Reader's Corner

I love to read and have spent the majority of my life with my nose in a book. I love everything about books, even down to the way they smell. So, feel free to answer any or all of the following questions, or come up with your own reading/book related topics…I don't care, let's just talk about reading.

What are you reading right now and what do you think about it?

What are your all time favorite books?

What books would you recommend for others to read (please answer this because I'm running out of good books to read lol)?

Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?

Do you read anything other than books, like journals, news, blogs, the backs of cereal boxes, whatever…?

So I just finished reading a clinical book about the interpersonal neurobiology of healing trauma. I wouldn't recommend it unless you work in a clinical mental health setting or are really into neuroscience.

I would, however, recommend some of my favorite books.

Fiction:
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy By Douglas Adams
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
John Dies at the End by David Wong
This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins

Non-Fiction:
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung
Modern Man in Search of a Soul by Carl Jung
Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

Edit: also must recommend The Tao of Pooh

I was just thinking last night, 'Why is there no reading thread? There should be one.' And bam, here it is.

I love reading too, always have. I've been known to get deeply engrossed in textbooks (especially anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and psychology), and I love science articles (especially theoretical or particle physics and astronomy). I also love non-fiction history. Joseph Campbell is one of my favorite authors.

However, what I love most is fiction, hands down. A great story to me cannot be beat for sheer layers of rich gifts to the reader - topmost layer being entertainment, of course. If that's all a book has to offer, I don't enjoy it much, though; what I love are great stories that go deep, the ones that are metaphors for uncomfortable truths, that hold up a mirror to society or to myself that gives disconcerting clarity through the prism of 'let's pretend'. A lot of mythology is like that, but plenty of modern things to choose from as well.

Some favorites of mine are Duma Key by Stephen King - he gets a bad rap for sensationalism, and there's some stuff of his that I didn't enjoy, but he is absolutely brilliant at characterization and dialog, in my opinion - Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice - she gets pedantic at times, especially when she decides she has no need of an editor but I enjoy a lot of her stuff regardless - Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, The Mabinogion (old Celtic myths), The Picture of Dorian Grey - always am sad that Oscar Wilde didn't have more novels published - and Crime & Punishment by Dostoevsky.

At the moment I'm reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and enjoying it tremendously.

To me, reading and writing are inseparable, though I don't know if that's true for everyone. I did have a book published myself several years back that was my own attempt at allegory in myth-retold format. It enjoyed a very modest local success, but I regret writing it now because it was done at the request of a group with whose philosophy I now strongly disagree.

More recently, for my own enjoyment, I've written a murder mystery, a sci-fi, and a myth retold that I doubt I'll submit for publication - I just write them because the characters don't shut up otherwise, and I enjoy it so much.

Thalia wrote: I was just thinking last night, 'Why is there no reading thread? There should be one.' And bam, here it is.

I love reading too, always have. I've been known to get deeply engrossed in textbooks (especially anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and psychology), and I love science articles (especially theoretical or particle physics and astronomy). I also love non-fiction history. Joseph Campbell is one of my favorite authors.

Glad we are on the same page, because I was wondering where it was as well.

I have done this as well, even outside of class. The book I just finished on interpersonal neurobiology was from a textbook series. lol

Have you read any of Brian Greene's work? If not, you might enjoy him.

Thalia wrote: However, what I love most is fiction, hands down. A great story to me cannot be beat for sheer layers of rich gifts to the reader - topmost layer being entertainment, of course. If that's all a book has to offer, I don't enjoy it much, though; what I love are great stories that go deep, the ones that are metaphors for uncomfortable truths, that hold up a mirror to society or to myself that gives disconcerting clarity through the prism of 'let's pretend'. A lot of mythology is like that, but plenty of modern things to choose from as well.

I love futuristic dystopian novels (e.g., Brave New World, 1984, etc.) for this exact same reason. I also enjoy some philosophy dressed up as fiction (i.e., The Stranger, Anthem) for this reason.

Thalia wrote: At the moment I'm reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and enjoying it tremendously.

When I first picked up this book I remembered thinking it was a lot slower than the other stuff I had read by him. I read both Stardust and Neverwhere in single sittings. It took more than one sitting to read the entire book, but it ended up being one of my very favorites. I also really like mythology, so this book had a lot of references that I enjoyed. But one of the reasons it took me so long to read was that I kept getting side tracked researching the mythology of the different Gods mentioned (even those in Shadow's dreams).

Thalia wrote: To me, reading and writing are inseparable, though I don't know if that's true for everyone. I did have a book published myself several years back that was my own attempt at allegory in myth-retold format. It enjoyed a very modest local success, but I regret writing it now because it was done at the request of a group with whose philosophy I now strongly disagree.

More recently, for my own enjoyment, I've written a murder mystery, a sci-fi, and a myth retold that I doubt I'll submit for publication - I just write them because the characters don't shut up otherwise, and I enjoy it so much.

Impressive. Maybe someday I will be able to convince you to share the name so I can try to find a copy. Maybe you will also share some of your new work with us.

