What book is everyone reading at the moment?

[Thinking in CT]

Current Reading

In my old age (56) I'm finally reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. I've only read the first few chapters (of hundreds in the multi-volume work) but the text is full of gems.

To wit: (concerning religious belief in the 2nd century)

The people thought them to be equally true;
the philosophers equally false, and
the magistrates equally useful.

 

[Temporal Renegade]

Do graphic novels count?

I'm re-reading 'V For Vendetta', by Alan Moore & David Lloyd. I want to reaquaint myself with the story, before the movie effs it up.

 

[Boo]

I just finished two biographies:

'Cary Grant' by Marc Eliot

'The Lone Samurai - The Life of Miyamoto Musashi' by William Scott Wilson




Boo

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I just finished Hunter Thompson's "Hells Angels" and I've started reading "Dune". Dune came with the high recommend of the "how can you NOT have read Dune?" sort. It's decent so far, if a bit confusing at times. Seems to be getting good.

 

[Terry]

Just ripped throught The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby, and decided I should work on the non-fiction pile, so I'm reading Flim-Flam. Still crunching through guitar-building books too.

--Terry.

 

[jay gw]

Women in Purple...an interesting history of 8th Century Byzantine Empresses.

Good god, who could possibly be interested in that?

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Has anyone read James Clavell's "Shogun"? It was recommended by someone (whose literary tastes I prety much trust) as "one of the greatest books ever". But he's a history geek and sometimes goes for really dry boring crap that nobody else cares about. Any thoughts on "Shogun"?

 

[LW]

Has anyone read James Clavell's "Shogun"? It was recommended by someone (whose literary tastes I prety much trust) as "one of the greatest books ever". But he's a history geek and sometimes goes for really dry boring crap that nobody else cares about. Any thoughts on "Shogun"?

It has been quite a while since I read it but I liked it at the time (but I also go for really dry boring crap that almost nobody else cares about, so be warned). However, while reading it you should remember that it is novel and not a history book. (Somehow I seem to keep running to guys who have read it and now think they know everything about feudal Japan).

 

[LW]

Since my last post (well, the one before the last post) on this thread, I have read:

- Victor Korzh, A Red Star Under Baltic: memoirs of a Soviet submarine engineer officers who fought in WWII. Interesting stuff but it should be read with the same care as all other submariner memoirs.

- Mansur Abdulin, Red Road from Stalingrad: memoirs of a Soviet infantryman (first mortarman, later batallion political organizer) who fought at Stalingrad and Kursk before being severely wounded during the Dnepr operation. A very good book that feels credible (modulo the astoundishing number of German Tigers they faced, but you really can't expect an infantryman to recognize enemy tanks). It was the first Soviet first-hand source that I've seen to mention anti-tank dogs.

- Erich von Däniken: Miracles of the Gods: paranormal powers prove that humans were genetically engineered by aliens. Nuff' said.

- and several re-reads of older books that I don't really remember now.

 

[Giz]

It has been quite a while since I read it but I liked it at the time (but I also go for really dry boring crap that almost nobody else cares about, so be warned). However, while reading it you should remember that it is novel and not a history book. (Somehow I seem to keep running to guys who have read it and now think they know everything about feudal Japan).

Oh yeah, along with "The Killer Angels" and "Eagle in the Snow", "Shogun" is one of the very best historical novels. Read it! NOW!

 

[Chris Haynes]

I just finished Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Very chilling... very scary, very cool... especially since it is NON-fiction.

I am now reading
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachell Simmons... which is just as scary since I have a daughter. (Bruce take note, this should be on your reading list in a half dozen years)

 

[Zep]

It has been quite a while since I read it but I liked it at the time (but I also go for really dry boring crap that almost nobody else cares about, so be warned). However, while reading it you should remember that it is novel and not a history book. (Somehow I seem to keep running to guys who have read it and now think they know everything about feudal Japan).

It's based VERY loosely on some historical facts - such a person as the lead character did actually exist. However names, biographies, actions, dates, places, heights above sea-level, etc, were ALL changed and enhanced to make the story more exciting.

Interestingly, the film "Kagemusha" (1980) is supposedly about the same characters at that time and place in history, but does not in any way mesh with the novel "Shogun". So at least one of them got it wrong...

 

[tim]

I just read "Glory Road" by Heinlein for the first time in forty years. I think I enjoyed it more first time round.....

 

[asthmatic camel]

Half way through "the Daughters of Cain" book 10 of 13 in Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series. Crime novels aren't normally my thing, but a brand new boxed set of all thirteen novels was available at the local cheap book shop for £14.

Normally, when I buy a bargain, I open the box, realise why it's so cheap and throw it in the bin. This time, I saved myself £83 from the RRP and was pleasantly surpised by the quality of my purchase.

Although all the novels follow a very predictable formula, Dexter redeems himself with some exquisite writing and a wonderfully cynical sense of humour. Sergeant Lewis makes a great Watson, Morse a marvellously complex Holmes.

The best £14 I've spent in years.

 

[Terry]

Just finished The World According to Garp; just started The Count of Monte Cristo

--Terry.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

The Ancestors Tale. A copy of which I purchased at TAMIII, and while I did not get Dawkins to sign it. I did get a photo of him, myself and the book.

I'm loving it, but I have to admit that even for an evolution wonk like myself, some of the pages have been quite arduous.

 

[Supercharts]

And God Created The French

A translation of Et Dieu crea les Francais.
The author, Louis Bernard Robitaille, is a correspondent for North American newspapers and writes from France.
Very good insight into the French mind, politics and class.

 

[Chaos]

The Ancestors Tale. A copy of which I purchased at TAMIII, and while I did not get Dawkins to sign it. I did get a photo of him, myself and the book.

I'm loving it, but I have to admit that even for an evolution wonk like myself, some of the pages have been quite arduous.

I started reading that on the flight home from Vegad, and finished it a few weeks later. I can only say it´s a great book. And I got Dawkins´ autograph in it.
Since then, I´ve also read "Why People believe Weird Things", "Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science" and "The Mystery Chronicles", and I will soon start "The Science of Good and Evil".

 

[crimresearch]

The Paideia Program by Mortimer J. Adler.

 

[Kopji]

"The Dreamtime"- Australian Aboriginal Myths in paintings by Ainslie Roberts with text by Charles Mountford.

One of my more lucky purchases in a recent foray over at the local used bookstore 'art night'. The treasure of this is in the gorgeous surreal prints.