What book are you reading right now?
Posted by: Chillkram on 23 May 2010
I am currently reading Suetonius, 'The Twelve Caesars'.
How about you?
Not big on historical novels but willing to try. Previous book (Redeployment) is outstanding.
This is some of the most inventive sic-fi I've ever read.
One of the funniest books I have ever read:
"Jesus-H-Christ in a chicken basket! We're on the moon! The f^%$#@g moon! Can you you even f^%$#@g believe it?!"
Yes, hilarious. I've loved that for years.
My favourite, Winky, is the headline from April 16 1912: "World's Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg"; followed by "Bleeping Two-foot Tin Ball Threatens Free World" (1957, Sputnik) and the 1955 triple-header "Whites Invent 'Rock and Roll': New Caucasian Teen Craze Sweeps America; Authorities Assure Public that Negroes Had Nothing to do with Popular Music Form" with "Defense Department to Reinforce Nation's Brassieres - Angora Sweaters Nearing Breaking Point" and "US-Soviet Bombshell Gap Wider Than Ever: America Boasts Incomparable Arsenal of Busts, Gams, Defense department Reports"
I've also just read this. It's a comic book, but quite entertaining. It pulls no punches in its critique of Rand, the writer and the person. She would seem to have been more influential than one would hope.
That looks interesting - I shall put it on my reading list. I'm with you - I find it extraordinary that so many people seem to take Rand seriously.
"In this powerful book, McChrystal and his colleagues show how the challenges they faced in Iraq can be relevant to countless businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. The world is changing faster than ever, and the smartest response for those in charge is to give small groups the freedom to experiment while driving everyone to share what they learn across the entire organization. As the authors argue through compelling examples, the team of teams’ strategy has worked everywhere from hospital emergency rooms to NASA and has the potential to transform organizations large and small."
This continues my foray into Russian Literature after reading 'Crime and Punishment', by Fyodor Dostoevsky. On the last of the 5 stories, 'My Life'. My first exposure to Chekhov. I have enjoyed reading these stories.
PKD is not, I think, a brilliant writer in a technical sense, but his writing is absolutely bursting with ideas, and this is what makes him so compelling. This I am enjoying immensely:
Time for a bit of anthropology:
General McCrystal is giving a speech tomorrow at the Union League Club in Chicago and I am going to try to sneak in.
Enjoyed this very much.....
So working back to this.......
Along with the likes of Brian Glanville and David Yallop, Andrew Jennings has long been one of the most trenchant critics of the stinking, corrupt shitheap that is FIFA. He has been on TV and radio quite a lot over the past week, and comes across extremely well, so I thought I would dive in and read this book, as it seems entirely apposite:
I agree with the comment about "The Man in the High Castle"; it is an imaginative tour de force. The first time I read it I could not get into it for love nor money. So glad I persevered because it is superb; the turning of the tables following a supposed Nazi victory in WWII with details such as the Eighth Army being labelled as we think of the Waffen SS was particularly chilling.
My latest read was this:
Just as compelling as all his other Second World War books; the analysis of the friction between the Allies is particularly well done. I know realise why my Grandad ended up in Denmark in 1945; the fallout from this campaign was the marginalisation of the British contribution to the western theatre.
I've has this for ages but never read it, so I thought... why not give it a go?
I've has this for ages but never read it, so I thought... why not give it a go?
Kevin,
I had the privilege of meeting Carl Hiaasen years ago in a book store where he had discussed mostly the characters of his books. I thought his early ones were very good, in particular 'Double Whammy' (about fishing competition) 'Skin Tight' (about a plastic surgeon). If you like is hilarious style I recommend them. I found the later books to be boring and less funny.
Haim
A new book telling the story of a remote firebase put near the Cambodian border to be a bait for the North Vietnamese forces.
Taking a break from the non-fictions with a detective story taking place among the bayous of Louisiana. The nature descriptions put you right there.
Superlative history of literary obscenity trials (Lady Chatterley, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Ulysses, Madame Bovary etc) - all the way back to Fanny Hill in 1749! What's really interesting is just how misguided and ill-informed would-be censors and those who wish to impose their version of morality on others almost always are. Flaubert's Bovary was accused of "glorifying adultery" but most sentient beings who've read the book will think - given Emma's death and before it, boredom - the exact opposite.
