Books - What are you reading?

I'm sure it'll come as no surprise when I tell you that I'm working my way through the Penguin Modern Classics (with pretty covers).

read that a while ago. a stunning book, i really enjoyed it (it was that long ago that i cannot remember the storyline just that i thought it was the best book i had ever read at the time (until the next blockbuster)

Just finished "For Your Freedom and Ours" its about the Kosciuszko Squadron who where based at RAF Northholt during WWII bit poignant as there was some family ties there.

I'm sure it'll come as no surprise when I tell you that I'm working my way through the Penguin Modern Classics (with pretty covers).

maybe i should check the list out, there's probably loads of them i haven't read.
the 'classics' are the reason i give when people ask my why i haven't read any harry potter books. until i have read every other book out there why would i read those?

Just finished "For Your Freedom and Ours" its about the Kosciuszko Squadron who where based at RAF Northholt during WWII bit poignant as there was some family ties there.

Mal laughs when I tell her our biggest mountain in Australia is pronounced Mount "Kozzy Oss Ko".

Strzelecki Range was clearly named after some Polish dude, which I never really clocked before knowing some Poles.

hah Famous Polish explorer I suppose you are getting your own back now in Ealing wink wink......

Stay away from One Hundred Years of Solitude if the above is really an issue. :P

Absolutely loved that book, must read again - also Love in the Time of Cholera. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is to Louis de Bernières, what Terry Pratchet is to Harry Potter ...

Just started reading Catch 22. Haven't quite finished my previous read - Brave New World, for some reason I've hit a block a couple of chapters from the end.

Must find more time to read.

Anyone know where I can download free books to read?

Anyone know where I can download free books to read?

no, pay for content or your starving those who produce it.

Just started The Road, then have The Coma, Lunar Park, The Music of Chance, Island and A Modern Utopia.

I'm rereading a lot of Arthur Miller right now, I just finished Death Of A Salesman again. amazing play.

I'm researching "honor and the downfall of man" Like when the salesman decides that it is more honorable for him to die then to not be able to provide for his family. That moment is something that fascinates me and I want to understand it. Any leads to similar books/ plays dealing with that would be welcomed.

A quick glance at the bedside table renders:

Tao enligt Puh by Benjamin Hoff. Can't get past the first chapter.
*
Tao Te Ching *by Lao Tzu translated by DC Lau. Keep on returning (sic) to the first chapter.
*Tao Te Ching *by Lao Tzu translated by Le Guin. As above.
*
Concise English-Chinese-English Dictionary* by Oxford University Press. For the two above.

The Book of the Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. Written in 1643 by an 'undefeated ducler, masterless samurai and independent teacher'. On psychology and physics of lethal assault and decisive victory as the essence of warfare. Great temptation of applying the teachings in the commuter race:[INDENT]Water Scroll. Stabbing the face: When you are even with the opponent it is essential to keep thinking of stabbing him in the face. When you have the intention of stabbing your opponent in the face, he will try to get both his face and his body out of the way. When you can get your opponent to shrink away there are various advantages of which you can avail yourself to win. You should work this out thoroughly. In the midst of battle, as soon as an opponent tries to get out of the way, you have already won. Therefore it is imperative not to forget about the tactic of "stabbing the face".
[/INDENT]Finnish - Swedish - Finnish Dictionary by WSOY. For Tao enligt Puh.

No Water No Moon by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The poor nun has broken the pail, water has run out, reflection of the moon in water disappeared and she is holding emptiness in her hand. Alas! Satori.

Practical Diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine by Tietao Deng. This fellow is the nearly 100 yo professor of Chinese medicine in Guangzhou who discovered cure for SARS. He has a habit of repeating himself over and over again.

Last book I've actually got around to finishing? Oh my. *
Mr Concerned's TALKING Book of Home Therapy *by Steven Appleby. Mostly pictures and very large font. Recommend.

Not much fuel for the culture wars.
]

Sod all that shite, you need to get your head into some Dan Brown mate, it'll blow your mind.

For anyone interested in B S johnson and the experimental writers of the sixties there is a major conference at in association with the Institute of advanced studies and the British Library in september.
It's amazing this is happening as up until recently it was nr impossible to get hold of his books or his films!

"Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire" by Iain Sinclair.

Slavoj Zizek - Iraq, The Borrowed Kettle

For anyone interested in B S johnson and the experimental writers of the sixties there is a major conference at in association with the Institute of advanced studies and the British Library in september.
It's amazing this is happening as up until recently it was nr impossible to get hold of his books or his films!

I'm going to be there :)

Some recent good reads:
The Moon Of Desire by Fons DeWolf
Atom to Atom by Pascal Poisson
The House By The Seine by Charles Pelissier
Why And Who And Where by David Etxebarria

Some recent good reads:
The Moon Of Desire by Fons DeWolf
Atom to Atom by Pascal Poisson
The House By The Seine by Charles Pelissier
Why And Who And Where by David Etxebarria

Brilliant reads, one and all. Very fast-paced, most of them, I thought :)

The Roof Terrace by Rose Sloane is also excellent.

Shit writers, the lot of them.

Brilliant reads, one and all. Very fast-paced, most of them, I thought :)

Depends on the pacer, really, doesn't it? ;)

Well, literary taste goes in cycles.

It's down to whether you can spin a good yarn, I suppose.

Depends on the pacer, really, doesn't it? ;)

I find with writers of that school that once they slip in to the right gear they can really fly.

Yes, but these judgements are never fixed. A book can be regarded as a tour de force one year and then....

Have you guys thought about doing some kind of bookswap meet to happen once a month or something?