What are you reading?

[melusine]

I'm reading A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes. It's the best account of the years leading up to the Revolution I have ever read. It was a present from my honors thesis advisor.

great book! for an even more focused, personal account, try Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra.

It's great but i couldn't finish it.. It's just too sad when you know how it's going to end.

Then again I'm Russian and these things may affect me more than the average person.

[shai]

I'm about to start On the Road too. My copy of Kerouac's first MS (The Original Scroll) should be arriving from Amazon about next week. Maybe we can compare reactions to it. I must admit, I haven't yet read On the Road--even the regular edited version. I've read The Town and the City (which I loved--his language/diction seem like transliteration of the universe's own). Also read many of his letters. Looking forward to reading his most famous work now though.

Interestingly, I recently read a play by Wole Soyinka called The Road.

I would recommend to all you Kerouac readers to check out The Dharma Bums. It's On the Road with a zinc of Zen.

[sew8d]

My friend lent me Pride & Prejudice & Zombies back in late summer... which I didn't touch until I turned in my last application because I spent the between months traveling, working on apps, working, more traveling, and more working on apps.

Breezed through that, and then found a free copy of Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons, which has turned out to be a little depressing given I've reached the part where the protagonist is experiencing academic failure albeit for reasons completely unrelated to my feelings about the application process. Wolfe's attempts at undergrad slang circa 2004 do keep it amusing though

Next I will probably be (re)reading theory so I don't freak out in case I happen to get an interview.

[melusine]

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll definitely check it out. I'm half-Russian, but I was raised in the US, so it does affect me, but not as much as, say, someone who grew up in Russia. Did you grow up there?

My family emigrated when I was 7(ish) never really settling anywhere since we kept moving ever 5 yrs or so. my mom still doesn't speak any language other than Russian (she works at home) and my dad's english is an endless source of amusement (sorry dad! lol).

so yes, i'd say i've kept a pretty close attachment to things back home. and if by chance, i were to forget about it, my flashy red double-eagled passport with its endless visa problems (srsly- any country except cuba and nrth korea i need a visa for!!) is sure to remind me.

[soxpuppet]

I'm in the middle of Cormac McCarthy's, "The Road" and am going to start "On the Road" by Kerouac and "Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami <- cool novel/movie about youth revolt of the Japanese government and what the Japanese government/adults do to regain power over the youth, kind of modern day Lord of the Flies.

The Road was definitely NOT my favorite McCarthy book - felt really self-indulgent somehow. My fav. is probably Blood Meridian.

[St. Jude]

I have successfully distracted myself the last week or so by reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels. These are the books that the True Blood series on HBO is based on. They are addictive and there are eight of them. Since they can be read in a day this really only takes up eight days. But eights days of worrying about vampires and shape shifters is way more fun than eight days of checking my email every ten minutes. I highly recommend reading them!

[jlee306]

I read a book titled Tell No One recently and I really enjoyed it. I have read so many books in this month that I have been out for vacation and I love it!!

[Venetia]

All this serious reading is making me feel a little sheepish- I have a massive heap of crit in my 'to be read pile', but lightweight stuff keeps jumping the queue! I just finished Terry Pratchett's new one, 'Unseen Academicals' (which I thought was very good; not his best, but still very readable), and next I'm reading Nick Hornby's new one, 'Juliet Naked'.

After that I'll return to Old French romance and romance criticism...y'all are so studious you're making me look bad !

Oh and St. Jude- I love the Sookie Stackhouse novels! I started reading them all a couple of years back, but I haven't read the new one yet. I must admit that Eric is my favourite character...

Edited January 13, 2010 by Venetia

[gildedProgressive]

As always, I'm reading several books at the same time. I probably won't get much chance to finish them, as I go back to teaching on Monday. At any rate, I am:

-rereading RP Warren's "All the King's Men,"

-reading Austen's "Northanger Abbey," (even though I don't particularly like Austen)

-reading Flynt's "Alabama in the Twentieth Century,"

-and reading McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" for a class I'm taking

-and another book, I just remembered, I have to read for a book review for the aforementioned class. Thinking about doing "The Marble Man."

I think part of this insanity is my way of dealing with anxiety. But between three jobs, one class I'm learning in, three classes I'm teaching, five books, preparing for one conference that I've already been accepted to, and preparing to submit to another conference, I think I'm set on not being anxious or bored.

