What are you reading at the moment?

Midge

Posted: 22.11.2002, 19:54

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I'm no good at these best evers either - it's hard enough for me to choose which curry to order, let alone something important! A couple of nights ago I started reading 1984 tho, which I hadn't read for about 12 years. It's so well written in a sinister, drily humorous yet ominous kind of way. Apparently George Orwell was pretty ill with TB at the time, which kind of helped. I expect I might say Lord of the Rings was one of the best books I'd read, if I'd managed to finish it instead of getting lost halfway. I'd better browse my bookshelves and remind myself what I've read.

Actually, Generation X was pretty good - I really enjoyed the atmosphere of it and all the vivid images - tho davidb can't remember anything about it, which he reckons is intentional for a postmodern book. Coupland's later book Girlfriend in a Coma was a ribtickler too (and I'm sure davidb will mark it up hi'ly)

davidb

Posted: 25.11.2002, 11:56

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Yes, Girlfriend in a Coma is a really interesting book. One of the few books I've read where you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what's going to happen.

Posted: 25.11.2002, 17:57

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I haven't read Girlfriend in a Coma. But I liked 1984. Cool book. Got a bit bored in the bit that is basically a section of their book that they have or something... I can't remember what it is!!

darkly

Posted: 25.11.2002, 22:35

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>>Love Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevski - not at all boring, in fact gripping and very readable.

>>

>>I think you Dx would particularly like it.

I think I might even own that - Penguin Classic �1 - I sorta grabbed a few and that might have been one. The reason I am not sure is since I have been back at Uni my books get borrowed frequently off my shelves by housemates and I have to wait to see what I have up here...

D4rk|y

darkly

Posted: 25.11.2002, 22:42

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Fav book of all time??

Either

The Arpino Assignment which I read when I was very young and again in my early teens. I remember it giving something to me both times which I have to credit it for.

The entire 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series so far by George R R Martin as I am hooked and can't wait for the next one to come out... A must read for everyone.

Actually - prob the latter

D4rk|y

darkly

Posted: 25.11.2002, 22:59

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Found some more info

The Arpino Assignment

A Song Of Ice And Fire or here

[img]http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/000647988X.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/image]

D4rk|y

darkly

Posted: 25.11.2002, 22:59

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darkly

Posted: 25.11.2002, 23:03

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D4rk|y

andy

Posted: 27.11.2002, 03:24

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Mate, what are you doing with this picture thing? Fool.

Midge

Posted: 27.11.2002, 22:38

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And what are you doing posting things at 2.24am? Which by my reckoning means 3.24am.

andy

Posted: 28.11.2002, 03:10

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I'm working late into the night at the moment.

I love a bit of it. It's my most productive time.

Alice

Posted: 28.11.2002, 12:35

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Has anyone read 'Holes' by Louis Sachar? I thought it was really good. One of my favourite books of all time has to be 'The Catcher in the Rye' by JD Salinger.

Anonymous

Posted: 29.11.2002, 16:15

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Yes, I enjoyed Catcher in the Rye (DavidB, not logged in). It has a big effect - can't see anything but phoniness now...

darkly

Posted: 06.12.2002, 00:52

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>>Mate, what are you doing with this picture thing? Fool.

Sorry mate... thought it was a good idea at the time...

D4rk|y

andy

Posted: 09.12.2002, 08:49

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hehe forgiven...

Midge

Posted: 10.12.2002, 22:54

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Hey - isn't that thing on the cover of 'A Game of Thrones' some distant ancestor of Jar Jar Binx?

andy

Posted: 18.12.2002, 04:01

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That name should not be mentioned here.

But I do see what you mean...

Midge

Posted: 18.12.2002, 19:09

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I especially think the stripey ears.

Anonymous

Posted: 21.01.2003, 17:02

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Sometimes when I'm relaxed I become aware of how gentle my breathing is, and I imagine that I could breathe more and more gently until I didn't need to breathe at all - the air would just come and go of its own accord. Reading Douglas Coupland makes me feel the same way. Here's a quote from "Life after God" which I'm reading at the moment:

'Sometimes I think the people to feel the saddest for are people who are unable to connect with the profound - people such as my boring brother-in-law, a hearty type so concerned with normality and fitting in that he eliminates any possibility of uniqueness for himself and his own personality...'

Coupland captures that sense of the luminous and sacred behind the everyday and mundane, which is something I enjoy about life.

andy

Posted: 22.01.2003, 15:10

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Coupland is a genius, no doubt. Girlfriend in a Coma and Microserfs particularly.

Alice

Posted: 22.01.2003, 15:25

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Andy, have you read Plato's Republic? I read some of it, and I thought of you, because I remember some of your views on censorship and stuff. I just think it's funny when, in one of the dialogues, they are talking about poetry and tragedies, and Socrates asks, 'Should we ban it, then?' and the other person just says 'yes.' I don't know...I just found it funny the way Plato is so quick to ban things like poetry, because of the emotions they arouse etc. It seems to run contrary to what you were saying about how things should be allowed even if they are not right and you wouldn't do them yourself, so people have the opportunity to make their own minds up. I would not like to live in Plato's ideal society. Anway, I just wanted to say that.

davidb

Posted: 22.01.2003, 17:22

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Very interesting! I'd love to have a bash at some of these philosophers, but I never seem to find time... The problem is, I expect I'd need to concentrate very hard, which is often not what I want to do when I'm reading for leisure!

andy

Posted: 23.01.2003, 13:34

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Hi Alice,

Great to hear from you - no I haven't read The Republic but I have heard that it's pretty fascist, which is quite cool I think - everyone thinks of Plato as some kind of genius but actually he was a bit of a nutter.

Plato to me is all about maths - "Platonic solids" etc - perfect versions of familiar things. That's cool stuff but his politics is right of Hitler. I'll put it on my list I think.

By the way, at the moment I'm reading "The Art of Computer Programming" by Donald Knuth - affectionately called "The Bible" by geeks. It's wicked but incredibly heavy.

Midge

Posted: 04.02.2003, 00:04

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I've just read "Plato for Beginners" or "Introducing Plato" as it's called now, which helped to tie together his various ideas - I think. Easier to read than "Wittgenstein for Beginners" at least - I got through the few pages about his family background and then it launched into all this stuff about "There is a hippopotamus" and 'facts are chains of realities' or something - the kind of thing that's helpful to collect/revive your thoughts if you already understood it at some time in the past. I'll get round to reading "A Doll's House" soon - I think it's in a box in the back of my wardrobe. I cheated and read the commentary in the book on Ibsen plays first, cos it was on my shelf rather than in the box.

andy

Posted: 04.02.2003, 10:54

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Next on my list are Survivor by Chick Palanuick (who wrote Fight Club) and then Stranger in a aStrange Land that was apparently burned by Christians when it came out. I don't know much about it.