Reading List Thread

[QRV]

Finished reading A Game of Thrones. Amazing. Complex, unpredictable and very psychological. Just what I needed right now.

Next in line:

Stranger than Fiction, by Chuck Palahniuk
Time and Eternity, by Ananda Coomaraswamy
Gödel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter (not the whole thing, just a few chapters)

 

[La Rocque]

"The Conquest of Malaria in Italy" by Frank Snowden
Nazi Biological Warfare
In 1943 retreating Germans flooded the marshes leading to Rome and released millions of mosquito larvae carrying malaria. Malaria in the local population increased drastically but the Allies were not effected as they were given anti-malarial drugs when they invaded at Anzio -

 

[Malaclypse]

nr: mankell - firewall
don't know what to think about it yet.

 

[Zack]

^lemme know how that is

 

[Lune]

Im still reading Melville and Selected Poems from T.S.Eliot (any suggestion where may I get the Complete stuff, including plays and essays, if there is such a thing?).

Melville is also the author of Bartleby, right ? Should read that...
I've heard a bit about it in another book by Daniel Pennac, a french author, on Bartleby (sorry if it isn't well written).

On another note, if you can read french, or even if you can't, maybe the translations correct, we should hope so, im going crazy these days about Boris Vian. Read some novels, Les fourmis, the ants, and it's simply beyond crazy.

The man is near genius for me.
(also musician, poet, etc etc)

 

[marduk1507]

Yeah, I know Vian, read some stories from him - hes crazy.

 

[RampageSword]

^That's why he's so good. "L'herbe rouge" and "Et on tuera tous les affreux" are amongst the best read I had.

 

[Magrathean]

Now reading: Fundamentals of probability and statistics (various authors)

Terrible grammar.

Edit: I love your new sig, Rampage.

 

[Lune]

Huuuh, statistics.. can make them say whatever you want. But we all know -that- of course.

I don't remember having saw (or seeing, but you can't say seeing, right ?) people talking about comic strips here ? Not the Sandman one (though I Love Sandman) but the hummm, Thorgal one ?

I'm always reading Thorgal. Think I got addicted to it way too much when I was 8 or so.

And everything by Enki Bilal and Jodorowsky, aka of course the Nikopol trilogy that was adapted to cinema 2 years ago and La caste des Metas-Barons.

If you love fantasy/sci-fi, these are a must!

 

[marduk1507]

*having seen*

 

[Villain]

Huuuh, statistics.. can make them say whatever you want. But we all know -that- of course.

I don't remember having saw (or seeing, but you can't say seeing, right ?) people talking about comic strips here ? Not the Sandman one (though I Love Sandman) but the hummm, Thorgal one ?

I'm always reading Thorgal. Think I got addicted to it way too much when I was 8 or so.

And everything by Enki Bilal and Jodorowsky, aka of course the Nikopol trilogy that was adapted to cinema 2 years ago and La caste des Metas-Barons.

If you love fantasy/sci-fi, these are a must!

Ever since I bought my first manga graphic novel, I haven't been interested in European comics anymore. This is not to say that manga is always better, rather manga just fits my tastes a lot better nowadays. I used to like Bilal quite a lot, though.

Some of my current favorite manga:

Monster by Naoki Urasawa - an excellent thriller set in recent Germany, with a slowly progressing complex plot and some very interesting characters. Very serious and mature, but never over-the-top or cheesy.

Eden by Hiroki Endo - a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk story with plenty of philosophical elements. Often compared to the classic Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, but in my opinion Eden is far better in every way.

And of course Berserk by Kentaro Miura - a most brutal dark fantasy with incredibly deep characters and extreme emotions. Misanthropic, unforgiving and oftentimes outright cruel, but also somehow very touching.

-Villain

 

[La Rocque]

'How to be Idle' by Tom Hodgkinson
Many laughs, sort of reminds me of my life
from the sex and idleness chapter; according to Dr Johnson the greatest pleasure in life is sex and the second was drinking. And therefore he wounded why there were not more drunkards, for all could drink tho' all could not fuck
from the sleep chapter, sleep is a powerful seducer hence the terrifying machinery we have developed to fight it. I mean the alarm clock. Heavens! What evil genius brought together those two enemies if the idle - clocks and alarm - into one unit?

 

[Magrathean]

Huuuh, statistics.. can make them say whatever you want. But we all know -that- of course.

To me, they're merely a way to come up with a probability number, and probability is merely a way for us to be able to predict something and be right most of the time when we don't know the rules.

I don't remember having saw (or seeing, but you can't say seeing, right ?) people talking about comic strips here ? Not the Sandman one (though I Love Sandman) but the hummm, Thorgal one ?

I read Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, B.C., and Peanuts every day. Calvin and Hobbes is hilarious.

 

[La Rocque]

Huuuh, statistics.. can make them say whatever you want. But we all know -that- of course.

I remember the first day of a statistics class in college and the first words out of the professor's mouth were:
"There are lies, damn lies and statistics"

 

[Thorns On My Grave]

1984 by George Orwell - A classic, if you haven't read it, do so

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind

Anything by Jeff Shaara (historical fiction author)

 

[6 Stringed Fingers]

I completely forgot that I was half way through C.S. Lewis - The Great Divorce. It's an interesting book to learn about religion, for believers and non-believers alike. Even through I think the author misunderstood Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

 

[La Rocque]

Friedrich Nietzsche - why i'm so wise
'The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends'

Marcus Aurelius - meditations
I've read many words in my lifetime these are the most profound.

And for something completely different, from the May issue of GQ
' Michael Jackson in Bahrain '
Great stuff, total weirdness

Found this of interest in the article, Bahrain stores/supermarkets won't sell US products because of America's support of Israel but is the home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet

NP: Michael Jackson: don’t stop ’til you get enough (La Rocque's fav MJ song)

 

[King Chaos]

I bought three books in a three for two deal recently, and I don't know what to read first...

Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted
(Edit: if you saw what was writen here before... laugh it up) J.D Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye (yeah I never read it)
or Kurt vonnegut - Slaughter house five

What do you reckon? I'm fresh off the back of a reimmergence into the realms of murgos, dryads and sorcery... so maybe something abit more real.

 

[marduk1507]

Id go 3,2,1. All of them are great, although I havent read Haunted. Bargain.

 

[hyena]

As for statistics, as a valued professional I do sponsor the idea that 97% of all statistics are lies.

I'm not reading anything really. I'm too lazy and stressed at the moment.