Open Thread: Weekend Reading Edition

by · September 23, 2011

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Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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53 Responses

  1. Pierre Corneille says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    I might try to re-read The Stranger by Camus. I’ve already read it twice, but it didn’t “take” each time, so maybe the 3rd time’s a charm.

    (I’m obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed. Still, I really liked The Plague and The Fall, but I just have a hard time understanding The Stranger.)Report

  2. DarrenG says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    The new Neal Stephenson novel, Reamde, just showed up this week.Report

  3. Tim Kowal says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    I’ll finish Ryan Avent’s ebook tonight which will fit well into a longer piece I’m working on. A big trial got continued, so I’m also looking forward to continuing to read Hadley Arkes’ First Things (which I can’t believe I didn’t discover until recently).Report

  4. E.C. Gach says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    Catching up on my DMZ.

    In other news, how about that weather?

    http://i.imgur.com/E1YOJ.jpgReport

  5. DensityDuck says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:56 pm

    Walter Jon Williams’s “Hardwired”, which is on my perennial re-read list.Report

  6. E.D. Kain says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    I should note, along with The Gated City I’m reading the White Luck Warrior by R Scott Bakker and Conscience of an Anarchist by Gary Chartier.Report

  7. Mike Schilling says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:59 pm

    Just finished re-reading As I Lay Dying; ready for some light reading now, probably Pratchett.Report

  8. Kyle Cupp says:
    September 23, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    Still trying to finish A Feast for Crows. My wife has only the epilogue to go in A Dance with Dragons, so she’ll undoubtedly be pestering me to read, read, read so we can discuss the tragedies and possibilities.

    When I’m done with this series, I want to check out that Prince of Nothing trilogy you mentioned.

    P.S. Sorry to hear about the babies being sick. Ours has been teething, hardly napping, and waking up repeatedly in the night hours. My coffee intake has doubled in the past month.Report

    • E.D. Kain in reply to Kyle Cupp says:
      September 23, 2011 at 6:19 pm

      Ah, good to hear you’re catching up! I hope Daniel is reading this thread.

      Also, the baby is doing better now. My sleep has suffered but not much else. Well, my brain has suffered too, but what else is new?Report

      • Daniel in reply to E.D. Kain says:
        September 24, 2011 at 7:59 am

        I am reading this thread! And as it happens, I too am making my way through A Feast right now —and enjoying it way more than I did the first time. I’m also planning on writing a post on it soon.

        But this weekend, besides George R. R. Martin, I plan on finally reading a short story by Haruki Murakami.Report

  9. jeff says:
    September 23, 2011 at 8:17 pm

    I’m wrapping up Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker right now and it is excellent.Report

  10. Plinko says:
    September 23, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    I just started Geek Love, not far enough in to make a judgment yet.Report

  11. Will Truman says:
    September 23, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    The Wife and I are headed on a road trip tomorrow. I will be listening to oodles and oodles of Dance With Dragons on the road.Report

  12. Tod Kelly says:
    September 23, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    I’m doing that thing I do, and am in the middle of several books at once, and all of them outstanding:

    The Night Circus (light and very, very fun),

    In The Beauty of the Lilies, by Updike (somewhere between light and not; beautiful),

    Paul Berliner’s Thinking In Jazz (not remotely light; I can only reopen it when everyone has gone to bed), and

    Oaxaca With Gusto. (This last is by recipe book person Dianne Kennedy, and is less a recipe book that a history and cultural analysis of the food of Oaxaca, Mexico. If you read this book, you will start cooking if you don’t already. Astounding level of scholarship.)

    I think there is something wrong with me that I can almost never read one book at a time.Report

    • Tod Kelly in reply to Tod Kelly says:
      September 23, 2011 at 9:52 pm

      Hey! Speaking of what books we’re reading, am I remembering correctly that we were going to be doing some kind of linking to Amazon or some such thing when discussing a book or song or movie? Did that eve happen? Should I be doing something when I mention books?Report

  13. Jaybird says:
    September 23, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    I am going to a music concert where they will be playing this “rock” and “roll” music. Probably much too loudly.

    Low is playing downtown at Armstrong Hall.Report

  14. Shawn Gude says:
    September 23, 2011 at 11:03 pm

    First off, awesome picture.

