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! :)
The Staturn Theory by Dave Talbot
The author formulates a new and interesting method of "proof" wherein common myths, legends and superstitions are used to derive facts about the past. He postulates that various religions and mythologies throughout history contain repetitive themes that indicate the configuration of our solar system was completely different 10,000 years ago. Specifically, Talbot uses the common myths of Christianity, Judaism, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Mayans and Sumerians to “prove” that Saturn used to be our sun, or at the very least was as close or closer to Earth as the moon is today.
Later tonight.....Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler ....considers Wall Street's funding of the Nazi's Third Reich...will let you know how it turns out....
The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
It's a bizarre and surreal novel about... hmm... I'm not talented enough to summarize this bad boy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind-Up_Bird_Chronicle
Wikipedia couldn't even give it a decent summary. It's surrealism, and it's about so much on so many levels. It is engrossing, will always have you wondering "what's that supposed to mean?", and it's a lot of fun to read. I'm enjoying the heck out of it and can't wait for my next Murakami novel.
I also started Lady Chatterley's Lover while I was without the WUBC for a few days. :-*
The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
It's a bizarre and surreal novel about... hmm... I'm not talented enough to summarize this bad boy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind-Up_Bird_Chronicle
Wikipedia couldn't even give it a decent summary. It's surrealism, and it's about so much on so many levels. It is engrossing, will always have you wondering "what's that supposed to mean?", and it's a lot of fun to read. I'm enjoying the heck out of it and can't wait for my next Murakami novel.
I also started Lady Chatterley's Lover while I was without the WUBC for a few days. :-*
What do you think of Lady Chatterley's Lover? I read it this summer--and I'm not sure what I think of it.
IdrilAsphodel, I read Lady Chatterly in college (1980) because of all the furore about it in the 60s. I remember that weird British judge kiboshing the whole proceeding with his attitude: "Is this something you would want your wife or your servants to read?" All he did was ensure the sales would skyrocket...anyway, I read it and found it meh. I mean, "dirty book?" OK so in 20 years things had changed a lot, but Anais Nin it ain't. It was OK, but more about the social class structure than anything. (OK, so yeah, I was hoping then that it would be at least prurient, but we must remember I went to college at 16. ;D)
IdrilAsphodel, I read Lady Chatterly in college (1980) because of all the furore about it in the 60s. I remember that weird British judge kiboshing the whole proceeding with his attitude: "Is this something you would want your wife or your servants to read?" All he did was ensure the sales would skyrocket...anyway, I read it and found it meh. I mean, "dirty book?" OK so in 20 years things had changed a lot, but Anais Nin it ain't. It was OK, but more about the social class structure than anything. (OK, so yeah, I was hoping then that it would be at least prurient, but we must remember I went to college at 16. ;D)
That's fair, I thought of it pretty similarly. "That's it? Where's the dirty parts?" ha ha ha...
But I guess it was the one of the first of is kind, so it's worth reading in that regard.
Not a bad book, but I'm not all that attached to it either. It's a hit or miss kind of book.
IdrilAsphodel, I read Lady Chatterly in college (1980) because of all the furore about it in the 60s. I remember that weird British judge kiboshing the whole proceeding with his attitude: "Is this something you would want your wife or your servants to read?" All he did was ensure the sales would skyrocket...anyway, I read it and found it meh. I mean, "dirty book?" OK so in 20 years things had changed a lot, but Anais Nin it ain't. It was OK, but more about the social class structure than anything. (OK, so yeah, I was hoping then that it would be at least prurient, but we must remember I went to college at 16. ;D)
That's fair, I thought of it pretty similarly. "That's it? Where's the dirty parts?" ha ha ha...
But I guess it was the one of the first of is kind, so it's worth reading in that regard.
Not a bad book, but I'm not all that attached to it either. It's a hit or miss kind of book.
I personally loved it! The book really isn't about the dirty parts per se its more of a metaphor. Nature versus industrialism, etc...etc... I won't go into of on my analysis of it. Haha. I'm such an English major.
"So, and_it_spoke, what excuse do you have for not posting on VegWeb latley?"
Been readin'.
Bhagavad-Gita, Uddhava-Gita, "Essential Hinduism" by Stephen Rosen - currently reading "Hindu Scriptures" as editied by Dominic Goodall...
My world seems a bit larger now. :)
We've missed you, AIS!! I was just thinking of you the other day, because I was rereading this and other book-related threads.
Welcome back!!
The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
It's a bizarre and surreal novel about... hmm... I'm not talented enough to summarize this bad boy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind-Up_Bird_Chronicle
Wikipedia couldn't even give it a decent summary. It's surrealism, and it's about so much on so many levels. It is engrossing, will always have you wondering "what's that supposed to mean?", and it's a lot of fun to read. I'm enjoying the heck out of it and can't wait for my next Murakami novel.
I also started Lady Chatterley's Lover while I was without the WUBC for a few days. :-*
I love Murakami. Wind-up is my favorite. Have you read Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World yet?
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Just Kids by Patti Smith
was that good? I want to read it
Im in the middle of it, but so far I like it. Its mostly about her relationship and living with Robert Mapplethorpe in Brooklyn, finding themselves as artists. Ill let you know the final prognosis! ;)
For work: The Woman Turned Bully
Midsummer Night's Dream
Edward II by Christopher Marlowe (which is probably the play that got him knifed in a "bar fight")
For fun: Thanks to my ebook reader I'm on a Nero Wolfe binge. Currently reading The Black Mountain. Atypical because they go to Europe. Funny how Archie Goodwin was a lot more bumptious and racist in the early 60s than before and after.
