The Official What Are You Reading Thread

[Alice Ayers]

I think I skipped an entire chapter where she explains her philosophy again, just in case you missed it in the first 3000 times. Who is john galt?

[daoist]

Just finished the android developer's reference. I skipped the 2d and 3d animation stuff. I'll look that up when I need it.

[daoist]

Eh forgot to read the best practices too. Doing that now.

[Fuzzy]

Finished the Naked and the Dead over the weekend. awesome.

Going to finally finish Freakonomics now.

[Uncle Sherm]

Atlas Shrugged is fucking horrible fiction.

I recently finished this one myself. I didn't think the story was bad, but it was too preachy. It reminded me of George Orwell, but much more overt in pushing a philosophy.

I'm now reading Dumas. Just finished the Count of Monte Cristo, and starting the 3 Musketeers.

[nippletwister]

I sort of bailed on Atlas Shrugged. The dude who lended me that lended me some other stuff too - One by David Sedaris, also Tropic of Cancer and Crash.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Alternating between Fugitive Days and Genius and Heroin now. Probably going to pick up Things Fall Apart after that.

[Zapruder]

Just for the record, Under The Dome was pretty top-notch King. Probably his best work since The Stand.

Started Dostoyevsky's The Idiot yesterday...hoping to put another big dent into it today.

[Alice Ayers]

Has anyone read "Go West, young, F*cked-up chick"

[Dragmire]

Predictably Irrational.

[Fuzzy]

oooh, how is that?

[Dragmire]

oooh, how is that?

Kind of like Freakonomics, but a bit more scientific/dissertationy, so far anyway. If you're a fan of behavioral economics, its worth it.

[Turbo]

Just read Sarah Palin's book. Not terrible.

[nippletwister]

[Little Bobby Tables]

Fargo Rock City

[Fuzzy]

finished freakonomics, now on to Salt, a gift from a coworker

[nippletwister]

I forgot that I wanted to read that. I will forget again.

Let us know how it is.

[Dragmire]

finished freakonomics, now on to Salt, a gift from a coworker

Yeah, that's been on my list for a little while now too. Someday when I get around to actually finishing Predictably Irrational. Just been short on time recently, not that the book is bad.

[bith]

was gonna grab fear and loathing in las vegas today but it was checked out from the ames library.

fear and loathing on the campaign trail '72 instead.

[Fuzzy]

that book is awesome

[nithos]

I read The Lightning Thief the other afternoon. It was described to me as Harry Potter but with Greek Mythology. I guess it was a little too light for light reading for me, only took a couple hours to read so I might give the series one more shot.

[Little Bobby Tables]

The Billionaire's Vinegar

[nippletwister]

The Billionaire's Vinegar

I really need to read that.

[Pluto]

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

[Alice Ayers]

The Billionaire's Vinegar

I really need to read that.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Thomas Jefferson. He liked wine and built his own plantation and imported it.
Then a long time later, someone found it. Or did they?
Then they profited.
Or did they?
The end.

[Dr. Faustus]

Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit
John Gerassi - Talking with Sartre
Carl Von Clausewitz - On War
Herman Melville - Moby Dick
Karl Marx - Capital Vol 1 (about halfway through...in the "Machinery and Large-Scale Industry" section)


I recently finished Slavoj Zizek's First as Tragedy, Then as Farce. It was quite good. A short read and I finished it over the weekend. Other recent reads include Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse (excellent book), Stendhal's The Red and the Black, and Yukio Mishima's Spring Snow. Spring Snow might have been the best book I read all last year. I play on reading the whole Sea of Fertility series when I get the time.

[G.O.A.T.]

Other than the Hitchhiker's Guide series, anyone else enjoy any of Douglas Adams other works? What about the follow on to HHGG "And Another Thing" by Colfer?

[bith]

Other than the Hitchhiker's Guide series, anyone else enjoy any of Douglas Adams other works? What about the follow on to HHGG "And Another Thing" by Colfer?

i liked the two dirk gently novels. also, the salmon of doubt isn't an official "work", but it's very entertaining.

[nippletwister]

Other than the Hitchhiker's Guide series, anyone else enjoy any of Douglas Adams other works? What about the follow on to HHGG "And Another Thing" by Colfer?

i liked the two dirk gently novels. also, the salmon of doubt isn't an official "work", but it's very entertaining.

I liked the Dirk Gently novels too, but that was a long time ago and it's sort of a blur.

I've been wondering if I'd like Douglas Adams as much now as I did when I was a kid. Guess there's one way to find out.

[MarkK]

The Girl with the dragon tattoo

[nippletwister]

I saw that recently. Is it good?

[andrewk]

Shop Class as Soul Craft-

[MarkK]

I saw that recently. Is it good?

enjoying it so far, only about 20% in.

[Guerrilla X]

I saw that recently. Is it good?

enjoying it so far, only about 20% in.

is that a series of books or just a single novel?

[MarkK]

book one in a trilogy. Only the first two are available in the US currently... 3 is due out soon.

[$/]

Just finished "The Golden Compass". Working on "The Painted Bird".

[TeleportThis]

The Scientists. Don't read nonfiction very often, but this is a rather good read so far.

[Alice Ayers]

Just finished "American Wife". 568 pages in less than 5 days, AND I didn't skip to the end and then reread it or get bored. I definitely recommend this book and would probably reverse my earlier impressions about how "Laura Bush only supports nambypamby causes like literature." Finally a novel that held my interest.

