NOW READING

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Finally finished Paradise Lost by Milton. I say finally, because I started it like two months ago, but I got moved job sites so my reading time got cut dramatically. At any rate, done with it and it was awesome. Many people told me the scenes with Satan were incredible, exciting, engaging, etc. and the scenes in heaven and Eden fell flat. The scenes with Satan are indeed everything they said they would be and more, but I have to disagree with their assessment of the rest of the play. Just because there is no "action" per se doesn't mean they're "boring". The dialog is great and it is an amazing job of summarizing the bible passages. I loved the whole thing. I'm taking a break by reading two "easy" books before tackling the shorter Paradise Regained.
 
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf- Now thats my definition of not an easy read. If you do read it, take your time with it and be prepared to sacrifice some patience. It is worth it in the end because it is a very interesting piece of literature and character insight. I'll try my luck with Mrs. Dalloway now.
 
Tried that one already, it was a very hard read (I think I read it a year ago). I'll have to reread it sometime because in all honesty I was completely confused 80% of the time.

So, I finished Mrs. Dalloway and really enjoyed it, I thought it more accessible than To the Lighthouse and while the imagery perhaps isn't as beautiful, it was a more successful portrait of what goes on in the minds of people (I feel, or maybe it was just more understandable). I especially liked how the character of Septimus Warren Smith (or better said his ruined mind) was portrayed.

I forgot to add on here that I finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Quite sad but moving the whole thing, an interesting insight to the consequences of mental illness. Honestly the whole thing was tragic and I'm not sure it has a satisfying ending (probably because its realistic). But a good read, quite recommendable.
 
Natalie said:
I'll have to reread it sometime because in all honesty I was completely confused 80% of the time.
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Orlando is one of my favourites, for both the story and the language. I like a slow read from time to time, although I enjoy Agatha Christie as well :P

Woolf's book was also made into a visually stunning film, with a strong performance by Tilda Swinton as Orlando. (That bit belonging to another thread, sorry)
 
Hmm, sounds interesting, is the name of the film also Orlando? Because I'd like to see it.

Anyway, I did some light reading this week after Woolf (head needed it), I read three plays by Henrik Ibsen. Of the three (Ghosts, A Public Enemy, and When We Dead Wake) I liked When We Dead Wake perhaps best, although all three were enjoyable if a little depressing (A Public Enemy is supposed to be a comedy and I didn't see anything funny about it). All three but especially A Public Enemy are critiques on how society works and its hypocrisy. Very biting and very true. Ghosts is downright disturbing (all about incest and the sins of the fathers being visited on the sons), A Publis Enemy is a supposed comedy about doing the right thing and being condemned by society for doing it because society is too stupid, and When We Dead Wake is a symbolic play that focuses on the loss of something vital to an artist (this was I think Ibsens last play and can be taken to be a lament for his renunciation after he wrote Peer Gynt of verse).
 
I finally finished The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence. Not one of my favorite reads this summer or ever for that matter. I found it rather dull and pointless most of the time, and it being rather a thick book I thought a good third could have been left out without doing much to the book, perhaps even improving it. There was not much of a plot to speak of, which would be understandable if at least the characters would be interesting. Well, they're not. Most of the book is actually pathetic romance going through several generations, with the last generation being slightly more interesting. Actually, I'm not sure it was much of a novel, it seemed more like erotica posing as a novel. Sorry all Lawrence fans but this was not a success with me. I daresay Women in Love or Sons and Lovers is better but after The Rainbow I'm giving Lawrence a wide berth for a couple of years.

I also read a thriller by Robert Harris, Archangel. An alright thriller by all accounts, one of those books you read on the train or something. I didn't think the story all that believable, but it was an interesting look at the Soviet Union and what the cold war was like (me being too young to have experienced it first hand). If you need a travel book and you take an interest in communist Russia, then this is a good choice.
 
