What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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Drasko

Quote from: karlhenning on May 18, 2007, 11:12:09 AM
Or like Rodion Romanovich, she sewed a strip of cloth inside her overcoat, from which to hang the ax . . . .

For concealing purposes I'm inclined to agree with Rodion Romanovich but for quick usage in defence it's not very practical, you have to grab it by the wrong end, then pull the whole length of the handle through the strip and then to turn it around in your hands.....too long, you're gone by that time.
Short handle ax in a handbag is waaay more practical.

Harry

Quote from: karlhenning on May 18, 2007, 11:12:09 AM
Or like Rodion Romanovich, she sewed a strip of cloth inside her overcoat, from which to hang the ax . . . .

O, to remember that horrible story from D.

Maciek



Frank McCourt 'Tis.

I read Angela's Ashes about a year ago and was so impressed by it (definitely one of the best books I've ever read!) I quickly bought this second volume. Took me a year to get around to reading it (I'm about halfway through at the moment). It's nowhere near as good as Angela's Ashes but still a very good read, and a bit more informative (as there's more history involved) which adds to the interest when other virtues are lacking.

Maciek

Bogey

Started this for a book club I am in....interesting approach to telling a story.  Almost has a Hemingway pacing to it.:

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Haffner

Wagner and Nietzsche by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Maciek

Wow! I didn't know the guy wrote any books! :-[ :-[ :-[

Haffner

Quote from: MrOsa on May 20, 2007, 02:10:08 PM
Wow! I didn't know the guy wrote any books! :-[ :-[ :-[




Fischer is a very good writer, to add to his other, estimable achievements.

bwv 1080


Choo Choo

This morning the mailman deposited on the mat a box containing the seven - count them - PG Wodehouse first editions that I bought sight unseen at auction.  Considering these things mostly date from the 1920s, I was expecting at least half of them to be totally knackered, with pages falling out, spines cracked, heavily foxed - but no:  none of them is less than very good, and a couple look like they've never been opened.  All for 20 quid.  Am I a frisky cat this morning. :D

val

WITTGENSTEIN:   "Über Gewissheit". Sort of an answer to some of George Moore propositions. It would be more interesting if Wittgenstein had the time to review it. But he died.

Choo Choo

Oh I love that one.  I actually like the fact that it's slightly rough.  It has a great opening line:
Quote from: Ludwig WittgensteinIf you do know that here is one hand, we'll grant you all the rest.

Immediately draws you in, like a kind of philosophical whodunnit.

Drasko

Tractatus is one of the best structured books I ever saw.

Kullervo

Continuing my current Hesse binge...



George


Nice one, Kullervo!   8)

One of my very favorites by that author.

Haffner

Re-reading Arnold Schoenberg by Charles Rosen.

Inspiring!

karlhenning


Haffner

Quote from: karlhenning on May 24, 2007, 09:28:22 AM
Splendid, Andy!




Schoenberg is a huge inspiration for me to begin with. But Rosen really outdid himself here.

Your music can be pretty damn inspiring as well, Karl!

BachQ

Quote from: Haffner on May 24, 2007, 09:26:53 AM
Re-reading Arnold Schoenberg by Charles Rosen.

Inspiring!

So am I !

Bogey

Quote from: karlhenning on May 14, 2007, 04:37:29 AM
All philosophers will make mistakes, either that, or they aren't pushing themselves enough.

Quote of the day.
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

DavidW

Alright reading--

Physics:
Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell by Tony Zee-- the first two parts are brilliantly insightful, but the rest of the book addresses advanced topics at such a lightning fast rate that is simply not insightful for the beginner.

Srednicki's Quantum Field Theory on the other hand is wonderful, I'm about 100 pages through it now.  He presents everything in such a logical way that you're not left wondering what the !$&$^$?  My only complaint is that he doesn't give you a road map or provide motivation for the sections.  Sometimes it's quite awhile before you realize why some derivation was actually important.  I don't think it should be a mystery, all should be made transparent to the reader.

Fiction:
White Noise by Don DeLillo-- this is brilliant!  Has anyone else here read this novel?  I usually don't like idea novels, but this one was so hysterical and so true.

As I Lay Dying by Faulkner-- I'm a dumbass.  I admit it. I couldn't relate to the characters.  I didn't understand the madness of Darl at the end.  And his passages around that time were getting confusing.  There is a realness to the tragedy of the book, but it didn't move me.  And the narrative I had difficulty following half the time due to the nature of the minds being portrayed with this stream of consciousness thing.  The technique itself is not something I have difficulty with, it has thoroughly immersed our popular culture now.  What I had trouble with was the nearly complete lack of lucidity of the thoughts of the characters.