So... what are you reading right now?

[Miltiades]

Botticelli's sketches for the Comedy are worth a look at if your edition includes them; I know the Allen Mandelbaum (English) translation in the Everyman Library does.

It's a Dutch translation (from the same author, actually, as the translated edition of "Il Principe" I read), but it doesn't have Botticelli's marvelous illustrations, sadly.

 

And yeah, it's not the easiest of books I'm taking on, but I'm on a mission to read as much of the classics as possible in the coming months: Cervantes, Tolstoj, Dostojevski, Euripides. Plus some of the great philosopher's: Spinoza, Aquinas, Epicurus, Cicero. I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

I'm also planning on reading some more recent stuff, "I, Lucifer" from G. Duncan and Saramago's "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" are on top of my list.

[Pho3nix]

I have about ~50 pages left on Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker. After that I'm gonna move on to Carl Sagan's Contact. =)

 

Lately, I've probably invested about $80 on books alone

[Sabretooth]

Euripides

 

Not sure if I've mentioned it previously, but I read Hippolytus and the Bacchae about a month ago, translated by Gilbert Murray. Not half bad, both of them, and I especially liked Hippolytus. Quite the crafty Athenian playwright he was.

[Miltiades]

Not sure if I've mentioned it previously, but I read Hippolytus and the Bacchae about a month ago, translated by Gilbert Murray. Not half bad, both of them, and I especially liked Hippolytus. Quite the crafty Athenian playwright he was.

I think I read part of the Bacchae in Ancient Greek back in school, crazy stuff. I was actually thinking of Medea when mentioning Euripides, but yeah, that's a guy who made a lot of great plays.

[Pavlos]

I think I read part of the Bacchae in Ancient Greek back in school, crazy stuff. I was actually thinking of Medea when mentioning Euripides, but yeah, that's a guy who made a lot of great plays.

*cough* Shakespeare *cough*

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Been stalling as much as I can my read of James Joyce's Dubliners short tale collection. With college on again it seems I won't be able to read for pleasure for a while...

[Miltiades]

Don't worry, Pav. I consider our friend William one of the greats as well.

[Pavlos]

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,

Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There's no such thing:

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates

Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,

Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.

With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design

Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

[A bell rings]

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

 

[LordOfTheFish]

I've been assign to read Swiss Family Robinson for school purposes. It's a good little story no doubt, however I feel like I'm reading a children's book...

[Astor]

I'm what some would call an illiterate ****bird, with no idea of what a good writer is... but I am thoroughly enjoying the Fate of the Jedi series, Book one is a bit slow, but once you get an idea of what the "Crazy Jedi" stuff actually means, it's great

 

Yeah, I know what you're getting at with the first book. It was interesting, but the pacing wasn't too good. I'm already enjoying the second book a lot more.

 

Although, a few of the events of both LotF and FoJ had me saying WTF? (Daala as GA Chief took some getting used to) But for the most part, I can live with them. I just want to see how things progress from now to the Legacy comics (although I still need to catch up on all the TPBs since The Hidden Temple to be up to date with that series!)

 

I would suggest at least checking wookieepedia for a run down of the NJO-LOTF cast and happenings before getting too far into it though.

 

^ This is a very good suggestion if you're not familiar with the characters of setting of the NJO.

 

I knew most of the characters already, but needed to do some reading on what happened to them between the points i'd read (the Swarm War, for instance), but once I've got through this series I plan on catching up with those chapters properly.

[Ogriv83]

Im currently working through the bond books. Just finished Diamonds are Forver.

[JesusIsGonnaOwnSatan]

I read quite a bit a few years ago. Nowadays i find my vocabulary, or rather the use of it, not what it used to be. So ive decided to get back into active reading.

 

I just finished Ted Dekker's The Circle Trilogy.

Ive never read Christian fiction before, and didnt know what to expect. But if this trilogy is an appropriate representation of the genre, then its not bad at all. I enjoyed it thoroughly and experienced being engrossed in a story for the first time in years.

