pregasauraus Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I'm reading Kierkegaard. Probably not the best choice, considering the anxiety themes, but it's what I'm in to right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
policy_applicant Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I'm reading "dorky stuff" (i.e., not published in the last 100 years) too, but I'll share my short-list of non-dorky fiction that I'm going to read soon--Netherland by Joseph O'Neill and The Attack by Yasmina Khadra. Netherland is really good. He's an excellent writer. I'm currently reading Don Quixote for a book club, Rising Up and Rising Down by William T. Vollman, and various working papers written by professors from the departments I'm applying to. Needless to say, I've flown through some fluffier material while in the middle of all of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willtherebestars Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Text books - lots of Latin American plays + an ethics book + a Guatemalan novel from the forties and a lot of research on genocide and its warning signs (thesis). For fun: re-reading HP six and seven in preparation for the movie that's coming out this summer. For fun / prep for potential interviews: books on Spanish history, history of Spanish literature, history of the Spanish language, and literary criticism. If I get time: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky, Don Quijote de La Manca, Gabriel Garcia Marquez stuff, and basic Philosophy stuff. Weew. Great thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy4ever Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I freaking HATED that movie. I've never been so angry at a movie before in my life, and I refuse to read the book. I just could not shake the feeling of sadness for a full 24 hours - I can't believe how much the movie affected me and I HATE it. Okay, sorry You are angry because it made you feel something? Isn't that the point? Doesn't that mean it was good? I dunno, you're probably joking. It's just that I used to live with a girl who always had to talk during films. What really got her going was when she saw people in any form of emotional or physical distress - 'Why is that necessary?' she'd cry, 'How can this film be good?' She's not as bad as the people who I'd have in seminars who would decide that they hated a book on the grounds that they wouldn't want to be friends with the main character. 'He was so creepy, urgh, it was a terrible book.' Erm, you were reading Lolita... I think that's the point. Right now I am reading Lord Jim by Conrad, which is fantastic. But it has taken me eight weeks to read just over two hundred pages! I used to read two or three novels a week, plus criticism. The worrying is getting to me - Conrad's prose is quite winding, if you lose track of something you have to start the whole epic paragraph all over again. I have also re-read all my Alan Moore comic books. They go down much more easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deipnosophistry Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 For funsies I'm reading A Natural History of Seeing, which discusses the evolution of the eye from photoreceptive pigments to the more complex invertebrate and vertebrate eyes. I'm getting a Master's in evolutionary biology and teaching human A&P, so it's about ten sorts of awesome to me. I'm also reading More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics, because economic theory has always intrigued me. That, and Steven E. Lansburg is frickin' hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohheygradschool Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I just inter-library loaned a couple of books by people at one of the schools I was accepted at. Other than that, I'm working through a whole bunch of books and articles for my thesis. I don't have time for pleasure reading at the moment... that's where tv and movies come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterpat Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 I'm also reading More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics, because economic theory has always intrigued me. That, and Steven E. Lansburg is frickin' hilarious. I considered reading that, but wasn't sure if it was going to be good. I thought it might just be someone trying to cash in on the popularity of Freakonomics. Good stuff so far, then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodyStudiesPhD Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 The Big Necessity - Rose Geroge (Mostly on the subway) A Sociological History of Excretory Experience: defecatory manners and toiletry technologies - David Ingils (Mostly at home) The Civilizing Process - Norbert Elias (On-going when I am motivated) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadhelyn Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 ... please don't tell me these reads are for leisure. I'm on Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert. I know that he's not as good as his father, but it's still Dune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miratrix Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I try to divide my leisure reading so it's half "serious" literature and nonfiction and half fun, lightweight literature and nonfiction...but I definitely end up reading more of the fun, lightweight stuff. But that's what's great about not being in school! I can DO that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedjj Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I'm reading Butlerian Jihad by F. Herbert;p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedjj Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 gadhelyn - hah I just noticed you're reading Dune too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlle Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 ...And all my classmates in my current grad program talk about me because I actually read scholarly and nonfiction shit on my spare time (granted, it's an applied program, so thinking more deeply than I need to has been pretty much superfluous :roll: ). However, I don't feel "quite" as ridiculous after going through this thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemo Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Daniel Everett's Don't Sleep There Are Snakes. It came out pretty recently and it's all about his experiences living with the Piraha tribe in Brazil. Highly recommended, esp if youre into anthropology, linguistics and/or philosophy of language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonights Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Daniel Everett's Don't Sleep There Are Snakes. Ah, thanks a lot. Linguistics is actually the only subfield I don't do, but this sounds so interesting that I'm going to pick it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slawkenbergius Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I'm reading Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and The Gaze of Orpheus by Maurice Blanchot. I'm a huge fan of the former and kind of lukewarm on the latter: Blanchot seems to have only one idea, which he repeats continuously in page after page of turgid prose. Yes, I'm a huge nerd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohheygradschool Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 A Sociological History of Excretory Experience: defecatory manners and toiletry technologies - David Ingils (Mostly at home) That might be good for my senior thesis about feminine hygiene... I just requested it on ILL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemo Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Ah, thanks a lot. Linguistics is actually the only subfield I don't do, but this sounds so interesting that I'm going to pick it up. Do! it's that rare gem - a book that's profound and also utterly readable. let me know what you think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orinincandenza Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Motherless Brooklyn, by Jonathan Lethem. Which is really good so far, and is resurrecting an old desire of mine: to be a detective. Maybe a plan B if I'm not accepted. Throughout the whole long process I've read Infinite Jest by Wallace and Mrs. Dalloway by Woolf, and I've been trying to stay up on my lit theory, to varying degrees of success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I'm thinking of reading The City of Ember trilogy. Really curious to see how good the books are after watching the horrible movie rendition. Any other "living in post-apocalyptic world" books you guys recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slawkenbergius Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Any other "living in post-apocalyptic world" books you guys recommend? Can't pass up the definitive book--A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller. It's amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinyboss Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 My wife turned me on to Borges--I'm reading a bunch of his short stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiselab Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Well, I WAS reading Daniel Bell... Now I'm reading my acceptance letter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragynally Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D. Playing the Game: The Streetsmart Guide to Graduate School I prefer more "academic" books to novels. Since I like movies and want to make them novels only read as slow movie to me...I'm odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterpat Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 [quote name="Louiselab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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