What Are You Reading?

[The_Meach]

Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of It's Enemies - Ian Buruma/Avishai Margalit

Swimming to Antarctica - Lynee Cox

The Trouble With Islam - Irshad Manji

The Coming Anarchy - Robert D. Kaplan

A Tale of Two Valleys: Wine, Wealth and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma - Alan Deutschman

Occidentalism is the most insightful book I've read all summer.

[Calliander]

I'm currently reading that "Tales Before Tolkein" book. It's not that great, but some of the stories are good. After that, I'll be moving on to "Memoirs of a Geisha."

[Diff-chan]

After that, I'll be moving on to "Memoirs of a Geisha."

And who told you to read it?

[Calliander]

And who told you to read it?

My girlfriend: diffusionx.

[MVS]

Maxim, in the bathroom.

[Brisco Bold]

That was an excellent read. He got together some great materials & historical documents.

I was completely surprised about Empire. What I found particularly cool was the part about the Jihad being used and stirred up by the Brits to combat the Germans...

[Lobo]

Just finished Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.
Right now I'm on Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Next up: House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

[Sqoon]

Just finished Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.

Best book ever written. I remember very few of the stories, so every time I flip through it, it always floors me. (Ironic, in a way, since memory is a pretty big theme.)

I remember you were asking on Calvino website a year or two back. How did you like this one?

[Lobo]

As compared to Cosmicomics, I'd say Invisible Cities is far more fantastic, but also a lot less structured. I believe what it lacks in real unity, it gains in fantastic description. Cosmicomics is something to be read and thought about, while Invisible Cities is something to be read and read again to experience Marco Polo's surreal tales of fabulous metropolises. Both are very good, but it’s hard to even compare the different city descriptions in Invisible Cities, much less the two totally different tomes of Calvino's written works. Right now, I'd have to say that the part in Invisible Cities describing the "White City" is very worth re-reading.

[Saint of Killers]

Next up: House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

I would've liked this alot more if it hadn't be so ridiculously pretentious and masturbatory. Still a pretty good book though.

Right now I'm reading The Shipping News, and Proulx's prose is annoying the hell out of me. I recognize that it's very well written but for some reason her style sets my teeth on edge. I don't think I'm going to finish it.