What book are you reading?

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What book are you reading?
OP - November 05, 2010, 03:49 PM

We've got movie and music threads, but I haven't seen any book threads? This needs to be rectified immediately! I love books! But I haven't read any in months. The addictiveness of this forum might be the culprit.

I'm gonna start reading regularly again. I miss it. So I hope this thread can be of help!

So what are you reading at the moment and how are you liking it? I've noticed how smart and well-read many of you here are - I often get intimidated! So come on, spill the beans! If you're not reading anything right now, how about the last book you read or the next book you're planning to read? Or any book recommendations in general would be appreciated.

Beware the man of a single book.

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #1 - November 05, 2010, 03:52 PM

Not exactly reading, but I'm currently listening to the Sophie's World audiobook.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie's_World

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #2 - November 05, 2010, 03:55 PM

I mostly only read fiction, but I think I want to branch out to non-fiction a bit more too. Before my reading hiatus, I was in the middle of reading Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler and Stardust by Neil Gaiman. So I'm gonna continue reading these two books now. Gotta finish Stardust before watching its movie, I suppose. Come to think of it, I want to read Caroline also by Neil Gaiman before watching the movie, too.

Darkness at Noon started out promising, so I'm quite excited to get into it again. Dystopian lit is one of my favourite genres. Some of my favourite dystopian novels - 1984, We, Brave New World, The Handmaid's Tale, The Trial, Fahrenheit 451, This Perfect Day, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, Anthem.

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #3 - November 05, 2010, 03:56 PM

I got it free at an engineers with borders (EWB) lecture called "1.4 billion reasons." It's about how empowerment of women is the key to solving world poverty. I've read about one chapter, so far it's pretty interesting. Synopsis:

Quote
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting team, husband and wife Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, take us on a journey through Africa and Asia to meet an extraordinary array of exceptional women struggling against terrible circumstances. More girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they are girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century combined. More girls are killed in this routine 'gendercide' in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth, it was totalitarianism. In the twenty-first, Kristof and WuDunn demonstrate, it will be the struggle for gender equality in the developing world. Fierce, moral, pragmatic, full of amazing stories of courage and inspiration, HALF THE SKY is essential reading for every global citizen.
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #4 - November 05, 2010, 03:58 PM

Just read Another Country and Frankenstein for English Lit. Pretty good both of them, though Frankenstein is far better, in my opinion.

And I've finally made a start on reading Ma'ariful Qur'an. It's actually pretty good, easy to read, and full of interesting stuff... if you're into that kind of thing.
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #5 - November 05, 2010, 03:59 PM

Quote from: Lukatic on November 05, 2010, 03:55 PM
I mostly only read fiction, but I think I want to branch out to non-fiction a bit more too. Before my reading hiatus, I was in the middle of reading Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler and Stardust by Neil Gaiman. So I'm gonna continue reading these two books now. Gotta finish Stardust before watching its movie, I suppose. Come to think of it, I want to read Caroline also by Neil Gaiman before watching the movie, too.

Darkness at Noon started out promising, so I'm quite excited to get into it again. Dystopian lit is one of my favourite genres. Some of my favourite dystopian novels - 1984, We, Brave New World, The Handmaid's Tale, The Trial, Fahrenheit 451, This Perfect Day, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, Anthem.

1984 is also one my favourites as I think it is most people's favourites (Time magazine voted best book of the 20th century I think). My favourite fiction book is Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. I also really like "Lord of the Flies" and anything by Graham Greene (Power and the Glory, Heart of the Matter).
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #6 - November 05, 2010, 04:12 PM

...
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #7 - November 05, 2010, 04:44 PM

Robert Jordan, the first book in the Wheels of Time series. Good so far.
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #8 - November 05, 2010, 04:45 PM

Quote from: Zebedee on November 05, 2010, 03:58 PM
Just read Another Country and Frankenstein for English Lit. Pretty good both of them, though Frankenstein is far better, in my opinion.

And I've finally made a start on reading Ma'ariful Qur'an. It's actually pretty good, easy to read, and full of interesting stuff... if you're into that kind of thing.

Tell us more
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #9 - November 05, 2010, 04:55 PM

I recommend NightWorld by Paul Wilson. It's a bit of a horror book, but really really good, I've read it twice now.

It's apparently the 6th book in a series, but i didnt realise until i read the book and then google searched.

Fairly old - published 1992.

Overview of the book from Amazon:

"Satan returns to devour the earth and its inhabitants in this strong sequel to Reborn and Reprisal. Rasalom (as the devil is known here) has shortened the daylight hours and let loose a plague of human-eating monsters that prey on New York's populace during the long nights. Whole communities turn on one another; riots break out over food; gangs wage war on the public; and Rasalom grows strong as he feeds on the chaos his creatures have caused. The only one who can stop this horror is Glaeken, an enfeebled old warrior who has battled the demon across time and space. Too weak to fight alone, Glaeken gathers supernatural forces to assist him, among them a boy with mysterious powers, a 150-year-.old witch and a vigilante named Repairman Jack. The death of one of the fighters reveals the overwhelming strength of the satanic forces, who have reserved a particularly gruesome fate for Glaeken. Wilson has written a terrifying horror that is also a solid old-fashioned morality tale. "

http://www.amazon.com/Nightworld-F-Paul-Wilson/dp/0515111597

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #10 - November 05, 2010, 05:08 PM

I just finished War, starting on Terror and Consent.

