[Official] What You Are Currently Reading Thread

[Cena's Little Helper]

While I sometimes post about literature in the Chit Chat / Cigar Lounge / The HBK-aholic Centre For Applied Ethics section of the forums (okay, I exaggerate, I only posted about literature there once), I thought it would be nice to have a thread where one can just shout out what they are currently reading and say a few words about it without worrying about spam infractions.

Right now, I am reading three books: Bret Hart's Hitman, Kenzaburo Oe's Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids, and Spinoza's Ethics.

I am reading Hart's book because I love biographies (especially their sensational parts, of which there are many in Hitman). I am reading Oe's book due to someone's recommendation and also because of the fact that he's a Nobel Laureate, although the book itself is quite bland (hopefully his other stuff is better). Finally, I am reading Spinoza because I am a philosophy junkie and my goal this year is to get through the major works of all the significant early modern philosophers.

So, what are you currently reading?

 

[Mr. TM]

I am just starting to read "Abraham Lincoln: And Civil War America"- W. E. Gienapp. I hope it is good.

 

[Ms. TM Canada]

I was reading a really crappy chick lit book: The Importance of Being Married. It's got a boring plot and is poorly written (I bought it because it was like $5 on sale and sounded okay. Don't judge a book by the cover, it might suck), so I'm going to read one of the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella (for like the 5th time). Those are my guilty reads, but I figure seriousness has no place in escape reading.
Other than that, I have a melee of textbooks that I'm reading for various classes. (hence the need for escape reading)

 

[Sparky]

Im reading the [official What you are currently reading thread... No lie.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

I cant read

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

[sarcasm]I cant read [/sarcasm]

Fixed.

 

[Eternal Dragon]

I haven't read a book in a while.

Flames Out
Dragon

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

I haven't read a book in a while.

Flames Out
Dragon

I always meant to ask you, are you a first-generation American (i.e., did your parents immigrate to the States)? I only ask because I recall you mentioning something about going back to the Asian sub-continent. I hope you'll forgive both my forgetfulness and boldness, but does your family come from Pakistan or India (or another country)?

 

[Eternal Dragon]

First generation from Pakistan.

Flames Out
Dragon

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

First generation from Pakistan.

Flames Out
Dragon

When you read a book next, I highly recommend Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. It's about a Princeton alumnus from Pakistan who lives in New York City working for a valuation firm around the time of 9/11. It is extremely well-written and is very short (under 200 pages). Furthermore, it is most definitely something that you can gloat about to your parents and teachers once you have read it, as, although it is an easy read, it is still well-regarded among the (pretentious) literary cognoscenti.

 

[Eternal Dragon]

Not my typical kind of book, but I'll check it out. Thanks for the mention.

Flames Out
Dragon

 

[FromTheSouth]

I'm reading Steve Berry's The Venetian Betrayal.

Alexander the Great quest. It's the next in a series. I have my mom reading them, trying to catch up, pretty quick read.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Enduring Love - Ian McEwan

I absolutely love it. I don't get all the fuss about the opening being the best opening ever, I think the rest of the book is better. But I really love it and I haven't even finished it yet.

 

[Shadowmancer]

whatever I pick up

 

[Shadowmancer]

well to be precise I am currentl reading Emperor The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden. Good book, there is a series in it, its about Julius Caesar, and if you know anything about Roman History you have to ignore the part in your mind going thats not right, this is what happened and all that.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Chris Jericho's book....After that I'm going to read some Stephen King book I picked up two weeks ago and forgot the title..lol

 

[Uncle Sam]

American Psycho. This is much better than the dull shit I'm normally persuaded into reading.

Now, should I buy No Country For Old Men (the book) or The Road? I hear Cormack McCarthy is the shit.

 

[Lee]

Watchmen

 

[CCS]

I'm not currently reading anything. But within the last 4 weeks i've read Batista Unleashed, Heartbreak and Triumph and Bret Hart's big ass book.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

Enduring Love - Ian McEwan

I absolutely love it. I don't get all the fuss about the opening being the best opening ever, I think the rest of the book is better. But I really love it and I haven't even finished it yet.

Have you the read The Cement Garden yet? I consider this to be McEwan's best, closely followed by Atonement and Enduring Love. The only McEwan did me wrong was with Saturday
, which I thought was one of the most plodding, elitist and narcissistic (if I can attribute such an adjective to a book) pieces of shit I have ever read.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

well to be precise I am currentl reading Emperor The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden. Good book, there is a series in it, its about Julius Caesar, and if you know anything about Roman History you have to ignore the part in your mind going thats not right, this is what happened and all that.

Awhile back, I made a reference to you making posts similar to the passages found in Edward Gubbons' classic, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Do you see where I was getting at now?

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

American Psycho. This is much better than the dull shit I'm normally persuaded into reading.

Now, should I buy No Country For Old Men (the book) or The Road? I hear Cormack McCarthy is the shit.

Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for The Road (which is the U.S. equivalent to the Booker Prize), so you can't go wrong here. If you want to read what many consider his masterpiece, get Blood Meridian. If you enjoy the violence of American Psycho, then you'll definitely enjoy Blood Meridian.

 

[Uncle Sam]

You don't have to underline. I get it, I get it.

 

[Shocky]

In the last week I've read the Gunslinger, and now I'm about half way done with The Drawing of the Three. I've heard that the Dark Tower series is Kings best work to date, and thus far, I'm not disapointed.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

You don't have to underline. I get it, I get it.

Apologies...chalk it up to being an adherent to the MLA's rule of always underlining book titles.