I also use to love to write stories and poetry when I was younger, but then a formal education in the sciences sort of beat creative writing out of me. I can write an awesome research paper though (not a good trade IMO).

Ahhh. John Dies at the End? I watched the movie version of it, and the cracked writer's pretty awesome. I'm glad to see you recommend the book. Gonna read it this summer even if it kills me. Or John.

The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat sounds interesting, as much as I stay away from nonfiction...

Currently, I'm reading A Fool's Errand by Albion Tourgee (with a fancy little eyebrow over the last e). It's an assigned book, so that takes a little bit of the joy out of it. It's also nonfiction masquerading as fiction, but it characterizes the problems faced in the south after the Civil War really well. It's best enjoyed in spurts, or you get a little overwhelmed with antebellum debates and pig-headed southerners and understanding northerners.

As for favorites (which doubles as recommendations, because if I like them, of course they're amazing and everyone should like them)...
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: the movie disappointed
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: will have to rotate the book to read in some spots. Might sleep with the light on.
The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis: the kind of book that you put down and stare at the wall for a week
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami: wot? huh? dunno what's going on. still don't. it's over? what happened.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones: magical, satirical, beautiful
Remembering the Good Times by Richard Peck: the kind of book that you put down and curl into a fetal position and miss your childhood

A lot of these are nostalgic holdovers that I read when I was in middle school or 9th grade, but they're all very good.

Also, Thalia! You should share some of the stuff you're writing. Especially the myth retold; I love myths retold.

Thesaurusrex wrote: Ahhh. John Dies at the End? I watched the movie version of it, and the cracked writer's pretty awesome. I'm glad to see you recommend the book. Gonna read it this summer even if it kills me. Or John.

If you enjoy this one, definitely read the second one, This Book is Full of Spiders. I think the second might be better than the first. My best friend heard me laughing hysterically alone in my room while reading both of these books, like a crazy person, but they were both just that funny. He takes a wrecking ball to the normal structure of the English language and reorganizes it in the mostly hilariously descriptive ways. I think you would really enjoy. The book is just thousands of times better than the movie, per usual.

Thesaurusrex wrote: As for favorites (which doubles as recommendations, because if I like them, of course they're amazing and everyone should like them)...
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: the movie disappointed
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: will have to rotate the book to read in some spots. Might sleep with the light on.
The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis: the kind of book that you put down and stare at the wall for a week
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami: wot? huh? dunno what's going on. still don't. it's over? what happened.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones: magical, satirical, beautiful
Remembering the Good Times by Richard Peck: the kind of book that you put down and curl into a fetal position and miss your childhood.

I am going to add these to my list, which is usually what happens when I get recommendations from a person whose mind I respect and admire. I'm glad that there aren't any Christopher Pike or R.L. Stine recommendations in here.

I want to start with House of Leaves, because it looked like the strangest book I have ever seen when you showed me in chat. This of course makes it irresistible.

... but I love Christopher Pike
Time has dampened the love though. Some of my fondest book-memories are checking out new Pike books from the library in middle school though. For better or for worse, I think he even shaped some of my religious views. With less emphasis on Hinduism and throwing Krishna into every book.

House of Leaves IS irresistible. You can't beat a guy with mommy issues reading a review of a movie about a house with a super big closet written by a blind man. I still don't completely understand it. I think I tend to like books that make me feel like curling up and dying when I'm through or just sitting there saying, "What?" for the next few hours.

Thesaurusrex wrote: ... but I love Christopher Pike
Time has dampened the love though. Some of my fondest book-memories are checking out new Pike books from the library in middle school though. For better or for worse, I think he even shaped some of my religious views. With less emphasis on Hinduism and throwing Krishna into every book.

House of Leaves IS irresistible. You can't beat a guy with mommy issues reading a review of a movie about a house with a super big closet written by a blind man. I still don't completely understand it. I think I tend to like books that make me feel like curling up and dying when I'm through or just sitting there saying, "What?" for the next few hours.

I read those books in grade school too, so I can't judge. I just like teasing you because I know how obsessively I read them too.

Also, if you like books that make you go, "huh?" You should read Naked Lunch by W.S. Burroughs (we have the same bday). He wrote it on a heroin binge all over random sheets of paper that were assembled in "order" of however they thought they might actually fit into an order. I thought my brain my start bleeding when I read it. lol

nanox wrote: What are you reading right now and what do you think about it?

What are your all time favorite books?

What books would you recommend for others to read (please answer this because I'm running out of good books to read lol)?

Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?

Do you read anything other than books, like journals, news, blogs, the backs of cereal boxes, whatever…?

For books written in the English language, the most recent one I've read is: No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State . I only read non-fiction books because I don't have time for fictional stories unless they're really good.

I also spend lots of time reading scientific (mostly medical) journals, so neuroscience isn't exactly that unfamiliar to me. If I were to recommend a book related to this subject, it would be: Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist . The book summarizes what we know about consciousness, through the perspective of a neuroscientist who tried (but failed) to find an explanation for the existence of such a seemingly unexplainable mind-body phenomenon.

Alternatively, check out the Achives of General Knowledge , which I consider to be the best publication ever written !

kamasutra beastiality edition