what are you reading when not on ILE

I just paid amazon £170+ on booXoR re my own research ... Mediums/Secret Monkey book as mentioned elsewhere (yes it IS research your snidey gets) but I have started none of the others yet...

This weekend I will be mostly reading of Pauline Oliveros interviews...

New Fortean Times has many pages on Pokémon PaNiXoR hurrah!!

_Citizens_, Simon Schama -- the chief popular revisionist English- language history of the French Revolution of the late twentieth century, for such it is, by everyone's favorite (or not) _History of Britain_ host. Detailed, with a clear narrative flow and many fascinating anecdotes, its chief argument is that far from being a simple 'ancien regime v. people' conflict, the Revolution was at least at the start a reaction against a monarchy eagerly embracing/ encouraging much in the way of technological development and potential reform, though not at the expense of its own privileges. Spends plenty of time building up a picture of the Louis XVI regime before getting to the Revolution itself, however defined. One of my all time favorite books, though certainly not without its detractors (the main accusation seems to be that it's a conservative-minded text, though I honestly think that's a case of reading the book's interpretation of the past in the terms of today). Wraps up with the founding of the Directory, making it in ways the perfect lead in for:

_Napoleon Bonaparte_ by Alan Schom -- the text I mentioned previously. A recent book (about four years old) and about the same length as _Citizens_, aka long but damn well readable. It goes over his life and death in exhaustive detail, but never losing its key argument -- that Bonaparte, while an honestly fascinating figure worthy of study, was at base and for all his charisma a tyrannical, bloody-minded warlord/mass murderer combined, who used everything and everybody for his own ends from top to bottom and who manipulated everything possible to create an alternate public image for his own time and the future. As a counterpoint to the implicit and explicit valorization Bonaparte receives, especially since he can so easily be identified with French patriotic glory (and since, unlike Hitler, he pursued no open policies of destruction against ethnic groups -- political and military enemies, another matter entirely!), it's astoundingly necessary.

I'd also suggest Lesley Branch's _The Sabres of Paradise_ -- nothing to do with Napoleon, but everything to do with the Murid Wars between Czarist Russia and the Islamic states of the Caucasus in the nineteenth century. If you wanted to know the roots of the Chechnyan conflicts of recent years, this is where to start.

For starters I like too find a really good book on the russian expansion into asia, and a less anglo take on the Indian northwest frontier expansion and Afgan wars. From there, indulge me, I know very little about ALexander the great or the mongols post genghis. Any ideas?

But what do I read? Not enough and too much. I'm a literary editor for one of the Edgy Consumer Magazines I write for and am constantly beating myself up for superficial theoretical knowledge, but have to read at least ten review books each month. And it depresses me that I can't get to more of the books I am sent, which sit on my shelves looking good but don't really get read.

His TV progs piss me off too: HE's the one who reads everything in terms of today, where the pinnacle of human yearning = a suburban semi in Pinner and kids able to go to a minor public school. A glib whig, feh.

-- Alexander bios -- Peter Green's _Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C. : a historical biography_, like the Schom biography an examination with a critical eye. I also recommend his hefty _Alexander to Actium_ as a broad study of the Hellinistic world.

-- Russian Asian expansion/Mongols post-Genghis -- unfortunately nothing to suggest off the top of my head, sorry Ed!

-- _White Teeth_ -- very popular here at my campus in southern California, actually! The insular nature of the book as mentioned doesn't prevent it from carrying over, it seems.

-- Austen -- not everyone's cup of tea, as Anthony puts it, but as engaging miniatures in word form, I can't help but love them. Try _Northanger Abbey_ for her satire on the Gothic novel. If you need something more coruscating in your life, do not pass go -- Ambrose Bierce's _The Devil's Dictionary_, one of my all time favorite books.

-- Schama -- I do like Mark S.'s description of his attitude, actually! Might explain why my mom is so taken with him. ;-) That said, I disagree to an extent with his criticism of _Citizens_ -- seems to me that while he might not have concentrated on said businessmen in specific, they were still always there in the discussion, as it were, so perhaps the objection is one of focus? However, I haven't read it in a couple of years, so I won't claim specifics...

