what are you reading today?

[Lucas]

[NESK]

almost done hip: the history.

started the outsider by camus.

also started mediated by thomas de zengotita but i wont get into it until i finish hip.

ive been trying to jump between a culural studies book and a fictional book just so i get smarter as im entertained. but sometimes i get into a book and i cant find time for the other.

[sybaritical]

Just finished jPod.

I'm between books right now.

jPod sucked.

I'm a Coupland geek and his pattern of writing one awesome read every two or three

books has really started getting me down.

[feather]

I didn't think Jpod was bad, but kinda meh compared to my expectations.

[Doublethink]

or reread Island by Huxley.

It's that good huh? I wouldn't mind reading another book by Huxley.

[Comma H]

Just about to start reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I bought a cool design book called Graphic 10 yesterday. Shows exerpts of Notebooks and visual diaries of artists from around the world. Its awesome.

[feather]

Neverwhere was ... enjoyable. Let us how you feel about it.

[Comma H]

I will. I recently finished American Gods and I thought it was terrific. So I am keen to read more Gaiman.

[feather]

Yeah American Gods is in a class of its own, even for Gaiman. It's like Sandman condensed into a novel. Besides Neverwhere, I also recommend Stardust which I enjoy very much and am constantly giving away.

[almondcrush]

read south of the border, west of the sun last week

the only of murakami's in translation that i hadnt read yet

soul stirring and a quick read

highly recommended

started i am not myself these days yesterday, got a scrap of it left for my lunch break tomorrow

funny at times, maybe a bit too eager to exoticize manhattan

in short: a fairly heartwarming memoir of a retired drag queen

featuring a touching, typical love story filtered through the lenses of homosexuality and drug use

3/5 stars, probably

[tweeds]

ok well to follow up on my "what's so good about murakami?" post...i'm going to borrow something of his to read. any recommendations to start with?

a little poetry on the side these days, adrienne rich and such.

[feather]

I'll recommend Norwegian Wood for something that is more straight-up, palatable, and poignant. Wind-up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore shows off more of his trademark style.

Looks like Murakami has a new translation out titled after dark.

[ordo]

I'll recommend Norwegian Wood for something that is more straight-up, palatable, and poignant. Wind-up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore shows off more of his trademark style.

Agreed - I would start with Kafka on the Shore and if you like that then go on to Wind-up Bird. Those two books are really his masterpieces. They show off the qualities that have made him famous. Newsweek said "finishing Kafka on the Shore is like waking from a great dream. Nothing has changed but everything about the world looks diffferent."

[jsmilez]

I just read both Joanathan Safran Foer novels (Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Increadibly Close).

I'm currently reading Survivor - Chuck Palahnuik.

[youth_culture]

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski.. again.

[martinj]

I'll recommend Norwegian Wood for something that is more straight-up, palatable, and poignant. Wind-up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore shows off more of his trademark style.

Looks like Murakami has a new translation out titled after dark.

Agree as well. I have read 4-5 of his books, sadly one of them that I havent read is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle..... I bought After Dark, will have a read this week end. After that it should be The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

[youth_culture]

I've been meaning to get The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, or anything by Murakami, for a really long time. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it though.. what's the feel of the book?

[Fookums]

Bought: Catch-22, The Stranger, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being today.

Let's see how it tides me over during my plane ride(s) tomorrow.

18+ hours of boredom here I come.

[Salad]

Just finished Lemon, by Lawrence Krauser. Dude falls in love with a lemon. WTF!

[almondcrush]

I've been meaning to get The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, or anything by Murakami, for a really long time. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it though.. what's the feel of the book?

i would say most of his stuff is surreal

dreamlike in a way that you dont realize how fantastic it all is while you're in the midst of it

ive found myself engulfed until the detachment following the last page

at which point i tend to reflect on how that sneaky son of a bitch manages to present the incredible and bizarre so matter of factly

i also tend to empathize strongly with his protagonists

but im not sure if thats more a reflection of my personality or his writing or maybe some alchemy of the two

i first became a fan of his after picking up the elephant vanishes

bite-sized little morsels of dreams

not unlike those tiny bits of butterfinger you used to eat for a week after halloween

as good a diving board as any, imho

[almondcrush]

also re-reading a heartbreaking work of staggering genius today

i love eggers' ability to transcribe his inner monologue

(or to fake it beautifully, i dont really care which it is)

finished i am not myself these days

the love story contained is genuinely touching

but the backdrop of "underground" homosexuality and "the real nyc" is a bit hackneyed and self-important and touristy imho

[equip555]

Hells Angels- hunter s. thompson

love this guy.

[tweeds]

thanks feather and ordo...will get down to it.

[buffalocloud7]

...The Unbearable Lightness.

such a great read! enjoy. i just picked up the book of laughter and forgetting

[Larry!]

Just finished The Stanger and started Waiting for Godot. Continuing on an absurdist streak as you can see.

[brightbill]

Bowerman & The Men Of Oregon...

[dino might]

for psychology class.

anyone here read it?

[sean_]

almost finished the tommyknockers by stephen king in like, 2 days

and the new york times magazine from last week

[cosmicflop]

I've just finished the first novel in a trilogy by Patrick Hamilton called 20,000 Streets Under the Sky. The first novel, The Midnight Bell, is an atmospheric story about a pub waiter who, foolishly and ruinously, falls in love with a prostitute during 1930s London. A wonderfully embittered tale of unrequited love and treacherous betrayal. The next novel in the trilogy is called the Siege of Pleasure and is a continuation of the story.

[wEstSidE]

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GkrYxL0QtpcC&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PA1&dq=cyborg&ots=2GmZ-CNABe&sig=zxkB27TfZqWVir16KRwvS66OCu4#PPA4,M1