Anybody read anything good lately?

I've finished Rebel Code about the beginning of Linux, which was quite interesting. Not too technical and very much on the side of open source as a political movement almost.

I'm getting through Cold Mountain, but the endless list of old-timey adjectives is getting old quick. I have no interest in seeing the movie, I just heard the book was good. I think the writer has poured everything he's got into this one.

Just purchased Fortress Of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem. Loved Motherless Brooklyn, even though the noir detective stuff came off a little clumsily.

Palahniuk's Diary was great - his fantastical third acts are a little straining, but worth it for the payoff.

Anybody else?

Dylan wrote:Palahniuk's Diary was great - his fantastical third acts are a little straining, but worth it for the payoff.

Really? I haven't read it yet, but I heard it wasn't so good. I was a little disappointed with Lullaby.

The two greatest books I have ever read, Hunger and Mysteries, were both written by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun.
Absolutely amazing, and hard to believe they were written in the 1890s.

"Cosmic Serpent" Anthropologist's investigation into South American shaman's extensive knowledge of DNA and hundreds, possibly thousands of species of medicinal plants, all knowledge of being derived from the shaman's use of ayahuesca -the plant "telling " the shaman what plants to use for what purpose. The author's report that his severe back pain was finally relieved after years of conventional medicine and therapy by a shaman remedy and the fact that big pharmaceutical companies have been mining ayahuescaros' knowledge and ripping them off for years for bases for new drugs points to some validity. I tried to find some chatrooms for this book and found a bunch of fucking Grateful Chaos avatars and plannings of Nature Love gatherings.Right on Brother! the type of shit that keeps you away from Zeppelin until your'e like 22. Good book though can't remeber the author's name.

I'm reading a great biography of Einstein called
Einstein: A Life by Denis ??

It's really amazing. Right now, I'm at about 1929, he's 50yrs old, and the Nazi action in Berlin is really heating up.

Can't wait to hit the Einstein exibit at Field Museum when I'm done.

THX,
Jason D.

Christopher wrote:

Dylan wrote:Palahniuk's Diary was great - his fantastical third acts are a little straining, but worth it for the payoff.

Really? I haven't read it yet, but I heard it wasn't so good. I was a little disappointed with Lullaby.

You might not like it then. I am a big fan of his style, so it's all good with me (so far). The ending for Lullaby was a bit much.

Another book I've been recommending to people is Thomas Bernhard's The Limeworks. Hard to find, but worth it. He has this repetitive, accumulation style that's really fascinating.

Intern_8033 wrote:...reading is boring.

Then why are you on a message board? There's a lot of that reading stuff involved.

I've just finished "Fargo Rock City" by Chuck Klosterman. A pretty humourous attempt to legitimize hair metal. It gave me the urge to buy a new copy of Appetite For Destruction.

Also "....And You Will Know Our Velocity" by Dave Eggers. It was the first time that I've ever read a book and finished with the impression that the author was an asshole.

if you really enjoy that book, you might be interested in "Einstein/Picasso"...i read it this past year, its a very intense look at the similarities between the two concerning lifestyle, attitude, and the way science and the arts influenced their output...it was a little dry at times, but still a pretty good read.

i'm currently finishing A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn, which leaves me feeling that we're all fucked...getting ready to start Going After Cacciato by tim o'brien

andyk

DJ_Statikfire wrote:I'm reading a great biography of Einstein called
Einstein: A Life by Denis ??

It's really amazing. Right now, I'm at about 1929, he's 50yrs old, and the Nazi action in Berlin is really heating up.

Can't wait to hit the Einstein exibit at Field Museum when I'm done.

THX,
Jason D.

a friend of mine let me read a book called "the cheese monkeys" by Chip Kidd.

its a good short read, absolutely hilarious. it reminded me a lot of palahniuk in that in the last 1/3rd of the story, things just get a little hairy and fantastical (if thats even a word haha).

its only about 300 pages long, and it leaves you with this really weird feeling at the end, which i beleive was the authors intent all along, which i think is awsome.

also, im sure you've read it, but Breakfast of Champions by vonnegut is amazing, if you havent.

-wiggins

andteater wrote:i'm currently finishing A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn, which leaves me feeling that we're all fucked.

That was my textbook in sophmore history class during my brief two year stretch at the Math & Science Academy. Save Kafka's masterpiece The Metamorphosis (which I read he wrote in a single sitting ), it was the best book I read while I was there. Zinn's People's History is probably the most accurate account of the real motivation behind every significant decision made by our government to date.

"I never looked around, and never second guessed. Then I read some Howard Zinn; now I'm always depressed."
-Fat Mike Burkett