I'm just as interested in getting to the bottom of whether Michael Moore is actually the anti-Christ or not as the next person, but I'm also going through a book-hungry craze lately and so offer up this Open Thread to talk about books. To keep it simple and offer some structure though, start your comments with the following:
Currently reading: The Reformation by Diarmaid MacCulloch (as slowly as I read, this tome may take me through the end of summer)
Next in line: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (yes, I know it's old news, but still worth it, no?)
Looking for, but can't find: Any in-print biography of Erasmus. I've been to 10 New York bookstores (even the Strand) but come up with nothing. Any recommendations?
Good topic! Summer is a great time for reading, so this is an interesting topic.
Currently Reading: My Life, Bill Clinton. I know, I know, but after I read Larry Mcmurtry's review of the book, I had to give it a try.
Next In Line: Darwin's Radio, by Greg Bear.
Recommended: Altered Carbon and Broken Angels, by Richard Morgan. The Engines of God, and Chindi by Jack McDevitt. The Success of Open Source, by Steve Weber.
You'll enjoy Pattern Recognition, or at least I hope so. I think it is Gibson's best since Neuromancer. I just love the way he puts words together.
caleb
Posted by: crutan | July 06, 2004 at 04:22 PM
Currently reading: Alistair Horne's Seven Ages of Paris, Margaret Macmillan's Paris 1919, Antony Beevor's The Fall of Berlin 1945, and Strasbourg in Transition by I forget whom.
Next in line: William Taubman's biography of Kruschchev, Christopher Browning's The Path to Genocide, Lindsey Davis's The Jupiter Myth, and possibly Mike Davis's Late Victorian Holocausts if I can find a used copy and therefore not have to enrich the man. And probably Nick Ienatsch's Sport Riding Techniques: How To Develop Real World Skills for Speed, Safety, and Confidence on the Street and Track.
Looking for, but can't find: Alistair Horne's To Lose a Battle.
Posted by: Josh | July 06, 2004 at 04:39 PM
You'll enjoy Pattern Recognition, or at least I hope so. I think it is Gibson's best since Neuromancer.
Great! I loved Neuromancer so much, I lack the vocabulary to praise it enough.
Posted by: Edward | July 06, 2004 at 04:48 PM
current: the Blank Slate -steven pinker
always reading Phisophical Investigations- Wittgenstein
and Salingers's 9 stories
Posted by: judson | July 06, 2004 at 04:52 PM
Currently reading: The Bookseller of Kabul. I recommend it highly to understand the grind of women's (in fact anyone who is not the head of a household) lives in a newly free Afghanistan.
Next in line: Don't know yet as there are about 15, ranging from She's a Bad Motorcycle to the histories of Salt, Maps and the Compass.
Looking for but can't find: nothing, I'm buried with unread books as it is.
You'll love PatRec. Its really real, not so unreally real. Ya know?
Posted by: crionna | July 06, 2004 at 05:10 PM
Currently reading: Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville; Food For The Dead: On The Trail Of New England's Vampires, by Michael Bell (again); Catch Me If You Can, by Frank Abagnale, Jr.; and The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold. (Yes, I read in parallel.)
Next in line: Probably a re-read of The Fortunate Fall, by Raphael Carter.
Looking for but can't find: Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh. (I think that's the full title.)
Slightly off-topic: Moe, did I ever get around to lending you my copy of The Fortunate Fall? If not, I have a lending copy now, so I'll drop it off Thursday if you like.
Posted by: EDG | July 06, 2004 at 05:17 PM
Hey crionna, what do you ride, anyway?
Posted by: Josh | July 06, 2004 at 05:18 PM
A Death in Brazil by Peter Robb.
Edward, by the way, check out Alibris.com. They specialize in out of print books and may have one on Erasmus.
Posted by: Randy Paul | July 06, 2004 at 05:46 PM
You hate amazon? I don't know how well it is translated, but Johan Huizinga wrote quite a nice book about Erasmus.
I just read the cat and the rabbi, an wonderfull filosophical cartoon that I can recommend, just started the DaVinci code and will read two Dutch books after (Europe, by Geert Mak, and the history of England by vd Horst).
