What are you currently reading? v2

[Brap]

Just read Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy for the first time. Not that impressed, wasnt one of his best imo

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

Have fallen off the reading horse, need to get back on. Tend to prefer non-fiction. Last book I read wass Gyspsy Boy by Mikey Walsh, Great, great book but it's very sad, absolutely harrowing in places if you;re one for getting emtionally involved in a book,

 

[Chatative]

I've decided to study some Physics myself.

I've always loved everything to do with space & the universe growing up but I was a bit naïve at school & didn't really know about cosmology as such. You don't really touch on these things at Higher/A Level Physics... I almost took it for Advanced Higher but didn't in the end, might have discovered that if I had.

I feel like I've wasted a lot of time studying things that have taken me nowhere... I was always better at the Sciences.

Anyway, I decided some light reading was in order to refresh my memory & introduce me to some of the more advanced concepts. As it happens, I have this on my bookshelf:

It's certainly very interesting so far having only got a couple of chapters in & I absolutely love Bill Bryson. One of my favourite authors... win:win really! (I'm actually being a nerd & highlighting important/interesting information... )

I found a suggested reading list here for bridging between School & University level... I figure I'll probably buy one of the Higher/A Level textbooks if I'm still interested in a month or so & then see if I can find access to a reading list for MIT or online lectures. Actually, I think I kept all my old notes, workbooks & textbooks from School now I think about it... should be at my folks house somewhere.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.

*Edit* - Yup I found the MIT course... amazing that they put these things in full online.

 

[spudgun]

The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley - enjoying it so far.

Also got a J G Ballard novella on the go - Running Wild. Thought I'd read nearly all of his, until I came across this in the library the other day.

Going to be a perfect day - reading in the park, a pub lunch and 1 or 2 pints in a beer garden I reckon %). Just hope the postman pays me a visit in the next couple of hours - that would be the cherry on top.

 

[Marmalade]

Spud did you delete a post in the post yer pics thread the other day? Think it was about ladies inner bits ... It was perfect for a quote from Dead Ringers, my fave Dave flick ever, and my No1 flick ever ... so I tootled on off to get the quote, and you (or a mod) had deleted it by the time I got back *sob*

Disappointed wasn't the word, so I couldn't post it .. so it's going here cos it's relevant! It's not even that grand, but it's not everyday one gets the chance to quote Dave/Elliot Mantle ... so ...


Elliot Mantle: I've often thought there should be beauty contests for the insides of bodies. You know, best spleen, most perfectly developed kidneys. Why don't we have standards of beauty for the entire human body, inside and out?

(it may or may not make sense, depends on if you can remember what you wrote or not)



aaaaaanyways ....

BEHOLD BITCHES!!1
Because today I win @ life! (first time in like a decade or somethin'), so forgive my little indulgence & acknowledgement of girlie self-loving today, loser status shall recommence in the morning ... or in 5 minutes, 'tis superflous right now because ..... thanks to my Ex, I am in possession of a uncorrected proof copy orff...



David Cronenberg - Consumed !!! not released until Oct I don't think.



*deep breaths ...
breathe in, breathe out ...
take some xanax ..
and some more just to for precautionary good measure *

Sorry for all the pics, I got a bit excited while searching for a cover pic ... which incidentally I can't find one exactly the same as mine, which has the lines


Seduced

Infected ....

CONSUMED

... it also has a rather unfortunate quote from JJ Abrams on the cover, which my Cronenberg snobbery is making me wrinkle my nose at but eh ... I'll forgive this book anything ... even when I read it and find out it's a heap of shit, which is very well could be .. might be even. It's gonna be shite, isn't it? Oh well

HRMN, still don't care WOOOOOOOOP!

 

[class-a-team]

I made a start on Norwegian Wood but got distracted by something else and havent picked it back up.

Norwegian Wood is the only one I have read of his well worth picking back up..must look in to your suggestion :D

I'm actually reading Norwegian Wood right now oddly enough. I'm not that impressed by it though, it's alright but not as good as I thought it would be after hearing all of the hype about Murakami. I don't read very much anymore though so I'm worried I no longer have the interest/attention span.

 

[spudgun]

How dare you - never posted any ladybits in my life..... Hang on - there was a suggestive geiger photo i posted months ago of the alien looking decidedly vaginal.. that could be it. It was in a non-specific blatherings thread IIRC

There's a great book about cronenberg I read a couple of years ago. Bit film-stuidiesy, as I got it in the BFI library, but well worth seeking out (with that limited information) if you're into his stuff.

