What are you reading?

[NeighborsKnowMyName]

Just like Strocube above, I read those two books by David Mitchell last summer. His newest, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet is on my shelf and ready to go, as soon as I finish Whirlwind, the 1979 final installment of James Clavell's Asian Saga.
I'm not really enjoying this one as much as I did the others though. Perhaps it is set too far west in Asia for me...

[Grinder]

Keith Richards' autobiography. Surprised he can remember anything...

[guydesavoy]

I'm looking forward to that. I read Ronnie's and it was a very pleasant read

[Grinder]

It's OK but I'm about 160+ pages in and getting kind of bored with references to "those cats" and impromptu guitar tutorials. Come on Keef, get on to the sex, drugs and rock n roll!

An example: "At the 5 chord instead of making the conventional barre chord, the B7th, which requires a little effort with the left hand, he wouldn't bother at all. He'd leave the open A note ringing and just slide a finger up the D string to a 7th. And there's the haunting note, resonating against the open A. So you're not using root notes but letting it fall against a 7th."

Er, riiiiiiight...

[Torurot]

OK I haven't read this one but I'd like to.     Hunted high and low for an electronic copy that might just be floating laying around, so if you can point me in the right direction so I'll just get on with reading part.

Entire review here  http://judekyle.tumblr.com/

Amorous Exploits Of A Young Rakehell by Guillaume Apollinaire

Poet/playwright/author Guillaume Apollinaire was a pretty important guy in his day. He is said to have coined the term "Surrealism" and to have written one of the earliest surrealist plays. He was a big deal in Montparnasse, and moved in some heady artistic circles. He was wounded in WWI and died from Spanish Flu. I've always meant to read something of his, and last month I decided to make it Amorous Exploits of a Young Rakehell, otherwise known as Les exploits d'un jeune Don Juan, because of Christopher Hart's list of essential erotica on Guardian.co.uk.

I am a fan of smut (a word I use with great affection), so I am very glad I read this. But if you are not a fan of smut you may want to skip the spoiler section of my review because I will be using the same language as Apollinaire. My spoiler alert is really a smut alert. It should also be noted that you may just find out a bit too much information about me and my sexuality. Consider yourself warned. .......  spoiler here http://judekyle.tumblr.com/    

[peterNYC]

DEATH BY CHINA by Peter Navarro and Greg Autry.

A must read for everyone who wants to know what's REALLY behind the China's "economic miracle"...

[Tomcat]

 let me guess Pete

" Ant colony mentality, no social safety net and a dollar a day probably helps"

[strocube]

Just finished Bite Me by Christopher Moore. This is the last of a trilogy that began with Blood Sucking Fiends, which was followed by You Suck. This is not top-notch literature by any means, however, it is really funny and entertaining summer reading. Found myself literally laughing out loud. Highly recommended fun reading. The last one has a man-sized, vampire cat named Chet that attempts to ass-rape one of the female vampires that is trying to kill him. Great stuff!

[Torurot]

The Wild Highway  By Bill Drummond & Mark Manning    ©2005 ISBN 1-84068-116-0  967.6724DRU  412pp

Seriously if you thrive on being or thinking "PC" DO NOT read this book, you will blow a gasket (or something) but if you thrive on the pisstake, the irreverent bullshit you might just like it...   There's a fair bit of Sodomy and Buggery in this book, not all of it "straight".  NO ONE is spared!!  The famous Kate Aidie (British readers will know her) gets many mentions.  I wonder if she sued them?  Not sure how it slipped into the non fiction section given it's "outrageous" content
   

The following may resonate.

"I knew I was only fooling myself by thinking Kiki could possibly feel anything for me. After all, she was being paid to drip her honey in my ear. But somehow I couldn't help myself. Within those bewitched hours sliding on those languorous dreams I had believed every sweet word. My head told me I was paying for beautiful  lies but my idiot heart refused to listen. I knew that Kiki was probably in another man's arms right then, whispering the same sweet everythings.  The thought was killing me."    

Here's a small taste from the bottom of page 81:

"Kendo Nagasaki Yamaha is wanking himself bog eyed.
The Japanese film maker sits in his Memling hotel suite battering the fuck out of himself in front of the VCR
A great wad of nad jam explodes from the end of his juddering yellow dick and splatters across the screen. The snuff classic, Sex Murder Bloodbath Furry fizzes to it's sado-scat climax. Kendo Nagasaki wipes the screen clean, checks for any loose jizz and zips up his Burberry slacks. Kendo Nagasaki and his crew of Nipponese pornographers are also intending to go up river. Within the cloistered world or pornography and serious masturbation three nations stand a good purple bell end above the rest of the world for sheer trouser-sliming depravity.  The Germans of course with their Wagnerian S/M guignol: Valkyries, Rhine maidens, Nazis and German Shepards all grooving down at the crazy animal farm, flinging the fudge at each other and getting sexy with stinkhorns.
Israel probably has the worst racist crap of the lot, plenty of chicks with dicks and paedophile mongol shit. But I better not say that in case those intellectual Bible-tugging dickheads call me a Nazi and hurl that anti-Semite shit at me. Heil Hitler, Hymie. Fuck you and your miserable state that isn't even yours. I tell you, man, someone should erect a statue in Tel Aviv of Adolf Hitler, the founding father of that shitty bit of desert excuse for a country.
But the kings of wild weird wanking have got to be those crazy, laughing knights of bashing Bushido, the Japanese. The Japs, when it comes to extreme masturbation are initially a little".....   and on and on.  

Bill Drummond and Mark Manning's second trip was to Zaire, a jungle hell on the verge of bloody civil war, where they travelled down-river in search of the ghost of Conrad's Kurtz. By turns hilarious and horrifying, "Wild Highway will cement the reputation of Drummond and Manning not only as cutting-edge writers, but as two of the most dangerous and subversive "pranksters" of the fledgling 21st century.

[strocube]

For my Trip to Peru tomorrow, I'll be taking the first complete translation of
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, with introductory commentary by HH The Dalai Lama.
Also, The First Detective, The life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq, by James Morton.

[marshal]

Anyone reading Jo Nesbo? A mate lent me the Snowman, in the process of findind the others. I am a big fan of Nordic crime fiction so these are hitting the mark!

[Tomcat]

Just finished a light read about Scott of The Antarctic, what a buffoon he was.. it was basically a suicide mission. He would not wear proper furs as it wasnt fit for a gentleman ... ha ha you can guess the rest. He didnt care for the others and was only interested i his own glory . 5 wasted  lives...

No testing of equipment and no plans for food stops , what a hash up .  

For Amundsen it was an easy trip and basically a skiing holiday, no wonder he beat Scott.

When you travel to he poles latitude does not matter and Scott wasted days on matters cartographic  where the difference was only a 100 yards ( maybe its longtitude that doesnt matter but still)

There were so many balls ups that i doubt if Scott was in the boy scouts

" Be prepared" as they say

[Tomcat]

Also Max Hastings new book on WW2 is supposed to be a real eye opener as  new fact come to light. Leningrad was pretty awfull and people were forced into Cannibalism or die of starvation..the Russians lost more people there than the UK and US lost in the whole war . Also Nine out of ten Germans were killed in the Russian campaign. I only read the review so far buts it on my list and it has rave reviews everywhere

[daveduke007]

Will start reading this book, before, during and after the Flight to the LOS this Thursday morning

[Torurot]

The shortlist for the 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books

The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books judges have chosen a shortlist of six books that they describe as having taken them out of their depth and giving them thrilling new experiences of the world of science.

http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/shortlist-2011/

The first chapters of a number of science oriented books available for download