what are you reading

jenc_green · Black Bloc

what are you reading at the moment...

I actually have 4 on the go because I am disorganised but love reading and it's not through being bored of any of them;

The End of Nature, Bill McKibben - have we altered nature so much that nothing can ever be the same again? The thought of meat production lines where chickens have no heads and are simply a tube going in with nutrition and a tube going out with waste sickens and haunts me. Mainly about climate change and how we are changing the environment to the point of no return.

Les Liasons Dangereuses, Laclos - to keep my french up and the film was really cool. Haven't read much yet but it's about french society in the 18th century, they were seemingly so sexually liberated, sigh.

The Naked Ape, Desmond Morris - a zoologist looks at humans. The aquatic ape theory is interesting for example, that we had a period living by the sea hence the shape of our noses and the sensitivity of our hands.

High Fidelity, Nick Hornby - bought this yesterday from a charity shop and started reading straight away, he has insight to relationships, he can get things down that are so true that you've noticed but have never been able to articulate, things like middle age people talking too loudly in restaurants to detract from the fact that they're not satisfied with their lives, to make themselves look more interesting. He captures the feeling of breaking up and all the anguish so well, and the in-betweenness and everything.

doc_ido · Sandal-wearing bean eater

I loved High Fidelity. See the film if you can, it's hillarious!

I've just finished reading Gobbolino The Witch's Cat! At the moment I'm re-reading Romeo & Juliet for a discussion group on Sunday. :/ As soon as I've finished I'm going to dive into Someone Like You (another Roald Dahl short story collection) and Jude The Obscure (which I found in a charity shop last week). Smile

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We cannot choose what we are. Yet what are we, but the sum of our choices?

steven · Black Bloc

I. Hate. High Fidelity. I had to finish reading it just to see if it stayed that bad all the way through. The lead character is the most hateful person I can remember seeing portrayed in a book before. I appear to be the only person on the planet who holds this opinion.

Right now I'm trying to actually get work done rather than knobbing about like usual - so it's Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky (Russian bloke has a bit of a rant at 'Progress', acts like a t**t to everyone he meets, and quite possibly kicks off the Modernist movement); The Book of Margery Kempe (incredibly long-winded account of one woman's God-bothering); and Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction, a non-stop rollercoaster of thrills, spills, chills, and essays about the organization of conversational interaction.

the guerilla · Street Demonstrator

. Dumbing Us down. john taylor gatto Its about the education system, interesting.

Amusing ourselves to death. Neil Postman.

theanonymousgeographer · Black Bloc

"Ecstasy" by Irvin Welsh. Three short stories obsessed with drugs (which I expected), necrophilia and rape. Overkill on the shock factor I think.

Its fun working out what all the Scottish words mean though!

Wood · Armchair Activist

I'm currently reading Thomas Paine's Rights of Man; political radicalism for the masses in a 1790s context...lovely stuff. Slow progress though, its taken me all term to read and its only 190 pages!

Can anyone recommend a 19th century Russian novel that isn't by Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky?

theanonymousgeographer · Black Bloc

doc_ido · Sandal-wearing bean eater

nick_b · Street Demonstrator

like steven, i am enjoying the literary rollercoaster that is an english degree. turns out most things written from 1380-1580 are really quite boring. henry james though turns out to be very good, as does ford madox ford (who has a truly brilliant name).
oh, and for anyone wanting non-fiction, read 'manufacturing consent' by noam chomsky and Edward Herman - enlightening.

Hannah D · Indymedia Hound

I've been trying to read Ernest Hemmingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' for ages now but course work keeps getting in the way! I agree though, the fabulously symetrical Ford Maddox Ford makes for a good read.
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Casual match in a very dry field

theanonymousgeographer · Black Bloc

Just 'read' a Garfield cartoon book Laughing

jimmyjazz · Indymedia Hound

this thread. he he he he. or should that be she she she. i am politically correct. so it should be sher thread. a ha ha

theanonymousgeographer · Black Bloc

Jon · Indymedia Hound

Im reading 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, cos iv been told by so many people to read it so i finally got around to reading it. Really enjoying it.

theanonymousgeographer · Black Bloc

TKAM is cool. Must re-read it soon.