[Literature] Currently Reading (discussion)

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Fair enough, Oz, fair enough.

This is how you Die

This book is the sequel to a book called Machine of Death. The premise is that you stick your finger into a machine, it takes a blood sample, and then tells you how you're going to die. Of course, it's cryptic bullshit; if your slip says, "Old Age," you could either die just really old or get shot by a senior citizen off their meds. Likewise, "Having a Blast," could mean that you go out having a lot of fun at a party, or it could just mean that something blows you up. Anyway, This is how you Die is a collection of around 34 short stories that all have to feature the Machine of Death in some way. There was even a story done in the style of Sherlock Holmes, which was awesome. I would definitely recommend reading this one.

[arkiel]

The Dishonored Dead - flips many zombie tropes. Set in a world where, one day, half the world, people and animals, woke up dead. Main character is dead and hunts zombies - the dead which are living. The writing is okay, maybe a bit over-reliant on world-building.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dishonored-Dead-Zombie-Novel/dp/1463736282/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376879648&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dishonored+dead

Souless - "spirits"; the ethereal remnants of a person stripped of the goodness of a soul, gain control of their own dead bodies. Writing is okay.
http://www.amazon.com/Soulless-Christopher-Golden/dp/1416551352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376879780&sr=8-1&keywords=souless+golden

Earthworm Gods II: The Deluge - set in a world where, one day, it started raining and never stopped. Weirdness on a worldwide ocean.
http://www.amazon.com/Earthworm-Gods-II-Brian-Keene/dp/162105084X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376879857&sr=8-2&keywords=earthworm+gods

[CX1329]

I've got a lot of reading to do. I recently bought:


Russell Kirk - The Conservative Mind

A G.K. Chesterton collection

St. Thomas Aquinas - Summa Theologica

The Work of John Locke

Works by Edmund Burke

[Gob Hobblin]

Nice list. I've got 'The Age of Capital' by E. J. Hobsbawm to work through. Looking forward to it, actually...

[caragnafog dog]

You should all read Silence by Shusaku Endo if you haven't already.

[Trajan]

The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Soon, all will come to fear my superior strategic planning.

[Gob Hobblin]

Or superior business buzz-phrase knowledge.

In all seriousness, that's a great book. I would also advise, however, The Art of War by Antoine-Henri Jomini. He is considered the founder of modern strategy, served in both Napoleon's Army and the Russian Army (as a general officer), and is one of the most accomplished writer's of the science of warfare to date. It's a shame less people know about him than Clausewitz (another good general, but Jomini deserves some recognition).

[Dream]

I've been hearing (blessed be Librivox.org) Oscar Wilde's The portrait of Dorian Gray.

Can't think of much to say about Oscar Wilde's novel. Occasionally heard of the premise and it's linked theme once in a while so most of the development of the story regarding the picture and Gray's "prayer" were all stuff i mostly saw coming. The novel has so far been a very well-written and enjoyable read with a few unexpected, and pleasing, thematic and narrative tangents (particularly tangents regarding art). Chapter 11 was the moment where i felt everything was able to fully take off thanks to all the setting and development that came before, and while it was a very enjoyable -and, in a way, interesting- part of the book, the novel so far was mostly stuff i saw coming.

Until chapter 13 that is.

Very few pieces of fiction managed to make me feel as shocked and sickened as that chapter did, but there was something so finely-crafted about the more violent/grotesque parts of the prose that left me pretty shaken. I think it was the first time i felt the need to pause the reading for a moment. Needless to say, i'm now pretty interested about which direction the story will take.

As a side note, i have to admit it's a bit annoying to have to listen to english audiobooks, since my spoken english isn't very good and it can get a bit hard to understand what is being said/read.

[Dr. Nick]

That was gloriously nerdy. And unexpected, considering the short story was included in an anthology with quite a few standard supernatural horror stories.

Speaking of standard supernatural horror stories, that's pretty much what Ted's Caving Page was. Blurring the lines between a short story and a proto-creepypasta, it's really the cruddy early-noughties Angelfire web page format that elevates it and gives it the extra thrill factor.

[Trajan]

^
Shouldn't be surprising considering this is the man who wrote the world's first detective novel. Dupin is pretty much the archetypal super detective.

[Mr. Tines]

the world's first detective novel.

That really depends on your definition of "detective novel" in this context -- for example, the Dee Goong An pre-dates Poe by the best part of a century.

[Fazmotron]

I'm trying to re-read The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson before the final book is released near the end of the year.

My favourite books from my favourite author.

[Dream]

I've been hearing Charles Dickens's "Hard Times"

Between this and Wilde's novel, i don't feel exactly anxious to visit England now.

It's funny that Librivox described Dickens's characters as "comic", since more often than not the characters and events are pretty deppressing (not to say hard to understand given the accents and weird words).

[pwhodges]

Wilde's been dead for well over 100 years, and Dickens far longer. England has changed since then as much as every other country has.

[Madonna]

Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Loving it so far, I've actually never read it before, the way he tackles the issues of the zeigteist back in late 80s England through Islamic symbolism is astounding, Rushdie has such a perfect way with words.

[CJD]

I was one of presumably many Americans who went to the book store today to pick up copies of A Song of Ice and Fire books. Tired of this 10 episode per year bullshit. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Grabbed a copy of A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings to start me off.

Just over three months later and I finished A Feast of Crows. Gonna run and pick up ADWD later today, but this was just too good:

...all the rest of the characters you love or love to hate will be along next year (I devoutly hope) in A Dance with Dragons...

-George R.R. Martin
June 2005

My sides have left orbit.

[Joy Evangelion]

I know I'm not the first one on here talking about this, but I just finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami and it was really something. It's books like this why I studied literature in college. I didn't really want to finish it, since it was soooo fun to read, but books are meant to be finished. Still, by the time it was over I felt like I woke up too soon from a wonderful dream(the book is quite dreamy, but not in that teen heartthrob kind of way).
A few thoughts:

SPOILER: Show

--Although the story is all over the place, shifts narratives, point of view, time, etc, I didn't think it was all that difficult. I think with a book like this, someone could hear about how "all over the place" it is and get too scared to read it, but if you just concentrate on the book a little bit, it's easy to follow, if not understand completely.
--All of the characters were great, and fleshed out really nicely. The main character, Toru, is the kind of narrator I like to see in a (mostly) first person novel, since he's pretty easy to relate to for any young person that's even the least bit disillusioned with their life. The character of May Kasahara is probably one of the best characters I've come across in a story in a long time. She reminded me a lot of Holden Caulfield(in a good way) and I thought all of her dialogue was super rad. She was a character I'd want to come up with.
--People like to say things are "beautiful" a lot these days, but not really mean it. With that being said, the novel was beautiful. I wish I knew how to read Japanese so I could actually read Murakami's writing, but alas, I took German.

If any of y'all have it on your "to read" lists, I definitely think you should pick it up.

[chee]

SPOILER: Show

BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE BLEEDING EDGE

[pwhodges]

I also love The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but for me Kafka on the Shore just trumps it.

[Oz]

I also love The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but for me Kafka on the Shore just trumps it.

Agreed. Kafka on the Shore is the book that turned me into a Murakami fan.