NationStates Jolt Archive

I have a sneeking suspicion that most of NS is literate (bad grammar aside:))

so, what are you currently reading?

I am reading 4 books right now (as per usual)

A Woman after God's own Heart (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565075331/sr=8-1/qid=1140220112/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1398811-6881551?%5Fencoding=UTF8)(for women's class at church)

The Body Farm (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425147622/qid=1140220144/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)(before bed reading)

The Five Love Languages of Children (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1881273652/qid=1140220174/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) (for fun)

and

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0517226952/qid=1140220227/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)(during daily reading to eachother time with my 4 year old)


oh, and the Bible, but I am reading that all the time, so I don't really count it as "recent"



What are you reading right now?

What have you recently finished reading?

If you aren't reading anything right now why not?

This thread :p

Outside of that I try to avoid reading as much as possible, but so far I've been forced to read: What's the Matter with Kansas?. etc, etc.

I'm finishing up Harry Turtledove's Colonization series. Also, ever since I started NS, I've had my eye out for a copy of Jennifer Government

Not reading anything right now because I don't know what to read.

Just finished? "Zero: Biography of a Dangerous Idea" (http://www.users.cloud9.net/~cgseife/zero.html)

Geoffrey Holmes - "The Making of a Modern Power: Late Stuart and early Georgian Britain 1660-1722"

Barry Coward - "The Stuart Age, England 1603 - 1714"

Maurice Keen - "England in the Later Middle Ages"

Fun, fun. All for uni, but I'm genuinely interested in the topics so it's all good.

Just finished re-reading Macbeth, and now beginning to re-read Hamlet and Capital.

Planning on starting Stephen King's new book Cell.

A few months ago I finished "Das Kapital" by Karl Marx, and lately I've been reading an Opposing Viewpoints book, "Isolationism".

right now, Merchant of Venice, and a ton of sonnets

I'm TRYING to read 1984, but really just don't have the time. I have so many books I want to read. Soon enough, I guess.

I don't have any of the books with me right now (my room is on the other side of the house), so I'll give a general indication of the name and contents, and maybe later I will edit it to include the actual titles.

1) A general history of the Roman Empire. It's only 506 pages, so I will be done with that in a few days.

2) Monty Python's All the Words vol. 2 (a book that contains every script from seasons three and four of Flying Circus)

3) Pessemists Guide to History (a general overview of everything negative that has ever happened ever)

4) Countless novels

5) Wikipedia daily

currently I'm reading:

General Sir Peter De La Billiere looking for trouble
the life story of a great modern general

Mindfulness In Plain English
a basic how to guide on meditation which is free right here: http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html

Just finished re-reading Macbeth, and now beginning to re-read Hamlet and Capital.
in a shakespeare class by any chance?

Just finished Angel Souls and Devil hearts by Christoppher Golden and moving on to Of Masques and Martyrs, the next book in the series

Homeward Bound - the new (is it? i jsut saq it at my bookstore the other day) in Turtledove's WorldWar and Colonization series

Big Questions in History - stuff about history, bunch of mini essays

and like a bunch of books for school, damned if i know wich ones tho

I am reading

Great Expectations

The Grapes of Wrath

and I am rereading Les Miserables. Such an awesome book ^.^V

Mike Wallace's "Between You and Me"

George Breitman's "Malcolm X Speaks"

Herman Graham III's "The Brothers' Vietnam War: Black Power, Manhood, and the Military Experience"

Voltair's "Letters on the English"

Stopped reading the Halo series not to long ago, been more focused on writing my own stories.

in a shakespeare class by any chance?

No. I read Shakespeare by choice, he's one of the most brilliant people I've ever read.

Outside of that I try to avoid reading as much as possible, but so far I've been forced to read: What's the Matter with Kansas?. etc, etc.
Who would force you to read that? Or, rather, why would you have to be forced to read it? I started it a while ago & thought it was brilliant (and terribly diconcerting) but right now I'm really busy and have gotten shamefully distracted and basically just manage to read the newspaper when I go to bed...

he's one of the most brilliant people I've ever read.

*sniggers*

Who would force you to read that? Or, rather, why would you have to be forced to read it? I started it a while ago & thought it was brilliant (and terribly diconcerting) but right now I'm really busy and have gotten shamefully distracted and basically just manage to read the newspaper when I go to bed...

I enjoy reading it and I'm a little bothered by it honestly. But I would have never read it outside of class had it not been assigned.

"The Doomed City" by the brothers Strugatsky. Not my usual reading, but it's quite nice (and not overtly sci-fi: more of a "1984").

right now im in the middle of a couple books.

company - max barry
the bear and the dragon - tom clancy
angels and demons - dan brown

I enjoy reading it and I'm a little bothered by it honestly. But I would have never read it outside of class had it not been assigned.
Wow, I wouldn't have thought they'd assign it in class. I'd have thought it was way too currently political...

Thud! by Terry Prachtett
Just finished "De overwintering der Hollanders op Nova Zembla" for my dutch literature bookreport, and before that Going Postal by Terry Prachett (only 2 discworld novels I've read though).
And before that:
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (and those books kick *ass*)

Right now I'm reading X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston. Before that, I read Prey by Michael Chrichton (unfortunately a preachy book; I already knew all of his objections beforehand).

