What books are you currently reading?

bitter79

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

It's escapist sci-fi I know, but even escapist sci-fi gives you interesting ideas to think about.

It's basically a detective story set in the 23rd century. The main twist is that human consciousness is now stored in a cortical 'stack' in the base of the skull, allowing your consciousness to be 'resleeved' into another body should you ever meet an unfortunate demise

. One can only imagine the moral & philosophical issues that would arise...

It's a winner of the Philip K. Dick award, & seeing as how I love his work, it was a no-brainer. It's pretty good, I just haven't had a lot of time to read lately. I've got some other lighter reads lined up for the summer(Child of Fortune, Fountains of Paradise), but I do find myself missing a meatier read from time to time. I plan on reading 'Taiko' by Eji Yoshinaka come fall, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long

Anyone else?

"But Liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near-war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government."
- Aldous Huxley

Mr. Pessimistic

Enders Game and End of Faith.

On the shelf and next on the list, any of the following:

1) The Scientists - by John Gribbin. History of the major players in science.

2) After Many a Summer...- by Huxley

3) Ogre, Ogre - Piers Anthony (Xanth is my escape reading!)

4) Breaking the Spell - Daniel Dennett.

I try to lay out a few books ahead of time and tend to read about 3-4 at a time lately.

Next?

Mr. P.
::72

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

Once you perceive the irrevocable truth, you can no longer justify the irrational denial. - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

MadArchitect

I've got way too many concurrent books going at the moment. I need to pare it down to about four. And fortunately I've finished a few up in the last several days. These are the one's I'm most active with at the moment.

1. "The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century", Roland H Bainton
2. "Theories of Primitive Religion", E. E. Evans-Pritchard
3. "Fifth Business", Robertson Davies
4. "Mookraker", Ian Fleming
5. "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism", Robert Jay Lipton
6. "The Vampire: His Kith and Kin", Montague Summers

In the meantime, I'm stalled somewhere near the middle of a few other books:

7. "Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation", Laura Silber and Allan Little
8. "The Changelings", old Japanese novel
9. "Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong", J. L. Mackie

riverc0il

"End of Faith" by Harris
"Rise of American Democracy" by Wilentz

Just finished Ender's Game by Card and will begin reading the sequel "Speaker of the Dead" as soon as I am done with Harris. I had three concurrent books going earlier this week which is very rare for me. I usually like to stick to one at a time.

MadArchitect

You may want to put a little time between "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead", river. They're very different books, and the transition from one to another can be jarring.

riverc0il

No worries, I know that stylistically they are extremely different and I am ready for the change over. It was interesting reading "Ender's Game," because the only other Card I have read was "Hart's Hope." Suffice to say, the writing style differences between these two books was HUGE! My expectations are leveled accordingly.

bitter79

Island by Huxley

"But Liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near-war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government."
- Aldous Huxley

the hive queen

Shadow of a Giant by Orson Scott Card. This is the final sequel to the "ender's game" series. I'm not far enough yet to have an opinion.

I just finished "Shogun" by James Clavell. I highly recommend this one. It's a fictional story based in historically acurate Japan in the 1600's. It may have taken first place in my list of favorite books.

"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody is watching." -- Keller Williams

Edited by: Chris OConnor at: 4/16/06 11:25 pm

bitter79

Shogun is a fantastic book! I read that last year & have been wanting to read some more historical fiction about Japan. I currently have lined up: Taiko & Musashi By Eiji Yoshikawa & the Shike series by Robert Shea.

"But Liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near-war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government."
- Aldous Huxley

missmejane

right now ive just started reading the neverending story and the picture of dorian gray.

im half way through endurece. a book im reading for school.

i just finished reading princess bride and spindles end. im in such a fairy tale mood.

tarav

I am reading End of Faith. Just an hour ago I finished Marley & Me. The book was a gift from one dog lover to another. I had it sitting around for a few months. Then, a refrigerator repairman discussed reading it with me last week while fixing my refrigerator. Yes, I talk to everyone about books! LOL His comments made me want to read it. It was a cute little story. I cried at the end though. ::17

Mr. Pessimistic

Never read Visser...any works you recommend? I will do a search in the meantime.

Mr. P.
::72

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

Once you perceive the irrevocable truth, you can no longer justify the irrational denial. - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

MadArchitect

Loricat: Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (someone linked to a section of her essay on morality...I was intrigued, went out to buy it)

That would be me. What do you think of it? I linked to the morality essay because it seemed to be the easiest to tie into some of our pet themes here, but a number of her essays are quite interesting.

Loricat

Mr. P: Never read Visser...any works you recommend?

If you only read one book by her, read "The Rituals of Dinner" -- about how table manners etc. developed. I enjoyed this book immensely. "Much Depends on Dinner" is an earlier book, and in it she dissects a typical meal, talking about the history and historical significance of each ingredient (much like "Salt") I'm in the middle of "The Geography of Love" where she turns her culturally dissecting eye to a church in Rome.

Mad: That would be me. What do you think of it?

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm enjoying is so far -- the preface alone is worth the price of admission. A compelling writer.

I'm trying to savour it, because I have a tendency to devour books -- I read very quickly, and I'm really trying to slow down.

"All beings are the owners of their deeds, the heirs to their deeds."

Loricat's Book Nook
Celebrating the Absurd

juniper9

i just started reading, The Kite Runner.


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