I just picked up Mars by Ben Bova.
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The book turned out to be pretty decent but don't go out of your way to get it.

The characters were interesting and the story did go a lot into how politics play a key role in what, and how things get done with space exploration. I liked how the mission was an international effort with the key contributions coming from the United States, Russia and Japan but with scientists coming from many other nations of the world. The book dealt more with intrigue than action but there were some, and tense, action scenes towards the end of the novel.

I was also impressed with the accuracy in describing details about the mission itself and geological features of Mars and its 2 moons. When I read the author bio, I was not surprised to see that he had been the editor for OMNI magazine.
 
Hey thanks Acacia!

I finished a feel good summer novel yesterday, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander Mc Call Smith. It's part of that famous series, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, set in Botswana. It's a light read, more suited for borrowing from the library than for buying. Good for trips, witty yet intelligent, with wonderful insights into a rustic African way of living and thinking. Quite a gem, and no need to start with book 1.
 
Just finished reading Fr. Andrew Greeley's "The Senator and the Priest" about two brothers, one a U.S senator and the other a Catholic priest. The main focus of the story is about how todays politics are full of dirty tricks, negative ad campaigns and are too focused on the candidates themselves rather than the issues that affect "the people." Interwoven in there is a thin sibling rivalry plot where the older priest is always an asshole to his younger brother the senator. The book could have benefited from at least 200 more pages to make the father Tony a more rounded character like his brother Tommy (though even he was too idealic, romanticized... perfect; pick one, he needed to be more human) instead of the one-dimensional asshole he was until the very last sentence of the book. The resolution between them was way too quick and "easy." Well, at least it was an easy read. On to The Three Musketeers!
 
So I know I said I'd read The Three Musketeers next, but I lied. I just finished reading The Ruins by Scott Smith. It is about a group of American students who are either on their way to grad school or actual work, but first they take a break in Cancun, Mexico. They befriend a German and three Greeks, but only the German speaks English. Soon it becomes clear that something is troubling the German and as it turns out he was there with his brother, but they got in a fight and he left with some girl to an archeological dig in nearby Coba. So off they go, The four Americans, the German and one of the Greeks. But nothing could prepare them for what they find at.... THE RUINS! *cough* sorry, had too.

Anyway, what ensues is a mix of Alien meets Lord of the Flies meets Alive. I was very disappointed at first because the book is called "The Ruins" yet...

the "ruins" instead of being a lost Mayan temple is a fucking mine! A mine, really? a mine is not a ruin, it's just a fucking mine! And what is the horrible monster that is killing everyone? A vine, that's right a fucking plant! oh that somehow can mimic sounds and smells and can think and plot and whatnot. What is the saving grace of the book then? How interesting it is to see everyones slow descent into fatigue, dehydration, starvation and madness. They all die in one way or another, the plant claiming them all. Of course the other two Greeks arrive too late, with more friends, a group of Brazilians who know not what awaits them, and of course will die just like the others and the many before them...

Conclusion, not what I expected, but still a very good read. reminded me of old school Stephen King, turning something rather ordinary and plain into something quite terrifying.  NOW on to The Three Musketeers :)
 
I wrote a short synopsis on that one as well Onhell. I liked it a lot. A quick but savagely satisfying read.
 
Deano said:
I am usually into more in depth books but picked up The Ruins by Scott Smith for free and gave it a chance. It is the author's second book and I already want to go out and get his other one. It is a very fast read; I read the whole thing in 2 days which is blistering for me (~ 350 pages).

It is a story of a group of tourists down for a vacation in Cancun. They befriend a fellow German tourist whose brother has gone missing with a female archeologist. The 2 do leave a map, so they decide to go out and look for them at the ruins site. Despite warnings by a cab driver and an entire Mayan village, they decide to go deeper into the jungle to complete their quest. They arrive at the site which is a hill covered in lush foliage with beautiful red flowers (and a suspicious lack of any other animal, vegetable or insect life). Once on the hill, the group is not allowed to leave; the aforementioned Mayans do not want them bringing anything back off of that site and hold them there with bows and arrows and rifles. The bulk of the book is about the group's struggle with the environment, lack of supplies, ineptitude and their mysterious companion on the hill.

