board77

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov - read all of Asimov's original SF. This book is a rare venture by Asimov in that it is based on a screenplay, so I had put it off.

Twentieth Century Russian Poetry - Ed. John Glad and Daniel Weissbort

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Manga) - Hayao Miyazaki
Barefoot Gen (Manga) - Keiji Nakazawa

A Martian Odyssey and other classics of science fiction - Stanley Weinbaum ed. Sam Moskowitz

Weinbaum was the "breakthrough" author for SF in the thirties that started the change from pulp fiction to a more sophisticated treatment of subjects. Tragically, Weinbaum died of throat cancer about a year after his first story was published, so it is hard to imagine what else the man might have written.

The lead story in the book, "A Martian Odyssey", was chosen as the second best SF short story ever (after Asimov's "Nightfall") by the Science Fiction Writers of America. My brother uses it as one of the stories in his SF as literature class that he teaches at university, and the students love it.

The Outlaw Bible of American Literature - Ed. Alan Kaufman, Neil Ortenberg and Barney Rosset

The Edge of the Unknown - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a lot of balderdash by the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle wrote great short stories, especially in the horror, mystery and adventure genres, apart from his work on Holmes, but he took a left turn into spiritualism (of the table-floating, séance-believing kind). I'm mostly reading this as a study in how far wrong someone can go.

Burning Down the House, Selected Poems from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe National Slam Champions - Roger Bonair-Agard, Stephen Colman, Guy Lecharles Gonzalez, Alix Olson and Lynne Procope

The Selected Poems of Shuntaro Tanikawa, Translated from the Japanese- Shuntaro Tanikawa, Trans. Harold Wright.

The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Volume IV: Romantic Poetry and Prose - Ed. Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Lord Byron, Keats, and others)

The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Volume II: The Literature of Renaissance England (Anthology of English Literature Series) - by John Hollander (Editor), Frank Kermode (Editor) - like the above this is an Oxford edition, and covers Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton and many others, overall the selections are more eclectic than those in the Romantic era.

I've made my way through most of them, though I still have a lot of Donne and Milton, particularly "Paradise Lost" to cover.

I've been working on these for over a year. The enjoyment and knowledge has been well worth the effort.

The Army of the Potomac Vol I - Bruce Caton

And a few others. With poetry I tend to browse--although, for a number of the works in the Oxford editions, there are a number of longer pieces, which may require extended concentration.

Recently finished The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War - David Halberstam

BrianIs AtYou

Can you really be said to be "currently" readin 12 different books?

Mosseh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIevvAN6ZXg

Laureanna, what is that Buddha Christ book about/like?

Lali, why does church make that guy mad?




*E*

That's a great question, *E*. One I'll work on answering tomorrow. My brain is mush at the moment from, ironically enough, too much church today.

yovargas wrote:

Can you really be said to be "currently" readin 12 different books?

Yes.

I switch around.

I read the Civil War book by Caton when I visit my Dad. That is how I read the Halberstam, which was about 800 pages. It took a few months, but over a number of visits where I stayed over, I would read it a chapter before bed.

I do the same with the manga when I go to see my brother.

The poetry books are mostly capable of being browsed a bit at a time, as with the Conan Doyle book, which is a collection of essays, and the Outlaw Bible, which is a collection of short stories, essays and rants, and the Weinbaum collection of short stories. You can pick and choose with these, and it is easy to juggle them.

I only started the Asimov the other day, but it is a short book, and I always find Asimov a smooth read.

I only have 1 story left in the Weinbaum, and the Tanikawa poetry book is just about through, as is the Nuyorican Slam poets. I've been looking back into some French Poetry in a dual language book as a diversion to take up the slack--this is one that I have previously read, just reading some stuff for comparison on the English Romantics (Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley etc) vs. the French (e.g. Lamartine, Hugo etc)

BrianIs AtYou

PS

I also recently finished "The Song of Roland" - I don't remember the exact edition. That was from the library.

*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R* wrote:

Laureanna, what is that Buddha Christ book about/like?

