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The Conservative's Handbook by Phil Valentine
Look Me In The Eye by John Robison

The Steel Remains - Richard K. Morgan
Thirteen - Richard K. Morgan

^^^

Thirteen was so bad it made my eyeballs stink! Your mileage may vary...



I'm currently reading The Man Who was Thursday and (for the 5th time) Treasure Island. (both free on kindle)

The Everything Learning Russian Book. I use going to study Swedish, but as soon as I started, i decided I wanted to study Russian.

If I have time today, I'll start with some Harlan Ellison or some other classic sci-fi. I can feel a classic sci-fi lit itch coming on.

The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle. There are parts about these books I really like, notably the characterisation, and there are parts I loathe in that Lewis' Author Tracts and strawman politiciking are as bad as Rand, especially in the later books.

Went and reread:
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go.

It is quite a girlie book - the main character is female and a lot of it is about her feelings.
I like the way that the students aren't told and don't fully understand the whole picture as they are growing up, and make up such strange theories to explain things.

Read:
Alexander McCall Smith - The Importance of Being Seven.
Read at least one other in the series. I find them a bit slow, but there are a few interesting characters in them.

Next:
Alice Hoffman - The Third Angel
Probably chick lit.

Read: (a long time ago)
Edwin Abbott's Flatworld

Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder

Animal Farm, meh. My devoted readership will know it's the only Orwell I can stand, but even so... I'm mostly with the Prof on allegory.

On to what promises to be a far more enthralling work of literature, Ciaphas Cain - Defender of the Imperium. Big Brother ain't got nothing on fascist zombie psychic star-Jesus.

Reading : A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley

Going to read : A Confederacy of Dunces

A Confederacy of Dunces is fun. I haven't read that since forever. I should reread that. O Fortuna! Spin your wheel!! !

Reading some of His Share of Glory: The Complete Short Science Fiction of C.M. Kornbluth. Classic sci fi. I could live off this stuff.

Confederacy of Dunces is one of the few books that ever made me laugh out loud. Great book.

Finished Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury. I'm a fan of dystopian novels that criticize on modern society like Brave New World and 1984, but this book sucks. It's so flowery written, you have no clue what's going or what they're talking about at some points.


Reading Invisible Monster - Chuck Palahniuk now

Fahrenheit 451 I actually liked. Yeah you may have to get used to the writing style but it doesn't suck at all IMO. The book, according to people who don't know of rays interview on it, assume that its a take on burning books and the rise of the western media. According to ray bradbury its more than that, and I can see where he is coming from with it. I cant find that interview but I do remember him stating that it is a take against how the 'new media' IE: "Motion pictures and radio" Will end up dumbing down society. Well, in my opinion ray bradbury is right. fewer and fewer people actually know how to read and even interpret it all.

Let me know if it's any good; I've got it un-read on my floor. I've read Fight Club and Choke; the latter started okay, then got a bit stupid. Cheers

I'm rereading The Valley of Secrets by Charmiane Hussey (really lovely book) for about the 10th time, and I'm also reading Wide Sargasso Sea by someone and Fire with Fire by Naomi Wolf. Naomi Wolf puts it across so clearly and cleverly. My uncle said I had to read something 'real' and that it was 'political nonsense'. It rings very true to an ignoramus such as myself!

'No more silly love songs' by Anouchka Grose.
It's the first time i've bothered to read on the topic & I think the people who buy the sort of self-help books that make massive gender-stereotyping should be forced to eat their own shoes, however this is more a social anthropology account of the strangeness of people relationships & why this happens.

E.g. humans in general don't get along with each other, so nature has to find a way to fool them into being together long enough to raise kids. One study showed that brain chemicals in those people 'in love' induce an imbalance that shows up on an MRI scan the same as OCD.

It's written like a detached observer analysing all these crazy things humans do to each other. It jokes a few times about ASD but other than that, a very accessible read.

Next - Sci-fi short story collection "Songs of the Dying Earth". I have a post-Cmas pile of books that is becoming like a literary Jenga tower...

Last edited by Nier on 09 Jan 2011, 5:12 am, edited 1 time in total.