good book

currently reading:
Alexander Berkman - Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist
james leyburn - The Sotch-Irish a social history
way too many zines on just about everything
Hannah Arendt - On Violence
Ernest Mandel - An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory
I'll be starting Eric William's Capitalism and slavery soon, and Propably picking up Noel Ignatiev's How the Irish became white soon, maybe some other stuff along the same lines.

I've heard the same thing about Zen & the art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It hasn't entirely grabbed me yet, probably because I've already figured out the essence of the book anyway. I'm totally Zen, yo. For serious. The book has been on my "to read" list for a decade though, so it was about time to read it.

(as an aside, I actually printed out that entire "reading list" thread from a few months ago, and added all the books I was interested in to my Christmas list. Got a bunch of 'em)

I liked Kavalier & Clay a lot. True, it never picked up, but it was very fun nonetheless.

And Happy Birthday, SnowbunnyB!!!

i have to say that anyone interested in reading murakami would be remiss if they overlooked "The Wind Up Bird Chronicle". it ain't news to anyone who's read it, but that book is nothing short of genius. i quickly run out of superlatives when trying to impress upon friends how truly wonderful it is.

If you read ZAMM and find the end of it lacking, read the follow-up book Lila. As a novel, it's thoroughly so-so, but it's a far better and more effective statement and exploration of the philosophy (The Metaphysics of Quality) than the first book. I love both of them, personally. Good food for thought. The thing to remember when reading Pirsig is that the guy has great ideas, he just isn't the greatest novelist ever to live.

Tom Robbins, Wild Ducks Flying Backwards

Another Roadside Attraction is a great read as well

I really need to stop reading through this thread and actually read a book! So many good and enticing suggestions

Haha... Couldn't agree with Fugazi Dave anymore!!! Lila is in fact quite a painful novel, but after reading Zen then Lila then Zen again... I think I finally got it. As with most philosophers I think that Pirsig's works are important inspite of rather than because of his writing style.

And once again!!! JOHN RALSTON SAUL!!! Anyone else read him? anyone?

Nice critique of ideology, common sense, and the philosophical inconsistencies and hypocracies in current market capitalism and western democratic theory and practice. On Equilibrium and Unconsicous Civilization were amazing.

thanks s_9!
on the topic of "Zen and the art of..." I read it after buying a thirty year old Motorcycle and I swear it helped me through a very painful learning curve. I think that the book requires a certain amount of patience akin to any kind of bike maintenance. The philosophy runs in circles a bit.
I like jedi_steve's idea of reading Lila and going back to Zen, I think that's worth a shot. It's worth the pain.

I really want to re-read old man and the sea. When I had to read it in school I read it in a day, it totaly sucked me in, one of the few books I actually would read. most school issued books couldn't keep my interest.

I think I'm gonna set aside a day here soon to just smoke a pipe and read it.

just finished (a gift from 3 years ago that I misplaced for 35 months):


and now:

Reading: API 530 and API 560. Or at least I'm trying to.

Ralph O. Meyer - "Old-Time Telephones"... Very cool.

...wavefiles!!! anyone else converting vinyl?

The partition of India and
retributive genocide in the Punjab,
1946–47: means, methods, and
purposes
PAUL R. BRASS

F*ck work

I read the Financial Times pretty much every day. Not any outstanding literature, but.......bond trading and currency markets are fun!!

The Common Good- Noam Chomsky

The First Third - Neal Cassidy

Oh, fancy seeing this thread...

Brecht's Threepenny Novel.

just got leary's [/U]start your own religion[U] and now things are getting weird...

What's up with posting pictures of the cover of the books?

Last book was Kafka on the Shore by Murakami which was excellent, maybe better than the Wind Up Bird Chronicles which I also read recently. I can't pinpoint what it is about his writing that I'm so taken with, but he really pulls me in.

After the last thread like this I picked up The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay and Hardcore Zen both of which were excellent, thanks to everyone here.

I would add Marquez's new one "Memories of My Melencholy *****s" to the list. Only out in hardcover but a small and relatively inexpensive hardcover. Great writing.

Reading now "State Of War" by the NY Times reporter who broke the Bush wiretapping scandal, it's about the relationship between the Bush administration and the CIA.

Also highly recommend Tete A Tete, the letters of Simon de Beauvoir and Sartre. Absolutely amazing book about two increadible intellects.

Read most of Hopskotch by Jose Cortizar because I was traveling in Argentina and thought I should, but didn't really enjoy it too much. However I really enjoyed Borges' "This Craft of Verse" which is based on a sereis of lectures he gave. Very engaging.

Periodical wise, I highly recommend The New York Review Of Books. Not just book reviews but left leaning essays by very smart people.

Jon Foer? He was called the Dan Brown of the hipsters by the times.

I'm currently reading "Black Sunday" by Thomas Harris and "Against Empire" by Michael Parenti, and the
"Preacher" trade paperbacks by Garth Ennis. I'm hoping the FBI isn't drawing connections on me and making a profile because of the first two.

Now reading:



Just finished:



Absolutely ESSENTIAL reading for anyone that loves NYC. Describes in vivid detail the destruction of the Bronx, Moses' classist/racist design of the LI parkways, the crushing of the MTA (hence no 2nd Av subway or 7-train extension or direct subway to LGA/JFK.)

Riveting stuff.

Collected Works - Pushkin
A Moveable Feast - Papa Hem.

This book was pretty awesome.

Sashae: is "Up in the Old Hotel" by Joseph Mitchell on that list?

bubblegum:

Trace by Patricia Cornwall