Prepare to be bored.

2 SNMP books(that's Simple Network Management Protocol for you non-nerds).
A beginning Perl book(Somebody wants my opinion of it)
The manuals for the Mirapoint mail server
The manuals for the Lyris spamming software(don't worry it's for company crap that only ubernerds would want. ;) ).
One of the Series of unfortunate events books.
Berlin Diary(by the guy who wrote the Rise and fall of the Third Reich).
The manual for running Dells Network Manager.
And a few others.

HEY WAKE UP!

Prepare to be bored.

2 SNMP books(that's Simple Network Management Protocol for you non-nerds).
A beginning Perl book(Somebody wants my opinion of it)
The manuals for the Mirapoint mail server
The manuals for the Lyris spamming software(don't worry it's for company crap that only ubernerds would want. ;) ).
One of the Series of unfortunate events books.
Berlin Diary(by the guy who wrote the Rise and fall of the Third Reich).
The manual for running Dells Network Manager.
And a few others.

HEY WAKE UP!

I've read books about Logic, it's going to take more than that to knock this warrior out.

Culture and Customs of Somalia by Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi

The Somalia Challenge: From Catastrophe to Renewal? by Ahmed I. Samatar

Somalia: a country study by the Library of Congress

Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent by Blaine Harden

The Africans by David Lamb

Hmm well I just finished rereading American Gods by Neil Gaiman which is always a great read.

Ever so slowly working through Forgotten Armies: Britain's Asian Empire & The War With Japan by Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper in between essays. Also rereading Antony Beevor's Stalingrad.

Justine - Marquis DeSade (to fulfill my "books that I read so I can talk about them"/"classics")
Closing Time - Heller (to fulfill my entertainment need)
Socratic Dialogues (all of them) as a cure for recent insomnia. Get comfy, read two-three pages, and you're out like a light.
I'd normally be reading more, but I am also busy watching every James Bond movie made (why? why not.), and doing some petty school work stuff that isn't that important.

Sun Tzu's The Art of War
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein for the billionth time
Appendix E of LOTR(Or whatever the Language Appendix is)
Various H.P. Lovecraft short stories
And starting Tuesday, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels

Oh and I'm ever so slowly reading the Silmarillion. Has anyone finished it without dying of boredom? It's seriously the first book I've read that was so boring I can't keep reading it. My school textbooks are more engaging.

Oh and I'm ever so slowly reading the Silmarillion. Has anyone finished it without dying of boredom? It's seriously the first book I've read that was so boring I can't keep reading it. My school textbooks are more engaging.
Heh. I have. But I have to say, I don't remember any of it. :p

MacBeth - Shakespeare
The Elements of Style - William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
Things Fall Apare - Chinua Achebe
The Language Police - Diane Ravitch

A little bit of everything so I don't get bored.

Socratic Dialogues (all of them) as a cure for recent insomnia. Get comfy, read two-three pages, and you're out like a light.

They aren't that bad. It can be fun to utterly annihilate the arguments contained within them.

Currently reading The Book of Jhereg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441006159/qid=1140230217/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-8499213-3193604?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). I'd also like to finish up Winter's Heart (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000062UIH/qid=1140231055/sr=1-13/ref=sr_1_13/002-8499213-3193604?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) and begin on Mindscan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765311070/ref=pd_sbs_b_3/002-8499213-3193604?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155).

Heh. I have. But I have to say, I don't remember any of it. :p

Right now it's just "This group of elves went here, and this group went here, and then the first group went here, etc, etc, etc.". Them doing anything but this would be more exciting.

"The Doomed City" by the brothers Strugatsky. Not my usual reading, but it's quite nice (and not overtly sci-fi: more of a "1984").

Roadside Picnic is the novel by them that does it for me. I'm not sure if I've read The Doomed City as several of their novels had very different titles depending upon who translated them

Currently reading: The Elizabethan World Picture by EMW Tillyard. A 1940s piece on how the Elizabethans viewed the order of the world, God and the universe. No real reason for reading it, other than the fact it leapt out at me from the shelves.


I have to admit that I'm not reading very much at all these days - I went through a period of about seven years where I tried to read a book a day, and averaged about 300 a year, but over the last few years I don't know what has happened to make me grind to almost a standstill as far as reading goes.

Currently chewing my way through for entertainment:

The Sandman vol 7: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman
Sherlock Holmes: The Compleate Novels and Stories by (Do I REALLY need to list the author?)
The Tale of Genji (All novels) by the Lady Murasaki, translated by Arthur Waley

For work I'm still reading:
"English Grammar for the Uterly Confused" and (unfortunately) New Horizons English Textbooks 1, 2, and 3 by Tohoku Publishing. :p

But I finally got a chance to order Jennifer Goverment and will get it next month. After a year of playing and arguing on this forum, I figured I might as well pay Max back and read the book that started it all.

