What are you reading?

[Danderson]

Finally started reading This Present Darkness not too long ago.....trying to figure out if I should read it more in the day....doesn't help that night's the only time I can really read anything....

Also, been going through "Do Hard Things" By the Harris brothers.....Very inspiring book so far...I'd recommend it to anyone who truly want's to live life on the edge....

[uc pseudonym]

Notes from the Underground was an excellent book. But like Crime and Punishment it took me a long time to work through it. Its a difficult book, but very rewarding.

Perhaps I should go after some of the larger novels, then, because I actually found this one fairly easy to read (finished Part II in around two sittings). I'm also considering reading "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" since it's in the same volume... would you recommend it?

[bigsleepj]

I haven't read Dreams of a Ridiculous Man yet, so I can't comment on it. In fact, I've only read Notes and Crime and Punishment.

My sketchy, uninformed advice would be: go for it.

[Alice]

I just finished The Caves of Steel, and The Naked Sun, both by Isaac Asimov. The books were full of mystery, science fiction, and robot fun. I have to disagree with some of Asimov's philosophy, but he's a great writer, and these books really kept me reading. (When I should have been sleeping. )

[the_wolfs_howl]

I have finished Oedipus Rex and am starting a book my dad randomly gave me, called Girl Meets God. It's about a woman whose father was Jewish and mother was Baptist (I think); she becomes a Christian and struggles with wanting to stop being Jewish but discovering that's as possible as telling her heart to stop beating. I was rather pleasantly surprised to make the observation to myself that she's actually a TCK, even though she never moved away from America.

[ich1990]

Just finished "The Ball and the Cross" by G.K. Chesterton.

On a whole, I liked it much more than "The Man Who Was Thursday". While it was not quite as uproariously funny, it was much more lucid.

Basically, the story examines the definition of insanity within religious context. The story follows two characters, one a passionate Atheist and one a passionate Catholic, who come into conflict with each other. These two immediately find that their views are incompatible, so they decide to fight a duel to the death. However, whenever they try to kill each other, they are stopped by one circumstance or another. Along the way, the book comes to question, "who is really mad?". Is it the two duelists who are driven to kill because of their beliefs, or is it the relativistic world which doesn't have anything worth fighting for? This book is not really about Atheist versus Catholic, but about Conviction versus Apathy.

One thing that became apparent to me upon reading this book, is that: If Shakespeare is the Prince of Paradox, then G.K. Chesterton is the King. Over and over paradox after paradox are piled upon each other. If taken at face value, these paradoxes seem to make little sense, but, upon further inspection, each and every one of them holds a little gem of truth. These paradoxes add much depth to the book, and will leave you much to think about well after you put down the book.

If there is one thing to complain about in this book, it is the lack of stability. The book changes from sword fighting, to a horse race, to theological musings, to airships (yes like in Final Fantasy), and back to swordfighting with startling rapidity. It seems as if G.K.C. sat around and came up with a nice pile of paradoxes and witty sayings, then came up with a story that worked as many of these one-liners in as possible. The result is a haphazard, yet thoroughly entertaining and witty book that takes time to examine deep theological issues. If you are looking for an action/adventure book, you may want to look elsewere, but if you are looking for an entertaining and easy to read philosophical book with plenty of action, then this is it. Rating 10/10

[bigsleepj]

It was a good book, but of all his fictional works GK Chesterton actually disliked The Ball and the Cross the most. I think he may have been overly harsh, but he really didn't care for it. I rather liked it, but the ending wasn't as powerful for me as I would have liked it to be.

[uc pseudonym]

"Twelfth Night" by Shakespeare

I like his comedy less than his tragedy and have no end of cynical things to say about it. Feste as a character is interesting, however, and I believe that I severely disagree with how he has often been portrayed in theater. The character I saw in the script wasn't a sad decaying man but the chaos of the play incarnate.

"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" by Fyodor Dostoevsky

It is a very good thing I read this. It's a simple read, only about one sitting long, and more accessible than the rest of Dostoevsky that I've read. Furthermore, it takes the same depressing view of life found elsewhere and applies it to what is actually a positive message.

