What BOOK are you reading right now?

Dys got me into Ambrose Beirce. I have a collection of his short stories which are incredible, but I've always admired good short story writing as they require such intense story telling in such a short time.

An Incident at Owl Creek is a favorite. A story of a man losing himself in a run for home; thinking it is a real experience, as he is being hung by Union soldiers on Owl Creek bridge. It takes place during the Civil War and, I believe, it was produced on The Twilight Zone many years ago.

Satire was Bierce's forte, but he also wrote horror stories as well as humor such as The Devil's Dictionary.

Msolga, Cloud Street sounds great. I'll look for it here in the States.

Hunter S. Thompsons Hells Angels

angels and demons. Dan BROWN

The Voyage of the Lucky Gragon
About the poor people in vietamn who cannot bear the humiliation from the radical government and took a boat called Lucky Gragon to escape.
a fairly good book

Just finished 'Almost French' by Sarah Turnbull; an Australian journalist who goes to live with a Parisian... interesting reading for those fascinated by cultural differences. Unfortunately for me right now, fasting, there's too much about food in it!!

That rings a bell, Clary, not just re that book, but some others. I am keen on these cultural difference explorations in the guise of memoirs or mysteries..

A light read, osso, but did you ever read The Divorce? ... An American woman discovering the differences b/n the French & Americans as her marriage dies. Some funny moments. A long time since I read it .. Diane ? .. (Sorry forgot the surname.)

Pale Fire.

Vlad Nabokov.

Only read 'Lolita' before. It rocketed to the top of my all time favorite list once I did.

Any comments that don't involve information that would ruin the reading experience are welcome. I've read Kinbote's prologue, and almost instantly I remembered how easily I was seduced by Nabokov's prose.

Does anyone else find that today's American satirists or parodists are too into their own wit, and not the wit of the characters they create? At the risk of provoking stuffy and annoying and useless grad level conversation...

I don't know. The thing about Nabokov is that the author falls away. He passes his genius through his characters. He's not out to be a rock star.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to this book.

Hope you enjoy your reading this week folks!

Since posting, I've just read The Girl with the Pearl Earring. It was, I thought, quite good, and probably well researched as to 17th Century Holland. But it was so understated that I can't tell whether it has made a big impact until a few months' time.
Now looking for another book in the limp library at this place I'm staying. I like the randomness of such necessity.

I'm reading Dean Koontz's The Taking. Very interesting.
Just finished Watership Down by Richard Adams for the tenth time. I pick it up when I can't find another interesting one. Its such a great book.

Patada Veloz, I hope you continue reading The aname of the Rose. It is well worth the effort involved. I was drawn in completely, almost living there in that drafty monastary.

Ropes, does Hells Angels take place shortly after WW2? Please come back and tell us about it.

Msolga, I haven't read The Divorce. Was it made into a movie--cute, fluffy, but also touching?

Gargamel, Have you seen the original film of Lolita starring Richard Burton? I think it was one of the finest films I've seen, capturing almost all of the subtle nuances and hypocricy of the book.

MOjO, Watership Down is one of my all time favorites. Plague Dogs was also a good read.

Wow, some great books are being read! I'd better hurry and get some of those being discussed.

Read Sue Townsends book, "Number 10" which was really funny but had such a crappy anticlimax (but still funny) ending. Are we allowed to swear in these forums??! That was the first non textbook book I've read for over 2 years! Wow I finished reading a book!

O YEH I FORGOT!! does FHM count? heh heh this month... Bikini heaven. Brilliant.

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber.

Don't ask why as I am not sure yet.

Diane:
Although I first thought in reading another book, I'm relying in my huge Webster to understand those funny words.

Watership Down is one of my favorites, I friend of mine introduced it to me. He claims that the cartoon movie is really, really bad. That's why I didn't saw it. Does anyone else has seen the animation?

By the way, isn't Watership Down supposed to be a kind of "underground book"?

yes the cartoon of Watership Down was too cute and sugary. If you'd read the book it just wasn't good enough.

The Plague Dogs, as someone mentioned earlier, is really good and if you enjoyed Watership Down you'd enjoy that.

It is a children's book, but a good one, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH was really good. I can't remember the author but Google would tell you.

But if you're susceptible to nastiness in books, don't read the Plague Dogs, my mother said it kept her awake - she was an ardent doglover...

Have just read Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination which I thoroughly enjoyed - it is funny and lively and farfetched but isn't pretending to be anything else - by Helen Fielding who wrote Bridget Jones's Diary.

It was a comic relief after Girl with the Pearl Earring which was rather tan and beige in ambience.

Now reading a crappy book called Lots of Love, really Mills&Boony but I have been fasting for 7 days and my brain is missing! Break fast today though!!

I finshed "Namesake" - still mulling over it to post a review. Havent made up my mind whether I liked it or not.

I'm reading Bill Bryson's A Brief History of Nearly Everything. It's a science history book, and reads like a dream, even for a layman. It covers everything from geology to quantum mechanics. Honestly, even if you have no interest or background in science, I'd recommend it. His style is very laid-back and he drops all kinds of kinds of interesting facts about the various scientists & inventors - did you know that the idiot who thought that putting lead in fuel for cars was a good idea, is the same idiot who invented CFCs?

Cryptonomicon (you need to re-learn the language to read this book. It's practically code cracking itself, wading through the lesser-used and longer-syllabled English words, although it is worth the effort.)

A book about color and the origins of pigments and Dyes and such. I forget what it's called. It has a pretty cover.

A good archaeology textbook entitled: "thames & Hudson Archaeology (theories, methods, and practice) 4th edition."