What Are You Reading?

TimmyBoston said:

Twain was a genius and IMO this is the best of his works.

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I think he was a genius as well. It even came out in some of his memorable one liners like, "It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for."

The thing about this Huck Finn story is that it is so close to so many things that were swirling around me in my childhood here in the Mississippi Delta that it's like reading something from past experiences. Not absolutely and literally word for word but in a subtle, general way. Descriptions of the river, the people, trotlines, traps, canoes, thunderstorms on the river. I'm gonna have to dig up some old pictures. My Dad used to take me on trips across that river in a canoe on weekends and we'd camp on the sand bars. As a kid with a rifle and pistol strapped on I was drenched in the feelings of freedom exploring the sloughs and backwaters..Ruined me for crowded life forever...Twain nails it....There's something about that river, any river, that better than anything else evokes a feeling of unfettered Liberty....

If ya like Lewis you should check this out........
http://www.george-macdonald.com/

"Narrative of A. Gordon Pym" by Edgar Allen Poe. His only novel, and a short one at that. Great prose, harrowing subject matter.

Bowcephalus said:

If ya like Lewis you should check this out........
http://www.george-macdonald.com/

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Thanks for the recommendation. I just looked him up and I think your right. Now I'll have to go over to half.com and buy some books!

right now, I am reading American Psycho...very interesting and creepy stuff going on...

I read American Psycho awhile back (early nineties I think). Once I got with Ellis's writing style I really enjoyed it. If 'enjoy' is the right word for this book.

I finally finished reading "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides and have now started re-reading "Warriors" by Max Hastings. Next are some works about psychoanalysis.

I just finished "The Wild Trees" by Richard Preston.
Never thought learning about a species of tree would be so damn exciting.
It made me want to learn to climb trees like the professionals do.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the woods and being in the outdoors!

Magicpixie said:

I read American Psycho awhile back (early nineties I think). Once I got with Ellis's writing style I really enjoyed it. If 'enjoy' is the right word for this book.

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yeah, it took me a while to get used to the style, too. ive never read anything quite like this before, so its quite a shock. and im not sure if enjoy is the right word...maybe something like "the subject matter is, well, unusual, but overall its a well written book" ...although i am enjoying it......i hope that's ok...

I just finished The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. Any Dan Brown fans out there who enjoyed the Da Vinci code-- I highly recommend this book.

I've just finished (last night) The System of the World, the last book in Neal Stephenson's The BAROQUE CYCLE.



I actually feel a bit empty having finished it, several years reading, thousands of pages, hundreds of characters in stories spanning tens of years are all now.... gone.

I actually left the last few chapters for a good couple of months because I really didn't want to say goodbye to some of the characters.

Now it's on to

for my serious reading, and I'll probably keep working through the god awful philophies and even worse writing style of Ayn Rand for Atlas Shrugged.



Because, hell, why not?

Hikaru No Go (volumes 1-10) . . . OK, it is Manga so strictly speaking it isn't "reading" but it passes the time on the bus nicely.

I am over half-way through Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe. Fascinating and frightening read. Picture the tragedy of the commons on a global scale.. Already I am a more educated shopper when it comes to seafood.

I'm currently reading "Flags of Our Fathers" which details the lives of the six men who raised the ensign on Mt. Suribachi at Iwo Jima.

wizardsbaker said:

yeah, it took me a while to get used to the style, too. ive never read anything quite like this before, so its quite a shock. and im not sure if enjoy is the right word...maybe something like "the subject matter is, well, unusual, but overall its a well written book" ...although i am enjoying it......i hope that's ok...

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Yeah, don't want people thinking we're weird or something...

This is somewhat late, but I want to express my pride on this thread hitting 1,000 posts. Personally I'm so glad to see so many avid readers here at B&B and I know I've found a lot of great books through this thread.

as anyone who has ever served knows, a good book can save your sanity. try Starship Troopers. I am currently on my 34th time re-reading it, and it only gets better each time. the best part is rico's flash back to a class called "history and moral philosophy" so anyone can find parts to love, from the action to the questioning of humanity's base instincts

I just read two short storyies by Charles Bukowski with illustrations by Crumb, and am currently reading A Clockwork Orange. I dont really read much though, I never seem to have the time for it...

tjiscooler said:

I just read two short storyies by Charles Bukowski with illustrations by Crumb, and am currently reading A Clockwork Orange. I dont really read much though, I never seem to have the time for it...

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If a man never goes insane what a boring life he must lead. - Buk

I'm reading the Horseclans books and Heilein's Friday.