So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #11 - November 05, 2010, 06:23 PM

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #12 - November 05, 2010, 06:48 PM

Quote from: Prince Spinoza on November 05, 2010, 06:23 PM
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

That's a coincidence... I'm in the chapter about aggression.

"Modern man's great illusion has been to convince himself that of all that has gone before he represents the zenith of human accomplishment, but can't summon the mental powers to read anything more demanding than emoticons. Fascinating. "

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #13 - November 05, 2010, 06:58 PM

Ha, me too!
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #14 - November 05, 2010, 07:07 PM

Is it though? It's a forum filled with atheists and religious skeptics. Richard Dawkins is one of the most famous atheists and rationalists. So chances are pretty high that any two people would at any moment be reading the same book.
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #15 - November 05, 2010, 07:15 PM

The universe in a nut shell - Stephen Hawking
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #16 - November 05, 2010, 07:24 PM

Quote from: BlackDog on November 05, 2010, 07:07 PM
Is it though? It's a forum filled with atheists and religious skeptics. Richard Dawkins is one of the most famous atheists and rationalists. So chances are pretty high that any two people would at any moment be reading the same book.

Not true you kaffir, the chances of that happening are so small that it had to be the work of an intelligent designer..

"Modern man's great illusion has been to convince himself that of all that has gone before he represents the zenith of human accomplishment, but can't summon the mental powers to read anything more demanding than emoticons. Fascinating. "

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #17 - November 05, 2010, 07:32 PM

Heart of Darkness

"In a child's power to master the multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted "amens" and "holy holies" and "hosannas." An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks" - Henry Drummond
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #18 - November 05, 2010, 07:46 PM

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

I tell ya, reading about poverty makes you appreciate A LOT of things in life, both tangible and emotionally.

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #19 - November 05, 2010, 07:49 PM

Kane and Abel by Jeffery Archer.
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #20 - November 05, 2010, 08:01 PM

Quote from: ras111 on November 05, 2010, 07:24 PM
Not true you kaffir, the chances of that happening are so small that it had to be the work of an intelligent designer..
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #21 - November 05, 2010, 08:01 PM

Quote from: Damian_Gray on November 05, 2010, 07:49 PM
Kane and Abel by Jeffery Archer.

ROFL i remember him

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #22 - November 05, 2010, 08:02 PM

Quote from: Woodrow on November 05, 2010, 07:32 PM
Heart of Darkness

gah that was a hard book to plod through, like a fucking jungle but without a machete
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #23 - November 05, 2010, 08:08 PM

Quote from: Woodrow on November 05, 2010, 07:32 PM
Heart of Darkness

I have tried to read this several times and I can't get past the first dozen pages

So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
My political philosophy below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGat4i8pJI&feature=g-vrec
Just kidding, here are some true heros
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTgvK6LQqA
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #24 - November 05, 2010, 08:47 PM

Quote from: BlackDog on November 05, 2010, 04:44 PM
Robert Jordan, the first book in the Wheels of Time series. Good so far.

I'm on book ten of that series right now. If you are thinking of reading the whole series, the pace does slacken off after book 6 but it's picked up again in 9.

For non-fiction, I'm reading "The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism" by Henry Corbin. Fascinating book on the idea of a "midnight sun", a merging of Platonic and Zoroastrian theosophies by the Sufi Suhrawardi.

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Ambiguous undulations as they sink,
Downward to darkness, on extended wings. - Stevens
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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #25 - November 05, 2010, 08:48 PM

The Beach - Alex Garland

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #26 - November 05, 2010, 09:01 PM

BOOKS!! BOOKS!!
OMG!! I dont know where to start!
I love them so much!
I would so marry them if I could!
Okey...Okey...ummm...let's see....
The Devil Wears Prada, I didnt finish.
I wanna reread Atlas Shrugged.
I still love Animal Farm and To Kill a Mockingbird.
A Separate Peace, that was good.
Believe it but I have never read The Tale of Two cities or Lord of the Flies.
I am not reading anything at the moment.

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #27 - November 05, 2010, 09:20 PM

To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book.

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #28 - November 05, 2010, 09:25 PM

Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America

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Re: What book are you reading?
Reply #29 - November 05, 2010, 11:32 PM

i really wish i had time to read up on philosophy, metaphysics and the like. but my reading time (on the train to and from work) is quite limited and i tend to stick to hard science which is a bit if a shame - at the moment i'm reading 'Essentials of stem cell biology' which is i guess perhaps as boring as it sounds but it's just very relevant to my work.

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