I just finished Bone in the Throat, by Anthony Bourdain. He cooks, he travels, he writes novels, he shows up at my door and fucks the life out of me*!!!

If you like Bourdain, New York City, food, and The Sopranos, this book is for you! If any of these things aren't up your alley just skip it. It's hardly Joyce, but it's really not meant to be. Fun, lots of blood and profanity, and makes you laugh. He has a talent for depicting severe disdain. I suspect it comes from his talent for being disdainful, which you're familiar with if you've ever heard him talk about Rachel Ray or McNuggets. Also, at moments, as one might expect, he goes into severe and overall unnecessary detail concerning the preparation of food. If you're a foodie this won't bother you in the least, actually I thought the food wanking was quite adorable and suspect he was sporting a hardon whenever he described the mise en place.

Next up, I shall read The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I suspect it'll have less cursing Feds and drug use.

*I wish.

Yasha wrote:

I grok Heinlein, though. I love this.

I totally don't grok Heinlein, mostly because I take issue with the way he depicts women in his stories.  No matter how independent and on top of things they might seem at first, they're usually forced into some sort of damsel-in-distress role, and nearly all end up with the protagonist at the end, usually knocked up.  *sigh*  Boooooooring, not to mention condescending.

That, and my ex is a huge Heinlein fan.  Gragh.

What am I assigned to read this week?  Hmmm... Now that my Japanese lit class is done with what I like to call the "Soseki Cycle," I'm reading Some Prefer Nettles by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki.  For my Asian Families anthro class, I'm also reading Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry.

I'm reading Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Choice, AND very much enjoying it.

Why yes, I am a thirteen-year-old girl at heart.

Nee... Out of curiosity, how did you found your favorite author/series/books? There're millions of potentially good read, but I don't know how else to find them besides what my classes recommend/require for me to read. Any pointers?

morosemocha wrote:

Srsly, Anne McCaffery's

The Ship Who Sang is easily one of the best piece of overlooked science fiction. Like. EVER. Yasha, I think you'd enjoy it. It's set in a future where children that are deformed are trained to become massive comptuers and basically become the CPU for a spaceship.

Dude, I own it. It really is an awesome book; Helva is fantastic, and I always wonder what kind of training they put her through when she was young. It ties in with the Crystal Singer series too, at least in that it's set in the same universe. I always loved the Crystal Singer series because, like the main character, I have an opera quality voice-- but, like the main character, it's flawed in a way that would limit me to secondary roles. And, like her, I said 'Fuck that I'm gonna do something completely different ' But yes, The Ship Who Sang is totally worth the read. Big time. I tend to like McCaffery's straight sci-fi better than her Pern stuff... except, of course, Dragonsinger and Dragonsong.

It's funny how much music, or lack of it, shapes the things I love.

That does sound really cute. Unfortunately, I've got my dose for the week of books-- went shopping at the used bookstores and got some stuff that looks good. I'll let you know how they turn out when I finish them, I think you might be interested in one of them, or possibly have already read it.

Edit: The Pern stuff is... I dunno. It gets better with Dragonsdawn, I think. I enjoy the books, but they're not my favorites. If I want dragonish goodness, I read The Hobbit, or The Neverending Story (which, by the way, is fantastic and wonderful and SO much better than the movies-- and I actually liked the movies a lot).

Last edited by Yasha (03-26-2007 01:00:22 AM)

morosemocha wrote:

Oooo, used book stores.

Also:

OMG SOMEONE ELSE THAT'S READ THE NEVERENDING STORY I HEART YOU SO MUCH.

I translated a paragraph from the original german back in high school. Die Undendliche Geschite =

And a for Michael Ende, too! Just because!

HELL YEAH.

Hardly anyone I know has read it, and it's a total classic! Next thing you're going to be telling me you like The Little Prince and The Last Unicorn and Come, Lady Death too.

Yasha wrote:

morosemocha wrote:

Oooo, used book stores.

Also:

OMG SOMEONE ELSE THAT'S READ THE NEVERENDING STORY I HEART YOU SO MUCH.

I translated a paragraph from the original german back in high school. Die Undendliche Geschite =

And a for Michael Ende, too! Just because!

HELL YEAH.

Hardly anyone I know has read it, and it's a total classic! Next thing you're going to be telling me you like The Little Prince and The Last Unicorn and Come, Lady Death too.

The Little Prince? I LOVE the book, I read it over and over and over and over nonstop when I was in 7th grade. And, I'd cry for the fox, and the sheep, and the star in the sky toward the end of the story.

morosemocha wrote:

...No, now I'm a loser. Although I did start reading The Last Unicorn in middle school and I remember not being too gripped by it. Maybe I'll have to try it again. I read A Little Princess, tho. Does that count?

Yes. Actually, I just finished rereading that about a week ago.

Also... do give The Last Unicorn another try. The humor is far too dry for a middle schooler, and the more touching aspects aren't until further in. The book isn't very long at all, it's a day's read if you read quickly, and it's one of the most wonderful books I've ever read. My favorite, actually. I reviewed it earlier in this thread.

Hiraku wrote:

The Little Prince? I LOVE the book, I read it over and over and over and over nonstop when I was in 7th grade. And, I'd cry for the fox, and the sheep, and the star in the sky toward the end of the story.

And this one is another favorite. Some of the most beautiful lines I've ever seen in a book.

The Fox wrote:

Here is my secret. It's quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.

I have heard so much good things about the animorph series good and I have been wanting to read them them for some time... but they are just so many!!! don't they come on sets or big condensed editions? Besides I would probably have to import them because I don't remember ever seeing an spanish edition.
mmm this is becoming into an obsesion since I knew the books existed, before I have only seen the nickelodeon show.

morosemocha wrote:

The Vikings try to invade the Mayans.

Wow that sounds promising ... but I thinking a fighting versus the Nordic gods vs the aztec would have been WIN for me

But damnit I am still not sure if sell my soul and stay ever poorer by buying the 50+ volumes -.-

Romanticide wrote:

I have heard so much good things about the animorph series good and I have been wanting to read them them for some time... but they are just so many!!! don't they come on sets or big condensed editions? Besides I would probably have to import them because I don't remember ever seeing an spanish edition.
mmm this is becoming into an obsesion since I knew the books existed, before I have only seen the nickelodeon show.

(glances nervously at her collection)

Dude. The last time I read those books was when I was ten. I was crazy. Every week when a new episode came out, I printed out the screencaps on the website. I seriously had a crush on Christopher Ralph (Tobias). I even got the official actor biography book (with pictures)!!!!

Well, in general, I had a crush on Tobias all around. It's cool to be a bird.

Well, right now, I'm reading Ha Jin's Waiting for a second time. The ending is so touching!

Last edited by Rae (03-28-2007 03:40:20 PM)

Teapot wrote:

I'm reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame right now. I got through a few hundred pages this morning. It's one of my favorite stories.

I've only read the translated version. And, after closing up the book, my first impression was, what the hell has Disney done to it...
Keep on reading it