About a sixth of the way through The Cornel West Reader by Dr. Cornel West at the moment. It's quite the weighty tome, so it's taking me a while to work my way through it, but I'm thoroughly engaged with it and I find it highly educational and enlightening.
"Even in the face of death, the samurai stands unwavering, for honour is a blade sharper than steel".
Planning to alternate my reading of The Cornel West Reader with Melville's Moby-Dick at some point soon - can't have too much of the same good thing - so vary it with another good thing!
Edit: I think I've read enough of The Cornel West Reader now, a lot of it seems to be reiterations of West's particular message, but the sections on philosophy and art are worth further examination, I feel. A very intelligent man, doubtless.
@MightyDemon82 Really glad you enjoyed it; it's high on my list of favourite series and, yes, "voluminous" and "epic" are both suitable descriptors, I think.
Interested to hear your take on "The Troop". I've heard good things, but another book of Cutter's that I've read, "The Deep", didn't connect with me for some reason, so I'm a bit unsure of "The Troop".
I’m currently reading “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick. It’s been an excellent book, and very well paced. I didn’t realize it was the inspiration for Blade Runner, but it is. If you’re a fan of science fiction, I strongly recommend this book.
Trying to pick up my reading habit big time. For this month:
Finishing up What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula, a light, classic, and very readable summation of essential Buddhist teachings (the actual text itself is done, but the last quarter of this edition includes translated sermons, so I'm working on those. Just completed the Fire Sermon)
After that, I'll move on to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which I'm excited to finally read again.
If I manage to get through those in time, I think I'll try for a third and knock out Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (my only full experience with his work is Breakfast of Champions, a work I admire for how effortless the prose and humor felt).
@Kraven I think reading it as a Blade Runner fan can make it difficult to appreciate. The connections are obvious, but Dick's work is so wildly different from the film adaptation that I didn't end up getting much out of it. I'd like to revisit it one day with fewer expectations and see if I can appreciate it on its own merits.
@Ralizah I'd recommend the 1818 version of Shelley's Frankenstein .Think it's the original draft, I thoroughly enjoyed reading that in my 20s, hopefully you'll enjoy it just as much if you decide to pick it up and if you haven't gotten an alternative - and I'm sure still enjoyable version already.
"Even in the face of death, the samurai stands unwavering, for honour is a blade sharper than steel".
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN It's the version with chapters, so I'm pretty sure it's the revised edition. I do want to grab one of those versions someday that discuss the differences between the releases.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
I just finished “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and I found it quite fantastic, and made me contemplate life in different ways. I’m now either going to start “Pet Semetary” from Stephen King, or “King Rat” by James Clavell.
I just started Moby-Dick yesterday afternoon. Loving the prose style so far, and all the love of the sea that the protagonist/narrator seems to be so embroiled within. I can already see why it's hailed as a classic! .
I’m currently reading “Billy Summers” by Stephen King. I read about 100 pages in a single day, and it’s been great so far—a lot of build up and exposition. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds because it’s been compelling from the start.
Just finished Exodus: The Archimedes Engine (Goodreads page) and wow... just wow! What a fantastic universe Hamilton and the people at Archetype Entertainment have created here! I was initially worried about this book as I've previously struggled to keep up with Hamilton's large cast of characters and multiple interconnected storylines in the Night's Dawn trilogy and the reviews of this one seemed to indicate that it could pose the same challenge for me. I am, however, looking so much forward to the Exodus game that I had to give it a shot and I'm glad I did. Not only had I absolutely no trouble keeping up with the many characters, factions and storylines present in the book, but I found them all completely engrossing and incredibly compelling. Also, when finishing a book of this size, I am typically sated and ready for something new, but with this one I'm still craving more and not at all ready to move on to other things. Luckily there is an animated Exodus TV episode coming in December already (as part of the "Secret Level" series) and there will hopefully not be too long to wait for the game and the sequel to this novel (neither of which has a firm release date at the time of writing)
I think this may be one of my favourite space opera sci-fi novels, surpassing even The Expanse series, which I hold in very high esteem.
And with that, I'll resume my regularly scheduled programming and return to my favourite teenage sociopath, John Wayne Cleaver in Dan Wells' I Don't Want to Kill You (Goodreads page)
I tore through I Don't Want to Kill You (Goodreads page), the third novel in Dan Wells' "John Cleaver" series, in just a few days and it was, like the other two, quite excellent!
My favourite teenage sociopath is back fighting demons and the character keeps getting even more layered and interesting as he grows and learns more about himself. This case wasn't quite as gnarly as the previous one, but it had its share of thrills and spills nonetheless. Additionally, his adversaries avoids being one-note and exhibits individual quirks, personalities and motivations, so I'm very curious to see what's next for the young Mr. Cleaver.
Now it's time to check in with another favourite character of mine, Holly Gibney, in Stephen King's Holly (Goodreads page)
Been a while since I last posted. Don't read The Troop if you find animal cruelty upsetting. I had fun with this one even if non of the characters were particularly likeable.
Really enjoying Lovecraft Country, I should finish that tonight and then it's Interview with the Vampire up next!
@MightyDemon82 The sequel to "Lovecraft Country", "Destroyer of Worlds" is equally as good, in my opinion. I have discovered over the years that I love "Lovecraftian" stories, but cannot abide Lovecraft himself
I've decided to set aside some time on Sundays to read dead-tree editions of books and comics, but I've not been very good at sticking to it. Today I remembered, though, and read the first TPB of Boom! Studios reimagining of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I brought home from my Scotland vacation this summer. It does for Buffy what Marvel did with their "Ultimate" line of comics, and having read the first four issues, I'm not sure it works for me. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. The artwork is exquisite and they capture the likeness of the various actors who played the characters in the TV show incredibly well, sometimes eerily so.
Not sure if the story really does it for me though, but I have four more TPBs on my shelf, so I will give them a shot next Sunday (or whenever next I remember to set aside time for print media)
@FuriousMachine How do you manage to "tear through" books so rapidly? It's quite impressive. I usually tend to spend a longer time on mine, savouring them over a longer period of time, in case I miss anything. You're definitely a voracious reader imo. Which can only be a good thing.
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN hehehe, that last John Cleaver novel was indeed a fast read. I typically read on the bus to and from work, during my lunch break and often also during other meals, if I'm by myself. Sometimes, though, a book grabs me so hard that I can spend an entire evening or most of a slow Sunday reading. I'm not a particularly fast reader, though, so how much reading I get done comes down to how I manage my spare time (of which I have plenty). Also, I guess most of what I read could be considered "literary fast food", but I'm there mostly for good stories, not necessarily high prose (which will slow me down considerably)
I average around 13000 pages pr. year, spread out over an average of 30 books, which isn't too bad and with the sheer amount of books I desperately want to read, with this rate, I may get through at least half of them before shuffling off into the great beyond
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