What are you reading?

[spikepipsqueak]

My current bedtime reading, a Cadfael novel, has reminded me or 3 wonderful books by the same author but under another name.


The Heaven Tree (1960)
The Green Branch (1962)
The Scarlet Seed (1963)
.
I'm going to have to track down copies.

 

[Archimedes]

The New Testament. Will work on The Old Testament eventually. I haven't been able to get past Genesis yet.

The Old Testament was the most boring thing I ever attempted to read. I got through Genesis and Exodus before deciding it wasn't worth my while. I read bits and pieces afterward from various OT books but couldn't work up the will to read it all.

How do people read that shit and think it's divinely inspired?

 

[EricB]

Just finished Skin Game by Jim Butcher.

 

[bradw]

I gave up on reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein. The politics just didn't interest me.

Just finished The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick.

Overly-convoluted plot lines. It was OK, not great.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I gave up on reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein. The politics just didn't interest me.

I first read that as a teenager and learned a lot from it. It showed me where I stand on issues. I still enjoy the awakening and development of Mike.

When I found out just how into drugs Dick was, it helped explain both the good and the bad facets of his writing. Still love the underlying imagination.

Reading Yes, Prime Minister. There are things you can do on paper that are difficult onscreen. Lynn and Jay are wicked.

 

[The Helmetmaker]

Among others:

The Information by James Gleick

Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the US Congress by Trevor Loudon

Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Stategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism by Lt. Gen. Ion M. Pacepa and Ronald Rychlak

Knocking On Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World by Lisa Randall

The Good Life: The Moral Individual in an Antimoral World by Cheryl Mendelson

The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life by Robert Trivers

 

[Jokodo]

I've run out of discworld novels at store in my local library, so I'm back to Python documentation.

And some  Wolf Haas.

 

[DBT]

The Martian - Andy Weir.
''Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue ...''

 

[Infinite Monkey]

"Under the Dome" by Stephen King. The problem is that there is currently a TV series based on it as well, so if a promo comes on I have to walk out of the room plugging my ears, going "LALALALALALALA".

And that looks silly.

Good book, btw.

 

[DBT]

Just bought "Under the Dome" by Stephen King. Bit doubtful, but I'll give it a go.

 

[bradw]

Coming Up for Air by George Orwell.

Published in 1939.

Story of a very average man who resents his low-wage existence, his nagging wife and his bratty children. Many pages are devoted to him reminiscing about his childhood and the period up to his involvement in WWI.

Seems mostly to be about mid-life issues and concerns about the upcoming war. Some themes that are later developed in 1984.

 

[Daioh]

Going through some Terry Pratchett
Just finished A Hat Full Of Sky and am onto Wintersmith

 

[DBT]

"Under the Dome" by Stephen King. The problem is that there is currently a TV series based on it as well, so if a promo comes on I have to walk out of the room plugging my ears, going "LALALALALALALA".

And that looks silly.

Good book, btw.

I read the book and enjoyed it, though I think it could have been tightened up a bit The TV series is not bad, but quite a loose adaptation of the book.

Currently reading 'The Slap' by Christos Tsiolkas - excellent.

 

[Kharakov]

This thread.

 

[Unbeatable]

The Haunter of the Threshold by Edward Lee.

 

[MarkW]

Current reading includes:

The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan, by Rick Perlstein
Three Empires on the Nile, by Dominic Green
A Red Herring Without Mustard, by Alan Bradley.

 

[bradw]

Animal Farm. A Fairy Story by George Orwell

Loved it.

 

[bradw]

All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson

This is my first attempt at reading Gibson, and it isn't going well. I just can't get into it. About 70 pages in and I don't want to read any more of it.

Should I skip this and read Neuromancer, or is that just more of the same?

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I had the similar problem with Neuromancer, though everybody and his dog, including my philosophy lecturer, assured me it was wonderful.

Just finished The Color of Water, James McBride, which was good, but not great.

 

[bilby]

Matthew Mather's The Atopia Chronicles.

Not bad so far.