Anybody read a good book lately?

[rjs246]

He writes Vampire and Zombie lit. I'm not guessing many people have actually read his shtein but if I hear that any of it is actually readable I'll be picking one up. Probaby X-Rated Blood Suckers.

[phattymatty]

I have about 4 zombie books on my to read list right now.  I lent World War Z to a girl I work with and she won;t stop talking about how awesome it is.

[rjs246]

Holy shtein.

[phattymatty]

that is awesome.

[Diomedes]

I finally finished Anna Karenina last night.  It was way too long for what it had to say, but it was well worth reading nevertheless, and now that I've got through it once, if I ever need to read it again it will be a much easier task.  There are gorgeous passages sprinkled throughout the book, especially those parts which focus on the agricultural life of the countryside.  In particular, an episode in which the character I take to be Tolstoy's protagonist, Levin, spends the day mowing, impressed me.  The ending is powerful and really saves the book.  Levin's revelation of faith is convincing and not trite or obtuse.  Ruminations throughout the novel on truthfulness, to oneself, to others, to God, etc. are complicated and make comparisons between the characters and their fates interesting.  I'd love to be back in college seminar having read this with a twenty or so other people who have also just read it so I could bounce ideas off other people and consider theirs too. 

So now I've read both Tolstoy's master works.  I think I prefer War and Peace, but that was so long ago I should probably re-read it now.  I do think they are great works, but I don't enjoy them as much as other epic so-called realism novels of the same era from Europe, like Middlemarch.

[rjs246]

I finished All the King's Men and confirmed my thoughts from my first post about it. One of the best books I've ever read.

[Father Demon]

United States was ranked as having the fifty-third freest press in the world, tied with Botswana and Croatia. According to the World Health organization, the United States had the fifty-fourth fairest health care system in the world, with lack of medical coverage leading to an estimated 18,000 unnecessary deaths a year. And according to the Justice Department, one in every thirty-two Americans was in jail, on probation, or on parole.

So, if you think the US is going to hell in a hand basket, here's how to put your money overseas, protect all your assets from lawsuits/inflation/privatization/scum of the earth, get a passport from another country, and how to escape urban warfare.

I'm going to read it.

[mussa]

Blood Meridian is getting really good. Def. started slow, but its gaining momentum.

[ice grillin you]

just started reading savage inequalities (yes i know im 20 years late)...the first chapter on east saint louis and its schools would not be believable if it wasnt true...just incredible

[Father Demon]

Sadly, it's 100% true.

[rjs246]

Love in the Time of Cholera: Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a great writer but this was a farging romance novel. It had its moments (and I sort of compare it to reading LOTR or The Hobbit, an excellent literary work from a genre of unreadable crap) but it was still a farging romance novel.

The Time Traveler's Wife: A dude can travel through time but has no control over it. Gets to sleep with his wife at various (younger) ages. Has some seriously farged up problems due to time travel. The characters are sort of unlikable but it's a good book. Original. Worth checking out.

Now reading The Crossing by McCarthy.

[mussa]

Blood Meridian - def. my fav McCarthy book so far. Are they turning this into a movie?

[rjs246]

I appreciated Blood Meridian for what it was, but it would be the worst movie ever. There's no plot.

[mussa]

it would make a pretty violent movie. maybe i just want to see a burning tree with dead babies hanging in it. i guess the road is next.

[ice grillin you]

what is a "remainder mark"