-- Other good recommendations:

Roland Huntford, _Scott and Amundsen_, aka _The Last Place on Earth_ -- the astounding mythic-Scott-demolishing study of the race for the South Pole, extremely well-researched and written. Has given Scott supporters cows ever since, but even discounting Huntford's clear narrative bias in favor of Amundsen, for my money the evidence is all clearly presented -- Scott: unplanned, chaotic bungler; Amundsen: calculating, professional explorer. The results speak for themselves.

Adam Hochschild, _King Leopold's Ghost_ -- a heartbreaking read, but a necessary one -- looks specifically at the Scramble for Africa via a study of the Congo Free State, Leopold of Belgium's horrifically run and abused private natural resource reserve passed off via the media as a noble example of civilization. Hochschild further studies the contradictory attitudes of those campaigning against Leopold's labor camp as well as the afterechoes colonization has had in Africa to the present. It pities nobody and takes no prisoners. Thomas Parkenham's _The Scramble For Africa_ is a good general study of the time, but Hochschild is the one you'll remember most.

I agree that Huntford seems to leave Scott almost nothing, but here and there he acknowledges his gifts -- a good conversationalist and in one telling incident regarding the scientists at McMurdo Sound accompanying the expedition but not part of the naval chain of command, an amiable and enthusiastic participant in general technical debate. Huntford notes that Scott would have been a brilliant scientific popularizer, which suits the positive part of his personality -- but on no account should he have had anything to do with command and responsibility for lives. (My dad was an excellent US Navy officer himself, so I speak from the heart on that one -- you can't have an indecisive, non- planning waffler in charge.)

Other good reads in history/biography I've come across:

Jacques Barzun, _From Dawn to Decadence_ -- a massive, idiosyncratic and fascinating personal study of Western European culture and its offshoots from the Reformation to now. Amusingly even mentions Garbage near the very end. Very French, well worth it.

W. Bruce Lincoln, _In War's Dark Shadow_ -- enjoyable popular history of Russia in the final years of czardom before World War I. A good counterpart to the equally readable if limited Robert Massie volume _Nicholas and Alexandra_, in that Lincoln focuses on the country and culture rather than the monarchs. If you've ever read Moorcock's first Colonel Pyat volume _Byzantium Endures_ (or plan on it), this is extremely good reading to accompany it. But having mentioned Massie, credit where credit is due:

Robert Massie, _Peter the Great_ and _Dreadnought_ -- the first is actually my girlfriend's favorite book, and I can see why, it's a very good narrative take on the Russian emperor, perhaps a little too worshipful but generally tries not to excuse his brutalities (and certainly makes clear the social context in which he learned them). _Dreadnought_ studies the naval war race in Europe before World War I.

Edmund White, _Jean Genet_ -- White's recent bio of Genet, exhaustive and a bit exhausting (I'm still not done reading it, who knows when I'll get back to it!). Helps to situate Genet vis-a-vis his depicted narrative self in texts like _Our Lady of the Flowers_.

Theodore Draper, _A Struggle for Power_ -- another one I need to finally finish, but what I read of it a cogent analysis of where power was located in the 13 colonies before the American Revolution and how that in turn helped feed the eventual Revolution itself. A reasonable power-politics take on an overly hallowed event.

B. Netanyahu, _The Origins of the Inquisition_ -- distinctly non-light reading, this hefty tome; an extremely in-depth study of the Inquisition as it originated in Spain, with particular focus on the insidious switch in focus from religion (practicing Jew or not?) to bloodlines (descended from a Jew or not?), the implications of which don't need to be spelled out, I trust. Horrifying but necessary knowledge.

