What are you currently reading?

Amanda Louise · Post by **Amanda Louise** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:34 pm

I'm definitely a bookworm, SF, fantasy and science being favourites.

I'm currently re-reading East of Ealing by Robert Rankin and have just started The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Next on my list is Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything and/or The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

Gelinda · Post by **Gelinda** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:08 pm

I read a ton also, I am reading John Grisham latest at the moment "the Last Juror" but I am studying for my masters and that has slowed down my reading of normal books.

I read mostly Tom Clancy, WEB Griffin, Stephan Koonts, etc. have a whole shelf full to read but as I stated school is slowing me down. Gee

Kristen · Post by **Kristen** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:26 pm

I'm not the reader I used to be, when I was I read mostly self help ,Norman Vincenrt, Dale Carnigie Dr. Wayne Dyer.
But Since I work in a school district I have some contact with kids, Last month one of kitchen helpers, 10 years old , told me he likes to read , I gave him a couple Hardy Boys , Call of the Wild and Tom Sawyer. You would think that I gave him winning lotto tickets, the smile on his face was so wonderful. He always makes sure that he says hello to me even if he has to walk across the cafeteria , when come in to fix something.
" In hundred years from now it won't matter what kind of car I drove, how big my house was or how much money was in my back account. But the world may be diffent because I was important in the life of a child. " Author unknown

Brianna · Post by **Brianna** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 8:00 am

Hi all!

Wow! Where to start? I am a reader and normally I like to read one bok at a time, however, I have found recently that I am picking up more than one book at a time to read them. Currently I am half way through Dante's Inferno which is not an easy read. Primarily because there's a description of the verse, then the verse, and then notes. I'm very analytical and I try to absorb as much as I can. I'm also about a quarter of the way through Count of Monte Cristo which is very different from most of the movie versions I have seen. There is just so much more to this book than they can protray in 2 hours of film.

I generally choose classic literature but stray away to other things that are more informative in nature also. For example, I currently have books on Acting, Ballet, and Singing that I will be reading shortly. I'm trying to prepare myself for the show next year. I would like a lead role (even if it's a small role.)

I also have an interest in Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and to a slight degree Hitler and Nazi Germany. I am about half through a book called the American Axis about Henry Ford and Charles Lindberg.

I don't have enough time to read all that I would like and I don't believe I am a particularly fast reader. As I mentioned, I am very analytical so when I read I am always thinking of how the book relates to me, to other things I know, etc. It's part of my enjoyment.

Later,

Brianna

Post by **Celia** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 1:25 am

I'm not an avid reader, but I'll endure a book now and then if it sustains my interest.

I'm currently reading Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier. Informative . . . .

-Celia

Jessie · Post by **Jessie** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:14 am

Oh yea I forgot to add and I hope no one minds but I still I will always will read comic "books" I have a closet full of them just as the other closet is full of my female clothing. I of course read Spider-Man but also Usagi Yojimbo, and of course a couple of the X-Men series along with several others. I have recentaly picked up a new one by company called Tokyopop called Kill Me Kiss Me lossly about two crossdressing cousions so that they could go each others schools.

Jessie

Gelinda · Post by **Gelinda** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:40 pm

Jessie: I have not found the comics I love as they are not written I do not believe any more. Ghost Tank, Easy Company, Sarge. etc. Gelinda

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 2:26 pm

Just added the 9/11 Commission Report to my current reading list. I've just finished the first chapter. Took me two tries 'cause I got too choked up reading it.

This should be required reading for EVERY US citizen.

CJ · Post by CJ » Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:40 am

Hi all,

Just finishing John J. Nance's Headwind, an airborne thriller. Pretty good, actually, even though I'm not a big fan of airplane suspense fiction or courtroom dramas. I'm trying to broaden my range, here. Also started reading, for the first time ever, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

People are often surprised I haven't yet read many of these classic pieces of literature. The fact is, though, all my schooling was in French up until university, so I'm much more familiar with the Balzacs and the Molières of the literary landscape than I am with the Austens and the Wordsworths. I'm working on it, I'm working on it.

Here's a question for you all: If you knew you were going to be marooned for a very long time (in a desert, on an island, in space, whatever), what are the fifteen or so books you'd want to bring with you? I've actually done this, a few years ago--I got rid of my entire library (either sold or gave away all my books), except for a dozen I couldn't do without.

