What Are You Reading?

[sriq]

Currently reading Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto, Country Teacher by Katai Tayama, and Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Akinari Ueda!

The first is a semi-chick-lit book about two cousins, by an author who always knows how to get an emotional response out of me. The second is a creative non-fiction book written in the early 20th century, based off a young school teacher's diary. And the third is a collection of 18th century ghost stories, largely drawing from ancient Asian folklore.

I also recently bought The Kiso Road: The Life and Times of Shimazaki Toson and Matsuo Basho by Makoto Ueda. The Kiso Road is a biography on Shimazaki Toson that I've been excited to get after looking through some of his novels that have been translated, as he seemed to have led a very interesting life. The second one I picked up because of a poetry paper on Basho I was doing, and I love it. It has sections for his different poetry forms, a biography, Basho's critiques of other poetry, and a lovely ending section detailing his lasting influence on haiku, poetry, and literature in general.

I'm a big fan of Japanese literature, if you can't tell :x

Also, my Goodreads is goodreads.com/sriq, if anyone else is into that.

[sadmemories20]

Ian Fleming - Live And Let Die

[mesh control]

Finally started reading Jack Kerouac's Big Sur, again.

I'm happy I'm about done with it, as Dharma Bums made me happy and optimistic as I read it, this book is doing the complete opposite. It does however have some bright points that made me smile a bit. I don't know really what to say.


Next book I read will definately be on my Kindle, seeing that I haven't used it at all since I bought it a couple months ago. Then again, I have a pile of Fante and some misc. stuff piled up in my room.

[maxlords]

Nothing so highbrow....

The Baker's Boy by J.V. Jones

The Alchemist's Apprentice by Dave Duncan

I think that's it right now...

[GaijinPunch]

Finally read a book after about 18 months:
The Financial Lives of Poets. Given to me by a wife's friend for a recent plane ride. Read about half of the 300 pages on the plane. Really easy read. Funny. Took me a while to find the time to finish it though, but I did. Recommended.

[Skykid]

Just finished Heavier Than Heaven, the biography of Kurt Cobain.

Very well written, but boy, it's sobering stuff.

[idchappy]

I shamefully havent read a book in years, the last one was the final Harry Potter book

[xris]

Still been reading a ton! I've been mostly using Goodreads as a metatracker for it, but I have been able to find some neat stuff to read because of the site.
Went through a couple more YA series. The Uglies series was rather good, it hits that sweet spot of dystopian fiction that is all the rage. One of the better series I've read.
Inside Out was really interesting, life in an overpopulated cube, great ending. The second book Outside In kinda sucked.
Escape From Furnace about a youth prison gone terribly wrong. The first book was cool, but the series really started to drag after that, the second book was very bleak. I dunno, I can't really suggest reading this.
Yeah, I've read a few other things, but don't really want to list it all off. If you wanna see a complete listing, send me a PM, and I'll give you details for my Goodreads profile.

[Acid King]

I just finished Shadow of the Torturer and I'm about halfway through Claw of the Conciliator. Shadow started to lose me toward the end, but Claw is an improvement. I'll definitely be picking up the second half of this series.

[RNGmaster]

Awakenings by Oliver Sacks. One of the few books about disease that doesn't freak me out and cause anxiety attacks, and also a really interesting exploration of encephalitis (if you can get past Sacks' love of prolix). Lately also finished a book about invented languages, and felt a really disturbing urge to learn Klingon, but it quickly passed.

[CMoon]

I'm reading Michael Jackson's (no, not THAT Michael Jackson) Beer Companion, but mostly because I'm taking a beer judging class shortly. It's too bad I'm not reading it for pleasure as it's a nice book.

[Siren2011]

Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus. The subject matter is very difficult for me to wrap my head around, but a friend who is an expert logician --and therefore understands everything that LW has said in both the Tractatus as well as his work titled "On Certainty"-- is helping me with it. I am very fortunate to have met her. On my own there is no way in hell I can understand him, regardless of how interesting I find his work to be.

[Acid King]

Cursed From Birth by William S Burroughs Jr - A depressing read. Basically an edited collection put together from pieces found after he died. The book is made up of pieces of writing from Billy, statements from other people about him and correspondence. It follows his life after the publication of Kentucky Ham and the decline of his health and eventual death. He had some heavy emotional baggage and he just destroys himself. What a shitty way to go. Some really darkly funny stuff in this one. One of my favorite bits is after his liver transplant. He gets an infection and port in his abdomen has to be enlarged. Having spent a lot of time in the hospital, I can only imagine how he felt when the nurse reacts to it.

"The wound, as I called it, was three inches across, eighteen inches long, and as deep as my backbone. I was gutted like a Halloween pig. It couldn't be stitched up because of infection danger and I had to heal from the inside out. When the nurse first saw it, she said, "Oh my God!" Which scared me to death. Just what I needed. And it had to be washed out with saline at least three times a day and disinfected. Slosh it in with a squirting machine, suck it out with a vacuum machine. The first time I looked down at what they were doing, I said it, too: "Oh my God!" I didn't look down there again for weeks."