Fawn Brodie, _No Man Knows My History_ -- doubtless Anthony knows this one! The holy grail of sorts for anti- and ex-Mormons, Brodie's is the definitive biography of Joseph Smith, continually fought against since by Morg-approved historians (notably the utterly flipped out Hugh Nibley) but as yet still unchallenged from a strictly unbiased point of view. Doesn't so much seek to destroy Smith as situate and humanize him. Mormon history itself is one of my particular fascinations, and there's a lot of stuff out there. I'd also suggest two more recent 'true crime' books that actually do well at investigating modern Mormonism -- _A Gathering of Saints_ by Robert Lindsay, an excellent investigation of the Mark Hoffman letter frauds perpetrated on the LDS and the accompanying murders (many ex-Mormons point to this as a key moment that shook their faith, since the obvious implications was that the 'prophets of god' could not in fact recognize falsehood) and...* searches*...bother, can't find it and can't recall the exact title, but it's about a weird cult offshoot of the Reorganized LDS and is a fine study of that often-ignored segment of the Mormon population.

Edward Behr, _Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite_ -- ostensibly a study of Nicole Ceascescu and his regime in Romania, but actually a quite fine study of Romania itself from the late nineteenth century to Romania's fall. Could use some updating.

Hm. More as they hit me.

"and when i sa he have a face like a tomato he repli i forgive you molesworth for those uncouth words ..."

Neighbors, by Jan Tomasz Gross. About the massacre of 1,600 Jewish residents in the Polish town of Jedwabne during World War II. This book was recommended to me by friends as well as my relatives back in Poland -- apparently, it was first published in Poland and then translated into English, and has caused a great deal of debate over there (about the Poles' role in the Holocaust, whether certain of Gross's claims are accurate or as well-researched as he claims, etc.) Not an easy read, and how accurate its claims about what happened in Jedwabne are subject to some debate, but powerful.

A Matter of Interpretation by Antonin Scalia. Actually, because I'm writing an article that I hope to have published in a legal periodical, I've been reading a lot of books and articles on statutory and constitutional interpretation (I can hear the collective yawn! all the way over here) and Mr. Scalia's is probably the only name that would ring a bell. I've got to give the devil his due -- Scalia's a damn good writer and possesses a powerful intellect, and skewers and deconstructs just about every theory of constitutional/statutory interpretation (including his preferred method, textualism) in a manner that would put Derrida to shame. About as thrilling as reading Satan's dialogue in Paradise Lost ... know thy enemy!

which leads me to ... Alan Dershowitz's Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000. Skewers Bush v. Gore, in a way that laypeople as well as lawyers can understand. Gives a good, understandable explanation of concepts like "equal protection" and "irreperable harm," and how the Bush v. Gore majority twisted those concepts in arriving at a highly partisan, unjust and atrocious decision (from a legal standpoint, as well as because it let Chimp Boy move into the Oval Office). A must-read. (Note: Vincent Bugliosi, the guy who prosecuted Charlie Manson and wrote Helter Skelter, also has a book out on Bush v. Gore entitled The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President which, I am told, is even harsher than Dershowitz's book.)

The last book I read was _The Intuitionist_, by Colson Whitehead. It's about intuitive elevator inspectors and race relations. Extremely descriptive - I'd imagine Raymond Chandler would be jealous of some of the lines Whitehead nonchalantly implements. (Not that I've read much Chandler, alas.)

Right now, I've a couple things on my nightstand that I'm ignoring -

- _Collecting: An Unruly Passion_, by Werner Muensterburger: A academic study on the psychology of collectors, a topic that's near & dear to my heart (since I'm deathly curious as to my interest in collecting stuff, being a CDaholic & a reformed comic book freak); interesting, but a bit dry and aristocratic.

- _V_, by Thomas Pynchon: Read about 10 pages one night, and all 10 pages slid right off my eyes without so much as a smudge. Will get around to reading it, one of these days. (For what it's worth, his liner notes for Lotion's _Nobody's Cool_ did not impress me one whit.)

