What are you reading?

A place to discuss your favorite authors and poets, Christian and secular

Postby yukinon » Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:40 pm

1984 is an incredibly good and creepy book that I randomly picked up in the library sometime in high school-having absolutely NO idea what it was. Interesting indeed.
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Postby dyzzispell » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:55 pm

Shadowmancer by G.P Taylor.
When I finish that, I'm going on to Black by Ted Dekker.
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Postby Fionn Fael » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:09 pm

I'm reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. Crazy stuff.

Locke wrote:Finished 1984 and starting The Adventures Of Huckleberry Fin tomorrow.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is pretty much the height of awesomeness.
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"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." -Matthew 11:28

"Even when our eyes are closed, there's a whole world out there that lives outside ourselves and our dreams." --Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist

“To put alcohol in the human is like putting sand in the bearing of an engine." --Thomas Edison

[color="RoyalBlue"][font="Trebuchet MS"]The simplest way that I can understand therapy is that we're born a certain way, we're taught to be something different, and we spend our whole lives trying to unravel it and ultimately align ourselves with who we really are. Life, experiences, traumas -- whatever -- they all add up to make you some altered version of what you are. So there's this battle that goes on between what you are and what you become, and it's been very important for me to unravel what I was taught to be or what I became. and to draw a direct parallel to music -- the closer I get back to being who I really am, the stronger the music gets..." --Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins frontman)[/font][/color]

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Postby Kaori » Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:20 am

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, by Patricia McKillip. Aside from a few corny lines it was a good read; I like the author's emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation.

The Winds of Mars
, by H. M. Hoover. Some of her other books are fairly good; this one, however, is eminently forgettable.

The Princess and the Goblin
, by George MacDonald. I liked this book fairly well, but not as well as his short story "The Golden Key," which is still the best MacDonald work that I've read.
Let others believe in the God who brings men to trial and judges them. I shall cling to the God who resurrects the dead.
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Postby bigsleepj » Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:06 pm

"Maus" by Art Spiegelman. Very good so far, but rather shocking.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Sun Jul 23, 2006 6:12 pm

Is it the constrast between the subject matter and the art style that gives out that impression, or simply the atrocities that are addressed? It would be interesting if you happen to be reading it due to my earlier post about it, because (as you know) I finished The Man Who Was Thursday the same day I began reading it. Full commentary would take far too much time and brief comments wouldn't do the book justice.

Meanwhile, I read (though rather quickly) 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. Typically I'm highly skeptical of "to-heaven-and-back" stories, but this is the first one I really like. It is interesting to note that of the 18 chapters in the book, only two are about his experience in heaven. The rest chronicles the extremely painful recovery process, both in body and spirit.

What really sets it apart for me is the fact that it addresses human suffering so directly. He doesn't gloss over the unpleasant details that would keep the story from being heartwarming. He actually asks some skeptical questions about his own experience and certainly asks logical ones such as why God would bring him back only to endure constant pain and significantly reduced physical functioning. But I think the story is all the more powerful for that.
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Postby Linksquest » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:17 pm

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones yesterday... and to tell you the truth I was less than impressed. To be completely frank it is one of the worst books that I have ever read. After all the hype about it I was expecting it to be an amazing read. After the first few sexual encounters described in the novel, I suddenly became disinterested in it. Some of the passages were well written, yes, but when [Spoiler] Susie goes into Ruth's body only to have sex with her previous boyfriend and not try at all to get her murderer that was so odd that I seriously lost all my respect for the author. I no longer knew what Susie's drive in her "heaven" had been... She had been watching her family and watching her murderer... and I was expecting some sort of great climax... that Susie would run after her killer in the body of Ruth and have some huge confrontation before she ended his life. The icicle at the end was cleaver and the weapon to kill her murderer... but the off-hand way in which Susie described it only added to my un-satisfied condition as I turned the last page. [/SPOILER]

The Lovely Bones ends up being a book that has a questionable audience. Exactly WHO was this written for? The sexual content (though not completely grahpic) makes it innaproprite for kids the ages of the protagonist, 14.
If it was written with adults in mind, it still falls flat because of it's faltering message... "Lovely Bones" being the family trying to cope with Susie's death and come together despite the tragedy... this book is not a family book.

