What are you reading?

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

"A Gentleman of France" is fantastic. It's a straight up yarn but the characters are all distinct and understated. The humor still works too.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1939

Now I'm working on "Mr. Cannyharme."

Totally into Project Gutenberg recommendations, though I already have a whole folder of authors bookmarked.

I've also been been digging around the Faded Page, which is like the Canadian version of PG... despite all the efforts of the Disney lobby, there's still material fallinginto the public domain in Canada that's being left orphaned in the US.

Meanwhile, thanks to this tread, the library sent me a copy of In a Lonely Place, though I haven't started it yet.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I devoured the Foundation books when I was in high school... it might be interesting to re-visit them as more of a grown-up. Even then, I could see there was a recognizable tonal shift from the more terse, pulp-y original ones and the more expansive later ones.

That said, Asimov is kinda tainted in my mind from all of those creepin'-on-women/ass-grabber stories that came out, so there's a part of me that thinks there's probably something more current/by someone more worthy I could spend my attention on.

Yeah and TBH of the original Foundation books at least, the treatment of women as characters seems to mirror his clear IRL disdain for women...

[Dowi]

I devoured the Foundation books when I was in high school... it might be interesting to re-visit them as more of a grown-up. Even then, I could see there was a recognizable tonal shift from the more terse, pulp-y original ones and the more expansive later ones.

That said, Asimov is kinda tainted in my mind from all of those creepin'-on-women/ass-grabber stories that came out, so there's a part of me that thinks there's probably something more current/by someone more worthy I could spend my attention on.

Yeah and TBH of the original Foundation books at least, the treatment of women as characters seems to mirror his clear IRL disdain for women...

got to admit that i didn't absolutely knew anything about those stories about him until now. creepy, i'm kinda bummed as i considered him one of the greatest.
I never felt comfortable in the "separate the art from the artist" thing, so i think this will impact my future approach to his work.

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

Starting into In a Lonely Place, just noticed the library tag on the spine:



(Adds "Mystery Hug" to band names thread.)

[qersty]

I'm currently reading Blood Meridian after forcing myself through lotr cause I thought it would be easy to get through cause I already knew it. I think I have developed late-life analphabetism

[MrNovember]

Just finished reading Jeff Vandermeer's Borne "trilogy":
Borne is probably one of my favourite books. I read it a few years ago and re-reading it now felt surprisingly fresh. I was absolutely surprised to find I had very little memory of the plot and I loved learning about that world again. Very happy I decided to re-read it before diving into Strange Bird and Dead Astronauts.
Strange Bird was pretty decent. It wasn't nearly as interesting as Borne, but I didn't dislike it. All I can really say is that I was happy it was closer to a short story or novella than a full novel.
Dead Astronauts was just weird and nonsensical and I still haven't decided if I mean that in a good way. There's a quote on the cover of the book comparing Dead Astronauts to free-form impressionist jazz and I don't have a better way to explain it; I honestly don't know what I just read. That being said, I couldn't put it down and I'm already tempted to re-read it to get a better understanding, so I can't exactly say it was bad either (just read some reviews out of curiosity and A LOT of people disliked this book so I guess your experience may vary)

And for a completely different weird experience in reading I started reading Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle last night and it was like some kind of weird, literature-based deja-vu. I knew I had never read the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, I didn't have a copy until my wife got me one for Christmas this year and I haven't been to a library in ages, but page after page I was certain I had read this story before. It was to the point that I got out of bed and searched through my other Murakami books; there must be an excerpt or something at the end of one. Nothing. I kept reading and it seemed I knew everything before it happened. I just couldn't explain it. Finally, this morning I noticed one of my Murakami books, the Elephant Vanishes. In my haste last night, I had flipped to the end of the book looking for some sort of except, but I hadn't taken the time to notice that the Elephant Vanishes is a collection of short stories, the first of which was "The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday's Women".

[cosmicevan]

Still reading a ton with my son. We moved onto Roald Dahl's catalog and although many are centered around being kids stories, they are fast reads and pretty fun. He also writes a bunch of NOT for kids stuff. I picked up a collection of short stories and we started reading them and by the third story, I realized that these were NOT meant for kids and a bunch had evil twists to them.

For my adult reading, I dove back into my favorite author - Tom Robbins and I'm mid-way through his "auto-biography" called Tibetan Peach Pie.

I'm also reading one book from him that I missed called "B is for Beer" which is a kids story for grown ups.

[coldbrightsunlight]

oh yeah there is plenty of adult Dahl stuff - research stories before reading them

[Seance]

Starting into In a Lonely Place, just noticed the library tag on the spine:



(Adds "Mystery Hug" to band names thread.)

I've got The Blackbirder by Dorothy B. Hughes in the house. But I'm only halfway through The Pickwick Papers.

The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes is also great. On my to-read list are Ride the Pink Horse and The So Blue Marble.

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

In a Lonely Place was interesting, it sagged a bit in the middle but the creepiness of the central thrust of the book certainly stuck with me.

Haven't looked for any more of her books yet, but I could see myself getting around to it.

[Seance]

Recently re-read Valis by Philip K Dick. Although I sort of wish I had this version
so I could re-read the whole series in order.

The first time I read these I checked them all out sequentially from a library—back when
libraries still trafficked in physical books.


Currently I'm re-reading Dorothea Waley Singer's Giordano Bruno: His Life and Thought.
Which also includes an English translation of Bruno's On the Infinite Universe and Worlds.

[friendship]

I finished Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now" (on audiobook--a new format for me--because it was soothing to hear his gentle German lilt while commuting the subway).

Now I'm reading Octavio Butler's "The Parable of the Sower" which starts out with a bang.

[Gone Fission]

Recently re-read Valis by Philip K Dick. Although I sort of wish I had this version
so I could re-read the whole series in order.

The first time I read these I checked them all out sequentially from a library—back when
libraries still trafficked in physical books.

Mr. Brown:
I'm talking morning, day, night, afternoon, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick.

Mr. Blue:
How many dicks is that?

Mr. White:
A lot.

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

Now I'm reading Octavio Butler's "The Parable of the Sower" which starts out with a bang.

By coincidence, I have Butler's Kindred out from the library right now. Never read her before, it's quite enjoyable (if that's the right word for something that wants to put the brutality of slavery right in your face).

[coldbrightsunlight]

^ Yeah Kindred is good but brutal! I'd recommend more of her books, I've read the "Lilith's Brood" series and enjoyed them a lot.

Recently re-read Valis by Philip K Dick. Although I sort of wish I had this version
so I could re-read the whole series in order.

The first time I read these I checked them all out sequentially from a library—back when
libraries still trafficked in physical books.

Man I'd love that version! I loved Valis but not got round to checking out the series yet.