what are you reading?

Finished American Tabloid. Best political/crime fiction I've read in about 10 years. Won Time Magazine book of the year back in 1995 (not sure how I missed). Highly recommended.

Now reading The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright. All about the 9/11 attacks and reasons behind them.

Also read Eye of the Needle, and two John Sandford books between AT and LT.
 
I thought the book was way more fun than the movie, since you got the entire thing through Alex's weird vision of the world, plus all the crazy slang he used to describe it. On the other hand, the movie did have visual boobs.

I don't know....the book was good, for obvious reasons, well written in its own twisted way, fun to read, an obvious classic. The movie was good and did have things that weren't really described in the book, which if they were, could enhance the book. But then again, when left up to your own imagination, sometimes what's not said is worse than if it is said.
 
Joe Abercrombie's fifth book, The Heroes, is coming out in a couple weeks. If you like fantasy at all, or if you wish you could, you owe it to yourself to read Abercrombie - the dude does amazing fucking things to the genre. He writes with a great mix of black humor and gritty realism; each character has a unique narrative voice without getting obnoxious, and the storytelling is clever and absolutely merciless. Start with The Blade Itself and work your way through. You won't regret it.
 
They've been getting better so far. I'm half way done with this third one.

I hate Arya and her chapters, though. Fantasy or not, I'm not into 11 year old girls with swords. That's absurd. Also, isn't this guy going to die before the series is finished at this rate? Doesn't he realize this?

haha, i like arya so far, she's cool :D i hate sansa :p
maybe that's his plan? as a final character to kill, he kills himself!
 
I just started this series.

hunger.jpg
 
The Golden Compass has just started to get really good.

I have a feeling I'm going to fly through these books.



Also, after taking a one-night course on Herrn Friedrich Nietzsche, my interest in the guy has been completely rekindled, so I picked up William Kaufmann's Portable Nietzsche, and will be slowly working my way through that in between my (comparably) lighter readings.


Here's an excerpt from early Nietzsche (24 years old[!]), before writing any major works, articulating an extremely early criticism of Schopenhauer's idea of ethics, ethics in general, and a proto-polemic indicative of his later views of Christianity and religious repression.


-----

The unchangeable character is influenced in it's expressions by it's environment and education--not in it's essence. A popular ethics therefore wants to suppress bad expressions as far as possible, for the sake of the general welfare--an undertaking that is strikingly similar to the police. The means for this is a religion with rewards and punishments: for the expressions alone matter. Therefore the catechism can say: Thou shalt not kill! Thou shalt not curse! etc. Nonsensical, however, is an imperative: "Be good!" as well as, "Be wise!" or "Be talented!"

The "general welfare" is not the sphere of truth; for truth demands to be declared even if it is ugly and unethical.

If we admit, for example, the truth of the doctrine of Schopenhauer (but also of Christianity) concerning the redemptive power of suffering, then it becomes regard for the "general welfare" not only not to lessen suffering, but perhaps even to increase it--not only for oneself, but also for others. Pushed to the limit, practical ethics becomes ugly--even consistent cruelty to human beings. Similarly, the effect of Christianity is unnerving when it commands respect for every kind of magistrage, etc., as well as acceptance of all suffering without any attempt at resistance.
 
Haha. That brings back memories. Mankind was fuckin' awesome.

yea I actually got my copy signed by him at a local Books-a-Million when I was around 9 yrs old. I just found it packed away in some box and decided to revisit my childhood. haha
 
Finishing Stone of Tears (yeah, I'm late to the party), and then starting Gardens of the Moon. I'll probably read the Song of Fire and Ice books after the series is finished, just so I'm not automatically criticizing what was altered. Plus, since I don't already know the story, I'd rather be suprised.
 
I just started this series.

hunger.jpg

my friend clay has just finished reading this series
he says they're awesome
since they've already started filming a movie based on the first book
i'm prolly going to wait to read the series untill after the first movie comes out