It is a series of essays that show some of the similarities between the teachings of Buddha and the teachings of Jesus, including compassion, mindfulness, and community.

Neato, thanks Laureanna!

Cheers to Lali as well. I wish I could say the same. I got up extra early to clean the church before people came in but my sleeping has been so fudged the last few days that I didn't get to the actual service. I think God got me back for that by making me sit on the biggest piece of gum known to man in the cab I took home - it totally ruined my pants there is gum everywhere.

Sorry for generally being off-topic in this thread. Pips, I will dredge up some care if you request it!

EDIT: wait a minutae, I can salvage this a tad for now. Pips, I know anime and manga doesn't represent all Japanese media but you might still have a better idea of this than anyone else: I read the novel Ring by Koji Suzuki (yeah, the one Ringu and the Naomi Watts flicks are based on) and was pretty grossed out by the men's attitude towards rape like it was funny, and then the dead girl turns out to have testicles. So I guess I'm wondering if that happens a lot or something. Maybe the whole cliche of asian women being docile has some base in reality but the sexual hang-ups made me go, hmmmm... What are your experiences with that in the stories you're familiar with? I'd love to read spooky stories, just with a little less rape and ballsacks, ya know?

Oh yeah, and Mossy, he's also in a bunch of Fringe episodes these days. I only saw one but it has Denethor and a chick who looks like Cate Blanchett in it. A J.J. Abrams series if that's your thing.




*E*

*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R* wrote:

I read the novel Ring by Koji Suzuki (yeah, the one Ringu and the Naomi Watts flicks are based on) and was pretty grossed out by the men's attitude towards rape like it was funny, and then the dead girl turns out to have testicles. So I guess I'm wondering if that happens a lot or something. Maybe the whole cliche of asian women being docile has some base in reality but the sexual hang-ups made me go...
*E*

Having a sister-in-law who is Japanese (from Osaka), and another sister-in-law from Pakistan (the Punjab via Karachi and Jersey City) I can assure you that not all Asian woman are docile.

However, I must admit that Hiromi wanted to get out of Japan for the reason that you name--the shitty attitude that men have toward women in Japan, among other reasons. She had refused to marry and had moved out of her parents' house when they tried to send her to a marriage agency. She was very happy when she met my brother, but it took a long time for her to reconcile with her parents.

Samina moved here when she was still fairly young, but her parents are still very conservative in their traditions. Her sister went back to Pakistan for an arranged marriage, and would fit the docile stereotype in some respects.

BrianIs AtYou

PS

I forgot, I also recently read Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobé

This was a gift from my nephews at Christmas, since they knew I had been reading manga and watching anime and Japanese cinema.

This was a book that was hugely influential on my sister-in-law, who read it while in University in Japan.

It was written around 1900 by a Japanese who had come to live in the West and become Christian, so he had a window on both an Eastern perspective and a Western perspective. He found some shortcomings in Bushido, many of which I think resonated with my sister-in-law and influenced her in her desire to come to the West (she converted to Catholicism when she married my brother. I can see the influence of the Christianized perspective of the book in that.)

Well, I assume that with over one-third of the earth's population being asian, there ought to be some variety in their viewpoints and traditions. But as someone who's never read a Japanese book before and only has a vague sense of what to go by via films and second-hand stereotypes, I knew enough to not wonder why the wife didn't push hubby out the window, but not enough to keep the gag reflexes down with the rape stuff.




*E*

I need to go on a book-hunt. I finished Men at Arms Friday. I have a manual and exercise book for Labview coming in...can I count those when they arrive? How about my Matlab manual?

Ideally, I've got at least two books I'm reading for shits and giggles going at once, usually more - I have 'em scattered about the apartment. Every now and then S gets annoyed and tosses them back in the bedroom and then we have another lengthy discussion about what are we going to do with all the books (so far nothing, but the day of reckoning is approaching). Thing is, what with this and that and the other thing, I haven't been able to read for pleasure as much as I'd like and now I'm between books! But the madness is passing and I can start chewing through books.

