So, What Are You Reading?

Junot Diaz is a harasser?

My current reads:

Sister Alice by Robert Reed

Crimson Death, an entry in the Anita Blake series in which Anita and her entourage visit Ireland, a land that supposedly has no vampires.

Words of Radiance, second in Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive series

The Virgin In the Garden set in 1953 Yorkshire during Elizabeth II's coronation and centered on a play written in honor of the event about Elizabeth I

So far, i've been reading (I read four books at once to finish them faster and also to avoid boredom with one book):

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima

A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud

Justine by Marquis de Sade

Nadja by Andre Breton

Ada, or Ardor by Valdimir Nabokov

Random bits of poetry by:

Yone Noguchi

John Berryman

Fernando Pessoa

Charles Bukowski

Thomas Chatterton

Started, read and finished The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris.

Also got a few pages into Otherworld by Kirsten Miller and Jason Segel.

I thought I was the only one who did that. Fist Bump

Just read The Story of K saga written by Moonhorse_musics from r/neckbeardstories. It's quite a funny sega and made me laugh all the way with his writing.

Edited by Albino_Axolotl on Sep 28th 2018 at 4:40:12 AM

Current reads:

At the Sign of Triumph, final book in David Weber's ''Safehold series alt doors are left ajar for a followup.

Nekrppolis by Maureen F. McHugh, set in a futuristic Morocco with the main characters being an indentured servant programmed for loyalty and a genetically engineered lifeform which is referred to as an AI even though so far (early into the story) it doesn't seem to be cybernetic at all.

Zendegi by Greg Egan set 20 Minutes into the Future in an Iran where the theocracy was overthrown in 2012 and involving experimental virtual reality.

The Dubious Hills set in Pamela Dean's The Secret Country verse.

Edited by tricksterson on Sep 29th 2018 at 12:36:46 PM

I'm currently reading Book One of Summa Contra Gentiles. You know, anyone who wants to read Thomas Aquinas is daunted by how complex it's probably going to be. But turns out it's virtually the opposite!

Yes, Aquinas can be really, REALLY tough to follow at points. But it's not because he's being complicated. On the contrary, he's almost too simple to be easily understood. He doesn't tolerate a single careless assumption, or take a single "everybody knows that" precept for granted. Carefully, gracefully, almost humbly, he starts at Point A and looks at every implication that follows from it, one by one by one. He makes you realize just how flimsy most of our intellectual worlds are ... how many of our own favorite thinkers & gurus are prone to Underpants Gnomes moments.

An additional difficulty (but an accidental one, as the Subtle Doctor would say) is the special, non-modern senses in which he uses words like "motion," "appetite," "cause," "potency," etc. But this gets easier to deal with as you go along.

Currently reading David Drake's Birds of Prey, about a Roman Empire intelligence agent (roughly analogous to a blend of FBI and CIA) in the 3rd century AD facing off against aliens.

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro, its prose is probably the strongest aspect and the alternating vignettes between past and present are a very effective tool but occasionally does make re-exposited information a bit annoying.

The Bodyguard series by Chris Bradford. It's admittedly written for younger audiences, but I still find it enjoyable enough, I like the concept of a teen bodyguard and the books have some pretty good action scenes. Basically, after going through epics like The Dark Tower and The Lunar Chronicles, I'm in the mood for something lighter.

Manfred by Lord Byron

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault

Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille

The Death of the Author by Roland Barthes

Edited by KeironCioran on Nov 2nd 2018 at 10:16:06 AM

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo a week or so ago and I think it's one my favourite books ever, the best book I've read this year anyway.

I'm about a quarter of the way through Don Quixote now and I have to say that it is legitimately hilarious. The chapter where they spend the night in the inn and the servant girl comes up had me laughing out loud, which I don't think a book has ever made me do before. I think the fact that it was written over 400 years ago makes it all the more funny.

Has anyone else read any books recently that made them actually laugh out loud?

There were allegations that he was.

Currently reading: The Penguin Book Of Witches. I realize that title sounds sort of bizarre if you don't know it's published by Penguin Books - basically, it's a collection of real life documents concerning witchcraft, mainly essays from people who were considered experts on the subject and transcripts/summaries of witch trials. Pretty interesting insight into why people were going around accusing each other of witchcraft and what contemporary beliefs about it were. One trial summary I found oddly comical in an absurd sort of way, in part because it's the only one so far that doesn't end in anyone's death or imprisonment: A woman was accused of witchcraft in part because she threatened to cast a spell that would cause another woman to dance naked - she was found guilty, but the punishment was just a fine of 100 pounds of tobacco. I didn't even know that being fined in material goods instead of money was ever a thing.

Justine by Marquis de Sade

Writing and Difference by Jacques Derrida

Illuminations by Walter Benjamin

The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord

Edited by KeironCioran on Nov 12th 2018 at 5:04:02 AM

I've been trying to get through Twilight after a decade of owning my copy. It's so boring and so long. I can understand the appeal if you're into self-inserty romance novels, but it's not my thing.

I had a chance to read Howl's Moving Castle finally, and found that it was really enjoyable. I still like the anime, though it does diverge from the book. There's some clever things the author did that I really liked, and then there's things Miyazaki/Gibli did I liked, too.

Both suited their medium.

I am currently reading The Castle in the Air. Same world, different characters. It's enjoyable so far. A touch less engaging, but it could be because I get busy during the holiday months.

Before this I read Colorless Tsukuru and his Years of Pilgrimage. It was pretty good.

Edited by BlueDragon7 on Nov 26th 2018 at 9:01:36 AM

The Spellslinger series by Sebastien de Castell. I'm now waiting on the forth book. It's kind of like a Western but with magic tattoos and razor-edged playing cards. I've really been enjoying it so far.

Art & Arcana: A Visual History of Dungeon and Dragons. Part artbook, part history of the first and famous tabletop rpg.

Edited by Albino_Axolotl on Dec 11th 2018 at 6:20:41 AM

A Star-Wheeled Sky, by Brad Torgersen.

Short synopsis: Humans flee Earth in Generation Ships thousands of years prior to the setting's time due to an alien conflict, and come upon an alien FTL superhighway of 36 nodes they use to colonize planets until every even slightly habitable world is colonized. Wars start over being a bottled population needing room to expand, as previous attempts at using slow ships to colonize elsewhere have failed to produce results

And then a 37th node appears.

Edited by Nohbody on Dec 11th 2018 at 9:14:10 AM

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

JoJolion by Hirohiko Araki

Finished The Fates Divided by Veronica Roth, started Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare.

Finished The Way Of Kings, but haven't gotten far into Words of Radiance just yet. Also currently reading Thrawn: Alliances.

Edited by Rytex on Dec 13th 2018 at 9:45:43 AM

As Christmas is coming up I have decided to reread Hogfather, one of my favourites of the Discworld series and it is still as good as I remember it.

Edited by SebastianGray on Dec 16th 2018 at 2:31:19 PM

How to Invent Everything by Ryan North

An excellent first foray into nonfiction for North and as a general introduction to hundreds of concepts and things humanity has been using to get by to sustain civilization, it's incredibly worthwhile to take a look.