Tauhid Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 (edited) I finished Into The Wild recently, which was awesome. Now on to: Edited September 16, 2012 by Tauhid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splesh Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Currently have my nose in quite a few books, which are as follows: Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan, which is a series of disjointed, often surreal, often quite funny vignettes connected by the idea of fishing for trout or simply the phrase "Trout Fishing in America", it is the source of my forum signature. The edition I have is a volume which also contains a collection of his poetry called The Pill versus the Spring Hill Mining Disaster as well as a story (In Watermelon Sugar) about a hippie community thought by some to be based on the real life hippie commune known as The Farm, which you can read about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farm_(Tennessee). Forces in Motion by Graham Lock is to date the only book-length biography of acclaimed avant garde musician Anthony Braxton. It follows him on his 1985 tour of England, and covers both details of some of Braxton's ideologies, musical and otherwise, personal life biographies on him, and also covers a bit on the musicians who at that time were in his quartet, namely Gerry Hemmingway on drums, Mark Dresser on bass, and Marilyn Crispell on piano. One of the testimonials on the back of the book is from Braxton himself who encourages anyone who considers themselves a fan of his music to read the book. Very interesting stuff and reminds me not only of how interconnected the world of jazz is, but how brilliant and interesting a mind Braxton is. VALIS is one of the last novels that Philip K. Dick had written and published before his death, and if I remember correctly is rather autobiographical, and is largely based on his own experiences with mental illness. Like his other books from around the time leading up to his death, it has a lot to do with his own ideas about religion and gnosticism. I recently finished reading these two books: The Cosmic Connection by Carl Sagan, which is a pretty lovely, if dated, non-fiction piece all about contemplating our solar system from an outsider perspective and arguing the case for the importance for interplanetary exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life, and The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, which is a very entertaining, if in some parts a bit dated, read of an interesting sort of conspiracy fiction/science fiction/detective fiction crossover which covers many areas from secret societies to psychedelic drug experiences to anarchists and politicians to Atlantis and all the connections between each of these things. Some books I want to start after I'm done the ones I mentioned before are Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, Dennis Tedlock's translation of the ancient Mayan religious text the Popol Vuh, Bob Dylan's (to date) lone fictional novella, Tarantula, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert's Dune, Larry Niven's Ringworld, Silence: Lectures and Writings by John Cage, Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science, The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano, Beneath the Underdog by Charles Mingus, Andre Breton's Nadja, Watership Down by Richard Adams, and I will try to find some good introductory books to do with mycology. Just need to prioritize these. Feel free to recommend me some books, I'm mostly interested in the following genres: science fiction/speculative fiction, modern/postmodern fiction/experimental literature, scientific non-fiction, music journalism, sociology/political theory, and something I'm interested in but really have barely read anything in is queer theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghOsty Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Im currently reading through House Of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski for a second time, also paging through the Batman: Death In The Family story-arch, and just this Friday I picked up a copy of David Byrne's, How Music Works after I went to the interview/discussion event that I plan to start reading through. It's like a brief history and analysis of recording technologies and the way technology has impacted music over the years and rare music history type stories he's pieced together through extensive research. (The discussion/interview was really fucking interesting) plus I got my copy signed!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tauhid Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I guess the picture decided to stop working. In case this one does too: Caught By The River - On Nature Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan, which is a series of disjointed, often surreal, often quite funny vignettes connected by the idea of fishing for trout or simply the phrase "Trout Fishing in America", it is the source of my forum signature. The edition I have is a volume which also contains a collection of his poetry called The Pill versus the Spring Hill Mining Disaster as well as a story (In Watermelon Sugar) about a hippie community thought by some to be based on the real life hippie commune known as The Farm, which you can read about here: http://en.wikipedia....arm_(Tennessee). sociology/political theory I love Brautigan - his writing style is so captivating. Sociology - Anthony Giddens is great - "Runaway World" is a slim volume that will provide much food for thought - Benedict Anderson - "Imagined Communities" is one of those seminal books that everyone should read - Ian Buruma - "Inventing Japan" - an interesting and very readable book on modern Japan (well modern up until '65) that is a very good look at the japanese psyche. Political theory - not so much on actual political theory but if you dig political economy: - Chalmers Johnson - "MITI and the Japanese Miracle" - Barrington Moore - "Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy" - Robert Allen - "The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective" - Karl Gunnar Persson - "An Economic History of Europe" - Andre Gunder Frank - "ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age" - Adam Przeworski - "Democracy and the Market" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geosmina Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I just finished reading Man's Search for Meaning.Interesting read. Cool stuff when you're depressed and stuff. Would recommend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takeshi Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Sputnik Sweetheart - Haruki Murakami Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebraska Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blir Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Recently