- _The Romance of the Three Kingdoms_, by Luo Ghuanzhong: A friend printed out all 120 (!) chapters from this Internet site, and talked up the book incessantly. From what I've gathered via his ramblings (& the first few pages I've read), it's the history of China told in a Biblical fashion (complete with about 95 bazillion characters you can't track without a scorecard). http://www.threekingdoms.com has more information, if you're interested.

- _The Crook Factory_, by Dan Simmons - Without a doubt, the easiest book to read of the four I'll mention. A pulpy novel about Ernest Hemingway's involvement with the FBI and covert operations in Cuba and such things. Dan Simmons is a fine author - he's known best in sci-fi circles for his _Hyperion_ series, and for his earlier, horror- tinged writing (which is excellent), but this book seems to prove that he can write in any genre he chooses and succeed. A thinking man's Michael Crichton (not sure if that's damning praise). Of course, I'm only 40 pages in, so there's time for him to tank it (as he did in _Fires of Eden_).

The last book I really enjoyed (no offense to _The Intuitionist_) was _Infinite Jest_, by David Foster Wallace. I read that wonderfully audacious behemoth 3 years ago; since, I've either abandoned books (_Underworld_, _Gut Symmetries_) or completed underwhelming books (_Great Apes_, _Night Train_). Or re-read the Trouser Press Guide to Records 67 times. Damn this music fetish.

I tried reading Pynchon's V last month, but I couldn't get more than 100 pages in. Sorry.

Next on the list is clearly the Biography of London that everyone has been going on about on other threads.

Before that Paul Auster's "Leviathan" (re-read) and before that the astounding "Hindsight" by Peter Dickinson. No-one seems to know Peter Dickinson but he's one of England's best ever writers - perhaps they discount him because he often writes childrens fiction but he's a master.

I recently bought Ballard's Atrocity Exhibition but ended up loaning it to someone before I could read it (have done, but not for years) and I'll next be getting back into Salinger because I bought "Esme" as a gift and remembered how much I love the Grass family.

I'm also reading A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines and Lucy e amici, which is a book of Peanuts strips focusing on my favourite character. And the August issue of Cosmo.

I was reading a book about tarot cards over the weekend, and drove Ramon crazy by refusing to tell him what his reading said about him. That's the closest I've come to actual reading in ages, unfortunately. I have a ton of books I'd like to read too, that I bought and are now sitting unloved.

Books I've recently read (or re-read):
Weird Sisters - Terry Pratchett
Eater of Wasps - Trevor Baxendale
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchett
Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett

I have something of a passing fondness for Pratchett, yes. It helps that I can usually tear through one of his books in an afternoon and get some hearty chuckles out of them.

The Baxendale book is a Doctor Who story, BTW, featuring the Paul McGann Doctor and two new companions; a 1963 Anglo-German slacker named Fitz and a 2001 Anglo-Indian stockbroker named Anji. The story is a body-horror take-off on "The Fly", only with wasps and done in a heartily disgusting manner. It's not at all subtle, but BOY was it fun to read! I'm currently reading _Asylum_ by Peter Darvill-Evans, which features the fourth Doctor and Nyssa and doesn't really seem to have a plot yet.

::head explodes::

"In the lake of the woods"-Tim O' Brien (shite, although his "If I die in a combat zone" is worth checking out)

"Franny and Zooey"-JD Salinger (Excellent. Absolutely loved it. Very witty and warm)

"Atomised"-Michel Houellebecq (It's better second time around although it still bugs me greatly)

I'm just starting to read "Les Enfants Terribles" by Jean Cocteau

Who wrote that? I have been thinking of reading this book too.

Since then, I've moved on to David Ehrenstein-Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000 (too much tedious post-Stonewall/Ellen/Velvet Mafia crap), Samuel Delany-Motion of Light in Water (courtesy of Afro-Futurism thread, thanks!), JT Leroy-The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, Gore Vidal-Myra Breckinridge. Guess I'm going through my gay period.

And Andrew Loog Oldham-Stoned.

