Just started Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image, and Manipulation in Visual Communication by Ann Marie Seward Barry. This means I am now working on about 14 different books simultaneously...

As for the Nabokov, this particular collection is just called The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov and is put out by Vintage Books. Right now I pick up this book and read a story or two on the occasion that I want to take a break from the other books I'm reading. A little Nabokov is always nice.

Just finished Blindness by José Saramago. Very philosophical work and intriguing. I would recommend it for those who like an allegorical novel.
What does it portray? How does it read, style, flow, you know?

Snooze fest or not the dude's name is F. Scott Fitzgerald. I suppose it is unimportant.
Hardly unimportant. Even terrible authors need to be read. To avoid making the same mistakes. Hope you enjoyed U. Sinclair - great read for sure snickersnicker.

Christopher Moore:The Stupidest Angel; A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror

It was a gift from my brother. I'm about 40 pages into it. So far it's a hoot and suits my holiday mood perfectly.
I was going to grab that for my Ma, but picked up the new Chabon and Sedaris efforts. She digs 'em so far.
Regualr Guy - pick up "Holidays on Ice" by Sedaris for a nice quick, hilarious read.

']I was going to grab that for my Ma, but picked up the new Chabon and Sedaris efforts. She digs 'em so far.
Regualr Guy - pick up "Holidays on Ice" by Sedaris for a nice quick, hilarious read.

David Sedaris is great. I heard the Santaland Diaries again this week on This American life. Brilliant.

What does it portray? How does it read, style, flow, you know?

It portrays a modern city in which eveybody is ravaged with a plague of blindness. This plague spreads with contact and first off a few people are forced into a camp so it doesn't spread.

It reads rather quickly yet his dialogue is difficult at times because it will have two or three people speaking in one sentence and there are no quotation marks. He indicates a new speaker with an upper case letter when a new speaker begins. It takes a little getting used to but it seems like a natural extension from Hemmingway's dialogue in which he allows the reader to determine who is speaking. It's very much an allegory and doesn't have a grand tragic fall but is more interesting in bits and pieces as these people wander through world that is rather intriguing to imagine.

Am now about 100 pages into The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann.

My copy of No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai came in today. I'll start it tonight some time, I think. I guess if nothing else, unemployment is good for my reading habits...

Julio Cortazar--Hopscotch

I don't think Fitzgerald is a terrible author. I'm still surprised at how much I enjoyed the Great Gatsby.
Some generous people should form an organization that collects plot synopsis and opinions that could help people avoid reading that may injure them. I'm taking my $15 Barnes and Noble gift cert to pick up Blindness.

I don't think Fitzgerald is a terrible author. I'm still surprised at how much I enjoyed the Great Gatsby.
Some generous people should form an organization that collects plot synopsis and opinions that could help people avoid reading that may injure them. I'm taking my $15 Barnes and Noble gift cert to pick up Blindness.


That's putting that cert to good use.

The Sixth Edition of-
Literature for Today's Young Adults
It is part of the process to get my MAT cert.

In The Magic Mountain there are sections on time that are making my head spin and I like being dizzy, for then I will know clearheadedness in a better way.

It's a great winter read.

In The Magic Mountain there are sections on time that are making my head spin and I like being dizzy, for then I will know clearheadedness in a better way.

The older I get the less I care about reading fiction. Seems like such a waste of time.

Right now I am reading,
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and
The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker.
I just finished "Real Estate Riches" by Dolf deRoos.

In the stack waiting to be read,

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig (travels in Paraguay) by John Gimlette
Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
101 ways to increase the value of your home by Dolf de Roos
Own Your Own Corporation by Garrett Sutton
Imperial Hubris- why the west is losing the war on terror by Anonymous
What's the Matter with Kansas? How conservatives won the heart of America by Thomas Frank

cs lewis, the screwtape letters

Finally broke down and started the DaVinci code (loaned to
me by coworker). I have to keep telling myself it's FICTION
don't get caught up in the hype (the bible belt here in tejas
didn't like this book!).
I find the older I get the more I NEED fiction, not because its
unimportant but as a shield from the day to day.
Just finished A Salty Piece of Land, as an avowed parrothead all
I can say was, it was ok.

Marty

cs lewis, the screwtape letters
I started that a year or two ago and never finished it. GREAT concept though. One day, I will complete that book.

It's a great winter read.

Very much so. Yes.

kafka - the metamorphosis

Iceland's bell by halldor laxness

kafka - the metamorphosis
My favorite

Im Reading Darkness, Be My Friend. Its part of Tomorrow When The War Begain series.

kafka - the metamorphosis
check out the Blue Octavo Notebooks for sure. Skitbra kooked me up with this book for my bday this year. Can't thank him enough.
And then read Book of Dreams by Keroauc. This is his only good book.

Iceland's bell by halldor laxness


How is it?

How is it?
I haven't gotten that far into the book yet, but so far it has been a great read. The main character, jon, seems to have something to say about everyone and everything. He is a real piece of work!

"Just a Couple of Days" by Tony Vigorito
Great book in a Tom Robbins style of writing

I haven't gotten that far into the book yet, but so far it has been a great read. The main character, jon, seems to have something to say about everyone and everything. He is a real piece of work!


Keep us posted, please.

Just picked up a copy of Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima at the library out of interest stemming from looking again at Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal By Roses by Eikoh Hosoe.

I'm reading book 7 of the Thieves' World series. Re-reading it for old time's sake, but I lost my place. Need to start over.

c.s. lewis - god in the dock

peter reinhart - the bread baker's apprentice

Fugitives and Refugees by Chuck Palahniuk, subtitled "A walk through Portland, Oregon".

