I recently finished Quiet, the sensational book by Susan Cain. It gave some very good food for thought and I enjoyed it very much. It gave me the kick in the pants I needed to finally read a book called The Highly Sensitive Child, which I got a few years ago, but had not yet read. It so very much describes my son. I've got a bunch of fiction coming up next, but really my next must read is a draft of a novel by someone in my critique group. We've started a new thing where every couple months, instead of reading 20 pages from everyone in the group, we read the whole draft of a novel by one of our members. It had become a problem where some people were submitting their novels 20 pages at a time, and we were running out of comments -- the same issues/thoughts tended to come up again and again, but it was hard to say whether it was really a problem. Plus, reading 20 pages at a time, it was hard to remember everything that had happened up to to that point. And just because something works on a micro level, doesn't mean the novel works overall. So, we've started this new thing. But of course, I haven't started it yet, even though I've had the draft a couple weeks, so I've got 10 days to read it, which should be fine.
I'm now reading A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. It's just excellent. It's a book of interwoven short stories about a record producer and the people around him. The story "Safari" made me sit there stunned and crying, and then inspired me to write.
Just about to start the novel L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton. Starting from the Twelfth book of the series. Oh, well.
I'm rereading some of Martin Amis' and William Gass' essays on literature. Also, my roommate has starting writing - he used to be an enthusiastic writer twenty years ago, and that's what brought us together, but he hasn't written since - and he wants my opinions on what he's doing, so I've been reading his stuff. He's good - kind of artless when it comes to prose style, but he knows what he's doing with character, plot, and pacing. Pretty good stuff, from the guy in the next bedroom!
i have 3 books going at the moment The Dwarves - Markus Heitz Game Of Thrones - George RR Martin Horns - Joe Hill
I'm in the middle of Herman Hesse's "Siddhartha," a story about a man trying to find meaning and happiness in life. To be honest, I picked it up because it was a slim book but it's a good contemplative read so far.
a rather awesome book by Anthony Ryan called Blood Song is also being read by myself! bloody excellent may i add too!
Right now I am reading the Zombie Fallout series by Mark Tufo. I stumbled upon his work on my Nook and really liked the humor in all of his books while he manages to maintain a serious environment fit for a zombie book. It's not World War Z, but its not meant to be. I think its only a few bucks right now (less than 5) if your bored on a weekend.
Based on a quick glance at this thread, it appears as if I am one of the very few here who prefers non-fiction, such as books on psychology, history, neuroscience, etc. Two of my recent ones are The Sports Gene and Nurture Shock.
An Arab-Syrian Gentlemen in the Period of the Crusades Memoirs of Usamah ibn-Munqidh by Philip Khuri Hitti
I remember reading that for the first time. Whitman was a shockingly original poet. There's nobody like him. I especially loved "I Sing the Body Electric" (great title!) and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking." I can still quote the first couple of pages of that one from memory after more than thirty years. I hope you enjoy it!
Oh, and how many here have read Charles Dickens' Bleak House? Is it considered one of his better works? I was given a copy recently and I want to know where it should go on my to-read pile.
I haven't read it, but I'll have to add it to my list of considerations. I'm currently reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick. Very good book thus far. When I started, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. Now that I've been reading along, I'm struggling to put it down.
Why? Does it have an anti-gravity dust jacket? Does it deliberately give you severe paper cuts if you reduce its altitude? When you open it, does a flashing red sign appear on it saying, "Close book to detonate"? Is it suspended by fishhooks from your eyeballs?
I much prefer nonfiction, too. There's quite a bit of nonfiction that tells some pretty good stories, though. I try to alternate fiction with nonfiction. Right now I'm reading How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, which is a novel. I've had very little time to read over the past month or so and I'm hoping to be able to read at a faster pace soon. I read about 8 books in January, but I only read one in April. I'm going to the beach in a few weeks, so I hope I can get a bunch read then. I just have to decide which ones to bring!
I like good nonfiction every once in a while. I've been slowly making my way through Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I highly recommend it.
I'm currently reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens for school. I don't like it much, but it's growing on me. On my own time I'm reading Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, which is funny and well-written and overall excellent.
Still making my way through Leaves of Grass, and I'm loving it so far. This is by far the best poetry collection I've come across.
I had to read it in my first year of high school, and I didn't like it very much. I went back and re-read it when I was in my mid-forties and enjoyed it tremendously. There's a lot of understated humor that I missed the first time around. I just started Paulo Coelho's Manuscript Found in Accra, the Crusades from the perspective of a Christian defending Jerusalem against the crusaders.
Just started All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and can already tell it's going to be one I struggle to put down. Me thinks I'll be up late these next few nights!
The garden of truth the vision and promise of sufism islam's mystical tradition by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
