What are you reading?
 

I'm currently wondering what folks here are reading at the moment, especially considering reading of any kind is far superior to any other medium of entertainment. :herriman:

Right now, I'm reading Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs and Best American Short Stories of 2007. How about all of you?

I'm currently reading Brecht on Theatre for my theatre class, which is a collection of essays from the playwright...Brecht, of course. But for my own enjoyment? A book from the wonderful Twilight series called New Moon and the Quality, Taste, and Style book by Tim Gunn (I love me some Tim Gunn...he's too awesome :P).

i dont read much, but i read the lottery by shirley jackson reciently.

weird story.

Currently I'm reading volume 18 of Naruto. The last novel I read was Dracula. If all comes together though, I'll be reading "Stephen Colbert: I am America and so can you" once I unwrap it on my birthday next month.:bloogrin:

I'm reading what others have written and what I've just written :P

^ 8D

The last work of fiction that I read was a Foster's fanfic; it was not a happy experience, not by any stretch of the imagination. As for actual books I recently picked up a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, which I haven't started yet, and completed a Star Trek novel ("Q In-Law") last week. Pretty funny story. Lately I've been reading through my collection of role-playing handbooks and supplements, mostly for the entertainment value as I'm not currently involved in a RP group.

"I Am America (And So Can You!)". I love how the only review on the back of the book is by the book's author. Stephen Colbert is awesome.

Plus just the title makes me chortle to myself.

I adore Stephen Colbert too, and his new book sounds excellent. Don't let any bears near it though; they'll just maul it because they hate Mr. Colbert.

On topic, I am currently reading Frankenstein, the classic scary novel, for my English class and also Cod:A Biography of The Fish That Changed The World.

Btw, in response to Cassini's response, I have read another of Ayn Rand's works within the last month, though it wasn't Atlas Shrugged. I just wanted to mention this because I'm a Rand fan and was pondering his novel choice.

I've heard a great deal about the book in the last year or so, mostly from other authors who frequently quoted her or cited her as a source; I found a copy at one of my area's larger bookstores after a fairly lengthy search and bought it on the spot.

I'm on #6 of the Alien Nation novels (there's 8). I've also been rereading over my Bug's Life fanfic and saved roleplays...I've just felt like it. ;)

Besides reading this post, I'm reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Now that I think about it, the last novel I read was actually "Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday". It's the prequel novel to the Bay movie, but you wouldn't know it since Bay ignored the importance of continuity with products related to your own movie. The book itself was pretty forgettable, though.

My friend Monique heartily recommended Naked Lunch to me, and Cass, Atlas Shrugged is, what, 700+ pages? :P i read Ayn Rand's "Anthem" which was closer to 100, good book.

Last one i read was "Molon Labe" by Boston T. Party. About thousand of Libertarians who strategically move to Wyoming to influence the elections there, the end result being Libertarian policies making Wyoming a free state while Washington gets angrier and angrier that Wyoming isn't towing the Party line...i won't spoil the ending but 6"Molon Labe" means "Come and take them". King Leonidas said this to Xerxes when he told his 300 Spartans, "we don't want your lives, just lay down your arms."

Come and take them

Excluding the introduction, table of contents, and the "about the author" segment, it comes in at 1059 pages. Should keep me quiet for awhile. 8D

The last book I read was The Princess Diaries, Volume II- Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cobot. Funny book, much, MUCH better than the movies (although, I like the movies, too). The one I'm currently reading, which I admit I've been working on for a while now is Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I love the story and the language from 200 years ago, but it's kind of hard to read at times, and it doesn't help that I'm already familiar with the story and know all that happens. It seems I only take it out again when I get inspired. :nyah:


edit: S&S is by Jane Austen, not Jane Eyre. "Jane Eyre" is actually the title of a novel, in which the story takes place around the same time as S&S. Ack, I always get them confused!

I'm currently reading Engaged, a play by W. S. Gilbert which dates back to 1877 and was apparently very influencial on Oscar Wilde. It's part of my preparations for a seminar next week on Victorian theatre.

I currently have Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene set aside as my next reading for pleasure when I find the time - though I'm usually so laiden with set texts during term time that I'm often not able to get much independent reading done within that time. I'm also gradually working my way through a book of short stories by Raymond Carver.

The name sounds familiar, was this converted to a movie under a different name?

Monty :-[

Yes! :frankiesmile: There have been a couple movies made from this book, but the most popular, and most recent, is the 1995 production starring Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...nie_Lyn/SS.jpg

It might remind many people of the "grown up movie" of Frankie's Mac and Bloo try watching in "Squeeze the Day". One must have a genuine interest in Jane Austen's writing, Regency times, historical costumes and/or sappy love stories to really enjoy it. Otherwise, it'll easily come across as boooooorrriiiinnnggggg. ::) I personally like the movie, but again, the book is better.

well, my attempts at free verse, which i just wrote a few minutes ago.

I'm reading I Sing the Body Electric! a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. :)

im reading a book called the alchemyst (im sure you saw that coming) it is such a good book. anyone else read it?