read this book. It was really bloody good. Great pacing, interesting characters. I recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baph Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 please don't read the rest of the series though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atop Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 great cover art on that edition... so I have heard that I should read at least part II, now I am hearing from the mighty Baphomet that I shouldn't??? WHAT DO I DO OH LORD OF LIGHT???? I probably will read the millions of other books that I need to instead of the sequels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 please don't read the rest of the series though I don't mind the rest of the series. Yeah it's a lot more emotional because of Gentry Lee, but you have actual characters. Just as long as they never turn it into a film. Please god no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redruth Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 I read "The Little Prince" (A kids book) twice this weekend. It was very beautiful. this is a very special book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baph Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 great cover art on that edition... so I have heard that I should read at least part II, now I am hearing from the mighty Baphomet that I shouldn't??? WHAT DO I DO OH LORD OF LIGHT???? I probably will read the millions of other books that I need to instead of the sequels. please don't read the rest of the series though I don't mind the rest of the series. Yeah it's a lot more emotional because of Gentry Lee, but you have actual characters. Just as long as they never turn it into a film. Please god no. I'm probably being too harsh; there are interesting ideas in the sequels, and I'm always a fan of more characterization. I just... think Gentry Lee is pretty hamfisted and simplistic with a lot of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takeshi Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Recently read this book. It was really bloody good. Great pacing, interesting characters. I recommend it. I've been looking for a copy of this. I've heard great things about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splesh Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Already on Chapter 9 of this, finding it a breeze, both in the sense that it's not hard to get through, and that it is both very refreshing and welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 great cover art on that edition... so I have heard that I should read at least part II, now I am hearing from the mighty Baphomet that I shouldn't??? WHAT DO I DO OH LORD OF LIGHT???? I probably will read the millions of other books that I need to instead of the sequels. please don't read the rest of the series though I don't mind the rest of the series. Yeah it's a lot more emotional because of Gentry Lee, but you have actual characters. Just as long as they never turn it into a film. Please god no. I'm probably being too harsh; there are interesting ideas in the sequels, and I'm always a fan of more characterization. I just... think Gentry Lee is pretty hamfisted and simplistic with a lot of it. Yeah i can definitely get down with that assessment. He is hamfisted, but I'm not reading it for great literature (it's SF for fuck's sake lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iain C Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 The Sea, The Sea has been a long slog but I'm nearly done with it. Decent enough English novel, middlebrow stuff, but miles better than say Ian McEwan. Notable for having a contemptible heel of a narrator but it's all laid on a bit thick. Still not sure exactly why I picked it up, just had a mad idea that I should read an Iris Murdoch novel. I don't think I'll be going back. To balance it slightly I'm about to start reading some short stories by Flannery O'Connor (expecting good things) and I've also made a start on Mallone Dies by Samuel Beckett (so far, my main impression has been 'thank goodness it's shorter than Molloy'). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ron Manager Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 (edited) Started Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel the other night. Anyone read it? Seems good so far. For those not familiar with it, it's historical fiction, about the rise of Thomas Cromwell at the court of Henry VIII. Won loads of awards. Edited September 27, 2012 by Ron Manager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triachus Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 Haven't started to read it yet but I must say I really like the aestethics, the cover and design of this book The figure, the blue, those faux-gold imprinted letters, the feel... you can't get that shit with a kindle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Haven't started to read it yet but I must say I really like the aestethics, the cover and design of this book The figure, the blue, those faux-gold imprinted letters, the feel... you can't get that shit with a kindle That's one I've been meaning to pick up for a while. Be interested to hear thoughts on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloman Tump Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 this is story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triachus Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 i miss story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geosmina Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Been reading Junji Ito's mangas... Holy shit, this guy is a genius! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geosmina Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 (edited) Haven't started to read it yet but I must say I really like the aestethics, the cover and design of this book The figure, the blue, those faux-gold imprinted letters, the feel... you can't get that shit with a kindle That's one I've been meaning to pick up for a while. Be interested to hear thoughts on it. I have Eco's Focault's Pendulum. I read good reviews about it so I bought it... But I can't really "enjoy" it, mainly because it's really hard for me to read. I like to understand all that is written in a book, but this one, just in Chapter 1, has so many, many references and quotes and stuff that I can't really appreciate it the way I want. I guess I'm too stupid or/and uncultured... I bet that book is written in a similar way, but if you can understand it, I think it's a pretty good read. Edited October 3, 2012 by logakght Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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