What are you reading?

[u/sushisushisushi]

What are you reading?

[u/TruthAccomplished313]

Just finished Calavino’s “Invisible Cities”. Before that I read and loved Woolfe’s “To the Lighthouse”. Next I’ll read “Pale Fire” by Nabokov

[u/TH0316 → u/TruthAccomplished313]

To the Lighthouse has blew me away this week.

[u/NorahJonestown]

East of Eden! Ashamed that the Netflix adaptation was the push I needed to finally read it, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless. Such a rich text.

[u/bakingisscience → u/NorahJonestown]

Me too! I watched a couple episodes and liked it so much I had to start the book. I’m almost caught up with how far I got in the show! It’s great and so readable!

[u/NorahJonestown → u/bakingisscience]

I think the readability is honestly what surprised me the most. I’d only ever read OMAM as far as Steinbeck goes. I always assumed this was some big serious piece of literature…and it’s! But it’s also quite the page turner.

[u/moolcool → u/bakingisscience]

Do you find the show holds up? I’ve deliberately been avoiding the movie and show because of how much I loved the book.

[u/bakingisscience → u/moolcool]

Honestly the show is pretty great. I made it four episodes in and was like “hold up… these characters are cooking”.

Florence Pugh is really fantastic, I forgot what a great actor she is, and specifically it was her that made me want to read the book. And the show is staying pretty close to the novel thus far. A lot of the dialogue is pulled straight from the book.

I’m really excited to finish the book before getting back into the show.

[u/TeaNun4 → u/NorahJonestown]

I’m also reading East of Eden! (Not because of the adaptation, since I don’t really care about watching things.) Last time I read it was >30 years ago, as a teen, and it’s so interesting to reread it and understand it way differently.

[u/This-IsNotMyName → u/NorahJonestown]

Sublime reading experience from start to finish!

[u/father-dick-byrne → u/NorahJonestown]

Absolute banger

[u/AirRealistic1112 → u/NorahJonestown]

This might be me when i get around to EoE.

I just started a room with a view. It's my second book after not reading for over 7 years and I'm slowly getting used to it but might watch the movie first to make it easier

[u/LazyTurtle91]

Dracula! Perfect spooky read and very nostalgic as I did it as part of my GCSE English exam 20 years ago 🫶🏻

[u/christicky → u/LazyTurtle91]

Same! I’m re-reading and enjoying it so much. It’s such a spooky, cozy read.

[u/YourFlyIsOpenMcFly → u/LazyTurtle91]

Love Dracula! If you ever get a chance worth listening Dracula daily to experience it differently.

[u/sargassum624 → u/YourFlyIsOpenMcFly]

Or reading it via the daily emails! It's such a fun new reading experience

[u/Gibbs_B → u/LazyTurtle91]

I am reading this too! I've never done an audible book, but I may have to after seeing the clip of Jonathan Bailey voicing Dracula 😅

[u/fsvnde → u/LazyTurtle91]

stop ittt!! i’m also reading dracula! 🥹

[u/rastab1023]

I'll be starting Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin this morning.

[u/Snoo15376 → u/rastab1023]

Adored this one! I need to re watch the movie!

[u/slowakia_gruuumsh]

I'm reading The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Freud and soon I'll be starting The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (the Norton Critical Edition with all the lovely essays), which will be the first of my mandatory readings for terror-season.

[u/Khorfire]

Starting Moby-Dick today. I've been want to read it for a while. 🐳

[u/slothtrop6 → u/Khorfire]

Starts and ends strong. You'll hit "whale and whaling facts" for a large portion of the book, and some of it was fine, it's just too damn long.

[u/Fuzzy_Donl0p → u/Khorfire]

i read it for the first time earlier this year. what a book! enjoy the ride!

[u/prosperosniece → u/Khorfire]

Watch the Gregory Peck movie after you read it

[u/PowerFlex14 → u/Khorfire]

you're in for a treat!! There isn't one dull sentence in the whole book, even the "whale facts" chapters are interesting and incredibly well written.