He's the author of Fight Club... I'm really digging his work.

The Philosophy of Sustainable Design - Jason F. McLennan
Mechanical and Electrical Equipment For Buildings - Benjamin Stein
Thermal Delight in Architecture - Lisa Heschong
Sun, Wind, and Light: Architectural Design Strategies - G.Z. Brown

Any guesses what I'm studying?

I tried to buy Energy and Equity by Ivan Illich online the other day, but I missed out on it. I'll just keep looking.

Sartre - The Wall
Steven Levy - Crypto

Tomorrow When The War Began.

Pick up Choke next...if you haven't read it already. From there, you'll need Bukowski if you haven't read him before either. Start with Ham on Rye, followed by Post Office,
Fugitives and Refugees by Chuck Palahniuk, subtitled "A walk through Portland, Oregon".

He's the author of Fight Club... I'm really digging his work.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot......such a great book if you like animals even just a little bit =*)

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot......such a great book if you like animals even just a little bit =*)

A great book (and series) for sure.

I just finished The Evolution Man by Ray Lewis and enjoyed it immensely. Thought provoking and insightful.

yay! mishima!

Just picked up a copy of Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima at the library out of interest stemming from looking again at Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal By Roses by Eikoh Hosoe.

My dad gave me a copy of Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos" for Christmas. As I was studying for a large test, I have not yet started it, but I will be tonight. I just hope it isn't to physics heavy, as I suck at those concepts.

well i finished iceland's bell by halldor laxness. great book. i am going to get some other books by him. i really liked this book. it starts off as a very simple story of a man who commits a petty crime, is brought to court and then sentenced. after being sentenced is when the story really takes off. he wakes up after a night of drinking with the guards who were escorting him to find that the king's hangman is dead. now he is charged with the murder and has to flee his homeland to seek out a way to save his life. as his story is playing out, there is another thread that is being woven between the daughter of one of the wealthiest noblemen in the land who is in love with an icelandic aristocrat working for the danish king in the city of copenhagen. these two stories weave in and out of each other becoming entwined and leads all the parties around and around in a futile game of cat and mouse. it is interesting to watch the story loop around on itself and then somehow the knot gets untangled. one more thing. this book was translated from icelandic into english but it was translated so well that it felt like it was originally written in english. it was a pleasure to read. the descriptions of the land and people that inhabit it were full of life and fleshed out. it is one of those books that you could taste and smell and hear and feel it all. it is nice to find a book that is truly enjoyable. i am sure it is not for everyone, but if you like historical fiction with a good dose of mythical tale/saga thrown in, you should give it a try.

yay! mishima!

Yeah....still haven't started it yet. As soon as I finish Cryptonomicon I will. Only 200 pages to go...

Dave, what do you think about Cryptonomicon?
I'm plodding through quicksilver now (and yeah sometimes it is plodding).
Have you read the Baroque Cycle? far cry from Snow Crash.

Marty

I'm still liking Cryptonomicon, but I won't pretend that it has anything like the kind of energy I thought Snow Crash had. Still, so far it seems very much worth reading through to the end. About 100 pages left now, I'll have it done by the time I go to bed tonight. I'll post my assesment of it here later.

just started the lake of dead languages by carol goodman. supposed to be similar to the secret history by donna tartt, which was a book i somewhat enjoyed. we will see...

Currently, I should be drudging through Milton's Paradise Lost , but reading bikeforums.net is far more interesting. Satan is a very compelling character and many of the speeches are very interesting, but so much of the epic is just terribley painful to read. I'm also in the process of replacing the Professor in Animal House's face with one of John Milton himself as every time John Milton's name is mentioned in class I immediately picture the Professor in Animal House.

I'm looking forward to reading either "The Sound and the Fury" or "Go Down Moses", both by William Faulkner, for my term paper. I loved "As I Lay Dying" and am looking forward to reading one of these two. Once I get into that I'll report back.

Don't have the time/mind to continue with Magic Mountain at the moment and will come back to it once my sucker, I mean student teacher, starts up in a few weeks. In the mean time I started Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. So far she's proving to be a great lyrical read, even if she is portraying a minister, which are people I don't normally find myself interested in. The book is a letter to his young son to be read after the minister has died. Good stuff, the stuff of wisdom.

I really liked Paradise Lost (yes I know, I am a sick puppy).
I absolutely loathed Paradise Regained.
I'm thinking of picking up Moby Dick just because I haven't
read it in a long time, I seem to recall enjoying it.
I need a break from Enoch Root.

Marty

Tonight I finally finished Cryptonomicon. Overall, I enjoyed it, though I thought the ending didn't quite, well, do it, to put it into completely nonspecific terms. Of the books of his I've read I still think Snow Crash was by far the strongest. I even liked how that one ended. So I guess I'd say it's a worthy read if you're a fairly quick reader (if you'r slow, avoid it like the plague), but not the best I've ever read in the genre.

The best part about it may be that I can now start knocking out shorter books left and right again...

Just finished a re-reading of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.

Y'know? I think I might re-name my garage band "The Seldon Plan"

I
I'm thinking of picking up Moby Dick just because I haven't
read it in a long time, I seem to recall enjoying it.
Marty


I liked it, too. However, I found sections of it laborious. Nevertheless, I found it worth reading, despite the fact that I pretty much hate religious allegory.

In other contradictory news:

Been reading Gilead, a novel that is written like a letter from a dying or late-in-life minister to his seven year old son. It's sweet and comforting so far. I am just waiting for it to get old testament on my ass. It's by Marilynne Robinson