What are you reading?

[old bob]

Waiting of the next chapter of DK story !

 

And reading old books (I don

Edited April 25, 2008 by old bob

[GaryK]

I recently finished reading FDR by Jean Edward Smith. Not sure what I'm going to read next.

 

Oh, and I forgot the e-books of Josh Asterovis

Josh has completely rewritten two of his books and they were recently published as paperbacks. Both books are available on Amazon. I have the pleasure of hosting Josh's website on one of my servers.

[AFriendlyFace]

LOL, I'm reading the Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia. Must be up on my GLBT facts after all!

[S.L. Lewis]

LOL, I'm reading the Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia. Must be up on my GLBT facts after all!

 

 

Yes, yes, must be up to date on your own world, huh? *giggles*

Anyways, I've gotten to the point where I'm reading fanfiction. Right now mostly Harry Potter and Pirates of the Carabiean (sorry about the spelling) crossovers. What can I say? A Jack/Harry pairing is hot.

[corvus]

I am currently reading the book in the Vampire Chronicles that comes before Queen of the Damned, aka The Vampire Lestat, as I finished reading Interview With The Vampire, which was a pretty amazing read in my opinion. I also appreciate Rice's so very interesting take on vampire life, including sexuality. I agree with any critic who claimed the book was "erotic" because that it was, and not in a dirty or bad way.

 

IMO Anne Rice did to vampires what JK Rowling did to wizards and witches -- i.e., reinvented the genre. Very impressive. And I, like Rose, think Rice an awfully stupid cow for her whole "conversion." I wonder what her son thinks.

 

 

LOL, I'm reading the Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia. Must be up on my GLBT facts after all!

 

Lol, I used to read that sort of thing a lot -- online, of course. Needed to know more about "my culture," after all.

[ashessnow]

I read all these for a Lit class. Recommended are in bold:

 

Antigone: Sophocles

 

Pygmalion: Shaw

 

Hamlet: Shakespeare

 

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead: Stoppard

 

Wuthering Heights: Bronte

 

Brave New World: Huxley

 

Beloved: Morrison

 

Candide: Voltaire

 

The Stranger: Camus

 

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Joyce

 

The Metamorphosis: Kafka

Edited May 1, 2008 by Nerotorb

[corvus]

I read all these for a Lit class. Recommended are in bold:

 

Antigone: Sophocles

Pygmalion: Shaw

Hamlet: Shakespeare

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead: Stoppard

Wuthering Heights: Bronte

Brave New World: Huxley

Beloved: Morrison

Candide: Voltaire

The Stranger: Camus

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Joyce

The Metamorphosis: Kafka

 

*gasp* You didn't like Hamlet or Antigone!? I loved Antigone! I agree about Wuthering Heights, though. Couldn't get past the written accent, and then I couldn't get past the feeling that Heathcliff was a bit creepy.

 

I also agree about Brave New World and -- especially -- Beloved. Great book, that was. It kind of broke open my head. I haven't read any of the others except the Stranger, which I'm relatively lukewarm about. I guess I'm not an existentialist!

[myself_i_must_remake]

one of the heartbreaking things about morrison is a writer is that when she's on, she's on, but man

 

she HAS some mess ups out there.

 

some of her novels are really... eh... we'll just say she lost her subtlety when she got older.

[ashessnow]

*gasp* You didn't like Hamlet or Antigone!? I loved Antigone! I agree about Wuthering Heights, though. Couldn't get past the written accent, and then I couldn't get past the feeling that Heathcliff was a bit creepy.

 

I also agree about Brave New World and -- especially -- Beloved. Great book, that was. It kind of broke open my head. I haven't read any of the others except the Stranger, which I'm relatively lukewarm about. I guess I'm not an existentialist!

 

Well I liked Antigone more then Hamlet. I was out for a week while we were reading Antigone in class and had about a day to read and analyse it before I had to write an essay on it. But I know that If I spent more time on it I would have liked it more.

 

And Hamlet? No. Just . . . no. I mean, he's such a whiny bitch! I wanted to scream at him, just choose already!

 

As for Wuthering Heights . . . I didn't read it. I mean like, not at all. I just couldn't get into it. It is one of those books that you have to read eventually so I will, just not now.

 

My true favorites of the class were Brave New World, Beloved and Ros and Guil are Dead. Those are followed closely by The Stranger and The Metamorphosis.

 

The writing in Beloved is superior to all others. And there's just nothing like it, from the writing to the themes to the characters. Its hard to explain, but it's technically best book Ive ever read.

 

If you like existentialism youll definitely like The Stranger. Youd probably also like Ros and Guil which is mainly for postmodern fans out there.

Edited May 2, 2008 by Nerotorb

[corvus]

Well I liked Antigone more then Hamlet. I was out for a week while we were reading Antigone in class and had about a day to read and analyse it before I had to write an essay on it. But I know that If I spent more time on it I would have liked it more.

 

And Hamlet? No. Just . . . no. I mean, he's such a whiny bitch! I wanted to scream at him, just choose already!

 

Antigone is like the opposite of Hamlet -- she knew what she had to do, and did it even though it might've been stupid and/or futile. And yes. Hamlet was a whiny bitch. But he was an existentialist whiny bitch (as existentialist as you can get in the 1500s), and not as whiny as Holden Caulfield. That was a whiny bitch, right there. He didn't even end up killing anyone.

 

The writing in Beloved is superior to all others. And there's just nothing like it, from the writing to the themes to the characters. Its hard to explain, but it's technically best book Ive ever read.

 

I totally agree with you about Beloved. Even now (I read it four years ago), I can't think of a single book that is as ... perfect. Haha.

