Books - What are you reading?

^ same.

I'm getting through the epic that is Siddartha Mukherjee's " Emporer of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer."
It is beautifully and carefully written. Not as immediately joyful to read as Ramachandaran or Sacks or Gawande but this passage has really stuck for me.

There is, in retrospect something preformed in that magnification, a deeper resonance–as if cancer had struck the raw strings of anxiety already vibrating in the public psyche. When a disease insinuates itself so potently into the imagination of an era, it is often because it impinges on an anxiety latent within that imagination. AIDS loomed so large on the 1980s in part because this was a generation inherently haunted by its sexuality and freedom; SARS set off a panic about global spread and contagion at a time when globalism and social contagion were issues simmering nervously in the West. Every era casts illness in its own image. Society, like the ultimate psychosomatic patient, matches its medical afflictions to its psychological crises; when a disease touches such a visceral chord, it is often because that chord is already resonation, having been struck by history.
So it was with cancer. As the writer and philosopher Renata Salecl describes it, “a radical change happened to the perception of the object of horror” in the 1970s, a progression from the external to the internal. In the 1950s, in the throes of the Cold War, Americans were preoccupied with the fear of annihilation from the outside: from bombs and warheads, from poisoned water-reservoirs, communist armies, and invaders from outer space. The threat to society was perceived as external. Horror movies–the thermometers of anxiety in popular culture–featured alien invasions, parasitic occupations of the brain, and body snatching: It Came from Outer Space or the Man from Planet X.
But by the early 1970s, the locus of anxiety–the “object of horror”, as Salecl describes it–had dramatically shifted from the outside to the inside. The rot, the horror–the biological decay and its concomitant spiritual decay–was now relocated within the corpus of society and, by extension, within the body of man. American society was still threatened, but this time, the threat came from inside. The names of horror films now reflected the switch: The Exorcist, They Came from Within.”

It's a little glimpse into a great book. Worth the effort.

I've just chomped my way through the pulp that is the Star Wars: X-Wing books (well, 1-9 anyway).

It was nice to be able to reread a set of books in a matter of days, reminding me how much I love reading sci-fi pulp. I ought to find more of it (not more Star Wars stuff though, loads of that is dire),

Co-sign on I Am Legend. Ignore the terrible will smith vehicle film.
I'd recommend 'The Islanders' by Christopher Priest. Interesting sci-fi, written in the style of a travel guide.

Would recommend delving in to William Gibson if you've not already. Neuromancer is the obvious starting point, although i started with Virtual light and then worked my way through the rest of the trilogy it starts off.

I just re-read the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons, which are good space opera/hard sic fi sort of thing, with a Keats theme. Also, David Brin has written some fun stuff - quite liked Existence, one of his latest (possibly the latest?), which is also hard sic-fi.

After a reading dry spell I started making a dent into Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. 100+ pages in and really digging it so far.

Starting sandman slim. I'm determined to meet my goodreads challenge target of 50 books this year. Shame this is number 10.

I managed to read 40 or so in 2014 and got 2015 off to a good start. I read Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicle in May and that bloody book fucked with my head so much I barely read anything else all year.

For the best part of 6 months I've started several books and not managed to get past a couple of chapters. I recently read another Murakami (Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki) and finished it. Hurray - slump is over.

I'm now half way through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and starting on War & Peace. No way will I get anywhere near 40 books for the year though.

been reading something a little different this week.

I read "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath in 3 sittings last week. I couldn't put it down but needless to say it was bleak as fuck. Probably not a great book to read in the week leading up to the anniversary of my dad's suicide in retrospect. I found an English copy of Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett in the place I was staying in The Netherlands so I'm currently blasting through that to try and cancel out the misery.

Have you ever read any John Wyndham? The Kraken Wakes is a good place to start I'd say.

The Regional Office is under Attack. Seemed to get a fair few good reviews but I found it pretty poor. Overly long and tries to be clever and innovative but sacrifices the plot to do so.

Just finished Remainder by Tom McArthy. Very odd book. Loved it

I read Day Of The Triffids years ago and from what I remember, enjoyed it. The Kraken Wakes sounds pretty good! How's the writing style? Not too cheesy? I really can't remember his style at all.

I really rate John Wyndham from that era of sci fi writing. I wouldn't say cheesy at all. I'd also recommend The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle if Wyndham is working for you.

read these in april. think i've done all the Austers now. Neither, I'd say were the best. Non sci-fi banks was a rollicking read. For this month I've picked up a couple of George Pelacanos books from the charity shop (69p each! v pleased)

1 Attachment

I've only read Austers New York trilogy, but have a couple more in my 'to read' pile. Really enjoyed New York, but would you say he gets better than that?

@AlexD I'd say The Music of Chance, Leviathan, Mr. Vertigo, The Book of Illusions are all worth reading too

It's been a while but I used to read a lot of Wyndham - not cheesy at all. Quite pessimistic perhaps? Not the word I want to use but I'm having trouble articulating...

Does anyone have any recommendations for books about pre-Columbian American history, or more specifically the Inca empire?

I'm travelling to Peru/Cusco in a couple of months and would like to read up a bit on local history. I've come across Charles Mann's 1491 but heard mixed reviews.

Not after anything too deep or heavy, and availability as an audio book would be great but not vital.

Read these in May. Love a bit of Pelecanos. Skim read the Office Politics. Green River Rising was very entertaining in a airport thriller kind of way.

.

1 Attachment

children of time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

first sci-fi I've enjoyed in a long time

I've gone back to read 1984.

I really don't think I appreciated it enough the first time.

"Films, football, beer, and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.
All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary."

1 Attachment

I love those new edition covers! The text is slightly embossed isn't it? Or is it overprinted?

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Halfway through...well written, surprisingly good!