Today, my own list would look like this:

-- The Bible (NRSV ed., containing the Apocrypha)
-- The great dialogues of Plato
-- The Dhammapada (Sayings of the Buddha)
-- The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Oxford)
-- The Tao-Te-Ching
-- The latest edition of the Norton Anthology of English Literature
-- The latest edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature
-- The latest edition of the Norton Anthology of World Literature
-- The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
-- The Enchiridion (the "Manual") of Epictetus
-- Any anthology of classical Greek and Roman literature (as long as it included Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey and Virgil's The Aeneid)
-- Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra
-- The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
-- Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
-- Any anthology of modern and contemporary French poetry
-- Any anthology of writings by Sufi poet/mystic Rumi
-- The Oxford Dictionary of the Englih Language

There's a Barnes&Noble-type bookstore chain, up here, called Indigo. Their slogan is: "Tell me what you read and I will tell you what you read; tell me what you re-read and I will tell you who you are." Obviously, all the stuff on my list I consider to have a very high "re-read value." They're not works I would (or even could, in some cases) read straight through, but I'd dip in, here and there, for my own pleasure and edification. This is my own personal "canon"; as such, it isn't terribly "Western." I'd be very hard-pressed to do without these books. On the other hand, I'll always be as happy as a pig in a mudhole if I have at least a pencil and notebook at hand.

So, I'm curious to see; anybody else out there want to make up a marooned book list?

Love,
CJ

Ahzz · Post by **Ahzz** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:58 am

Umm, this forum's messages, that is what I am curently reading.

Post by **Celia** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 5:50 pm

Time Enough at Last, eh, CJ? Hmm . . . I can't think of anything specific, except that the first would bear upon how to survive my immediate circumstances, the second upon how to escape my immediate circumstances . . . but I guess that isn't what you had in mind.

I notice the bulk of your titles bore upon religion/mythology/philosophy. I suppose that, with nothing between me and death-by-boredom but fifteen volumes, I too would be hoping to glean from my readings an answer to the question Why me?.

The Bible is a pretty safe choice. Being a Buddhist, I'd probably pick some appropriate scripture there as well, perhaps one or more of the major sutras: Lotus, Diamond, etc. I've always been pretty fond of the Tao Te Ching, too. Since we're talking dictionaries, I think I'll go for an Oxford (unabridged).

But, even if I were to find the Answer of Answers, it's not as though I'd be able to communicate it, especially given the basic premise here. Why not simply try to forget the question? So some books for amusement, entertainment, escape, etc., might be a good idea.

I find mathematics amusing, and I have several texts that might occupy some of my time: Mathematical Analysis by Tom Apostol or the more compact Principles of Mathematical Analysis by Walter Rudin--these would do for real analysis; Topics in Algebra, by I. N. Herstein, for abstract algebra; An Introduction to Number Theory, (wouldn't be much of a list without a book dedicated to the Queen of Mathematics), by Harold M. Stark; Computability and Logic by Boolos and Jeffrey, for something on the theory of computation; something on topology: I have General Topology by John L. Kelley and Introduction to Topology and Modern Analysis by George F. Simmons; I like analysing games of chance, so a book or two on probability theory might be good: I have An Introduction to Mathematical Statistics by H. D. Brunk and Probability Theory: A Concise Course by Y. A. Rozanov on my shelves. I'd maybe think of Euclid's Elements, but that's quite a few volumes in it's own right, and much has happened in geometry since his time anyway: probably I would go for something that has some good, axiomatic treatment of Euclidean, hyperbolic, and elliptic geometries (nothing specific at the moment, though).

For entertainment, I like stuff that makes me laugh. Kurt Vonnegut makes me laugh. Joseph Wambaugh makes me laugh. And no book has ever made me laugh as much as Catch 22. As you might guess, I like my comedy a little on the dark side. I might also like read some Tolkien (and if anyone has an objection to that . . .

).

If that isn't fifteen (it probably isn't) . . . well, don't go all Rainman on me.

Yours,
Celia

CJ · Post by CJ » Sat Jul 31, 2004 11:52 pm

Hi all,

Ahzz,

You'd be okay marooned, with only our ramblings for company?!?!? Cool!

Celia,

Interesting choices. You own a book called Computability and Logic by Boolos and Jeffrey? Hmmmm... talk about your Boolean Logic.

You're right about my own selections; they center around a big "why?" I guess what I like about many of the books on my list is that, upon re-reading them, I will always glimpse (but just barely) sketches of possible answers to that perennially fuzzy question, from one reading to the next. Although the texts themselves don't change, yours truly does; in a way, it's the ultimate form of "reader response" criticism. I like your choices; they're apt to keep your mind like a diamond.

Love,
CJ

Post by **Celia** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 6:18 pm

Thanks, CJ. As I'm rather fond of pearls, I should probably include the Pearl sutra.

I suppose a name like Boolos could prejudice a career counselor . . . . Maybe not as bad as Shakespeare or Einstein; still . . . .

-Celia

Aislin · Post by **Aislin** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 10:46 am

Hi CJ,

Current reads are technical periodicals and textbooks. Strange but true I read text books to relax. As I look around I realize most are LINUX or Programming books. Every once in a while if I'm in the mood for fiction, I'll pickup a Microsoft Text.

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 3:20 pm

Aislin wrote:Every once in a while if I'm in the mood for fiction, I'll pickup a Microsoft Text.

Crossdressers-Haven.com

What are you currently reading?

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