What book are you reading right now?

This lavish four-volume overview of the life and work of the great Russian painter Kasimir Malevich costs £300 so I had to borrow a copy... but it's very good. Beautiful illustrations and a gripping biography, and I'm barely a third of the way through Vol 1. This will keep me going for the rest of the year I think...

Just came out. The previous two volumes were outstanding. A combination of great historical research with exquisite writing.

From the V&A exhibition:

For the third time.

It was so bad, I felt I had to write an Amazon review.

steve

The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem.

Last time I read it was about 10 years ago, always puts a smile on my face. Reminded to read it when the term was used in Dr Who to describe the leaders of the cyber men in a recent episode.

Hi FatCat,

just wanted to say that this  post has sent me right back to when I was 13 and we read this book as part of our English classes...can't remember a damn thing about it except the cover.

Jason.

Haven't read this since I was a student 30 years ago. Just re-reading it. In a world of CCTV cameras and Google, the idea of living in a glass city where nobody has any privacy isn't quite as daft as it seemed in 1982.

Jason

I've read it 3 or 4 times and it doesn't take me long to forget what it's about, a collection of short stories aren't easy to remember. You'd probably enjoy it now your a little older.

The cover depicts a machine invented by Trurl that can create anything beginning with the letter n.

http://english.lem.pl/home/boo...w-the-word-was-saved

Just purchased these two books at the Nobel Centre here in Oslo for my holiday to Naples, where I intend to lay on the beach and read them....lets see.

i have been meaning to read Benedict Anderson's for a while now, so looking forward to that.

Fatcat, yes I should...the book sounds very intriguing

Jason

http://www.nationalbook.org/nb...rs.html#.UbfK5ByHdck

First Tolstoy. Luckily it comes in two volumes limiting the back strain of carrying all 1444 pages.

A wonderful history of British cinema, from the silent days onward:

Mad but madly funny.

steve

Okay, if you are anywhere near the socialst persuasion, this book will truly grate.

Three pages in and it becomes clear where this guy is heading and by the end of the introduction he suggests that we can use this book as a reference guide to tell if your country is heading down the road to tyranny and the best bit is that we should use the States as the datum....Jesus, the audacity!

In addition, the guy is clearly from the American neocon persuasion and is so obviously biased against any centralised government policy thinking (moderate welfare statism), such as state run health care. In his view, centralised government is the precursor to handing over freedom to choose to the state in the manner which can be seen in many examples from history, such as the police state of the Roman Empire, Fascist Italy and Nazis Germany...yep you guessed it, TYRANNY!

I am afraid that I took it back (first time in my life) to the Nobel centre and complained to the manager as to why they are stocking a book that proclaims (the European social model) is a road to tryranny. Ironically, the current Nobel Peace Prize is currently awarded to the EU and the centre was showing an excellent photographic exhibition from young European photographers.

Frankly, I am appalled that this book was being sold in the Nobel Peace Centre, I can understand it being sold in a normal book shop, but not a centre that encourages peace, dialogue and understanding, not overt conservative anti welfare state propaganda where he advocates assertive capitalist policies and so called promotion of 'free' democracy...free from any centralised state interference. 

No wonder much of the American populous do not understand socialism when they are peddled this shit by their academics, tv and radio stations, what an utter fool.

I wonder if Norway is heading down the road to Tyranny....?

PLEASE DO NOT BUY 'The Path to Tyranny'!

While I am on the topic, this thread should be called, "What book are you reading now?" 

Jason.

..better than the reviews indicated..

You read it in German, Bert?

EJ

No I am reading the Dutch version - but as I am living in Germany, I always use Amazon.de for the pictures :-), I do by the read everything across three languages Dutch, English and German...

You had me worried there for a sec . Just started The Lost Symbol myself, six chapters in so far so good. 

EJ

I realised I've never read it...

Kevin one of the first book's I was made to read at school.