What Are You Reading Right Now

[Bondi]

Reading the DC Vertigo comic series Transmetropolitan. Good stuff, though in terms of offensive fucked up Vertigo series, I did enjoy Preacher more.

In between volumes I've also read some of the earlier short stories of Edgar Allen Poe and I can't understand what the hell is going on in them at all. And I've read other pre-20th century stories such as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Time Machine, etc. and I had no problems understanding those stories even if some of the language might be laughable if you applied today's meaning to certain words, such as characters ejaculating their dialogue.

[allergyboy2001]

Just finished Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Liked it pretty well! And there was an interesting travelogue component to the book that I didn't expect. Beautiful descriptions of sites all over Europe.

[Chanel_no5]

I just finished Dean Koontz' "Your Heart Belongs To Me". Meh. He's just getting worse. I can't believe I keep reading his stuff anyway.

[Jorm]

Bumping this for the very important reason of saying that I just finished reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time and it's absolutely fantastic.

[doggo]

The Transsiberian poetry of Blaise Cendrars

[Selene]

Bumping this for the very important reason of saying that I just finished reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time and it's absolutely fantastic.

That's so true! I love the book. It was completely different from what I've expected before I read it for the first time, but it is an amazing book! I loved the fragmentary structure of letters, telegrams and diaries, as well as the characters (Vampire-Lucy ftw! ^^ xD), and the many different topics underlying the vampire-plot (New Woman movement, degeneration-discussion, the topic of the vampire as the "Eastern Other" etc... it has so many layers, it's incredible!)

Sorry for this minor threadjack, but most people I know either weren't interested in reading Dracula, when I recommended it, or found it boring, so I'm kinda hyped right now to see that someone actually loves it as well

Edited January 11, 2012 by Selene

[High on Lullabies]

After following it for many years, I'm currently reading the final (15th I believe?) book of the Deverry series by Katharine Kerr, The Silver Mage

[flower]

I just finished Swamplandia! It was a bit strange but good. I believe it was on the New York Times list of top 5 (?) books for 2011, for what it's worth.

[dude18323]

I just finished reading Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to read about football or faith or simply just needs some motivation!

[Jorm]

Forgot to add that I also recently read Dr. Jackyl and Mr. Hyde. Clearly I am on a gothic victorian kick at the moment.

[musictomyeyes]

Alice in Wonderland. I'm taking advantage of the free Kindle books.

[Chanel_no5]

I'm reading "Game Change". It's terrible. It's great. I like it. I'm disgusted by it. Jeez, it's one intriguing book either way.

[Selene]

Ahh, Gothic literature! <3 If you're looking for more and not shying away from a little bit older stuff, try Matthew Lewis's "The Monk". It's a little bit gory and certainly not for the weak and fluff loving persons, but has a lecheros monk and very cruel nuns instead xD

Or if you're more into vampires, I'd suggest either "The Vampyr" by John Polidori, the first vampire story, or "Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu, which has a female vampire and a nice homo-erotic lesbian undertone.

And for a modern Gothic novel in Neo-Victorian style, I would suggest John Harwood's "The Ghost Writer", which has nice intertextual references to a lot of interesting works, for example "The Picture of Dorian Gray" or "The Turn of the Screw", to name but a few.

Ok, sorry, I got a bit carried away now...

The last book I read was Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan" and I loved it

[Prongs]

Mockingjay, third book of the Hunger Games series!!! ITS SO GOOD, I must finish it now.

And super excited about when the movie comes out.

[Heathcliff]

Walter Mosley- 'Known to Evil'.

[Jorm]

Ahh, Gothic literature! <3 If you're looking for more and not shying away from a little bit older stuff, try Matthew Lewis's "The Monk". It's a little bit gory and certainly not for the weak and fluff loving persons, but has a lecheros monk and very cruel nuns instead xD

Or if you're more into vampires, I'd suggest either "The Vampyr" by John Polidori, the first vampire story, or "Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu, which has a female vampire and a nice homo-erotic lesbian undertone.

And for a modern Gothic novel in Neo-Victorian style, I would suggest John Harwood's "The Ghost Writer", which has nice intertextual references to a lot of interesting works, for example "The Picture of Dorian Gray" or "The Turn of the Screw", to name but a few.

Ok, sorry, I got a bit carried away now...

The last book I read was Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan" and I loved it

You can get carried away to me about Victorian literature any time you want! I adore both 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and 'The Turn of the Screw'. I'm not necessarily interested in another vampire story just yet, but I think I'll look into both 'The Monk' and 'The Ghost Writer'! Thanks for the recommendations!

