What are you reading?

Tell us about the book you're currently reading.  Please don't just post the book but give a bit of a report too.  I don't want this to be a spam topic


Currently reading:

The House of The Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky

My thoughts;

I think it's a very good book.  I started reading it being a little indimidated because my impression of Russian literature is that it's hard and heavy.  Not that I mind heavy reading, it's just that the book I read previous to this was "Paradise Lost" by John Milton and I was looking for something a little lighter than that.  It's actually a very easy read.  I guess that may depend on your translation.  Books like this really make me want to learn their original language so I can enjoy it how it was supposed to be read.  Still the characters are very appealing and I really enjoy the great sense of optimism about the world and humanity that it portrays.  Essentially it's about being in a Serbian prison camp during the 1800s.  I would definitely recommend it, it's no surprise that it's still in print almost 150 years after it was written.  I plan on reading more Dostoevsky since this is the first book of his I've read but I have a lot of other books to read before I get onto another.  This was his first major work (in terms of popularity) so it was a good piece to begin with.

Dostoevsky is good, certainly. I just finished reading Amerika by Franz Kafka (not one of his better books), and am now beginning:

Echoes of Honor by David Weber. It's science fiction, taking place in a fairly distant future (about 2000 years from now). It's fairly late in his excellent Honor series, about the exploits of Commodore Honor Harrington in the long war between the Star Kingdom of Manticore (good guys) and the People's Republic of Haven (bad guys). It's space opera on a grand scale, and definitely recommended. It's none too heavy, but very well written and intelligently thought out.

Often I will read a nonfiction book at the same time as a fiction book. I'm still reading Echoes of Honor (about halfway through), but I just picked up a VERY interesting book: Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. It's written by a white journalist who takes a variety of medical treatments that essentially changes his skin color to black, shaves off his hair, and goes to the deep South (the book was written in the late 50s) to study how blacks are treated. He actually changes between white and black several times to see how the same people (who actually do not recognize him when he changes his 'race') treat him as a white man or a black man.
I also checked out The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould, it deals with biological determinism and how science once was (and sometimes still is) misused to give a basis for racial and cultural discrimination.

The two best Dostoevsky books are probably Crime and Punishment and The Idiot.

Well, those are the ones *I* think are his two best.

Often I will read a nonfiction book at the same time as a fiction book. I'm still reading Echoes of Honor (about halfway through), but I just picked up a VERY interesting book: Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. It's written by a white journalist who takes a variety of medical treatments that essentially changes his skin color to black, shaves off his hair, and goes to the deep South (the book was written in the late 50s) to study how blacks are treated. He actually changes between white and black several times to see how the same people (who actually do not recognize him when he changes his 'race') treat him as a white man or a black man.
I also checked out The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould, it deals with biological determinism and how science once was (and sometimes still is) misused to give a basis for racial and cultural discrimination.

Black like Me is a great book.

Currently, I'm reading many books books

In Spanish: El Cid
In English: Divine Comedy (again), 1984 (again), Farewell to Arms (again, for school)

I love both those books, and decided I was going to just reread them while I wait 'till I get a new book to read.

The two best Dostoevsky books are probably Crime and Punishment and The Idiot.

Well, those are the ones *I* think are his two best.

Crime and Punishment is my favorite of those I have read, I haven't read The Idiot however.

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony, by Eoin Colfer

As of now, I'm not quite done yet. It's interesting. Always happy to learn more of a history on a book series that I like. Some people may say it's "The same old shit over and fucking over", but, meh.  I like it.

xD

Does anybody know what the Myst series' books are? It's based upon the game.

Bump:

Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S Thompson.

Fucking brilliant.  I've owned this book for a while now, but finally reading it.  It was slow to begin with, but I'm so into it now.  Hunter S Thompson gives you such a real perspective on life and everything he writes about, even if he's not literally honest all the time.  The intrigue and tension in the July chapter was probably the best I've ever read.  I'm about 2 thirds done now and loving it.  I think Richard Dawkins is next - I'll probably read most of his work - especially The Blind Watchmaker, but we'll see what happens when I finish.

Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler

House of Bernarda Alba by Lorca
Paradise Lost, and then Paradise Regained, by Milton.

The End of Faith by Sam Harris, and Saturn's Race by Larry Niven.

Larry Niven is one of my two favorite sci-fi authors (the other being Orson Scott Card) and Saturn's Race is a plausible look at a near future scenario where rich, long-lived, populationally-stable societies are worried about what will happen when they are competing against poor, short-lived, exponentially-growing populations in the third world for the Earth's finite resources.

I'm sure you all already know what The End of Faith is about - I'm still reading chapter 1, so I don't have much to say about it yet.

