What 📔book are you reading right now?

e.Blackstar · May 5, 2005

Kementari said:
also the new Artemis Fowl book ( i cant believe the new ones out im sooo excited!!)

Oh is good book!

I just finished re-re-re-re-re-re-rereading Prince Caspian and am now about 1/3 of the way into 2001: A Space Odyssey

e.Blackstar · May 8, 2005

Finished 2001. Now re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-rereading A Clash of Kings.

Barliman Butterbur · May 8, 2005

As of the beginning of May (2005), I started what I call "the major cycle" of Tolkien. I don't usually get into The Silmarillion except as a reference work. So what I do is start with the Book of Lost Tales, reading the sections dealing with Gandalf's meeting with Thorin as the "prequel" to The Hobbit. Then comes The Hobbit and then of course, LOTR. But I don't finish LOTR until I've gone through all the sections in the appendices which deal with the final endings of all the characters.

I haven't watched the DVDs in quite a while — burned out on them I guess — but I may get to them after I go through the major cycle.

Barley

chrysophalax · May 9, 2005

At present researching the Sil for the RPG "Stranger in a Strange Land".

Obi-Wan Kenobi · May 9, 2005

Re-reading Artemis Fowl-The Arctic Incident...

Varda35 · May 9, 2005

Started my own Tolkien cycle in february. Started with the Sil for te 3rd time then read the Unfinished Tales then I decided to re-read the Hobbit and the LOTR again...then I think I'll take a Tolkien Break for a while (don't want to get burned out ) Then I think it's on to the unfinished tales

Niirewen · May 9, 2005

Has anyone read the Guenevere novels by Rosalind Miles? I just started the first one. It's alright so far, but I'm not very far into it yet.

scotsboyuk · May 9, 2005

I always seem to be flitting between several books at once ...

At the moment I am in the process of reading LOTR, Churchill (Lord Jenkins' biography); Life with Jeeves; the Communist Manifesto and Popular Protest in Later Medieval Europe.

Barliman Butterbur · May 9, 2005

scotsboyuk said:
I always seem to be flitting between several books at once ...

At the moment I am in the process of reading LOTR, Churchill (Lord Jenkins' biography); Life with Jeeves; the Communist Manifesto and Popular Protest in Later Medieval Europe.

See if you can get a copy of Life at Happy Knoll by John Marquand. It's a devastatingly funny satire/exposé of what goes on in the golf club locker rooms of the American rich.

Barley

Inderjit S · May 10, 2005

Ah-the Communist Manifesto-or a political fallacy in action.

At the moment or over the last few weeks I have read, or have been reading:

"Capitalism and Freedom" Milton Friedman
"Wise Blood" Flannery O'Connor
"Paradise Lost" John Milton
"The Book of Disquiet" Fernando Pessoa
The Mahabharata
"Dracula" Bram Stoker
"Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" James Joyce
re-reading "Don Quixote" Miguel Cervantes
"The Road to Serfdom" Hayek
"The Mystery of Capital" Hernando de Soto
"Candide" Voltaire
"Satirical Sketches" Lucian
"Joseph Andrews" Henry Fielding
Some of Plato's writings.
"In Defence of Global Capitalism" Norberg

That about covers the last month or so though I have read a couple more.

Barliman Butterbur · May 10, 2005

Inderjit S said:
Ah-the Communist Manifesto-or a political fallacy in action.
At the moment or over the last few weeks I have read, or have been reading:
...The Mahabharata...That about covers the last month or so though I have read a couple more.

Good lord! The ENTIRE Mahabharata, the unabridged version??? That's thousands and thousands of pages!

BTW, have you ever seen the six-hour film version of it by Peter Brook? You must have it, it's available at the Parabola Video Library:

http://www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/home/gfloren/mahabfilm.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...ref=sr_1_1/002-8863139-4456849?v=glance&s=dvd

This reminds me of when I was seeing Saram Khalsa, my physician of years back. I invited his staff over to see it, and for three weekends running, my apartment was flooded with Sikhs and Yogis sitting around watching this fabulous film of The Mahabharata! It was a wonderful time!

Barley

Inderjit S · May 10, 2005

Good lord! The ENTIRE Mahabharata, the unabridged version??? That's thousands and thousands of pages!

