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What are you reading now?
No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy, and February House by Sherill Tippins.
I'm currently half way through McCarthy's "All the pretty Horses". "The Road" lead me there...
After that try "Blood Meridian" McCarthy does not get darker than that. Amazing book. Hard to guess where he will go after "The Road"
Last 3 books read (as part of a long-term self-education program):
-Dermot Moran, "Introduction to Phenomenology" -"The Cambridge Companion to Husserl" -"The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty" I'm obviously paying penance for awful sins in a former life; I find this stuff interesting.
The first 20 pages or so of "Against all enemies" might have been the most exciting I've ever read. Unfortunately--for us-- they were true.
On a much lighter note "Always magic in the Air" was a great look at the Brill Building and the pre-British invasion pop music era. Last edited by Friar on Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: What are you reading now?
LYING ON THE COUCH. Author Yalom's special insight into psychiatry from his own practice and his willingness to work over his own profession--but then, who is not?--make for a thoughtful, hilarious tale of analysts running afoul of their own analysands. Complex story with several plot lines running together via some very believeable kinky characters. Just the "con game" plot line alone is worth the read. jim
C.A.L.'s name is spelled "Lindbergh", not "Lindberg". There was a famous WWII photographer by the name "Charles Lindberg". Neither one was related, of course.
Glad to see it is Ridley Scott since Sam Peckinpah is no longer available. The Coen brothers did an excellent job with "No country" but "Blood Meridian" is something else, much more challenging and complex.
Currently Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is in front of me.
This is not a book one reads. It is to be meditated on word by word. Patañjali (Devanāgarī पतञ्जलि) is the compiler of the Yoga Sutras, a major work containing aphorisms on the philosophical aspects of mind and consciousness. There are secrets within that if one cares can transcend mind and space. But they are not written, one must look deeper beyond the words and the secrets reveal themselves to those worthy. Also daily chanting of the Sri Lalita Sahasranama - 1000 Names of the Divine in Sanskrit. It takes about 40 minutes to complete. There is no future or past, there is only right now. Right now I am typing these letters to whoever will read this.
Binge reading
Stuck in a hospital waiting room for 9 hours today while my wife underwent (successfully) an operation. Besides today's paper, and a couple of local rags, I finished up several books I'd started . . . threw them in my shoulder bag before leaving for the hospital. All recommended:
- Haven Kimmel, A Girl Named Zippy. Child's-eye view of growing up in small-town Indiana. Very funny! - David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty Some Day {? - unsure of exact title, since I left it with my wife}. Also autobiographical and funny, but more gag-oriented (think Woody Allen, but gay) than the presumptively more "truthful" Kimmel. - Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain. Speaking of gay. Very short - was originally a story in the New Yorker. Beautifully written. - Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men. I'd actually finished this a few days ago, but remained puzzled as to exactly what happened, plot-wise, toward the end. Who was driving what car? Who killed whom? And re-reading left me very little the wiser; it seems to be deliberately, even perversely, ambiguous on these points. None of which affects the writing, which is remarkable, and the "philosophy," which is provocative. And I had enough time left to start Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, which will be tomorrow's (make that today's) book if they don't let my wife come home right away. I haven't read so much in one day since I was in graduate school 35 years ago! 
I do not think quantum entanglement requires string theory. I am reading (very slowly now that the math is hard for me) Roger Penrose, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe. Also a compendium of Steven Jay Gould (unfortunately, some of the earlier pieces are dated), and I recently finished reading Kenny Moore's book "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon". Also reading (aloud) the last Harry Potter book with my daughter.
If you want to speed the Potter, read this quickie version
http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com/200 ... ilers.html
Well at the moment, I am forced to read Jane Eyre for english literature at school. A little bit of my soul seems to die whenever I pick it up...
Also reading a book about Martina Navratilova and Chrs Evert's tennis rivalry and also ordered a book about Wolfgang Schmidt and the GDR but seem to have lost it... Haven't read many books at all lately and must start doing so but I'm such a slow reader!
I most definitely do NOT want to speed-read it. We started reading it aloud in the first book when it was at the very edge of her reading capability. Now she can read it no problem whatsoever. However, we have kept the tradition alive and it is a chance to be with her in a manner that will be rapidly diminishing soon now that she is in Middle School. I have also been wondering some on the evolutionary reading - I get bogged down some (when I read Panda's Thumb etc several decades ago) and might be more interested in newer stuff (some really recent material seems to be coming out on the rate of evolutionary change in human mental capacity using just-developing techniques). Suggestions?
For years, I have attended the local Library Book Fair and bought surplus books by the box, culling them later and returning to the library those in which I have absolutely no interest. Lots of no-keepers but also some gems, including current best sellers and classics. I try to read two or three of the keepers a week.
Last night, I dipped into my waiting-to-be-culled inventory and chanced on "Stained Glass" c 1972, by the recently deceased Wm F. Buckley, Jr.,a post WWII Cold War novel set in 1953 Germany, I believe this is the first novel by Buckley I have read. I plowed through about half of it last night. The man does have a way with words, lots of words. I am a reasonably erudite person but I recommend If you plan to read him have a dictionary and thesaurus at hand.
I've read many of Anthony Burgess' books. The same applies, impossible for me to read without a dictionary at hand.
The one I'm reading threw "benignant" at me last night.
"The Physics of NASCAR". i picked it up for some beach reading in Miami, this past week. The author is a physics prof who developed an interest in the sport after catching a glimpse of a wreck during a race on television. She was curious about why one car seemed to slam into the wall for no obvious reason. That curiousity branched out into this book, which is a light, but intoxicating read. I give it two grease-covered thumbs up.
Interesting, now that you bumped this thread. This is the book I am working on currently. Great info, a bit dry on the presentation.
Loved it... the book that is. Not overly confident that it will translate to film, as the unknowns of their surrounds and ambiguities of their circumstances are so central to the tale. I have the same trepidation about the impending adaptation of Saramago' sBlindness. What am I reading? The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Last edited by AS on Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It sure grabbed me, page by page.
It did me too. I think I read it in two sessions, couldn't put it down. His style is perfect for such an atmospherically gloomy scenario. Looking at the movie on imdb I'm wondering how they'll handle the mother character, who Charlize Theron plays. I can't remember the mother being in the book at all, beyond reference to her committing suicide.
The Ascent of Money by Harvard prof Niall Ferguson - a history of money. Might sound boring but is actually fascinating and surprisingly exciting. Well, we can all relate to money - or the lack of it!
Secret admission: over the summer, between Fateful Choices and The Collapse I managed to read all 18 paperbacks in the John Sandford Prey series. Oh yeah, and I also squeezed in The United States of Arugula, a must read for hardcore foodies.
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