Current reads (spinoff from least favorite books)

mariek · Post by **mariek** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 2:41 am

Just curious. Besides your Greek/Latin studies... what are you currently reading?

I'm almost finished with "The Name of the Rose" (Umberto Eco). And I've got "The Elegant Universe" (Brian Greene) waiting in the wings.... let's see what this string theory is all about!

Post by **klewlis** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 4:01 am

I am currently reading GK Chesterton's Orthodoxy for the second time. I also picked up Wuthering Heights yesterday and read the first couple of chapters, since we were talking about classics before :P

After that... I plan to re-read The Mayor of Casterbridge, and then more Chesterton (a volume of Father Brown stories).

The last couple of books before that included Cracked (about caring for people with addictions) and a biography of Eminem. Quite a variety ;)

solitario · Post by **solitario** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 4:10 am

I figure I'm about an hour away from finishing Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon.
After that, I'll read nothing but Latin until I finish Wheelock's.

Keesa · Post by **Keesa** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 4:05 pm

A friend of mine loaned me his two college English Literature textbooks...I have until the first of April to finish them. Both are about five-six inches thick, with that paper that they use in dictionaries. (About the same print size as in dictionaries, too.)

Ask me this question again after April.

ingrid70 · Post by **ingrid70** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 8:15 pm

I'm reading Orlando by Virginia Woolf now, and next is Giacomo Joyce, by (obviously) James Joyce. I've read that before, from a library, but couldn't find it in any bookshop. But today, it was lying there, waiting for me, in one of those very cheap bookshop where they sell left-overs from the regular bookshops (De Slegte, for the Dutchies). It made my day

.

Ingrid

Kalailan · Post by **Kalailan** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 8:30 pm

I am currently reading Moby ****.
Such a wonderful book!
i have'nt read anything for a long time until now. i had a "reader's-block"

Emma_85 · Post by **Emma_85** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 9:38 pm

Lol! The profanity filter strikes again!

I'm currently reading Vanity Fair by William Thackeray, and Middlemarch (which was mentioned in the original thread) plus about 10 other books. I'm afraid I don't have much time to read, and I have a stupid habit of reading quite a few books at the same time... though some I may never finish reading, because I'm bored of them. Middlemarch is one I stopped reading, but now I've stared again).
No idea what Vanity Fair is going to be about actually, I've only just started reading it (I'll try and read a chapter every few days), but Thackeray's bio is very interesting, so I thought I'd read one of his books.

Radek · Post by **Radek** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 11:09 pm

Latly I read interesting series of detectiv books about ancient Roma.
It was: "Roma sub Rosa" written by Steven Saylor. I read 8 books of this author.
I think it is great series. You can almost feel like living in roma, walking thei streets....

bingley · Post by **bingley** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 12:19 am

I've just finished Misteri Kunci Tak Bertuan (The Mystery of the Key with No Owner) by S. Mara Gd. It was OK as a mystery story but I wish she'd resolve the subplot of Dessy and Gozali's romance once and for all. It's starting to get tedious.

I've just started reading [i/] Interview with the Vampire[/i] by Anne Rice.

benissimus · Post by **benissimus** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 12:24 am

I am almost done with Howard's End which I started in my English class last semester, but I'm too caught up in textbooks

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 11:49 pm

I just finished Coalescent by Stephen Baxter.

Much of it has to do with being in Britain during the decline of Roman influence and order after Constantius failed to grasp the purple. There's a brief visit to Rome, both at that time and now, or only a bit into the future.

Normally I associate Baxter with so-called hard SF. Nowhere in the book was I presented with 11-dimentional mathematics, nor any utterly incomprehensible alien technology. Baxter, like quite a number of SF authors, has recently become fascinated with evolution.

In any case, I liked it.

Next, Running with Scissors a memoir by Augusten Burroughs (what a great name!).

Episcopus · Post by **Episcopus** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 3:30 pm

Why do you all read? I feel like a retard.

I have not read a novel since THE ROPEMAKER, by Peter Dickinsion, bless his soul, about 2 years ago. It was one of the only stupidly far fetched fiction books that I liked. No idea wherefore. Probably because I was forced to read it.

The latest book that I have read is the Latin Prose Composition based on Cicero, by Henry Carr Pearson. Well, the first 80 pages which are lessons.

Post by **klewlis** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 3:57 pm

Episcopus wrote:Why do you all read?

Because it's fun and enriches the mind. :)

I've always been a reader. However, in my second year of college I came into contact with a man who greatly impressed me by his knowledge of everything--it seemed that no matter what the topic, he was able to contribute intelligently to the discussion, simply because he was so well and widely read. That was when I decided that I needed to broaden my horizons and started reading a greater variety of topics and authors. It has been a wonderful journey!

Keesa · Post by **Keesa** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 10:29 pm

I also love reading! It's wonderful. Most of my schooling is reading (I know I've already mentioned that), which is absolutely delightful.

I picked up Walden Two the other day...I don't suppose I should have, but I did. (I'm still trying to finish those other books.) I'm about a hundred pages into it...