Good god, no I am not insane! I have a prose version by a Indian author, R.K Narayan-I would like to read the Mahabharata proper, but given the huge size of it, I would have to be stuck on a desert island with nothing better to do. Seriously, the prose version is great and contains a lot of the main points, besides I prefer prose and the Mahabharta is huge and contains many superfluous details, like battle formations and the names of leaders, which I will problably forget in a few minutes (alas for my goldfish memory when it comes to things which I don't care to remember!)-I remember reading The Iliad and skipping the two or so pages which told us about all the princes involved in the coalition.

I am not sure if I have seen _that_ version, I have seen _a_ version of the Mahabharta, but that was years upon years ago, when I was like 8.

Just finished Wise Blood, which was average. It is pretty highly rated though, each to his own I guess.

What do you think of Don Quixote if you have read it? And Candide. Don Quixote is one of the greatest works of literature ever.

Barliman Butterbur · May 10, 2005

Inderjit S said:
Good god, no I am not insane!

Glad to hear it!

I am not sure if I have seen _that_ version, I have seen _a_ version of the Mahabharta, but that was years upon years ago, when I was like 8.

I just bought the DVD version of it as I was making the last post!

What do you think of Don Quixote if you have read it? And Candide. Don Quixote is one of the greatest works of literature ever.

I know of those works, but I've never read them. Don Quixote's sidekick Sancho Panza — did you know that panza is Spanish for big belly (like a beer belly)? And Dr. Pangloss: no matter how bad it gets, it's still the best of all possible worlds — how deluded can one get...

Barley

Alatar · May 10, 2005

I am reading the stand and bored of the rings(to lighten the mood a little)

Inderjit S · May 10, 2005

I know of those works, but I've never read them. Don Quixote's sidekick Sancho Panza — did you know that panza is Spanish for big belly (like a beer belly)? And Dr. Pangloss: no matter how bad it gets, it's still the best of all possible worlds — how deluded can one get...

I really couldn't recommend the both of them enough-especially Don Quixote, it is brilliant novel-reading is believing my friend. I kid you not when I say it rivals The Lord of the Rings as the greatest novel of all time.

And no I didn't know that-thanks for telling me.

As for Voltaire-his book is hilarious, and short, way shorter than Don Quixote, but still great. Voltaire was a brilliant philosopher.

What about the political books I listed-Capitalism and Freedom, The Road to Serfrom, The Mystery of Capital and In Defence of Global Capitalism. All great reads.

Ithrynluin · May 10, 2005

I wonder what makes you hand out all this praise to Don Quixote, Inder. I found it quite dull, and only mildly amusing at times, but then again you and I appreciate and look for different things in literature. However, I just wanted to provide Barley with a differing opinion on the book.

Inderjit S · May 10, 2005

I don't know. I just loved the characters and the m-Don Quixote was so different from the atypical hero, he was the antihero but he didn't know it-he was bumbling, silly and a plain idiot, yet he was lovable in his idiocy. And Sancho is great too. I think most of the great knights adventures made me laugh at least once. I loved it, but hey thats life I guess.

Barliman Butterbur · May 10, 2005

Inderjit S said:
What about the political books I listed-Capitalism and Freedom, The Road to Serfrom, The Mystery of Capital and In Defence of Global Capitalism. All great reads.

Alas, ever since I finished my last master's degree, I rarely read anything even remotely resembling textbooks — they give me a rash.

One of these days when I'm up to it, I'll supply a list of "Barley's All-Time Great Reads" — but not today!

Barley

Inderjit S · May 10, 2005

I wouldn't exactly call them textbooks, which are for the most part dry reading, more like political/philosophical criticism. Though Hayek's is an anti-Marxist polemic.

I really cannot recommend the Mystery of Capital enough-it is a refreshing look on why the Third World is so poor, and comes up with a good conclusion (property rights) backed up with decent facts-well worth the read. (It isn't really academic.) Norberg's book is good too, one to read with Stiglitz or someone who is overly anti-globalization. (Which Stiglitz isn't.)

The Mystery of Capital

In Defence of Global Capitalism

The Road to Serfdom

Don Quixote

Barliman Butterbur · May 10, 2005

Inderjit S said:
...I wouldn't exactly call them textbooks, which are for the most part dry reading, more like political/philosophical criticism. Though Hayek's is an anti-Marxist polemic...

My favorite Hayek is Salma...

Barley

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