Books?

[happy_doughnut]

Just curious to know...

... what books are you guys currently reading? What books have you read this year? What books do you plan to read during the summer or during the remainder of the year? Which books, from the ones you've read, would you recommend?

There's so much about music and movies (while they are both great) that I figured there should be something regarding this less flashy form of entertainment.

I myself enjoy reading a lot. In fact, everytime I go to the bookstore to buy a book I need (for school more often than not), I always end up spending soo much time there... just browsing. I love books. :love:

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to read things I want to because I've been reading books for school mainly.

Between now to... next Monday I have to read:

"The Bear" (from the book Go Down, Moses) by William Faulkner
"Oedipus' Scar" (from the book Mimesis) by Auerbach
Candid by Voltaire
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

... eek! I better get to it. :laugh:

Over the summer, though, I wish to read these:

Surviving Ophelia by Cheryl Dellasega
Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
Light in August by William Faulkner
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison

Hmm. I think that's it. I'm also dying to get my hands on the complete poetry collection of Robert Frost (he, ee cummings, Robert Hayden, and Sylvia Plath (to a dregree) being the only poets I like). I'd love that so much! :love:

Anyway... see? I can go on and on and on. :laugh:

[merylsilverburg]

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Egads, this book! *runs away* I had to read this in my sophmore year of high school...it's actually a very good book...I only wish I could remember what it was about...:P

I recently read a hilarious, beyond hilarious book called The Pirates! In an adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe. During the afternoons at work, it's not busy, so I decided to bring this with me to read and pass the hours. I was laughing the whole time and certain parts kept replaying in my mind (which was incredibly difficult when you're taking a customer's order and you have the Pirate Captain's ridiculous antics running through your mind XD) and I finished it in that one day. Good read. :D

[Pu the Owl]

I don't think I can make a list of books I read this year. In fact... it would take a long time and some space too... I love books, I buy tons of them! I also try to be very careful when I choose a book in a bookstore, because I don't like getting certain "types" of books (like books too much aimed to the "trendy" reader who never opens a book and only reads stuff that is written to please his ignorance).

Recently, these are some of the books I read:

Le Feu Follet by Drieu Rochelle
Dangerous Journey by Tove Jansson
Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch by Dai Sijie
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
Una Vita by Italo Svevo
Utsukushii Hoshi by Yukio Mishima
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke
Le Buveur de Temps by Philippe Delerm
Il Castello dei Destini Incrociati by Italo Calvino
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Georges Simenon
The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
The Blue Flowers by Raymond Queneau
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Narayama Bushiko by Shichirô Fukazawa

Most of them are books I would recommend for a reason or another, with few exceptions.

Right now I am reading Ivanhoe by Walter Scott... a really entertaining book, I must say! This is the sort of book they make you read at school, but thanks god at that time my teacher decided studying exclusively poetry was more interesting, so I can read it now without the nauseating feeling you often get when you read for your own pleasure a book you remember from when you were a student.

I don't know what I'll read next...

[Faile]

I read From Hell last night. It was certainly interesting. I don't read many graphic novels, and it was about the Jack the ripper murders which often make me curious. I bet it's a lot better than the film it's based on anyway.
Other than that most of my reading this year has been history based for my course. I'm currently reading a biography of Mussolini, who was a pretty surreal person.
I read Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes earlier in the year, one of the most bitter things I've read. I think I enjoyed it for those reasons...

[IcyMourdor]

The only thing that I have read in the last few months have been the first three volumes of the Chrono Crusade manga. It was great and now I can't for the 4th one to be released.

I will eventually buy the DVDs of it.

[DSgamer]

right now im reading haunted by chuck palahniuk (yes, yes, the NEW chuck palahniuk book. yes yes i know, he's awesome) haha yea pretty much the grossest book in the history of books.

i just finished reading american hardcore by steven blush. and earlier this year i read survivor by chuck palahniuk which was very very good. and im gona read choke by chuck palahniuk after im done with haunted

[DragonSphere]

Well other than books for English class, I haven't really had the chance of reading for pleasure in a very, very long time. It looks like thats not gonna change anytime soon, since out of the 4 required reading over the summer the most challenging is gonna be to learn and outline the entire history of South Africa...since were gonna be reading some African literature next semester... and there's nothin wrong with that, its just that it totally screams "textbook work" to me even if its in book format..*sigh*

yea so my summer is pretty much filled unless i can squeeze in some other books... :bang:

[trunks69420]

Currently.. i'm re reading all the Harry Potter Books in preperation for the half blood prince due out this july... that and i dont know if reading my stats on bungie for halo2 count.. but i read that daily too :)

[Pu the Owl]

Bringing this thread back, just because there aren't many threads about books (shame! shame!! shame!!!)

Latest books (read during the past 15-20 days):

Impératrice by Shan Sa
Duidao by Liu Yingchang
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Gan by Mori Ogai
Zai Xiyu Zhong Huhan by Yu Hua
Loin De Rueil by Raymond Queneau
L'Ingratitude by Ying Chen
Kusamakura by Natsume Sôseki
Midnight All Day by Hanif Kureishi
Honeymoon by Banana Yoshimoto
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (reading this one for the second time)

Right now, I am reading Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry. Frankly, the book has some great ideas and a lot of dark humour, I could never admit it's not been written by a smart person, but it's too much "british" from many points of view, which makes it a bit hard to follow at times... and yes, also a bit snobbish. Being snobbish is almost inevitable when a writer tries too hard to sound witty or unsympathetic or indelicate at all costs.

PS: Why do we always get to see movies after all the other countries? I was looking forward to see the Hitchhiker's Guide's movie... I wanted to watch it soooo badly... but I will have to wait some more :mad:

[TtTackler]

Yeah..well..I read Half-Blood Prince..and that'll probably be it. :lick:

[ragnarok]

I'm currently reading "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene. I like it. I don't remember all the books I've read this year, the last book I read was "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Islam".

[Pu the Owl]

The Count of Montecristo. Please, get this book, there's so much in it... It's really bad nowadays people think some of those classics are crap or boring and don't even try to read them, as it happens for watching b/w movies. Some books considered as classics are crap and have not much to say to the modern reader, it's true, but some of them have so much to offer in terms of entertainment, morals, emotions and... in many cases lenght! Montecristo is 900+ pages. Are long books good enough only when they are fantasy like Harry Potter or LOTR? :mean:


On a random note... I've tried reading a couple of books by Ray Bradbury (not Fahrenheit 451). I really couldn't finish them. Excessive goth/macabre imagery without any actual substance. But I guess they must be "cult" books among a cartain typology of audience...

[merylsilverburg]

For my Lit. class, we had to read Wicked by Gregory Maguire (I complained in other threads that it's 500 pages long, but instead, it's actually only 400, I never really bothered to pay attention...it feels like a 500 pg. novel though :P). This book is so fantastic, I strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading a fictional book based on real life themes, such as politics, religion, gender roles, philosophy, science, and more. You'll never see the Wicked Witch of the West the same ever again...go Elphaba!! :D

[Berserker]

I've ordered a copy of Blades Business Crew by Steve Cowens, still waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Seems to be a good read.