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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

What are you currently reading?

  
  

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Foust is SO authentic
13:51 / 15.08.02
Goodbye To All That was fascinating. So much absurdity in the face of war.
 
 
Trijhaos
14:05 / 15.08.02
The Black Arts by Richard Cavendish. It's just a general book about the theory and practice of magick. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble taking it seriously since Cavendish insists on placing the word black in front of 'magick' and 'magician' every time either one is mentioned. According to the book all magick is evil and no good can come of it.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey is kind of odd. The main character is a whore and a spy. That's all I've really gotten from the book so far. I don't know what the overall plot is and the synopsis on the back of the book is pretty worthless.
 
 
Papess
17:21 / 19.08.02
Okay, I can take a hint, I am cancelling my order.

Re-reading "The Art of Dreaming" by Mr. Castenada and also re-reading his "Magickal Passes"

Oh yes, also re-reading "Liber Kaos" by P.J Carroll

~May
 
 
8===>Q: alyn
19:24 / 19.08.02
I started reading A.S. Byatt's Possession about 18 hours before I read in Esquire that a movie's being made of it, starring the Lachrymose Fromagerie (who I am not ashamed to say I think is a good actress), Gwyneth Paltrow. About fifteen minutes after I read about that, I came to the first appearance of her character.

Which is mostly beside the point. It's a nice book. A bit slow, but interesting.

Q
 
 
Flump Autopsy
19:42 / 19.08.02
How Proust can change your life by Alain De Botton,

Driving Blind by Ray Bradbury, and

Myths and Myth Makers by John Fiske.

Nothing that interesting, I know, but I just registered and thought I should say something.
 
 
Persephone
13:59 / 20.08.02
Oh no, May... it's not that no one thinks that the yoga book is good, but the trouble with Books is that hardly anyone is reading the same book at the same time. And I've a growing realization that Books doesn't mean "books" or "anything that is a book" ...hmmm, maybe that's a topic starter...
 
 
Tryphena Absent
14:39 / 20.08.02
I'm about three quarters of the way through 'All Families are Psychotic' by Douglas Coupland -that incidentally was bought for me by a 'lither and is- an absolutely fantastic holiday read.
 
 
Papess
17:34 / 20.08.02
Thanks Persephone. I have only recently wandered out of the Magick and started to post elsewhere.

I thought maybe somebody had read it before.

((hugs))

May
 
 
Trijhaos
18:36 / 20.08.02
Textbooks. Lots and lots of textbooks and Not Quite Scaramouche by Joel Rosenberg. It's the 9th or so book in the Guardians of the Flame series. It's your basic fantasy fare with flintlocks and grenades tossed into the mix.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
15:46 / 21.08.02
The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon - on depression, is very very interesting and useful for a lay reader like me, and I suspect would be the same for people who have had closer encounters with major depression - but not sure.

A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell - this is the first of A Dance to the Music of Time; I am now wondering why on earth I have begun this enterprise...
 
 
Persephone
13:34 / 22.08.02
Re: the depression book, is this the guy who euthanized his mother? I think I read an excerpt from that book, and it's impressed on my mind in that Husb occasionally gently suggests that maybe it's time for Prozac now & I mentally compare and so far, no, it's not near as bad as that.

William Styron has also written a memoir about depression.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
15:33 / 22.08.02
He didn't euthanise her, but he did watch her euthanise herself (er, that should probably read 'commit suicide because she had incurable cancer'). I know what you mean though - reading this has made me very aware that things are really *not that bad* yet.
 
 
the garden gnome
17:36 / 22.08.02
How To Look Stoic:The Garden Gnomes Handguide

required reading in Gnoming101

the prof is an absolute troll!
 
 
William Sack
18:10 / 22.08.02
[A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell - this is the first of A Dance to the Music of Time; I am now wondering why on earth I have begun this enterprise... ] - sorry, I can't work out how to quote a post.

Don't know why you began, but DO stick with it. the novels sprawl over a lifetime and people drift in out. i read it over the course of several years, putting it down and picking it up, and my mother is 15 or so years into it and still not finished. And, of course, I won't deny that there is the "I done The Dance" badge.

Me currently - Mapp & Lucia by E.F.Benson.
 
 
glowworm_wiggle
18:09 / 23.08.02
perhaps no one will read reply #329, but i'm reading louis menand's the metaphysical club. while i'm not reading that, i'm reading random pages in my personal favorite return of the native. no, i'm not kidding.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
01:28 / 25.08.02
I just read 'The Tombs of Atuan' by Ursula Le Guin for the millionth time and I loved it... again.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
22:54 / 25.08.02
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. I wanted something a little lighter to clear out the mind, following the Whitewash, so this it is. Surprisingly clear and calm - I like it a lot. Will probably finish it on the train home today.
 
 
Refos Gun
13:46 / 26.08.02
I'm currently reading the newly released Anarchy For The Masses: An Underground Guide To The Invisibles. It's an issue by issue guide to the lore and mythos surrounding the title. It also is riddled with interviews, experiments and rants from the artists, editors and GM himself. There's also linear timelines describing key events in the series. A great read and perfect companion to the many re-reads this title warrants. Just when you thought you were reading the greatest comic book of all time, a guide like this is published and you think to yourself, "Holy crap...all this just got BETTER".
 
 
Kase Taishuu
01:37 / 27.08.02
A compilation of translations of Paul Celan's poems, plus comments. The thing is very invitingly titled "Hermetismo e Hermenêutica" (Hermeticism and Hermeneutics)
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
13:44 / 28.08.02
I just finished Watership Down, and it has promptly shot to my top five favourite books. It was absolutely wonderful.
 