Right now it's just "This group of elves went here, and this group went here, and then the first group went here, etc, etc, etc.". Them doing anything but this would be more exciting.
Just wait, once you get past the setup of the Elves after the fall and their return to Middle Earth it picks up quite a bit and is very enjoyable.

It also makes you view The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is a very different light.

Kurt Vonnegut - 'Breakfast of Champions' and Chuck Palahniuk - 'Survivor'. I'm also being coerced into reading 'Julius Cesar' in school, but i'm not reading it, because I do not appreciate Shakespeare.

My most recent books are Night by Elie Wisel and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. For school I've also just read The Miracle worker and have chosen The Diary of Anne Frank since we have to read an Autobiography since we will be writing our own in English soon.

Currently reading The Book of Jhereg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441006159/qid=1140230217/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-8499213-3193604?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). I'd also like to finish up Winter's Heart (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000062UIH/qid=1140231055/sr=1-13/ref=sr_1_13/002-8499213-3193604?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) and begin on Mindscan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765311070/ref=pd_sbs_b_3/002-8499213-3193604?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155).
I just finished "Issola" by Brust. I love the series. Have you read any other books by him?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (it is pretty much the same as any other book by Jane Austen)
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (because my dad raved about it)
Time Travelers Strictly Cash by Spider Robinson (it was handy when I was leaving the house the other day so I grabbed it for reading on the subway)
The Poetics by Aristotle (which I re-read from time to time)
Assignment in Eternity by Robert Heinlein (he wrote better books)
Treasure Island (because I had not read it before)

And there are others... last time I moved I had about 25 boxes of assorted stuff and 48 boxes of books.

I've been on a Gladwell kick lately, mainly because I'm working with my department on a new English reader for our composition program, and I'm looking to excerpt something. I finished Blink about a week ago, and I'm now on The Tipping Point. Other than that, it's been mostly student essays for the last couple of weeks, and a wide variety of poetry.

I have to add another one to my list, my 4 year old and I are starting Alice in Wonderland tomorrow. :p

My most recent books are Night by Elie Wisel and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. For school I've also just read The Miracle worker and have chosen The Diary of Anne Frank since we have to read an Autobiography since we will be writing our own in English soon.

We just had to read Night in Advanced Freshman English. It's just Generic Holocaust Novel #659. Now we're reading Gentlehands. Seriously, does whoever wrote our novel list think we're in 4th or 5th grade?

I'm reading the Pendragon series. I'm on Book 4: Black Water. Nice book.

I have to add another one to my list, my 4 year old and I are starting Alice in Wonderland tomorrow. :p
That's a great book to read with your kids.

That's a great book to read with your kids.
yeah, I am hoping that it won't freak me out this time. :p


We watched a movie version not too long ago and my 4 year old pretty much saw it as a cautionary tale of why we don't do drugs. :D I am hoping she will get just a little more from the book.

What are you reading right now?
At the moment I'm reading (to help myself gear up for boards....)

Fundamentals of Genetic Epidemiology (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195052889/qid=1140235088/sr=1-36/ref=sr_1_36/102-2190940-8588112?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) and The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471232920/qid=1140235431/ref=br_lf_b_4/102-2190940-8588112?n=14418&s=books&v=glance). Boring I know :).

What have you recently finished reading?
I just finished (for school...)
Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195134753/ref=cm_lm_fullview_prod_8/102-2190940-8588112?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155)
And for fun...
Capote: A Biography (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786716614/qid=1140235733/ref=br_lf_b_15/102-2190940-8588112?n=2330&s=books&v=glance)

I would like to read American Gods (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380789035/qid=1140235874/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-2190940-8588112?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) next, but we'll see.....

Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds

I've been on a Gladwell kick lately, mainly because I'm working with my department on a new English reader for our composition program, and I'm looking to excerpt something. I finished Blink about a week ago, and I'm now on The Tipping Point. Other than that, it's been mostly student essays for the last couple of weeks, and a wide variety of poetry.
speaking of poetry...(okay, I think we both know what I'm gonna ask here...lol)...how goes getting published?

I have to add another one to my list, my 4 year old and I are starting Alice in Wonderland tomorrow.
mm...that sounds good. I'll take an Alice in Wonderland with a Through The Looking Glass chaser any day.

speaking of poetry...(okay, I think we both know what I'm gonna ask here...lol)...how goes getting published?

Been too busy with other stuff to send anything out recently, but I did just win a $5,000 prize for a contest I entered last year. Sweet sweet nectar. Got the check yesterday and it's pretty much spent.

Been too busy with other stuff to send anything out recently, but I did just win a $5,000 prize for a contest I entered last year. Sweet sweet nectar. Got the check yesterday and it's pretty much spent.
awesome. congrats! I still look forward to reading your work some day. (ha...just tell the publishers "I have some kid in New England who will buy a copy". I'm sure that'll convince them.)

We just had to read Night in Advanced Freshman English. It's just Generic Holocaust Novel #659. Now we're reading Gentlehands. Seriously, does whoever wrote our novel list think we're in 4th or 5th grade?
Well, night is succient, but is can be disturbing and thus prehaps is assigned based less on difficulty then on emotional content. I read it on my own by the way, and am in eighth grade.

