obligatory what are you reading, what have you read-

Nocturne said:
K. Dick - Do androids dream of electric sheep
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Speaking of Dick... has anyone read Man in the High Castle and can they explain what the hell is going on at the end to me? If we need to avoid spoilers, can you at least private message me about the ending. It went WAY over my head.
 
Have read:
Anna Karenina by Lev Tolstoy.

Am reading:
War and Peace by Lev Tolstoy.
 
Without listing any Japanese language books or music books, I am currently reading Angels and Deamons by Dan Brown (English)

These are the ones I've read since October 04 in descending order:

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (English)
The Overcoat and other stories by Nikolaj Gogol (English)
The Gambler by Fjodor Dostojevski (English)
Re-read the Return of the King (English)
Re-read the Two Towers (English)
Re-read the Fellowship of the Ring (English)
Re-read the Hobbit (English)
Across the Nightingale floor by Lian Hearn (in Swedish, "Over Naktergalens golv", got it as a present)
"Hundra Hojdare" by Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson - a really funny book (in Swedish) listing and describing/reflecting over the 100 'funniest moments' in Swedish history (as in real moments, nothing directed).

I have a couple of books waiting on the shelf. Next up is either one of the Terry Pratchett books I've already picked up, or either Deception Point or Digital Fortress by Dan Brown.
 
welsh said:
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?
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Hmm... well to say the truth, I haven't got to the last story yet. I guess i just assumed that the whole book wasn't using supernatural becasue there was none present in the first 3 stories. I'll get to the bottom of this....
 
I am reading/rereading:
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
Social origins of dictatorship and democracy by Barrington Moore Jr. (tough reading)
History of Philosophy by Störig (in Dutch, I generally prefer Dutch translations of German books to the English translations of them)
The Civilizationprocess by Elias (in Dutch, same as above)
Red Wind by Boris Jorov (in Russian, the first book of poetry I've ever enjoyed in my life)
Fairytales by A. Tolstoy (in Russian, only snatching fragments of this every now and again)

A lot of these I'm just rereading bits of to refresh my memory.

I've read, someways in the past
Novels:
Fathers and Sons by Turgenev (mistranslation, the original title is "Fathers and Children")
Greyfriar's Bobby by Atkinson
Eddie's Bastard by William Kowalski
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
My Left foot by Christy Brown
The Unbearably Lightness of Being
(I'll stop there for convienence's sake)

Other books:
Russia in the age of Peter the Great by L Hughes
Russia and the USSR by Thompson
Natasha's Dance, a History of Russian Culture by O. Figes
Kitezh by Munin Nederlander
A History of Russian thought by Andrzej Walicki
Russia and the Russians by Geoffrey Hosking
 
I'm giving this thread the bump. Okay so it might be gravedigging but I figured it would be just as useful as starting a new thread... sorry :).

Thought it would be worth bringing up a book I'm nearing the end of... Ken Grimwood's Replay. Has anyone here read it? Bloody good, it takes the movies groundhogs day and puts it on a much larger scale. Seems the main character dies only to find himself reawakened at the age of 18 and back in his freshman year of college. The book asks the question "What if you could live your life over again? and again? and again?" I've always been a fan of this style, anyone read any books of a similar sort (sorta like the alternate history except on a smaller scale).

And hey, Shadow of the Giant, the conclusion to the Ender's Shadow series has just been released. Anyone else here a fan of Ender's Game in general? I've been interested in picking it up but don't have any cash right now... But yea, thought it'd be nice to send this thread back up the charts. Anyone got a problem with it... well, shoot me :).
 
Luke is the Da Vinci code any good? I have heard a few rave about it. I'm more into tech manuals and anthropology books, but a good read is a good read.
 
Nocturne said:
K. Dick - Do androids dream of electric sheep
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Great!

I'm currently reading "Basics of Organic Chemistry" and "An Introduction to Ecology", cause I just enrolled. I didn't match the numerus clausus, but I was the next one on the list.
The last novels I finished were "1984" by George Orwell and "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.
I started LotR, but is turned out to be the same boring story. It was anoying in German, it is boring in English and I guess it is anoying in Spanish too.
When I finished that Ecology book, I'll start a nice Beatles biography my father gave me.
Or a World of Darknes rule book, maybe... I haven't played for a long time.
 
