Amph What book are you reading right now?

Wait, so, you read Suttree earlier than those? Wild, I'm not even sure I had heard of that book before I read the Border Trilogy.

 

I'm actually about halfway through A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man right now; it's truly fantastic, and a nice chaser after The Picture of Dorian Grey and a couple of Shakespeare's tragedies. Following it up with either Wuthering Heights or Ulysses, both of which I've been required to read for classes before, and as such have never properly read. But I do remember, vividly, the last page or so of Ulysses. It's the most alive I've ever felt reading words on paper, like Joyce turned the ecstasy of giving way to wild abandon into language.

 

Just catching up on this thread. LMAO @Rogue1-and-a-half describing Zorn as "noise jazz".

 

I read Suttree while camping in Tennessee and absolutely loved it. It's the funniest book I've ever read.

 

Just finished a really cheapo novel The Railway Detective: Blood on the Line Set in Victorian times, a thief and murderer being escorted to justice on a train escapes and is on the run with his accomplice. Visiting places like London, Manchester, Coventry, Wolverhampton and New York. The titular railway detective (Robert Colbeck) is on the trail of the wanted man, who is also his nemesis. It was ok, I liked some of the settings and the writing puts you there, but this book was like the literary version of one of those budget American detective dramas, a rip off version of Sherlcok Holmes, set in England, but clearly filmed somehwere in America that looks nothing like England, with very little location shoots and mainly studio bound. Something that would pop up on the Spike TV channel. It passed the time whilst on the beach on holiday but its nothing to write home about. Turns out its just one in a series of books featurng the railway detective.

 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Doing a bit of research as I reread this one. Mary led a very tragic life, at least early on, although she died at age 53.

 

In Honor Bound
by DeAnna Julie Dodson

 

Rebel Rising.

I was looking for a book to read and came across this title being sold on Amazon. I liked the movie (R1) so I figured I'd probably like this "prequel" story for Jyn as well.

 

Sandstorm (Sigma Force #1) by James Rollins. It's Summer, and that typically means action/adventure reads for me. Fairly derivative on the surface so far (There's a daring archeologist named Omaha Dunn!), but reasonably well written and scratching that itch.

 

Currently reading Dead Air by Ian Banks. It's a fun read and feels like it's building up to some big twist, but it's not as good as The Wasp Factory.

 

currently jumping between:
John Locke - Two Treaties of Government
Herodotus - The Histories
Marcus Aurelius
The Age of Reason - Thomas Payne
Genesys RPG Core Rulebook

(some are re-reads)

 

Hmm, I am intrigued.

 

The Lost Road and Other Writings. This brings The History of Middle-earth up to the point at which Tolkien started writing The Lord of the Rings (or at least it probably will until five books later Christopher discovers some manuscript from 1930 he didn’t even know about because a much later lost draft of Farmer Giles of Ham was written on the opposite side and the ending was continued in the margins of a Chinese takeout menu that upends everything he thought he knew about the timing of the emergence of Glaurung vs. Glomund (Tolkien is very hard to edit)).

This consists of new forms of the Silmarillion and Annal traditions (this one is the first to be named Quenta Silmarillion, and the earliest draft from which Christopher pulled significant material for the published Silmarillion, which tells you how close we’re getting to the “finished” form of the stories), the emergence of the Ainulindale as a separate work (the first coverage of this matter since the start of the Lost Tales), an essay on the complex history and interrelation of Elvish languages, an etymology of Elvish words, and the Fall of Numenor, which finally emerges as a concept in Tolkien’s legendarium. This is related to an unfinished story included within, the product of a challenge between Tolkien and Lewis for Lewis to write a space travel story (he finished, you know the result) and Tolkien to write a time travel story. This being Tolkien, it’s a pseudo-autobiographical story about a boy fascinated by ancient languages who dreams about Elvish words, and grows up into a man who dreams about Elvish words and ends up on a journey through the past with his son. The only stuff written is about Numenor, but he had the idea of taking them through various father-son pairs throughout medieval history. There’s a little fragment of an ice age story too that suggests Tolkien’s conception of his world being wiped away, and slowly fading from man’s memory, due to the ice age. The Lost Road, the time travel story, is full of fascinating ideas, but also super morose and lethargic in mood. It’s a fascinating curiosity, but not surprising Tolkien abandoned it to just play with his ideas directly. It’s worth it just to get to see Tolkien write “damn it,” though.

 

Finished Crazy Rich Asians. Judging from the movie trailers, I don't think it's going to be a straight up adaptation. Now I'm reading Last Flag Flying.

 

Steve Coogan's autobiography , not bad , sometimes I wasn't sure he was being ironic , he is like Partridge at times .

 

Just started Charles Stross's The Delirium Brief, latest of his Laundry Files books to come out in PB. Coincidentally, I started it while waiting on my laundry at the launderette.

 

Reading a few different books right now:

This Fight is Our Fight
House of Leaves
Uncle Silas
The Color of Law
The Official LSAT Superprep

 

The First Woman Doctor by Rachel Baker

 

Same thing happened to me with A History of Glue.

 

So, you were able to stick with it?

 

A Storm of Swords.

After I finish ASOIAF, I'm looking forward to the new Thrawn books and The Expanse.

 

Off Rock by Kieran Shia

In the year 2778, Jimmy Vik is feeling dissatisfied.
After busting his ass for assorted interstellar mining outfits for close to two decades, downsizing is in the wind, his ex-girlfriend/supervisor is climbing up his back, and daily Jimmy wonders if he’s played his last good hand.
So when Jimmy stumbles upon a significant gold pocket during a routine procedure on Kardashev 7-A, he believes his luck may have changed—larcenously so. But smuggling the gold “off rock” won’t be easy.
To do it, Jimmy will have to contend with a wily criminal partner, a gorgeous covert assassin, the suspicions of his ex, and the less than honorable intentions of an encroaching, rival mining company. As the clock ticks down, treachery and betrayal loom, the body count rises, and soon Jimmy has no idea who to trust.

 

The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures by Antonoi Damasio. Okay when I read Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, I honestly had to reread almost every paragraph a few times to truly understand what in the world Dr. Tyson is talking about. I feel like I am honestly doing that more with this book even though I have a double major in history/philosophy therefore some of my philosophy should be able to help a bit with it right? Nope. Feel like a complete moron through it as I keep re-reading every paragraph it seems. Also one of the most fasinicating books I ever read.

 

I'm reading a book about spelunking. It's hard to get into.