Galapagos bu Kurt Vonnegut.

since I just suggested this to Nazz in a different thread...I think there are alot of people who would enjoy this book

Lamb by Christopher Moore (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0380813815/ref=cm_rev_sort/002-4814711-2285618?customer-reviews.sort_by=%2BOverallRating&s=books&x=14&y=16)

Ivor Brown, Shakespeare
Julius Caesar, The Civil War
Wm. Degregorio, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents

Recently finished The Anti-Chomsky Reader, which exposes Chomsky for what he is: a liar, a fraud, an unabashed lover of totalitarianism, and a hard-core Stalinist to the core.

This thread. Let's see if anyone get's the magritte allusion eh?

Recently finished The Anti-Chomsky Reader, which exposes Chomsky for what he is: a liar, a fraud, an unabashed lover of totalitarianism, and a hard-core Stalinist to the core.

Chomsky, a Stalinist? That statement is absurd on a variety of levels.

Chomsky is ideologically aligned with the ultra-libertarian/anarchist left, the people who think Lenin was an authoritarian elitist.

"Åland i motvind" - Thusse Erikson (or something along those lines)
Almost complete. All I have to do is interpret the words I don't know, read through it again, and I'm finished.

"The Life of Pi" - Author Victim of Sloth Aspect
If I had to pick a favorite book of all time, it would be this. Its got humor, and everything I ever wanted in a book, not counting Communist Zombies. For example tigers, man eating islands, and people with Greek names. Its the only book in English I have with me, last night I started reading for the 4th time.

What next? Prolly some Swedish immigrant stuff or Norse mythology.

Recently finished The Anti-Chomsky Reader, which exposes Chomsky for what he is: a liar, a fraud, an unabashed lover of totalitarianism, and a hard-core Stalinist to the core.

But, Chomsky did come up with Universal Grammar. (If we are talking about Noam Chomsky).

I'm currently reading:
-Lots of fairytales (original versions)
-Ask me if I care; Voices from an American High School by Nancy Rubin
-Temple by Matthew Reilly
-Sophie's World

I recently finished War Reporting for Cowards, Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune.

Right now I am reading Slaughter House 5, Being There, and Heritics of Dune.

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. Excellent author.

'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Vol.1' By John Locke.

I have a sneeking suspicion that most of NS is literate (bad grammar aside:))

so, what are you currently reading?

I am reading 4 books right now (as per usual)

A Woman after God's own Heart (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565075331/sr=8-1/qid=1140220112/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1398811-6881551?%5Fencoding=UTF8)(for women's class at church)

The Body Farm (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425147622/qid=1140220144/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)(before bed reading)

The Five Love Languages of Children (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1881273652/qid=1140220174/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) (for fun)

and

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0517226952/qid=1140220227/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)(during daily reading to eachother time with my 4 year old)


oh, and the Bible, but I am reading that all the time, so I don't really count it as "recent"



What are you reading right now?

What have you recently finished reading?

If you aren't reading anything right now why not?


Currently reading a book called "radical enlightenment" (very dry), something with "Rome" in the title by Micheal moorcock, "Lord of the silver bow" by David Gemmell, a book of alternate history essays called "More What if?" (bit dry but interesting), a book called "Jabez: a victorian rogue" by David McKie and "The Dog catcher", book of short stories by Alexie Sayle.

Not much other than newspapers of late. I'm thinking of going on a book-buying blitz soon, though...

Not much other than newspapers of late. I'm thinking of going on a book-buying blitz soon, though...
Like, "ballroom blitz..."?

It's - it's - the Bookworm Blitz!

It's - it's - the Bookworm Blitz!

Yeahhhh - the Bookworm Blitz!




Sweet.

I'm reading Interview with the Vampire for fun and lots of books and journal articles for school.

I've been planning to read the Shakespeare collection I got from my grandmother for years...

I have a sneeking suspicion that most of NS is literate (bad grammar aside:))

so, what are you currently reading?

I am reading 4 books right now (as per usual)

A Woman after God's own Heart (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565075331/sr=8-1/qid=1140220112/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1398811-6881551?%5Fencoding=UTF8)(for women's class at church)

The Body Farm (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425147622/qid=1140220144/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)(before bed reading)

The Five Love Languages of Children (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1881273652/qid=1140220174/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) (for fun)

and

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0517226952/qid=1140220227/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-1398811-6881551?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)(during daily reading to eachother time with my 4 year old)


oh, and the Bible, but I am reading that all the time, so I don't really count it as "recent"



What are you reading right now?

What have you recently finished reading?

If you aren't reading anything right now why not?

All at the same time - i know women are better at multi-tasking but now that's a feat!

I've just finished reading a fairly trashy pseudo-religous/cop thriller called Archangel and now I'm reading 'Think' by Simon Blackburn.

Goodbye to all that Robert Graves autobiography about his experiences in WWI. I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't like war stories, read it.

Welcome to the monkey house a short-story collection by Kurt Vonnegut.

The fabric of the cosmos by Brian Greene, all about quantum physics and how the universe is formed. Dense, heavy going but a brilliant read.