MDS · Post by **MDS** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 11:58 pm

Mostly I just read school texts these days but I find I need to switch it up once in a while.

I just finished Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden. To sum it up it tells the real story (ahem, not the ficition portrayed in the movie) of Black Hawk Down while questioning American military actions in general. Well written and well researched in my opinion.

mingshey · Post by **mingshey** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 2:24 am

Well, I was reading, and paused reading Nabokov's "Lolita" and Zelazny's "Amber" series when I started to begin greek again.
Now there're documents for my job only left for reading.

Helen of Troy · Post by **Helen of Troy** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 1:35 pm

The latest writer I've discovered (and that was sometime in July) was Alessandro Baricco and I'm diving into his vigorous style eversince. One may say that he allows himself too much of poetic licence, but I just enjoy his syntactic experiments and pretty unusual metaphors. If you can find it back there in America or wherever you are, I do recommend something of the following titles: La Sette, Oceano Mare, Castelli di Rabbia, etc. I can't know for sure what are the titles in English, but I can offer my translation: The Silk, Ocean Sea, The castels of Anger.

Kopio · Post by **Kopio** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 9:55 pm

I'm currently reading the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card, next in line is a Book on NT. Text Criticism (a hobby of mine) I just picked up the other day....but since that's Greek stuff, it might not count

Carola · Post by **Carola** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:06 am

Just finished reading Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies. I think we had a bit of a discussion previously about this wonderful Canadian author.
This is in addition to my usual diet of detective stories (too numerous to mention) and dipping into various Latin textbooks.

"Moby ****" sounds good - I haven't read this for years and might give it another run.

PS - I'm being filtered! It's the book about a whale - a big FISH not.....

Perhaps we'll call him "Moby Richard"

mingshey · Post by **mingshey** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:18 am

Carola wrote:Perhaps we'll call him "Moby Richard"

Lol, good idea! "Moby Rick" would also do for it.

Those solemn nanny(oops! not PC, sorry) filters!

Clemens · Post by **Clemens** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 2:49 pm

At the moment I'm reading "David Copperfield" for my final exams in English. The last German book I read was "Die Verwandlung" by Kafka and I will start to read "Die Physiker" and "Das Versprechen" both by Dürrenmatt for school.

Post by **klewlis** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:58 pm

I loved David Copperfield! didn't want it to end...

1%homeless · Post by **1%homeless** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:39 pm

"Moby ****" sounds good - I haven't read this for years and might give it another run.

PS - I'm being filtered! It's the book about a whale - a big FISH not.....

Perhaps we'll call him "Moby Richard"

I use an asterisk for a single letter to work around filters. D*ck. Let's see if shittake mushrooms will be filtered...

[edit: Nope!

]

Carola · Post by **Carola** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 3:12 am

Ho Ho - I can get around it by typing "MobyDick".

Anyhow, I found the story online at Blackmask and it's even better than I remembered.

Clemens · Post by **Clemens** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 6:58 pm

I loved David Copperfield! didn't want it to end...

Yes, I like it, too.

Post by **klewlis** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 9:34 am

well, I just now finished Wuthering Heights.

My first thought upon finishing was, "what a strange little book".

Really, I quite enjoyed it. But it had the same effect on me as had The Brothers Karamazov--I am left feeling influenced so much by the warped thought patterns of the characters that I feel as though my own mind has been warped (of course, Karamazov had this effect to a much greater degree....).

I didn't much care for the style of jumping back and forth between storey-tellers. It might have been better without the extra person... but maybe she was going for originality there.

xn · Post by xn » Sat Feb 21, 2004 10:42 am

The last book that I’d finished was The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, which I’d recommend to anyone with an interest in typography. I suspect that tax form instructions will be next on my list…

N30F15H · Post by **N30F15H** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 9:30 pm

I listen to audio classic books, but i read lots too

im reading oooo 5, 6 books at the moment

Episcopus · Post by **Episcopus** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 1:05 pm

Ita aliqua ex causa haudquaquam videtur.

Dillman · Post by **Dillman** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:18 pm

You guys are your always reading these classics reads....right now im reading "Reap the Wind" by Iris Johanson.....It's a Psychological Thriller and really enjoy that genre....there was i book i read awhile ago called "The Tower" it was a Psych Thriller as well and its one of my favorite books i ever read....however, i dont rember the author and im trying to find the book again and there are TOO MANY books called the tower....anyways its a book about an excaped lunitic from Alcatraz (Spelling?) and i was wondering/hoping one of you have read it and could tell me the authors name?

Carola · Post by **Carola** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:28 pm

xn wrote:The last book that I’d finished was The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, which I’d recommend to anyone with an interest in typography. I suspect that tax form instructions will be next on my list…

I do a lot of tax work - my part time job which supports my Latin and music interests - and I have come to the conclusion that the people who write tax form instructions don't have any known Earth language as their first language. An interesting subject for a linguistics expert......

xn · Post by xn » Wed Feb 25, 2004 6:52 am

Carola: I admire your fortitude in choosing that line of work! The people who write tax form instructions are at least bilingual, as they’re doing their best to translate from the original Bureaucratonian…

xn