What are you reading?

melotte20 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:57 pm

Currently reading "Stars Above, Earth Below"; a interesting little book about astronomy in the National Parks.

HalJordan · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:53 pm

I just finished Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin. It was awful

kage_ar · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:36 pm

Today, in a box of rejected books (they were donated and rejected so they were - FREE!!!!!) I found a copy of Lewis' "Til We Have Faces". I've not read it in years and years, plan on curling up on the sofa in just a few minutes :cloud9:

kage_ar · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:37 pm

Jerome_2 wrote:

A History of the Early Church by J.W.C Wand.

Hey! I just saw that one in a box of donated books today.

GKC · **Joined:** Thu Feb 20, 2003 10:22 pm **Posts:** 19648

kage_ar wrote:

Today, in a box of rejected books (they were donated and rejected so they were - FREE!!!!!) I found a copy of Lewis' "Til We Have Faces". I've not read it in years and years, plan on curling up on the sofa in just a few minutes :cloud9:

Lewis' favorite, among his fiction.

GKC

Desertfalcon · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:46 pm

A biography of Gen. Colin Powell by Karen DeYoung. It's so-so.

Netcurtains3 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:48 am

I'm a bit confused by this thread. I thought the individual threads are meant to be about books you have / are reading.....

What are the other threads for?

I've lost the plot somewhere along the line?

Surely any books worth reading in this thread will simply get lost amongst a load of triva?

Gerty · **Posted:** Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:38 am

I'm currently reading Hunger by Knut Hamsun

Netcurtains3 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:05 pm

OK,
but I don't get the idea behind this whole thread, simply naming a list of books that you have not read.... what is the point?

Anyway, I'm reading:
a) this web site
b) The surrey advertiser
c) Learning Perl (Shultz & Christiansen)
d) Cities of the the Red Night (William S Burroughs)
e) A dirty Job (Christopher Moore)
f) The plague (Albert Camus)

What is the point of telling anyone?

Gerty · **Posted:** Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:08 pm

You are not obliged to participate in this thread if you don't want to.

Netcurtains3 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:13 pm

Gerty,
Its too late for that!!!

But why do you want to know?

Surely its only worth knowing if I have something worth saying about the book AFTER I've read it.

Gerty · **Posted:** Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:16 pm

If you look in the thread you will see that there are good discussions about literature.

J Michael · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:44 am

This is my first time posting here, so I thought I'd pick a thread that was relatively innocent and uncontroversial.

At the moment I'm reading "The Island of the World" by Michael O'Brien. Absolutely fantastic!! But then, I've always liked his books. Next on the pile by my bed is his "Theophilos". I'm also reading "Spiritual Childhood: The Spirituality of St. Therese of Lisieux" by Vernon Johnson.

In Christ,
JM

Doom · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:21 pm

Right now I am reading the 'Dune' series by Frank Herbert....I'm about halfway through the second book in the series 'Dune Messiah'.....don't know if I will finish the series or not.

GKC · **Joined:** Thu Feb 20, 2003 10:22 pm **Posts:** 19648

Doom wrote:

Right now I am reading the 'Dune' series by Frank Herbert....I'm about halfway through the second book in the series 'Dune Messiah'.....don't know if I will finish the series or not.

It was all I could do to finish the 2nd book.

GKC

Doom · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:44 pm

GKC wrote:

Doom wrote:

Right now I am reading the 'Dune' series by Frank Herbert....I'm about halfway through the second book in the series 'Dune Messiah'.....don't know if I will finish the series or not.

It was all I could do to finish the 2nd book.

GKC

I'm starting the realize the problem.....as the story progresses, the main character, Paul Atreides i.e. Muad'Dib .....as the story progresses, this central character, becomes more and more unlikable.....it's hard for me to continue reading a story if I don't like or sympathize with the main character (The Catcher in the Rye being another example)

TreeBeard · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 1:13 pm

Just finished reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

The story is written from the perspective of a lower caste Indian, Balram Halwai, who becomes a driver for a rich Indian family. The chapters are a series of letters to the Premier of China. It is a story about the disenfranchised. He is basically a slave. In an interesting bit of discussion about how Indian society works, the author notes - in a brief but powerful way - how and why this type of institutionalized slavery can go on in modern day India.

Commentators on the book have compared it to Native Son by Richard Wright and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It is a quick and compelling read.

Note that the characters do make rather free use of the "f" word and there are a few other disturbing scenes.

Peregrinator · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 1:18 pm

Doom wrote:

GKC wrote:

Doom wrote:

Right now I am reading the 'Dune' series by Frank Herbert....I'm about halfway through the second book in the series 'Dune Messiah'.....don't know if I will finish the series or not.

It was all I could do to finish the 2nd book.

GKC

I'm starting the realize the problem.....as the story progresses, the main character, Paul Atreides i.e. Muad'Dib .....as the story progresses, this central character, becomes more and more unlikable.....it's hard for me to continue reading a story if I don't like or sympathize with the main character (The Catcher in the Rye being another example)

If you think Paul Atreides is hard to sympathize with, wait till you meet his son in The God Emperor of Dune.

I was able to get through the first three, couldn't get through the fourth (the aforementioned "God Emperor"), never tried the fifth, and picked up the last only to put it back down almost immediately. I don't think I would ever willingly read anything other than the first in the series again. But my issue was different -- I don't like Herbert's writing style and, after Dune, there's not enough story to carry it.

GKC · **Joined:** Thu Feb 20, 2003 10:22 pm **Posts:** 19648

Pepsuber wrote:

Doom wrote:

GKC wrote:

Doom wrote:

Right now I am reading the 'Dune' series by Frank Herbert....I'm about halfway through the second book in the series 'Dune Messiah'.....don't know if I will finish the series or not.

It was all I could do to finish the 2nd book.

GKC

I'm starting the realize the problem.....as the story progresses, the main character, Paul Atreides i.e. Muad'Dib .....as the story progresses, this central character, becomes more and more unlikable.....it's hard for me to continue reading a story if I don't like or sympathize with the main character (The Catcher in the Rye being another example)

If you think Paul Atreides is hard to sympathize with, wait till you meet his son in The God Emperor of Dune.

I was able to get through the first three, couldn't get through the fourth (the aforementioned "God Emperor"), never tried the fifth, and picked up the last only to put it back down almost immediately. I don't think I would ever willingly read anything other than the first in the series again. But my issue was different -- I don't like Herbert's writing style and, after Dune, there's not enough story to carry it.

I made it half way through the 3rd book. Realized I didn't like the plot or the settings or the characters, or the societies, or the premises or the writing. Did like the Sand Worms, but that's not enough to keep me going.

GKC

Netcurtains3 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:16 am

This weeks library books:
Cowboys & Aliens by Joan D Vinge (book from movie).
cold blood by James Fleming (russian revolution adventure)
when skateboards will be free - by Said Sayrafiezadeh (commie in USA)
river of London by Ben Aaronovich (ghost london)

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