[Old Pa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Televator /img/forum/go_quote.gif just finished "A confederacy of idiots" by John Kennedy Toole... need to go to the library

Worth owning a copy of that.

 

[Mindless]

The Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin.

 

[appophylite]

Picked up the entire Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke. Going to start reading that tonight.

 

[Steve_72]

Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

[ken36]

Vanishing Act-Thomas Perry

 

[Quake1028]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatcat28037 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Read that not long ago. Fantastic book.

 

[PhaedrusX]

The Outsider by Colin Wilson

 

[Thelonious Monk]

i need a new book. i feel empty when i have nothing to read.

i'm not really in the mood for anything hard to swallow or too depressing right now. reading faulkner short stories, rereading 1984 and slaughterhouse 5 all in a row was a bad idea. any suggestions? i just got Blood Meridian but i am going to put that off for another day.

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

^ One of my favorite books that I always find myself rereading is Haruki Murakami's short story collection The Elephant Vanishes. The stories range from humorous, to whimsical, to disturbing, depressing, and profound. You should give it a read (and his other amazing novels) if you haven't already.

 

[webbie64]

Advance Australia Where? by Hugh Mackay. An excellent read so far.

 

[NacMacFeegle]

Making Money....Terry Pratchetts' new one. As usual, the man can do no wrong!

 

[FalconP]

Sleepfaring by Jim Horne

A fascinating read covering many facets of sleep science research: the author, a sleep scientist, cumulates the findings by himself and others in this fact-packed book. You'll learn, for example, that dolphins sleeps with half their brains at a time so that they can keep on swimming, that an average adult person doesn't really need 9 hours of sleep per night, and the most efficient way to nap.

On a more scholarly side, Horne explains, among other things, the neurological going-ons when we are dreaming. Particularly interesting is the suggestion that REM sleep ("Dreaming Sleep") may have more in common with wakefulness than with non-REM, deep sleep. Horne memorably dubs REM sleep "the brain's screensaver mode".

The downside of this book is that the style is inconsistent: the author tries to be witty, but often ends up condescending. Oddly placed, irrelevant "factoids" (which may be interesting on their own) interupt the flow of the text. In the latter part of the book, when subjects such as jet lag, shift work and sleepy drivers are addressed, it reads less like a popular science book and more like a For Dummies.

 

[ronin74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idsynchrono_24 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ One of my favorite books that I always find myself rereading is Haruki Murakami's short story collection The Elephant Vanishes. The stories range from humorous, to whimsical, to disturbing, depressing, and profound. You should give it a read (and his other amazing novels) if you haven't already.

I'm beginning the Murakami anthology, book 1: A Wild Sheep Chase.
Just finished the John Rain series by Barry Eisler.

 

[ENT]

Frankenstein (original) by Mary Shelley..... meh, it's alright. Have to read it for a humanities class.

 

[lumanogin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronin74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm beginning the Murakami anthology, book 1: A Wild Sheep Chase. Just finished the John Rain series by Barry Eisler.

Wooo. I'm more or less a self-proclaimed Murakami aficionado.

The first book is "Hear the Wind Sing" followed by "Pinball." "A Wild Sheep Chase" is actually the third book book in "The Trilogy of the Rat" series. Unfortunately, if you can't read Japanese, getting your hands on "Hear the Wind Sing" runs $300 on average. The only English translation is from 1987 and was a novella for Japanese students learning English. Murakami refuses to release it outside of Japan.

I'd definitely recommend starting with his later and more acclaimed works like "Kafka on the Shore" or "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle." He comes into his own as a writer in either of those and they really hook you into becoming a fan of his. "The Elephant Vanishes" like Idsynchrono_24 recommends is also a good starting point to get a taste. It's a much easier read too.