I'm definitely more of a movie and music person, but the books still pile up. If I don't care for it much, I've been tossing them in with the other stuff I'll eventually sell on ebay. Might not get any money for it but there's no point in making my room messier than the DVDs and CDs will make it.




*E*

Brian, I did not know there were mangas after (or before?) the stories of Hayao Miyazaki. I love his movies, my kids love mangas (they got in a fight at breakfast about who had the right to take the latest Naruto to school).

I also read several books:

"Tintentod" (Inkdeath) in German - the last part of the trilogy. But it's too huge to take it easily to school, so I read that at home. My main book right now.

So in the bus (in German too): Müde bin ich, Känguru which is a book about Patchworkfamilies like mine, but fiction. It's funny, but bitter in the mean time.

I also read for my kids, in French, one book for my older son because he has to do a presentation at school and wants me to help him and one for my younger because he got hooked and I love it when my kids read and as he ws so enthousiastic, I try to share this. The book of Benjamin is called "Ulysses Moore I: The Keys of time" and it's a good read for kids. Samuel reads a detective story from a Hitchcock series. I also bought them a book this week-end, for the fun and some discussion: "The catalogue of parents for children who wish to exchange theirs". It's in French...

I also read for school, the books I read with my classes: Caroline Link: Beyond silence, Friedrich Dürrenmatt: The promise and Bernhard Schlink: The Reader. All three in German.
The promise is the base for the Movie "The Pledge" by Sean Penn a few years ago. The Reader will be in cinemas soon and the German book is the original.

When I am sick of fiction and want some brainfood, I read essays by Sunsan Sontag: "Against Interpretation".

I love to read.

I'm ashamed to say, I'm not reading anything at the moment.

I really tend to have a pattern to that sort of thing. If I'm in an online mood, I won't be watching TV or reading books. If I'm in a TV watching mood, I won't be online or reading, and if I'm in a reading mood, I won't be watching TV, online, sleeping, eating, smoking, moving.... might not even be breathing

I've just ordered, however, about 15 books from amazon, most of which are part of different series that I have. In order to make each book last longer, I reread the entire series before reading the new book. With 15 books coming in, that means I'll have about 30-40 books to read, so I'll be good for about three or four weeks. When I'm in a reading mood, I tend to read at least a book or two a day.

All that said, I'm not reading anything right now..... well, I've been reading some stories on the Literotica website, but I don't think that counts

I'm so envious of folks who can read that fast. I've gotten better but am still lucky to finish 150 pages in a day if I only take snack and bathroom breaks.




*E*

Quote:

What are you reading?

All of you who didn't reply, "This thread" has fallen into Pip's nefarious trap. She's a sly one, I'll give you that.

*E* - my brother failed the first grade because he was bad at reading. In an attempt to make sure that didn't happen to me, my parents put me in tutoring from the age of 6 till I was 10 years old, and part of that tutoring included learning to speed read. I don't read as fast as I do because of some inherent ability. It was something I was taught. and because I love to read, I've kept in practice over the years. If a book is easy and exceptionally entertaining, I can read about two pages a minute. I did something like that with The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop, which I read in a day (1200 pages). Usually, it's just for amusement, and I don't read that quickly. Some books also take a lot longer than others. Guy Gavriel Kay, for instance, takes ages for me to read. It took me almost a week to read only two of his books - The Sarantine Mosaic - as his writing is so complex and detailed. Often, I need to reread pages in his books and am constantly flipping back and forth as there are many references to something that happened earlier. It's the same with Neil Gaiman books or Sergei Lukyanenko or Charles de Lint. Generally, the more meaty the author, the longer it takes me to read. The authors just mentioned are like a steak - it takes longer to chew, and though it's really good, it's a bit of an effort. Authors like Anne Bishop or Mercedes Lackey are more like a mousse - just as delightful as the steak, but more light and airy. They're a bit easier to get down quickly, no chewing involved.