I just finished rereading The Time Machine and War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Currently I'm reading some bits from Bukowski's Dangling in the Tournefortia and also I just picked up, but haven't gotten to reading Bukowski's Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts. He's a brilliant writer.


~D-Draw

Somme Mud by E.F Lynch

Excellent book, will soon be seen on many Australian school curriculums...

Raymond E Feist books , because ive just finished reading Hamlet, Macbeth and the Begger Opera for English and Drama studies. i like to read something completely fantasy and unrealistic after haveing to analyse fictional charcters psychological health for the last 3 years.
the Beggers Opera by Jhon Gay is more relevent to theatre than literature though

I'm reading the next book in the Honor Harrington series, Ashes of Victory.

Currently reading 2 books;

The Blind Watchmaker; Richard Dawkings.

About time I read this, considering it's regarded as the most important book on evolution since Origin.  Pretty good, as I expected.  Richard Dawkings is awesome.


The Curse of Lono;  Hunter S Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman.

Pretty much the greatest book ever.  It cost $125 so it better be good .  My HST collection is getting pretty good.  I now own 6 of his books.  I have 11 to go, but they're all collections of essays, I now own all his real books - I guess apart from Mistah Leary - He Dead but considering there are only 300 copies of that one, I don't like my chances of getting it

Reading Wild Swana by Jung Chang at the moment, about half way through now and finding it fascinating. Gives a really good insight into what happened in China in the last century.

I just finished reading Starlight and Time (not a long book), and I'm reading a couple books now. I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo in a compilation book with three of Dumas' works, and reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, also in a compilation book with seven from Wells.

~D-Draw

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It is a bit of a break for me, since I read mostly historical non-fictious books. In this book the main character is slowly losing his mind while editing a story called "The Navidson Record", written by an strange old man who passed away. I am less than half way through the book because it is an ebook (.lit format), and it is hard for me to stare at a computer screen for very long. I am considering buying an actual book version, but I am too cheap...

Maybe i should start reading some books too...

Previous book (finished on monday): Sacred Ground by Barbarah Wood

Current book: Treasure Island: According to Spike Milligan (his rendition of Black beauty is helarious)

Next book: I think I'll read Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchell 

Just finished At All Costs, the (so far) last book in David Weber's fantastic Honor Harrington series. This series just gets better and better, I can't wait for the next one.
Currently reading The Design Revolution by William Dembski.

Currently reading 2 books;

The Blind Watchmaker; Richard Dawkings.

About time I read this, considering it's regarded as the most important book on evolution since Origin.  Pretty good, as I expected.  Richard Dawkings is awesome.

Have you read 'The God Delusion'? It's very good. I like one particular description of God based on the old Testament.

I'm supposed to be reading The Hot Zone, but I've currently skimmed a total of two pages.

Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crime in a Free Society - Peter McWilliams

That's not my main read...I have been completing a lot of books lately. Still, I suggest it for everyone here. It fits into nearly everyone's paradigm here. It's very obvious most of it, but it's strange how NONE of this is done.

" Discussions over the wherefores and whys of governance frequently turn into heated debates over one substantive issue: to what extent is the government, acting on behalf of the public good, justified in assuming the in loco parentis role in the lives of private citizens?

Peter McWilliams answers a resounding Never! Mustering an impressive series of arguments that range from constitutional deconstruction to Bible study to cost/benefit analysis, McWilliams has written what could serve as a libertarian holy book, although its style is more pop self-help colloquial than King James.

In parts, Nobody's Business shares the same tendency to confuse rant with logic as the society it criticizes, particularly in the later parts of the book when a discussion of drug laws spins off into a stern lecture on cigarette smoking, caffeine quaffing, and demon alcohol. And one never quite loses the feeling that McWilliams is preaching to the converted. Still the book is worthwhile reading. Victimless crimes -- however much these behaviors may deviate from social norms -- have become the frontier along which the battle for individual civil rights is continually being fought." - by Patrizia DiLucchio

So, I just popped out and got myself Frank Miller's Ronin, the graphic novel (yeah, yeah, shut up). It's really good so far (though could you expect less from Miller?).

~D-Draw

Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut

Better than his other books I've read, and that's saying something, because I also enjoyed Galapagos and Jailbird.

Vonnegut's take on man's purpose in life is very interesting.

@dann:
A Wrinkle in Time is for teenage girls who would like to pretend that they're smart, and want a book that they can read in front of their friends so that others will think they're smart too. Btw, the best book in the series is the fourth one.

Earth: Not A Globe - Samuel Birley Rowbotham, 1881.

You know I was just sitting there thinking to myself "I could really use some useless information, that would be really good at the moment".

Have you read 'The God Delusion'? It's very good. I like one particular description of God based on the old Testament.

Wow, that's the second time I've been asked that question.  The answer is an emphatic yes, I've read it.