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Social What are you currently reading?

Reading Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh. Pretty good so far.

Bardeaux said:
I'm currently thumbing through Kerouac's Dharma Bums. The next time I'm around the book store I think I'm going to pick up a copy of For Whom the Bell Tolls as I've been reading up on the spanish civil war for ages now but have never read this.
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Only read A Farewell to arms by Hemingway, which was surprisingly disappointing. Had it's moments, but altogether wasn't at all impressive. Although I hear For Whom The Bell Tolls is a lot better.

You read Off The Road by Carolyn Cassady? Really interesting to hear about the Beats from her perspective. Well written too. I found the Dharma Bums a bit boring to be honest, thought the Lonesome Traveler was a lot better. On the road is definitely one of my favourite reads, but I just think Burroughs was a much more entertaining writer. Gonna need to get a copy of his most recently published collection of letters. The previous collection were pretty fascinating. Devoured them really easily, and this is coming from someone who still hasn't finished Hunter S. Thompson's letters (admittedly that book is a lot bigger) and Oscar Wilde's. So it says a lot about how well Burroughs could captivate. And yes, I do find his less coherent works pretty tedious.

Znegative said:
I'm currently also reading Brett Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero, which is incredibly bleak and desturbing, but in my oppinion the man is a genius. For all those who've only seen the movie American Psycho, you're missing out (it was a fantastic movie though). Similar in theme is Will Self's My Idea of Fun, which is just weird and fucked up as hell.
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Hmm...dunno about genius, think you're using that term a little loosely. Certainly an entertaining writer, with a lot of wit and depravity thrown in for good measure. I loved American Psycho - read it twice. Thought Less Than Zero was a bit lacking and Lunar Park was pretty poor. Got Glamorama on the shelf ready to see if I can love another of his books as much as I loved AP. Maybe should stop comparing all his other works with it, and appreciate them for their own uniqueness or whatever. But it's hard to do things differently when that was the first of his I read and the one - so far - that seemed to affect me the most.
 
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Thou said:
I'm just about wrapping up A Short History of Nearly Everything written by Bill Bryson. Pretty wonderfully written, factually accurate and really entertaining as well.
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Bryson's travelogues are worth checking out too, he's a very entertaining journalist.

I'm about to start reading Future Shock by Alvin Toffler which is supposed to be a prerequisite of sorts for The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. Not much to say about it yet, obviously.
 
he died with his eyes open by derek raymond. great, great book. black as coal and wonderfully written and plotted.
 
Reading through all the elmore leonard books I can find. Such good easy reads, and so good. Nice and lite.
 
Right now I'm reading Supergods, by Grant Morrison. It's a very cool book about his growing up reading, then writing comic books and how they've become the new archetypes for the Gods of myth.
 
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because I was doing it manually and i forgot it's only the I palindrome I. I fuck-ed up.
 
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. Best book I've ever read. Having recently had a series of drug induced near death experiences I can relate so much to it. The Tibetans are the only religious group to not misinterpret the divine.
 
the border trilogy by cormac mccarthy. it's not as bleak as most other of his novels. good read so far.
 
GOLD is for the mistress - silver for the maid" -
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade! "
" Good! " said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
But Iron - Cold Iron - is master of them all."

So he made rebellion 'gainst the King his liege,
Camped before his citadel and summoned it to siege.
" Nay! " said the cannoneer on the castle wall,
" But Iron - Cold Iron - shall be master of you all! "

Woe for the Baron and his knights so strong,
When the cruel cannon-balls laid 'em all along;
He was taken prisoner, he was cast in thrall,
And Iron - Cold Iron - was master of it all.

Yet his King spake kindly (ah, how kind a Lord!)
" What if I release thee now and give thee back thy sword? "
" Nay! " said the Baron, " mock not at my fall,
For Iron - Cold Iron - is master of men all."

" Tears are for the craven, prayers are for the clown
Halters for the silly neck that cannot keep a crown."
" As my loss is grievous, So my hope is small,
For Iron - Cold Iron - must be master of men all! "

Yet his King made answer (few such Kings there be!)
" Here is Bread and here is Wine - sit and sup with me.
Eat and drink in Mary's Name, the whiles I do recall
How Iron - Cold Iron - can be master of men all."

He took the Wine and blessed it. He blessed and brake the Bread
With His own Hands He served Them, and presently He said:
" See! These Hands they pierced with nails, outside My city wall,
Show Iron - Cold Iron - to be master of men all. "

" Wounds are for the desperate, blows are for the strong.
Balm and oil for weary hearts all cut and bruised with wrong.
I forgive thy treason - I redeem thy fall
For Iron Cold Iron - must be master of men all! "

'Crowns are for the valiant - sceptres for the bold!
Thrones and Powers for mighty men who dare to take and hold!'
" Nay! " said the Baron, kneeling in his hall,
" But Iron - Cold Iron - is master of men all!
Iron out of Calvary is master of men all! "

RKipling
 
Yesterday I read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, back to back. Like a lot of early science fiction, it has good ideas but severely lacks in all other departments. The Invisible Man is a better read. But, neither are great pieces of literature. The Time Machine has more holes in it than any book I've ever read. It is badly conceived. I've said this to a couple of people and they respond with: "Well, you have to remember when it was written." Frankly I'm not sure I understand this defense. Literature has been around for thousands of years. Why should I give extra consideration to a novel written in 1901? It is poorly written. The Time Traveler goes 800,000 years into the future with a box of matches as his only supplies. Instead of using them sparingly, he strikes them to amuse the Eloi. When it comes time to enter the dark underground world, he only has four left. Then he escapes from the Morlocks and finds a box of matches in a museum that have somehow managed to survive eight thousand centuries! How convenient... The story is told, from a first person perspective, by an unnamed character who retells the Time Traveler's story. So you've got this original narrative, in first person, from this unnamed character. Then you've got the story - which is the bulk of the novel - which is told, in first person, from the perspective of the Time Traveler. Wells may be one of the founders of science fiction, but that doesn't mean he's a good science fiction writer. Or a good writer. The first caveman to scratch an erotic picture of a naked cavewoman was almost definitely a bad artist. He may be the first being to create a two dimensional image of titties, but that doesn't mean he's good at titty rendering.

Now I'm reading The Soft Machine, by William S. Burroughs. The under-appreciated sequel to Naked Lunch. It is a work of absolute mind blowing genius. I fucking love Burroughs.
 
ForEverAfter said:
Wells may be one of the founders of science fiction, but that doesn't mean he's a good science fiction writer. Or a good writer. The first caveman to scratch an erotic picture of a naked cavewoman was almost definitely a bad artist. He may be the first being to create a two dimensional image of titties, but that doesn't mean he's good at titty rendering.
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lol, wonderfully expressed; I personally do not like science fiction at all...

I'm currently reading Ham on Rye by Bukowski....
 
I'm super excited for Justin Cronin's sequel to The Passage to come out this fall. For anybody who hasn't read it... pick it up. If you like post-apocalyptic novels with a lot of action and character development, you'll love that book.
 
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