I'm just re-reading Sue Grafton's L is for Lawless in anticipation to reading M is for Malice. Not sure what letter she is up to at the moment, but this is detective fiction at its finest (whips the the arse off of dull old Sara Paretsky).

Peter Dickinson: YES! YES! YES!

The man deserves the overused epithet of "genius".

As well as Doubters Companion by John Ralston Saul- Them ost accurate and conscise eviscartion of modern culture. Politically, Econmiclly and Cultrally. He rarely advocates a system but tells us what we need to do to change ours. The Doubters Companion is done glossary form and a bit like Beirce and a Bit like Voltaire.
I am also reading Beyond Good or Evil because i promised Omar i would

As well I am reading a whack on depression and mental health for a variety of obvious reasons.

I have been told i need to go back on drugs. i am not so sure, hence these two

The Savage God - A. Alvarez
a basic history from ancients on

The Feeling Buddha: A Buddhist Psychology of Character, Adversity and Passion - Brazier

ECT: Sham Statistics, the Myth of Convulsive Therapy, and the Case for Consumer Misinformation

and a bunch of academic and popular articles my pyschatrist gave me.

Yay! To Dan P -- if anything, just read the 'Aragorn and Arwen' tale included there, it's good backstory.

Bruce Benderson-User

I've also been re-reading the Julian Cope's Head On and Repossessed for kicks.

Also some (more) Le Guin and bits of Marcuse's 1-D Man.

also high fidelity for work purps and READING THE SLAYER ditto

postmodernism does not exist

I'm still notionally reading Mason and Dixon but I think I might abandon it and start again from page 1 cos I've forgotten where I was.

*tugs marks sleeve in an annoying way* But Mark but Mark why is it unacceptable? I only got a B in GCSE maths but I thirst for the KNOWLEDGE!

B&S splitting! What a RELIEF! And a few years back I wondered what on earth I would DO if they split. I would not have believed the me of now would be able to say such a thing.

modulo 31 now!!

Also the baseball opening to Underworld is the most excited I remember being about baseball, ever.

*determines Tim's reading material* Why yes, hooray indeed. I kept forgetting people will in fact have to read that for the first time.

Ah, I think you will find that most food can be eaten from a bowl, given enough effort. I do not have sand-witches in my bowl (doh!) but I think I do with everything else. Apart from the souvlaki (another Slatah recipe!) that we made last week!

Real fast food rocks Sarah, there's some corking recipes in there, especially a char-grilled aubergine one iirc. Real fast puddings is the only one I don't have of his, something I intend to recify very soon. What's the website?

The website is at www.thebookpeople.co.uk. It seems to sell a lot of bundles of books, super cheap! The other week RT and KG cooked something auberginey by Mr Slater with some king od nummy roast spud/chickpea mash... mmmmmm!

What were those 'brief history' or 'short introduction' books that you were talking about another time?

W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz. Sublime.

actually i'm reading boring theory for boring school. lots of stuart hall - nothing against him or anything, its just i'm sooo over university its not funny.

Just finished: brendan lemon's last night and jon ronson's them - the latter funny, but weird...i found myself identifying too muhc with THEM

I am still muddling my way through Norwegian Wood, not because it's a difficult read but more because I haven't had much time to read it.

I get so envious when I read Sarah's blog, she seems like she gets to read so many books!

Hopping between a brief but entertaining volume about past Hollywood architectural sites and the like, an in-depth study of Thai homosexuality via an advice column in one of the country's most popular magazines, a popular history of consumption (sexual and food-oriented) in classical Athens, the newest Smithsonian and my reviewing of the latest AMG book. Makes for an interesting collage.

It is cold here in Dunedin (I saw snow falling this morning) so I am taking to reading more - I especially like to read boos set in cold places when it's cold. Any recommendations? For example wuthering heights, Everest-climbing books, and Norwegian books have in the past served this purpose well (the purpose is that I feel more involved in the book because of the climate, &/or feel more cosy huddled in bed, &/or can to a certain extent romanticise the conditions when I am out in them).

lights out for the territory: very much enjoyed the first couple of chapters. randomly put it down a month ago and haven't picked it up since, but i'm sure i will soon. still have a bit of a problem with all that leylines rub, though.

clay machine gun: ace so far, but then i'm not v far in. it has to go back to the library on tuesday, so i'll read it tonight/tomorrow - expect a full report in a day or two.