Maphusio said:
Luke is the Da Vinci code any good? I have heard a few rave about it. I'm more into tech manuals and anthropology books, but a good read is a good read.
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Aye, everybody I know was in a craze for it and Angels and Demons when Da Vinci was released... are they worth the read?

and Khans, what'd you think of 1984? I thought it was a great read with an awesome setting for a while but once the main character started sexing it up all the time I got bored and never finished. Does it improve?
 
Maphusio said:
Luke is the Da Vinci code any good? I have heard a few rave about it. I'm more into tech manuals and anthropology books, but a good read is a good read.
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It's pretty good IMO. Very entertaining and easy to read. He brings up a good conspiracy theory and makes it seem somewhat plausible.

The main points for me are the entertainment value and the fact that you can just pick it up and read for five minutes, since the chapters are so short. It's ideal as a toilet book, or for reading on the bus or train.

I haven't read Angels And Demons, though. I wouldn't mind hearing other peoples impressions of that one, since I've been wanting to read it.

If you want a tip for another great conspiracy book, pick up The Illuminatus Trilogy. It's very entertaining, and ties together pretty much every conspiracy theory I've ever heard about.

*edit* Spelling, and 200th post. Woohoo!!
 
Technical -
HLA Beyond Tears: Intro the the Human Histocompatibility
Strategic Marketing - International edition
And other published papers.

Nonfiction -
Primal Leadership
The rise of the creative class
The new Canada
The art of the start
10 day MBA
White Paper Fan
Yakuza - second edition
EQ (the 15th time?)
The Natural history of senses
Mind, wide open
And a few philosopher's work, etc, etc.

Fiction -
Sphere
Rising Sun(20th time?)
Disclosure
Sherlocke Holmes - the complete edition with all the original prints
Wuthering Heights (getting bored)
Treasure Island

etc etc
 
just finished the 'art of war' & moving on to the 'Six secret teachings'

will probably read the entire Dark Tower series (again) after that
 
How can you finish the "Art of WAR"?

:?

You mean you read one of the translations?

I have seen/read at least 4 English translations up to now, not including the pop corporate/self help translations.

Most of them are quite strained in terms of trying to explain the poem like structure of the book.

And since this book is roughly 2000 yrs old(they were never sure of the exact date that it was written), one would have to translate from Ancient Chinese to modern Chinese, and then hopefully, into English or a new language.

I seem the recall the first translation of this book in western languages is either German or Russian. Then the French version is based on the German version and the English version is based on the French version. Of course, later translations restarted from the original Chinese version.

The problem of translations from Chinese to English is usually not obvious at first. So I wonder if some of these later translations failed to capture the difference in the use of language between a pictoral language and a phonetic language.

Would you mind posting the version you read? :D
 
In the last month I have read:
Re-read The Wheel of Time book 1-4 (1-8 in Sweden) by Robert Jordan

Re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogi
and Re-read Harry Potter series 5 times
Read Shannaras Sicons by Terry Brooks

What an interesting life I got...
 
Since Febuary:

Kane & Abel
The Prodigal Daughter
Red Rabbit
The Crucible Trilogy
"The Emporer" books
Firebird
Butlerian Jihad.

And, er... The only non fiction book I've read lately is

Contemporary Feminist Thought
 
Currently reading: The Iron Council by China Mieville. Amazon describes it best:
China Miéville's novel Iron Council is the tumultuous story of the "Perpetual Train." Born from monopolists' greed and dispatched to tame the western lands beyond New Crobuzon, the train is itself the beginnings of an Iron Council formed in the fire of frontier revolt against the railroad's masters. From the wilderness, the legend of Iron Council becomes the spark uniting the oppressed and brings barricades to the streets of faraway New Crobuzon. The sprawling tale is told through the past-and-present eyes of three characters. The first is Cutter, a heartsick subversive who follows his lover, the messianic Judah Low, on a quest to return to the Iron Council hidden in the western wilds. The second is Judah himself, an erstwhile railroad scout who has become the iconic golem-wielding hero of Iron Council's uprising at the end of the tracks. And the third is Ori, a young revolutionary on the streets of New Crobuzon, whose anger leads him into a militant wing of the underground, plotting anarchy and mayhem.
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It might sound like simple fantasy, but let me assure you, it isn't. There's a lot of hidden metaphors and commentary over a variety of subjects that affect us in real life society. China Mieville makes for some very intelligent reading.

