NVR - What are you reading right now? (Fiction or non-fiction)
Posted by Beans and Greens on May 12, 2007 · Member since Apr 2007 · 169 posts
I'm reading 'Raising Vegan Children in a Non-vegan World' by Erin Pavlina.
I'm curious what everyone else has their nose in at the moment! :)
A friend gave me 'hey nostradamus' I haven't started it yet. Have you read it?
JPod by Douglas Coupland. It's fiction. I think that everyone should read a coupland book, they're delightfully quirky and they make you think. If you get one, I don't reccommend Generation X as it's Way out there, Probably Miss Wyoming would be a good place to start, or Microserfs.
Yeah, I have, 's got a stick man on the front, right?
Yes, that's the one. Did you like it?
A friend gave me 'hey nostradamus' I haven't started it yet. Have you read it?
JPod by Douglas Coupland. It's fiction. I think that everyone should read a coupland book, they're delightfully quirky and they make you think. If you get one, I don't reccommend Generation X as it's Way out there, Probably Miss Wyoming would be a good place to start, or Microserfs.
Yeah, I have, 's got a stick man on the front, right?
Yes, that's the one. Did you like it?
I like them all, Coupland's not like a James Patterson or a Carl Hiaasen, whose books fall into a predictable pattern with similar characters. Coupland's books are all unique and different so they never get boring. You may find them a little strange, but to answer your question, I found that I love all his books.
JPod by Douglas Coupland. It's fiction. I think that everyone should read a coupland book, they're delightfully quirky and they make you think. If you get one, I don't reccommend Generation X as it's Way out there, Probably Miss Wyoming would be a good place to start, or Microserfs.
I like them all, Coupland's not like a James Patterson or a Carl Hiaasen, whose books fall into a predictable pattern with similar characters. Coupland's books are all unique and different so they never get boring. You may find them a little strange, but to answer your question, I found that I love all his books.
I read Microserfs when it first came out, like in 1995, yeah? I knew some of the people that the book's characters were based on--I worked with them. I'm going to be honest with you, I thought the book was highly self-indulgent, corny, and pretentious (Coupland struck me as someone who likes to believe that he is deeply involved in some special, esoteric, high-tech subculture--when he's just another dude using buzzwords and a knows a little bit of programming language due to his Silicone Valley friends' consultation and editing). I haven't read his other books--maybe they're better than Microserfs...
Edit: I meant Silicon, not Silicone...ha! ha! Silicone might actually be more appropriate though.
I'm reading 1984 by Orwell cause I missed it last year when my english class read it while I was in Spain and I've heard it's a book that everyone should read before graduating :)
I'm also reading Animal Dreams by Kingsolver for my english class and I absolutely love it. Kingsolver's writing is absolutely beautiful.
If you like Animal Dreams, you NEED to read the Poisonwood Bible (also Kingsolver). Everyone needs to read the Poisonwood Bible. It is my absolute number one favorite book in the history of the universe. I must have read it 25 times already and every single time I get something new out of it.
Currently reading: The Brothers K by David James Duncan, The Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol, Davita's Harp by Chaim Potok, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.
Want to read: oh, about every other book on this whole thread....good thing it's summer!
I have a confession to make. I really, really, really want to like reading fiction. Really. But I don't. Well, I get hooked on an author and read a lot of their work and then give it up - sometimes for a year. The next fiction book I plan on reading is Harry Potter, as sad as that is. Well, not sad because it's the final book and we get to find out how it ends, but theoretically sad.
I like non-fiction books mostly on the following topics: natural history, anthropology, hiking guides, survival skills, '70s crafts books, gardening, any religion, spirituality, and old college science texts. I also like journal articles about topics in my line of work - all tech-y and science-y.
On the other hand, I am passionate about fiction books on tape for my commute and when I'm working outside. I download them on my Zen and it helps pass the time when I'm weeding. I'd just rather spend any extra time being artistic than reading fiction.
