What are you currently reading?

[greg]

What's that about? A robot who looks like the main character?


About a fellow who is too busy, too busy even to court anyone himself, so he has a robot made in his likeness, to send in as a proxy.

lol

He remarks being inspired by the Robert Sheckley's novel Time Murderer while developing the idea that dead people are transported to a place in which they are able to be revived

Was there a Sheckley book with this scenario?

[zorzynek]

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Oh, yeah, it's good.

[Scarpia]

A book called "the Emperor's Children" by Claire Massud.  It is a group of literary people who live in New York city who all have some connection to the most venerable character, a senior journalist.  It depicts their struggle to realize their varying ambitions, although all are thwarted by circumstances and character flaws.  The culmination of the novel is the 9/11 attack, and the way the landscape on which they pursue their goals changes overnight.

Very good, characters are vividly drawn, overall perhaps not an enormously deep work, but a richly painted one.

[Florestan]

The Rite of Spring --- Alejo Carpentier

A leftist but oh so well written novel on the Spanish Civil War and the Cuban society from Batista to the early days of Castrist revolution. It gets utterly propagandistic in the last chapter but the rest of the book is highly enjoyable. Recommended.

[MN Dave]

For the readers.

http://www.abebooks.com/books/difficult-hardest-reads-obscure-staff/remaining-unread.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-r00-ar1001E-_-01cta

[SonicMan46]

War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier (2009) by John Ross - just getting started; biography of the famous 18th century frontiersman (meaning the old Northwest Territory), Robert Rogers (1731-1795) head of 'Roger's Rangers' - stimulus for the Spencer Tracy movie from 1940 Northwest Passage - want to own on DVD, but have not seem its appearance yet! 

 

[Lilas Pastia]

A day by day history of WWI.

[Opus106]

A day by day history of WWI.

Is that the name of a book? (I don't see it listed in Amazon.com, nor does Google return any relevant results.)

[Lilas Pastia]

No, here's the real title:

.

After the day by day section (in which events happen across the world - a bewildering sequence), there's a series of portraits of 'men who made history' (Clémenceau, Foch, Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, Pétain, Kaiser Wilhelm II etc). Then a detailed recounting and illustrated history of the great battles (Marne, Somme, Verdun, Flanders, Dardanelles), and finally 'the daily life during the war' (the trenches, gases, bombardments of civilians, etc.).

[Opus106]

Ah. Thanks. Sounds quite interesting.

[Lilas Pastia]

If you read French, that is  . I'm sure there are excellent English-language books too. But the French have always had that thing about the first War. In the collective memory it's known as La Grande Guerre. It's the one they won with a lil' help from their friends, in which they suffered the most, and throughout which the nation was united.

WWII has always been a painful subject for the french political class. There's no such thing as a sexy war, but this is the one they favour by far in terms of books, articles, etc.

[The new erato]

I read - God forgive me - The Lost Symbol. This book is so bad on so many levels it's almost funny. Bad writing, bad science, cliche'ed and totally unbelievable figures, unbelievable plot, laughable philosophic groundings....and so on. I can live with a few of those for the sake of a fastmoving, entertainings story, but please; give me a break!

Edit; I've now finished the book. Some suspense in the clicheridden story, a couple of interesting riddles and a few interesting glimpses into early US history, besides that; total and utter crap actually getting worse as the book progresses, almost like the author loses interest and belief in his own story (like well he might).

[Lethevich]

Those books would be more aesthetically acceptable if the author wasn't a lying POS who claims that the stories are true.

[Scarpia]

Those books would be more aesthetically acceptable if the author wasn't a lying POS who claims that the stories are true.

The da Vinci Code was at least entertaining.  I listened to the audio book while driving from New York to California.  Come to think of it, we Americans are fortunate to have that huge empty section in the middle of the country which facilitates listening to extensive novels.  Driving from East to West in the UK would only give time for Hawthorne short story, I would think.   

In any case, I saw the movie for "the lost symbol" and it was pretty dull, and the "science" betrayed complete cluelessness as to the meaning and nature of anti-matter.  I presume Brown's "expertise" in history and religion is equally idiotic.

[MN Dave]

Come to think of it, we Americans are fortunate to have that huge empty section in the middle of the country which facilitates listening to extensive novels.

[Florestan]

Actually, Brown's expertise in anything is highly questionable.

[Scarpia]

Sorry, was not referring to Minnesota.   

Have you ever been to Iowa?

[MN Dave]

Yes, I've been through Iowa.

[The new erato]

The da Vinci Code was at least entertaining. 

I agree. Not particularly well written, but entertaining and suspenseful, with entertaining riddles. This one has nothing of that, and far worse writing.

[Opus106]

In any case, I saw the movie for "the lost symbol" and it was pretty dull, and the "science" betrayed complete cluelessness as to the meaning and nature of anti-matter.  I presume Brown's "expertise" in history and religion is equally idiotic.

Do you mean Angels & Demons? Yeah, the science bit (in the book -- I haven't seen the movie) was terrible, but as a story I remember finding it better than The Da Vinci Code.