What Book Are you Reading? - 2019

[litup]

Finally after years of attempting it - I have conquered Moby Dick by Melville. I can deal with overt descriptions, but the amount of chapters dedicated to supportive information and not the plot was killer. A fair amount of pipe references though.

I had a similar response. There's a great story in there if you can weed through the complete biology and history of whales.
I'm about to start reading "2666: A Novel" by Roberto Bolano which was recommended to me by a friend as a "strange and meandering but fascinating book".

 

[yuda]

@autumnfog
that's probably a question for the mods. Not sure if they would go for it since philosophy isn't really centered on pipe smoking, though it could be the other way around and indeed, many philosophers did smoke a pipe(including Schopenhauer).
In regards to pessimism, the old adage goes that a pessimist is just what an optimist calls a realist. What Schopenhauer calls the Will to Life does a good job at explaining how pervasive human instincts are and how hard it is to overcome them by design. His advice to turn towards aestheticism certainly applies to someone who smokes a pipe as a hobby, everything from the blending of the tobaccos to the carving of the pipe is a work of art to help us take our minds off the madness of the world.

 

[lightxmyfire]

I’ve been working on the “Malazan Book of the Fallen” series by Steven Erikson I’m in the 3rd book of 13 “Memories of Ice” if you like LOTR’s rich history of another world but with the brutality and realism turned up to 11, this is the series for you! Im really enjoying it!

 

[derhammer]

Cool it and The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg

 

[dino]

Just finishing Rex Stout's The Second Confession, a Nero Wolfe mystery. One of the best, so far, in the corpus. I'm reading them all in order.

 

[smokeymcsmokey]

Lightxmyfire, that’s on my list! I finished Robert Jordan’s WOT and loved it, and I’ve heard good things about the Malazon series as well. I’m itching to read it now

 

[shanez]

Reading this to my daughter:

 

[lightxmyfire]

@Smokey - I can't recommend the series highly enough! Strap in, it's a lot and you won't be able to put it down!

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

Just finished Tombland by C.J. Sansom. Very deeply researched Tudor England historical novel, the latest in a series that starts with Dissolution. All are recommended.

 

[missionpipe]

Rereading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. First read this high school. It gets more topical by the year.

 

[smokeymcsmokey]

@Missionpipe Objectivism is certainly an interesting philosophy to ponder. Now that I'm older I might have to re-read that one as well, ~100 page philosophical Galt rant toward the end blew my mind at 14. I've also heard in his later work Terry Goodkind applies a lot of Rand's perspective to his fiction, which is interesting considering it's Tolkienesque fantasy.
Enjoy the book and your retirement even more! Cheers!

 

[tbradsim1]

Rereading The Lonesome Dove Series in order, fine reading.

 

[ukbob]

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee - Dee Brown.

 

[cynicismandsugar]

The Damnation Game by Clive Barker.

 

[shanez]

On Grace and Free Will by Augustine

 

[cynicismandsugar]

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

 

[cynicismandsugar]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
I'm also rereading the Damnation Game aloud to my wife.

 

[ashdigger]

Listening to "Mycroft and Sherlock" by Kareem Abdul-jabbar. It's an excellent listen. Luckily the 15 hour day is almost over.

 

[mityahicks]

Just finished The Colour of Magic by Prachett and am reading Old Man's War by Scalzi.

 

[autumnfog]

A biography on Sitting Bull.