding intelligent extraterrestrial life

We have long fantasized about finding life on planets other than our own. Yet even as we become aware of the vast expanses beyond our solar system, it remains clear that Earth is exceptional. The question is: why? In Lucky Planet, astrobiologist David Waltham argues that Earth’s climate stability is what makes it uniquely able to support life, and it is nothing short of luck that made such conditions possible. The four billion year-stretch of good weather that our planet has experienced is statistically so unlikely that chances are slim that we will ever encounter intelligent extraterrestrial others. Citing the factors that typically control a planet’s average temperature—including the size of its moon, as well as the rate of the Universe’s expansion—Waltham challenges the prevailing scientific consensus that Earth-like planets have natural stabilizing mechanisms that allow life to flourish.

 

[Smellincoffee]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which may begin a series of reading for me (to last a few years) to read through a good sampling of classic American literature.

 

[Borachio]

When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishigura: Barely readable. The plot was silly. The main character is clearly mentally hank paper, although the author assures us he's highly intelligent. The writing is flat to the point of being boring. Naturally, I finished it.

Really? I'm surprised. I've only read The Remains of the Day by Ishigura, and I was immensely impressed. I thought he was a supremely accomplished writer.

 

[Masada]

I went in expecting the same based on what I'd read in The Remains of the Day. Turns out this is widely acknowledged to be his worst work so far.