What are you reading?

[NoahLutz]

Business trips slowed me down, but I’m almost through the Doors of Perception.  It seems like it was written by a very smart person with eclectic but limited knowledge, forcing an idea to fit into an experience.  

[Richard Reyes]

Just finishing up the 33 & 1/3 book about Math Rock. Next up will be another book by Mircea Cartarescu, Blinding. Once more into the breech!

[NoahLutz]

Invisible Man.  I think I read this in high school or college, but I can’t remember a thing about it.  Other than that it is about a man who is invisible.  

[treeduck]

[NoahLutz]

Nothing but a little bit of the Acts of the Apostles from time to time.  I made the very stupid mistake of purchasing the entire series of The Walking Dead on sale, followed by the dumber decision of watching the first couple of episodes.  I’m on season 7 now.  I also decided to take an 8 hour course on the Assyrians (who were the original evil empire, by the way).  Apparently, "just the tip” doesn’t work for much in life.  

[Turbine Freight]

Patricia Highsmith - The Two Faces of January

Anthony Trollope - The Warden

Stephen King - The Shining

Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility

 

Just started:

Antonia Fraser - Charles II

[goose]

Been listening to a lot of podcasts on stuff I read a long time ago by Jorge Luis Borges (El Aleph, Garden of Bifurcating Paths) , Garcia Marquez (100 years of Solitude, Death Foretold,  Love in Cholera), Isabel Allende (Two Words) and other Latin writers.  Some in English, some in Spanish.

[Nova Carmina]

20 hours ago, goose said:

Been listening to a lot of podcasts on stuff I read a long time ago by Jorge Luis Borges (El Aleph, Garden of Bifurcating Paths) , Garcia Marquez (100 years of Solitude, Death Foretold,  Love in Cholera), Isabel Allende (Two Words) and other Latin writers.  Some in English, some in Spanish.

 

If you haven't already, you should read/listen to some Jorge Amado; The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell was a good one, and quite brief (if that helps!). Machado de Assis is another good author.

[BastillePark]

[goose]

2 hours ago, Nova Carmina said:

 

If you haven't already, you should read/listen to some Jorge Amado; The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell was a good one, and quite brief (if that helps!). Machado de Assis is another good author.

Thanks for the tip!

[jamie]

[pjbear05]

The Cutthroat, by Clive Cussler & Justin Scott (Isaac Bell series).

[Turbine Freight]

Eusebius - History of the Church

[TheAccountant]

Just finished "Who Rules the World" by Noam Chomsky (the 2017 edition).  Decent - not great but ok.  The best part was the afterwords which was included with the 2017 edition.

[pjbear05]

Attack From Within, by Barbara McQuade.

[Richard Reyes]

Recently finished 7 Men by Eric Metaxas. Interesting but unexpectedly super Christian in its lens. His Bonhoeffer book is amazing.

Current read: Trust by Herman Diaz. 50 pages in. Okay so far. Hope it gets better.

On deck: Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi. Book three of a series. Book one was good. Book two was good but not as good as book one. 

[invisible airwave]

[Richard Reyes]

Read back-to-back books by Benjamin Labatut: "When We Cease to Understand the World," and, "Maniac." Both excellent books about scientists and mathematicians who push the boundaries of what humans can create and wrestle with the consequences. Currently reading "Last Date in El Zapotal" by Mateo Garcia Elizondo. Addiction, self-destruction, fear and loathing in a tiny Mexican village. Good stuff. 

[NoahLutz]

On 5/25/2024 at 1:04 AM, NoahLutz said:

Invisible Man.  I think I read this in high school or college, but I can’t remember a thing about it.  Other than that it is about a man who is invisible.  

I finally finished the book a week or so ago.  I don’t know why it took me so long.  I should have loved the book: it was sci-fi, well written, short, and while easy to digest, held a light to some moral truths.  And I did like it…I just couldn’t force myself to read it.  

 

Anyway, I moved quickly to Peart’s Ghost Rider, which was both fascinating and boring.  It was interesting to see someone grapple with the complex ideas of grief, and Peart seems a complex person: deep emotions but almost misanthropic and stunted; obviously knowledgeable and wise, but of limited intelligence and imagination; curious about so many things, but oblivious and uncurious about many others.  Also, he seems to have positively quoted The Speed of Love twice at the most important part of the book.  Still, despite its flaws, I’m glad I read it and would recommend it to others.  

 

I’m at the denouement of the second Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy.  Very fun and engaging, but a little too clever for its own good.  

 

I’m reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream and should finish it tomorrow.  I’ll either read another Shakespeare or two (they’re so fast and fascinating and beautiful) or move on to Frederick Douglass next, I think.   

[NoahLutz]

The kids and I are reading To Kill a Mockingbird, while I am starting a political/religious book no one here will like.  

[NoahLutz]

Today I start a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

[JARG]

I'm re-reading Finding Darwin's God, by Ken Miller. Miller is a molecular/cellular biologist and a Catholic who spends the first part of his book defending Darwinism from religious-oriented attacks. The 2nd half of the book is how one can be fully in support of evolution and also be a devout believer. He has an interesting place for where to find "Darwin's God".

 

Edited August 22, 2024 by JARG

[NoahLutz]

On 8/22/2024 at 9:29 PM, NoahLutz said:

Today I start a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

I am almost done with this, and it is an interesting read.  I guess it’s far less shocking now in a world where we have many options to see what the life of a slave is like, but at the time it must have been revolutionary.  It doesn’t really ask many big questions, other than pointing out how Christianity demands the abolition of slavery or asking how humans can treat other humans so horribly.  Again, this seems obvious today, but was probably revelatory to people of the time.  

[Bahamas]

The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit.

I know, it's a children's book, but I was between books and looked through our shared Kindle library. Once I started I was completely drawn in to the absolute "niceness" and civility of the characters against hardship. 

And it came out around the time our house was built so it has a timely feel to it. Only a third way through - no spoilers please!  

 

[NoahLutz]

I started The Tempest.  It seems weird, so far.