I'm finally reading Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth- excellent yarn.
I've got a few pages of The Supernaturalist to read- by Eoin Colfer- not particularly brilliant that's why I haven't finished it yet. The same is true of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's La Hojarasca- not finished.
And for non-fiction- La Iteligencia Fracasada by José Antonio Marina-excellent read about; why if humans are supposed to be the most intelligent creatures on the earth, do we do such stupid/unintelligent things. Not sure if it's available in English, but if it is it's very interesting.:confused:

I just finished reading the Jungle by Upton Sinclair *yaaaaaaaawn* *smack smack smack*.

Needless to say it was boring (sorry socialists).

Now I'm reading TV guide. :D

All at the same time - i know women are better at multi-tasking but now that's a feat!
I'm a woman, and I suck at multi-tasking :(, but I always read several books at the same time (except lately, where I'm really only reading the newspaper, as confessed above). It has everything to do with variety and nothing to do with multi-tasking.
Unless of course you're reading them at literally the same time :eek:.

"Kafka on the shore" by Haruki Murkami

Anyone else read any Murkami books? His novels tend to be rather surreal from what I've read, apart from Norwegian wood which wasnt very good in my opinion.

Fiction:
Now I'm in the middle of John Varley's Red Thunder. I'm enjoying it quite a lot.
Last I read was Harold Coyle's They are soldiers - not too bad, for a pulpish military thriller.
Next up is Allen Steele's Coyote.

Non-fiction:
Last one was The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War by Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva. A very interesting memoir of a combat photographer from South Africa, that focuses mostly on the "adventures" of his group of friends working the guerrilla conflict in the townships in the 1980s and 1990s.

Next up is either Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt or another go at Jared Diamond's Collapse (I had to return it to the friend I borrowed it from the last time I started it, before I was 1/3rd finished.)

I'm reading "Brave New World" by Huxley and I'm enjoying it very much.

For school, I'm reading "En komikers uppväxt", a depressing, tragicomic autobiography by Swedish comedian(and very much gay ;) ) Jonas Gardell.

I'm reading "Brave New World" by Huxley and I'm enjoying it very much.
good choice, good reaction.

"The Life of Pi" - Author Victim of Sloth Aspect
Yann Mar..something. And you win the broken pot of that cactus I just sent flying for reading this.


As for me:

Die Mitte der Welt - Andreas Steinhöfel (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/3551353158/qid=1140271686/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl/028-7368700-3288540) So it's not supposed to be a book for adults, but I still need to read it every year or so. And I don't think I'll stop.

Stuff for uni, right now it's Weltbilder und Weltordnung by Gert Krell (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/378906923X/qid=1140272024/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/103-0474584-5125450?v=glance&s=books) (deals with international relations) and On Liberty by John Stuart Mill .

I just had a new flatmate move in, though, that's whole new shelf of books..:)

Let's see, i'm currently trying to finish up In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie, a very tedious and over-descriptive book that's requied for my Global History class. =P

I'm reading "Brave New World" by Huxley and I'm enjoying it very much.

Oooo, very good book. =) Get's a bit drawn out towards the end, but the actual resolution is wonderful.

Planning on starting Stephen King's new book Cell.

what? new stephen king? damn rock i am living under..... just finshed the whole Dark Tower series for about the third time (its my before bed reading)

other than that, lots of work stuff. (Enzyme kinetics, journal articles, etc.....):headbang:

Edit: OOOOOHHH!!! just read the book jacket online. sweeeeetttt.

Cream: The World's First Supergroup, a biography by Dave Tompson

many, many books i'm a few chapters into but i hardly ever seem to manage to finish a book :(

Currently rereading Visions of Social Control by Stan Cohen. Also McLaughlin et al The Permanent Revolution: New Labour, New Public Management and the Modernisation of Criminal Justice. Yay!

I've also been reading Computer Shopper (http://www.computershopper.co.uk) and Sue Townsend's Number Ten for my bedtime reading.

I've finally gotten around to reading Guns Germs and Steel. I'm a little disappointed in it. It's got some errors in it. For example, the author lists Kuru as a viral disease rather than a prion disease.

Tokyo- Mo Hayder
The Ode less Travelled- Stephen Fry
Heart of Darkness- Joseph Conrad

I am almost finished reading "Frankenstein" and now I have to read "Kira-Kira".

When I finish those, I want to read: "A Brave New World", "Dracula", "I am Legend", and "Call of Cthulu".

1984, Hitchhiker's Guide (I can't seem to finish it! Gaah!), a book by Jonathan Safran Foer (don't know the english name), The Field of Swords, Tommorrow when the war began (for english), Winnie the Pooh (for swedish... go figure), Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (for german). I think I should cut down a bit on my reading...

I'm currently reading 2 books now. One is Mine Kompt, the biography of Hitler that I'm borrowing from a friend, and the other is Phantom, by Susan Kay. Phantom is possible the best book I've ever had the pleasure to delve into! For those of you who like The Phantom of the Opera, I suggest this book. It tells the story of the "Phantom", Erik, from birth to death...:p

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. Excellent author.
Great book. Diary is another good one by him. And, of course, Fight Club (I like the ending better than the movie)

Well, night is succient, but is can be disturbing and thus prehaps is assigned based less on difficulty then on emotional content. I read it on my own by the way, and am in eighth grade.

