Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@LieutenantFatman "Almost 600 pages" lol you're like 260 ish pages off but good estimate

@TheFrenchiestFry
The book has sold over 10 million copies. Yes, there were less in the first edition but different editions will have different numbers of pages. Maybe try losing the condescending attitude, there's really no need for it.

@LieutenantFatman Wasn't being condescending at all. That was an overestimation.

I just finished Nadja by Andre Breton, I didn't think it was particularly surreal, overall, despite my previous statement, though it did have surrealist themes, ideas & motifs - Nadja's dreams, in particular, fall under that category. It's good, but not really a surrealist novel, and it isn't as good as The Lost Estate by Alan Fournier - a much better novel.

I am currently re-reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. Not as much fun once you know who the murderer(s) is/are but still a great book, and well worth revisiting. Has anyone else on here read it? @Ralizah ? @LieutenantFatman ? Or have you read any other Dostoesvky?

Nearly done with To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Paolini. Insanely good. Not a big fan of interstellar sci-fi, but this has definitely changed my mind. It is crazy because it came out three weeks ago and already has a movie deal.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic Replying here for tidiness. 😄 But to answer your question I’m not reading much at the moment. I’ve really been lax in my reading lately. I started a few books over the last year or two and never completed them. The most recent one was The Forever War, which was okay but obviously it didn’t grab my attention too much so I haven’t made it to the end. Honestly I tend to just surf the internet for bite-sized reading (usually on PushSquare 😄) when I have the time and then when I have more substantial free time I game or watch some TV. How is The Brothers Karamazov coming along?

@Th3solution I was enjoying The Brothers Karamazov the hieromonarchs and the Elder were just discoursing with the Karamazov family in the Elder's cell when I left them I have now moved on to A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain - as I have read 'The Brothers before, I also read the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer when I was younger. how is the bite-sized reading coming along? Have you read any of the Twain books?

@Draco_V_Ecliptic My reading has been fairly lacking recently. I’m having trouble finding the time. I use leisure time with video games, TV, movies, and PushSquare. I really should read more.
But yes, I have read some Twain. I definitely read Huckleberry Finn and I’m pretty sure I read excerpts of Tom Sawyer in school. I quite liked them although it’s been several years. There’s something captivating about Mark Twain’s no-nonsense approach to writing and his simple country-folk wisdom. His writing is definitely stuck in a bygone era and the cultural tone and language hasn’t aged well and is painful to read in the mindset of the 21st century. But allowing for the period it comes from, I can appreciate it for what it is. Are you enjoying A Tramp Abroad? It’s a lesser known book of his.

@Th3solution Mark Twain was indeed a product of the time he was living in ,it is true that his language might seem antiquated and out-of-touch with the modern era in which we live, but no, he wrote in a fabulous and charming, simple country-American language. I like A Tramp Abroad, it is, indeed ,a lesser known book by him - I believe I discovered it via the radio or on a website. Anyway, he is currently discussing the language of the birds, and blu-jays in particular, who are as eloquent as any learned gentleman, and can cuss and swear like a miner, when the mood takes them,

and the whole thing is just amusing and interesting to me, as so much of Twain's work is, he also just escaped a verbal scalding from some ravens, who, he believed, were, in their own language, questioning his right to be in their country, and the choice of his clothing! Great book, thus far.

Bringing down the tone from all this literary highbrow-ness, but I just bought the new Assassin's Creed Valhalla novel.

@TheIdleCritic Is it any good?

@Th3solution I just finished A Tramp Abroad by Twain, I thought it was an excellent read, lots of humorous passages and references to contemporary events and the politics of the time, spiced and peppered with ancient legends from Germany and Switzerland throughout, I'd highly recommend it. Are you reading anything just now? Do you think you will pick up the Twain book?

In terms of books that aren't manga or graphic novels, a family friend gifted me Sherlock Holmes: A Selection of his Greatest Cases, which compiles most of Sr. Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories centered around the titular detective and I'm loving it so far.

I'm also definitely pre-ordering that Iwata Asks biography centered around Satoru Iwata and his life which comes out in 3 months since he's a figure in the games industry I was always interested in learning more about

@Draco_V_Ecliptic I’ve not read anything lately. I will say that you have me interested in A Tramp Abroad though.

I am currently reading The Guyana Quartet by Wilson Harris. So far, it is brilliantly written and makes me proud of my own Guyanese heritage.

I just finished The Palace of the Peacock by Wilson Harris. Greatly enjoyed it, great metaphysical and metaphorical descriptions, truly "quantum writing" as the man himself would have put it.

I am currently (re)reading Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut because I think if you don't read at least a couple of his books every year, well. You just should, ok.

@Sorteddan I don't think I've read that one. I recently re-read Sirens of Titan and it's amazing how the book can be so absurd and surreal while simultaneously being so clever and insightful.

@Thrillho
Oh yeah, Sirens is KV doing his out there sci-fi craziness. Bluebeard is (overtly) much more mundane, made up memoirs of an aged WW2 veteran abstract expressionist painter. As ever with Vonnegut I think it's really more a satire about the things that people do and say and the way of the world.
To be honest I just pick one at random every few months though am thinking I haven't read timequake for too long - that is one I would recommend