What are you reading?

Stone-
I haven't read Ulysess so I can't make any of the parallels. I can say Heartbreaking Work was one of the better books I've read, easily in the top 10.

His follow-up 'You Shall Know Our Velocity' is fantastic as well.

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Originally posted by enigmajelly
I'm currently reading Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" and its excellent

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I read that book along with Atlas Shrugged and Anthem. Later I read her philosophy book (on objectavism) and it really shook me. It changed my whole perspective on that woman's mentality. She basically portrays that she is right, everyone else is wrong and you have to step on everything and everyone to get at what you want.
Bah...
All said, the books alone are fantastic.
Anyhow. Last book I read was "Wampeters Foma and Granfalloons" by Kurt Vonnegut... I really enjoy his work.
Unfortunately I haven't been in the reading mood over the past couple of months... :(

I just read Robin Hobb's "Farseer Trilogy" last week. I'm trying to work my way through Kushiel's Chosen at the moment.

I had to take a train Ride to Maryland this past weekend for my Grandparent's 80th birthdays and 60th wedding anniversary. I had 7 hours of train ride, each way, so I read Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor cover to cover.

Good read. Not as good as fight club. Very interesting. He goes a little overboad with the detail here and there, and its quite an easy read to say the least. I would definitely suggest it, especially if you liked Fight Club.

There are worse ways to spend an afternoon that with this novel.

I'm working on the Harry Potter books (I hate the writing, but since I liked the movies, I wanted the background info you don't get in them); a book called "Wuhu Diary" about a woman who takes her adopted child back to China to find out about her past; and I, Asimov - Asimov's memoirs.

Just finished The Rules of Attraction. quite good, but i like less than zero and american pyscho better. I hope Ellis writes a new book soon, and I hope its a departure from the subject matter he has dealt with so far.

Just started Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze. Not exactly light reading.

Re-Read Tom Clancy's Executive Decision and The Bear and The Dragon. Good, but repetitive, predictable and such. I think I'm burnt out on Clancy, since I can't even bring myself to re-read Rainbow Six again.


Translating Buddhisim from the Tibetan Language, Joe. B. Wilson.

I picked this up years ago, but have never gotten through it. In fact, I've never gotten past chapter 3. On the whole, Tibetan is a beautiful language to look at on the page (looks like Hindi etc.), and I like that.

It's interesting to see the things that correspond with Japanese, and how some of the Tibetan Letters look like the Hiragana (it's easy to see how Daruma modifed things like Ma in Tibetan to Ma for Hiragana, and so forth).

I don't think that I will ever get through the book, because it is so utterly frustrating and maddening that it discourages me. Silent letters, Letters that can only go in certain places and letters that change what preceeds and follows, are so common it hurts.

I definately want to finish the book, but it's going to take years to get to a point that's barely passable.

Still, a great project book to pick up (runs around 70 dollars).

Just finished The Art of War by Sun Tzu and Bias by Bernard Goldberg.

The former was fabulous. If ever I am to go to war against someone, I have found my primer. As for the latter, it was much better than I expected it to be. And different. For someone talking about 'liberal bias' in the media, you'd expect a conservative Republican to be writing it, but Bernie Goldberg is a Democrat, which I found interesting. His points and illustrations were iron-clad, which was nice to see, as most claims of bias are very weak.

Previous to these two, I finished Animal Farm and The Great Gatsby.


Next up, 1984 by George Orwell. Good so far. I'm trying to get through Leadership by Rudy, but wow, is it tough. I'm really having a hard time making my way through it. I thought the book was going to be more of an autobio but instead, it's Rudy's take on leadership (guess the title should've given it away).

I just finished the first Disc World book.

Just read John Adams by David McCullough, and absolutely loved it. I'd never read a serious biography before, and only picked this up because I was bored at the airport and it was the only thing that stood out from the sea of John Grisham, Stephen King and Sue Grafton crap. I think I may have a new interest in history now, but I'm not sure if it's because I find the topic inherently interesting or just because this book was so engagingly written. I think it may be the latter, because I'm not finding my current reading as interesting so far.

My current book is A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. It examines the nation's history from the perspective of the downtrodden victims, rather than the famous statesmen and politicians. It's not as gripping
as John Adams so far, but I'll never look at C. Columbus the same way again.

On deck is Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James Loewen. It supposedly reveals omissions and distortions commonly taught in American history textbooks.