Edited January 13, 2010 by gildedProgressive

[piccgeek]

Man, I cannot WAIT until the day when I can read what I want to. I'm currently reading a whole bunch of stuff for class...the Morte Darthur, Wise Blood, and Howard's End. It's all GOOD stuff, and I'm enjoying it, but when you're reading for class it's different. You can't just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I'm trying desperately to finish Name of the Wind before school really picks up and I have to abandon even the facade of personal reading.

[peppermint.beatnik]

I've been reading Raymond Chandler novels. Right now I'm on "The Big Sleep."

[a fragrant plant]

I am reading Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

[natofone]

I'm reading A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes. It's the best account of the years leading up to the Revolution I have ever read. It was a present from my honors thesis advisor.

I highly recommend Roots of Revolution: A History of the Populist and Socialist Movements in Nineteenth Century Russia by Franco Venturi.

[biofreak]

I am reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerauc- a superb read, "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie, and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller- another classic. Just don't have enough time to read.....

[tem11]

I am reading Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Me too .

[missesENG]

I have successfully distracted myself the last week or so by reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels. These are the books that the True Blood series on HBO is based on. They are addictive and there are eight of them. Since they can be read in a day this really only takes up eight days. But eights days of worrying about vampires and shape shifters is way more fun than eight days of checking my email every ten minutes. I highly recommend reading them!

Actually there are nine, not to mention a short story collection, so that should buy you a little more time I enjoyed the series for the most part but I finished so quickly it would not have worked to keep me distracted.

I just started Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison so I'm looking at about 400+ pages of emotionally heavy stuff.

[tskinner]

I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible for class, and starting the Harry Potter series over again for roughly the 37th time in my life. I am honestly obsessed, but I do have my first three books signed by J.K. Rowling! They are in tatters due to all the reading abuse, but since I don't plan on selling them, I hardly care.

[(A)musing anthropologist]

Boomsday- Christopher Buckley

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig

[poli90]

I am definitely "that guy" who is mainly reading to over-prepare for grad school. In any case, at the moment I am working on:

James Bohman - Democracy Across Boarders

Hegel - Elements of the Philosophy of Right

Sheldon Wolin- Politics and Vision

Just recently finished Emergency Politics by Bonnie Honig and Another Cosmopolitanism by Seyla Benhabib.

In the non-academic world, I've been slowly working on Underworld by Don DeLillo.

I've also been reading various essays and journal articles I find interesting. I think one of the advantages of my subfield (political theory) is that much of the leading work is genuinly interesting and not just overly dry empirical work. It often incorporates various narratives, cultural examples, and case studies in a very fun way. Or then again, that may just be my peculiar bias.

[punkybugsy]

Oliver Twist and Lies My Teacher Told Me

[LateAntique]

Now I'm reading Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind." I've been reading a lot of books lately (mostly by Classicists) that lament the failure of modern "education" (which is typically not education at all, but rather vocational training).

[Zamis]

For light reading I giggled my way through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, and then plowed my way through The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

Both pretty fun readings, though I must say The Historian began dragging when our heroes closed in on Dracula, and revealed him to be a silly fop with a librarian fettish.

I had a great time with both.

I'm reading World War Z right now. It's giving me crazy nightmares, but I LOVE it.

[grad_wannabe]

Now that all my apps are in and I'm dying from impatience/anxiety, I'm reviving this thread. I've pulled some great titles from here that went onto my reading list - keep em coming!

I just plowed through "The Cat Who Walked Through Walls" by Robert Heinlein. Not nearly as diverting or fun as his "Stranger in a Strange Land." Currently "Less Than Zero" from Bret Easton Ellis which is, unfortunately, pretty much what I expected. Looking forward to starting "Seven Days in the Art World" and "On the Origin of Stories" both of which are checked out from my library (argh).

[ecg1810]

Oliver Twist and Lies My Teacher Told Me

I'm reading Oliver as well. . . AND I own Lies. How funny!

In addition to Dickens, I'm reading Victorian Crime, Madness and Sensation, and re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (some easy, no-brainer reading to keep my nerves in check).

Next on my list: Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth. Should be excellent!

Edited January 27, 2010 by ecg1810

[swissmiss]

great book! for an even more focused, personal account, try Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra.

It's great but i couldn't finish it.. It's just too sad when you know how it's going to end.

Then again I'm Russian and these things may affect me more than the average person.

Figes is a terrific (try his cultural history of russia), but I have to second the comment on Nicholas and Alexandra. He is such a brilliant writer and this book is in my top 5 of all time. It's a must-read!