Literature What are you currently reading?

I just finished reading "A Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. I love the TV series, so I decided to check out the source material. I like the series better. The book leaves too many unanswered questions.

Now there are a couple of books on hold at the library: "The Man Who Japed" by Philip K Dick and "Children of Men." I'll have to wait a while due to the holiday hours. Booo!
 
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I recently read My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite. The author is Nigerian, and the book is set in Nigeria.

It's described as "darkly funny", but I didn't find it funny. I see it as an exploration of how shared childhood trauma can tie people together more strongly than almost anything else.
 
Other books I have read recently:

The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor. This is the author's first book, and it's a well done psychological thriller/mystery.

The Punch
, by Noah Hawley. Not as good as some of his books, but a fairly entertaining read.

Under the Harrow, by Flynn Berry. Nominally, it's a murder mystery, but really it's about loss and grief. This was this author's first book, and she's written another one (which I read first). Another very promising writer.

Clock Dance, by Anne Tyler. Anne Tyler has been writing about families for a long time, and she does it beautifully. This is not one of her best, but it's still better than Hawley's The Punch. She's the writer Hawley aspires to be.

Severance, by Ling Ma. This is one of those self consciously clever books that fails to be either clever or entertaining because it is so very self conscious.

Robiceaux, by James Lee Burke. I've been reading Robiceaux mysteries for 30 years or so, ever since I picked up In the Electric Mists with Confederate Dead at a used book fair. This book has been out for almost a year, and I didn't realize it. The good news is, the next one will be out in a month.

March Violets, by Phillip Kerr. In the style of American detective noir, but with a German detective, set in Hitler's Germany, which makes it very noir indeed.
 
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Unconditional Parenting
by Alfie Kohn
is the book I'm reading right now. I reccommend this for parents.

I may have mentioned it before, as this is not the first time I've read it.
I haven't read that book yet, Jamie, but the title seems very appealing. Parenting should always be unconditional imho.
 
I love Philip K Dick. I think he is one of the greatest science fiction writers ever. Some of his books were made into movies 50 years later with hardly any changes and still seem plausibly futuristic and ahead of their time - I think he was a generation ahead of his time. I've read that book you mentioned (and the movie). I might have to take up some of those at some point. In fact now I think about it I can't remember the stories very well. I may be able to reread the ones I read without remembering what happened.

Agreed that his ideas were ahead of his time. It really surprised me when I looked at the publishing dates of his books. I feel like they could have been written recently.
I'll have to read some of his works. I know the Harrison Ford movie "Blade Runner" is based on Dick's novel: "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" I've been familiar with his name, but somehow never got around to reading anything by him. So long as it's not too depressing/dark, and not about some sort of space war, I think I'll enjoy his work.
 
^^^ I read some short stories by Philip K. Dick over the weekend. They were mostly pretty dystopian, but with a lot of insight, and not too depressing (considering what they were usually about). One story touched on animal rights and welfare, and had an interesting twist: "Beyond Lies The Wub".

I also read a novelization of a "Dr Who" episode starring David Tennant and Freema Agyeman (sp?), also touching on animal-treatment issues: "The Last Dodo". I had a problem with it: Martha (Freema Agyeman's character) is a physician, and obviously intelligent/cerebral, but she's written sort of ditzy in this. The Doctor can be quite goofy too, but I didn't think Martha's treatment in this novelization did her justice. I've seen a few episodes including her, and she's one of the Doctor's strongest companions.
 
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I am reading Slow Horses, by Mick Herron, the first in a series of British intelligence spy thrillers. So far, so good, though the cadence of the writing takes some getting used to.
 
^^^ I read some short stories by Philip K. Dick over the weekend. They were mostly pretty dystopian, but with a lot of insight, and not too depressing (considering what they were usually about). One story touched on animal rights and welfare, and had an interesting twist: "Beyond Lies The Wub".

I think I have this

Not sure if we have the exact same volume

Volume One: The Collected Short Stories of Philip K Dick : Beyond the Wub
ISBN 1 85798 879 5
Published 1999
First story is Stability then Roog
I thought this was excellent. Better perhaps than reading one of his novels.
 
I am reading Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
He says that rational logic reasoning evolved as a way to justify ourselves in social groups, and this explains why people start with intuitive judgements, and then look for evidence to support their already biased judgement, rather than starting with an open mind and reasoning, with a judgement later.
 
Just finished reading Viking Britain by Thomas Williams. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who's interested in history and British-Scandinavian relations. My knowledge of British history and the Viking Age has been vastly expanded after reading this! The author is a curator at the British Museum, author of numerous academic articles and a children's book about the Viking Age. Viking Britain is a readable book, and it gave me several good chuckles thanks to the author's good story-telling technique and good sense of humour. Still, it also feels quite authoritative, with numerous footnotes and references to other works on the topic.
My wife gave me a fantastic modern retelling of Norse Mythology by the modern dark fantasy writer Neil Gaiman. Well worth a read!
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
 
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I just finished Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, which I mentioned above.

The book may also be quite useful for liberals who struggle to understand libertarians or conservatives and think they are all nuts. It will help you to understand other viewpoints, even though it doesn't really argue for any particular viewpoint above others. But it explains the psychology of liberals vs conservatives.
 
Jaws.

It serious sucks... The movie is WAY better. In the movie it's a shark there. It's very little present in the book... It doesn't even help to hum the "du du du du" in the head to make it more exciting.

One houer of the book was mostly about Ellen Brody's rape fantacies, having sex with Hooper and such things. I WANT SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!
 
Between Ready Player One and Jaws, I red Mengele Zoo. It's Norwegian but they work to translate it to English. About enviroment and the fight to save it. On a quite bloody way...
 
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I'm making my way through Octavia E. Butler's "Patternist" series. I finished "Wildseed," "Mind of my Mind," and "Clay's Ark." Now I'm on "Patternmaster." As with most of her works, these books involve lots of breeding and weird offspring. I find it repulsive yet fascinating at the same time.
 
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I just found out that a book I own, "Survivor" by Octavia Butler, never made it past the first edition. It's rare!!

I looked it up on Amazon, and there are three copies each selling for about $200!
 
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^^ I know, right? I had bought this copy used for only $5!
The books in really good condition are selling for as much as $600. I'm not sure what condition my book is in. I mean, nothing is really wrong with it, but I don't know how an expert would value it.
 
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Ready Player One.

It's awsome!!
I still remember reading that for a book club, and this one guy hated it with a passion. I personally loved the book, so I found it funny that he hated it so much. Now that the book has been turned into a movie, I can't help but imagine how outraged he must be. lol.
 
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