What book are you currently reading?

[greg_s]

In the same vein as Cannon's "What song are you listening to?" thread.


For me it's Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (guy that wrote Fahreneit 451). I should be done with it tonight and have to decide what to move on to. It is a beautifully written nostalgic book about childhood summers. Drags a bit through the middle, but Bradbury's prose makes up for it. Recommended, though Fahrenheit 451 is more recommended.

[clee130]

I finished the Game of Thrones series a little while back. I haven't read the current book because I'm still waiting for it to come out on paperback. An excellent series. If you're a fan of the TV show, you'll love the books. The series has declined a little bit in quality but still an excellent read above most others.


It took me a while to read all those books so I decided I needed a change of pace so while I was traveling in India and Nepal a couple of weeks ago, I read "The Sex Lives of Cannibals" by J. Maarten Troost and "Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell.


"The Sex Lives of Cannibals" was an excellent book. Basically a memoir of a guy who moves to an extremely remote South Pacific island with his then girlfriend. Devoid of basic things we take for granted like TV, radio, and even running water at times, it turns out that living on a South Pacific tropical island paradise only sounds better than it actually is. An extremely funny book at times and an easy read, I blew through it like nothing and enjoyed every bit of it. Unfortunately, I've read that his other books aren't nearly up to par with this book.


On the other hand, "Swamplandia!" was a chore and quite frankly, a bore and does not quite live up to the hype that it's been getting in my opinion. I will say that Karen Russell's prose and writing style is fresh and imaginative. Her use of language is excellent. I can't say the same for the story. I kept on waiting and waiting for something to happen and when it seems like halfway through the book like it's going somewhere, it takes a sharp nosedive and I was like, "WTF just happened?"


I'm not going to give away the climax but something quite terrible happens to the main character and the issue is never quite resolved. The first 3/4 of the book is a ramp-up to this imaginative, somewhat creepy world that borders between reality and a dreamworld and then BAM! real life inserts itself completely and then the book just falls flat. Beautiful language and masterful control of prose in of itself does not make a good story unfortunately for Karen Russell.


But that brings me to my current read: Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere". I'm only a handful of pages in but I like it so far. I've read a couple of his Sandman comics as well as very much liked the movie "Stardust". I bought that novel and "Neverwhere" but decided to read "Neverwhere" because it was his first solo book. "Stardust" looks like an easy read so I wanted to see how it compares to his earlier work.

[thmage]

My math textbook...

Hehe, I seriously need to do more recreational reading though.

[pratyk]

Batman & Philosopy

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Philoso.../dp/0470270306

[triseis]

Just finished "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi. Not too bad if you're into dystopian science fiction. There are a handful of parts that are pretty brutal and graphic, though.


Really solid writing, but it is written from four different perspectives.


Been searching through the Amazon Prime lending library to find the next book... Doesn't look like a fantastic set, though.

[Big_Scooter]

Spent an amused couple days reading a text version of "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde. Very funny... sort of Seinfeld-like dialogue, if the characters in Seinfeld had been pretentious, frivolous aristocrats in 1895.


Currently looking for something else to read, so I'll be monitoring this thread. Toying with the idea of resuming Don Quixote, which I made it half-way through three or four years ago before getting mired in a dull section.

[Jelks]

"The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Fault-Stars-John-Green/dp/0525478817


Yes, it's a YA book. Yes, it's about teenagers who meet in a cancer support group. But it's also the best (and best-reviewed) book of the year. You will laugh out loud, then cry, often in the space of the same paragraph.


@clee130 glad someone hated "Swamplandia!" as much as I did. The prose was so great and lyrical... that it actually bogged down the reading experience. And yeah, then the unexpected turn in the last section of the book was so terrible that it negated anything positive that came before it. The more I think about it, the more I hate it, haha.

[rob2]

I loved The Sex Lives of Cannibals - I've only spent a couple of very short visits on Tarawa but some of the observations and frustrations were spot-on with my experiences!


Currently reading The Great Gatsby again - much better when it's not being analysed as a High School text like last time I read it.


Also dipping into Democracy in America, and have just finished The Turning, a great book of related short stories by Tim Winton, one of the best Australian authors of this generation.

[frost]

"A Nightmare in Pink" (of the Travis McGee Series)

[Rodney Dean]

Just finished all five Game of Thrones books. (Exhausting.)


Now I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov. (Exhausting in a different way.)

[greg_s]

@Big_Scooter, if you liked the importance of being earnest, I'd recommend more Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray and some of his other plays (Lady Wyndymere's Fan) are excellent.

[Deke]

The last book I read was "How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails Ever Written." It was an absurdly easy read (definitely something to put next to the john), but it was highly enjoyable.

[tomservo]

Rob, are you reading Tocqueville for pleasure? Good on ya!


I'm currently working on mr g by Alan Lightman and finishing up Then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris


I'd also recommend Everything Matters by Ron Currie Jr.

[greg_s]

@Rob, good call on The Great Gatsby. It has reigned as my favorite book for quite some time, now.

[frost]

Gatsby was such a great book.