What Do you Read

My dad did a story today on those Catholic Schools banning copies of The Golden Compass from their libraries because Phillip Pullman is an atheist and the series apparently has anti-religious themes.

At any rate, he got a gorgeous free hardcover of it so I'm planning to start reading it for the first time tonight or tommorow.
 
Planet-man said:
My dad did a story today on those Catholic Schools banning copies of The Golden Compass from their libraries because Phillip Pullman is an atheist and the series apparently has anti-religious themes.
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The Golden Compass (and the rest of the books) isn't anti-religious. It's just pretty anti-institutionalized abuse of religion. It DOES skirt quite close to outright anti-God, but it doesn't cross that line.

I dislike how people try to defend the book by saying it's not 'anti-Catholic Church' when it's pretty clear it is, but at the same time, I don't think its fair to somehow project Pullman's own atheist beliefs onto what is in the books.
 
Off the top of my head, my five favourite novels of all time:

5. Jumper by Stephen Gould
4. Holes by Louis Sachar
3. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
1. Kingdom Come by Elliot S! Maggin

Edit: 1984 is still probably the best book on this list.

Also, Calvin and Hobbes are better than everything on the list.
 
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I reread American Gods, and like with each time, found new secrets.

One thing I really enjoy with Gaimen books is how he ends things. His endings are always precise, powerful, and make you smile.
 
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I've been reading a lot of Chekov's short stories recently. Mindblowing stuff. I've actually started taking Russian lessons so I can read him (and all the other Russian writers I love) in their original context.
 
Entropy said:
I've been reading a lot of Chekov's short stories recently. Mindblowing stuff. I've actually started taking Russian lessons so I can read him (and all the other Russian writers I love) in their original context.
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Russian, huh? Is that only the classics, or have you picked up the fantastic Night Watch trilogy? I think those books will become classics. They're really, really good and raise a lot of deep questions about morality and predestination.
 
TwilightEL said:
Russian, huh? Is that only the classics, or have you picked up the fantastic Night Watch trilogy? I think those books will become classics. They're really, really good and raise a lot of deep questions about morality and predestination.
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I'm not one to constrain myself, so I think it would only be a matter of time before I take a look at them. I JUST started lessons, so the time until I get fluent enough to feel comfortable reading the language is a little ways off;).
 
I just came up for air on a 5 hour Harry Potter binge. I'm on book 5 and I'm still not entirely sure what all the fuss is about. They're solid books, but nothing mindblowing so far.

I do have Alan Rickman's voice in my head for Snape. That casting for the movies was spot on.
 
Baxter said:
I do have Alan Rickman's voice in my head for Snape. That casting for the movies was spot on.
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I can't get his voice out of my head whenever I re-read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

Now THAT was spot-on.

"Life? Don't talk to me about life."
 
I'm reading Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!) and I've also got the book on CD, "shouted by the author" along with Jon Stewart, Amy Sedaris and others.
 
I started reading A Confederacy of Dunces, but I'm taking a break and reading I Am Legend, since it's a relatively short read.
 
This year, I have read Ender's Game (second time), The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands and IV: Wizard & Glass (quickly becoming my favourite series of all time), and I Am Legend (much better than the movie). Currently, I am reading IT. Once I finish this, I shall move onto 1984 by George Orwell, which my library has finally reserved for me. Then I'll either read The Stand (if it is ever returned to my library), or move onto The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla. I also hope to read Slaughterhouse-Five, Catch-22, Watership Down, Anansi Boys, more Dresden Files, the rest of The Dark Tower and more Stephen King this year.
 
I also want to read Chuck Palahniuk's new book titled Snuff:

Cassie Wright, porn priestess, intends to cap her legendary career by breaking the world record for serial fornication porn movies. On camera. With six hundred men. Snuff unfolds from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, and Mr. 600, who await their turn on camera in a very crowded green room.
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:shock:
 
In 2007 I read:

- Hamlet and King Lear by Billy "the Bard" Bardleson
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
- I Am Legend by Richard Matheson(back in June, BEFORE it was cool. Didn't even know they were making a movie of it at the time)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Joe Kalicki Rowling
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
- JUSTICE by Alex Ross and those dudes
- Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
- Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

I'm currently reading The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells(the idea of reading a novel that was written a hundred and ten years ago is just so cool, especially if it's Science Fiction) and illustrated in 1960 by Edward Gorey, and I plan on reading Stephen King's The Long Walk and some other King stories, A Confederacy of Dunces, Watchmen, and read the first trades of some big titles like Ex Machina, Fables, and Promethea.
 
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