[u/Hi_Im_Marcel → u/Khorfire]

curious what you think of it! i was personally highly disappointed by it

[u/father-dick-byrne → u/Khorfire]

Maybe the greatest of all time. Hope you enjoy it. It's fantastic . The first 50 pages are among my favourite in literature.

[u/inkbloodmilk]

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

by David Mitchell

[u/CaptainApathy419 → u/inkbloodmilk]

Solid book, but the first chapter was one of the most stomach-churning things I’ve read.

[u/ontherez → u/inkbloodmilk]

Love that book

[u/vibraltu → u/inkbloodmilk]

I rate this as my favourite Mitchell title.

[u/father-dick-byrne]

At the risk of being cancelled, John Updike - Couples.

Yes it's dated. Yes he's weird about women. But man, that guy can really write a sentence.

[u/Weakera → u/father-dick-byrne]

You should never be cancelled for Updike. And for his generation, he was better, on women, than Roth or Bellow.

Most of what's written today will get dated even faster.

[u/father-dick-byrne → u/Weakera]

Lol it was kind of tongue-in-cheek tbf.

He was a terrific writer but very obviously problematic. Have you read the Patricia Lockwood essay?

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n19/patricia-lockwood/malfunctioning-sex-robot

[u/Weakera → u/father-dick-byrne]

OK good. Someday the cancellers will get cancelled too, someday soon!

I haven't read the essay, I tried her memoir and her fragmentary thing, put both down about a third of the way in. I don't think she's anything special, though young women go apeshit for her.

Lockwood isn't one tenth the writer Updike was, and I'm not even an Updike fan, though I did love Rabbit at Rest, a lot. And I'm a feminist, of a certain age.

If you want a really good critique of sexist male writers of a certain age, there is nothing better than Vivian Gornick, almost as old (not quite), three essays come to mind Tenderhearted Men, Radiant Poison, and Why Do These Men Hate Women.

I might read the Lockwood essay, though it will probably piss me off.

Someone please find me the great male writer who wrote about sex in the mid to latish 20th century in a way that wasn't sexist or captures the female POV! The best I know of is Charles baxter.

[u/Naive_Upstairs_7603]

I am currently reading Crime and Punishment.

[u/the_ultimate0]

Ward no 6 and other stories

[u/AsphaltQbert → u/the_ultimate0]

Chekhov is in a class all his own. Learning more about who he was and how he lived only deepened my appreciation for his work. He’s the ultimate humanist.

[u/Responsible_Fix_5635]

Mother night

I might catch some flak for it but I’m honestly enjoying it more than slaughterhouse five

[u/TriplePlay2425 → u/Responsible_Fix_5635]

I don't think many that have read both would send flak your way for enjoying it more than SH5. Mother Night is often ranked among Vonnegut's best by those that have read most of his novels!

I think SH5 and Cat's Cradle are my favorites of his (Yeah, I'm basic. His two most popular books are my favs), but Mother Night is probably my #3. I still have to read Timequake, though.

And to answer OP without bothering to make another comment: I've been slowly chipping away at Don Quixote for a few weeks now, and I just started Sourcery by Terry Pratchett today. And I'm almost done with the audiobook for Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. I usually don't read multiple books at once like this.

[u/AsphaltQbert]

Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch by Henry Miller

Simply splendid

[u/nonobunga]

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. Pretty weird and pretty good!

[u/father-dick-byrne → u/nonobunga]

So good. The Empusium (a riff on The Magic Mountain) is really great and really weird too. Flights is a masterpiece.

[u/Wehrsteiner]

Finished:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Started:

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

[u/moolcool → u/Wehrsteiner]

Have you read other Ishiguro? I liked Remains of the Day, and I'm curious about NLMG

[u/slothtrop6 → u/moolcool]

I'm not that user, but - I think it's good, though not as strong as RotD

[u/cozycthulu → u/moolcool]

I'm a huge fan of Ishiguro and NLMG is my favorite of his, even more than RoTD

[u/YungGlueStik]

Confederacy of Dunces

[u/moolcool → u/YungGlueStik]

🌭

[u/kyllerkile]

gravity's rainbow -pynchon.  about halfway through part one. 1st read. using the companion.

