I'm currently reading Atonement by Ian McEwan. I've only read a small portion of it and it's quite slow in my opinion but I'm going to persist with it. What I like about Ian McEwan is the way he impressively draws his characters and in this respect Atonement doesn't fail. I'd recommend Black Dogs to anybody who might be interested. Without wishing to give too much away I have the feeling the slow opening is going to build up to something tense.

Anybody else care to share?

I keep meaning to read some McEwan. Atonement got great reviews and sounds good.

I am currently reading The Satanic Verses for the first time! I'm enjoying it a lot, though I am using a guide to the novel to help with the religious/historical background and to help me sort through the sometimes confusing narrative. But it's a book that really stays with you.

Lleena and I are going to read Solaris next!






the Satanic edit...
[This message was edited Mon Apr 26 14:33:41 2004 by 2the9s]

I'm just about to read "A Wrinkle In Time" again for the first time since I was a kid - I've never read any of the sequels, but I remember that book rocking my world when I was a wee sprout. And anyway, Madeline L'engle rawks.

Anxiety said:

Oh man I read all those books! There was a recent article about her in the New Yorker, I think it was! She's great!

2the9s said:

Assuming you both haven't already read it, I challenge you both to read James Joyce's Ulysees and then report back as to who won in say.....a year?!

I'm reading The Book of Margery Kempe for a class at the moment. It's about a woman, in medieval times, who swore that Jesus spoke to her. She was tried many times for being a heretic, as well as a Lollard, and who blames them - this woman is nuts! She insists on always wearing all white, speaks to Jesus CONSTANTLY, and weeps, very loudly, all of the time.

(sounds like Zelaira... )

The book is the first autobiography in English, and tells of her travels around Europe and the people she meets, etc etc etc. She wanted really really badly to be made into a martyr after she died, but it didn't happen, thank god. It's a great medieval laugh...

JDINTERACTIVE said:

I've read it many times and know that book inside and out. That's my field. Though I have never gotten more than 20 pages into Finnegans Wake.

2the9s said:

And Dubliners...?

Natsume said:

I read that on the toilet!

Choose Your Own Adventure #26: Terror Safari. This book sucks. I keep getting eaten by an aligator.

I'm reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - I love it! so far.


.

2the9s said:

HobbesLeCute said:

those books are hardcore! I remember one book, I kept falling off the Statue of Liberty...

British GQ from march.....its umm the article about aphrodisiacs

Natsume said:

My favorite CYOA books are the ones with pictures you can color in with crayons. That's the true mark of great literature.

After reading The DaVinci Code, I'm obsessed with Jesus and Mary Magdalene. I'm going back and forth between the books "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar" and "Reclaiming the Gospels." "Alabaster Jar" takes the hypothesis that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, but actually descended from royal lineage, as did her husband, King of the Jews, Jesus. Following her husband's crucifixion, she and her unborn daughter fled to France. "Reclaiming the Gospels" is written by Bishop Spong, and it illustrates how much of the New Testament is based on old Jewish stories that are not meant to be taken literally. He blasts a lot of modern Christianity for distoring the true aims of Jesus and his beliefs.

THEN, I've also just started reading "Johhny Got His Gun." It's an anti-war novel written by Dalton Trumbo in the 1950's. I may be auditioning for a stage version of it this summer.

2the9s said:

Yah, I read that article too! She's a loon - if I didn't love her before, I love her now!

I've read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
Solaris, I'm looking forward to reading! !!!

Anyway, what I'm actually reading is Barrel Fever by David Sedaris. Very, very funny stuff.

Let me mention again an author who I think is one of the best in recent years. (I know I've mentioned him here before.)

I pimp for this guy whenever I can.

His name is W.G. Sebald. He was a German writer who lived most of his adult life in England. He died a few years ago in a car accident. He wrote these books that are a mixture of travel narative, memoir, literary criticism. They're hard at first to get into, but they are absolutely hypnotizing when you do.

This is not your father's Holocaust literature.

I just read The Emigrants recently. That's a good one to start with, though Vertigo is good too.

Where's IstenSzek????

I can't read

starkitty said:

Sebald has photos! I swear!

2the9s said:

i read the satanic verses this summer and i have to admit that while it was a good book, i was underwhelmed. i guess i bought into the hype too much. it is a book worth reading, though.

right now i;m finishing up your mouth is lovely, which is about this girl growing up in russia in the early 1900's and getting involved in the socialist/communist movement. it's pretty good.

I'm reading a book about the Hellfire Club. Which was a bunch of aristocratic Englishmen (and at least one American as Benjamin Franklin was somehow involved) and politicians back in the days before the American revolution who celebrated "Black Mass" invoking satan (mainly as a parody of religion) and had orgies and ate lots of food and drank lots of wine and all sorts of debauchery.

I'm just finishing up the last Star Wars: New Jedi Order book, The Unifying Force. If only I didn't have to work tonight....
[This message was edited Mon Apr 26 17:32:12 2004 by NCC2012]

finishing up dorothy sayer's collection of short stories featuring lord peter wimsey and his trusty manservant bunter. going to miss this one when i'm done.

NCC2012 said:

Will you orgnote me? I was reading those books and then got sidetracked; I'd like to know what happens (or what is happening). I was "inheriting" the books from a friend of mine, and then I actually bought a few myself, but then it seemed like they put out too many too fast! LOL

Please?



As for what I'm reading: "Wetware" by Craig Nova. It's about the moral implications of creating a race of subserviant clones. A slave race made for use in undesirable situations (dangerous work, dirty work, etc -- disposable).

It's pretty good.

I'm also reading "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, but that one is taking a LONG time. I only read a little bit of it at a time.

books i have read

TIPPING THE VELVET

EARLY EMBRACES.

gabeez said:

Excellent book! One of my all-time favourites. When you've finished it, go watch Woody Allen's "Love & Death" for a great pisstake of Tolstoy.


I'm reading a bit of non-fiction at the moment, "Byzantium - The Decline And Fall" by John Julius Norwich. It's the third part of the entire history of the Byzantium civilisation. I've found it all fascinating, witty, inspired and very eye-opening. I'd definitely recommend it.

The last books I read were a trilogy.

Nothing too deep, just a fantasy romp including dragons and a love story.

Now that sounds silly somehow. And it was, but quite enjoyable.