 

Im currently going through The One Thousand and One Nights.

Ive always had a liking for fairy tales and similar stories, and this caters to that - Its a large collection of eastern tales and myths.

Recurring elements include kings, princes, princesses, jinn (genies/angels/demons), enchantment, riches beyond measure, and women beautiful beyond imagination. (there are quite a few of those ).

Its all from an Islamic perspective, which i find very interesting. Altogether a good read.

 

Ive also acquired The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Collection, which is waiting to be read.

 

Anyone read any of the above mentioned books?

[Samuel Dravis]

Im currently going through The One Thousand and One Nights.

I used to have a copy which I read quite a lot. It was illustrated strangely too; It's too bad I can't find it. I did like the stories.

 

Ive also acquired The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Collection, which is waiting to be read.

The only one that was particularly interesting to me in the collection was The Abolition of Man. The others are more or less applicable only to someone with a Christian viewpoint. Either they're devotionals, or he simply repeats what others have said before him.

 

As for myself, I'm going through Labyrinths by Borges. A collection of short stories with really convoluted or just plain odd plots; thanks, Sabre.

[Sabretooth]

I just finished Haruki Murakami's wonderful Norwegian Wood and loved it (though not quite as much as Wind-Up Bird Chronicle). Strangely, this one work felt the shortest of all Murakami books I've read, including After Dark.

 

The book's protagonist recommended The Great Gatsby, which is what I'm reading right now. I'm also reading (slowly) Martin Amis' Time's Arrow on Pavlos' recommendation, which is rather mind-twisting and smug with its language, but very unique and nice in a mind-twisting way.

[Pho3nix]

At the moment I'm still halfway through White Fang by Jack London, hoping to finish off Contact by Carl Sagan after.

 

My Amazon.com wishlist ain't getting any shorter either...probably have about 200€ worth of books that I really want but can't seem to find the time to read up on the ones I still haven't finished I seem to have trouble with my short attention span when reading nowadays, before I could just read for hours at a time but not so much anymore

[Pavlos]

Martin Amis [...] is rather [...] smug[.]

Sounds right, yes. Thing is, he deserves to be.

 

I'm reading David Copperfield myself, Dickens's enduringly famous novel of a young man's journey from his unhappy childhood -- abused by his step-father and his sister, the ominously named Murdstones -- and school years to finding his calling as a novelist. This is the book which produced such vivid characters as the impecunious Mr. Micawber and the 'umble' Uriah Heep. How exciting.

[SW01]

I just recently finished reading Nineteen Eighty-Four. It, oddly, was refreshingly bleak after the typically heroic endings to the Patrick O'Brian novels I had been reading before. Now I'm trying to trudge through Blair's A Journey, bought for me on my birthday as a joke by my grandparents. What I love about it so far are the repeated cries of his having no experience in government and being intimidated by actually having to run the country after winning the 1997 election. I'm about 60 pages through and already losing the will to go on, and from what I've heard the bit on Northern Ireland will see it launched from the bedroom window, so we'll see whether or not it'll get finished.

[Pavlos]

Now I'm trying to trudge through Blair's A Journey, bought for me on my birthday as a joke by my grandparents

Are you sure it wasn't a punishment?

 

The review in the LRB pointed out that he basically justifies everything by his feeling 'afraid' of it; which I find somewhat worrying in a Prime Minister, myself.

[ZimmMaster]

I'm reading Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil for the fifth time. I just can't put it down.

[Drunkside]

Im actually reading prose voluntarily for the first time in years, havent had time to read anything besides school stuff. I borrowed Necronomicon (some sort of a complete works of H.P.Lovecraft) from the library and im kind of addicted to it.

[Darth Avlectus]

Star Wars The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance.

 

 

I am now curious to see this Darth Howl on the emperor's dark council. I'm in the middle so forgive me that this is not a complete summary.

 

So far this has been interesting. It is set some time later on when Satele Shan is a bit older and is a master of the Jedi council.

 

You have on the republic side: Satelle Shan's Padawan, and an elite trooper.

