What Are You Reading?

Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen, aka Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke.

I read this long ago and was deeply moved, despite my misgivings and that horrible movie. But already, there is a nuance and sadness here, and a crispness of imagery that is rich and savory.

 

The Graduate by Charles Webb. Only on page 28, so we'll see how that goes.

 

Joyland by Stephen King

 

Under The Dome (and my mom is giving me Mr.Mercedes for my birthday) by Stephen King

 

Right now I'm reading the Japanese manga 暗殺教室 (ansatsu kyoushitsu), or in English, Assassination Classroom.
It's not nearly as bad as the title might suggest.

 

Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. I figured that I should probably be more familiar with ancient history than I am, and Gibbon is an early template for many modern historians' work, which is certainly noteworthy. It's a hard slog to get through, though, even with abridgements to eliminate the more esoteric subjects covered in the original (with the justification that later works with newer discoveries rendered those ultra-specific discussions more cumbersome than informative).

It's almost surprising to me that his style gave birth to populist, unacademic monstrosities like Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, because so far Gibbon seems remarkably even-handed and factually correct, even without considering the limitations of an 18th-century English scholar daring to criticise Christianity. And he writes beautifully, with the prose you have to expect from writers of his time, but without the laboured verbosity of a lot of his contemporaries.

 

The swimming-pool library by Alan Hollinghurst. I'm not far into it but it's an enjoyable and easy read, and given that I don't read fiction this is good!

 

I'm working on the second book in the Game of Thrones series, A Clash of Kings. I absolutely, positively, love that series. For school, I'm working on a report for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I'm also looking to start reading The Lord of the Rings series.

 

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. It's a good book about life.

 

I finished World War Z a while ago. It was nice, but a little biased. Now I've been secretly planning on how I should proceed if such a thing were to happen. Which areas on my town to avoid etc.

 

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, and The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad.

 

Loved Dharma Bums! Hope you end up enjoying it, even if it is a school assignment.

 

Not much of a reader but right now I'm watching making a murder

 

Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates

I'm also finally working my way through the Harry Potter series (currently on the third, Prisoner of Azkaban). I promised myself to refrain from watching the films until I had time to read the books, and I'm so glad I did!

 

The Odyssey

 

Hey, fortunately it's not a school assignment *fist pumps*, my friend who's a Buddhist (like me) recommended it to me, so I went out and bought it a few days ago. Started reading it and I love it so far. I'm just about 1/3 of the way through. I think after this I'll give On the Road another go as I didn't really like that the first time I tried reading it. I wish The Dharma Bums was the prescribed text though, instead of The Secret Agent. :lol:

 

Nice! It was actually my second Kerouac, the first being On the Road which I really loved, Dharma Bums comes up close behind however. Would enjoy getting your thoughts, via Wall Posts so's not to spoil for others, if you'd care to discuss afterwards.

To be fair, whatever the prescribed text was, there's a possibility it wouldn't have been enjoyable.

 

James bond book series. The first 4 -Casino Royal, Dr no, From Russia with love and Goldfinger.

 

Just finished James Frey's Endgame: The Calling. Very interesting at fact that the author decided to put a clue per chapter, and whoever solves the big puzzle gets to win 500 grand!

 

The Price of Salt, or Carol, by Patricia Highsmith.