What Books Are You Reading?

[phen]

Mo Yan - Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

This is actually my second read-through because it's been a couple years since I read it. The ending is a bit fuzzy in my memory so I'm trying to clear that up. If you love magical realism, this is such a treat!

[WakaXO]

Right now I'm reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, it's a pretty easy read, but I really like the story and characters.

[El_Psy_Congroo]

I remember reading that in a weekend. I heard Laurence Fishburn was making a movie of it =]

@ScampiCub The book description reminds me of another movie that's coming out, based on the short story "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang.
Have you ever read any of Michael Crichton's books? He wrote an alien contact story called Sphere. He's more techno thriller than hard sci fi but he's always been one of my favorite science fiction writers.

[sefra114]

Haven't read much recently, but looking forward to re-reading Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. I've read it quite a few times now, but it never loses its punch! My absolute favorite book.

[echohanny]

I've been reading various things lately, but I've taken a liking for comedy books and memoirs! I juggle them with classics I feel I definitely should know. I'm reading East of Eden now and really enjoying it.

[cheeznh]

Surprise update! I've been away for much too long. I hadn't been reading a whole lot as of late because I had a baby, but here's what I got my hands on. Keep in mind, I do audio books so that I can ink while reading (multi tasking!):

• Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Stephen Fry version is H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. Also it's been giving me a lot of ideas for a new comic that I intend to work on after I finish drawing Dead Man's Party.
• Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain. I read Kitchen Confidential and went into culinary, got mangled badly and quit it after I had my oldest daughter. This book nails everything about the service industry on the head, and it's lewd, hilarious, soothing. Narrated by Tony!
• The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. It's a House Of Cards/Game Of Thrones style period drama but the main character is a POC and a lesbian, which is surprisingly rare in this day and age. A lot of her problems arise because of that fact. Dystopian fantasy but very thin on the fantasy. It was hard for me to get into because it can get political at first, and I also had a hard time connecting with the protagonist.
• Morning Star by Pierce Brown. Book 3 of the Red Rising series!!! I had been waiting for this book for a year. It didn't disappoint. At one point I had to stop listening because it broke my heart so much. So many characters to love and root for. I am still sad that the journey is over but guess what... PREQUEL IS COMING OUT NEXT YEAR WOOOOO
• Oh Crap! Potty Training and The Explosive Child because I'm a mom and need to read parenting books sometimes to deal with my kids. If you needed to know, the potty training book worked like magic and I was able to train my daughter before the baby came. Yay.

Right now I'm on-and-off listening to Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Sarfina because I saw the author do an AMA on Reddit and it had piqued my interest. See ya'll in a few months!

[jinxedcomic]

Hiya everyone! Currently I just finished reading Paranormal Provincetown: Legends and Lore of the Outer Cape by Sam Baltrusis. I'm a huge fan of true stories of the paranormal, and this book does a good job describing the haunts and legends surrounding Provincetown, MA. It's a quick read too, read it in a day during a road trip.

[StrangeVision]

In the middle of After Dark by Haruki Murakami and Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (I owned the book before I saw the movie and feel bad for doing so). I also just ordered The Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon. Havent read it since college and don't know what happened to my copy, excited to get back into it. I like absurd and black humor stuff, Kurt Vonnegut's the best.

[nketchen]

Great series! You can't really go wrong with CS Lewis. That Hideous Strength is the novel version of his book The Abolition of Man.

[nketchen]

As a pastor, I'm always reading stuff. Just finished Ender's Game. I never saw the movie, but the book is really great! I'm reading a couple of things out loud to my kids and wife, too. They really love the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. Great fantasy and morality stuff aimed at kids, but I love it, too. Also reading some George MacDonald to a literature class I teach. You need to read The Princess and the Goblin. CS Lewis cites MacDonald as a big influence. I'm reading Til We Have Faces with my wife, as well.

Then I read theology, too. My two favorite theologians are Peter Leithart and James Jordan. Leithart has this awesome book I just finished called Delivered from the Elements of the World. So good.

Of course my comic plays on historical theology and philosophy. Gotta read to do that stuff. Go look, if you want at Marty and John.

[Isky]

I'm currently reading The Giving Tree.

[nketchen]

I did the same with Hunger Games. After the first one, I thought, okay, I see what you're saying. I don't really care that much.

[ypirouz]

Ha, I'm re-reading my old, partially torn Garfield comic volumes from the 80s! Finally old enough to understand the references! XD

[indagold]

I don't have free time to read currently. But the last things I had to read was some books for a really boring utopian/dystopian college class.

I read 1984 which I have read twice in the past. Honestly it's the perfect dystopian novel because it figures out how the universe actually works instead of just making you guess and It has the most realistic ending that most dystopian stories never try to accomplish. So many try to go for some disney ending.

Meanwhile I read the Handmaid's tale.... it was awful. It was dated, felt like it was really preachy, trying desperately to piggyback off of more popular dystopian novels and the characters were unbearable or bland to the point I did not care if something bad happened to them. I think it was trying to be a feminist piece of the 80s but failed? I mean there is a literal rape scene and the author goes on a spiel on how it isn't rape and tries justifying it is a "boring sex".
Yeah... it goes there...

[doctorglasgow]

I read a lot more comics than books, so here's what I'm currently working through in the "graphic" novel department.

Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison
Currently on Volume 2 of this, it's really great. Very surreal, very dada. It's very "proto" Grant Morrison in a lot of ways, mostly in that it's not ABOUT comics like his later work is.

Franken-Fran by Katsuhisa Kigitsu
If you like body horror and titties (which oh boy do I ever) this is the comic for you. It's an incredibly gory horror comic about a zombie surgeon girl who has vowed to save any life that's in jeopardy. Doesn't matter if they're in an awful twisted fate-worse-than-death state afterwards, at least they're not dead!

Aquaman: To Serve and Protect by John Arcudi
This one's a bit older, but DC finally reprinted Volume 2 of the Sub-Diego storyline. It's this whole event about half of California suddenly dropping into the ocean and it's citizens developing the ability to breathe underwater. It's super neat.

Totally Awesome Hulk by Frank Cho
This one's great. Long-time Hulk sidekick Amadeus Cho has cured Bruce Banner of his hulkiness, and transferred the powers to himself. So Cho is the new Hulk, but he doesn't have any of Banner's rage issues! YET! It's a series about The Hulk fighting giant monsters and dinosaurs and boobies. You can tell Cho is having a whale of a time making this series, and it really shows. The guy's artwork is gorgeous as usual, and it's a super fun read.

[williamjbowles]

Ocean is a good one. And the only thing that can make a Neil Gaiman book better, is having Neil Gaiman read it to you! (Seriously, he has a really good voice for his stories. I have an audiobook of The Graveyard Book read by him, and it's one of my favorites)

Currently reading: Welcome to Night Vale

[shaneoid77]

I've just got myself 'House on Haunted Hill' and always browsing through my subscription to Philosophy Now. My favourite book is Frankenstein <3

[echohanny]

I started reading Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut. Absolutely love the author, catching up on his novels!

[nketchen]

What would a man be like if he had no soul? Never read Frankenstein, but I should.

[shaneoid77]

Obviously it's of it's time, but with that in mind, I found it wonderful.