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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → What are you reading right now? Summer Edition.
What are you reading right now? Summer Edition.
2007-05-15, 4:34 PM #1
... other than "this thread." ;)

The purpose of this thread is obvious. I've found these threads are a good way to find new books to read.

I'm 2/3 through Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham. It's a novel that is really three different stories. One from the height of the Industrial Revolution. One from the present day. One from the future (I'm just beginning the third). All the stories take place in New York City with the same three characters (although in slightly different forms), and, you guessed it, they all feature Walt Whitman. Cunningham is a high quality writer, more known for his novel The Hours.

I would recommend it, but I will admit that the second story was much less impressive than the first.
2007-05-15, 4:39 PM #2
About half a minute ago I finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with the promise of another Hunter S. Thompson book once I've returned this one to the girl I borrowed it from. I'm also currently working my way through the second volume of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I don't get an awful amount of time to read while I'm at Uni, sadly, so that book's been an "in progress" for quite a while. I think once I've finished my exams at the end of this week, I'll set aside some time to just sit and read.
2007-05-15, 4:43 PM #3
I'm not readaing anything right now actually apart from revision notes.

I'm going into Edinburgh at the weekend though so I might pop into Waterstones and pick up one of Bruce Campbell's books.
nope.
2007-05-15, 4:43 PM #4
My girlfriend's mother has the original issue's of Rolling Stone in which Fear and Loathing was published.

I want them with all of my heart and soul.
>>untie shoes
2007-05-15, 5:41 PM #5
My Fireline Handbook
Pissed Off?
2007-05-15, 5:42 PM #6
Maid Marian
Malcolm X
2007-05-15, 6:00 PM #7
Hey, why did my post get deleted?
"Oh my god. That just made me want to start cutting" - Aglar
"Why do people from ALL OVER NORTH AMERICA keep asking about CATS?" - Steven, 4/1/2009
2007-05-15, 6:07 PM #8
Bunch of Vonnegut
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2007-05-15, 6:09 PM #9
I'm in the midst of a Piers Anthony stint at the moment. Since finishing On a Pale Horse I've started Bearing an Hourglass.
"Flowers and a landscape were the only attractions here. And so, as there was no good reason for coming, nobody came."
2007-05-15, 8:11 PM #10
Nothing at the moment. i actually have no half finished books, nothing i particularly want to read/reread. trip to the library may be in order.
My girlfriend paid a lot of money for that tv; I want to watch ALL OF IT. - JM
2007-05-15, 8:12 PM #11
Cell, by Stephen King

I find this book totally worthless. Plot could have been better.
Back again
2007-05-15, 8:14 PM #12
i refused to read that book because it was released less than a year after his proclaimed "last book ever."
My girlfriend paid a lot of money for that tv; I want to watch ALL OF IT. - JM
2007-05-15, 8:34 PM #13
All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson.
2007-05-15, 8:36 PM #14
A book by Mary Higgins Clark (name escapes me right now) and The Phantom of the Opera
Fincham: Where are you going?
Me: I have no idea
Fincham: I meant where are you sitting. This wasn't an existential question.
2007-05-15, 8:36 PM #15
I just finished Watchmen. I think I may start reading Harry Potter again.
2007-05-15, 8:52 PM #16
finishing Star Wars - Triple Zero

no clue what next, whatever book i find
Holy soap opera Batman. - FGR
DARWIN WILL PREVENT THE DOWNFALL OF OUR RACE. - Rob
Free Jin!
2007-05-15, 9:10 PM #17
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
COUCHMAN IS BACK BABY
2007-05-15, 9:30 PM #18
I have a couple of books I'm slowly making my way through. The current ones I'm working on are:
  • The Art of Electronics
  • The Art of Computer Programming
  • The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System

I can probably finish The Art of Electronics and The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System befoe the end of the summer, but The Art of Computer Programming will probably take a long time (considering it is three volumes).
[This message has been edited. Deal with it.]
2007-05-15, 9:37 PM #19
Originally posted by Malus:
I have a couple of books I'm slowly making my way through. The current ones I'm working on are:
  • The Art of Electronics
  • The Art of Computer Programming
  • The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System
I can probably finish The Art of Electronics and The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System befoe the end of the summer, but The Art of Computer Programming will probably take a long time (considering it is three volumes).

Christ, best of luck with that.

