What are you reading right now?

I'm about to finish Any Human Heart by William Boyd. Don't be put off by the title (which makes it sound kind of sappy - it's a James Joyce quote anyway) it's a totally incredible book that I think a lot of people here would really enjoy. Not difficult to read but has real substance.

So what's everyone else reading?

Lonely Planet: Syria & Lebanon

..sorry not much reading going on in this house atm. I asked for the dice man for my birthday so hopefully I'll be reading that soon

My reply to this thread.

House of Leaves and A Clockwork Orange which I got free in the newspaper yesterday, but I might put that on hold since I hate reading two at a time.

Any Human Heart sounds interesting, might pick it up.

Edit: Forgot to add Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, this is for college. So i've got no choice but to read 2 at a time -_-

My next book will be Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. Anyone read it?

Australian Criminal Laws: Critical Perspectives.

Aren't all laws that govern australians essentially criminal laws?


BA-DUM CRASH.

as of right now:

Shakespeare - THe Tempest (only school-related book I'm reading)

Bulgakov - Master and Margarita
Huxley - Brave New World
Orwell - 1984
Lermontov - A Hero of Our Time
Dostoevsky - Idiot and Crime&Punishment

Absolutely love Bulgakov, Huxley and Orwell; having language problems with Dostoevsky.
But pretty interesting books

I'm not reading anything, but I'm currently writing 3 books. Well.....I need a partner for one of the three, but still.

That count?

You're reading 7 books at once? What the hell? How do you manage that?

Pretty awesome. What do you mean by needing a partner? I have a cool idea for a short story I've been stewing over for the best part of 3 months now. I need some time to write it and I think it might just be the best thing I've done.

Hence the 'critical perspective'.

"Wait a second, cobba - what's goin' on 'ere?"

Well 1 of the books if philosophy, 1 is purely fiction, the 3rd though, while being fiction, is an extremely grand and epic tale, which needs a certain kind of writing....which I don't can't do as well as I'd wish. So while I have the idea, I don't really have a way to put the idea on paper that will really give it justice.

I'm working my way through a couple of technical books for my studies. Otherwise, at the moment I am only leisurely reading parts of the Bible... some of Sirach most recently.

yeah, I am
Is that hard or something?
I read Huxley and Orwell kinda parallel, same with the 2 Dostoevsky books.
Tempest is short, so I'm gonna finish it in around 2 days.
Bulgakov is just fun to read.
I dunno, its just natural to me, kinda. Especially with books like Brave New World and 1984 - intertextuality helps a lot

Ian Irvine- Alchymist

Oh right, cool. If you don't mind me asking, what are they about?

That's an amazingly useful skill. I wish I could do that. If I try to read more than one thing at once I just lose track of my reading in both books, and don't get anything out of either of them.

The philosophy book is about why would should strive for non existence, the 1st fiction is about jesus, and well...the 3rd one has a story that's just too big for me to type out here. If I recall, in undegrad a teacher asked me for a short outline....and that ended up being 5 pages.

I have no time left. At all. I only read Jasper Fforde now, but I've got a pile waiting for me, next time I get some time off.

Sounds very nice, especially the third, I like big stories (PoS's Be), and the first sounds cool too. Keep going! I'd love to read this once.

This story is actually bigger than Be haha, which is why it's hard as hell for me to write. The story itself will most likely end up being 3 seperate books, and I'd love to keep going....but I need someone to work with me who can really write epic fantasy fiction very well.

I wish I could :P but I can't write books, especially not in English

Mostly all kinds of scientific papers...
Topics being:

- Effects of climate change on continental glaciers
- Biogeography of bacteria and archaea
- Physiology of life in extreme environments

I've got no time for reading prose, which sucks.
Edit: but the last book I read was E.M. Cioran's Syllogismes de l'amertume. He was one old bitter man.

Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention From Fire to Freud by Peter Watson.

Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo

Edit: I found Huxley's Brave New World extremely strange but satisfying to read. And Orwell's 1984 VERY hard to read, and only got about 1/4 through the book before I had to put it down. I found it hard to read and will probably pick it up again sometime.

Im still reading The Dark Tower after a hiatus of a few months. Im almost finished with book V, Wolves of the Calla.

bukowski _hollywood_ and kerouac _the dharma bums_. after those i think i will be starting hs thompson _hell's angels_ (can i ever escape the circle of beat writers and those directly influenced by them?)

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger for school. Very simple but excellent read.

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Excellent read so far.

Unfortunately school reading is keeping me away from any pleasure reading atm.

I'm reading an unabridged translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms right now. I'm about 950 pages in. Good stuff.

I've got a number of other books on the horizon that I have in my possession but just haven't gotten into: Dictators (A comparative history of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia that takes a unique approach and is quite interesting), and Guns, Germs, and Steel.

yep, reading that, too, actually, but it's school related, so it doesnt count

I'm reading The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card right now.

Speaking of Hitler, is Mein Kampf a good read?

For pleasure: House of Leaves (almost finished)

Unfortunately school reading in preperation for exams is taking up most pleasure reading time. So I'm also reading To Kill a Mockingbird for that

I hear it's a not particularly well-written whine fest composed by a man who has few if any original ideas.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the SHIT. My favorite book. Which translation did you get?

I'm reading mostly for a research presentation I'm doing soon, so the reading mostly includes:

Plato - Protagoras, Alcibiades, Symposium, Republic
Graphic Novels - Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come, Civil War

John Irving - The World According to Garp. First Irving I've ever read and I'm loving it. So unique in style.

Just some Orson Scott Card short stories from Maps in a Mirror. Haven't decided on the next novel to read yet.

I'm most of the way through American Gods (Niel Gaiman) at the moment.

Native Son by Richard Wright, Plot by Claudia Rankine, and Economics by Fanny Howe. After those I start Thomas Pynchon's V and Commons by Myung Mi Kim

neal and jack and me...absent lovers, absent lovers.

What's a good first beat generation book to read?

haha, no way. Complete waste of time unless you're a Nazi yourself.

You don't like TKAMB? It's one of my favourite books ever!

On The Road. one of my favorite books!

Nothing, but I was thinking about getting started on Catch 22.

Stephen King - IT

The Age of Reason

Just started "Ender's Game".

Affirmative blacktion.

God damn Avery Brooks.

Finished AHH last night.

Goodbye Logan Mountstuart! I'll genuinely miss you!

Stephen King - Tommyknockers. After that I'm reading Dreamcatcher. Last book I read was City Of God by Paulo Lins.

Plus some books I have to read for research about sound design in TV and surround sound.