Posted by: Dutchmarbel | July 06, 2004 at 06:14 PM
Josh, I ride a '99 Triumph Sprint ST. Its a lot more Tour than Sport, but I had a blast on it at Nurburgring in '02.
Posted by: crionna | July 06, 2004 at 06:18 PM
You've ridden the Nurburgring? I'm jealous... (Just went to my first trackday a couple of weeks ago, which was plenty involving. I can't quite wrap my head around the Ring just yet.)
Posted by: Josh | July 06, 2004 at 06:24 PM
Yeah, you shoulda seen the looks I got as I took the bags off, locked'em to a tree and then headed out. I've got a cool helmet-cam video of one of my laps...the one where I actually pass one car ;)
Posted by: crionna | July 06, 2004 at 06:33 PM
Ah, sorry, forget the cat of the rabbi, unless you read French. But once it is translated (and it should, it is very good), remember Joann Sfar.
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation by Johan Huizinga is still available as paperback I saw.
Posted by: Dutchmarbel | July 06, 2004 at 06:36 PM
Oh, and SF wise I can really recommend Ted Chaings 'Stories of Your Life and Others', some really creative and well written short stories. He can take an almost normal idea and change it into a really weird but entertaining chain of events.
Posted by: Dutchmarbel | July 06, 2004 at 06:42 PM
Currently: An Unexpected Light, one of a stack of "adventures of crazy white people in Central Asia" books I've bought lately.
Next: Not sure, but probably Kipling's Kim.
Looking for: Well, I've found it, but I'm just not sure yet. It's the Memoirs of Alexander Gardner, a Scot from Wisconsin who led a band of Afghan bandits then became an artillery officer under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. There's an Indian edition on Alibris, but it would be sweet to get one of the older editions. If only I had $800 for the 1892 1st Edition.
Posted by: Nathan Hamm | July 06, 2004 at 06:54 PM
Currently reading: A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson: The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Robinson: The Robert Sheckley Omnibus, by, well, yes.
On the to-be-read pile: several more collections of short stories by Robert Sheckley. I read most of them years ago, but am finding them an unexpectedly pleasant re-read. Also The Globe, by Terry Pratchett et al.
Posted by: Jesurgislac | July 06, 2004 at 07:03 PM
Currently reading: Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Next up: Transmission by Hari Kunzru
Sooner or later: Dylan's Visions of Sin by Christopher Ricks
When Hell Freezes Over But It Looks Good On My Bookshelf: Viking's new translation of In Search Of Lost Time by that Proust fella.
Posted by: Harley | July 06, 2004 at 07:06 PM
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 06, 2004 at 07:34 PM
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 06, 2004 at 07:37 PM
"Also The Globe, by Terry Pratchett et al. "
Dammit, Jes, don't DO that. I just spent five minutes looking for this strange new Pratchett that somehow didn't set off my radar (the Science of Discworld books don't really show up around here, you see). :)
Currently Reading: Harry Turtledove's fantasy Civil War trilogy
Next in Line: The Fortunate Fall, apparently. Haven't read it yet, EDG, feel free to lend it to me.
Looking for, but can't find: The Unadulterated Cat, Pratchett. Or Carr/Green's sequels to Lord Kalvan of Otherwhem. Or Michael Kurland's other book set in Garrett's Lord Darcy universe. Or, well, I have lots and lots of lists. ;)
Posted by: Moe Lane | July 06, 2004 at 08:01 PM
Yikes, so many people reading multiple books. I tend to get hooked on one and read it all the way through. Recently finished Charles de Lint's "All Be Watching You". Excellent, spooky, and not typical for him at all because it is completely non-supernatural. I'm just about to read either "Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville, or "Naked Empire" by Terry Goodkind.
Recently polished off "Sabriel", "Lirael", and "Abhorsen" by Garth Nix. Excellent fantasy novels, but I don't think they are available in the states.
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw | July 06, 2004 at 08:19 PM
Moe, I take it you're read The Unicorn Girl, Chester Anderson's The
Butterfly Kid, and T.A. Waters' The Probability Pad? (Me, it's been so long I completely forget any substance of them at this point.)
I think his other Darcy's were Ten Little Wizards and A Study in Sorcery, but I don't even recall if I've read them. His The Wherabouts of Burr would have been well-timed for this week. Some like his Moriarity books, but I've not read them, so far as I recall.
