What Books Are You Guys Reading?

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

Back to books though, have you read any Sherman Alexie books? I would venture a guess that you would enjoy his humor...

dont act like you know me or what i would enjoy, you goddamn street rat.

[Graydon 0]

Hmmm, well alright.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

Hmmm, well alright.

you have so much to learn, so fuck what you know. you need to forget about what you know, that's your problem. forget about what you think you know about life, about friendship, and especially about you and me. just remember, sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.

[Graydon 0]

Fight Club??? I have that book.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

Fight Club??? I have that book.

I have to return some videotapes.

[dolfan 0]

The Road was great. I'll see the movie, hopefully without a preconceived notion that it will be disappointing.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

The Road was great. I'll see the movie, hopefully without a preconceived notion that it will be disappointing.

good luck with that.

[checkymcfold 0]

currently muddling through naomi klein's the shock doctrine and gearing up for a full-frontal assault on james joyce after the holidays.

[DinkDonk 1]

currently muddling through naomi klein's the shock doctrine and gearing up for a full-frontal assault on james joyce after the holidays.

I've become a bit of a fan of hers after hearing her on Real Time with Bill Maher and will probably read this as well at some point. I also enjoy James Joyce and need to read a bit more. I have so much stuff to read and yet so little initiative. It's frustrating.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

currently muddling through naomi klein's the shock doctrine and

Hippie

gearing up for a full-frontal assault on james joyce after the holidays.

Solid. Dubliners and PofaAaaYM is are two of my favorites all time. I've failed to read Ulysses a few times, I should really try again. Finnegan's wake I respect, as a concept, but not as an actual activity for me to engage in.

[checkymcfold 0]

Hippie

at least someone spelled it right this time.

Solid. Dubliners and PofaAaaYM is are two of my favorites all time. I've failed to read Ulysses a few times, I should really try again. Finnegan's wake I respect, as a concept, but not as an actual activity for me to engage in.

yea, i've read dubliners a while back, and remember super liking it, but i'll probably read it again before going after ulysses and FW, in that order. gotta save the impossible for last, i always say.

[checkymcfold 0]

I've become a bit of a fan of hers after hearing her on Real Time with Bill Maher and will probably read this as well at some point. I also enjoy James Joyce and need to read a bit more. I have so much stuff to read and yet so little initiative. It's frustrating.

she's so smart, despite being canadian. and the reason it's taking me so long to read it is that i'm actually checking up on a lot of her citations (it's meticulously cited, largely because it goes directly in the face of a lot of american free market mythologies), and she hasn't failed one yet. i'm none but impressed.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

at least someone spelled it right this time.

Just who the hell do you think you are to belittle the Hippy Gourmet like thathttp://www.hippygourmet.com/

yea, i've read dubliners a while back, and remember super liking it, but i'll probably read it again before going after ulysses and FW, in that order. gotta save the impossible for last, i always say.

Have you read portrait of an artist as a young man? That's in my top ten borderline top 5 ( and that borderline is how pretentious do I want to seem, if as much as possible, it cracks the top 5).

[checkymcfold 0]

Just who the hell do you think you are to belittle the Hippy Gourmet like thathttp://www.hippygourmet.com/

i hereby challenge that douche to a pot smoking/cooking contest. i'll fuck him up good.

Have you read portrait of an artist as a young man? That's in my top ten borderline top 5 ( and that borderline is how pretentious do I want to seem, if as much as possible, it cracks the top 5).

nah, not yet. i downloaded it as an audiobook for a long car ride once, but it was all garbled and didn't work right. but yeah, i think i should read that too, maybe.

[DinkDonk 1]

I've only read a couple of stories from Dubliners, but I am a pretty huge fan of Joyce's style. I loves me some straightforward descriptive prose.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

i hereby challenge that douche to a pot smoking/cooking contest. i'll fuck him up good.nah, not yet. i downloaded it as an audiobook for a long car ride once, but it was all garbled and didn't work right. but yeah, i think i should read that too, maybe.

oh yeah, definitely, read after dubliners, but before Ulysses. It's much shorter, and while brilliant, it doesn't take the academic commitment that Ulysses does.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