Nope, all of the other books have been at the same difficulty level, except for Huck Finn(Must. Kill. The Dialect. Used. In. Huck Finn.). I think these are books kids should be reading in Late Elementary, Early Jr. High, not High School.

Hitchhiker's Guide (I can't seem to finish it! Gaah!)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams? I found that to be a pretty quickly moving book. His "Dirk Gentley" series is better than the H2G2 series. I love how he has about 5 seperate story lines going in the beggining, but manages to wrap them all together by the end of the book. Dirk Gentley, the main character doesn't show up until somwhere between 1/3 and 1/2 way into the book.

so, what are you currently reading?

Right now? The Multi-State Workbook Volume 1 by PMBR.

The bar exam is in 3 days. Damn, what am I doing here?!?!?

The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The former is a very, very interesting read, particularly if you like military history and the like, extremely good read. The latter is a novel about the Three Kingdoms period in China, from around 184 to 271 AD. If you haven't read about it, I highly recommend- it's a very interesting period in history, though the novel over-dramatises and exaggerates some parts. :p

Still, both very good to pick up and flick through. :)

Flashman's lady and Copperhead

mmmmmm..... american civil war

Not reading anything right now because I don't know what to read.

Just finished? "Zero: Biography of a Dangerous Idea" (http://www.users.cloud9.net/~cgseife/zero.html)


Oh man. I read that book a couple years ago when the library got it. Great book - I just loved it.

I'm reading Anne McCaffrey's Acorna series currently. I'm also reading (re-reading, I guess, as I've read them MANY times previously) tolkein's LOTR trilogy. I found I'd watched the movies enough times I had a number of questions about "wait, what REALLY happened?" Heh. And I'm between "serious" type books at the moment, and not sure what's up next.

Currently reading Equal Rites (Terry Pratchett), Join Me (Danny Wallace) and The Elegant Universe (Brian Greene). Reading the last one very slowly in order to understand any of it :p (It's about string theory and hidden dimensions and things. Hurts my brain)

Capital - Marx

Ulysses - James Joyce

All at the same time - i know women are better at multi-tasking but now that's a feat!
I am always reading more than one book, 4 seems to be the norm, but there were times when I was reading 6 or 8.

Basically I try to read 4 types of books at a time

something easy that I can read while waiting for the doctor ect.
something suspensful that I can read to "escape" when I am stressed
something educational, it's important for me to always be learning something
and
something comfortable, something that I can read when I get a few minutes to de-stress

I end up reading much more unless I can combo some of the books.

I have daily reading time with my girls, so there are times I try to pick my comfortable book to be the same as what I read with them, sometimes though they get thier own book for reading time (like this week we are reading Alice in Wonderland)

What are you reading right now?


Counting on the Latino Vote: Latinos as a New Electorate by Louis Desipio
The Politics of United States Foreign Policy by Jerel A. Rosati
Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy edited by Ralph G. Carter
The Middle East Journal, Volume 60, Number 1, Winter 2006 (http://www.mideasti.org/programs/programs_journal.html)


What have you recently finished reading?


Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants and the Politics of Ethnicity by David Gutiérrez
Logics of American Foreign Policy by Patrick Callahan
Strategy for Empire: U.S. Regional Security Policy in the Post-Cold War Era edited by Brian Loveman
The Middle East Journal, Volume 59, Number 4, Autumn 2005 (http://www.mideasti.org/programs/programs_journal.html)
Political Science Quarterly, Winter 2005-06 (http://www.psqonline.org/)

The Prometheus Deception, by Robert Ludlum(I think)
Oh and Pride and Prejudice, but I have to read that.

And before that Eldest, by Christopher Paoilini(sp?)

A Million Little Pieces. I recommend it. It's very well-written, and beautiful, and touching.
The Young Man came to the Old Man seeking counsel.
I broke something, Old Man.
How badly is it broken?
It's in a million little pieces.
I'm afraid I can't help you.
Why?
There's nothing you can do.
Why?
It can't be fixed.
Why?
It's broken beyond repair. It's in a million little pieces.Like wow. It's powerful.
I'm also reading The English Patient, and Go Ask Alice.
meh

Im reading a book called Wigfield

by Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello

great stuff

Just finished:
Walter Mosley, The Wave (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446533637/qid=1140297464/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9968093-3723102?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)
Steven Erickson, Blood Follows: A Tale of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159780004X/104-9968093-3723102?v=glance&n=283155)
Ken Bruen, Vixen (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/190431631X/qid=1140297521/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-9968093-3723102?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

Reading Now:
Iain M. Banks, The Algebraist (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1841492299/qid=1140297599/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9968093-3723102?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)
Glen Cook, Petty Pewter Gods (P.I. Garrett) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451454782/qid=1140297796/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9968093-3723102?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

Next:
William T. Vollman, Europe Central (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670033928/qid=1140297702/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-9968093-3723102?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)
Max Barry, Company (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385514395/qid=1140297755/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9968093-3723102?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

What Animals Really Think, by Mark Hauser... good-quality popular book on animal psychology.