Honestly, I probably won't end up reading anything all summer. I'd like to read a few cyberpunk classics (like Snow Crash) , but who knows if it'll happen.
2007-05-15, 10:50 PM #20
A few David Gemmel books I've got. Just got done reading Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett for the second time, and really really wanna get Ravenor by the same author.
D E A T H
2007-05-15, 11:38 PM #21
I just finished The Code Book. It was excellent.
2007-05-15, 11:41 PM #22
Originally posted by fishstickz:
Bunch of Vonnegut


That's exactly my reading plan for this summer.
If you think the waiters are rude, you should see the manager.
2007-05-15, 11:42 PM #23
Just finished Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk and am scurring to find a good book. Not quite sure what sort I'm in the mood for, though. :confused:
"Art is a lie that makes us to realize the truth."
- Pablo Picasso

blog thingamajig
2007-05-16, 12:41 AM #24
I'm rereading the Harry Potter books to get in the mood for the last one. I'm at book two at the moment.
Before that I read Robinson Crusoe. The author really knew how to drag sentences on but something always kept pulling me back to the book and I have no idea what it was.
Sorry for the lousy German
2007-05-16, 1:04 AM #25
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Dumbledore gets in the way of Snapes killing curse!
"Guns don't kill people, I kill people."
2007-05-16, 6:55 AM #26
Almost finished: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Half-way through: House of Leaves
Re-reading for the billionth time: Jurassic Park
School: papers for BioMedical Ethics and chapters for Anatomy
"Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it."
2007-05-16, 6:57 AM #27
still haven't finished the zombie survival guide... i need to so i can get to the halo books i just bought

last book i finished was Notes of a Sniper by Vassili Zaitsev
eat right, exercise, die anyway
2007-05-16, 8:11 AM #28
Originally posted by Aglar:
Christ, best of luck with that.

Honestly, I probably won't end up reading anything all summer. I'd like to read a few cyberpunk classics (like Snow Crash) , but who knows if it'll happen.

Damn, I just remembered that one of my wastrel friends has my copy of Snow Crash. I'll have to get that back soon.
2007-05-16, 8:13 AM #29
Quote:
I'm 2/3 through Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham

I enjoyed that book. I thought it was interesting way to do some genre-hopping.

I'm currently reading A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick and Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds. Rip It Up... is particularly fascinating, Reynolds goes into incredible detail and collects a ton of interesting interviews. I highly recommend the book if you are interested in that era of music.
2007-05-16, 10:28 AM #30
Originally posted by Antony:
My girlfriend's mother has the original issue's of Rolling Stone in which Fear and Loathing was published.


I like Hunter S. Thompson's work. You win.
SnailIracing:n(500tpostshpereline)pants
-----------------------------@%
2007-05-16, 11:01 AM #31
Originally posted by Achelois:
Just finished Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk and am scurring to find a good book. Not quite sure what sort I'm in the mood for, though. :confused:

I suggest Survivor and Invisible Monsters by the same author if you haven't read them already. Excellent reads. I need to get Lullaby--I've heard great things.
D E A T H
2007-05-16, 11:08 AM #32
Great Dialogues of Plato, Beowulf, The Man Who Was Thursday, and the material for my summer session courses. :awesome:

I'm just trying to catch whatever I missed in high school thanks to being in the wrong English courses, plus start reading a hell of a lot more than I have been. And it was getting really boring reading mostly Star Wars books.
2007-05-16, 3:59 PM #33
Originally posted by Dj Yoshi:
I suggest Survivor and Invisible Monsters by the same author if you haven't read them already. Excellent reads. I need to get Lullaby--I've heard great things.


My sister has Invisible Monsters, I was thinking of grabbing it if I didn't find anything else to read. I love the author to death but I always feel the need to read something a bit happier right after.
"Art is a lie that makes us to realize the truth."
- Pablo Picasso

blog thingamajig
2007-05-16, 5:50 PM #34
After reading Lullaby, Invisible Monsters, and Fight Club in succession I had enough Palahniuk for a while, honestly. Invisible Monsters is pretty good.
2007-05-16, 5:55 PM #35
Originally posted by Primate:
All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson.


Does the title have anything to do with the Velvet Underground song of the same name?
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2007-05-16, 6:00 PM #36
I'm currently reading...
  • Phantom ~ Terry Goodkind
  • Kentucky Moonshine ~ David Maurer

I plan to soon read...
  • The Children of Hurin ~ J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The God Delusion ~ Richard Dawkins
  • A History of Kentucky ~ Thomas Clark

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