    What am I reading? A few things, as I’m wont to do: Gary Rivlin’s “Fire on the Prairie,” a political biography of the great Harold Washington; “Mothers United: An Immigrant Struggle for Socially Just Education”; and Linda Darling-Hammond’s newest book, “The Flat World and Education.” I’m finding all three thoroughly enjoyable.Report

  15. Mike at The Big Stick says:
    September 23, 2011 at 11:57 pm

    I’m still finishing up my summer reading so I have two more indulgent spy novels from Daniel Silva to knock out.

    As for expanding my mind, I will be entering the woods of my beloved Kentucky tomorrow morning and trying to bring home a few squirrels for the freezer. The air will be a crisp 48 degrees, the leaves are starting to change and I expect to have a big smile on my face when I come home.

    And tomorrow night? UFC baby!Report

  16. Jeff says:
    September 24, 2011 at 4:34 am

    Just finished Trollope’s “Barchester Towers” (fun, light read).

    Next up is Frederick Douglas’ autobiography.

    And I’m reading “My Man Jeeves” to my wife at occasional bedtimes.Report

  17. Ian M. says:
    September 24, 2011 at 9:20 am

    I’m about 120 pages into Storm of Swords by GRRM. I’m getting a little bit of the “circling pattern” vibe that made me stop reading Robert Jordan but GRRM doesn’t have as bloated a writing style.

    Also been checking out the DC Comics reboot (the “New 52”). They’ve got some great stuff going on, particularly Animal Man which I had assumed was lame because of the name but was thoughtful and creepy.Report

  18. Anderson says:
    September 24, 2011 at 9:45 am

    Currently sifting my way through a bunch of Anton Chekhov short stories. I’ve especially liked Ward No. 6 and the Black Monk thus far. And the Student. So much packed into such a small space. He does an incredible job of just setting up a situation and letting it play out; very little moralizing.

    Next up I have War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa. Never read anything by him, but his contemporary Marquez is one of my favorites.Report

  19. Robert Boyd says:
    September 24, 2011 at 10:01 am

    1. Read Slanted and Enchanted: The Origin of Indie Culture by Kaya Oakes. I was suspicious of this book and worried that it would be merely self-congratulatory, but early on there is an interesting idea: indie culture is about work–hard work. She develops this idea talking about the Minutemen, a hard-working (of course) punk band from the early 80s.

    2. Go to art galleries and the Menil museum. That’s my Saturday afternoon outing.

    3. Call artists for an exhibit I am putting together. I have seven on my list to contact. Hopefully this will lead to a few studio visits this weekend as well.

    4. Write a little in my blog (which is largely about my local art scene)

    The art stuff sounds like a full time job, but it’s really my hobby. A hobby that is very import to me, but a hobby nonetheless. My career involves sourcing oil-field services and project financing.Report

  20. Murali says:
    September 24, 2011 at 10:40 am

    I’m finally making my way through the mistborn series. I just finished Karen Chance’s latest in her Cass Palmer seriesReport

  21. Chris Burfield says:
    September 24, 2011 at 11:46 am

    I started reading Game of Thrones back in early August. I’m now up to Feast for Crows now. I’m kind of disappointed with the way Feast for Crows had to be edited but I can understand. Favorite POV so far in Feast…, at Brienne’s chapter where she arrives at the Inn where Gendry is blacksmithing, would be Samwell and least favorite would be Brienne.Report

  22. Scott says:
    September 25, 2011 at 12:07 am

    Not reading much lately but I was laughing at Michael Moore’s statement that patriotic Americans will be happy to wait to get healthcare. Almost sounds like Joe Biden telling us that paying more taxes is patriotic. Who do they think will believe their BS?

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/24/michael_moore_patriotic_americans_will_wait_longer_for_healthcare.htmlReport

  23. Russell Saunders says:
    September 25, 2011 at 9:04 am

    I am so close and yet so far to the end of Within a Budding Grove, after which I plan to take a break from Proust.

    After that, I’m planning to read Something Wicked This Way Comes, then Neverwhere. Then probably The Pale King.

    And then maybe back to Proust.Report

  24. Kimmi says:
    September 26, 2011 at 10:31 am

    Sound mind in a sound body.
    Up about a thousand feet, fifteen miles hiking and plenty of fording. Spectacular day, the leaves just starting to turn.
    Nearly felt like I was in West Virginia.Report

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