What are you reading?

[wildernesse]

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. Just started yesterday, and am enjoying it.

[Petra]

I'm enjoying Scott Kelby's The Channels Book. Learnin' heaps! Thanks, Mr. Kelby.

[Watser?]

Simon Reynolds - Rip it up and start again, postpunk 1978-1984

I already have the sound track (played First Edition by PIL as the soundtrack to Chapter 1, which is about PIL).

Strangely the book's title is seemingly made a lie in the prologue when Reynolds states: "In hindsight it's punk rock that seems the historical aberration - a clear-the-decks return to basic rock 'n' roll that ultimately turned out to be a brief blip in an otherwise unbroken continuum of art-rock spanning the seventies from start to finish."

He has a point though, post-punk was a follow-up to Can, Neu, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Nico, John Cale, T-Rex, King Crimson, Captain Beefheart, clashing with dub and funk.

[Ymir's blood]

ahhhhhhhhhh



No lie. I just saw a recommendation for that book on another site not five minutes ago. Bookmarked it at Amazon.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.

[Watser?]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

ahhhhhhhhhh



No lie. I just saw a recommendation for that book on another site not five minutes ago. Bookmarked it at Amazon.

That's where I got it.

I just started, read two chapters. I'll let you know whether it's worth it.

It's a bit of a shame he only does the US and UK, there was plenty of stuff elsewhere in Europe. But it would have been too much he says.

[SharonDee]

I took The Time Traveler's Wife to the beach with me and finished it shortly after I returned. (It was really good; I can't wait to see what Hollywood does with it.)

Meanwhile, I'm so hard up for good reading material that I'm reading Stephen King's The Stand (the uncut version) for the umpteenth time. I must get to the library some day. Or I dunno, maybe read all the nonfiction books I have lying around the house?

[Ymir's blood]

Nothing at the moment. Finished rereading Zelazny's My Name Is Legion today and several Tanith Lee books over the last week or so. Still haven't finished JG Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition since the illustrations make me unwilling to take it to work.

[godfry n. glad]

I'm still chewing on Empires of the Word. Excellent piece for the language geek. Nerd fodder. With this book, I tell readers to make sure you read every footnote. They're not pointless citations, but snappy little asides, curiosities, and diversions. It's taken me time, mostly as it's travel and break material, but I've enjoyed every minute of it.

[viscousmemories]

I'm still reading A People's History of the Supreme Court. At one page a week I hope to be done before I die.

[wei yau]

I just spent my lunch hour re-reading the Secret Santa threads from last year.

Y'all are the bestest.

[livius drusus]

[Ymir's blood]

Oh, forgot to mention Joanna Russ' The Female Man. I read it in between Lee and Zelazny.

[Clutch Munny]

Read two whodunnits this weekend, both of them atypical and interesting. Pig Island is part detective story, part erotic horror story. In Scotland, go figure. The Mosaic Crimes is a translation of a 2000 novel by Giulio Leoni, in which the protagonist detective is Dante Alighieri during his time as a prior of Florence. Alighieri is bombastic, prone to rages, self-righteous, and something of a twit; but he's also quite a decent fellow in his own way, and genuinely moral in the crunch.

Both worth reading, IMO.

[Ymir's blood]

Really long day at work yesterday, over 13 hours. I reread both Doorways In the Sand by Zelazny and The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury. Today I started on the Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin.

[Zadalya]

The Martian Chronicles is so damn good, thanks for reminding me, Ymir.
I'm currently re-reading Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy, more specifically the final book/part, Sugar Street.

[Watser?]

The Left Hand of Darkness is a great book! I might be forced to reread it myself.

I have two massive books by Naguib Mahfouz still unread I think it's a series of two. I have them in Dutch, but one translates as Between Two Palaces and the other as Palace of Desire.
I have read one or two other books. The Thief and the Dogs anyway, can't remember the other one.

[viscousmemories]

I have a Naguib Mahfouz compilation on my bookshelf, but I've never read it. In fact I'm not sure where it came from. It has Midaq Alley, The Thief and The Dogs and Mirimar.

[TomJoe]

I'm currently reading the first manuscript I've ever been officially asked to peer-review.

[Plant Woman]

Has anyone read anything by Gary Kinder? I did a workshop by him about writing clear, concise and compelling sentences.

Several people asked about his non fiction book, Ship of Gold and many commented on how good it was.

From one web site it sounds intriguing:

In Ship of Gold, Kinder interweaves two dramatic stories. The first is the story of the S.S. Central America, a sidewheel steamer that shuttled passengers and cargo between New York and Panama, taking California-bound goldseekers on the outward journey and making the nine-day journey back to New York with those who had struck it rich in the goldfields, as well as those who had struck out. Between 1853, when it was launched, and 1857 Kinder discovered, the Central America "had carried one-third of all consigned gold to pass over the Panama Route." Not to mention the untold millions in gold dust, nuggets, coins, and bars that had "traveled aboard her in the trunks and pockets and carpetbags and money belts of her passengers."

On the fateful journey from Panama to New York in September 1857, the Central America carried its full complement of 500 passengers. Among them were newlyweds Ansel and Adeline "Addie" Easton (sister of one of the richest men in California); Judge Alonzo Monson, who was legendary for his gambling losses in the gold fields; and a disappointed young goldseeker named Oliver Manlove, who had recorded in his diary every mile of his journey west. The ship was captained by William Lewis Herndon, a legendary sailor and explorer who several years before had written a classic of 19th-century adventure, Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, about his experiences in South America.

Kinder estimates that he read hundreds of contemporary accounts, interviews, diaries, and reminiscences of Central America passengers to construct an almost moment by moment account of the ship's encounter with a hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas; the heroic efforts of passengers and crew to keep the ship afloat (for hours and hours and hours, male passengers formed a bailing line to keep the rising water away from the steam boilers); the desperate transfer of some of the women passengers in storm-tossed waters to ships that had come to assist the foundering Central America; the heartrending separation of the Eastons; the steely last moments of Captain Herndon, who went down with his ship; and the horrible days adrift of the few others who ultimately survived. It is a wrenching and thrilling account, and any writer would be proud of the power of its telling.

But, as fascinating as it is, the story of the sinking of the Central America is not Kinder's main story. Instead, it is the search for the wreck and the recovery of its treasure that make up the bulk of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. And in Kinder's hands, this story -- even with all its technological and legal details about deep sea recovery efforts -- is at least as riveting as his historical account of the sinking.

[Zadalya]

Yeah, Watser, Palace of Desire is the 2nd book in the trilogy, and it's much better than the third one, Sugar Street. The first one is Palace Walk, and it's the best one, IMO.
And Viscousmemories, if you ever get around to reading any of those Mahfouz stories, might I suggest Marimar? I found it the best book/story of his that I've read so far, but I am still sure that so much of his nuances get lost in translation.

[SharonDee]

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. I found it when I cleaned out the old car upon buying the new one.

(I have really got to get to the library.)

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

[curses]

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. The only Discworld book our library had.

[Watser?]

It is a pretty good one.