I wish I could recommend Naked Lunch, but I really can't. It is Burroughs seminal work, in that it gives you a view of how he came to a bunch of the themes he addresses in his later works, but it's so utterly out there, unconnected, and truly vile, that I eventually gave up on it (something I rarely ever do).

Right now, I'm rereading the manga series Rourouni Kenshin while looking for another book to start.

shes a trippy and disconected chick, so i expected it to be pretty out-there.

heck, i actually understood "Zardoz" so i cant judge anybody 8D

She sounds nice. 'The Naked Lunch' is pretty hard going though, there's moments of real insight there as well as some totally unreadable stuff.

Currently I'm reading 'The Child Garden' by Geoff Ryman for the 2nd time this year because I love it so much.

Yeah shes a good girl. I think Naked Lunch is about drugs or something (i honestly never looked at it) and her dad is a pretty messed up cokehead, so she might have thought it was a brilliant piece of work when it really wasn't. I ought to check it out. Whats "Child Garden" about, Koos?

Oh yeh Burroughs was a slave to heroin. Totally messed him up like it does everyone who ends up on it, takes away your pain while eating your life. It'd more likely be coke, crack or crystal meth these days. Sorry about your friend's dad. Same everywhere, some dealer getting rich off people suffering.

The Child Garden is a SF novel about London In I guess about 300 years time where the most significant difference (apart from the climate) is the advances bio-engineering. New structures are grown from coral (the old held up by bamboo) and babies are educated by virus so they're effectively programmed with all the information society thinks they need including behaviour programming. Sadly many of the children are orphans as a botched attempt to cure cancer has halved life expectancy. You'd like it I'm sure, theres a little bit of Zardoz in it as the main character Milena has to read the old books to catch up with what everyone else knows as she's immune to the viruses. It's actually a very nice book, full of love, friendship and flowers, and leaves you feeling very positive.
:)

Shes a very positive and motivated young lady, actually. Shes going to be very succesful at whatever she does. Hard worker, absolutely freaking BRILLIANT as well.

Sounds like a good book, Koos, i'll pick it up :D

lord of the flies. I plan on reading the da-vinci code soon afterwards.

I'm currently plowing my way through the 1632 alternate history series by Eric Flint, which is odd, as Flint's a military science fiction writer, and I don't usually like military science fiction.

Currently, I'm suffering through Othello for my Advanced Placement Literature and Composition class. Dear Lord is it BORING! :herrsleep:

All I can get from it so far is that Spoiler Below We need to read Scene 3, thereby finshing Act I, for Thursday. Yeah right. :wiltyeahright: Man, I hate Shakespeare.

The last thing I read for pleasure was chapter 17 of "Nothing is Impossible," an Ant Bully fanfic on ff.net, which I'm beta reading for the author. It's really good; I'm currently waiting for her to send me chapter 18.

I couldn't get into Nothing Is Impossible. I'd write AB fic but no one would like it because Stan is my favorite character. 8D

im into "Food of the Gods" by Terrence McKenna. the guy is trying to tell me that early hominids evolved into humans because they ate psychedelic mushrooms...and honestly its a valid argument backed up by strong evidence. This guy did TONS of research and "field work" (tripping)

awesome book

A couple of Henry James novellas - the Turn of the Screw and the Aspern Papers.

Sadly, reading can lose its charm somewhat when you know you'll be expected to clinically dissect the texts in question at a seminar the next day.

Oh, yeah, that is so true. Same with TV shows, movies, and games, too. Makes you wonder if being a professional reviewer is a worthwhile career or not.

I am currently reading the newest issue of Scientific American. ;D

i just finished the new issue of "Guns and Ammo"

not a very good one, but it did highlight the Sig 210, which looks neat. Too bad they're impossible to find in the States :P

Now I am forced to dig into Geoffery Chauser's The Canterbury Tales, courtesy of my English class.

The structure of the work is quite different from the other works of literature I have been reading and studying in class. It's a bit easier to read, and allows for many differing styles of prose to be presented in one collected work.

A quick question: Who here has read The Canterbury Tales as part of required reading for their English classes? I would like to know, just out of curiosity, if anyone here has.

That would be me. Each of us in my junior English class had to read the entire set. I found them rather dull at the time, possibly because it was assigned reading instead of reading for pleasure.

Read 'The Franklin's Tale' for A-level when I was 18. It didn't make me want to read any more but I liked all the ways you can see from it the language has changed since then and I still love the Chaucer-era pronounciation of 'Knight'.

Well, we were only required to read The Wife of Bath's tale, which I was familiar with, for class.

I enjoyed it, but I'm also thankful for koosie's suggestion. Maybe I'll get to reading The Franklin's Tale during the break.

And, yes, the English language sure has changed since Chaucer's time. Imagine writing and posting online comments in Middle English!

I also had to read CT...I think it was in college though. But I really don't remember it; I was an English major and I had to read SO much for multiple Lit classes simultaneously that I was often able to get by just attending the lectures and not actually reading the material, lol. So I may not have even read it. I still have my copy though.

Anyways I finished the Alien Nation novels and now I'm reading the companion book to the entire AN franchise. A lot of interesting stuff about what went on behind the scenes etc.