Just finished: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (The Song of Ice and Fire book 2). Bar none the best fantasy series ever written. He always manages to keep you in suspense.

Also finished: Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" which sheds a lot of light on today's state of affairs, the fear of global warming, pseudoscience masquerading as real science (e.g. Coffee cures cancer!) and so forth.

Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code - It's pure fiction and I wouldn't believe any of the claims that would proclaim otherwise. A lot of it has grounding in reality, especially the details relating to pre-1000AD times, but the Priory of Sion is a proven hoax cooked up by Frenchman Pierre Plantard. http://priory-of-sion.com/

Regardless, it makes for some very interesting conspiracy reading and fans of the game Deus Ex will probably love it. The writing is nowhere as complex or interesting as any of the other books I've mentioned, however. It's pretty light reading and you won't find any deep metaphors or social commentary in this one.

I've read plenty of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and have about 20 more (which I've recently bought) to read. I would recommend his books to anyone. They range from a variety of different styles, including takes on Shakespearean plays (the Witches), social commentary (Vimes & the city watch, and the newspaper guy), Philosophy (Death and Death's daughter), and culture (The wizards and Rincewind)
 
Starseeker- I have a couple of translations of Sun Tzu's Art of War, but I think I have only read through Griffith's version. I read that in comparison to some of Mao's military writings some years ago and thought the overlaps were kind of interesting.

I also think Mao was a player of Go.

Angels and Devils- a fun book if you want a tour of Rome. I also liked the stuff about the Swiss scientists and the way the Pope gets elected. But I figured out the killer too soon and the last part of the book was way to unreal.

Right now I am reading Graham Greene's Quiet American for fun, also Richard Stark, the Hunter. Otherwise dissertation stuff.
 
Hey lilfyffedawg,

I just thought I should mention that I think 1984 was a fantastic book. I am not exactly sure why you got bored when the main character started having sex but I thought I should mention that even as he was having sex, there were other things going on. Ultimately the story does not really revolve around sex, but since sex and love are large parts of humanity, and the whole purpose of the system in 1984 was to deprive people of their humanity, I don't see how you could avoid dealing with it in some way. It is not like Orwell put the sex scenes into the story as some cheap attempt at being edgy. Anyways, I recommend you finish it.

As for the books I am reading currently...

I am on book ten of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I know a lot of people cream themselves over it but I give the whole series an overall 'C-'. It is an innovative and interesting setting but the execution is mediocre at best, and the main characters seem one-dimensional, and more secretive and backstabbing to each other than the "bad guys". I don't know what kind of experience with women the author had but every female in there seems to be an insecure bitch to one degree or another.

I also recently re-read Catch 22 by Joseph Heller which I believe to be one of the best books I have ever read. I am probably going to read it again soon.
 
Starseeker said:
How can you finish the "Art of WAR"?

:?

You mean you read one of the translations?

I have seen/read at least 4 English translations up to now, not including the pop corporate/self help translations.

Most of them are quite strained in terms of trying to explain the poem like structure of the book.

And since this book is roughly 2000 yrs old(they were never sure of the exact date that it was written), one would have to translate from Ancient Chinese to modern Chinese, and then hopefully, into English or a new language.

I seem the recall the first translation of this book in western languages is either German or Russian. Then the French version is based on the German version and the English version is based on the French version. Of course, later translations restarted from the original Chinese version.

The problem of translations from Chinese to English is usually not obvious at first. So I wonder if some of these later translations failed to capture the difference in the use of language between a pictoral language and a phonetic language.

Would you mind posting the version you read? :D
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it's an english version translated from the chinese (+ the tomb texts). basically the book provides general background of the period, explanation of a few strategies, translation of the art of war and some of the other tomb texts.

it doesnt bother with the poetic structure, but explains the problems with the translation & gives reasons for certain interpretations.

(if you're interested i'll post the author but i'm at univ now)
 
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