 

one of the heartbreaking things about morrison is a writer is that when she's on, she's on, but man

 

she HAS some mess ups out there.

 

some of her novels are really... eh... we'll just say she lost her subtlety when she got older.

 

I'm glad it's not just me... I attended a reading she did of the new book she was working on, and I was caught between thinking 'OMG Toni Morrison is reading to me!' and 'the story is really... bald.' But judging from the way she read, I think I have a better idea of how she'd like the reader to *read* it. I guess she's still playing with style too. Or maybe she's just lazier.

[S.L. Lewis]

Wow...such a list of readings. I'll end up having to at least look at them. I have read Hamlet though, and found it a very good read.

[Caipirinha]

Dry: A Memoir. By Augusten Burroughs.

 

Amazing doesn't even begin to describe...

[ashessnow]

Antigone is like the opposite of Hamlet -- she knew what she had to do, and did it even though it might've been stupid and/or futile. And yes. Hamlet was a whiny bitch. But he was an existentialist whiny bitch (as existentialist as you can get in the 1500s), and not as whiny as Holden Caulfield. That was a whiny bitch, right there. He didn't even end up killing anyone.

Ive never read Catcher. But I should.

 

And I forgot about Their Eyes Were Watching God: Hurston and Crime and Punishment: Dostoevsky in the list that I last posted.

Edited May 3, 2008 by Nerotorb

[GaryK]

IMO Anne Rice did to vampires what JK Rowling did to wizards and witches -- i.e., reinvented the genre. Very impressive. And I, like Rose, think Rice an awfully stupid cow for her whole "conversion." I wonder what her son thinks.

My guess is Christopher is preoccupied with the hope that his third book, Blind Fall, doesn't suck as badly as his sophomore effort did.

 

Latest audiobook:

John Adams (Unabridged)

David McCullough

[Procyon]

Ive never read Catcher. But I should.

 

And I forgot about Their Eyes Wre Watching God: Hurston and Crime and Punishment: Dostoevsky in the list that I last posted.

 

Yeah, read Catcher, don't listen to corvus -- it's a great book! One has to appreciate loserhood in characters. And btw, what is *up* with this non-appreciation of Hamlet?? The greatest play ever written...! I mean, it's indecisiveness taken one step further, to new, previously unknown heights -- and once Hamlet gets down to business he does it properly you have to admit. He doesn't hesitate to get rid of his old pals when going to England for one thing.

 

Anyway C&P is great too, but... if you don't like indecisiveness and whininess... I don't know if it's the right thing. I mean, to turn myself in or not to turn myself in? Actually I think there are stunning liknesses between Raskolnikov, Hamlet, and Holden: Raskolnikov kills first, agonises later, Hamlet agonises first then kills, and Holden, being, essentially, an American high school brat, only agonises. Great stuff!

[Procyon]

My guess is Christopher is preoccupied with the hope that his third book, Blind Fall, doesn't suck as badly as his sophomore effort did.

 

 

Lol good one... So they're actually that bad? How sad.

 

And I think Anne Rice's sudden conversion may actually have been an intervention by the gods of vampire literature, since she ceased doing her vampire world any good after The Tale of the Body Thief (I think -- there may have been one more that was reasonably good, or maybe one shouldn't even count Tale of the Body Thief, but yeah. Somethign like that.) Let me just say that there was a reason that she didn't allow fanfiction about the Vampire Chronicles. The first three books were great though, and yes, she reinvented the genre.

[S.L. Lewis]

My guess is Christopher is preoccupied with the hope that his third book, Blind Fall, doesn't suck as badly as his sophomore effort did.

 

 

I liked his first book. It wasn't that bad. And it doesn't help that his mother is now so dang Christian about everything. I bet you that she doesn't really try to read his books since the first one was about a gay boy. Don't know about the others. Haven't kept up. Been to busy cursing 'The Queen of the Damned.' I hit probably a dry part. It's getting boring again.

[GaryK]

Lol good one... So they're actually that bad? How sad.

They're not all that bad. His first, The Snow Garden, was actually quite good. The second, A Density of Souls, was far too complex. Even a character guide wasn't enough to keep up with everybody. Plus the plot was entirely unbelievable. However as with all his books it does have gay characters in it. So far the reviews I've seen for his third book, Blind Fall, have been agonizingly bad. I'll judge that for myself once I'm finished with my current book.

[corvus]

I've dropped Don Delillo. Life is too short to waste on writers who suck, no matter what Harold Bloom says. Although it's not *that* bad. It's certainly interesting, and it has moments that make me really think. Still, I want to enjoy what I'm reading.

 

So I've picked up Oscar and Lucinda. It's much more enjoyable. I'm about a third way through.

[S.L. Lewis]

I've done the same. Except, I've dropped Queen of the Damned and picked up my hair color box. I'm trying to figure out the little print that it has going on. I want to dye my hair, not my ears...

[myself_i_must_remake]

on beauty and the god of small things were good

 

if anyone needs something to read.

[ashessnow]

^It took me a second to realize those were two titles.

[S.L. Lewis]

on beauty and the god of small things were good

 

if anyone needs something to read.

 

 

Same here...*snickers* I thought Of Beauty was good. The God of Small Things...I'll get around to read it.

[Tiger]

I figured I would revive this thread and mention the novel I am reading. It is called The Girl Who Heard Dragons by Anne McCaffrey.

[GaryK]

I had forgotten about this thread. Thanks for reviving it Tim.

 

I'm listening to the audiobook version of Ann-Marie MacDonald's book, "Fall On Your Knees".

 

Billy recommended it to me. Thanks Billy.