This week, I'm reading I Will Teach You To Be Rich, by Ramit Sethi.
It's a remarkable little book on personal finance, and looks like it's going to complement my use of You Need A Budget quite well.
What a command of English Heller has. That book is positively brimming with uncommon words that delight. I remember when my younger brother read it, he kept a running list of words he didn't recognize that grew over 50 entries.
Dude! I finished it on friday and raced out to get second foundation. The entire second half of the book I had a strong feeling that's who the mule was going to be, but he's just such a good character and the fact that the story doesn't end there is fascinating! I'm pouding through the third one now. Also, I love the fact the Futurama stole the idea for the holophoner from this. I just imagined magnifico as fry.
I just started The Martian... and just finished The Martian. I'd be interested to hear your views on it once you've finished...
Just finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson and am now just starting The Martian so I can read it before the previews ruin more of it. It seems like it'll be a FAR better book than a movie.
I enjoyed that series for its speculation on the different possible worlds from ours, but in the end I was not impressed by the plot, characters, softer scifi elements, writing, &c. I stuck with it anyway, for the ideas about different worlds, and those parts keep getting better with each book as they venture further on the Long Earth.
I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth installment. It's not got the humour of the Discworld series but once you get your head around the initial stepping concept it's a decent read.
I'm currently working my way through Tolkien's version of Beowulf. It's my bathroom reading, and it's relatively interesting - After the story, there's commentary, and then a sort-of-retelling written by Tolkien called Sellic Spell
I wanted to know what the first word was! I'd read Heaney's translation for school, and I knew the controversy of the translation.
I'm almost finished with The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's set in the 1950's and tells the story of an aging butler on a motoring trip across England. It has been a very enjoyable read so far, and I will definitely check out some of Ishiguro's other work after I'm finished with this one. Also, I've just discovered the 33 1/3 series (they are basically novels or essays either about or influenced by classic albums, each one by a different author) and I just finished the Black Sabbath's Master of Reality one, written by John Darnielle. It was a quick read and, as a fan of both John Darnielle and the Master of Reality album rather unsurprisingly, I absolutely loved it. I'm going to check out the Sigur Ros one next, probably.
You absolutely have to read Never Let Me Go, also by Ishiguro. A heart wrenching emotional story with an exquisite, but not forced, sci-fi element.
This was my first Ishiguro novel. It works so well because the sci-fi is so background you spend half the book not realizing what they are and once you do it leaves you completely on the fence morally. Plus a beautiful story of love and loss. Read this if you want a great introduction to his works.
I finally decided to start the Culture series because I've heard so many good things about it. A lot of people told me to skip the first book for now and I have to say that I'm enjoying The Player of Games far more than my first attempt at Consider Phlebas.
The Player of Games is a much better book, but I don't think it actually introduces you to the Culture universe as well as Consider Phlebas does. Don't avoid it entirely, as it does actually give you a good sense of the spacefaring nature of life in the Culture.
I'm reading Animal Farm by George Orwell - just finished 1984 ;__; it was amazing, In my mind, f.451 and ClockworkOrange are in the same universe - and the chronology is: C.Orange first - one of the other two spoke of 'violence in the past' - I feel like C.O. is most like our society today - with oblivious and hedonistic youth; Then would be F.451 - which is again, like our day - but with more extremist control; luxury based capitalism with secret war undertones - and then moving into 1984 where there is a polar shift from capitalism to ingsocialism and more complete control from another angle.
In physical books; rereading Neuromancer by William Gibson. Its the seminak Cyberpunk novel and I love it. Trying to read deeper into it this time to see what makes it so cyberpunk. Im also reading Yhe Damned Busters by Matthew Huges. Its about a man who accidentally summons a demon, refuses to enter into a contract for his soul, and subsequentially causes a union strike in hell, meaning no bad things happen on earth. Its pretty funny and and interesting read. In audiobooks; I found out Uve been paying for audibke for 9 mo ths even though I cancelled my sub. So I have nine free books to listen to. I got Off to be the Wizard by Scott Meyer. About a guy who discovers how to 'code magic' and traveks back in time to be a wizard. The Martian by Andy Wier, which is basically Macguyver on Mars. And On the Road by Jack Kerouac because its such a part of popculture I figured I should read it and see what all the fuss is about. All three are great so far. Also Im taking any suggestions for the other five audiobooks I should download.
