Reading List Thread

[Hitori]

I think rather than things being broken by clear morals, it all comes down to definite tastes... or maybe not even tastes, just deciding, putting all your mind to something.

in the book, the main character goes to visit her sister who is basically just a typical boring housewife, who excersizes regularly, is fashionable, fitter happier more productive etc... and she compares her to this 16 year old girl who lives off the streets, drinks, and is a gun dealer. and in the end she decides both are better off than she is, as they both CHOSE that lifestyle for themselves, and fought to create that reality, and every single piece of it is a result of their wills.

it's hard to explain, the book says it much better than I do, there's probably a translation somewhere.

 

[La Rocque]

Obsessive Genius
'the Inner World of Marie Curie'
by Barbara Goldsmith -

 

[hyena]

@hitori: yeah, maybe i didn't explain myself correctly. i wasn't referring to morals in a conventional sense, ie deciding to opt for what most people (or a specific group of people, say a church) thinks is good. i think that one of the highest possible ethical achievements lies exactly in what you said: be very clear with yourself about what you're looking for, and act consistently in line with your aim. if this is done regularly, all the free-meal philosophies fall down: even a full commitment to get free meals whenever one can becomes a structure (and hence denies itself, but that's another story). pf, it's kind of complicated and i need to have dinner now, but rest assured i think i got what you meant.

 

[La Rocque]

Just finished 'Tulipomania" by Mike Dash

Now reading 'Between Good and Evil' by Roger Depue w/ Susan Schindehette
my typical off the wall reading as it's about the hunt for society's most violent predators -

 

[hyena]

@la rocque: i like serial killer books too, but one has got to admit that most printed stuff on the subject is cheap trash. i never read the particular one you're referring too, but on average i find crimelibrary.com much better than most books on the subject i've come across.

last week i was so depressed over the loss of my luggage (which, thankfully, didn't contain any book) that i went out and spent 192 euros on books. so far i've read two and started a third.

1: Leïla Djitli's "Lettre à ma fille qui veut porter le voile", a book written by a french woman of algerian heritage in the style of a letter addressed to her daughter. the writing character is a woman very similar to the writer: she is integrated in western society and subscribing to a moderate version of Islam; she has been a participant in the political battles for the liberation of Algeria from its colonial status, the acquisition of full rights and recognition for north-africans who'd decided to permanently settle in France after immigration, the defense of women's rights in muslim societies. she lives with her husband, son and daughter in a banlieue, ie working-class outer city area. her 17 y.o. daughter is basically lured by fundamentalists to want to wear a headscarf to class, in direct defiance of french laws, and as a statement of identity; the mother tries to dissuade her by embarking on an effective, long letter on growing up, defining oneself, telling authentic heritage from myth, telling religion from extremism. at times it's a bit wish-wash, but i think it's a very good read overall.

2: Leonardo Sciascia's "A ciascuno il suo". This is sort of a crime story from one of the best Sicilian writers ever in existence. It's a cynical, dark tale of a professor of literature who tries to solve a murder mystery for intellectual curiosity and ends up getting tangled in the murky waters just below the surface. Absolutely bleak outlook, but a good book.

3: Maureen Dowd's "Bushworld", which really is just a collection of Op-Ed pieces she wrote for the NYT. I concur on the opinion, expressed by someone I can't remember right now, that she's a "limo-lib" and I normally don't share her conclusions, but she can be wickedly funny.

I'll keep "Bushworld" as bedtime reading, since it has no plot to follow etc, and after hanging some stuff out to dry I think I'll start on another one of the new books.

 

[Hitori]

what does "limo-lib" mean, hyena?

just read Good Omens by neil gaiman and terry pratchet, it was ok but nothing to get too excited about
id like to read but i dont have any money for books, so more time for dwelling and overanalising, yay

 

[hyena]

"limo-lib" = limousine liberal, ie a very rich person who has leftist ideas.

 

[La Rocque]

@ hyena - 'Between Good and Evil' not too good cannot recommend

Just finished reading
Inside Hitler's Bunker (the last days of the third reich)
by Joachim Fest
Now reading ...
Let Fury Have the Hour (the punk rock politics of Joe Strummer)
by Antonino D'Ambrosio

 

[King Chaos]

Phillip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of electric sheep?

yes this books amazing. The inspiration for Blade runner the film, and pretty much the script for the computer game. Im really really enjoying it.

 

[La Rocque]

Smashed (story of a drunken girlhood) by Koren Zailckas
about the relationship between women and alcohol - Highly recommended

 

[hyena]

Currently on Le Carre's "The Constant Gardener". It's creepy, his suffer-at-the-sidelines male characters are almost inevitably me, all the time.

 

[Stabbie]

Future Eden by Colin Thompson...

 

[Hitori]

A Roald Dahl compilation of ghost stories, very entertaining
and a really cheesy crappy book that somehow is very popular in Spain, got turned into a movie and won a couple of prizes, Son de Mar. had to drag myself through it.

 

[Stabbie]

Regina's song by David and Leigh Eddings. I've read all the fantasy books by Eddings, so I thought I'll give this a try too.

 

[La Rocque]

'Blind Eye' by James B Stewart
How the Medical Establishment let Dr Michael Swango get away with murder.
Swango went from hospital to hospital killing patients. Not too many serial killers in the medical profession. Only Dr Harold Shipman of the UK killed patients than Swango .
I don't read too much fiction but I may start reading again the Douglas Adams
'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', I see its now a movie and I have all the books
in this series, good stuff, recommended

 

[hyena]

still have a batch of books to go from my last book-buying spread - now reading the very silly 'split second' by david baldacci but really, that's not even a book, it's more of a comic without the drawings for the depth of the characters and the plot. i still have a couple of good ones to read then i'll have to go shopping again.

uh, and fante's 'dreams of bunker hill' is kind of good, even if fante is starting to bore me as much as everything else in the world.

 

[La Rocque]

Jimi Hendrix 'the man the music the truth' by Sharon Lawrence
I don't remeber how many books (at least 20) I've read about Hendrix but this is one of the best-

"Technically, I'm not a guitar player.
All I play is truth and emotion" - Jimi Hendrix

 

[marduk1507]

Oh, a pile waiting for me:
Essays from W.Benjamin and R.Musil
Alessandro Barrico - The Sea Ocean (or so)
Ilf and Petrov
Imre Kertesz - Khaddish for the Unborn Child
Wittgenstein - Diaries, plus Tractatus (that will take a WHILE)
Foucault - Words and Things, To Guard and to Punish (detto)

 

[Stabbie]

Currently reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

 

[hyena]

i'm being chaotic. i have a james ellroy novel to finish but no, i have to jump on to the new noir book by italian author camilleri and then back to something about political philosophy written by a prominent personality of the italian left, adriano sofri. not to mention my desire to read the more-or-less fifty per cent of writings of the pope that i haven't read in the past year. yadda yadda, i will have to read something - anything - while on the train on wednesday.