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Post by jolie on Oct 27, 2008 21:56:17 GMT -5
since we have a thread for recent music, film and TV, I thought I would start one for books
currently I am reading the sun also rises by hemingway (for fun) and my spanish textbook (for school)
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sara
Full Member
Posts: 190
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Post by sara on Oct 28, 2008 9:11:34 GMT -5
man I just had to read "what is metaphysics?" written by martin heidegger for my philosophy class.....it was interesting but really intense. gah
I like the book, "Flowers for Algernon". It was made into a play and I read it in 7th grade. I read it again this summer and it's a good story.
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Post by ray m. on Oct 28, 2008 14:01:30 GMT -5
I can only read one book at a time that usually is a school book. i just finished the crucible. far more exciting than i would have imagined it to be.
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Post by jolie on Oct 28, 2008 14:53:25 GMT -5
yikes. my dad read me and my brother flowers for algernon when we were way too young, like 3rd grade or something and it was so not age appropriate. we all ended up like crying at the end. I bet I would like it if I re read it though.
and I read the crucible for school last year and really really liked it. I didn't expect it to be so good, and usually I'm impressed when I have my sights set low, which is like all the time.
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Post by crazycstudios on Oct 30, 2008 20:08:00 GMT -5
I'm kind of busy with a bunch of self-imposed projects so I haven't been reading as much as I'd like. I'm working on a couple things though. First, I'm reading a bunch of Kurt Vonnegut. Currently sitting on my pile to read is "Hocus Pocus" and "Player Piano" (On the read pile: "Slaughterhouse-Five" "Cat's Cradle" "Breakfast of Champions" "Timequake" "Man Without a Country" "Slapstick" "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" "Galápagos" and "Armageddon in Retrospect"). Vonnegut's wit and satire are absolutely wonderful. As you can see from that reading list, I am a fan.
I'm also reading Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel", which I read back in college, and then his book "Collapse". While I'm overly thrilled with the content (a look at the rise and fall of civilizations that breaks away from the ethnocentric views of European, and by descent American, researchers), the less anthropologically minded (or at least those less interested in fascinating looks at human civilization) may not be as interested. They're actually great books to read to compliment reading Daniel Quinn's books ("Ishmael", "My Ishmael", "Story of B", and "Beyond Civilization") though. That's a great group of books to read that has it's own take on the civilizations of humans.
What I need to finish up first though, as it's a library book that's overdue by a month, is "Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan. I then plan on reading his newest, "In Defense of Food", which I own so I don't have to worry about being overdue. These actually tie into the other books as well. "Botany of Desire" questions the idea of plant domestication and suggests more of a co-evolutionary relationship with these plants. The book is broken up into four parts, each part a different example. "In Defense of Food" is more about how we as a culture have completely messed up the concept of food. Not only what it is, but where and how to eat it. It's in response to how after decades of nutritional advice from experts, as a country we're fatter and sicker than ever and how we kind of need to change that.
One last quick thought: Kilgore Trout from Vonnegut's books is an awesome character. And Vonnegut had said that he had started off as a homage to another author (later becoming more and more a kind of personification and insert of Vonnegut that even a insert of himself would talk to). The author in question is the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon and I tracked down a copy of one of his most famous works, "More Than Human". Very interesting usage of Gestlat ideas.
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Post by sarahelephant on Oct 30, 2008 21:44:05 GMT -5
I am currently reading Dave Eggers' collection of short stories, "How We Are Hungry".
I love him.
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Post by jolie on Oct 30, 2008 22:33:51 GMT -5
I loooove vonnegut. If you want a short but REALLY good one, read mother night.
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Post by sarahw on Oct 30, 2008 22:42:22 GMT -5
One last quick thought: Kilgore Trout from Vonnegut's books is an awesome character. And Vonnegut had said that he had started off as a homage to another author.... Oh boy. Kilgore Trout - that's a name I'd never thought I'd see over here, but I shouldn't be surprised I guess. It's like all the parts of my life are rolling into one with SSLYBY. It's because of my involvement with the Harry Potter books/community that I first came to know of SSLYBY, but it's because of my family's involvement with Kilgore Trout (via Philip José Farmer) that I quickly went from occasional SSLYBY listener to superfangirl.  Life is crazy like that sometimes. |
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Post by ray m. on Oct 31, 2008 13:29:03 GMT -5
I loooove vonnegut. If you want a short but REALLY good one, read mother night. I think this might be my favorite book, like, ever |
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Post by crazycstudios on Oct 31, 2008 16:24:08 GMT -5
It's on my list with the rest of the Vonnegut books I haven't read. I just don't have a copy of it on my pile of books. Haha
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