Be nicer to have Garrett still around than other people's sequels, but he'd be a bit elderly now.
TFF by Raphael will probably seem less fresh and startling now than when it came out, but I still remember large chunks of it; hell of a first novel. (Interesting household Raphael, Pamela (Dean), DDB, etc., have, but I digress.)
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 06, 2004 at 08:31 PM
One of the things I admire about Charles deLint (about whom I have no personal anecdotes), Sebastian, is that he's often "not typical for him."
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 06, 2004 at 08:38 PM
Speaking of Pratchett:
Currently reading: Reaper Man, by you-know-who.
Next in line: Darwin's Children, sequel to Darwin's Radio. The first was a story so well written as to completely offset mediocre writing, so I have reasonably high hopes for a good sequel.
Next-next (which is forbidden in euchre): Whatever's immediately to the right of The Agony and The Ecstasy, on my bookshelf.
Perpetually on the started-but-can't-finish list:
Poetry, Language, Thought by Heidegger, The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts, and the rest of the Old Testament. I keep getting stuck by the whole Genesis 26:7-10 similarity to Genesis 20:2-7. What's the odds that both Abraham and his son Isaac would be able to pull the same stunt on two different kings named Abimelech? In the same country, no less. Creation I could give a pass to as allegory, but this? Oh, and The American Practical Navigator by Nathaniel Bowditch. It's mutated quite a bit since his day. He was an American (born British) of extraodinary talent and ability, and he lives on in a book that's been reprinted many, many times since its original publication in 1799. Chock full of nav goodies for the compass-and-sextant crowd.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | July 06, 2004 at 08:42 PM
The first was a story so well written as to completely offset mediocre writing
Well, it was a great story but mediocre writing, anyway.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | July 06, 2004 at 08:45 PM
"Next in line: Darwin's Children, sequel to Darwin's Radio."
Bob's an excellent writer, though I am woefully behind on most of his work. (Now, him I do have anecotage of, having first met Bob [and Janet Small, who later became Janet Wilson, and... I shut my mouth] in 1976, long before he had sold a word. We were all (well, about twenty-five of us) in a small private apa ["amateur press association," which is to say, a newsgroup on paper, essentially] founded by Patrick Hayden (now Nielsen Hayden) and myself....)
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 06, 2004 at 08:56 PM
Current: Finding Darwin's God -- Awesome book. I recommend it to anyone who was raised a fundamentalist xian and later had a crisis of faith after discovering the undeniable veracity of the theory of evolution, among other things. First the author debunks the three main branches of creationism, then explores scientific materialism, and finally explains how he's found a way to include God without abandoning his scientific principles.
Next: Final two books of O'Brian's Master and Commander series. I'm actually sad knowing I've only got two books left, as I've been inhaling the 20 volume series since January, and I don't know what I'll do when I run out.
Looking for: Something new. I'm done with sci-fi, fantasy, techno-thriller, and cyberspace. I found 18th century nautical fiction fascinating, and I'm looking for another change. Maybe some historical non-fiction. Any recommendations?
Posted by: Neolith | July 06, 2004 at 09:00 PM
Currently reading: The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes, which was always on my to-read list and I never got around to. I've been infatuated with Australia since I visited in 2001, and this gives me deeper insight into the culture. I just finished Pinker's The Blank Slate and Stephen King's Song of Susannah, which I read at the same time. Well, concurrently -- not two books at once.
Up Next: I intend to find Blood Done Sign My Name, which I've heard nothing but good things about. Also, the next couple in my paperback-fiction-pleasures category, Anne Perry's William Monk series.
Posted by: Phil | July 06, 2004 at 09:07 PM
Man, Slarti, don't get me started on all the sailing books I have to read...
Posted by: crionna | July 06, 2004 at 10:12 PM
Bob's an excellent writer
Uh...Bob who?
Posted by: Slartibartfast | July 06, 2004 at 10:53 PM
"Uh...Bob who?"
Good and fair question. Answer: I'm an idiot. Had a brain fart, any way. For some reason my brain flitted past Greg Bear (whom I also know, but only slightly; been to his and Astrid's house only once for a party, and he's probably forgotten me), and went to Robert Charles Wilson, most likely because among Bob's novels is Darwinia, and the minor reason that they're both excellent, multiplely-Hugo-and-Nebula-nominated, award-winning, sf writers.