I'm currently working my way through an 800-page history of the Reformation. I'm a dork. Also recently finished (within the past two months):Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Alison Weirthe Katha Upanishadfive books on Buddhismone on screenplay writingone on NASCARComing up next:The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan HaidtThe Hemings of Monticello, by Annette Gordon-Reed (and possibly some of her earlier books on the same subject as well)The Wettest County in the World, by Matt Bondurant. I was taught in elementary school by a Bondurant and they are famous moonshiners in the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia, where I grew up. This is a young Bondurant's story of his family's wilder exploits (such as cutting off a competitor's testicles, then delivering same to his hospital room the next day, preserved in a jar of moonshine).After that, three of Weir's other biographies: of Henry VIII, a combined bio of his four children, and one standalone one of Elizabeth I. I'm trying to put myself in possession, chronologically and with lighter reading thrown in for entertainment, of the knowledge of politics and religious affairs that Shakespeare would have known as he was growing up. I have this theory about Hamlet that I'm noodling out, about it being a coded exploration of Catholic and Protestant conflicts. So I want to get, inasmuch as I can, the mindset of Shakespeare as he was writing it. I also have a bunch of biographies and other Shakespeare books to get into eventually.Yep, I'm a dork all right. My Amazon wish list has over $3,000 in books on it, and I'm thinking about shutting off the cable after Obama's inauguration.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

You have to be the country's only buddhist nascar fan

[Southern Buddhist 1]

You have to be the country's only buddhist nascar fan

Did you click on the link in my sig to my NPR commentary? That's the very first line I utter: "I may be the only Buddhist who loves NASCAR racing..."I'm like that. I just love contrasts and making things fit together that seem not to.

[brvheart 1,752]

You have to be the country's only buddhist nascar fan

Seriously. Who the hell reads books about NASCAR? Can the majority of NASCAR fans even read?

[checkymcfold 0]

Seriously. Who the hell reads books about NASCAR? Can the majority of NASCAR fans even read?

lol, i was thinking the same thing.and yeah, PAYM is probably gonna happen before ulysses, mostly because i already own a copy.SB, you know of annie dillard? i'd guess that she's up your proverbial alley.

[DinkDonk 1]

lol, i was thinking the same thing.and yeah, PAYM is probably gonna happen before ulysses, mostly because i already own a copy.SB, you know of annie dillard? i'd guess that she's up your proverbial alley.

I'm quite sure I know some people who'd like to join her there.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

I'm quite sure I know some people who'd like to join her there.

Less alley, more basement.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

As for reading books about NASCAR, I read them because I wrote one.FWIW, it's called Buddha and the Bud Car: The Spiritual Wisdom of NASCAR and it will be published in November 2009. It is what it sounds like -- using NASCAR to illustrate Buddhist principles of awareness, clarity of mind, acceptance of death, etc. No, I don't expect a huge audience for it, but Buddhism often sounds too intellectual and confusing to many people, and NASCAR seems too stupid and crash-obsessed. In fact, if you listen to what drivers say when they talk about facing setbacks or dealing with the fact that every weekend they face the possibility of death, they are a remarkably wise group of people, and it occurred to me that the people they sound most like are Buddhist teachers -- only instead of using Sanskrit words and lofty phrases, they're saying things like, "You can't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow might not come." and "What's behind you doesn't matter."So I read other NASCAR books because even though I'm done writing, I'm still in the editing phase and I'm still on the lookout for those nuggets of wisdom that I can fit into the Buddhist framework. [by the way, there's actually a driver who is a practicing Buddhist -- Brian Vickers. The editors are going to ask him to blurb the book for me.] And of course, I managed to work in a few references to poker and Daniel N. as well, 'cuz I'm a fangirl.I haven't read Annie Dillard. Obviously, I've heard good things about her, but I rarely read fiction. I was a historian in school, and at some point in most fiction books, I stop and think, "Wait a minute! These people aren't real. Why am I wasting my time and emotion on them?!" and I feel somehow vaguely ripped off. Dumb, I know, since there is so much great literature. If I'm reading much fiction, it's probably Shakespeare right now, because of work as well as interest. But if I'm investing my mind in a book, I want Amelia Earhart or Sally Hemings or Hitler or someone who actually lived in my world.

[PMJackson21 0]

As for reading books about NASCAR, I read them because I wrote one.FWIW, it's called Buddha and the Bud Car: The Spiritual Wisdom of NASCAR and it will be published in November 2009.

Congratulations!