What Are You Reading Right Now?
Fred Cole ·
July 31, 2012 at 10:01pm
I figured I'd just put this question out there. It might stimulate some fun discussion.
What are you reading right now?
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Oct '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Going with something light for summer so I'm re-reading Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole.
Likely followed by Daniel Silva's The Messenger.
Aug '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Well, currently:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Funny how 19th Century social satire is still quite relevant here in the 21st Century. As wonderful as this book is, I inwardly cringe at every use of the notorious "N-word."
Armageddon 2419 AD, by Philip Francis Nowlan
This novella was the origin of the Buck Rogers comic strip (though here the protagonist's name is "Anthony Rogers") . . . and goshdarnit, I love this old pulpy stuff. If all you've ever known about Buck Rogers is the disco-era television show, you owe it to yourself to check out the original story. The "Mongolians" have taken over North America, and the Americans are reduced to living in the wilds. Buck -- excuse me, Anthony Rogers shows up and starts leading the Americans in terrorist attacks against their oppressors.
A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Figured I should get around to reading the Sherlock Holmes canon someday. My wife's new iPad with a Kindle app prompted me to do it. I had no idea that this novel was controversial for its depiction of Mormons. How current!
Mar '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
The Second World War, by Antony Beevor.
Aug '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
And back to Laura and the fam for the evening reading to the kids. We're not that far into it yet -- just a few chapters -- but there's already plenty of foreboding dread.
May '12
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
"...you're gonna be in here regurgitatin' Gordon Wood -- talkin' about, you know, the pre-Revolutionary Utopia and the capital forming effects of military mobilization."
Jun '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly; Out of Range by C.J. Box; Miracles by C. S. Lewis; The Tyranny of Clichés by Jonah Goldberg; and, of course, National Review magazine.
Aug '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
DrewInWisconsin: Well, currently:
Armageddon 2419 AD, by Philip Francis Nowlan
This novella was the origin of the Buck Rogers comic strip (though here the protagonist's name is "Anthony Rogers") . . . and goshdarnit, I love this old pulpy stuff. ...
That sounds interesting.
The next book I intend to read is Edison's Conquest of Mars, an unauthorized sort-of sequel to War of the Worlds, written in 1898.
It's remarkable because it contains the first references in print to sci-fi staples such as alien abduction, hand-held ray guns, disintegator rays, anti-gravity devices, epic multi-ship space battles, asteroid mining, spacesuits, the nations of the Earth uniting against a common extraterrestrial enemy, and the theory that the Pyramids were built by aliens.
Keep in mind, this book was written five years before the Wright Brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk! Maybe the author was a time-traveler from the future?
Edited on July 31, 2012 at 11:06pmNov '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Roger Kimball's, The Fortunes of Permanence, quite good.
Aug '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Misthiocracy
The nextbook I intend to read is Edison's Conquest of Mars, an unauthorized sort-of sequel to War of the Worlds, written in 1898.
It's remarkable because it contains the first references in print to sci-fi staples such as alien abduction, hand-held ray guns, disintegator rays, epic multi-ship space battles, asteroid mining, spacesuits, and the theory that the Pyramids were built by aliens.
I'll have to check it out. I find myself in a bit of a "pulp adventure" mood lately. I was surprised by just how much of a page-turner the Buck Rogers novel is. I stayed up pretty late last night, unable to break away from an exciting raid on a New York skyscraper.
Jul '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Abundance by Stephen Kotler and Peter Diamandis on audible.com and Stranger in a Strange Land. It's been a very long time since I read it, so re- listening it :-)
Jun '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
I started a thread a couple of weeks ago about how, like Joe Queenan, I can't stop starting books. But I won't make you suffer through the whole list. I'll note just two.
Yesterday, I finished The Law by Frederic Bastiat (a short masterpiece that can be read in two hours). It is a monument to the greatness of freedom and the evil of the all-powerful state.
I'm finishing Alan Jacobs' The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis. The first half was straightforward and somewhat pedestrian. But once Jacobs gets Lewis to the late 1930s, his book is masterful and illuminating. I thought I knew a lot about Lewis, but Jacobs really makes him come alive with the telling anecdote. Jacobs does a nice job providing the background of and the central themes of Lewis's greatest works. Highly recommended.
Jun '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
I'm partway through. I like it very much. His essay on 9/11 and Pericles may be the best essay I've read in years.
Aug '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
DrewInWisconsin
Misthiocracy
The nextbook I intend to read is Edison's Conquest of Mars, an unauthorized sort-of sequel to War of the Worlds, written in 1898.
It's remarkable because it contains the first references in print to sci-fi staples such as alien abduction, hand-held ray guns, disintegator rays, epic multi-ship space battles, asteroid mining, spacesuits, and the theory that the Pyramids were built by aliens.
I'll have to check it out. I find myself in a bit of a "pulp adventure" mood lately. I was surprised by just how much of a page-turner the Buck Rogers novel is. I stayed up pretty late last night, unable to break away from an exciting raid on a New York skyscraper.
It helps that most of this stuff is available for free at gutenberg.org.
I've had a lot of fun reading all the vampire stories that were published in the years prior to Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Sep '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Quiet: The Power of Introverts. I don't want to say more right now.
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Just started Tim Powers’ Hide Me Among the Graves, which I was surprised to discover, seems to be a sort of sequel to his 1989 book, The Stress of Her Regard, which I read æons ago. Just finished The Pirates! An Adventure With Scientists and The Pirates! An Adventure With Ahab (very silly, funny). Knocked off George Pelecanos’s latest. Coincidentally read a bunch of WW2-era novels, the latest by Philip Kerr and Alan Furst (both very good), and a couple by Grossman (ok).Also insane amounts of obscure history; at the moment, Michal Biran’s history of the Kara Khitai.And a bunch more stuff…but that'll do for now.
Apr '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Just started The Jefferson Lies, by David Barton. Also re-reading The Screwtape Letters.
"For we must never forget what is the most repellent and inexplicable trait in the Enemy; He *really* loves the hairless bipeds He has created and always gives back to them with His right hand what He has taken away with His left." ~Wormwood, Screwtape Letter XIV
C.S. Lewis never fails to make me smile.
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
Crime and Punishment - all because of R. J. Moeller's suggestion. And I'm trying to read a few more from this list.
Nov '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
I am reading Tyranny of Cliches on my Kindle, and also re-reading Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara.
Aug '11
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
I am reading Roger Penrose "Cycles of Time." I'm only a few pages into right now though-- I look forward to making some progress tonight.
So many great suggestions here!
Nov '10
Re: What Are You Reading Right Now?
***Sorry! Double post!***
Edited on August 1, 2012 at 4:59am