The Wild Boys by William S Burroughs - Despite the blurbs on the jacket, this is not one of his better works. The cut ups and collages are better in other stuff and the lucid bits aren't as out there or interesting.

After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley - A nice satire about a rich guy who is so scared of death he hires a doctor to research longevity treatments. Gets bogged down by extended portions of dialogue whereby a character lectures the others on spirituality but the ending is good.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I just finished Shadow of the Torturer and I'm about halfway through Claw of the Conciliator. Shadow started to lose me toward the end, but Claw is an improvement. I'll definitely be picking up the second half of this series.

I highly recommend The Urth of the New Sun too, as well as re-reading the lot at some point. It loops delightfully and you might find even the parts when it lost you more compelling second time around.

[Square King]

Just finished Abhorsen by Garth Nix, the third in the trilogy, last night. Yeah, I read young adult fantasy every so often, what of it?

About to start White Noise by Don DeLillo.

[Randorama]

Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus. The subject matter is very difficult for me to wrap my head around, but a friend who is an expert logician --and therefore understands everything that LW has said in both the Tractatus as well as his work titled "On Certainty"-- is helping me with it. I am very fortunate to have met her. On my own there is no way in hell I can understand him, regardless of how interesting I find his work to be.

The Tractatus is a deeply overrated book. It is a foundational work in Logic, but many people confuse it with some kind of sacred text (e.g. the guy known as "Icycalm"). I find Wittgenstein to be very overrated, honestly. His attempts to destroy mentalism have been even worse than Skinner's behaviourism, in terms of negative impact on philosophy and science. I am well-versed in logic and philosophy, btw.

[sjewkestheloon]

Just finished Abhorsen by Garth Nix, the third in the trilogy, last night. Yeah, I read young adult fantasy every so often, what of it?

About to start White Noise by Don DeLillo.

If you like YA fantasy you need to try Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy, starting with The Knife of Never Letting Go. I'm halfway through the second and it is an absolutely stunning romp.

White Noise is great too, kind of an ur-text of American postmodernism and pretty damn funny to boot.

[Jockel]

Started "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in German and "Peer Harassment in School" in English recently.
I enjoy the former way more than the latter.

[Siren2011]

The Tractatus is a deeply overrated book.

I can neither confirm nor deny that, since I have yet to understand most if not all of the ideas contained within it. But to make such a claim without a shred of reasoning supporting it just reeks of hipster-talk to me.

And for the record, I do not consider what that man (Alex) says to be gospel. I disagree with him on a few points, one being his claim that "it is a mistake to believe that one gets his power from other people." My Grand Master at my last Tae Kwon Do school went through brutal, vigorous annual sparring sessions against his rival school when he was in college. Everything was on the line at these events, and his peers counted on each other to pull through, even as they got the snot beaten out of them. Nothing else mattered but winning. They couldn't just give up and let down everyone. It is this mentality that made Master Lee win tournaments again and again. Seeing the faces of his comrades gave him motivation to win. Of course, some of his power came from within, but knowing you're not alone helps a lot. Sun Tsu wouldn't have won all of those epic battles if it was just him against everyone else. A man's power can come from other people. Even if I am wrong about this for some reason, at least I saw the matter from my perspective instead of taking the "book philosopher" route (someone who blindly sides with, collects, and uses the opinions of philosophers without knowing what they mean or formulating his own).

Started "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in German.

Cool. I found that book to be the most enjoyable out of the three Nietzsche books I've read.

[Jockel]

Started "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in German.

Cool. I found that book to be the most enjoyable out of the three Nietzsche books I've read.

Yeah, it's thought-provoking and downright funny at times.

[Danza]

I liked Thus Spoke Zarathustra a lot when I was younger, typically I suppose. Its quite a lonely book really.

I'm reading Snow Country by Kawabata at the moment.

[Randorama]

I can neither confirm nor deny that, since I have yet to understand most if not all of the ideas contained within it. But to make such a claim without a shred of reasoning supporting it just reeks of hipster-talk to me.

Ok, but I also said this:

It is a foundational work in Logic, but many people confuse it with some kind of sacred text

Aside Alex/Icycalm, there are legions of academics (my original target) who are not into Logic and cite/analyze the Tractatus as offering crucial, unquestionable insights on other topics. I am sorry not to be specific, but this cottage industry is so vast that I am a bit at loss on where to start from with examples. I would suggest you to read the "Language of Thought" by Jerry Fodor (1975!), which contains a critique of Wittgenstein's arguments in detail. If I can remember which one is it, I will post a work by Fodor in which he bashes people taking the Tractatus as a sort of "bible" of the philosopher.

Sorry for skipping the rest, I am not sure I follow you on the long paragraph.

Even if I am wrong about this for some reason, at least I saw the matter from my perspective instead of taking the "book philosopher" route (someone who blindly sides with, collects, and uses the opinions of philosophers without knowing what they mean or formulating his own).