(also i suspect i'm rather more of a dfw fan that either gareth or josh, hence we are not equal)

Not rhetorical: I need to decide which of these (or any others) to take on holiday with me; also want to find a good text on the settling of the American West, manifest destiny, all that - something cultural history-y (and pref. a bit snidey and critical) rather than patriotic bombast. ANy recommendations?

I am reading (ridiculously slowly, considering how short and relatively straightforward it is) Fatima Mernissi's "Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood," which I had to buy when I discovered it contained a chapter about the ill-fated Syrian-Egyptian singer Asmahan, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1944. I also recently started reading "The Face: A Natural History," something I wanted to read after reading an excerpt from it online, but I am a little disappointed with the writing, which tries too hard to entertain. I prefer popular science writing to be straightforward, usually. I also subscribe to the Nation and Harper's, which I never totally keep up with, but do read portions from.

i am thinking frying pan --> fire situation here! ;)

John Ralston Saul - The Doubter's Companion (first Saul I've read - was a birthday present, which I'm quite pleased about after I saw him speak a couple of weeks ago)

i am reading: Mark Thompson's Gay Body, Gillian Mears' A Map of the Garden, Jim Brown's 24/7

Recently reread Eco's The Name of the Rose -- very nice Folio Society edition -- and am currently two-thirds through David Feinberg's Eighty-Sixed.

As for embarrassing books on the tube (an earlier theme) my favourite would be 'Spanking The Maid' by the brilliant Robert Coover. It's a great book.

The only other time this has happened to me was with a Leo Perutz novel.

Just finished "Death and the Penguin" by Andrey Kurkov which I enjoyed in a dispirited kind of way. Also ""53 Days"" by G. Perec which I wish I wish he'd finished.

Lined up: the new Bill Drummond book, which looks great. I'm so excited.

I started out really loving w's m but it's taken me longer to finish it than I expected, and I think that's made some of the charm wear off. if it didn't retrace its steps so much I think that would help. also reading it faster.

*cries*

A new way for reading A. A. Milne has now spread itself open for me.

Anyhow, the book discusses the demographic trends in Christianity's center of gravity moving South, into Africa and South America, as well as into Asia; and it speculates on the potential political implications (particularly in terms of conflicts between Christian-identified and Muslim-identified populations). [Sorry. That was a very bad sentence, but I am trying to write this quickly.] It also discusses such things as South America's poor generally embracing conservative and Pentecostal approaches to Christianity, rather than the "liberation theology" which liberal Christians in the U.S. and Europe would expect (and prefer) that they embrace.

I find the author's writing quite easy to get through.

A new way for reading A. A. Milne has now spread itself open for me.

Karen Finley wrote a cartoon book equating the Winnie the Pooh characters with NYC club kid types. I was not surprised to read in this book about Tigger's crack habit.

magazines magazines magazines
old and new

He has legions of adoring female fans!?! Surely you jest? Anyway, I believe he is "happily" married and living in Ireland...

This is an interesting point, though. I don't really look to Houellebecq the person for any confirmation/validation of the persona the narrator adopts in his books.

I recently read a "biography" of Salinger and the writer and also a teacher I had mentioned a similar thing--that Salinger the person developed an utterly charming and seductive narrator in a way as a foil to his own personality.

Dance music, really? Did you hear the collaborations with Bertrand Burgalat? It's kind of rocking, for spoken word that is.

