News:

PD.com: The most patriotic board in America - jointly run by an Australian, an Irishman, a filthy Dutchman, a Canadian and some guy from the West Indies.

Main Menu

Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

Started by Thurnez Isa, December 03, 2006, 04:11:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Freeky

Just finished Thieves' World (thanks Dok, so far my favorite character is Lythande :D ) and next I'm starting Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn. And then whatever book I just got from the library. :D

BadBeast

Quote from: LMNO on May 08, 2007, 03:29:13 PM
You really can't go wrong with PKD.
I always loved his writing, but the titles of his books almost seem like he got someone else to write them. Someone about four years old.
"We need a plane for Bombing, Strafing, Assault and Battery, Interception, Ground Support, and Reconaissance,
NOT JUST A "FAIR WEATHER FIGHTER"!

"I kinda like him. It's like he sees inside my soul" ~ Nigel


Whoever puts their hand on me to govern me, is a usurper, and a tyrant, and I declare them my enemy!

"And when the clouds obscure the moon, and normal service is resumed. It wont. Mean. A. Thing"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpkCJDYxH-4

Rococo Modem Basilisk

Rereading The Difference Engine.

It's quite possible to go wrong with PKD. A couple of his short stories are awful. Novel-length stuff is typically a mindfuck, particularly anything written prior to A Scanner Darkly, but I'm not sure how much of that was intentional and how much of it was the product of trying to write a novel in the middle of an amphetamine binge, and continually forgetting about the continuity prior to the last few chapters.


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

Faust

I'm starting the great Gatsby.

I just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, its a good mystery despite the formal writing style (translation from Swedish probably tamed it a bit).
Sleepless nights at the chateau

Brotep

Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Placid Dingo

Quote from: BadBeast on April 27, 2010, 11:59:47 PM
About two thirds of the way through my third, or fourth reading of Moby Dick. Moby Dick is one of the few American books, that I (As British) would consider as a truly peerless example of how to write prose. Every time I read it, I find levels of meaning that I had perhaps not seen, or understood, (Or maybe forgotten) the previous time. Melville's talent for seeing the nobility in his characters, and settings really sets him apart from all of his contemparies, and into a very exclusive genre, consisting of only himself.
His singular style, and uncompromising, (and not ever particularly popular, or fashionable) style mean that it will (indeed, did) stand the test of time, without ever being faddy. And I think I will never be at a point in my life where I don't need to read it again.

I Want to enjoy Moby Dick, but it annoys me that three out of four chapters are writing an encyclopedia instead of extending the action. I 'get' what's good about it (and when its good its great) but I just want to hear the story without all the diversions.
Haven't paid rent since 2014 with ONE WEIRD TRICK.

Reeducation

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway and The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce.
I am very calm

Rococo Modem Basilisk

About halfway through The Andromeda Strain.

Brotep, I have a copy of Postman's Technopoly and I can get a copy of the book you are reading for about fifty cents. Is it worth reading either? I was hoping to balance out my technoutopian attitude, but there's a tendency for books that counter it written by nontechnical people to be mostly bullshit.


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

LMNO

Quote from: Placid Dingo on May 03, 2010, 05:47:01 AM
Quote from: BadBeast on April 27, 2010, 11:59:47 PM
About two thirds of the way through my third, or fourth reading of Moby Dick. Moby Dick is one of the few American books, that I (As British) would consider as a truly peerless example of how to write prose. Every time I read it, I find levels of meaning that I had perhaps not seen, or understood, (Or maybe forgotten) the previous time. Melville's talent for seeing the nobility in his characters, and settings really sets him apart from all of his contemparies, and into a very exclusive genre, consisting of only himself.
His singular style, and uncompromising, (and not ever particularly popular, or fashionable) style mean that it will (indeed, did) stand the test of time, without ever being faddy. And I think I will never be at a point in my life where I don't need to read it again.


I Want to enjoy Moby Dick, but it annoys me that three out of four chapters are writing an encyclopedia instead of extending the action. I 'get' what's good about it (and when its good its great) but I just want to hear the story without all the diversions.


Read only the even numbered chapters.  Srsly.

Hoser McRhizzy

currently reading: BIP and Principa Discordia.  I came across PD bits on a subgenius site 5 or 6 years back.  I skimmed or scrolled, thought it was clever, copied a few quotes and ideas down in a notebook, but never spent any time with it.  When I found this place a few months ago, I read the BIP, but was in a heavy semester and didn't have the headspace to take it in the way I want to now.

I'm enjoying reading them together.  They compliment each other, although BIP 'speaks to me' a little more.  But I'm a Welcome to the Machine kinda chick, so that makes sense.  And knowing some of what goes down here, having spent some good times going through the intermittens series and faust's link page for noobs prior to getting noddy with ye olde sacred orthodox discordianisms (j/k) is really interesting.

... very glad I took my time getting to this.
It feels unreal because it's trickling up.

LMNO


Salty

Just finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which was amazingly awesome until the last chapter or so, where it was magically transformed into a (large) pamphlet advocating the miracle of socialism.

Now it's The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.
The world is a car and you're the crash test dummy.

Hoser McRhizzy

Quote from: LMNO on May 05, 2010, 07:32:54 PM
Have you read the Machine™ pamphlet?

:fap:

I hadn't.  & Thanks!  Currently reading the 2006 thread linked at the bottom of the page.  Love thinking about how these ideas built on each other...
It feels unreal because it's trickling up.

Brotep

William S. Burroughs audio...Hilarious shit. Just finished listening to Apuk

Jasper

Quote from: Brotep on May 05, 2010, 10:55:56 PM
William S. Burroughs audio...Hilarious shit. Just finished listening to Apuk

Every time I listen to him talking, he breaks my fucking heart.

Sigmatic,
Just listened to "A Thanksgiving Prayer"