books, books, books

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:56 am

Aha! Thank you for enriching a poor girl's vocabulary.

SoLikeCandy · Post by **SoLikeCandy** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:55 am

I've been sucked in by a seriously strange author named Samuel Delany. He's a black gay science fiction writer, as well as a creative writing professor at Temple University. He's a mad genius. I read "Trouble on Triton" for an independent study class on gay black literature, and was immediately hooked. If you want to read a book that pisses you off and forces you to turn the pages because you're dying to see what happens next--and see if you can actually figure out what happens next--pick up some Delany.

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:42 pm

I just finished Bukowski's Notes of a Dirty Old Man, so I needed something that was a complete 180 from that. So now Im reading Blood Meridian. Fascinating book. Steeped in the holiday spirit ...

wehitandrun · Post by **wehitandrun** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 1:00 am

I got When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops - George Carlin for Xmas. I love the 6 page poem at the beginning.

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 11:00 am

BlueChair wrote:Just started The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster.

I loved his New York Trilogy, and so far this is great too.

You all have to read this book. Unbelievable. Now to pick something else from the bookshelf. Hmmmmmm

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:22 pm

I'm reading an Al Franken book I got for xmas. Never heard of him over here but some of it is funny although I fear it will become tiresome like Michael Moore. Will probably switch to Complicated Shadow which I also got at xmas. Have also been browsing Schott's Miscellany which is a stato's dream.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:01 am

I just read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I highly recommend. It's one of those books that sucks you in so mercilessly that you lose all deisre to do anything but read it until you're done. It's about 700 pages, and I read it in two days, if that gives you any idea.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:04 am

What is it about, Miss BA?

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:25 am

It's set in England in the early 1800's, where magic is more of a scholarly pursuit than anything else; all magic is purely theoretical, everyone just studies the magic that was done in the middle ages. Mr. Norrell shows up, and he says he's a practical magician, i.e., he can actually do magic, and he wants to put magic to use for England against Napoleon. He's sort of an unpleasant character, sympathetic yet secretive and rude. Along comes Jonathan Strange, who is also a practical magician, and he winds up becoming Mr. Norrell's pupil. But, of course, they don't see eye to eye on everything...

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 11:07 am

Uh, just had to log in again...and again. <puff, puff>

He's sort of an unpleasant character, sympathetic yet secretive and rude.

In other words, a likeable fellow..?

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 11:28 am

Ha! Not so much, but you still want him to come out okay in the end. He means well.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 11:31 am

Oh, that type...

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 1:00 pm

My girlfriend is taking an adolescent literature class towards her Librarian certification, so I've been reading lots of it as well. Some selections, all recommended:

Fat Kid Rules the World
Whale Talk
Speak
The Rainbow Singer

*Disclaimer: Ad Lit has a lot more swearing, sex, and violence than it did when I was seventeen. Still great stuff, but all of the above are intended for a mature high-schooler.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 2:18 pm

FINALLY finished Ulysses.

can I get a whoop-whoop?

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 4:11 pm

Um? No.

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 4:53 pm

Having recently finished The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Candide, Dude, Where's My Country and A People's History of the United States, I am now halfway through As I Lay Dying and American Scream (the Bill Hicks story) ...

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 9:25 pm

well, excuse the FUCK out of me.

Mr. Misery · Post by **Mr. Misery** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 11:02 pm

Congratulations on finishing Ulysses!

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:25 am

There's a lot of buzz about the book called The Shadow Of The Wind which is out in Poland in two weeks' time.
It was written by a Carlos Ruiz Zafon and from what I read about the novel, it looks like a fascinating read. (some key words - "cemetery of lost books", "old streets of Barcelona", "gothic scenery", "labyrinthine library").

Anyone read it ?

strangerinthehouse · Post by **strangerinthehouse** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:45 pm

i know i started late in the thread but here it is.

i had to read Othello for a class, enjoyed more than i thought.
finished America: The Book by jon stewart and his cohorts, fun read.
finished a play by Bertolt Brecht called The Good Woman of Setzuan

currently rereading Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, amazing gloomy book.
almost finished with Bod Dylan's Chronicles. it's a must and leaves me wondering how great an elvis costello autobiography could be.
reading After Theory, by the irish writer, Terry Eagleton, about the post-modernist and cultural studies in current education.

since i've read a lot of people saying they've been reading Dude, Where's My Country? i have to tell you that this book made me stop paying attention to Michael Moore. [/i]

strangerinthehouse · Post by **strangerinthehouse** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:54 pm

mood swung wrote:I just finished Who's Who In Hell. I approached this book with incredible dread, thinking it would be all literary and dull. That might be true for the first fifty pages, but I'm re-reading them just in case. This book surprised me. I can't remember when I've been so emotionally engaged in a book. I laughed, I cried and I really didn't like any of the main characters.

since i'm playing katch up i could tell you that this book suprised me too, it was probably one of the lesser reasons why i got into elvis costello, i searched for the Juliet Letters ever since I read it. It's not the greatest book but it was a memorably good one.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:45 am

Stranger, I read Othello 'cause I was stuck on a train once with nothing else--I couldn't believe how dirty it was! (This was before I realized that everything Shakespeare wrote is pretty dirty.)

strangerinthehouse · Post by **strangerinthehouse** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 3:34 pm

i know but it was good drama it made me realized that almost every story i've seen or read about unfounded unfaithfullnes is modeled after that. I normally don't like shakespeare and his dirty mind but i throughly enjoyed Othello; i did read it during a weekend with the flu, maybe all the medicine had something to do with that.

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:36 pm

I'm reading Justin Cartwright's The Promise of Happiness - enjoyable so far , if a little too similar to Franzen's The Corrections.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:52 pm

Just finished Complicated Shadows. It was well written and I enjoyed it although I found some of the author's opinions (on the music) a little too judgemental.

Not sure what to read now, have a John Peel biog that I got for xmas or a James Hawes novel.