Maryann--I think you live in such an interesting world where there are such things as Houellebecq groupies and Houellebecq phases... I can see you ten years from now drinking a glass of wine, smoking a cigarette, and dismissing an old painting of yours with a wave of your hand, "Oh that, that's from my Houellebecq phase..."

god i can't imagine anything worse. clitorises are so overrated. oh btw i am currently reading "gender and the musical canon" by marcia citron, just finished "female masculinities" by judith halberstam, such a fanfuckingtastic book, loved the stuff about john radclyffe hall and anne lister etc, and her analyses of the different approaches to being a drag king.

it's my first post-1930's book in months.

The one I do have is "Looking Forward Through The Rearview Mirror: Reflections On And By McLuhan" which has things in it by Camille Paglia and Neil Postman but not Sontag or Wolfe.

I'm just reading a novel by the great old character actress Irene Handl. She can really write, but eccentric upper class families aren't really my thing.

seriously, it is worth reading, as it explains the history of what has become a contradictory set of values reconciled. the idea of shopping as a means to manifest political beliefs is a way of avoiding the larger responsibilities that must be dealt with in order to create a healthier society. shopping at fresh fields is not enough to enusre the perpetuation of environmental reforms!

also, the book obliquely references ways in which multiculturalist attitudes can be condescending (ie people who buy objects associated with "third world" countries or the peasantry in general, and pay too much, or don't really care to understand the culture, or who wouldn't actually do anything to ensure the preservation of the ways of life they seem to enjoy from a distance.)

And half a dozen books that I will frankly never finish and should just mine for bookmarks.

hey dan, the 'deleuze connections' I mentioned above is by rajchman and seems sort of like a good overview NOW, the second time I'm reading it, and after I've been poking around in d+g stuff for six+ months. in the spring it seemed way too hard and unhelpful. take that for what it's worth. the patton book is the best intro sort of thing I've read so far, though it has its points of difficulty too. claire colebrook's book on deleuze has some good stuff in it but philosophically it seems to lack a bit.

you would think that there would be more good books on benjamin for SWIVELHEADS out there sheesh haha

here are more books I am still claiming to be reading. I am listing them just to make nath laugh.

remarks on the philosophy of psychology vol 1 - wittgenstein
a common humanity - raimond gaita
rhythm and noise - ted gracyk

if you can believe it there are more but they are in a different category of reading-but-well-not-for-a-while books. and then there is a slower category. there is one for books I am rereading but have stopped on too.

Picked up for free = pocketed from Barnes & Noble, um, just kidding...

don't know about Momus but there's an 'I Am A Cat' song by Takako Minekawa. i need to read more japanese books.

bringing the standard down a bit here's mine:

Various articles snipped from newspapers before recycling. today's selection is:
strong AI (guardian weekend 6th october 2001)
rachael whiteread's plinth (observer magazine 27th may 2001)
piece on how the nme staff got a single copy of unreleased fall song pressed up for john peel's birthday (nme 18th october 1997)
photek interview (nme 14th feb 1998)
william gibson piece on why we look to japan for an idea of the future (observer magazine 1st april 2001)
and various java swing documents.

I started reading Wittgenstein's Poker, because someone spyecyial (as a Russian friend used to say it) gave it to me and I want to be able to say I'm reading it, even though there are other things I'd rather be reading.

Also picked up Theodore Zeldin's An Intimate History of Humanity and have just barely started to read it. Is this guy like a British Studs Terkel for the French?

There were a couple articles that interested me in the latest Scientific American, including one about Pollock's paintings containing fractals or fractal-like patterns.

Among books I have checked out from the library is the not at all lightweight The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts. This seems like an important book, and I hope I get to it.

Magazines:Mother Jones, because the cover story is on water privatization
Places, a forum of Environmental Design--city planning eye candy
Scientific American--because I don't have the time or discipline to really learn about all of the science I would like to. Haven't cracked it yet, but the Pollock article does look interesting, along with the Antarctica ice cover story.

Currently reading "Heavier than heaven:The biography of Kurt Cobain"-Charles R. Cross

*The Collected Works of Nathanael West, starting with Miss Lonelyhearts

*The Fairy Gunmother - Daniel Pennac

Ann Quin -- Berg, Passages...

