What are you reading at the moment?

[bryce]

lonely planet guide to canada because im going there in november!!

Usually im reading a bryce courtney novel though.. cant get enough of his books. think i may read John Marsdens 'Tomorrow when the war began' series again.

 

[roasted]

Aldous Huxley - Brave new world at the moment.


also Don Watson - Recollections of a bleeding heart
and Don Watson - Death Sentence

 

[Techno Destructo]

hahaha you and every yr 10 student in NSW I nocked it over in 2 english periods

Yes, but the difference is... why did you (or they) read it? Because you were obliged to? Sounds like you flipped through the book as fast as you could to get it over with. Congratulations. George Orwell would be proud his books are so appreciated. Maybe you can enter a competition to see how fast you can scan through the Illiad?

First time I ever read Animal Farm, was when I was 8 or 9 years old... found it on the rack in my school library. It had a funny photo of a pig leaning over a fence looking at you, and I thought "Heh... this looks like a funny book to read." I haven't had such an eye-opening literary experience until I found a copy of Mario Puzo's The Godfather in my parents book collection (when I was 10 - Holy smokes! I definitely grew up a little bit faster after reading that book! ).

Animal Farm is a classic that I'm returning to again after many, many years. This thread is for people talking about reading literary works for enjoyment. Why are you here?

It's also funny to see people in this thread with awful grammar and spelling. You should spend more time working on your english instead of riding, maybe?

 

[nitwit]

The Da Vinci Code, one more chapter. Then on to "Deception Point" also by Dan Brown
Creative Visualization, Shakati Gawain. Inspiring book.
The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield.
How the mind works, Steven Pinker.
Have never been into novels but Dan Brown has got me hooked.

 

[Techno Destructo]

Every year you hear about James Joyce (it it Ulysses?) around the date of his death and I think about having a crack at his book. Could I get an honest answer from people who have read it, does the book stand up on its own or is it a bit more about the mystique and coolness associated with wading through a difficult yet shit-house book? (please don't take any offense those that love it).

I've contemplated reading that book as well... but you're right... it has a bizarre sort of "literary macho" stigma attached to it, which is why I've considered it (not that I consider myself a "literary macho man"! Oooooh! SO impressive! )

Another legendary difficult read but probably a better story is good ol' Moby Dick. Maybe warm up on that first, before hitting up Joyce?

 

[gravelclimber]

Just finished Stephen King's "Gunslinger" series. Pretty good for pulp fiction.

Fav. writers/books are:
Iain Banks (Iain M Banks) - everything he's written
Tom Robbins - except for last few books
Patrick Saskind - Perfume
Joseph Heller - Picture This, Catch 22
Douglas Adams - everything
Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club

 

[punk_downhiller]

ahh a couple playboy n penthouse mags may be lying around the room atm...haha jks

na but seriously atm im reading In the Line of Fire,

excelent book for those who are into war and learning about the ANZAC n everything.

 

[scblack]

Currently Forge of God, by Greg Bear. He's my favourite author - I love hard science fiction. The best book I have ever read is Eon, by him, and I just raced down to one of the book cases in my lounge room, and I have 24 of his books. Yes, I can be a bit obsessive when I like something.

Just finished the complete Tintin series on the bus, including about four reference books (to and from work), and also the complete Asterix series(a couple short on Asterix).

Just before that was Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, before that was FIASCO by Frank Partnoy (Blood in the Water on Wall Street) is the sub heading. An interesting story about how to sell derivatives, and the games they get up to.

And before that Against The Gods bt Peter L.Bernstein, basically a history of insurance, and mathematics. A little bit os a slog, but interesting.

Well, a good mix - SF, cartoons, Business lately.

 

[rooks]

im not reading a book at the moment,
but the best book iv ever read was called "the damage done" it was a trues storey about some australian guys smuggling cocanie into indenisia
(long storey short) go to jail-tells storey of experinces and what its relly like
i couldnt put the book down i was so into it-everyone should read it
a++++++(really easy read too)

Also KING OF TORTS that book was so good-i couldnt put it down
every one should read both of them (especially king of torts)

 

[Binaural]

im not reading a book at the moment,
but the best book iv ever read was called "the damage done" it was a trues storey about some australian guys smuggling cocanie into indenisia
(long storey short) go to jail-tells storey of experinces and what its relly like
i couldnt put the book down i was so into it-everyone should read it
a++++++(really easy read too)

Also KING OF TORTS that book was so good-i couldnt put it down
every one should read both of them (especially king of torts)

If you liked that, you should try "Marching powder" by some guy called Rusty (came out recently). It's about a British drug smuggler's experiences after he got caught smuggling cocaine into Bolivia and sent to San Pedro jail. This jail is a self-contained narco economy, where prisoners have to buy their own food and accomodation! The main character actually supports himself by starting up a tourist business for backpackers who want to see what it's like, amazing story.

