Books
 

So, we have a "What are you reading?" thread, and a "What do you want to read?" thread, but I'm pretty sure there's no "Talk about any book you want" thread.

No, we don't need to have one, but here it is.

Great books? Terrible books? Overrated books? Underrated books? Just want to discuss a particular book with anyone who's read it?

Whatever the fuck you want.

I'm reading Paint it Black by Janet Fitch. It's really good. She's the modern Sylvia Plath.

i tried to read a marquis de sade book. horrible. that man doesn't have an inkling of talent. the only reason he's famous is for being graphic in the 18th century. the book reads like a 14 year old boy's fantasy.

that said... i just read 100 years of solitude. i loved it. i recommend it.

On the history front, I'm currently battling through a history of Yugoslavia from the death of Josip Tito to the 90's Balkan Wars. Very fascinating, if depressing - unsuprisingly, Slobodan Milosevic comes across as a total cunt.

History books are so hard to read. They're fascinating, but it's a real challenge to plow through them. I've tried to read Herodotus' Histories, Scullard's Nero to Gracchi, Machiavelli's Florentine History, a book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (with two authors, one from each perspective), and I could only get about 1/3 through all of them.

I know what you mean - I was shit at history at school, but I can just about hack my way through a good history book now, though. Some of them are written in such a boring and dry way, that I end up just throwing them in the bin.

Right now I'm reading Goodbye 20th Century.

I have these books lined up:
William Gibson - Neuromancer
Charles Bukowski - Factotum
Arthur C. Clarke - The Ghost From The Grand Banks
Arthur C. Clarke - Earthlight
Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End

I bought the 3 Clarke books for 20p each at a used book stall, anyone know which one I should probably start with?

i just read like 80 pages of neuromancer and it's fucking tits.

And our New York correspondent signs in! How's it going, senor?

Neuromancer is fucking amazing. Count Zero is just as good, too.

weird!!!!

like i just slept two hours the night before, then slept like 30 minutes in the plane (the rest i spent reading neuromancer and listening to spiritualized and merzbow), then got to a cab, went to see my aunt and got quite bored, got back to my aunt's for supper, ate the only decent meal of the last 24 hours, started crashing badly, but then went to the supermarket and i came back wide awake and in a good mood.

how's the good life going at melly towers?

I tend to only read Burroughs and Ballard type stuff, "outsider fiction" like that Baby Jesus Butt Plug book, stuff like that. I also like the works of the Marquis de Sade. Basically, I just want to read really fucked up, ridiculous books. And I also love biographies.

I'd rather be kicked in the head by Pele during his prime than read anything translated from Latin, especially histories. I don't mind other translated stuff, Italian, German, French etc. Just Latin.

That said, I like to read things written around the turn of the century up to about the 60s. And Douglas Adams

Really? Latin is usually translated pretty well, I think. Especially since half the words are understandable in English without even being translated.

Disturbing rumors about Clarke and a foray towards the end towards the goofy supernatural aside, I think he's an excellent sci-fi author. Childhood's End is widely regarded as his absolute best. My favorite has to be 2001: A Space Odyssey though.

I think I have the people at this bookstore talked down to fifty-five or so off from seventy for the incredible Picasso's Picassos book, which was a seminal book for me. Going to go buy it soon.

I had to read 6 for Roman Empire (Augustus to Hadrianish):

Tacitus' Annals and Agricola/Germany
Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars
Apuleius' Golden Ass
Lucian's Chattering Courtesans and other Sardonic Sketches
Marcus Aurelius' Meditations

And with the exception of Meditations and Lives of the Caesars I found myself flipping to the explanation pages every 2-3 pages to discover yet another Roman pun or metaphor for being Greek-like or passively homosexual that would not properly translate to English. Plus, I don't need to read about how Tiberius had "not-yet weened infants suck on his male member"

The list of fucked-up Roman emperors and patrician leaders goes on and on. Off the top of my head I'll name Diocletian, Caligula, and Nero as probably the worst.

right now i'm trying to get all my books in order before, i think, reading a book i read a good review for in esquire.

Yeah, I've read about Caligula and Nero for that class and will get Diocletian at some point. At least Tiberius went to exile in Capri so he wasn't being a nuisance to Rome.

Still trying to get motivated to finish Ulysses. I don't think it's going to happen for the next week and a half, but I'll finish it in one day as soon as I can sit outside and read and/or have some decent coffee and a nice coffee shop to read in.

Ah, waste of time that one is. Just a long-held opinion of mine.