For work: The Woman Turned Bully
Midsummer Night's Dream
Edward II by Christopher Marlowe (which is probably the play that got him knifed in a "bar fight")
For fun: Thanks to my ebook reader I'm on a Nero Wolfe binge. Currently reading The Black Mountain. Atypical because they go to Europe. Funny how Archie Goodwin was a lot more bumptious and racist in the early 60s than before and after.
I read Edward II last semester, and then we watched the Derek Jarman film of the same title. I found the play much more enjoyable, partially because there wasn't any visualization of the actual death scene. (It was so brutal).
But I thought C. Marlowe died because he had atheist views during a time where that was just unheard of? I don't remember his death being over any of his plays.
Marlowe was a soldier, diplomat, spy, playwright...and homosexual at a time when that meant death. He also portrays Edward as a homosexual in his play. The language is pretty overt, all that Ganymede and Hylas stuff. He was stabbed in a barroom dispute, supposedly over the bill, but it's generally thought that the dispute was provoked to give someone an excuse to knife him. He had become inconvenient in many ways, but atheism was the least of his problems.
It's a shame because I feel sure if he'd lived he might have surpassed Shakespeare. Many scenes of The Merchant of Venice resonate heavily with the language of Marlowe's Jew of Malta.
Also reading:
Flags of Our Fathers
No Certain Rest
Enrique's Journey
You Better Not Cry
The first two are for one of my classes, and extremely boring and war oriented. Enrique is about a boy's struggle to reunite with his family. YBNC is the last thing Augusten Burroughs has written, who I love. It's a collection of christmas-themed stories from his life. I finished it today and while I like it, I think I was expecting a little more. The first majority of the stories are lighthearted and fun, then the last two are about one of his struggling relationships and were written in a much different tone than the others. But if you're a Burroughs fan, read it.
Marlowe was a soldier, diplomat, spy, playwright...and homosexual at a time when that meant death. He also portrays Edward as a homosexual in his play. The language is pretty overt, all that Ganymede and Hylas stuff. He was stabbed in a barroom dispute, supposedly over the bill, but it's generally thought that the dispute was provoked to give someone an excuse to knife him. He had become inconvenient in many ways, but atheism was the least of his problems.
It's a shame because I feel sure if he'd lived he might have surpassed Shakespeare. Many scenes of The Merchant of Venice resonate heavily with the language of Marlowe's Jew of Malta.
Yes, it is a shame.
Hmm, that's a really interesting idea about the stabbing. I'm going to have to do some reading....
Marlowe was a soldier, diplomat, spy, playwright...and homosexual at a time when that meant death. He also portrays Edward as a homosexual in his play. The language is pretty overt, all that Ganymede and Hylas stuff. He was stabbed in a barroom dispute, supposedly over the bill, but it's generally thought that the dispute was provoked to give someone an excuse to knife him. He had become inconvenient in many ways, but atheism was the least of his problems.
It's a shame because I feel sure if he'd lived he might have surpassed Shakespeare. Many scenes of The Merchant of Venice resonate heavily with the language of Marlowe's Jew of Malta.
Yes, it is a shame.
Hmm, that's a really interesting idea about the stabbing. I'm going to have to do some reading....
OK, I finished Edward II. IdrilAsphodel, did this play seem kind of "cut short" to you? I mean, yeah, it's a tragedy, the baddies have to pay with their lives etc. but I got the impression that he kind of rushed through the ending. The part about putting the table on Edward and stamping on it to kill him made me laugh. Why not just smother him with a pillow? He had one right there! I need to check historical stuff and see what actually happened to Edward Plantagenet....
Marlowe was a soldier, diplomat, spy, playwright...and homosexual at a time when that meant death. He also portrays Edward as a homosexual in his play. The language is pretty overt, all that Ganymede and Hylas stuff. He was stabbed in a barroom dispute, supposedly over the bill, but it's generally thought that the dispute was provoked to give someone an excuse to knife him. He had become inconvenient in many ways, but atheism was the least of his problems.
It's a shame because I feel sure if he'd lived he might have surpassed Shakespeare. Many scenes of The Merchant of Venice resonate heavily with the language of Marlowe's Jew of Malta.
Yes, it is a shame.
Hmm, that's a really interesting idea about the stabbing. I'm going to have to do some reading....
OK, I finished Edward II. IdrilAsphodel, did this play seem kind of "cut short" to you? I mean, yeah, it's a tragedy, the baddies have to pay with their lives etc. but I got the impression that he kind of rushed through the ending. The part about putting the table on Edward and stamping on it to kill him made me laugh. Why not just smother him with a pillow? He had one right there! I need to check historical stuff and see what actually happened to Edward Plantagenet....
I also thought it was cut short a bit, though my original reading of it, I thought it was a sort of stand in for the violence of Edward's death--stamping out quickly the king, and then suddenly the entire plot disappears as well (for the most part). I remember that I didn't like the way it ended very much, with the son taking control and getting the bad guys out of power--but maybe that's because of the empathy I had for Edward.
Have you seen Derek Jarman's film of Edward II? We watched it in conjunction with the play. I found I liked the play better after I watched the film--partially because I didn't like Marlowe's writing style much at all.
I believe Edward did die an excruciatingly painful death, as they portrayed in the play. What an awful way to die.
Well, yeah, there was "pressing", aka "the question." When a person was "pressed" or "put to the question" it meant that they put a heavy oak plank or door on top`of you and then piled huge heavy stones on it until you either a) confessed or b) were crushed to death, whichever came first. It's just the way the assassin put it that gave me the giggles.
NTS: Find Derek Jarman film. The Eng Lit dept here is obssessed with Jacobean drama. Have you seen Eddie Izzard and Derek Jacoby in "The Revenger's Tragedy"? Seriously surreal.
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