 

[Bjern Fita]

Another legendary difficult read but probably a better story is good ol' Moby Dick. Maybe warm up on that first, before hitting up Joyce?

Count of Monte Christo, man was that hard! I had to have a 6 month break in the middle of that bad boy and was only able to knock it off due to a 2 week week graveyard shift at the blu-tak factory. Pretty awesome last 50 pages the way things tie together but way too overly complex plot for my tastes.

 

[R33F]

I'm intrigued by the title of that one (am heading back offshore on monday

Only published this year. By Allen & Unwin. It's a biography by this Paul Carter about his life (working career) on rigs.

The full title is "Dont tell Mum I work on the rigs - she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse"

I am always on airplanes lately, so grabbed it as its only 200 pages long from the airport. Worth a read.

 

[floody]

Count of Monte Christo, man was that hard! I had to have a 6 month break in the middle of that bad boy and was only able to knock it off due to a 2 week week graveyard shift at the blu-tak factory. Pretty awesome last 50 pages the way things tie together but way too overly complex plot for my tastes.

Ah, but what a fantastic book! I thought it was well worth the effort.

I think I'll try and do Dante's Divine Comedy next, though I am having trouble locating all 3 (Inferno, Purgatory,Paradise) at once in the library - I may have to buy them.

 

[timbolepage]

I just read Cloud of Sparrows (i think that was what its called). I'm really into the Japanese samurai era stuff, really good book (cant wait for da next). Now im starting these scifi books by Orson Scott Card their good so far but its hard to get into some of them.

Tim

 

[shauno]

Ive just finished reading Dan Borwns Digital Fortress, now im onto his Decption Point. Fuck he's a good writer. Ive read The Da Vinci Code and Angles and Demons, i'd say A&D is the best book ive read so far.

 

[Techno Destructo]

I think I'll try and do Dante's Divine Comedy next

Inferno is great! But boy, did I get bored reading Purgatory and Paradise... I guess I only wanted to hear about the "gory details"....

Let me know how you go with Purgatory and Paradise if you do read them!

 

[McBain]

Ive just finished reading Dan Borwns Digital Fortress, now im onto his Decption Point. Fuck he's a good writer.

If he gets people reading, then all well and good, but I don't think much of his style. Yes he keeps things moving, but try out some Matt Riley for fastpaced, brainless action. I made the mistake of reading Digital Fortress, and it had to be the biggest load of crap ever.

Actually, the 2nd biggest - right there after Grim Pickings, a book I had to read for the HSC, years ago.

 

[scblack]

Wanna know who I think has turned into the most shallow writer of all?

Bret Easton Ellis.

He wrote American Psycho, one of the most controversial books of recent times (last 20 years anyway). That is actually quite a good read, if you can stomach the gory bits. It really, genuinely is a good read.

His later books such as Less Than Zero, and Rules of Attraction have been made into very decent movies, but his later stuff has deteriorated HEAPS.

Informers was OK, but nothing special, but Glamorama has turned out to be such a SHIT read. It has a lot of elements from his other books - good looking young guy, rich daddy who ignores him, great looking girls.

But a large part of the book is listing names of celebrities in night clubs - a vague sort of name dropping which is simply boring as shit, and it has no real plot at all. It has some elements of digital technology, spy-type chases, expensive hotels, but no point to the whole thing.

Was a good writer, won't be bothering again.

 

[cam-o]

I'm currently reading 'One Fourteenth of an Elephant' by Ian Denys Peek.
It's a POWs memiors of life as a prisoner on the Thai-Burma railway during WWII. It's particularly fascinating for me as I'm in Thailand right now and went to the railway a few days ago so the images in the book are particularly real at the moment. It's surprising that a book about such a terrible subject (think 1600 Aussies, 3000 Poms, 1500 Dutch and 100,000 Thais starved and beaten to death) can be really funny. The shit those guys got up to to make their captors lives hard is pretty amazing.

 

[shauno]

If he gets people reading, then all well and good, but I don't think much of his style. Yes he keeps things moving, but try out some Matt Riley for fastpaced, brainless action. I made the mistake of reading Digital Fortress, and it had to be the biggest load of crap ever.

Yea, they are filled to the brim with crap, but i just find them so interesting.
We've got some of Riley's books floating around home i think, when im done with the book im on now ill have a look at it.
Any in particualr?