[QtheQreater]

"The Everlasting Man" by G.K. Chesterton.

I'm currently in the middle of it, and it fascinates me to read Chesterton's take on how science is treating reality. His writing style makes this one of the few books I actually appreciate as a slow read, since he is just as witty in his serious writings as he is in his fiction.

[RidleyofZebes]

The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide

Right now, I'm on "The Restaurant at the end of the Universe". I didn't realize how many things on the internet were references to this thing. @_@ Like, Babelfish, 42, LUE... It's astounding.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Splitting my reading time (which is really never a wise idea, but I can't seem to help it) between Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! and Clive Barker's The Great And Secret Show.

[GeneD]

I finally have a bit of a break, so I'm reading "Hood" by Stephen Lawhead. It's okay, but some parts are irritating me to no end.

[mitsuki lover]

I read an excellent fantasy,part two of a trilogy,last week called
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman.I personally enjoyed it and thought it was great fun.My favorite character was Lee Scoresby the Texan aeronaut and also Dr.Mary Malone.
Now I am about to start reading Clever Maids:The Secret History of the
Grimm Fairy Tales by Valerie Paradiz.

[Kunoichi]

Finally reading again..."do Hard things" by the Harirs Brothers..

As Danderson said very inspiring and highly recommended to any age though it caters to "teenagers"

[the_wolfs_howl]

I picked up Letters I Never Wrote by Ruth E. Van Reken again; this is my second time reading it. I love this book a lot, even though it made me cry a lot. I sobbed my way through the first 40 pages or so, because it was like she was talking about my childhood. I could really relate to her pain, because I'm a TCK too. So I decided to read this again, mainly because my friend expressed interest in it and I like to refresh my memory on such things so I can talk about it better. I haven't cried quite as much this second time around.

[ich1990]

Just finished "Velocity" by Dean Koontz.

At the suggestion of a friend, I tried reading a Koontz book several years ago, but found it contained rather graphic sexual content. I didn't read anything by him for quite a while after that. Later, I heard that he was a Roman Catholic and actually attributes his writing skills as a gift from God. Personally, I am not sure that God would inspire someone to write fanservice style sexual content in a book, but I gave him a second try anyways.

"Velocity" had an mediocre plot with better than average characterization and writing.

As a fan of strong protaganists, I enjoyed the fact that the main character could hold his own against a professional serial killer. Unfortuanately, this aspect seemed to be overplayed a bit. I mean, the main character was a little too comfortable with beeing the target of these deranged attacks; it wasn't natural.

Also, the complete lack of plot twists somewhat surprised me. Previous to this book, the only authors that I have read from this genre are Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti. Needless to say, I was expecting a twist and didn't find one. This could be positive or negative.

The highlight of the book was the writing. I loved the author's cold clinical style and dry humor. The details were also amazingly realistic. Everything from picking locks to the timeframe of Rigor Mortis to the effects of mace sprayed at close proximity were precisely represented. When these little details are overlooked (forgetting the onset of rigor mortis when having the main character dispose of dead bodies for example) it really annoys me. Thankfully, the author did his research thoroughly.

One other thing to mention is that the plot gave little foreshadowing as to the identity of the killer. In fact, given the evidence it would have been nearly impossible to guess who the killer was. This is a decided negative, as it acted as a sort of reverse Deus Ex Mechina ending.

Finally, I would like to caution people before reading Dean Koontz's books. Just because he is a Roman Catholic, doesn't mean that his books are "clean" like Dekker's or Peretti's. This book features liberal swearing, intense violence, and graphic depictions of dead bodies in varying states of decomposition. Also, the book features a character who is addicted to rather perverse forms of "entertainment".

Given its content, I can't really recommend it, however, if content issues are put aside, I would rate this book 7.5/10.

[mysngoeshere56]

Right now... As far as non-manga fiction goes....

1. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
2. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
3. Prince Caspian - CS Lewis
4. Violet Dawn - Brandilyn Collins

All right, so update....

I finished "A Tale of Two Cities", and hated every page of it.

So, the updated list is.....

1. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
2. Prince Caspain - CS Lewis
3. To Own a Dragon - Donald Miller (non-fiction)
4. Violet Dawn - Brandilyn Collins
5. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

[the_wolfs_howl]

Well, I finished Letters I Never Wrote. I ended up crying a lot more than I was expecting to. Go figure.

[Aileen Kailum]

Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones.
Just finished this one. Not my favorite book by her, but I definitely liked it.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
I'm reading this to my younger sister. I keep having to explain that the movie really was different than the book.

Time for the Stars by Robert Heinlein
Started this one yesterday, so no real impressions yet. I've liked other things I've read by Heinlein, though.

[shade of dae]

Just finished reading The Ball and the Cross. Some of McIan's ramblings I didn't fully understand, but overall I enjoyed it immensley. Chesterton's ever-present dry wit was a big plus.

I am also working on re-reading Howl's Moving Castle, just for the fun of it, and am also enjoying it. Sophie's "Old lady-ness" is very amusing, especially the episode with the weed killer.

I also have ordered Eclipse from the library. At this point, I am only reading the books to hear the ending. The characters themselves annoy me, and the plot seems to be very over-used, but I am interested to see what happens in the end, as strange as that might seem.

[mechana2015]

The Color of Magic

[GrubbTheFragger]

Gunslinger (dark tower I) by stephen king

[~darkelfgirl~]

Go figure--The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.L. Salvatore (I think).

[the_wolfs_howl]

Well, I picked up some of my old Jedi Apprentice books and looked through them. Brought back many pleasant memories indeed, even though they don't seem that spectacular anymore XD

[uc pseudonym]

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

I'm a handful of chapters in with mixed feelings. Like a friend of mine said, for people who are already socially conscious it isn't earth-shattering. The writing is entertaining at a few moments (though I could do without the "hip" feel - even if this is natural instead of forced). We'll have to see how it progresses in later chapters.

[Doubleshadow]

Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

[the_wolfs_howl]

I was searching through my Jedi Apprentice books for a certain conversation that I remembered. I read The Rising Force, The Uncertain Path, and The Captive Temple before I finally found it. And I was surprised to discover that there were actually some cool quotes and things in those books. This was the thing I was looking for; it's Jedi Master Tahl speaking to Qui-Gon Jinn:

"Have you ever heard of the planet Aurea? They have the best glass workers in the galaxy there. Many have wondered why this world has advanced the art so much. Is it the golden sands, the temperature of the fires, the long tradition? Whatever it may be, they make the most beautiful vessels in the galaxy, so highly prized that they are priceless objects. But occasionally, someone is careless, or an accident occurs, and one is broken.

But these artisans have a greater art than the fashioning of the vessels. They remake the shattered ones. And in that remaking they find their highest art. They take the pieces of something beautiful that has been smashed and create something even more beautiful. You see the seams of the break, but the piece is still flawless. Because it had once been broken, it becomes more valuable than before."

Tahl is making the connection between the broken glass and Qui-Gon's damaged relationship with Obi-Wan. I thought it was cool, anyway.

[ich1990]

Just read: "Who Was Adam?" by Hugh Ross

I found it to be a very well put together book. It is a single volume in a series of books that put forth the RTB model of creation, that is, a literal yet scientifically accurate interpretation of the Genisis. I was glad to find that this book was extremely fair towards the opposing viewpoint (evolution). It annoys me when people try to artificially bolster their own point of view by downgrading those who don't agree with them, thankfully this book rose above such cheap tricks.

This particular book considers, in detail, the theory of the evolution of man from apes. I found it to be a very thought provoking book and plan to read another in the series soon.

[GeneD]

Immunology, 7th edition, by Male, Brostoff et al. Exams are killing me.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I'm currently reading a psychological thriller/cat and mouse crime novel called The Pawn by Steven James. So far it's excellent.