 

You have wildcards like the mandalorians and a scoundrel smuggler with his crew of un-reputable "scum and villainy". The Hutts of course are controlling a certain prize to their benefit. And this prize supposedly is such a big thing it might be dangerous enough to where the two sides have to coexist.

 

You have on the Empire's side: a Sith Apprentice determined to get back at the mandalorian who has goteen the better of her, and her master Darth Crattis (presumably that's him on the cover). Also an agent keeping an eye on things, who has infiltrated some of the highest seats in the republic as a politician. (Wow, who'd have thought? ) His role is probably the most complex and detailed.

 

The intrigue of the plot is probably one of the high points--it certainly has kept me coming back to keep reading more.

 

There are several main characters but no one 'star' of the whole story. Unlike The Phantom Menace, however, the details are fleshed out for all characters (unlike in a movie or the comics where just the main points are conveyed) and done so in a balanced manner. You can actually choose whichever character you want to follow--or so it seems. There is so much depth and development even in just the little bits and chunks so far only 10 chapters into it.

 

 

I'm reading Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil for the fifth time. I just can't put it down.

 

IMO The best part (besides the last fight between master and apprentice) was Bane going to Prakith to storm the pyramid of Darth Andeddu.

 

I also enjoyed that fight between the iktotchi huntress and Set Harth.

[Darth InSidious]

The End of Mr. Y, by Scarlett Thomas

IF YOU KNEW A BOOK WAS CURSED, WOULD YOU READ IT? When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She's read about its author before, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, and this is his most notorious, and rarest, book. It is also believed to hold a curse. Anyone who's ever read it, including Lumas, has disappeared without trace. With Mr Y under her arm, Ariel is thrust into an adventure of faith, physics, love, death, and everything in between.

 

I think I saw this book when it came out, and I've come close to buying it several times, if only for the title. In the end I got it on Kindle for iTouch, chiefly because it was there and it was relatively modern.

 

I can't say a great deal about this, since I only just started reading it. It's a fairly lengthy book, and I'm very close to the beginning. So far it's quite amusing, but not a lot has happened to date. Although I was amused that the book begins with a building sinking into the ground. It's well-written so far.

 

The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford

Mr Salteena and Ethel Monticue go up to town, where he becomes a Gentleman and she gets married. And people change their clothes a lot.

 

A brief novel by a nine-year-old girl, this book is brilliant if nothing else because it's so utterly childish. The spelling is off, the descriptions repetitive (most things are either costly or "sumpshous"), and the characters, like the book, belong to a world with an attention span of about 30 seconds. It's also very, very funny.

[Miltiades]

The End of Mr. Y, by Scarlett Thomas

IF YOU KNEW A BOOK WAS CURSED, WOULD YOU READ IT? When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She's read about its author before, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, and this is his most notorious, and rarest, book. It is also believed to hold a curse. Anyone who's ever read it, including Lumas, has disappeared without trace. With Mr Y under her arm, Ariel is thrust into an adventure of faith, physics, love, death, and everything in between.

A book about a book. Coincidentally, I just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón a few weeks ago, which was about uncovering the secrets and fate of the author of the book The Shadow of the Wind. Which I enjoyed reading a lot.

[TriggerGod]

Getting into some Manchurian Candidate, for a couple reasons, the chief one being that the Cold War era (for those who want to argue what the 'era' is, I personally consider it the entire time between the end of World War 2, and about the year - or year before - the Soviet Union dissolved). Not very far in it, as I am not used to the pace the book is set to, which is somewhat slower than the generic action novels being produced at breakneck speeds by authors today. I finally got to the part where they are being conditioned by the scientists... which if you've read it is about 3 chapters in.

[Chloe Ze Übermensch]

I haven't found a book I've enjoyed for a long time. The last one was Stone Cold by Robert Swindells. An OK book but it seems that the author strings it together in odd ways just to make a social commentary.

 

I've been reading the Art of War by Sun Tzu, but that's more research than leisurely reading.