What are you currently reading?

[Taleisin]

Reading Dune off and on.. Confused by the pacing at times but other than that, its pretty solid.

read it all the way through and the pacing will be easier

 

[Outer Heaven]

After 2 years of checking my local used book store every few weeks, I found a book Ive been actively looking for. Im reading Car Schmitt's "The Concept of the Political". Its a short read so Im halfway through already. Im just happy I found it and wanted to remind everyone to check used book stores because you could strike gold.

 

[GENOSAD]

When it comes to college courses, I rarely read any of the books all the way through. It's mostly because they expect me to read a full trilogy of novels within 5 days, and partially because I only get my books from libgen or the Internet Archive, so there's bound to be a couple books I miss out on.

With that said, Kazuo Ishigiro's Klara and the Sun is the first required reading in a few years that I've gotten all the way through and enjoyed from front to back. I'm not gonna say it's some kind of high-brow philosophical sci-fi (despite Ishigiro's intentions), but it was really comfy to read a book from the perspective of a robotic servant that was actually willing to help its masters for once. Obviously it has an overly-optimistic way of looking at how robots and AI will act in the future, but in a genre where practically every robot is portrayed as a human-murdering war machine, it's at least a good change of pace in terms of content.

 

[vermillion]

I've been reading a lot of Japanese short stories lately, most of them written in the Taishō or Shōwa periods of Japan. I'm most familiar with authors like Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Edogawa Ranpo, and Sakaguchi Ango, although I wish I knew more than just those.

From Edogawa Ranpo, I liked "Psychological Test" a lot, as well as his masterpiece "The Human Chair" (Ningen Isu) which got a lot of adaptations including a Ito Junji manga.

From Sakaguchi, I absolutely loved "In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom", I think that's the short story that got me into reading more and more.

Finally, from Akutagawa, I've really enjoyed "Rashōmon" and "In a Grove", the former being the namesake for the movie which contains the story of the latter, funnily enough (amazing film though). Though, I have to say he must've had some kind of fixation on noses, because I have a collection of his short stories and I've found already two of them that weirdly put emphasis on the nose of a character. Currently reading "Hell Screen".

 

[IsaiahQuinn54]

Dove headfirst into Gravity's Rainbow recently (my first Pynchon book, got interested purely because I watched Inherent Vice and liked it) ~220 pages in and I'm loving it so far. A lot of the talk about it being impossible to read / understand is exaggerated honestly.

 

[BLOODMAGE]

read it all the way through and the pacing will be easier

i cant read alot at once, i have troubles focusing. so i read off and on. its the only way i can get through large books and retain information (i hate this too)

 

[Kyou]

The Leopard.
I picked this up under word that it had good prose, and was met with references to Italian history which I have no intention of reading into in depth, and psychological profiles which I have started to use for myself. Its both shorter and more immediately engaging than Anna Karenina, with a good use of otherwise pretentious vocabulary and a second hint of poetic form to every paragraph which contrasts the former work nicely; I think I prefer this more. If you want a continental historical novel about the relations between men and women during periods of social change in the middle of the 19th century, check this one out.

 

[Taleisin]

i cant read alot at once, i have troubles focusing. so i read off and on. its the only way i can get through large books and retain information (i hate this too)

I don't mean in one sitting. I mean regularly, every day for some time until it's finished

 

[BLOODMAGE]

I don't mean in one sitting. I mean regularly, every day for some time until it's finished

ah fair! i suppose i'll start doing that, seems smart. i have to wait till night whenever i read though since it has to be completely silent for me to focus. such is life.. but i will (try to) start reading every night^^

 

[WKYK]

Reading Lolita with a friend, it's the only way I would feel socially acceptable reading a book of that topic lol. It's actually been a great read so far, I thought it would be all shock value but the story is very eventful and it's so well written. My friend and I are considering reading Pale Fire next to continue with Nabokov, if any of you have read it let me know if it's worth the hype.

 

[GENOSAD]

When it comes to college courses, I rarely read any of the books all the way through. It's mostly because they expect me to read a full trilogy of novels within 5 days, and partially because I only get my books from libgen or the Internet Archive, so there's bound to be a couple books I miss out on.

With that said, Kazuo Ishigiro's Klara and the Sun is the first required reading in a few years that I've gotten all the way through and enjoyed from front to back. I'm not gonna say it's some kind of high-brow philosophical sci-fi (despite Ishigiro's intentions), but it was really comfy to read a book from the perspective of a robotic servant that was actually willing to help its masters for once. Obviously it has an overly-optimistic way of looking at how robots and AI will act in the future, but in a genre where practically every robot is portrayed as a human-murdering war machine, it's at least a good change of pace in terms of content.

Guys the book made me cry, that hasn't happened since I was a child, am I just too emotionally immature?

 

[grap]

I just finished Dr. No, by Percival Everett (not Ian Fleming). It's about a professor of mathematics named Wala Kitu who studies nothing. Not nothing as the absence of anything, not nothing as zero, but nothing.

Kitu is contacted by John Sill, a billionaire who wishes to become a James Bond villain. Sill believes that the U.S. government is hiding nothing in Fort Knox -- again, not that there is no gold in Fort Knox, but they are actively concealing nothing there. He wants Kitu to help him steal nothing from the fed and weaponize it. They travel around the world in Sill's private planes and submarines to put Sill's plans into effect, with a federal agent named Bill Clinton (not that one) hot on their tail, Kitu's spergy mathematician colleague Eigen Vector in tow, rubbing shoulders with sweary, alcoholic atheist priests and U.S. Vice President Shilling (who is, in fact, a shill). Kitu has a one-legged dog named Trigo who talks to him in his dreams, and sometimes also when he is not dreaming.