What I wish I were reading:

Richard Allen -- Skinhead, Suedehead, Bootboy, etc....

I've read flow my tears..., dr bloodmoney,
martian time slip and time out of joint and am finishing his first novel 'solar lottery'.

Frivolous stuff: Nathaniel Thompson's review guide DVD Delirium - weird and wonderful films on those nice shiny platters. My Visa card is going to take a bit of beating now I'm planning to order lots of Region 1 discs. So many films, so little time...

And what's on my "Read Next" stack?
1. Changing Places - D. Lodge
2. Hirohito - Can't recall the author
3. The (something) Pavillion - D. Powell
4. Lost in Place - M. Salzman
5. The Royal Physician's Visit - Per Olov Enquist
6. Among the Believers - V.S. Naipaul
7. The Rock - K. Makiya
8. Pass the Butterwroms - T. Cahill
9. And in the childhood category, I will be working my way through Blume's "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing," and the rest of that series.

Also I am still reading that book about GIN, and a book on VAMPRYES in literature which I have borrowed off BtG which I should really hurry up and give back... bah.

I have just finished INGENIOUS PAIN too. It is about a bloke who can't feel pain. Then there is a race to Russia. Then he DOES feel pain and goes insane. Then he dies. RAR!

kind of wanna get on and read some valery, or maybe that bataille thing ian penman mentioned in ver vire

I've got a load of Gene Wolfe stuff around, really need to give it a go properly. But for right now it's annual LOTR reread time -- and every time I catch a line or a turn of phrase that hadn't leapt out at me before.

I am reading the former because I, after a long period of not reading, have accumulated too many books and have decided that the only way out of my indecisiveness is to read all my books in alphabetical order by author (I am doing fiction first).

I just began this process over the weekend, over which I sped through Things Fall Apart by Achebe, which I never really liked. I wonder if the acclaim for the book has something to do with when it was published? After the popular advent of relativism, multiculturalism, post-colonial theory, etc., some aspects of Achebe's book seem rather quaint or obvious. Also, some of Achebe's portrayals of Okonkwo read like modern-day pop-psychology, which is not Achebe's fault, of course.

As for Crash, should I be too embarassed to admit that I found out about it mostly because of Electroclash and the admiration for "Warm Leatherette"? One way or the other, the book is not part of my alphabetized reading scheme, but rather was something i picked up on Friday night when I needed something to read on the subway home from DC.

Hurrah! PiL/Houellebecq -- Marcello = my new favorite writer! Off to look...

Couch and Appleman on Insurance

I try to alternate between fiction/non-fiction books, and then alternate within genres, such as Asian lit, American lit, schlock novels, traveloges, historical novels, biographies, poly. sci., etc. And I usually make myself a stack of about seven books, with entries from each genre, and I don't allow myself to read anything else until the pile has been depleated. Kind of anal, I know, but I am presently cursed (blessed?) with 10 shelves, double-stacked, of reading material. If I don't approach the books with a system I think I'd get into too much of a rut and stick with one genre for a while, neglecting other things.

>i know i am not insane
On what grounds, out of curiosity?

Just started Ted Hughes' Tales From Ovid.

I should really start reading some fiction, but aggh! I never know where to start. Last fiction book I read all the way through was Lolita this summer. Oh, and White Noise by Don DeLillo. Gah, I need help.

I like the idea of reading one of those movie review guides all the way through, from A to Z. Not sure I could actually do it, though.

Also, I just got hold of Umberto Eco's Baudolino, so I expect to revive the Book Club in a few days...

PELHAM Or, ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN is GREBT. Do any of you speak Latin?

Sophie Kinsella, Can You Keep A Secret?

David Barnett, Love and Poison

Brideshead Revisited (Waugh)
Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time (Hadden)
Uncle Tungsten (Sacks)
Smithsonian latest issue
New Yorker latest issue
New York Times daily
Boston Globe dot com daily
Washington Post dot com daily.