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  • EADD Moderators: Pissed_and_messed | Shinji Ikari

What book are you currently reading?

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I started on "Porno" a while back, after really enjoying "Trainspotting", and I never quite stuck with it, and ended up getting bored and putting it down, after the initial London scenes didn't quite grab my by the baw-bag, in the way Irvine had done previously...

Oh, reading some Descartes (Meditations...) which is ok once you get into it, and an interesting read fo' sho'. I like the "historical" feeling of some philosophy, it really connects you to some guy sitting in a darkened room with his candle burning down, whilst thinking over logic in suffering, and the existence of the classical theistic God..... or something.

Another "I put it down" book is "Zen and the Art of...." which I really enjoyed when I was reading it, it just requires quite a lot of perseverance, especially when you have a yellowed copy with pages fallin' out!

Also got "Island" by Aldous Huxley to read, which i'm looking forward to, as I think Brave New World is great, and his style of writing meanders in all the right ways, and kinda really gets your mind ticking, I find...

Oh, I have Roald Dahl short-stories too, for when I feel like bed time reading that's actually gona get somewhere.... they're nice and morbid and imaginative.

Last one I read must have been..... The Hitch-hiker's Guide, good as usual, although i'm not in the mood for completing the series, atm, due to ^^ going travelling quite soon though, so I'm hoping to get proper readathons going then! %)
 
I'm just dipping into 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus' in the original Germam. My head hurts. To offset this, I'm reading 'Selected Poems' by Stevie Smith (The Singing Cat is My Favourite Poem EVER)

I'm with you MTGG, Satre doesn't use one word when 10 will do & 'A Happy Death' by Camus is so much better...
 
Maculinities by Bob Connell......yup it's great.....woohoooo for dissertations=-(
 
haribo1 said:
I'm just dipping into 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus' in the original Germam. My head hurts. To offset this, I'm reading 'Selected Poems' by Stevie Smith (The Singing Cat is My Favourite Poem EVER)

I'm with you MTGG, Satre doesn't use one word when 10 will do & 'A Happy Death' by Camus is so much better...
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Gosh what an intellectual lot we have here in this happy community!

I read Nausea in my college years (i.e. angst-ridden teens) and have fond memories of reading it sitting under a tree looking brooding and moody whilst avoiding the sun. I believe I liked it at the time, but it's probably a good thing that it's such a slim volume - just about manageable without losing the will to live.

I just raided the book stall and charity shop as I'm running out of books. An interesting selection to be sure - a bit of Ernest Hemingway (Islands in the Stream), a dash of Jean Cocteau (Les Enfants Terrible), Luke Rhinehart's The Dice Man and a couple of Stephen Fry's for light relief. Should keep me going for a while...
 
The Blue Lantern by Victor Pelevin.

This is a fantastic collection of stories. Best thing I have read in a while:)

This review was on Amazon:

Most of these stories are absurdist gems, in my opinion, and a couple of them (most notably the magnificent "Hermit and Six-Toes," the austere "The tambourine of the Upper World," and the endearingly sweet "Adventures of Shed XII") easily stand amongst my favorite short stories of all time.

"Hermit And Six Toes": Not many writers can pull off a story that magically works as a satire of communist thought, an illuminating discourse on the search for meaning and truth in life, and a cute story about two chickens stuck in a meat factory. If I were ever to assemble a coursebook of philosophic fiction, "Hermit and Six Toes" would be in there with the best of Borges, Marquez, Babel, Calvino, Dick, and a couple others.

"the Tambourine of The Upper World" is an odd little mystical story that concerns death and marriage, albeit in a wayou're not expecting at all.

And "...Shed XII," wow. If anyone else tried to craft a short story about a shed the wants to be a bicycle... I wince at the thought of pomo jargonists who would just make a huge mess. But Pelevin's story is just that, a heart-rendingly effective tale about a shed that wants to be a bike. I walk away shaking my head every time I finish it, asking, "How did he do that?" A kid would love it (in fact my little brother did a book report on that story in the fifth grade!)

That's the thing I guess, some of these stories can be universally appreciated, whereas I can't imagine anyone under the age of 20 finding much enjoyment in any of Pelevin's novels.
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^ I rather like them myself - but then I also liked the film even with Sting's alleged performance.

I've been on a bit of a reading kick recently (probably cos I just got my leccy bill and complaints from my neighbour about music so decided to do something quiter and cheaper) and have been hoovering through them.

I enjoyed Les Enfants Terrible - although I suspect a few more read-throughs wouldn't go amiss. I actually enjoyed it enough to finally watch Cocteau's version of Beauty & The Beast that I've been meaning to for ages and was very glad that I did - yep, even more than the Disney version.

I also finally got around to reading The Dice Man which loads of people have recommended to me over the years. How to describe it? Take a die and roll:

1 - It's overrated pretentious wank.
2 - It's a brilliant and hilarious piece of satirical writing.
3 - It's pointless.
4 - It's life-changing.
5 - It's vile amoral pornography.
6 - It's okay I suppose but could do with a bit more sex and violence.

If that sounds good then roll again:

Odd - You should buy this book.
Even - You should steal this book.

That about sums it up.
 
The Diamond Invention by Edward Jay Epstein

Its a pretty interesting book about the diamond trade and all that goes along with it, wars, politics, world monopolies, and all the crazy shit that goes along with it! Awesome so far totally awesome, and I just got to the part about War Diamonds!!! De Beers, gotta love the strategy!!!!
 
'Blood River'.

The guy that wrote it was on Richard and Judy according to my Mum.

It's about a guy that travels along the Congo. Only just started it and it's mental already. I like it.
 
Ulysses is hurting my head so i've been reading other stuff on the side, i enjoy reading, but at times the distance to the end and the time taken so far makes me put it off.

Just done Existential thought and Therapeutic practice, Cohn, which was interesting, has made me think that freudian ideas were distorting my view of my psychedelic experiences. Feel much more comfortable viewing them phenomologically.

Now onto Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance which is good so far.
 
Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. It's great - a quick read, and a real pleasure. Everyone should read Dry and Running with Scissors. He's becoming one of my faves.
 
Red Arrow said:
just finished one about a guy who was locked up in mountjoy prison in dublin
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Think my mate gave me this to read under the pretense that it was "a really good read". It's called "The Joy" isn't it?

Not a very interesting or exciting read IMO. Picked it up twice when bored and couldn't sleep and pretty much read the whole book in the total of an hours reading time. There's nothing to it. I like to be either entertained or educated when I read, this did neither. Wasn't very compelling at all. Next time my mate offers me a book I'll tell him no thanks. ;)

I prefer something with a bit more substance. I wish I had some cash atm as there's loads of book I have in my shopping cart on Amazon I'd love to buy.
 
I don't think it was the smack head who wrote the book....wasn't it a reporter who wrote it after spending time with said smack head getting to know what it was like inside The Joy?
 
Red Arrow said:
dont think so! have the book in my room and will check but im pretty sure it was a self account of events throughout his life!
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Just looked it out, it was written by a journalist. :p

Now I'm gonna go finish wiping my arse with it. :D
 
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