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
If you like Marquez (especially in his epic mode like in 100 Years), I'd recommend trying out Texaco by Chamoiseau. Similar narratives and styles, but Chamoiseau has a magic all his own. I've tried (unsuccessfully) to learn French just to read it in its original language.
Hope you are enjoying it! I think I have read all of his and I found it to be least enjoyable of any of his even though it probably is the most well known/loved/etc. My top three are The General in His Labyrinth , Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Love in the Time of Cholera. And the non-fiction News of a Kidnapping.
The new Charles Stross. His Lovecraft-and-computing thing gets more threadbare as time goes on and he doesn't work in computing anymore, but he's always fun anyway. The OpenGL Programming Guide, 8th edition. It's been years since I've done any serious graphics programming (I still have my copy of the second edition), and I'm getting caught up.
I'm reading Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman. I am about half way through it. I found it for a dollar at a Goodwill. I am enjoying it so far as I love satire and social commentary.
Definitely check out his other books if you like that one. His cultural observations just keep getting more and more entertaining and thoughtful. I've never given half a shit about Britney Spears but I could read an entire book about her written by Klosterman, I would in a heartbeat.
From Wikipedia: Klosterman presents his essays as if they were tracks on a CD. Between each essay, or track, is an "interlude"—a short, entertaining blurb linking the essays. The following essays are included in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs:
1. This Is Emo: Klosterman recounts "fake love" we are conditioned to pursue, and the false, unbalanced nature of When Harry Met Sally. 2. Billy Sim: Klosterman describes his experience with the reality-mimicking video game The Sims and how The Sims illustrates that "even eternally free people are enslaved by the process of living." 3. What Happens When People Stop Being Polite: The impacts of MTV's The Real World and how it led to the development of one-dimensional personalities. 4. Every Dog Must Have His Every Day, Every Drunk Must Have His Drink: An ode to Billy Joel, particularly the universality of his album Glass Houses. 5. Appetite for Replication: Klosterman interviews and spends a few days with the members of a Guns N' Roses tribute band, "Paradise City," and outlines the significance of tribute bands. 6. Ten Seconds to Love: An analysis of how American culture is upset with the unrealistic images of success it has created, as stemming from a discussion of the Pamela-Tommy sex tape. 7. George Will vs. Nick Hornby: A rant against soccer (particularly among youth), claiming it supports outcast culture. 8. 33: Klosterman explains how the 1980s rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics symbolizes all rivalries in life, including politics, religion, and race. 9. Porn: An explanation of how the Internet has proliferated the porn industry, as per the need of the presence of the amateur and celebrity in our lives. 10. The Lady or the Tiger: A brief history of the cereal industry, and how Kelloggs was begun as a religious company, but now is a microcosm for coolness. The "cocoa puffs" in the title comes from this essay. 11. Being Zack Morris: An analysis of Saved by the Bell and how "important things are inevitably cliché." 12. Sulking with Lisa Loeb on the Ice Planet Hoth: Why Star Wars is so overrated, and how it has come to represent basic morality. 13. The Awe-Inspiring Beauty of Tom Cruise's Shattered, Troll-like Face: A discussion of the question "What is reality?" as answered by movies such as Vanilla Sky, The Matrix, Memento, and Waking Life. 14. Toby over Moby: How the Dixie Chicks are the new Van Halen, as they are one of the only pop bands with musical quality, and how Van Halen's teenage boys have been replaced by the Dixie Chicks' teenage girls. Also how music taste is used to gauge coolness, and those who ignorantly say they like all kinds "except country" only say so to appear cool. 15. This is Zodiac Speaking: A description of three people Klosterman has interviewed who have known or met serial killers, and an exploration of "What does it mean to know a serial killer?" 16. All I Know Is What I Read in the Papers: Most of the media's bias is accidental, and stories are mainly developed by circumstance and by the interviewee who calls the journalist back first. Also how sports reporters hate sports, and how newspapers are designed for those who cannot read. 17. I, Rock Chump: Klosterman narrates his visit to the 2002 Pop Music Studies Conference by the Experience Music Project, and how it was largely an experience without rock and roll. 18. How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found: A commentary on the Left Behind Series and the lifestyle of Evangelical Christians. The chapter title refers to the book How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Doug Richmond and possibly the song How To Disappear Completely by Radiohead.
