What are you reading?

[Lukipela]

Sometimes it's enough for a book to be entertaining Eth.

[Eth]

Of course it is.  I wasn't trying to dissuade anyone from reading those books.  I love me some Mark Twain!

[Lukipela]

So by pure chance I spotted a new book by one of my favourite authors in a bookstore yesterday. It's called "The Book of Lost things" by John Connolly. Connolly wrote three detective books about a PI caleld Charlie Parker which were really good. The language was rich, the characters were intense (and sometimes really creepy) and he had this real gift for mixing in the supernatural in a good fashion, i.e there was a lot of spiritual things but it really didn't affect the outcome of the book at all.

He löater wrote "The White Road" where the supernatural played a much bigger part. It was nice as well, but I felt it just become more of a ghost story. So I have high hopes that this new book about a small child during the second world war will return to the original concept, lots of creepy supernaturalism that can either be real or imagined, but doesn't actually physically interact with the real world.

[Dabir]

löater

Yay for typos with Finnish keyboards.

[Bleeding Star]

Eth says:
I'll wait for the movie to come out.

I hear they're casting Sandra Bullock as the charismatic ethnobotanist.

I wonder if this could be incorporated into the ultimate chick flick?

http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/forum/index.php?topic=1421.0

[Lukipela]

I finsihed "The Book of Lost things". While it was spookily creepily good, it was very different from what I was expecting. But if you like fairy tales that have just gone bad, hopelessness and betrayal at a fundamental level, I can recommend it. That man manages to write some fairly disturbing stuff.

And in that vein, I've begun on his next book, "The Unquiet". I visited my parents this weekend, and apparently my mother bought it a month or so back when she was in England. It's about the detective I mentioned earlier, so it promises to be a real treat. Apparently, even the gay hitmen are in this one, which just makes everything so much better.

[Lukipela]

Am I a very prolific reader, or do the rest of you just not bother to post?

So I finished Unquiet about a week ago. It was very good. The books seem to be taking a more occult turn, but are as always suprememly unpleasant. Of course, since this one involved a pedofile ring, that really comes with the territory. I also got my shit together and ordered the rest of his books from Amazon, so I should have three more books arriving soon enough.

Last week I started two new books. One probably won't tell anyone much, it's called Madame Terror by Jan Guillou and is a fictional account of PLO stealing a submarine (or so the jacket says). It starts off very predictably with some wacky theory on how the Americans sank Kursk, put Putin in power and are now reaping what they have sowed. Guillou really doesn't like the US.

The other is more interesting, it's called "Made in America" by Bill Bryson on how American and British english have changed. It contains some interesting tidbits, be they true or not. The Pilgrim myth, the revolution propaganda and so on are all quite fascinating.

[Rider]

I borrowed a book from my granddad a few weeks ago and I've been attempting to read it ever since. It's title translated would be something like "Beautiful accident or traces of design?" which simply explores the possibilities of a 'Random creation of all things' (ala Evolution theory) versus Intelligent Design and their worth if put in light of scientific evidence.

It's an interesting read, but I can't seem to make enough free time available to actually read it...

[Lukipela]

Let me save you some effort. In light of scientific evidence ID can't hold a candle to evolution. As a philosophy, it's completely fine.

And if everyone wants to debate this tired old subject once more, start a new thread or go to the random one. Don't mess with the book thread.

Madame Terror seems all right so far. Apparently the biggest problem for the PLO, after using Arafat's hidden money to have the Russians build a super submarine, is that the Russians are a bunch of racist ass holes who try to make them eat pig after having too much vodka. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

[FreakyM]

A friend of mine gave me a book to read, "How to be free". Damn, I should get the time to read it some day now.

[Bleeding Star]

I'm reading Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson. Didn't one of you lot read that, or am I going nuts? Anyhow, I'm stalled about 1/3 of the way in and making very little progress. It's well written and interesting, but it's very dense and there's a lot going on - if I pick it up after a while it's difficult to remember what the fuck is going on. These days I prefer something more light and fluffy.

[Eth]

  Yeah, I read Quicksilver (and the rest of the Baroque Cycle).  It was a bit dense, 'tis true, but a lot of fun for all that.  Cryptonomicon, by the same author, was the one that gave me a headache from too much density.  If you're struggling with Quicksilver, don't bother with Cryptonomicon!

[chenjesuwizard]

I'm reading the silmarrilion. A tolkein book.

[Bleeding Star]

If you're struggling with Quicksilver, don't bother with Cryptonomicon!

I've already read Cryptonomicon, and rather enjoyed it. But that was when I was younger and my brain worked better, and I had more time to devote to such intellectual (relatively speaking) fare.

I'm reading the silmarrilion. A tolkein book.

Now that's a tedious read! Some bits are like reading the bible, or a history book - all these damn family trees, so-and-so begat so-and-so else, too many bloody names, it all gets hella confusing. I did enjoy some of it though, like the bits about Sauron and Numenor.

[Eth]

  I tried to read the Silmarillion recently, but I didn't make it very far.  I've been reading a lot of "ancient writings" lately (Homer's Iliad, the Old Testament, Gilgamesh) and the Silmarillion was not the break I needed!