Now Reading

  On 1/4/2013 at 9:00 PM, Iain C said:

  On 1/4/2013 at 12:51 PM, Ron Manager said:

  On 1/4/2013 at 1:49 AM, Iain C said:

A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich, because Byzantium was fucking great.

 

An excellent choice.

 

Yeah, I heard it was the best single-volume overview of the empire's history but it moves so fast and seems to gloss over some interesting details - which, to be fair, Mr Norwich mentions in the introduction. I probably should have got the trilogy!

 

 

  On 1/4/2013 at 12:51 PM, Ron Manager said:

I recently finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy, as it seemed one of those books 'you should have read'. First of his I've tried, and I thought it was very good. Any other works of his in particular anyone can recommend? Now reading Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, which I read about a decade ago in school. It's even better than I remember... a true classic.

 

 

Cormac McCarthy is great. I've read most of his novels and for my money the best is probably Suttree, especially if you like Faulkner. It's got more of that southern gothic family drama type stuff, some unforgettable characters, and it's also his funniest book.

 

Aye, the Empire's extraordinary lifespan makes it hard to do justice in a single volume, but he does such a good job with it. I too have only read the abridgment. Still better than Judith Herren's Byzantium, which is also widely available, although she is nevertheless a very good historian.

Regrettably, I've never actually read anything else by Faulkner. I was going to pick up The Sound and the Fury but decided to revisit As I lay Dying first. So I plan on reading more of him, and I'll definitely check out Suttree. McCarthy seems well worth my time... Blood Meridian comes highly recommended by most, so I'll certainly put that on the list too.

technically i'm looking @ this book as there is very little to read (the forward and a few essays). it's a pretty hip picture book recalling the late 70s to early 80s period

The hardest lols I've had since this afternoon's vegetarian burger disaster (see burger thread)

Finished Ulysses over Christmas, which I'd started a month before.

Bewildering in a good way. Really enjoyed the surreal/dada brothel part that was written like a play.

Thought it would be more impenetrable but found out when researching afterwards that Finnegan's Wake is the hard one.

Will probably want to reread it in about six months, which is how I felt after finishing Gravity's Rainbow (still haven't reread that though). One of those books that's just as fun to read about as it is to read.

Since finishing that I've read the Wire published writings on Scott Walker book and The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (both xmas pressies)

Now reading 'Everything That Rises Must Converge' by Flannery O'Connor. Very enjoyable so far.

Congratulations dude. Those are impossible works.

I was thinking of reading Dubliners while visiting Ireland soon, but couldn't find a copy in local bookshops back here. Well, I'm guessing it's not hard to find once I get to Dublin.

Yeah, I still need to read Dubliners and Portrait of an artist.

Seemed to have developed this habit of deciding to read the most formidable of an author's oeuvre first.

Same with Gravity's Rainbow. The name kept coming up over the years and I liked the sound of it (the name I mean) so I decided to buy it because I'd almost finished the book I was reading at work and needed something for the commute home.

Realised once I'd started that it's not a book you decide to read casually.

Still haven't read any more Pynchon but I found Vineland in a charity shop last week so may start on that when I finish the O'Connor.

  On 5/9/2012 at 10:21 AM, mokz said:

But beside those I'm also reading this fucker:

Hah, finally got to finish this beast yesterday after 7+ months. Wanted to check here how long I had been reading it.

Worth going all the way through? I've had my eye on that book for a while, but I'm not sure if it's too early in my life to understand a significant chunk of it =P

http://jingreed.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c73fe53ef0147e29bc417970b-800wi

  On 1/10/2013 at 8:46 PM, luke viia said:

Worth going all the way through? I've had my eye on that book for a while, but I'm not sure if it's too early in my life to understand a significant chunk of it =P

It's no way an easy read. Only the subjects on which I already had some understanding about seemed like I could learn anything new, like the algebra parts, Newtonian mechanics, thermodynamics and special relativity, but when it got deep into quantum physics I was hopelessly lost. Then it felt like I was just reading complete gibberish because I didn't have the time and the energy to completely internalize every new concept. When I got over that and into cosmology it felt a little bit easier again.

The learning curve is very steep.

haha, pretty much what I figured but was hoping to hear different. congratulations on making it through that beast! I'll get to a Penrose book someday...

Have just started on this (mainly because I like the cover)

  On 1/10/2013 at 8:16 AM, mokz said:

  On 5/9/2012 at 10:21 AM, mokz said:

But beside those I'm also reading this fucker:

 

Hah, finally got to finish this beast yesterday after 7+ months. Wanted to check here how long I had been reading it.

what is this about? physics?

  On 1/14/2013 at 3:52 AM, logakght said:

  On 1/10/2013 at 8:16 AM, mokz said:

  On 5/9/2012 at 10:21 AM, mokz said:

But beside those I'm also reading this fucker:

 

Hah, finally got to finish this beast yesterday after 7+ months. Wanted to check here how long I had been reading it.

what is this about? physics?

It's a guide to the laws of nature and the related mathematics as currently understood by physicists. It basically teaches everything from the very basics up, so in theory you don't need any previous knowledge on the subjects included but the learning curve is absurdly steep.

I'm reading this now:

Which is kind of nostalgic because I used to read all kinds of hacker books (The Cuckoo's Egg and Cyberpunks come to mind) back when I was a teenager.

Don DeLillo's Libra.

^ fun

I'm reading Blood Meridian. It is painful. Millions of pages of grotesque things in language like centuries-old rock faces. What is it that makes a man write this.

It's beautiful isn't it? I hope they never make a movie out of it.