Finished Where Men Win Glory earlier last week. A good book, but Krakauer's last two just haven't cut it for me. Pat Tillman was one impressive guy and his death, like so many, was an avoidable waste. If you like other Krakauer books, you'll probably like this one, but if you loved other Krakauer books, you'll probably only like this one.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Banana Yoshimoto - Kitchen

[Alice Ayers]

Gore Vidal, I'm pinning all my lust on you.

[Alice Ayers]

Funny, now that Salinger is dead, I think there might be more interest in "Prep". I saw some articles mention it as a semi-sequel or companion to "Catcher in the Rye", and I was just about to get "Prep" from the library after reading Sittenfeld's "American Wife." I hope this doesn't mean there will be a lot of holds on it.

[daoist]

I've been reading Lovecraft in bed the past few nights.

[MarcusAurelius]

The Scientists. Don't read nonfiction very often, but this is a rather good read so far.

woah, i actually read this. it is a good read. very dense though.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Tom Wolfe - Bonfire of the Vanities

[nippletwister]

I like that book.

[Fuzzy]

finished freakonomics, now on to Salt, a gift from a coworker

now, Cod by the same author. Kurlansky has a pretty mediocre style of writing. Salt was an interesting enough subject that the book was interesting enough. Makes me long for better anthro writings ala Jared Diamond.

[daoist]

on to At The Mountains of Madness

[Hi, I'm High Maintenance]

Just finished "Of Human Bondage"

[Alice Ayers]

Just finished reading Prep, it was wonderful. I'm trying to separate myself from Lee Fiora's character right now, but it's hard. I know it's all subjective, but reading authors like Curtis Sittenfeld makes fiction beautiful. Even reading her novels taught me a lot of great lessons about plot development and I think I could definitely be a stronger writer by employing her methods. Also, it's not really a surprise that she went to the UI Writers Workshop, but it was great to see that one of her acknowledgments is another one of my favorite authors, Marilynne Robinson, the author of "Home" and "Gilead." It's always weird to notice that your favorite author influences another favorite author, and that holy smokes, they're both still alive.

I know that nobody reads this thread, and I guess I don't know anyone IRL that has read these books, but at least having a place where I can vocalize this is nice.

[nippletwister]

As lame as pretentious as this is, I think the two things that have suddenly made me want to start reading again are the simultaneous discovery of Believer magazine, and the only partially anticipated death throes of my home computer.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Jake Adelstein - Tokyo Vice

Really interesting stuff if you're into reading about organized crime. It's pretty scary how powerful the Yakuza are.

[Zeppelin]

halfway through Blink by Gladwell. Started it on a work trip and will probably finish it on the next one. Working on the Book of Basketball intermittently as well (a book that doesn't have to be read straight through).

[MarkK]

book one in a trilogy. Only the first two are available in the US currently... 3 is due out soon.

I enjoyed the first, but enjoyed the 2nd waaayyyy more...

the 3rd is due out in may, which is kind of frustrating as the 2nd ends pretty abruptly.


I also read Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, which was entertaining, but if you play the games, you pretty much know the story already..

I'm playing around on my kindle trying to find something new to read, will probably start whatever I find tomorrow.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Guy P. Harrison - 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God

It's pretty interesting, but most of the chapters seem to boil down to "there's no credible evidence that gods exist, and if there was, it's unlikely that your particular god is the correct one. There is value in the practice of belief, but it does not derive from the existence of the supernatural."

[bith]

finished fear and loathing in las vegas.

just started bicycle diaries by david byrne.

[Zapruder]

Currently reading Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored History Of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Pretty damned fantastic.

[Fuzzy]

finished cod. onto guns, germs, and steel.

[bith]

onto guns, germs, and steel.

enjoyed that one very much.

picked up michael jackson's beer companion at the library yesterday. looks to be super informative.

[Alice Ayers]

Stayed up until 1 AM last night finishing "A Thousand Acres". It's pretty damn good and I'm going to try to read King Lear and then see the movie version of "A Thousand Acres." At first it seemed that they were trying a bit too hard with the Iowan setting, but later in the book it turned more realistic.

Response to the below "ick" --Michelle Pfeiffer will ruin it, I'm sure.

[nippletwister]

Um... Ick.

[Alice Ayers]

I was about to ask if Amazon or IMDB made better recommendation algorithms until I was told that AMZN actually owns Imdb. I wish they'd synch for book to film adaptation recommendations. Sometimes I find that AMZN's book discussion options save me from oblivion.

[$/]

I enjoyed the randomness of people saying "Who is John Galt?"

Now reading "Heidegger and a hippo walk through those pearly gates" and "Dreams from my father" amongst other things.

[Mr. F]

onto guns, germs, and steel.

enjoyed that one very much.

I enjoyed that one quite a lot, too. I would be interested in reading a good critique of it, though, since I know his arguments aren't universally accepted. (I will say that I'm a bit mixed on The Third Cimpanzee, as I find his arguments weak in places, or at least highly speculative.)

[Little Bobby Tables]

The Rules of Attraction

it's way, way, way, way, way, way better than the movie.

[Pesto]

Modern Operating Systems, Second Edition by Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Four hundred pages in, and still no discernible plot development.