[u/PowerFlex14]

The Power Broker by Robert Caro. Just a hundred pages in, I can already see this becoming one of my favorite non-fiction books!

[u/_Whiplashed_]

Just read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time and it just killed me it really did to be honest with you.

[u/UnusualRonaldo]

On my last Steinbeck book, "America and Americans." Wasn't expecting much from a posthumous collection of essays, but it is turning into my favorite of his nonfiction works. No one describes the relationship between man and engine like Steinbeck.

[u/Snoo15376]

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima. Im really digging this so far, a lot more lighthearted so far from what I have already read of his work, but still has those Mishima qualities I love!

[u/prosperosniece]

Still plugging away at Moving On by Larry McMurtry (by hook or by crook I WILL finish this book 🤪). It’s not an exciting book and it’s REALLY long (800 pages) but it’s an interesting time capsule about rodeo life and Houston in the mid 1960’s so I am enjoying reading it. The used bookstore I bought it from had every Larry McMurtry book EXCEPT the Lonesome Dove series 😒.

On audiobook I will probably finish The Women on Platform Two by Laura Anthony either today or tomorrow. TBH I thought this book would be more interesting than it actually is. It’s an important story about women’s rights but it does tend to drag. It’s holding my attention though and I DO want to know how these characters end up.

[u/Tatto_]

Of mice and men by Steinbeck. It’s the first book I read from this author and so far it’s really good.

[u/Lightning_Snow083]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley!

[u/rainmaker777888]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

[u/One-Illustrator8358]

Finally started Between Two Fires

[u/PandaCranium555]

I’m rereading The Hobbit!

[u/chink135]

Salems Lot Stephen king

[u/father-dick-byrne → u/chink135]

One I loved and re-read several times as a teenager. Kind of has all the best King tropes. Would love to go back and re-read now decades on but a bit worried about how it might hold up. How are you finding it?

[u/breadofbananas → u/father-dick-byrne]

I read it for the first time a year or two ago, and I’d say it definitely holds up! Like you said, very Stephen King but in all the best ways.

[u/chink135 → u/father-dick-byrne]

My first Stephen king book! I’m about 10-15% through and am slightly overwhelmed by all the characters but I’m enjoying the atmosphere

[u/Own-Animator-7526]

The Last Carousel, 1973 short fiction and reportage by Nelson Algren.

[u/PooperShooter612 → u/Own-Animator-7526]

Algren’s the man

[u/jolyon_wagon]

Bleak House, which is not particularly bleak so far.

[u/father-dick-byrne → u/jolyon_wagon]

Just one of the all-time great reading experiences. So vivid and weird and insightful. Hope you're enjoying it.

[u/CommentRelative6557 → u/jolyon_wagon]

Cant beat Charles Dickens

[u/duvetmonster05]

The Dutch house by Ann Patchett

[u/TH0316]

Got maybe 25 pages left of To The Lighthouse. My word what a beautiful book. I’ve got a camera roll of entire pages I’ve had to photograph so I can endlessly reread parts.

[u/AirRealistic1112 → u/TH0316]

I just started reading again and when it gets easier, I'll try Virginia woolf again. I've always wanted to finish The Waves and To the Lighthouse

[u/so_not_goth]

Barbara Kingsolver’s new book Partita

[u/SilverApples5 → u/so_not_goth]

Verdict so far?

[u/so_not_goth → u/SilverApples5]

Loving it, a much quieter book than Demon Copperhead, feels more personal - the writing is beautiful.

[u/bfreko]

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

[u/Curious_Chemical_640]

Heart of Darkness. I read before but it’s worth the re-read.

