What Book Are You Currently Reading?
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  What Book Are You Currently Reading?
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Author Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading?  (Read 396882 times)
traininthedistance
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« Reply #800 on: August 03, 2013, 01:07:48 PM »

Just finished this:



It might be fun to talk about what sorts of political lessons one can draw from a rather breezy, "local interest" read chronicling 100 years of a smoked-fish store on the Lower East Side, that has become an institution by being the only one of its kind still around.  I'd start with the rather strong pro-immigration message, of course. Tongue
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TheDeadFlagBlues
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« Reply #801 on: August 07, 2013, 05:57:46 AM »

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Miamiu1027
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« Reply #802 on: August 07, 2013, 11:38:36 AM »

good selection man.
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Nathan
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« Reply #803 on: August 13, 2013, 08:18:07 AM »

Working my way through the Hesperides.

Cathcon, congratulations! What did you think?

Scott, the problem is that the New Testament is really the only place where Jesus as a fleshed-out figure exists at all. Historical Jesus scholarship is basically just guessing half the time, placing Jesus into a social context that can has been established on mostly non-Jesus-related bases the other half, and ideological axe-grinding either way.
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Cathcon
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« Reply #804 on: August 13, 2013, 08:52:51 AM »

Currently, I'm hoping to complete "The Last Temptation of Christ" before I leave for school on the 20th, which I think is likely. The prospect of also getting through "Paradise Lost" in that time is, however, less likely. I recently finished "The Screwtape Letters", which included in it "Screwtape Proposes a Toast", both of which were fine satires. Makes me want to investigate some of Lewis' more serious works, as well as make a brief return to Narnia for a spell.


A fantastic work. Naturally, "The Inferno" was the most entertaining and was read the quickest. However, I was determined to press on, and "The Purgatorio" was pretty interesting and arriving in the Earthly Paradise was pretty cool. "The Paradiso" dragged on for quite a bit, and at what point I think I returned it to the library before eventually completing it. When I went at it a second time, it was a much easier read, and some of the sights in it--the massive crucifix in Mars, for examples--were amazing. As I neared the end I was reading it more manically. Quite the read, in all.
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Cathcon
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« Reply #805 on: August 13, 2013, 03:14:33 PM »

I was at a family friend's house. They're a senior couple who had a bunch of old books including some future dystopia books such as "A Canticle for Liebowitz" (think that's the title) and "Brave New World".
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Platypus
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« Reply #806 on: August 25, 2013, 02:05:17 AM »

I've read (well, read bits of) the Karen Armstrong book, I found it very informative but also very dull. But I find religion off-putting at the best of times.

I'm currently reading (very slowly) through this:



Most notable for it's incredible ability to ignore that everyone ignores international law.
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Nathan
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« Reply #807 on: August 25, 2013, 02:42:55 AM »
« Edited: August 28, 2013, 06:51:12 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

I've read The Red Pony. Pretty good. The second story was probably my favorite; I have a weakness for characters in situations like Gitano's for some reason.

Cathcon, A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of my favorite novels ever.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #808 on: August 25, 2013, 03:28:09 AM »

Almost through Infinite Jest
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #809 on: August 27, 2013, 11:02:03 AM »

What dost thou make of it?
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DC Al Fine
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« Reply #810 on: August 27, 2013, 11:52:56 AM »

I've read The Red Pony. Pretty good. The second story was probably my favorite; I have a weakness for characters in situations like Gitano's for some reason.

Catchon, A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of my favorite novels ever.

+1 sic transit mundi
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #811 on: August 27, 2013, 01:17:31 PM »

Well the part after I posted this was pretty wtf... as in, "wait, this is the end? So what ended up happening?"
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TheDeadFlagBlues
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« Reply #812 on: August 27, 2013, 06:40:58 PM »

Well the part after I posted this was pretty wtf... as in, "wait, this is the end? So what ended up happening?"

The first chapter of the book is the ending. Of course, this is difficult to remember after slogging through the whole thing.




Also, Robinson Crusoe for summer reading for a class dedicated to "modern man/the modern world". I am a liberal arts stereotype.
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DC Al Fine
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« Reply #813 on: August 27, 2013, 06:58:46 PM »

Currently reading "Age of Revolution & Reaction; 1789-1848" Good stuff.
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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #814 on: August 27, 2013, 10:50:46 PM »

This is a little late, but thanks to everyone who gave me advice and offered some literature for me to look into.  I suppose getting the complete picture of Jesus' life is rather futile, and all we have are opinions and speculations.  Pretty much anything about Jesus outside of the New Testament is biased in some fashion, and with that we question the integrity of the NT itself simply because we don't know which aspects of Jesus' life are factually true and which things were ascribed to His life afterwards.  However, I ended up purchasing the books for their scholarly opinions.  At the end of the day, of course, I suppose Jesus is meant to remain an object of faith.
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Lief 🗽
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« Reply #815 on: August 28, 2013, 12:04:37 AM »

1491 by Charles Mann

So good. Can't recommend it enough, even if you don't really care about pre-Columbian American history.
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Mopsus
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« Reply #816 on: August 28, 2013, 12:03:59 PM »

1491 by Charles Mann

So good. Can't recommend it enough, even if you don't really care about pre-Columbian American history.

Bought that book on a whim last year. I echo your endorsement; very eye-opening.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #817 on: August 28, 2013, 12:31:26 PM »

Well the part after I posted this was pretty wtf... as in, "wait, this is the end? So what ended up happening?"

The first chapter of the book is the ending. Of course, this is difficult to remember after slogging through the whole thing.
Not exactly. That's more than a year after, and all additional info I deduced from rereading it after was an unexplained absence of John Wayne at that year's Whataburger and an oblique reference to him "in a Donald Gately mask". Obviously... the crisis Hal's slithering into at the end of the book lead to Hal as we see him at the beginning, but there's rather a lot more loose ends lying around at the end.
Unless I'm missing something way, way obvious here. Smiley
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #818 on: August 28, 2013, 02:51:41 PM »

Regrettably, it's pretty clear that Orin doesn't die.
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afleitch
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« Reply #819 on: August 28, 2013, 03:00:23 PM »

1491 by Charles Mann

So good. Can't recommend it enough, even if you don't really care about pre-Columbian American history.

Bought that book on a whim last year. I echo your endorsement; very eye-opening.

I concur. Read 1493 next.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #820 on: August 28, 2013, 03:42:29 PM »

it's pretty clear that Orin doesn't die.
Yep, forgot that but it's also in the intro.

However he got out of that tumbler.
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Tetro Kornbluth
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« Reply #821 on: August 28, 2013, 05:12:02 PM »

1491 by Charles Mann

So good. Can't recommend it enough, even if you don't really care about pre-Columbian American history.

It's a bit too sensationalist at times... but hey, pop history.
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Miamiu1027
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« Reply #822 on: August 31, 2013, 05:04:45 PM »

Nabokov - Lolita; Whittaker Chambers' autobiography Witness; Trotsky - The Revolution Betrayed.
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Nathan
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« Reply #823 on: September 05, 2013, 03:23:19 PM »
« Edited: September 05, 2013, 05:09:07 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

Rereading Dubliners in its entirety for the first time in five or six years for a class. There's some...stuff going on in this book that I am honestly thankful I didn't notice when I was in high school and am glad is more obvious to me now.
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Just Passion Through
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« Reply #824 on: September 09, 2013, 01:40:07 PM »

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