The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh, a small anthology of Thich Nhat Hanh's writings compiled by Melvin McLeod. It was recommended to me by WontonCarter. I'm only a quarter of the way into it, but I really like it so far. Thich Nhat Hanh's prose is beautifully simple.
I'm reading Planetwalker by John Francis in preparation for a long distance walk I'm planning.
Just started the third book in Ramez Naam's Nexus series: Connect. It's a near future sci-fi in which a hybrid technical/pharmaceutical technology has been created that allows users to communicate mind to mind. Naam is one of my favorite futurists and has written several non-fiction books on near future tech as well. My only gripe is that the publisher redesigned the books so now my part 3 doesn't match my parts 1 & 2. And the previous design scheme was better imo.
Slaughterhouse Five . I had been planning to read it for a while and just started it yesterday. I like how the book starts by establishing the unreliability of the narrator. It's a bit confusing to follow the narrative but I guess it will get easier as I read on.
If you happen to enjoy it, look into Breakfast of Champions or Cat's Cradle. Also do you mess with Douglas Adams?
Of course, I "messed" with Douglas Adams! THGTTG is a wonderful read. I will try Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle too. Thanks
Axiomatic, a collection of science-fiction short stories by Greg Egan.
I'm reading this at work. Slow going since I keep getting interrupted.
Reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. Didn't know what to expect going into it, but Kindle says I'm 10% of the way through and I'm very much enjoying it.
I'm currently reading several introductory economics texts because I want to be a Foreign Service Officer one day. Economics is one of the most important things they test you on, and it's one of my weakest areas.
It's definitely Personal Finances for Dummies written casually and actionably. But that's why I like it. His end of the week recaps are great for those who've struggled with saving or investing or even paying more than a casual attention to their money. I've been using YNAB for a while, but it's been helpful having Ramit say, "Do this with your credit cards. Do this with your monthly budget. Do this with your savings."
I hate that Sarah Vowell's new book is like ... three months away. If I had the brain, wallet, body, and motivation of a really smart, rich, hunky, successful man ... I would have swooped in long ago and wooed her until she brushed me off for being too know-it-all, too materialistic, vain and shallow, and creepily assertive.
Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction I have meant to read this book a year back, but the complexity of the content has pushed me back. Hopefully with a fresh mind will I be able complete this book. Wish me luck!
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis Waking Up by Sam Harris
The mirror of her dreams by Stephen Donaldson. Bit of a slog (maybe I don't like fantasy as much as I used to?), but I just finished it.. and found it ends in a cliffhanger, and I'm supposed to read the second volume to see how it turns out. Not sure if I want to do that :/
How much Hemingway have you read? The Sun Also Rises is definitely worth reading if you liked The Old Man and the Sea. Farewell to Arms as well, perhaps. EDIT: You might want to look up some Conrad and Graham Greene, as well (The Quiet American comes to mind, as does The Power and the Glory).
Oh my gosh, I didn't even see this post and as I was scouring the net for Hemingway, I downloaded both Farewell to Arms and Sun Also Rises. Big coincidence? Perhaps not. The Old Man and the Sea is the first Hemingway I've read I think, if you discount Hills Like White Elephants (good old English class). Is For Whom the Bell Tolls good? I didn't have the chance to read that in English class.
I personally had a hard time with For Whom the Bell Tolls, though it's also one of the more popular Hemingway books. It certainly has more plot/'action' than The Old Man and the Sea or The Sun Also Rises (in this I'd say it's more similar to Farewell to Arms), but I found that its length caused me to get quite tired of the (typically Hemingwayan) protagonist by the end. Your experience may be quite different from mine, though.
The Best Little Girl In the World... It's a bit of a rare read, but fitting for this period in my life.
I'm not reading a book at the moment, but I am reading a comic that I got for my birthday. Specifically, the third book of Batman: Knightfall. It's interesting and I like it. My main complaint would be the length of it all.