I DO NOT recommend this book at all, and if you have any questions about it I would be more that glad to answer them if you PM me.
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Postby DaughterOfZion » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:32 pm

crown duel by sherwood smith. young adult so its clean. its a renissance story(sp?)
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Postby Phantom_Sorano » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:40 pm

"The Prince" by Niccoli Machiavelli.
Jeremiah 29:11-"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players; they have their entrances and their exits and one man in his time plays many parts."-Will Shakespeare
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Postby QtheQreater » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:17 pm

Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. Good reading for those who like Greek myth.
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Postby SnoringFrog » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:48 pm

Dr. Jekkel and Mr. Hyde by Rober Louis Stevenson is what I'm working on now, having just finished New Spring by Robert Jordan, which was an amazing book.
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Postby mitsuki lover » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:16 pm

Believe it or not I am reading:Dear Mr.Ripley,A Compendium of Curioddities from
the Believe It or Not! Archives.
What is interesting is that each section includes untouched photographs of the actual people or objects that they submitted to Ripley that he later used as reference material to draw his cartoons.And believe it or not there was a postmaster in Iowa who spent years trying to disprove the claims in Ripleys.As of
1970 he had written over 20,000 letters to the inidiviuals involved and had gotten
over 10,000 replies,none of which either contradicted or disproved the claims in
Ripley's.BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
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Postby Authority3000 » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:28 pm

Monster - Frank Peretti

The Case for Christ - Lee Strobel

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
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Postby Angel37 » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:36 pm

I just finished Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys for my second time through....it's confuzzling...@.@ If anyone wants to discuss it's possible meanings, please pm me.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:53 pm

Binge by Barrett Seaman

It's about the "secret life" of college students. Since I always find it funny to read about my own demographic, I picked it up recently to browse. To my surprise, it is fascinating, as it combines the author's personal studies with a great many statistics and stories from others. An interesting look at general trends in our higher educational systems.

Authority3000 wrote:Monster - Frank Peretti

The Case for Christ - Lee Strobel

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

I like that combination. In the future I'll have to watch for your posts.
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Postby bigsleepj » Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:35 am

uc pseudonym wrote:Is it the constrast between the subject matter and the art style that gives out that impression, or simply the atrocities that are addressed? It would be interesting if you happen to be reading it due to my earlier post about it...


Hmmm. I was not aware of an earlier post about "Maus". I came across it without looking for it at a comic book shop. But the contrast between the art and the subject matter does make it rather disturbing, but it would have been that way even if the characters were depicted as humans. The thing that really struck me about the book was the many emotional currents running through the book. It wasn't just horror, but the author's feelings of guilt, remorse, melancholy, anger, hatred, frustration and a fractured love for a father who seems at first glance bent on making life miserable for those around him. Maus is a good depiction of obsessive godless absurdity of the Nazi war-machine, but what makes it an incredible story is the idea that traumatic occurences can be felt generations after they happened.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:22 pm

bigsleepj wrote:Hmmm. I was not aware of an earlier post about "Maus".

I read it earlier this year and posted about it at least once here, so I thought it might be possibly not just a coincidence. No matter.

bigsleepj wrote:The thing that really struck me about the book was the many emotional currents running through the book.

Yes, I feel this was done well. What I really think elevates it above many similar stories is the modern day aspects and how they relate to the "main" story. Especially how his father is a character that is difficult to like despite the horrors that he went through.
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Postby bigsleepj » Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:30 pm

uc pseudonym wrote:Yes, I feel this was done well. What I really think elevates it above many similar stories is the modern day aspects and how they relate to the "main" story. Especially how his father is a character that is difficult to like despite the horrors that he went through.


