NVR - What are you reading right now? (Fiction or non-fiction)
Posted by Beans and Greens on May 12, 2007 · Member since Apr 2007 · 169 posts
I'm reading 'Raising Vegan Children in a Non-vegan World' by Erin Pavlina.
I'm curious what everyone else has their nose in at the moment! :)
It's definitely not "kid stuff", but there's a certain arrested adolescent element to it that gives it a whole lot of spirit and charm. I mean, the Muskateers are pretty horrible human beings, but you can't help but root for them because of Dumas' enthusiasm.
And "amen" on the irony. It's his favorite toy. It's cool watching all the blocks line up in 'Monte Cristo'. It's like even his shades of grey are balck and white. :)
its really funny how many times I start a book and can't finish it. Malaria Dreams is just dragging on so I'm putting it down for a while... (I couldn't finish Pride and Prejudice either.)
I started reading House of the Seven Sisters, and I'm flying through that, though I'm not sure what to take of the past-tenseness of it all.
Only one time was a book so awful that I put it down. Having said that, I am still reading The God Delusion. It's been at least a month & a half but damn it, I am determined to get through it. It's not a bad book. It is quite good but it is a hard read.
AIS-it's been years since I read Monte Cristo. I think I see a trip to the library soon to re-discover some great old books like this one ;)b
I couldn't finish "Shadow Baby" either. It's too darn depressing. Right now I could do with something light-as-air. Chick lit or similar. But all I have are some Grishams and Browns and other rather heavy-going stuff. Nothing wrong with Grisham, btw. But he's not mental popcorn. You know, "junk food for the mind."
"Napoleon's Pyramids" by William Dietrich
Picked up Malaria Dreams again, and it can't hold my interest still. Arg! Maybe I'll focus on my drawing now... haha.
Started re-reading what little I have in French, to see if I can pound the use of the 3 different accent marks into my head. I can't hear the difference in the sound when I say the words, so this is the only way. Since most of my French books have to do with my little hobby (see also "obsession") to do with St Therese, I'm happy.
"Tricksters Choice" by Tamora Pierce. 3rd time i've tried reading it, seeming pretty good this time
I'm reading Moby Dick for the first time!
I'm reading Moby Dick for the first time!
You have my deepest sympathy. Like that 60's TV series, "The Prisoner," you don't *have* to be high to read Moby Dick--but it helps. I honestly think Melville was high when he wrote parts of it.
I'm reading Moby Dick for the first time!
One word of advice: Persevere!
Seriously, there will be times - especially in the middle third of the book - when you will feel like you are lost, confused and bored to tears. Keep going! Once the more linear narative picks back up in the last third, the book becomes almost mystical with all of its allegory and symbolism.
But here's the thing... you probably won't appreciate the book as a whole until a week or more after you've read the whole thing.
I plowed through it, and felt releief when I was done. The end chapters were thrilling, but the oddness and tedium of the middle part of the book had me just glad to be done.
Then after about a week, I found myself dwelling on aspects of the book, and seeing how they fit in to the whole... it is cool. It's like building something according to directions, but not being told what ti is. Then, once done, you're allowed to see it and what it does. It's that kind of, "Ah ha!"
Perhaps, AIS. But I do think he could have chopped out about 300 pages and had a better book as a result. It was a massive failure when it came out, and only because it happened to be the favourite novel of Alexander Woolcot, the literary critic of the New Yorker who got all of the Algonquin Club to "puff" it as "the greatest American novel" do we even have it today.
Where was Melville's editor, I'd like to know.
Sorry. I've read it 4 times and have to study it every year with my tutoring students. And to me, if you have tre-re-read a book to get anything out of it...well.
Thank you both for your sympathy. I actually started the book a few weeks ago and I'm still on chapter 6. :( I'm a little intimidated, I guess you could say, but I have to read it for my 19th century novel course as well as 8 other novels! Geezzzz
Anybody read Jude the Obscure, Madame Bovary, Hard Times, The Blithedale Romance, The House of Mirth, Fathers and Children, The Portrait of a Lady, or Sister Carrie?
They are neatly stacked beside my bed waiting for me to pick them up. Talk about intimidating!
I haven't read House of Mirth, but it's what I named my wireless network.
I can't read stories with endings I consider sad. I feel hollow inside for weeks afterward. It's just not worth it.
I haven't read House of Mirth, but it's what I named my wireless network.
I can't read stories with endings I consider sad. I feel hollow inside for weeks afterward. It's just not worth it.
I understand completely, I do the same thing, I even do that with movies. The other day I watched Revolutionary Road, which is based off a novel, and after it was all said and done I felt out of it for at least 2 days. It's strange what a strong impact a book or movie can have on someone.
I am in the middle of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Has anyone read it? It is hilarious. I love his writing style.
yabbit, this could be that 'light as air' you were looking for :)
I keep looking at that book, jm, but I haven't picked it up yet.
I have decided that my next book is The Professor and the Mad Man. I've intended to read it for years. If I don't read it by the end of the year, I'm giving my copy away.
i have read eggers, a few years back. As I recall, the hilarity tapers off towards the end, or maybe I just got tired of his writing style by the 150th page. But all in all, it's a good, fast, lighter read for sure.
If anyone is looking to laugh while reading, anything by david sedaris is worth picking up.
HH, I got that book for my bday and haven't picked it up yet. Maybe you mentioning it will be the motivation I needed.
Has anyone else read The Boy With the Striped Pyjamas? I just did. It's well written and all, but here's my question: If his father is an officer in Hitler's Berlin, how could a 9 yr old boy be soooo innocent that he doesn't even realise the "noise" at night is the war? Surely he would have been in the Hitler Youth for awhile now, being heavily indoctrinated to know that "all Jews are bad" and such as that. His sister already knows, and as a boy he would be trained from a very young age so he could "take his place" in what they hoped was going to be the New World Order. I could see a child of 5 or 6 being in a world of their own, but while sweet, the main character remains unconvincing to me, unless along with his small physical stature he is what the Welsh call "an innocent" (ie mentally disabled).
A Study in Scarlet by A. Conan Doyle (1st Sherlock Homes book)
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