It's pretentious in a good clean fun kind of way, I recommend highly for your next beach reading season. Very funny.

 

[llillilll]

Reading Second book of merlin, it is basically MLP if Twilight was a narc with main character syndrome and they were hyphotetically less ponies around(ı can't make absolute statements as i havent finished Merlin yet) .It is not very good because because there is SOOO MUCH foreshadowing and the mc never learns a lesson. I believe in later books he will be a wise old man but i already wasted soo much money in this mediocre series without enjoying it.

 

[Caspar]

After 2 years of checking my local used book store every few weeks, I found a book Ive been actively looking for. Im reading Car Schmitt's "The Concept of the Political". Its a short read so Im halfway through already. Im just happy I found it and wanted to remind everyone to check used book stores because you could strike gold.

How is it? I'm aware of Schmitt second-hand, but I have yet to read him. Although I second the idea of going to physical bookstores. I've found some interesting books via antique stores as well.

 

[Outer Heaven]

How is it? I'm aware of Schmitt second-hand, but I have yet to read him. Although I second the idea of going to physical bookstores. I've found some interesting books via antique stores as well.

I highly recommend it. A lot is missed out by only reading about his conclusions like "the exception" and the "friend-enemy distinction" without understanding the rationale behind them. Schmitt himself addresses common criticisms of the ideas like his dismissal of moral or economic distinctions for "friend-enemy". There are also plenty of other great observations he makes about the nature of what politics even is and its ultimate reduction to war and conflict, which are worth understanding on their own but also lend credibility to his other arguments. Its a very short read so pick it up if you can.

 

[containercore]

I've got a large stack of books I'm reading. The most interesting might be Madame Roland's Memoirs, which I had the good fortune to stumble across at a Half Price books. She wrote these while awaiting execution at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris (which had its own prison). Her biography is interesting; she was married to the minister of the interior in the revolutionary government and, surprisingly for the period, carried out a number of official functions such as drafting letters, memoranda and speeches and presided over the bureau of public opinion. Even more surprisingly she seemed to have believed that women shouldn't be in positions of political power at all. The couple's political careers were cut short, quite literally, by factionalism in the the Revolutionary govt. The memoirs are full of scathing but quite understandable indictments of many of the key figures of the Revolution, and one gets the impression she was verbally, truly formidable and intimidating. Very enjoyable to hear first hand what she thought of all the principal actors of the revolution and reign of Terror. Her remarks on Louis XVI I found particularly enlightening because she gives a much more nuanced view than what later writers on the subject tend to give. Like many of her fellow Girondins she was executed by guillotine. The translation, by Evelyn Shuckbergh is quite good and there's an introduction which is well written but seems to omit a few pieces of important context. Conspicuously absent is an index which is more than a little frustrating, but at least there's a handy reference on key figures. Should also praise the inclusion of picture plates at a few points in the book which I greatly appreciate.

Also in my stack is "The coming of the French Revolution" by a historian I really don't know much about, Georges Lefebvre. He's written a lot on the subject so I'll probably be reading more of him. I haven't gotten far yet but he brings up some interesting, and to me novel points on the revolution's principle causes, highlighting that one of the principle driving forces was that the nobility (who had lost much of their influence under the strictures of Louis XIV) were hoping to use the crisis to regain political power and privilege. Have a good feeling based on the two chapters I've read so far.

Lastly, this collection of erotic poetry from Classical Antiquity. Unfortunately the bulk of the poems only exist in fragmentary form, which makes them quite difficult to read (they're usually first person addresses to a specific person in the poem's scenario, but there are sometimes multiple people being addressed at different points in the poem, making it hard to follow). The footnotes help to make these comprehensible, even offering contrary interpretations based on different scholars' analyses. Inarguably a great collection but difficult to recommend as a pure reading experience. Also difficult to recommend on account of the pederasty, but that's ancient Greece and Rome for you.

 

[WKYK]

Took a break from my other readings to fully read through ISAIF, highly recommend to any of you who haven't read it yet. It basically just articulates the feelings most of us have here about technology and it's progression, but I think it explains the foundation of those issues really well (like the power process, types of drives, lack of autonomy, etc). At some point I will tackle his Anti Tech Revolution: Why and How book, but it seems like a pretty heavy read so I'll save it for when I'm not reading other stuff.

 

[LostintheCycle]

Currently reading The Screwtape Letters, not for the Christian aspect but because it is both a classical piece of literature, as well as an insightful work about living life well and morally.

 

[llillilll]

Nation or internet, it is a book about turkish culture against modern culture. It is not that long but i know what the book is all about and it repeats itself far too much. I am 2/3 done with it but i don't even know if i will finish it.

 

[Wonky]

I have been reading Anything That Moves by Jamie Stewart. I've been completely hooked on it and I'm almost done with it. It's an autobiography about the singer of Xiu Xiu's bizarre sex life. While there are some noticeable grammatical errors here and there, Jamie's blunt and sometimes out-there writing style is an absolute pleasure to read.