Exactly! That's what makes it so excellent! :)
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Postby VashTheStampede » Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:30 am

Shock Wave by Clive Cussler
I felt Your hands move mine aside, as those nails were driven down [[color=Gold]†][/color]
"There is a time for everything. A season for every purpose under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

~Do not have feelings of animosity and resentment towards the depressing times in your life, but turn to God in praise for the days He gives you. Along with the times of joy He blesses you with, also come the times of hardship. For how can one reach for the stars without darkness?~

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

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Postby HisaishiFan » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:52 am

Angel37, have you read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte? Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequal of sorts, written by a different author.

Hmm, I'm reading The Princess Bride by William Goldman (extremely funny, as good or better than the movie). Its about true love and high adventure . . . anyway, at least the good parts, anyway!

Just finished Vol. 3 of Naoki Urasawa's Monster. It follows a young Japanese doctor as he tries to track down a murdering psychopath, whom he rescued from a gun shot wound to the head when he was a boy. I'm totally hooked. It is way more than that (there are conspiracies, etc.)
But even if we don't feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings and He knows everything. 1 John 3:20 :angel:

Delight in utter trust.
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Postby Technomancer » Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:55 pm

'Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate' by William F. Ruddiman

This book makes a strong case that pre-industrial human societies have had a significant impact on the Earth's climate.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.

Neil Postman
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Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge

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Postby mitsuki lover » Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:54 pm

The Inklings.The group biography of C.S. Lewis,J.R.R.Tolkien and Charles Williams and friends.This is also the book that mentions the Lewis brothers' latent anti-Catholicism and Tolkien's changing view of Lewis after Lewis died.It should be noted that the Lewis brothers'(C.S."Jack" and Warren "Warnie")view of the Catholic church was part and parcel of their Ulster upbringing.C.S.Lewis when young even was supicious of the High or Anglo-Catholic side of Anglianism.
Charles Williams was unlike Lewis and Tolkien not as dogmatic in his beliefs.
Interesting he was an actual member of the Golden Dawn.
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Postby HisaishiFan » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:10 am

Ooh, I love Charles Williams. Although, I guess, some folks think he rather overdoes it a bit (the dead girls walked, in the land of the dead, etc. - yeah, we know they are dead.)
But even if we don't feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings and He knows everything. 1 John 3:20 :angel:

Delight in utter trust.
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:03 pm

Reading Eragon now. I wanna finish it before the movie comes out (or at least before it leaves theaters).
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Postby Aka-chan » Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:40 pm

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More by Roald Dahl
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Wed Aug 02, 2006 7:56 am

Oooh! Roald Dahl! I used to love his stuff as a kid! Charlie and the Chocolate factory of course, and the lesser-known sequel Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator. And I read the heck out of The Twits. And that's only a few.
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Postby Bunny » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:03 am

I used to love Roald Dahl too. James and the Giant Peach taught me to call my brother a repulsive swine at 9. I couldn't figure out if my mom was proud of my vocabulary or wanted to punish me. Probably both.

In the middle of two books.

The Cost of Discipleship- Bon Hoeffer.

The God of the Small Things- Arundahti Roy (so beautiful. ^^)
"So David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the LORD. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor."

2 Samuel 6: 21&22



"I am going to take this bucket of water and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of heaven or fear of hell, but because He is God."

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Postby mitsuki lover » Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:08 pm

Finished with The Inklings.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:07 pm

Bunny wrote:The Cost of Discipleship- Bon Hoeffer.

I believe you mean Dietrich Bonhoeffer. That isn't meant to simply be nitpicking, but I note it because I found the book very interesting. How far are you in it right now? It is difficult reading, in my mind (translation rarely improves texts, either), but worth the thoughts involved.
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Postby QtheQreater » Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:28 pm

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens
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