Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

[Mangrove]

it can be a tough habit to break.

[Mother John Frumm]

oh the addiction of good(bad) movies

[Z³]

I'm working on a Poe costume for Halloween, so I've been getting into his poetry lately.
Although, I think I'm going to drop that in favor of reading August Derleth in preparation for NANOWRIMO.

[DarkStar]

Have you read the entire series Dune?  That is a damn scary avatar.......

[Mother John Frumm]

I've read a few of them sporadically, however I just bought 9 of them at once so I'm re-reading all of them in chronological order, in the time line of the story. I'm done with 5 of them so far

[Cain]

I'm reading the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt.  Apart from his occasional vice of stealing names from mythology (sa'angreal, Shai'tan), I'm really liking these books.  Jordan has a very descriptive style that appeals, even if it takes him several chapters to progress the plot any.

[Cainad (dec.)]

I'm currently finishing re-reading The Prince of Nothing trilogy (The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior-Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought) by R. Scott Bakker. I was totally wowed the first time I read it, and the second time around it's even better because I'm wise to the books' single flaw, which is a tendency to frequently "introduce" secondary characters for a few scenes, all with strange, nigh-unpronounceable names.

The historical parallels are pretty obvious to anyone well-acquainted with European history, but the real yuks come from the few details that don't fit into the historical mould.

[Darth Cupcake]

I'm reading the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt.  Apart from his occasional vice of stealing names from mythology (sa'angreal, Shai'tan), I'm really liking these books.  Jordan has a very descriptive style that appeals, even if it takes him several chapters to progress the plot any.

They can get really slow at times, I'm afraid, but they are really great books. I am a very big addict/nerd about them. They are incredibly trite fantasy, and yes, often very slow moving, but he writes them so well that all of that is entirely forgivable, in my opinion.

I'm finally reading Good Omens (Pratchett/Gaiman). I've been getting through it in leaps and bounds on the trolley in and out of work, and it is HILARIOUS. I am so delighted with it! Unfortunately, I think I'll be finished tonight. I will miss the fun of giggling hysterically in a train full of grumpy commuters and/or BU kids at 8:30 AM.

[Triple Zero]

i just finished re-reading Gibson's Neuromancer, cause i finally got it back from a friend who had borrowed it, claimed the version he had was borrowed from a different friend, lost it in a move, got corrected by me and the other friend about the ownership of the book and was found back by me on his bookshelves, at eye-level.

and, just like last time, i can't make heads nor tails of what the fuck happens at the end.

[Sepia]

I'm reading the second Wheel of Time book, The Great Hunt.  Apart from his occasional vice of stealing names from mythology (sa'angreal, Shai'tan), I'm really liking these books.  Jordan has a very descriptive style that appeals, even if it takes him several chapters to progress the plot any.

WoT is kosher up untill about halfways in book 5. After that it's like reading a 6000 paged version of the silmarillion with parts of at the mountains of madness, like when hpl describes the drill that's going to be used which is a technological marvel because this gizmo drives this turbine and it was professor X at miskatonic that etc.

At the moment I'm up to my ears in schoolstuff so I'm reading DDK5, the fifth revision of Deweys rules for catalogues and classifications.

As an aside, I'm reading a chapter here and there of a short story collection by ray bradbury - the October Country and when taking the tram to school I marvel in cormac mccarthys The Road, which is thus far almost more depressing than Bjørneboe but incredibly easy to read due to the formatting.

[Mangrove]

Currently, I'm jumping between:

Giordano Bruno & The Hermetic Tradition (sadly, not the name of a band) by Frances Yates and

History Of The End Of The World by Jonathan Kirsch - This is a history of the Book Of Revelation and its impact on Western culture. Essential reading if you want to understand the mindset of fundamentalists and how their ridiculous interpretations of 'The Apocalypse of John' is shaping the world. Well written, flows nicely and is occasionally quite funny given the subject mater.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Currently: God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens

next: I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert

[Cain]

I wonder how drunk Hitchens was when he wrote that?  I'd love to see the first draft, with the typos and beer fuelled ranting intact.

As for me, I'm flipping between Robert Jordan's The Shadow Rising and Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas.  Only just started the latter, but the cover says "the American dream turns out to be a Lovecraftian nightmare" and I was already sold.

[the dreadful hours]

want ads

[Cain]

Illicit: How smugglers, traffickers and copycats are hijacking the global economy, by Moses Naim.

This is THE book to read if you want an up to date and concise insight into the global black market economy, from drugs to guns to people to goods.  Naim describes how these networks, like everything else, are becomming more decentralized, more corporate in their outlook and their long term effects on society.  Also, for those of you who have perhaps other reasons to be interested in such books, he also names people still free and influential in the global black market too (such as Victor Bout, who sold over $50 million in arms to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and whose company is now helping the US occupation of Iraq) and how all these intersect in a market so powerful it covers 10% of the entire global GDP.