Enough said. It's a great, quick and satisfying read that I highly recommend.
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I like your "short" synopsis better lol. oh and it is more like 500 pages and they due go quickly. I read half of it in two days and I'm a slow reader.
 
I just finished reading Watchmen by Alan Moore. I've never been much of a comic book reader, but this one just blew me away. It's so far the only comic book I've read that I'm willing to call a serious work of literature. The characters are all memorable and the philosophy is brilliant. The plot overall is excellent, though a bit light on action for a comic book about superheroes. I recommend this for anyone who's even remotely interested in comics or superheroes or anyone who just wants a quick, fun read with depth and substance.
 
Speaking of Alexandre Dumas (Onhell I also need to read The Three Musketeers), I finished the newly discovered The Last Cavalier by that author. It's an enormous 700+ page read, that really feels like it, at least for the first 400 pages before it really gets on its way. The first half of the book is dedicated to Napoleon and political intrigue of the first years of the 19th century. While Napoleon enthusiasts might find this riveting, I felt swamped by details and names that to be honest, I'm not interested in. Still, it's an alright read but it feels like it draws alot of inspiration from The Count of Monte Cristo (Rene and Dantes could be called parallel characters), and it feels very unfinished (which it is). If you enjoy Dumas' in general I think it will be interesting, but brace yourself for the mammoth task.
 
Yeah I'm taking my time with it too. Even though it is a very short read I'm coreading Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakaur, author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air among others.
 
I recently read Being There by Jerzy Kosinski, a short novel about a man named Chance who has lived his entire life in isolation in the house of a millionaire. He has worked as a gardener and spent all his spare time watching television. When the old millionaire dies, he is forced to venture into the outer world for the first time. There, he tries to do everything the way he has seen it on TV and answers every question with statements about gardens and the life of plants. People interpret his words as deep thoughts on American politics and the state of the world, and Chance becomes an overnight sensation in the political world.

In short, I loved this book. It creates a number of hilarious scenes by describing situations and conversations from Chance's point of view, following his attemps to understand life by comparing it to what he has seen on TV. It is a satire not only of media, but also of personality cults, love of simple, vague solutions and how people always hear what they want to hear. Due to his calm manners and unwillingness to talk about himself, all the characters he encounters construct their own image of him, mirroring themselves and making him out to be more than he is.

Now I'll just have to find the movie with Peter Sellers as Chance.
 
I just finished Under the Banner of Heaven: A story of violent faith by Jon Krakauer. It is the story of the Lafferty brothers, Dan and Ron, who murdered their youngest brother's wife, Brenda, and Child, Erica, because God told them too. It turns out the Lafferty clan was a good Mormon family at one point, but Dan bumped into some books at BYU university about the early days of the church and became a Fundamentalist Mormon and converted all of his brothers in the process. Things that caught his attention were Joseph's Smith's revelation of polygamy, also known as "celestial marriage." as an integral part of mormon faith (that and the racist teachings that dark skinned people are not even human).

As it turns out Smith wasn't able to keep his dingaling just between him and his wife so he had a "revelation" that it was his godly duty to take on more wives. Now... that's all fine and dandy except most of them were teenage girls.

We've had this discussion before, what goes on between two or more adults is their business, including plural partners. However, nearly all fundamentalists "marry" children! girls in their early or mid teens, and then rape them... That is fucking disgusting. And since the U.S is constantly on their ass they migrated to Bountiful, British Columbia and Chihuahua, Mexico to continue their polygamous ways there.

At any rate, the book interweaves Mormon history 101 with the story of the Laffertys in a way to understand why they did what they did. GREAT book.
 
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