Color my face red.
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 06, 2004 at 11:15 PM
Read the Dante Club on the train, got me reading the Inferno again now. Plus I'm finally reading people's history of the United States, which is good and should be followed by more boring people's histories of the rest of the countries. I claim penguin's history of Antarctica.
But the best thing, other than the incomperable Dante, is that I finally got to read the entire run of The Preacher. Holy F***.
Posted by: carpeicthus | July 06, 2004 at 11:22 PM
Current: The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass -- dunno how I overlooked it for so long, even in translation the writing is breathtaking; also still struggling to get through The Symbolic Species by Terrence Deacon. I sailed through the linguistics section since I have the background, but the neuroscience parts make my eyes wobble around in their sockets. It's a good antidote to the Chomsky/Pinker crowd.
Future: Picked up The Lovely Bones just to see what the fuss was about. From a quick skim it looked fairly engrossing, as long as the heaven stuff doesn't get too sappy.
Back burner: Pushkin's Evgenij Onegin in the original. Got a copy for "advanced intermediates", with a partial glossary in the back, but it's still a struggle -- I fight my way through the first chapter and a half, then I'm so exhausted that I put it down for 6 months, after which I feel like I need to start over. But when I understand it, it's pure joy to read -- a whole novel in 400-odd sonnets, and he makes it seem like the most natural thing in the world.
Posted by: kenB | July 06, 2004 at 11:27 PM
Didn't love The Lovely Bones KenB. Wanted to like it more (and found parts very moving) but thought it ran out of steam conceptually.
Posted by: Edward | July 06, 2004 at 11:48 PM
Color my face red.
No one ever died from embarrassment, Gary. I'm living proof of that.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | July 06, 2004 at 11:53 PM
"Plus I'm finally reading people's history of the United States, which is good and should be followed by more boring people's histories of the rest of the countries."
Howard Zinn? A highly useful corrective if one's only knowledge of history is from a bad U.S. high school. Very enjoyable reading, and educational, from such a perspective.
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 07, 2004 at 12:45 AM
"In Search of Lost Time by that Proust fella"
Yeah, Harley, it's up there on the shelf, I'm checking it out from the corner of my eye when I'm dusting, when I'm cooking, when I'm supposedly watching "On the Waterfront", which I should, but you know it's checking me out too and I actually read the first volume a few years ago and then had to be productive and get a job (America puts so much in the way of being unproductive), so put it down, which is like putting down breathing, and didn't carry through, and I should be on my second reading, and so should you ..
O.K. dusting is an excuse.
Posted by: John Thullen | July 07, 2004 at 12:48 AM
"Color my face red.
No one ever died from embarrassment, Gary. I'm living proof of that."
Well, yes, I said "red," not "exploding."
I reserve my Scanners type powers for special usage. Honest. Best as I can, to be sure. They're not, feedback shows, entirely best suited to my own evaluation.
But, you know, great power brings great responsibility.
Posted by: Gary Farber | July 07, 2004 at 12:55 AM
. I just spent five minutes looking for this strange new Pratchett that somehow didn't set off my radar (the Science of Discworld books don't really show up around here, you see)
Sorry, Moe. One reason for not being so explicit about the title is that I haven't bought it yet: I saw it on my way to work in paperback in someone else's hands, and was too polite to rip it out of their hands and demand "Where did you get it!" but if it's in paperback, I'm getting it. (If I'm still reading Bill Bryson, it should be an interesting companion volume.) I thought the first Science of Discworld book was excellent.
Sebastian: Yikes, so many people reading multiple books. I tend to get hooked on one and read it all the way through.
I vary. But my current reading is fairly typical: one novel, one non-fiction, and one collection of short stories. The novel I read whenever I have time to settle into it, the non-fiction I read a chapter or two at a time for quite a while, and the short stories (or it might be poetry, or something like Pratchett's Unadulterated Cat) is dipping-into reading material - for those moments when you have five-ten minutes to spare.
Oh, and I've read volume one of Proust. Volume two is the one that sits on my bookshelf, staring at me wistfully.
Posted by: Jesurgislac | July 07, 2004 at 03:11 AM