There are a ba-jillion people here who have tons of books they're currently reading. I don't know if there are any posters who are kind of over where I am when it comes to books.
Yup, me to on the non-fiction thing. I like a few novelists, but I would estimate that 80% of the reading I do is non-fiction.
BTW: Just started Food for All: The need for a new agriculture by John Madeley. It's about redesigning agriculture so that there is less world hunger. Don't know yet how good it is.
i'm with you on the fiction thing too, i never read it!
Well, I'm nearly finished with Mugglenet.com's What will Happen in Harry Potter 7...It's quite good, and it really is making me consider possibilities I didn't think of...the onlly problem is, now I'm not entirely sure what I believe! Any Harry Potter fan, I reccomend it, though. I'm going to be starting a Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich later today hopefully, and after that, A Tale of Two Cities. I am taking an A.P. Brit Lit course next fall, so the last two are part of my summer assignment, but I picked them because I want to read them.
I'm going to be starting a Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich later today hopefully
That is a great book! It's short, and therefore a fairly easy read, but it is profound and very moving - it's one of the rare books that I read as a teen and can still remember bits of!
Fiction's okay when I don't want to work too hard at thinking, but you're right, nonfiction stretches your brain more. I am a great fan of "I was there" books...Pepys' Diary (or anyone else's), letters from a period of time, etc. (With email and internet, you realise that great chunks of our history will pass with the microchips? Blogs aren't going to cut it.) I guess I'm nosey but you get a real flavour of the times. "The reader would not believe that such things could be," says Isaak Walton somewhere, "but I was there and I saw it."
Having said that, right now I am deep in Mideval Lit and some Anglo Saxon. Just finished Marie de France's Lanval, and Virginia and Appius by Gower (which I was typing into modern Eng spelling for my students) and now I am going to wade into Malory's Morte D'Arthur--specifically The Poisoned Apple, The Fair Maid of Astolat, The Great Tournament, and The Knight of the Cart. Good times.
"What ho, varlet, bring me a brimming firkin of thy nutbrown ale, to ease my dryness withal!" If I start posting in that sort of language, Malory did it. ::)
Non-fiction: The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene :D
Gone with the wind the second time. The most amazing book ever.
Agreed! ;) I just finished watching the DVD last night (again). But the book completely rocks, I read it last summer and I wanted to savor it, so I took like a month to read it, it was so good. Can't wait for the book coming out soon - Rhett Butler's People or something like that.
right now i am reading 'guns, germs, and steel' by jared diamond (non-fiction) and was planning on reading the brothers karamazov after that. one of my all time favorites is ishmael by daniel quinn which i recommend to everyone (it is technically fiction but not really fictional topics.. ), it's a pretty quick read and definitely gives you a lot to think about.
Vietnam military history. Marine corps stuff.
Just finished reading "The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life- volume I" by Drunvalo Melchizedek. Let me just say... "wow." I'm reserving judgement until I read the second, but I am quite intrigued. Anyone else here read it?
Also reading "The Magdalene Legacy" by Laurence Gardner. Davedrum, you may enjoy reading this one. Fascinating info.
Currently re-reading the 1994 book "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. fascinating stuff about the Marburg and Ebola Zaire viruses. Scary. Hemorrhagic fevers do not sound like fun.
Just finished Al Gore's new book "The Assault on Reason". Very interesting. He's a smart guy. Worth reading if you haven't already.
Walden
I'm reading The Happiness Myth by Jennifer Hecht
I'm reading The Happiness Myth by Jennifer Hecht
I clicked on the link and read the blurb. It looks like a really good book--I put it in my library book queue to read one day soon. Thanks for sharing this!
Um Im reading the alchemist for school but, im not sure i like it even thought its supposed to be like a really great book.
Does any one know of any inexpensive vegetarian cookbooks with a basic variety of recipes vegweb is great but a book is always good
I guess that doesn't fit in this category but oh well
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