obligatory what are you reading, what have you read-

welsh

welsh

Junkmaster
To go with the other "what are you listening thread"- what are you currently reading, or have read recently.

As for me, Currently I am reading-

Red Harvest by Dashell Hammett. Red Harvest features Hammett's the Continental Op, and is a hardboiled detective job from the 1920s-30s. For it's time it was rather ultra-violent and it is a bit surreal. THe body count is quite high.

Other reads-
Alex Garland's the Beach- read the book and skip the flick. It's a bit of a more mature Lord of the Flies but with a narrative style built around ideas of popular culture. I read it because it reminded me of my days hiking around Southeast Asia. I liked it so much I also read-

Alex Garland's The Tesseract- set in the course of a single evening in Manilla, the Tesseract weaves together three stories, a thriller involving a meet between criminals that goes badly, a love story of Filipinos frustrated by their parents ambitions, and the lives of street children. Again, the narrative style moves back and forth between stories making this a fast and enjoyable read.

Also-
Robert Wilson's Instruments of Darkness- a hardboiled detective story set in West Africa. Wonderful read of criminals and outcasts in Africa and what trouble they get in. I liked it so much I bought the other stories and hope he does more.

Finally,
Robert Stone- The Flag at Sunrise- A deeply thoughtout, highly compelling story or ex-patriots caught at the onset of revolution in a Latin American Country. Written during the 1970s, this story is both philosophical and dark. I found it better than The Dog Soldiers, for which Stone won the National Prize for best book of the year.

William Blatty, the Exorcist- probably the best horror novel written, ever. IF you haven't seen the movie, definitely read the book.

On my shelf-
Neal Stephenson- Quicksilver. Stephenson is author of the cult hit, the Cryptonomicon.

and
Mark Z. Danielwski's - House of Leaves - looks interesting and made serious as a new approach to horror. Am looking forward to it.
 
Currently:
Either/Or: A Portrait of Life by Soren Kierkegaard
Just finished:
Fear and Trembeling by same
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Persepolis
Persepolis 2
A lot of other books, been reading a lot.
 
Just finished The old Man and Mr Smith, writen by Peter Ustinow, five minutes ago, It is about God and The Devil (Mr Smith) visiting earth to learn about the human mind, damn god book a little bit outdated though.

I am currently reading Macbeth.

Also i have read all books of Terry Prattchett, and am rereading them from time to time.
Everyone who hasn`t yet read them realy missed something.
I mean it.

Snowcrash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson are, in the way of Cyberpunk, really good books too (The Enterprice as privat Yacht, a personal Nucelear warhead and a church believing in Elvis saving the world from the red horde by shooting Kenedy are the way to go).
 
I'm currently reading Touching, From a Distance - Ian Curtis and Joy Division, the biography of, well, Ian Curtis, and the band Joy Division. It's written by his widow, who knew him his entire life, so it's pretty factual and informative, and very interesting.

This is the fifth or sixth time I've picked it up in the past year or so. I always get interrupted by something else before I get into it.
 
Just finished:
Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice

They were alright, I wanna read some more sci fi soon though but haven't had the time.
 
I've just finished reading the translated (into english) version of "The Trilogy" by Sienkiewicz.

It's pretty damn good. I'm impressed.
 
The last three books I have read, and what I am currently reading:

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire.
I was disappointed by this novel, especially because the subject matter had such great potential. In any case, it is obviously about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz fame. It is based of the movie rather than the books, and builds up to why situation in Oz was as Dorothy found it.

Igniting the Reaches by David Drake.
A science-fiction novel based upon the exploration and exploitation of the galaxy after mankind had suffered a collapse. Heavily based of the life of Francis Drake and his contemporaries, during the Age of Discovery. It's a good David Drake book, though not quite a good as his most recent works. Very heavy on the military aspects, the daring raids and battles, and the psychological damage on the soldiers (a common theme in Drake's works).

Starquake by Robert Forward
A novel about a race of aliens that live on the surface of a neutron star and live a million times faster than a human does. A starquake destroys their advanced civilization, so they must find a way to rebuild (an alien Post-Apocalyptic scenario). Like all of Dr. Forward’s books, it is quite heavy, chocked with quite a bit of scientific knowledge. Though it really does need the appendix on the end, because Dr. Forward’s narrative descriptions prove lacking. Overall a good, hard science-fiction novel.

I am currently reading: Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature, edited by Andrew Butler, Edward James, and Farah Mendlesohn.
If you have never read a Terry Pratchett book, I strongly recommend you do (I would suggest Mort as a starting point). No matter what you think of the comedy or fantasy genres, his books are quite worth literary acclaim, I suspect Pratchett will be one of the notable writers of this time. This collection of literary criticism examines Pratchett's writing, and rather why he is "guilty of literature."
 