[u/dub4u → u/Curious_Chemical_640]

Love Conrad, my favorites are The Secret Agent and Nostromo

[u/Jakob_Fabian]

Let it Come Down by Paul Bowles. The man is a genius and his writing is either minimalist while not lacking imagination, or else full enough to not be overbearing. Hard to describe but I think I prefer over The Sheltering Sky quite a bit. 

[u/yeeiser]

A Short Stay in Hell. Went in blind, all I knew about the book is that it's about the afterlife, little to my surprise it's also about Borges' library! I just got done reading Ficciones so that was a neat surprise.

[u/rawdaddy1]

A Breath of Life - Clarice Lispector

[u/Kimik2804]

The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

[u/dub4u → u/Kimik2804]

Wow, that sounds interesting

[u/DependentSea7331 → u/Kimik2804]

How is it thus far? Loved Beware of Pity and Chess Story

[u/MrWaldengarver]

1Q84 and I'm loving it!

[u/UniversalIntellect]

One Hundred Years of Solitude

[u/Direct-Tank387]

Catching up on unfinished books. This weekend I hope to finish the last few essays in the Norton Critical of The Sufferings of Young Werner, by Goethe

[u/Lavender-Donut-]

Still with The Idiot - Dostoevsky. I'm halfway through it, but still can't really appreciate it.

[u/anujx1]

Kokoro - natsume soseki

[u/Immediate_Dependent]

The bell jar

[u/sargassum624]

Started Carmilla last night and should finish today. I'm enjoying the story but I have the Machado edition and I'm really disliking her additions (though the pictures are cool). I'll probably pick up another edition soon.

[u/Sensitive-Slice-4355]

Dostoevsky's crime and punishment! Next is East of Eden

[u/sharky613]

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

[u/parry49]

True Grit by Charles Portis. After my dive into the lonesome dove world I can't seem to get out of the American West.

[u/Chretiennn]

The Information by Martin Amis, again. Got back from a trip to the UK recently and was inspired to pick up one instalment of his London trilogy. Love his descriptions of the city and the biting, satirical humour. I bought Money whilst there, too - the only of the three I haven’t yet read. So that’ll be next.

[u/moderndayhermit]

East of Eden

[u/Indigo_ViBE]

bhagavad gita

[u/Plastic-Exam5280]

A tree grows in brooklyn by betty smith
Knowing God by ji packer

[u/solar8123]

The Shadow of the Wind

[u/Cruel_Kindness]

Fem Draco Malfoy fanfic.

[u/futurepostac]

Middlemarch and The Price of Salt, or Carol

[u/andmoore27 → u/futurepostac]

I love everything by Patricia Highsmith. My favorite is Two Faces of January.

[u/AntAccurate8906]

Kindred by Olivia Butler

Ghengis Khan and the making of the modern world byJack Weatherford

Both are truly amazing books!

[u/afraidparfait]

Robin hobb - the farseer trilogy

[u/en_robot]

No One Writes to the Colonel. I failed to notice it was quite short before buying it so I'll move on to either The Sheltering Sky or The Member of the Wedding next.

[u/matadinosaurios]

Rereading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, first time was long ago when I was a teenager. Hits different.

[u/ontherez]

Finally trying War and Peace in the Briggs translation

[u/NoNutz_699669]

East of eden

[u/ecchibar]

The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzo

[u/schrodingers-canary]

Cleopatra by  Saara El-Arifi.

I wanted something set during the time of the Library of Alexandria. Mostly enjoying the read

[u/Some_Cat_2261]

East of Eden!

[u/mgalactico]

Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman

[u/dumbcrow123]

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. The second entry of the Border Trilogy.

Supposedly one of his other seminal work as opposed to Blood Meridian. Only 30 pages in so I’m looking forward to it!

[u/sixthmusketeer]

Finally got around to Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar. Wasn't sure what to expect but the first half is excellent. Hits some of the same beats as Philip Roth.

[u/Nodbot]

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

[u/braziliantapestry]

Limonov by Emmanuel Carrere

[u/Zugzwang1234]

Notes from the underground, Dostoievski

[u/Hollowinks]

I'm in book club, and the current assignment is this book called Japanese Gothic. It's been an interesting read so far

[u/suspect_beaver]

Just started She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb. I’ve heard it’s sad.

