Summer reading

[Flenker]

who else out there has been reading literature over these summer months?  I know I have.  Here's what I've read so far:

Catcher in the Rye
Franny and Zooey
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
Nine Stories
all by J.D. Salinger, all re-reads

Breakfast of Champions
Galapagos
by Kurt Vonnegut

The Art of War by Sun Tsu

and a couple others that escape me right now...  so post your books!!

and I know with my first two posts I've had some sort of list (see sights forum), but I promise I will actually have stuff to say at times

[AugustWest]

I've read and enjoyed all of those.  In fact, those two authors are particular favorites of mine.  Must say I like Breakfast of Champions better than Galapagos.

Hmmm, what have I been reading.

A Thousand Acres by Jane :) was most excellent.
I'm in the middle of The Dogs of Babel and it's pretty terrific too.

Janet Evanovich's To the Nines was pretty funny.  Better than Hard Eight.

My current long-term serious reading project is Father Fred Coppleston's History of Philosophy.  It's good, and easier going than I had anticipated.

[CortJstr]

Summer 2K1 I read some of the books I was supposed to in HS.  So I read Catch-22, Brave New World, and F 451 among other. I also discovered the awesome new translations of the Iliad & Odyssey.

This year I'm working newer stuff, going through Da Vinci Code, Angel's & Demons, and Grift Sense. And next month, Dune.

Also, Cat's Cradle is my favorite book ever.

[Flenker]

Salinger and Vonnegut are probably two of my favorite authors, along with Nick Hornby and a couple others.  And I agree, I enjoyed Breakfast of Champions more than Galapagos.  I've also read Slaughterhouse Five and Hocus Pocus, but have yet to read Cat's Cradle, I keep hearing good things about it.  The library in my town does not have it, but I will be moving in a week and am sure the new library will have it.

How is The DaVinci Code?  That's another I've been meaning to read but haven't gotten to yet

[CortJstr]

I tried to start a thread about Da Vinci before:

FYI, no spoilers in this post.

So I was originally re-reading Welcome to the Monkey House but decided I wasn't in much of a short story mood so on a whim I picked up The Da Vinci Code the other day.

Damn. I read like 250 pages last night right before bed and considered calling in sick to work today so I could stay up and finish it. The author looks like a total conspiracy theory nut-job but the story is just really interesting.

I must say it has perhaps the world's crappiest web game to go along with it but I can ignore that.

I'm a fan of short chapters in general and his seem to imply that everything is totally linear with no "meanwhiles" or "later that day" jumps going on. I think there's one point on like page 200 where you realize it's only been a couple of hours since page 1 so that gives it a very "Sunday Through Thursday" kind of feel to thing (btw, points to anybody who gets that reference).

Somebody else has to have read it. Anybody?

Sometimes the writing isn't great, like I'm convinced the main reason the woman is in the book is so the main character, Langdon, has somebody to spout exposition to but the plot is awesome.

Same with Angels & Demons, which Da Vinci is a sequel to. The structure of the two is nearly identical but the plot itself is so engaging that it's easy to forgive. Also, the last chapter is totally Hollywood. So it's no surprise that they've already started working on Da Vinci Code: The Movie

[slink]

Have to recommend a couple of the greats I have read recently.

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville - regarded as the most original thing since Gormenghast; beautiful writing and imagery in a vast and original fantasy/steam-punk world.
Pashazade and the other Arabesks by Jon Courtenay Grimwood - a kind of whodunnit/cyberpunk set in an Alexandria where Germany won WWI.
Ghostwritten and Number9dream by David Mitchell - just plain wonderful!
Anything by Haruki Murukami - again, just the finest fiction ever written! Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World being probably the best, though Wind Up Bird Chronicles is a close second. Well worth checking out, though the Japanese style of writing is quite unique and can put people off. I guess you either love it or hate it.

And hell, if you haven't read Snowcrash or The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson then I will personally come and beat you round the head with Dimaond Age which is fairly hefty, and will cause haemorrhage!

[ferocious j]

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

If you haven't already, slink, go pick up The Scar, which is about 1000x better, if you can believe it.

Also, if you like that "steampunk" action and you read comics, you also owe it to yourself to get The Nevermen vols I and II by Phil Amara and Guy Davis.

[slink]

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

If you haven't already, slink, go pick up The Scar, which is about 1000x better, if you can believe it.

Also, if you like that "steampunk" action and you read comics, you also owe it to yourself to get The Nevermen vols I and II by Phil Amara and Guy Davis.

Hehe, Yep, I'm currently about halfway through The Scarm, and you're right, it is a lot better, though I did love the feel of New Crobuzon so much that PSS is still somewhat a fave of mine.

I do read comics, though more in the Graphic Novel vain, so collections as opposed to buying comics, mainly just cos I can't afford to start any kinda collection. If I bought a couple I'd end up like my mate who has boxes and boxes!
It also tends to be the Manga stuff that I go for, though steampunk makes me tempted! There's some of the darker US stuff that I do go for, and the Neil Gaiman ones are very good too.
I'll look out for Nevermen!

[ferocious j]

The two Nevermen runs have been collected in trade paperback/"graphic novel" form (in fact, the second one just came out, like, this week or something).  Go get 'em!

[Vinz Clortho]

Nevermen are fantastic, and if you like them you might want to check out The Marquis.  My college friend Bluto, a rich kid with a penchant for comics, had the best collection which I miss very dearly.  He got me turned me on to Blade of the Immortal and got me hooked on Hundred Bullets.

HB is like a crack milkshake.

[ferocious j]

The Marquis is on my list of Things to Buy.  100 Bullets is on my list of Things to Avoid Until I Get Enough Cash to Buy All the Trades at Once, specifically on the advice of my local comic shop proprietor/superstar.  "Don't get that first 100 Bullets unless you're planning on stopping by tomorrow to get the rest of them, 'cause that's what's going to happen."

[starlight]

Anything by Haruki Murukami - again, just the finest fiction ever written! Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World being probably the best, though Wind Up Bird Chronicles is a close second. Well worth checking out, though the Japanese style of writing is quite unique and can put people off. I guess you either love it or hate it.

I double this recommendation ...Norwegian Wood is my absolute favourite out of all of them though - probably cause I somehow related in a way; it reminded me of someone.  After the Quake (the short stories collection) was pretty good, too.

---

As of now I'm reading Why Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon (she writes Squishy and the novel is somewhat based on that).  I'd recommend this to anyone who relates to the internet really though it's about journalling specifically.  I'm only to page 118, but I can tell I will enjoy it to the very end.

A few other authors I read are Margaret Atwood, Eggers, Nick Hornby, Tom Robbins, Amy Tan, and Sue Townsend (it's all about Adrian Mole!).

I have 12 books in queue to read after the current, too (not counting all the manga I've collected that I have yet to get to yet).  Harry Potter I've had for a year and still haven't read the first book; I did have a dream recently that I started it and Harry was my new best friend; um yeah.  I may have to read those next just so my brain stops giving me strange subconscious ideas.

[slink]

Oh yea, for those comic freaks - you absolutely must, if you haven't already, check out Lenore! It's just sublimely fantastic!

[Vinz Clortho]

My favorite Lenore comic is the one with the pigeons waging warfare on man through the "process of elimination."

"Carl! Do you still have the runs?!"

"....yes."

"HOORAY!!"

[CortJstr]

The two Nevermen runs have been collected in trade paperback/"graphic novel" form (in fact, the second one just came out, like, this week or something).  Go get 'em!

Is Nevermen the older book they were talking about on the History Channel that was pretty graphic? Like lots of innocent death and sort of "twist" kind of endings?