I like to tell myself that I'm reading slowly with the more meaty authors because I'm savoring their words more, but honestly, they're just more difficult to read. If I read them quickly, I'd miss more than half the story and would only be doing so to say that I could, rather than actually enjoying the process of reading. It takes me about 6 times as long to get through an anthropology text as it does to get through some trashy vampire/werewolf thing To be honest, I read those books because they're like TV - instant gratification in only a few hundred pages. Or, an entire TV series in a few hours

Honestly, perhaps one of the reasons that reading isn't all that popular is because it doesn't have the immediate reward of TV or movies, and because it's viewed as being work. If kids were given an extra hour or two of lessons in reading a week as a matter of course, it might be much more popular. Reading, essentially, wouldn't be a huge effort and there would be almost the same sort of instant gratification as with TV.

This whole thing about people reading faster, though is, IMO, BS. The speed of your reading depends completely on what you're reading, how much of an effort your teachers and parents made to make sure you are comfortable reading, and, frankly, how much you enjoy not only what you're reading, but also reading in general.

Tosh, sorry not to get back to you quicker. The thing is, I do have a tablet, and I loved it very much, but it's been giving me hell for the lsat few months, and is pretty much the whole of the reason that I've practically forgotten how to draw. On the other hand, it could just be that now I've formatted my computer it will work beautifully, so I think I can get back to you on that pretty soon. The brand name is Trust, a relative unknown - but it's easily distinguished by the fact that the drawing space is tiny (not a problem as such) and that it costs half as much as any other tablet listed on Amazon.
I'd recommend getting a tablet, but they're not easy if you're not familiar with the software. I use PS7 and Flash, and I've only really found the tablet useful in Flash. It lets me create lineart and such quickly and sharply.
A picture of mine using a tablet
The guy whose standard I'd like to aim for using the same technique

Estel, I don't know that I'd agree with you that reading speed is 100% learned. I knew a pair of twins, both of whom liked to read for pleasure, but one couldn't read fast enough to keep up with subtitles and one was fine. I feel like I had more of a point to make earlier, but then I went and had a shower, and I'm just thinking "mmmmmm muffins" right now more or less.

*E*, I think Brian already had a far better and more informed crack at answering your question than I ever could (I don't even watch much horror anime) but you might be interested to know that futanari are pretty popular in Japanese porn.
Don't google it. You can guess.

Brian, and Nin, somewhat... did Miyazaki write Nausicaa before the film was made? I wonder if it was written between his Lupin things and the founding of Studio Ghibli? Also, Brian, you win for most impressive current reading list, but Nin wins for most linguistically talented kids.

Sick of reading textbooks. I'm going to eat muffins and then tend to my virtual farm.

-Pips-

Estel-

I know what you mean--sometimes I'm bookish and sometimes not.

Right now I'm back to revising the novel before the one I did at the end of last year, which is enough to put one off books forever.

BTW--Laura found the shoes.

Though I haven't got time for reading at the moment, I have started "Your Writing Coach" (Jurgen Wolff) I the hopes of getting back into the mood for some creative writing soon. It's the best book about writing I have come across so far and always makes me want to write, which is a good thing.

There are so many unfisished or unread books on my shelf, but I am not very interested in them, unfortunately. I recently finished the good ones, but I don't want to buy anything new at the moment since I'll be moving house soon and am not keen on dragging along more stuff than necessary.

Pippin4242 wrote:

Estel, I don't know that I'd agree with you that reading speed is 100% learned. I knew a pair of twins, both of whom liked to read for pleasure, but one couldn't read fast enough to keep up with subtitles and one was fine. I feel like I had more of a point to make earlier, but then I went and had a shower, and I'm just thinking "mmmmmm muffins" right now more or less.

I didn't say it was I said it was a combination of learning, enjoyment and what you are reading, among other factors.

My point about learning was that if more emphasis was placed on it at a younger age, then that would be one factor that a person needn't worry about.


and muffins do sound really good, now that you mention it



Ax - I only actually got the message about the shoes on facebook today I was sorta avoiding facebook whilst on the Jury for Hal. I was actually not in an online mood the past couple of weeks, and having to come online anyway... I limited myself to b77 - no emails, no facebook, nothin. I'll send Laura a message later, but let her know that I'm glad she found them - they're shoes that are too brilliant to lose