Books....

[Steven]

So we've done movies, music, and games....but I would assume that some people here also enjoy good old-fashioned book-learnin'! To that end, I'd be curious to know what books people have read recently (for personal enjoyment, that is, unless you've really enjoyed a book you read for school then by all means, share it).

Myself, I have a terrible habit of starting books and never finishing them (I probably have ADD or something). I find that, unless it's really interesting to me, I'll just read about 1/4 of it and then never get back to it.

That said, I have recently (since the beginning of the year ) finished the following books:

-The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (bought it in February after re-reading the Nov. 2006 issue of Wired which had "The New Atheism" as the cover story - it's actually what got me interested in this whole thing)
-A Devil's Chaplain by Richard Dawkins
-Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
-The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

I'm halfway through The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs at the moment.

Wow, that's even worse than I thought...I really need to finish some of those other books. It's even worse now that I work at a bookstore, I'm constantly tempted to buy more books with my discount......Must....restrain....self......

Ones that have caught my eye recently are:
-The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
-The White Man's Burden by William Easterly

I'll get to them one day, Steve-willing

[brian]

The last book I read was How Nonviolence Protects the State by Peter Gelderloos

I am currently in the middle (well, closer to the start) of A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

I also have a whole stack that I am planning to read over the break

[january]

Hmm. You brainy boys, with your nonfiction and what not. I'm way more into stories and silliness. I really like contemporary surrealism. My favourite writers of the moment are Haruki Murakami, Don DeLillo, Ian McEwan (but Saturday sucked ducks...so did The Innocent...I don't get the big deal over Saturday though, especially...So I should modify that by saying I.M.'s Atonement (movie is good too, but the book will knock you out), Amsterdam, and Enduring Love (also a good movie) )...

I digress...Also, Kazuo Ishiguru, George Orwell, Rohinton Mistry (A Fine Balance and Family Matters are two of the most devastating books I've ever read...totally depressing, but so well written), Faulkner (The Sound and The Fury is the one of the best books ever...I could read it a million times), Alice Munro (someone called her "the writer of today most likely to be read in a hundred years"...I agree)...

That's what comes to mind right now. Other good books off the top of my head: "Ceremony" (Silko), "The Lovely Bones" (what's her name), "The Romantic" (man, I am totally blanking on names...this is probably useless without names too), "Cat's Eye", "Surfacing", and "The Handmaid's Tale" (Margaret Atwood...I've pretty much read every novel she's written, but her early stuff I tend to like better).

Oh yeah, and if you like depressing, "House of Sand and Fog" is both a horribly depressing book, and a horribly depressing film. Both are excellent though. Also, my apologies for pimping movies in the book thread. Can't help myself.

[Steven]

Hmm. You brainy boys, with your nonfiction and what not. I'm way more into stories and silliness. I really like contemporary surrealism. My favourite writers of the moment are Haruki Murakami, Don DeLillo, Ian McEwan (but Saturday sucked ducks...so did The Innocent...I don't get the big deal over Saturday though, especially...So I should modify that by saying I.M.'s Atonement (movie is good too, but the book will knock you out), Amsterdam, and Enduring Love (also a good movie) )...

I digress...Also, Kazuo Ishiguru, George Orwell, Rohinton Mistry (A Fine Balance and Family Matters are two of the most devastating books I've ever read...totally depressing, but so well written), Faulkner (The Sound and The Fury is the one of the best books ever...I could read it a million times), Alice Munro (someone called her "the writer of today most likely to be read in a hundred years"...I agree)...

That's what comes to mind right now. Other good books off the top of my head: "Ceremony" (Silko), "The Lovely Bones" (what's her name), "The Romantic" (man, I am totally blanking on names...this is probably useless without names too), "Cat's Eye", "Surfacing", and "The Handmaid's Tale" (Margaret Atwood...I've pretty much read every novel she's written, but her early stuff I tend to like better).

Oh yeah, and if you like depressing, "House of Sand and Fog" is both a horribly depressing book, and a horribly depressing film. Both are excellent though. Also, my apologies for pimping movies in the book thread. Can't help myself.

I've been meaning to read Atonement but haven't gotten around to it. Interestingly, there is an interview with Ian McEwan in Richard Dawkins' documentary Root Of All Evil? and he says some very profound things about living as an atheist (which is what made me interested in reading one of his books).

I've read The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and I thought it was brilliant. I'm also told that his newest book, Never Let Me Go is really good too. As for Orwell, I've only read Animal Farm but maybe I'll finally get to 1984 one day. I tried to read Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but couldn't get into it. And lately I've been thinking about reading The Handmaid's Tale.....So much to read, so little time!