What are you reading now?
It's been over a year since Sarzy's initial "What are you reading?" post. As an excuse to go nuts on the *amazon invocation - and because I'm reading a great book at the moment, here's another post that asks, what are you reading now? Maybe we could do these every few months.
I'm about 3/4 through The Amazing Adeventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. It's a story in equal turns about comic books, the holocaust and magic. Seems like a strange combination - but I haven't been able to put it down. I'm not a comic book guy, but this book makes me love them as it takes place in the golden era of the art form. Lots of real comic book people turn up in the book - if I were a comic book guy I could probably rattle off a few names but as it is, I only remember Stan Lee.
I probably don't need to recommend this book, as it won the Pulitzer prize - but I will anyway. I was led there from reading some of Chabon's other books. I especially liked the alternate universe noire detective novel The Yiddish Policeman's Union.
I'm about 3/4 through The Amazing Adeventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. It's a story in equal turns about comic books, the holocaust and magic. Seems like a strange combination - but I haven't been able to put it down. I'm not a comic book guy, but this book makes me love them as it takes place in the golden era of the art form. Lots of real comic book people turn up in the book - if I were a comic book guy I could probably rattle off a few names but as it is, I only remember Stan Lee.
I probably don't need to recommend this book, as it won the Pulitzer prize - but I will anyway. I was led there from reading some of Chabon's other books. I especially liked the alternate universe noire detective novel The Yiddish Policeman's Union.
26 Comments
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)
Interesting that Jamie Bell is being considered for the screen adaptation of Kavalier and Clay for the Joe role. That's exactly who I was picturing in my head.
rasch187I'm halfway through a great Potemkin biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore. It's really interesting and well researched. It debunks a lot of the myths concerning Potemkin and Catherine the Great and is well written. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in history.
kronosposeidonI'm glad you finally got around to reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, dag. I told ya you'd like it. I just finished Larry Niven's 1983 novel The Integral Trees. It wasn't nearly as good as Ringworld, and his idea of humans evolving so quickly in just 500 years seemed a little preposterous, but it was alright. If nothing else it might give some of you transhumanists pause about being frozen for the future, though that's not at all the thrust of the novel. I don't want to be a spoiler, so google "corpsicle" or "copsik" if you really want to know what I'm talking about.
PsychologicI'm reading The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil.
I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it. I recommend it for people interested in the direction technology is going, whether you agree with his future predictions or not (I agree with the predictions, but I'm not sold on the time line yet).
DeanoI'm reading Black Man by Richard Morgan (Thirteen in the U.S). Loved his Takeshi Kovacs novels and though this is supposedly inferior I'm still enjoying it.
radxOrdered a batch of books from Amazon just last week, so now I'm reading Bertrand Russel's Why I Am Not a Christian.
OrnthoronI am not a big Stephen King fan, but I have enjoyed his Dark Tower series so far. So now I am giving his most celebrated novel a chance, namely "The Stand". It's pretty good so far, but it's starting to go off into his formulaic good and evil stuff. The coolest thing about the book is that it starts off with a worldwide deadly flu epidemic, and I started reading it about one week before the news of the swine flu appeared.
blankfistWhat am I reading? Comments written by me. I'm a narcissist.
CrakeI'm reading Accelerando by Charles Stross, because it was one of very few books available as free (Creative Commons) ebooks on my ipod touch.
It didn't start out super well-written, but it takes place during Kurzweil's singularity, so now I can't put it down due to the sheer amount of posthuman wish-fulfillment.
Update: It seems the amazon voting buttons don't lock if I refresh the page after I've voted?? I may have snuck in an illicit extra vote for Diamond Age...
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)
I loved Accelerando. - you're right, Stross's writing gets a bit muddy at times - but he's a high concept genius. The ideas in the book had me spinning for days.
For me, the best SF writers are futurists - oracles of potential futures- in the tradition of AC Clarke. Stross fits this description nicely.
CrakeHe does, he does
... But he crams a LOT of ideas into a little prose. And the Doctorow-ish championing of copyright issues is weird and off-putting.
rougyWow! The Amazon invocation worked!
I was sure I was going to bring down the servers.
Reading a few books, as always, but Sayonara is the newest and one of my favorites.
Post WWII Japan, a fighter pilot ace falls in love with a famous Japanese theater actress. It's a very vulnerable, young love tale.
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)
>> ^Crake:
He does, he does ... But he crams a LOT of ideas into a little prose. And the Doctorow-ish championing of copyright issues is weird and off-putting.
Yeah, he and Doctorow are probably best buddies - I like the championing of copyright issues though - he's walking the talk of some of the concepts in his books.
blankfistOkay, seriously, who the hell downvoted Everyone Poops?! That's an awesome book, and believe it or not I actually DO own a copy. I also own The Gas We Pass which is another children's book but about farts.
In fact, I'm gonna add that shit to this list.
NetRunnerI'll be reading Woken Furies by Richard Morgan once I find where I left it.
SarzyI'm tempted to lie and say I'm currently reading Ulysses or something along those lines, but as it happens I'm reading John Grisham's the Appeal at the moment. It's not exactly high art, but if you like Grisham it's pretty decent (so far at least).
EdeotI finally got around to reading Catcher in the Rye. Curiously, it wasn't in my high school curriculum. But I don't get it. It's an angsty kid walking around NY. What's the point?
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)
^ It was kind of the coming-of-age novel for that generation. JD Saliinger = Douglas Coupland.
deputydogi'm not reading a novel at the moment, just shitloads of books related to architecture, machinery and graffiti. it's a fucking blast.
'mural art: large scale art from walls around the world' is one of the best books i ever got my hands on. the photos in it are ridiculously awesome and it's the kind of book anyone and everyone will be impressed by. seriously. did i tell you it's fucking awesome yet?
'spacecraft: fleeting architecture and hideouts' is a book i've had for over a year now and i've just returned to it for the umpteenth time. even if you don't appreciate architecture you'll love this book. it's got a house in it where the furniture slides into the wallspace, a treehouse on top of a skyscraper, an incredible structure in thailand called 'hybrid muscle' which the locals attach buffalo to in order to generate electricity. if i could marry a book it'd be this one.
'over: the american landscape at the tipping point' is a photographic wankfest. this alex maclean fella got in a small plane and took hundreds of aerial photos of the american landscape where nature and humans have collided. it's a treat.
JAPRI'm going to reread Ender's Game soon.
blankfist>> ^Edeot:
I finally got around to reading Catcher in the Rye. Curiously, it wasn't in my high school curriculum. But I don't get it. It's an angsty kid walking around NY. What's the point?
>> ^dag:
^ It was kind of the coming-of-age novel for that generation. JD Saliinger = Douglas Coupland.
If it has to be explained why you should like it, you know it's good!
peggedbeai trying to fly through rereading sex before classes start up again next week. i think at work tonight i should pull out some neat facts for you all.
maybe find some videos for some nice sexy femme sifts.
woot woot.
yourhydraworld without end by ken follet. pillars of the earth was great too
kronosposeidonI'll always *quality a Books talk post.
siftbotAwarding dag with one star point for this contribution to Sift Talk - declared quality by kronosposeidon.
kulpimsHow Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions by Francis Wheen
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