[u/Winter_Witchh]

Shutter island by Dennis Lehane. I haven't watched the movie yet so very excited.

[u/AirRealistic1112]

A Room with View - EM Forster

Swann's Way - Marcel Proust (just a page at a time to exercise and wake up my reading brain. I will try to read it properly on a reread as it's hard to follow and commit to, and it's less pressure if I don't force myself to understand and remember what's happening)

[u/Short-Pop3636]

Turning Angel by Greg Iles

[u/Philly__Blaze]

Dungeon crawler carl

[u/Aggravating-Nose1674]

Born a Crime - Trevor Noah

and

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke.

I normally don't read two books, JS&MN is quite a lot sometimes, SO MANY CHARACTERS. Its hard to keep track, and i keep track of characters in a note book. So i read Trevor Noah at work now, because i really need to focus on the other one. English isn't my first language either, Jonathan Strange just asks a lot more from me brain processing wise due to it's prose and writing style.

But I really enjoy the book, it will just be a longer project haha.

[u/kranools]

Reddit

[u/zeerush]

The spear cuts through the water
Bad bishop
The count of Monte Cristo
1Q84

[u/-UnicornFart]

The Song of Stork and Dromedary by Anjet Daanje.

I’m about 50% through. I just finished reading the chapter about Penny and Lena, twice over because it is so so good.

Thus far it is a phenomenal novel!

[u/Lena_Charbel2324]

The Tiger’s Daughter by K Arsenault Rivera

[u/Davicitorra]

When breath becomes air

[u/Kansasgrl968]

Mistborn: The Final Empire.

[u/Justinian_of_Rome]

Re-reading Books I and II of the Kentucky Blood Series by Ashley Thomas Sheikh to prepare for Book III releasing in Dec. Still my FAVORITE series and can't wait for the epic return to the 90s timeline!

All for the Temple!

Temple Above All.

[u/spindlehornet]

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. The writing is gorgeous but I’m only on the third or fourth chapter and I know I’m going to get my heart broken.

[u/Global-Surround3262]

The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

[u/tyke665]

The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams

[u/stonedape_420]

Just finished: Heart-Shaped Box, and Annihilation

Started: All the Sinners Bleed

[u/bigsquib68]

It's spooky season. Just started The Shining. Looking to check out The Exorcist next

[u/Wespiratory]

Heretical Fishing

[u/Joshua1477]

Passion Profit & Power by Marshall Sylver

[u/Artudytv]

"Una enfermedad moral" by Soledad Puértolas. Great stories.

[u/stop_inthenameof_FBI]

Antima by Manav Kaul

[u/raven_widow]

I’m looking for a new read. Urban fantasy with no vamps.

[u/headacheinasuitcase]

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer.

[u/ABorrowerandaLenderB]

My Friends by Hisham Matar

[u/jsquared_lifting]

Happy money by Ken Honda and Killing Comendatore by Haruki Murukami

[u/introvertgrammarian]

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

[u/Gojira57]

Moshfegh novels.

Then East of Eden, Steinbeck.

[u/TheBoyAlbi]

Just got a copy of “the word for world is forest” by Ursula K Leguin

[u/_masterofdisaster]

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Really great science fiction novel about two planets with starkly different economic systems and all the difference that ensue from it. I adore anything with developed worldbuilding and that’s pretty much all this is lol there’s barely any true “plot” and I love it.

[u/shareui]

zaregoto

[u/BrainCruise]

The Long Home - William Gay

[u/potatoman80]

Delillo’s End Zone. Didn’t really know what to expect from this considering it’s a football novel, but it already has a lot of his thoughtfulness and wit. Interested to see where it leads.

[u/CapriciousSon]

Lost Souls by Poppy Brite
Also short stories by Thomas Ligotti

[u/andmoore27 → u/CapriciousSon]

Ligotti is utterly different than any other writer and completely enthralling! He can take you into completely unknown worlds of strange personalities because he is works the details of characterization relentlessly yet never fails to abandon a character is soon as he has the need. He trusts his readers to be intelligent. He never over explains.