P.S. Gotta say I prefer videodrome. Dead ringers is good, but I was hospital sick when i saw it. Not the best mindframe to be seeing specially crafted intrusive medical instruments and a crazed jeremy Irons.

On topic - just finished 'The Victim' by Saul Bellow. He considers it juvenalia, but it's a proper gud reed. Shame I set it on fire before returning it to the library (still awaiting trial and sentence on that misdemeanour, but have started another of his books anyway).

 

[alasdairm]

it is excellent.

alasdair

 

[kingme]

currently reading Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. quite funny and engaging, too bad i have little time to give it

 

[maxalfie]

Am reading 'Two Soldiers' by Roslund & Hellstrom. Set in Sweden and is about two criminal brothers. It's not exactly great, the most interesting thing is as far as i know it is the first work of fiction i've read that is written by two authors.
Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom are apparently Swedens most acclaimed fiction duo (probably the only duo), Roslund is an award winning journalist Hellstrom is an ex criminal

 

[Jackal]

Burmese Days, again.

 

[Septonn]

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Was supposed to read it ages ago but have finally gotten to it

 

[tribal girl]

I read The Light at the End and really enjoyed it, so this was next on my list. Finding it slightly more difficult to get into, but something's keeping me with it.

Synopsis: His name is Billy Rowe. Yesterday he was just another tragically talented loser the city had chewed up and spat back down on the streets. Billy came to New York with dreams of stardom, and found only a nightmare of obscurity. Frustrated and downtrodden, disgusted with his own failure, Billy spends his days living in Bowery squalor, his ambition skittering away like the cockroaches running up his tenement walls. His roommate can't cover the overdue rent. His girlfriend has no more patience for his self-pity. It seems that things can't get any worse.
Until the night Billy witnesses a murder in the street below his window: a young woman, knifed again and again and left to die, her blood gleaming under streetlight's glare. The killer flees into the shadows. And Billy watches, paralyzed with fear, until it's too late to do anything but scream.

When the police come, their contempt is palpable. And when they leave, Billy is ashamed. In a fit of despair, Billy prays for help, for guidance...for a sign.

And like a miracle it comes, as the mysterious stranger named Christopher. Christopher has come with a message: of the power that Billy has, if he will but lay claim to it.

Billy thinks Christopher is crazy...until he realizes that suddenly he feels no pain. Billy can heal the sick, or clean up the mess of his life. Or the mess of the city's savage streets.

Yesterday Billy Rowe was just another nobody. Now he has the Power. Now the city has nothing to fear. Nothing but Billy Rowe...

 

[Chatative]

I'm currently reading: Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks. (thanks for the heads up Shambles )

Essentially this is a book about hallucinations that occur outwith mental illness mostly. Absolutely fascinating to read of all the different illnesses that can cause them & the forms hallucinations can take. I think the chapter 'Altered States' is essential reading for any drug user! There is the occasional bit of jargon once in a while, but it's quite straight forward to understand on the whole. Highly recommended.

 

[kingme]

noone read anything in over a month?
get back to your books people!

finished this:

short and quite amusing. as expected from those authors

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

 

[Eveleivibe]

Chatative - that book looks interesting. How was it?

Evey

 

[kingme]

which one? the persepolis one? i only saw the movie - which is pretty great as well, i think it won some acclaim when it first came out a few eyars back, it s a left field animation.

the good omens one is ... lets just say a funny take on the apocalypse, in the good natured humor of both those authors

 

[Inflorescence]

I read 'The Fault in our stars' last week by John Green, it was a present. I don't think a book has ever quite effected me so emotionally before. I must have cried through more than half of it..which doesn't really sell it but it is really rather beautiful and sad and bittersweet, may sound a bit dramatic but I genuinely think it may have fundamentally changed how I view this precious and often ill considered life and the time we have here..l-Link.

I rarely re-read books but last read 'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenidesmany many years ago and decided it was worth revisiting.Had no idea it won a pulitzer prize winning novel till just now-link.

 

[kingme]

Ive heard really good things about Middlesex too, and knew it won acclaim.
Ive actually bought both those books for my family as presents. thats my current MO - buy them for others then read them when they re done....
The fault in our Stars also brought tears to many eyes. the movie version is supposedly pretty good too