Well, a good 95% of academic philosophers side with big shots and defend the big shots' claims against other people's claims. Hence, there are hordes of Wittgensteinian defenders, since he was enormously influential. Already after publishing the Tractatus, his academic peers called him "God", or something like that.

[null1024]

Happily reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy [and all the other books in the trilogy, sans the 6th].
There's just something great about Douglas Adams' writing.

[Siren2011]

I would suggest you to read the "Language of Thought" by Jerry Fodor (1975!), which contains a critique of Wittgenstein's arguments in detail.

Thanks, I'll have to check that out. The last part made me think of what he said in the forward in the Tractatus,

On the other hand the truth of the thoughts that are here communicated seems to me unassailable and definitive.

That is a damn bold statement, but I still don't know whether to make heads or tails of it.

One of the main problems I have with the Tractatus (which other readers might have as well) is knowing how to apply the ideas within it to practical use. (Is the book's main purpose to help people to speak and write without semantical errors, or is there more to it than that? Somehow I get the impression that both are true.) I have the same problem with Friedrich Nietzsche's work...as well as mathematics, but that's another can of worms.

Already after publishing the Tractatus, his academic peers called him "God", or something like that.

I don't know where the source of that information is from, but a red flag goes up in my head upon reading it. If he really impacted some people's lives that greatly, then why don't I feel the same way after reading it? I guess it's because I cannot "get" what he's saying. It would be great if there was some sort of prerequisite to grasping his ideas. At least then I could say, "Oh, so THAT'S why I couldn't understand him. I have to be familiar with ___ and __." I am by no means a logician; I am merely a 22 year old student at University of Houston who can't even pass an Algebra test.

[Randorama]

One of the main problems I have with the Tractatus (which other readers might have as well) is knowing how to apply the ideas within it to practical use

The common wisdom on the book's goais that it had to identify the relationship between language and reality, and define the limits of science. Given the rather abstract of this goal, I don't think that the Tractatus was meant to be used as a practical use in mind, to be fair.

Pure Logic and Mathematics share one thing: their application and use is not a driving research principle on the Logician/Mathematician's agenda. Various branches of Philosophy (e.g. Philosophical Logic) have also the same characteristic.

I don't know where the source of that information is from, but a red flag goes up in my head upon reading it. If he really impacted some people's lives that greatly, then why don't I feel the same way after reading it? I guess it's because I cannot "get" what he's saying.

My tongue-in-cheek explanation is that you're not a professional academic who tried to wrestle with certain topics for ages, so you wouldn't be particularly impacted by the very general and succint propositions of the tractatus.

In a sense, the tractatus synthesized in a very compact way a number of notions that people were trying to pin-point for a while. So, it made life much easier for a certain type of people, and mystified everyone else. If somehow reading it would have solved you a lot of problems in life, I'd guess you would have found it a milestone.

It would be great if there was some sort of prerequisite to grasping his ideas.

The Stanford's encyclopedia of Philosophy (here) has a useful entry, with a lot of references. I guess that some basics of Logic (well, knowledge of First Order Logic) should help you, too.

[moozooh]

While I deeply respect Wittgenstein for his eternal pursuit of exactness of speech, based on the accounts of his peers, he actually struggled to talk like a normal person would be expected to, instead taking ample time and effort finding the exact words he wanted to use, ultimately making his speech disjointed. I can definitely relate to his ideals, but human language — natural language — is by far not a perfect medium for them; some of its greatest assets are flexibility and polysemanticism. Metaphors were his pet peeve. Carl Popper, who was his rival at the time, had, on the other hand, a perfectly fluid speech that was no less concise in terms of relaying the author's thoughts. Interesting subject though! And here's some related comic relief.

all the other books in the trilogy, sans the 6th

Haha, that's a good one!


Currently reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's odd; I'm about 2/5 in, and in what I've read so far most major characters' stories could be loosely summarized as "I have an unhappy marriage or fuck with whom I shouldn't, it goes downhill from here, and then I die lonely". Gotta keep reading though, I wonder what'll come next.

[maxlords]

I minored in philosophy in university myself. It's been a while, but between Randorama and Siren I think the salient points are mentioned. In short, a lot of the most famous philosophical works such as the Tractatus are VERY VERY specific logical excercises that try to target certain hypotheses (and sometimes seem to succeed). The problems arise when people start trying to take them out of their contexts and apply them to a larger real-world view. They often sort of fit, but that's not the original intent of most philosophical essays. Gets very frustrating when you try to read a layman's analysis.

Oh yeah, and I'm currently reading:

The Baker's Boy by J.V. Jones (still...but I'm only reading it at work on breaks so cut me some slack!)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (kobo...on my phone!)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

[mortified_penguin]

Machine of Death, because, you know, after Crime and Punishment I needed something cheerful. Most of the stories so far are meh but there are a few gems here and there.

[Drum]

Started "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in German and "Peer Harassment in School" in English recently.
I enjoy the former way more than the latter.

I don't think you can get into Nietzsche unless you have peer harrassment in school though.

yuk yuk

[Marurun]

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins. Such an annoying book since it starts out very interesting and then becomes sappy half way through before becoming interesting again.