 
Shortfatdyke
13:49 / 28.08.02
While clearing out my books for my move, I decided to throw out one of my trashier true crime tomes - 'Deranged' by Harold Schecter, about the child killer Albert Fish - and started reading it again. It's horrible - reads like a tabloid newspaper, and is completely impossible to put down. The chapters where the author 'gets in to the mind' of Fish is appalling rubbish, although it's interesting to note that, in 1930s America at least, being homosexual and/or into extreme masochism was at least as repugnant as luring children away from their homes and killing them.

I have no idea why or when I brought this book. It's going in the bin once I'm through it.
 
 
The Falcon
15:55 / 28.08.02
'Lanark' by Alasdair Gray. 'The Black Dahlia' by Ellroy.

I've gone book-wild recently, having little else to do. Just did a PKD marathon: finished 'Through a Scanner, Darkly' which I should have done ages ago, then read: 'Ubik', 'The Cosmic Puppets', 'Clans of the Alphane Moon' and 'The Penultimate Truth' (in record time.)

Also Jeff Noon's 'Needle in the Groove' which I found both compelling and, ultimately, somewhat unsatisfying. I loved 'Vurt', and I've got 'Pollen' to read - so...

And Victor Bockris 'with William Burroughs' which was interesting enough, but just made me want to read Burroughs, really.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
22:56 / 28.08.02
I've finally gotten around to flicking through Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine. Fuck knows it's been sitting around for long enough; quite a quick read, really - a bit of a stopgap. Some exceptionally bad subbing, though...
 
 
The Strobe
07:41 / 31.08.02
Been on Holiday so have done trawler-load of reading. Just put away are:

Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor (got better as it went on, found it disappointing and heavy-handed at first but it grows)
Glen David Gold's Carter Beats the Devil (which is WONDERFUL, nice companion to Kavalier and Clay on magic and just, well, marvellous)
William Boyd's Armadillo (Fun. Light. Some interesting moments)
Aeschylus' The Oresteia (OK, it's work, but not half bad. Goes all Kavanah QC at the end, though)

and American Psycho. Which was great. If sick, in a way. I gave up on Martin Amis' Money - might return, but just wasn't too impressed with it - the Ellis was far more fun.

Am now at a loss, so feel more Aeschylus might be coming on.
 
 
Seth
14:47 / 31.08.02
I'm currently blatting through Richard Wilhelm's translation of the I-Ching and related texts. It's got that lovely "coming home" feel to it, like it's been sat there waiting for me to get to a point in my life that I'm ready to read it, and is really happy to see me. "Hey, exp, come in! Look at all this cool stuff I've got to show you!" This'll be punctuated by Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching, which won't last long but already looks wonderful.
 
 
Seth
15:33 / 31.08.02
Oops. Just been on Amazon and blow me if I haven't just bought one of the worst translations of the Tao Te Ching. Wonder what Waterstones' returns policy is like...
 
 
The Bitch
16:07 / 31.08.02
I am currently reading Forced Entries, The Downtown Diaries: 1971 - 1973 by Jim Carroll... thought I would take the opportunity to get some leisurely reading in before I get back to school on Tuesday, I know I will be bogged down with text books pretty soon.
 
 
DuskySally
02:38 / 02.09.02
I just finished Bret Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction . Being in college, I was struck by the accuracy/inaccuracy, not to mention the appropriateness of the eighties to some one of my generation, who idolizes, or leans toward idolizing, the eighties. It also featured a section from the perspective of Patrick Bateman-main character of American Psycho- who is the elder brother of Sean Bateman, main character of The Rules of Attraction . Also, the movie version will be coming out in October, staring Dawson from Dawson's Creek.
 
 
Saint Keggers
04:37 / 02.09.02
If I can find it, Im just about to start Tarot by Piers Anthony.
 
 
kagemaru
18:38 / 03.09.02
Fosco Maraini's "Japanese Hours" - cultural anthropology and history at its best; one of the pillars of modern oriental studies _and_ a book that tackled such matters as globalization and cultural assimilation in 1958!

I'm reading that, and Richard Burton's translation of "One Thousand Nights and One Night".

I'm in an oriental mood, evidently.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
22:57 / 03.09.02
Taking a bit of a break from magickal books to whip through the short shot that is The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Zooming through it - should be done in another train ride or two - and reminding how predictable, yet thoroughly smartarse enjoyable it is.
 
 
Kassad
08:53 / 04.09.02
I'm currently reading the french translation ('cause i'm french) of "For Whom the bell tolls" to discover Hemingway which i never read any book and to change with my usual sci fi reading.
Also The Illuminatus ! trilogy to perfect my english (and i really need it in case you don't notice) .
 
 
Nestormakhno
10:56 / 04.09.02
Just started re-reading John Crowley's fabulous 'Aegypt'. A sort of mid-western novel on the hermetic history of the world. (Lots of interesting little snippets - why Moses was painted with horns in medievel times, etc.)

It's the first of a quartet the others being 'Love and Sleep' and 'Daemonania' with a final volume as yet unwritten. The unfortunate thing is that the Love and Sleep is out of print and really hard to find so I keep re-reading Aegypt until I can my hands on a copy. Highly recommended
 
 
rizla mission
13:27 / 04.09.02
William Gibson's Idoru has proved to be right up my street - fucking great stuff - perhaps not as "seminal" as Neuromancer, but I reckon it's easily a better novel (and Neuromancer's pretty damn good).
And it's a mighty page turner too. I've read about six chapters so far today..
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
15:53 / 04.09.02
Currently enjoying The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies in a slightly guilty, 'this-is-the-kind-of-book-I-always-like-and-I-should-be-branching-out' way...
 
  

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