Just read: Antichrista by Amélie Nothomb

Now reading: The History of the Low Countries by a pack of history professors.
 
Ok, academically I am reading-

Jack Knight- Institutions and Social Conflict

David Kang- Crony Capitalism- Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Phillippines,

Catherine Boone- Political Topographies of the African State

Which is why I am also thinking of picking up Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
 
Dune by Frank Herbert. Probably self-explanatory for most of you. Its definitely one of the greatest books Ive ever read and being set in a desert doesnt help. I really love how the writer interweaves politics, religion, and ecology all into one. Makes it seem like such a real place.

To anyone who's read it; Do you find the general setting and course of events to be related to the current problems with our world? I mean fighting over a resource only found in the desert. The main character switching from Atreides (which act so American) to the Fremen. (who seem so Arabic)

Nice to see another sci-fi reader Kotario. I use to read a lot until I started college and am busy reading those books instead. I'll start again once Im done.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
Vault Dweller- I agree, I loved Dune. I loved it so much that I didn't pick up the sequels. They also did a version of the books on the sci-fi channel which is out on video.
 
Different Seasons by Stephen King

4 short stories, 3 of which have been made into movies (pretty damn good ones too), but theres no supernatural element frequent in King's tales. Everythings realistic its a good read.
 
Last books I've read:

AI Application Programming (Charles River Media)
AI Game Programming Wisdom (Charles River Media)
AI Game Programming Wisdom (Charles River Media)
Der Reibert - Das Handbuch für den deutschen Soldaten (Mittler & Sohn)
C++ Quick Reference (O'Reilly)
STL Quick Reference (O'Reilly)

In that order.

Right now I'm reading a book on patterns in object-oriented programming. It's a German book, I've forgotten the title and don't have the book in range right now, but it's most likely a translation because the terminology is inconsistent and the variable names are partially in English and German (that is, sometimes referred to in German and then appearing in English again whereas the examples are consistently using English variable names).


Yeah, I'm such a boring person, but I really can't read fiction. I can read an interesting educational book in a day or so, but for a fictional book I need months.

The last fiction I read through was Fahrenheit, which I finished within a weekend because it's short and well-written enough. That was some point in 2004.
 
El Prez- Wasn't the last story there a bit supernatural- about the mysterious club in New York? Or do I have the wrong Stephen King collection?
 
Recently I finished The Dark Tower, by Stephen King, which was alright.

I, Claudius is a historical 'autobiography' of the early life of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus written by Robert Graves. It is very well researched and so well written that you really feel that you are with him in ancient Rome, a city fraught with politically motivated plots and assassinations. I recommend this to anyone and especially to those with an interest in ancient history. Soon I will start the sequel, Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina.

I finally got to read Reaper Man and Going Postal by Terry Pratchett which were very enjoyable. Pratchett is my favorite author and I strongly recommend the Discworld series to anyone. However, you should read more than one before you decide if you like them. I think Soul Music and Mort, then The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are a good place to start.

I am also reading a biology textbook which is interesting, because I was unable to do high school biology due to time table clashes and I will be doing biological science at university in March.

I am also reading A Short History of Australia by Manning Clark, which is fairly traditional and opinionated, but quite readable.
 
well i'm afraid i have to admit i have been neglecting my reading lately.

last stuff i read were schoolbooks about programming & networking (damn exams), but today i'm gonna start reading 'The art of war'. i don't really know what to expect though...
 
The_Vault_Dweller said:
Dune by Frank Herbert. Probably self-explanatory for most of you. Its definitely one of the greatest books Ive ever read and being set in a desert doesnt help. I really love how the writer interweaves politics, religion, and ecology all into one. Makes it seem like such a real place.

To anyone who's read it; Do you find the general setting and course of events to be related to the current problems with our world? I mean fighting over a resource only found in the desert. The main character switching from Atreides (which act so American) to the Fremen. (who seem so Arabic)

Nice to see another sci-fi reader Kotario. I use to read a lot until I started college and am busy reading those books instead. I'll start again once Im done.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
Click to expand...

I LOVED Dune. I read it for school and proceeded to take out the next two sequels to it just because I loved it so. Unfortunately, I found the sequels to be nowhere near the level of Dune and wasn't even able to finish the third in the series.

As for its relation to the current state of the world... I guess it fits though I'm never one to put two and two together like that.

And to keep on subject, I'm currently reading Java: How to Program (Deitel).
 
I just finished The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. I'm now reading the Illuminatus Trilogy, while waiting for George R R Martin to finish his next book.
 
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