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What book is everyone reading at the moment?

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CrikeyBobs said:
The Republic : Plato
I bought this one purely on the basis that someone here mentioned it in a thread and I figured it could be good to read a 'classic' (I've read a few Dickens, Bronte etc, but they are not my usual fare). Of all the books I've listed here, this is the one I am making the slowest progress with. It is in the form of a dialogue (with Socrates as a main character) that discusses the nature of justice. I am having problems getting used to the format and how I should approach it: do I simply read it, or do I attempt to "join in" the discussion.
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I've mentioned it and others have. I read it on a transatlantic flight and actually found it quite fast (once you realise that it is 400 pages of Socrates saying something followed by nobody of any importance saying "Verily, that is so"). And I thought it was pretty good too. It could say more about why democracy is sometimes "bad" and rule by philosopher kings and queens better but I'll forgive it since it is 2500 years old, and because Greek city-state democracy isn't the same as the modern version.

Actually I just finished a completely different book also lamenting democracy's failures (see previous post)

Now I am onto "Globalization and its Discontents" by Joseph Stiglitz
 
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I'm working my way through Lincoln-Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It examines Lincoln's rise to power, along with the rise of his political rivals, as they establish the Republican Party and deal with the slavery issue and the dissolution of the Union.
 
Back on Heinlein "The Past Through Tomorrow" and making my way through Donald E. Westlake's Dortmunder novels through the library.

Anyone else notice that after reading lots of new authors/material you fall back on old favorites? Or am I just getting mentally lazy as I age? :(
 
Gun: A Visual History. Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 2007. Oddly, it has no cited author, just a bunch of editors and designers. The "visual" part is accurate: it's a wonderfully illustrated book on the topic, perhaps the handsomest I've ever seen. But the writing and editing and fact-checking and proofing are awful. The grand over-arching editor calls himself Dr. Chris McNab, "a writer and editor specialising in the areas of firearms, military, and survival." Survival? What & the hell have I spent $15US on?
 
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Mark Twain by Geoffery C Ward. Which is making me want to read through my Mark Twain collection.
 
arthwollipot said:
I've been most disappointed by poor-quality bindings recently.
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Had this happen with Armageddon. Binding broke halfway through, and gluing it back together didn't take. If you choose to buy this, get the hardcover.

Finished James Bradley's Flyboys last night. Excellent book. Not for the squeamish, but it's a very honest take on the air war in the Pacific in the last 18 months of World War Two.

Touched With Fire, Eric Bergerud. Because I'm still on a Pacific WW2 kick, I figured since I've had this title since college (about 8 years now) I should read it before I bought another one. It seems very well-researched, but slower going than Flyboys.

Lies My Teacher Told Me. Only just started this one, so I can't make an objective criticism yet.
 
I'm reading Mary Poppins. :o

I had it read to me when I was 10 years old and I recently picked it up at the library because it had come up in a discussion.

Two things I really like: Mary Poppins is loved by the children but is unabashedly vain, self-centered and unpleasant and never becomes a lovable nanny and the parents aren't the dim twits they are made into in the film.
 
Just finished The Historical Figure Of Jesus, by E.P. Sanders.

Getting started on Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet Of The New Millennium, by Bart D. Ehrman.

These are follow ups to some other books I recently read concerning early Christianity, and the Bible/lost scriptures:

The Text Of The New Testament, Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, by Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman

Misquoting Jesus, Bart D. Ehrman

Lost Christianities, Ehrman

Lost Scripture, Ehrman

Trying to get a better grasp on that thing called Christianity, and it's foundation.
 
An Unpopular War.
From afkak to bosbefok.
Voices of South African Servicemen.
JH Thompson
 
Extro, by Alfred Bester. This surprised me with its unexpected cyber-punk style. I love the polyglot languages used.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (the first version, not the toned down one). I'm only up to chapter three, so haven't really got into the story yet.
 
I'm falling behind. I'm still on the same book I was reading three weeks ago. I suppose that means that I'm not finding it interesting enough. Time to move on. Next on my list is Douglas Adams A Salmon Of Doubt.
 
Stokstad's Art History,
just looking up something for a forum site.
I remember how hard it was to lug this 10lb text around when I was a student, my left arm was in a sling and my right thumb was broken, I killed me every time I pulled it out of my back pack.
 
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Denver said:
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Now beginning: "The Collected Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson". A fairly thick (600+ pages) book of his stories from the early 1900s.
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Just finished that one. It was very interesting: the stories themselves seemed to be in the same writing and descriptive style as Lovecraft (and predate him I believe). But the climax of the stories was always a bit disappointing, perhaps because, since then, we expect more twists and more startling finales.

I'm now starting "The Horror in the Museum: Twenty-Four Chilling Tales By H.P. Lovecraft and others".

I ran out of other things by Lovecraft to read, and apparently this book contains stories which he either collaborated on, or revised so heavily that the stories are essentially his own.
 
tomwaits said:
The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien
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I often hear of people who did not like the Silmarillion. I personally loved it: I read it at a time when I was very much interested in the trivia, and also the larger backstory, of LotR.
 
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