Next lined up are A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin, Wicked, and a whole lot of course texts.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest, by Ken Kesey.

Atlas Shrugged...

Atlas Shrugged...
:eek:

just thought I would draw attention to it.....it really is a good book for anyone to read.........;)

just thought I would draw attention to it....
I feel so dirty though...:D

Goodbye to all that Robert Graves autobiography about his experiences in WWI. I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't like war stories, read it.


Cool. Amazoned that one.

One back at you.

Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger

reading now: haunted by chuck palahniuk (for the second time)
recently finished: the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain

I love sci-fi, so i will be going into isaac asimov soon :)

Currently (re)reading: High Society by Ben Elton
Just finished: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Democracy, the God that failed by Hans-Hermann Hoppe.

I was hoping it would be a book in the defence of Monarchy (which it is, in part), but it seems really interesting nonetheless.

I feel so dirty though...:D
ah, I know that feeling......probably similar to what I felt when reading Nietzsche.


My grandma would say "what are you reading now?"
and I would tell her.......then she would ask "what's that about?"

then I would explain..........then all hell broke loose.....:D It was my little rebellion at age 8.........LOL


*just in case anyone wonders I re-read a lot of it at 12 and understood more.

ah, I know that feeling......probably similar to what I felt when reading Nietzsche.


My grandma would say "what are you reading now?"
and I would tell her.......then she would ask "what's that about?"

then I would explain..........then all hell broke loose.....:D It was my little rebellion at age 8.........LOL


*just in case anyone wonders I re-read a lot of it at 12 and understood more.
Most people find Nietzsche to be scary. His work is very subversive, and it can be a lot for a person to handle. I love it though. :)

How could you possibly read his work at 8? Without a dictionary anyway.

Most people find Nietzsche to be scary. His work is very subversive, and it can be a lot for a person to handle. I love it though. :)

How could you possibly read his work at 8? Without a dictionary anyway.
I don't know, I was reading on a third grade level at 4. In the 2nd grade they tested my reading comprehension and said it was college level.

slaughterhouse- five ---------- Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I don't know, I was reading on a third grade level at 4. In the 2nd grade they tested my reading comprehension and said it was college level.
Quite remarkable.

Quite remarkable.
I didn't realize it at the time, until I got into 5th grade and it was "read aloud time" then I though "geez, none of these kids can read" then I felt bad for judging them.

I don't think my 2 year old realizes that other 2 year olds can't read, or that my 4 year old realizes that other 4 year olds aren't reading alone and comprehending it. I don't think I will tell them. ;)

It probably has something to do with how I was taught to read and how I have been teaching them to read. I am writing a book about it to help other parents. I have tutored kids who have trouble reading and it really helped them to learn my way (which is backwards from the "normal" way of learning to read)

I didn't realize it at the time, until I got into 5th grade and it was "read aloud time" then I though "geez, none of these kids can read" then I felt bad for judging them.

I don't think my 2 year old realizes that other 2 year olds can't read, or that my 4 year old realizes that other 4 year olds aren't reading alone and comprehending it. I don't think I will tell them. ;)

It probably has something to do with how I was taught to read and how I have been teaching them to read. I am writing a book about it to help other parents. I have tutored kids who have trouble reading and it really helped them to learn my way (which is backwards from the "normal" way of learning to read)
Yes, I agree here. Apparently, when you are younger your brain has a much greater learning capacity. One musician actually advocated that children could become musical geniuses by learning earlier. Likewise, the same applies to languages. I think the approach is far preferrable. My father had me reading quite early, and even taught me quite obscure theories and philosophies (for a child of my age). I never fully comprehended them at the time, but it paid off later.

I was Seventh Grade level at 5. College around third grade.

I don't know, I was reading on a third grade level at 4. In the 2nd grade they tested my reading comprehension and said it was college level.

oh yeah, well, i was reading at a 2nd grade level when i was in 8th grade:D

Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar
by Adam Nicolson

oh yeah, well, i was reading at a 2nd grade level when i was in 8th grade:D

Looks like you still do. ICE BURN! :p :p

I just don't understand the whole reading-level thing? Higher-level books, have what? Longer words or something? Please enlighten me.

Yesterday I finished reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Right now I'm finishing a Discover magazine before starting anything else.

I believe it's based on complexity of langauge used and comprehension of the themes in the writings, but I could be wrong.

I'm guessing higher level books have a different levels of themes behind them.

Chomsky, a Stalinist? That statement is absurd on a variety of levels.

Chomsky is ideologically aligned with the ultra-libertarian/anarchist left, the people who think Lenin was an authoritarian elitist.

He is indeed a Stalinist. He was one of the most outspoken defenders of Pol Pot in the 1970s. He practically worships Ho Chi Minh (a Stalinist), Fidel Castro (a Stalinist), etc. He defended Mao's China.

In 5th grade they made me stop doing spelling tests because I was acing them with no studying, even if they randomly chose them from college dictionaries.