I just started The Vorrh by Brian Catling. I'm not too far in yet, but it's an interesting take on the fantasy genre that plays with The Heart of Darkness-type colonial ideas/situation (at least in one chapter, not sure how the novel will develop). The first chapter is pretty intense--there's a dead body involved. And, then, there's robot-human love taken in a slightly new direction.
So what do you think about it? What point are you to in the novel? I don't want to ruin anything by saying too much, but Larsen is one of my favorite novelists. Quicksand, imo, is even better than Passing. What do you make of the claim that the novel is "passing" about being a novel about "passing"?
I'm reading Mary Roach's latest pop science book, Gulp. It might be my favorite of her books thus far, and I've loved everything she's written. (If you haven't read Packing For Mars yet, what are you doing with your life?) This one is subtitled "ADVENTURES ON THE ALIMENTARY CANAL", and she traverses the whole system, nose to anus, explaining our understanding of digestion and relating science anecdotes at each step.
Currently working my way through "Teachings of the Buddha", a Shambhala Pocket Classic edited by Jack Kornfield, and "How to Walk", by Thich Nhat Hanh. Looking to pick up "So the Buddha Walks into the Office" by Lodro Rinzler, which, considering I work in a bit of a stressful office environment, I could really use.
The other David Mitchell I've read is Black Swan Green and it such a great thing I decided to grab the next book on the shelf. Ya know I' a Joseph Conrad fanatic, and I'm always looking for some one that could write them like that. he close, but his seasoning is different.
I just made a start on the Game Of Thrones series. I've read some pretty heavy stuff recently so I figured I'd go for a simple page-turner and thought I'd find out what all the fuss has been about. So far it seems to be a simple read that requires no real effort but since that was what I was looking for I've no complaints.
I've been reading Chernobyl by Frederik Pohl on the sly here and there. Really interesting fictional account that brings in some different things than "this is how you make an RBMK reactor explode" to "this is what the mentality of the government and the communist people and other people dealing with the accident could have been." Very interesting read that puts a human face on something I've done a fair bit of technical reading on before. That's the fun reading. Mostly I've been reading my research statistics textbook. I'm so tired of regressions and coefficients...one more week and I'm freeeeeeeee.
So what do you think so far? Do you think you'll become a McCullers fan? I have friends who rabidly debate who's the better southern woman writer (so specific, I know!)--McCullers vs Welty. For humanness, I'd go for McCullers. For craft, I'd go for Welty. I love both, though.
It's curious. Very simple language. Very basic. Kinda... if the writing's this plain, why would I continue reading? And then three chapters later I found I was still reading, walking in a world that felt so human and alive, characters I cared about, a town that felt so real and raw. It's very strange how the book twists, wraps its way in the mind, it sneaks up on you, takes you by surprise, the sum is infinitely greater than its parts. I would recommend it as a good read. Not one of my favorites, but it is Quality Literature, and Quality Storytelling.
I posted a thread on the suggest me a book subreddit asking for suggestions based on my obsession with Serial and True Detective and someone suggested Capote's In Cold Blood. I found it at a local book store for like $6 and started reading it. I am grateful for that person on reddit who suggested it because I'm half way through and it is exactly what I was looking for.
OitNB and A Brief History of Time. Very departed from my normal epic fantasy binge reading.
I'm reading Shaw's "The Doctor's Dilemma." I just started reading Shaw, so I'm pretty new to his plays, but I thought "Major Barbara" was great. I'm excited to start "Pygmalion" as well.
I've been struggling and clawing my way through The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell and The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. I have this bad habit of not being able to focus on one single book at a time. It's been a... confusing experience. Maybe I should really just try and focus on one.
I'm between books at the moment -- I need to choose between The Journey to the east by Herman Hesse and The Circle by Dave Eggers, the next two books on my reading pile. Since moving to the US, I've been trying to read through the Bible; I'm not religious, but it's a big part of life and conversation out here, so I feel like it'd be good for me. I also feel that by not having read it I'm probably missing out on lots of literary and art references, so maybe it'll be good for my general education.
The Power of Babel (John McWhorter) and a book of short stories written by the author of The Lottery.
I dealt with some sexism at a tech conference. I got back and told my boss, who asked a senior women if she had any books she would recommend. She recommended that, which I thought was kinda badass. Instead of fuzzy self help, her advice is basically "be a samurai".