[SomethingClever]

The Fault in our Stars, by John Green.

FINALLY!!

[Bondi]

I read Dracula last year for free on my Kindle (the Kindle edition was for the most part good, except for some occasionally weird paragraph structures where the paragraph would

often break in the middle of a line, in the middle of a sentence for no reason). I definitely liked it a lot more than I expected to; I thought that the writing would be overly complicated, being an old book and everything, but it wasn't and it was easy to get into and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes vampires.

I am currently reading Ernest Hemingway's short stories on my Kindle, which I did not get for free. He is definitely much better than other minimalists I have read, such as Cormac McCarthy, though as with other short story collections, some of the stories are better than others. My favorites so far are the one with the lion, and the bull-fighting one, the latter of which would probably make a great episode of 1000 Ways to Die.

[Anonymouse]

Just finished Animal Farm and now I'm halfway through 1984.

[Garnet]

Bondi, I used to hate Ernest Hemingway with a fiery passion, but I did a few projects on him in school and now he's one of my favorite authors. His themes can be a bit repetitive but I definitely adore his short stories, there's just something very... stark about them.

SPEAKING OF STARKS, my current book-fodder is the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. Silly fantasy, but Iii am enjoying it!

[Jorm]

Am now reading 'Prisoner Diaries' by Edward Kuznetsov which I stumbled upon while helping my parents clean out one of their book cases. Very interesting, though at times hard to follow when it delves into the philosophical and more stream of conscious passages. Definitely worth a read though!

[Selene]

Ahh, Gothic literature! <3 If you're looking for more and not shying away from a little bit older stuff, try Matthew Lewis's "The Monk". It's a little bit gory and certainly not for the weak and fluff loving persons, but has a lecheros monk and very cruel nuns instead xD

Or if you're more into vampires, I'd suggest either "The Vampyr" by John Polidori, the first vampire story, or "Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu, which has a female vampire and a nice homo-erotic lesbian undertone.

And for a modern Gothic novel in Neo-Victorian style, I would suggest John Harwood's "The Ghost Writer", which has nice intertextual references to a lot of interesting works, for example "The Picture of Dorian Gray" or "The Turn of the Screw", to name but a few.

Ok, sorry, I got a bit carried away now...

The last book I read was Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan" and I loved it

You can get carried away to me about Victorian literature any time you want! I adore both 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and 'The Turn of the Screw'. I'm not necessarily interested in another vampire story just yet, but I think I'll look into both 'The Monk' and 'The Ghost Writer'! Thanks for the recommendations!

You're welcome! I'm always happy to find people who share some of my reading interests and I'd be interested in your opinion on the two books, in case you want to share them with me once you've decided to read them

Right now, I'm reading "The Maid's Tragedy", but wonder if I should not try to read something a litle bit more... happy instead xD

[Da Greenz Yo]

I'm reading On Love by Alain de Botton for the millionth time. More literally, about the fifth time. I'm going through and finding all my favorite quotes~ For anyone who wants a good, analytical read, Alain de Botton is genius. This book is fiction, though he approaches it very realistically, as though it's an essay. Amazing, really.

Here's a random quote from it: “Every fall into love involves [to adapt Oscar Wilde] the triumph of hope over self-knowledge. We fall in love hoping that we will not find in the other what we know is in ourselves – all the cowardice, weakness, laziness, dishonesty, compromise and brute stupidity. We throw a cordon of love around the chosen one, and decide that everything that lies within it will somehow be free of our faults and hence lovable. We locate inside another a perfection that eludes us within ourselves, and through union with the beloved, hope somehow to maintain [against evidence of all self-knowledge] a precarious faith in the species.”

[doggo]

Right now I'm reading a rather recent book dealing with a nightmarish project to curb street that officially lasted from early 90's to year 2008 in my hometown. The people behind it, interviews, facts, legends, political and cultural analysis... the whole damn thing makes me so angry I want to puke over and over again, preferably inside a thin plastic bag I could sling at the people responsible of that project. But still, can't stop reading, because it is important to know.

[Chanel_no5]

I'm in the middle of "Under the Dome", by King. It's so political I'm surprised it even got published, and it should be twice its length to really go into depth with the matters it tries to bring up. I'm not sure it would've been possible to double it because it's over 1000 pages, but still. Still like it, though.

I'm also a bit in love with Julia Shumway.