I'm reading:
Keano: Portriat of a Hero

When I finish that I'll probably reread Good Omens

In 5th grade they made me stop doing spelling tests because I was acing them with no studying, even if they randomly chose them from college dictionaries.

in 5th grade they stop giving me scissors, even the plastic ones that cant even cut paper

I know someone who managed to cut his TV power wire with those. On accident. And he claims to be intelligent.

I just don't understand the whole reading-level thing? Higher-level books, have what? Longer words or something? Please enlighten me.
I am not sure what the criteria for each level is, but when they test your comprehension they give you a story to read and then ask questions about it, someone who reads on a lower level may only be able to answer correctly the basic questions about a story (like who is the main character, and what is the conflict) where someone on a higher level may pick up things like foreshadowing, metaphors, and symbolism. (at least that's what I gathered from taking the tests, I don't know what the real theory behind them is)

They tested my 4 year old's vocabulary in August of last year, and said she had the vocabulary of an 11 year old, that she knew about 250,000 words. I was shocked that they knew that only talking to her for a few hours ( I wasn't allowed in during the test) I asked them "how do you know that? did you say 'okay, let's count how many words she says'?" They laughed, I of course knew that she didn't rattle off every word that she knew (although there are days that it seems like she does) but, they explained to me that they can estimate how many words she knows by how she forms her sentences, how she deals with new words by picking up context clues, and how she is able to label things, for example they said an average 4 year old can name about 10 parts of their body, most often eyes, ears, legs, arms, hands, fingers, mouth, head, feet, toes, tummy. My kid not only knew those plus things like hair, nostril, nipple, and wrist, but things like intestines, esophagus, brain, spinal cord, diaphragm, ect.

By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child:

The Relic. The movie was pretty bad, but the book is great!

Thunderhead.

Riptide.

The Ice Limit.

By Deborah Tannen: You Just Don't Understand. Women and men in conversation.

Re-reading: Imperial Grunts, the American Military On the Ground, by Robert D. Kaplan

:eek:

just thought I would draw attention to it.....it really is a good book for anyone to read.........;)
:p

I... didn't really like it, even as a philosophy paper (which is what it is). It was interesting, but I saw it, and her, as more of an extream reaction to seeing the communist revolution in Russia than a real workable system.

I also laughed at the whole gold bit. But I better stop before the Dark Lord wanders over here and starts yelling at me. ;)

BTW, don't put too much faith into vocab and reading levels. They sound great as a marker, but they fall apart when applied. Not to say you shouldn't be proud of your child's remarkable achivements, just don't hand her a college textbook anytime soon. :D

Wuthering Heights.

He is indeed a Stalinist. He was one of the most outspoken defenders of Pol Pot in the 1970s. He practically worships Ho Chi Minh (a Stalinist), Fidel Castro (a Stalinist), etc. He defended Mao's China.

He did not defend Pol Pot. He opposed Pol Pot, even when the US supported him against the Vietnamese. He pointed out that certain media reports of Pol Pot's atrocities were exaggerated, which is a different thing.

He has repeatedly criticized Castro for imprisoning dissidents, actions that have garnered anger from other radical leftist intellectuals.

He has accused Mao of horrendous atrocities repeatedly. He did make some comments complimenting certain positive aspects of the Chinese revolution, as he has made some comments complimenting positive aspects of the US system, but he supports neither.

The Wastelands - Stephen King

BTW, don't put too much faith into vocab and reading levels. They sound great as a marker, but they fall apart when applied. Not to say you shouldn't be proud of your child's remarkable achivements, just don't hand her a college textbook anytime soon. :D
she wouldn't be ready for it if I did, just because she can read something and comprehend it doesn't mean she will understand what she is comprehending (if that makes any sense) She is still 4, no matter how smart she is, no matter how well she reads, she is still a small child, I try not to introduce her to stuff she isn't ready for yet, it's bad enough that she is growing up this fast, I know better than to push it. :p

For whom the bell tolls - Hemingway

recently read A Clockwork Orange, now intending to start One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. just reading magazines and stuff in between books

BTW, don't put too much faith into vocab and reading levels. They sound great as a marker, but they fall apart when applied. Not to say you shouldn't be proud of your child's remarkable achivements, just don't hand her a college textbook anytime soon. :D

You're just mad because she reads better then you. :p

Recently read "I,Lucifer."

I recommend it as a must read. Unless you are a hard core Christian and have no sense of humor, if so,you are sure to be offended.

Currently reading:

Robert Jordan: The Great Hunt (from the Wheel of Time collection)

Herbert Spencer: First Principles

Lost in Tibet (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592285724/qid=1140410175/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-2555306-6155958?s=books&v=glance&n=283155): Pretty cool story about five american pilots shot down over Tibet and their adventures there during WW2. Provides decent history on Tibet itself.
Apocalypse (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786918802/qid=1140410338/sr=1-13/ref=sr_1_13/104-2555306-6155958?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) Re-Reading it becuase I am a MTG geek.
Great Expectations (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0141439564/qid=1140410656/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-2555306-6155958?s=books&v=glance&n=283155): School reading
And a fantasy baseball magazine.