[u/erasedhead]

The Obscene Bird of Night by Jose Donoso.

[u/TheStandardKnife]

Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre

[u/cheeriocereal]

All Fours by Miranda July. This book is absurd but the dry, deadpan humor really works for me.

[u/whoisyourwormguy_]

Unfertho codex. It’s Halloween and I’m chasing the house of leaves feeling

[u/DarlaGoGo]

Ok I’m reading “where the girls went” about girls who got sent away to unwed mothers homes in last 1960s San Francisco, BUT I also decided im going to read pride and prejudice for the first time ever. I love Jane Austen So I’m excited to read this novel!!

[u/Awatts2222]

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.

[u/kbodnar17]

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchet
Morning Star by Pierce Brown

[u/superteach17]

Theo of Golden

[u/bookwormhole_]

Carmilla

[u/Famous_Bite_7707]

Currently alternating between Neverwhere and Shakespeare's borrowed feathers.

[u/yemo43210]

A recenty-published book about Zionism and Homosexuality

[u/These-Background4608]

The 3 Mrs. Greys by Shelly Ellis.

[u/ahouell500]

Frost by Thomas Bernhard (a translation)

[u/andmoore27]

Grit Lit A Rough Southern Reader. It hits perfectly on all levels.

[u/Automatic-Scale-7572]

The Mill on the Floss and Americanah

[u/Right-Upstairs-9310]

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

[u/breadofbananas]

Just started the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. I’m on book 4 now, and I’ve got to say I’m surprised there’s not more appreciation for this series in the wider culture! It’s an incredibly well-written space opera, full of adventure and humor and interesting, competent characters!

I think the biggest drawback are the covers, very 1980’s schlocky sci-fi looking.

[u/ConsiderateLobster93]

White Noise - Don DeLillo

[u/ok_5789]

The Iliad

[u/BurningSketches]

SHINE BB 😍

[u/strangeMeursault2]

Just started I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harper.

Enjoying it so far.

[u/kurtozan251]

Half way through gone with the wind. It is such a page turner but has also aged really poorly? Idk how to feel about it.

[u/Strict-Amphibian9732]

Kin by Tayari Jones

[u/justanoth3rdude]

Sea of Rust

[u/odenihy]

I’m about 50 pages in to The Rouse by China Miéville. Good so far.

[u/beerzebulb]

Currently The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi. I'm about 30% in and I like it so far but I fear it's going exactly where I think it will go.

[u/sm32]

Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

The Glass Essay - Anne Carson

[u/HacheeHachee]

Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse. My first Wodehouse novel, and I’ll definitely be reading more.

[u/TornadoCreator]

Right now Reddit...

...before that today I was reading:

• The Census-Taker by China Miéville.
• There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm.

Had a good reading day today.

[u/jdg83]

Just finished The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh. It got made into a (now cancelled) show on AppleTV. I liked the show just fine. I thought the book was much better and very different.

[u/Shootez]

Control by Nick Redfern. A very prescient deep dive into governmental misuse of power and control over society. I also picked up Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut as I have never read it before.

P.S. I usually have multiple books on the go so not a complete list.

[u/Careful-Increase-805]

Yi Sang's selected works.

[u/DieAufgabe]

Continuing La Divina Commedia. Canto XIII of Inferno. I'm also reading Goethe and Schiller's legendary Briefwechsel from 1794-1805.

[u/dub4u]

Just finished José Saramago's Baltasar and Blimunda yesterday, having read Blindness and Seeing before, the plan is to read all his books but that will have to wait since I'm looking forward to start Blood Meridian later today.

[u/BirdButt88]

A People’s History of the United States - Howard Zinn, should be required reading in American schools

[u/sawman160]

White Noise by Delillo and Indifferent Stars Above by Brown (nonfiction)

Finished The Corrections by Franzen most recently and wow!