What are you reading???

[Maine-iac]

Originally Posted by Will Durant

Why?

Can't speak for Campbell, but I like re-reading Christie from time to time. She was really quite insightful about human nature. There is more to many of her books than just the puzzle.

That said, "The Big Four" is not one of her best efforts, IMO.

[campbell]

Oh, the Big Four sucks, no doubt about it. It's about her worst effort yet, I think - I've read almost all her novels and stories (and yes, I recognized when she was re-using plots, and I was amused when she admitted as such through her alter ego Ariadne Oliver). I can't remember another one so clunky.

The thing is: I have no taste. I love watching MST3K, and sometimes I'm actually watching the movie, not listening to the guys.

Agatha Christie is my junk reading. US Weekly, too, but that's only when I'm in airports.

My other choice for junk reading is Dilbert cartoons.

Oh, and I prefer reading to TV, so most of my junk exposure is my old paperbacks. I was =this= close to rereading Stranger in a Strange Land this morning, but I decided I couldn't stomach it.

[annabel lee]

Originally Posted by kolya23

while on vacation I read...

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - If you liked his other books (Blink and The Tipping Point), this is at the same high level of entertaining counter-intuitive insights.

Am giving it to the bf as part (1/8th) of his Chanukah present, with plans to borrow it from him after he's read it. I haven't read any of Gladwell's stuff yet, but I have heard such good things. One of these days I will get around to them all.

Next on my own list to read is The Coffee Trader, by David Liss. Sadly, though, I can't start that until I finish "Fundamentals of Estate Planning," the course guide for CLU 330. Fun, fun.

[vtek]

the bbc news. example:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/...on/7776046.stm

Many lie over books 'to impress'

Could the right reading matter make all the difference?
Nearly half of all men and one-third of women have lied about what they have read to try to impress friends or potential partners, a survey suggests.

Men were most likely to do this to appear intellectual or romantic, found the poll of 1,500 people by Populus for the National Year of Reading campaign.

The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics.

Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare.

Among the 1,500 who took part in the research were 864 teenagers.

About four in 10 of the 1,500 said they had lied about what they had read to impress friends or potential partners - 46% of men and 33% of women.

Among teenagers, the figure rose to 74%, with most saying they would pretend to have read social networking pages or song lyrics.

One in five adults said they would read their chosen material whilst waiting for their date to arrive in the hope of making a good first impression.

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, director of the National Year of Reading campaign, said: "Reading is a brilliant tool for self-expression.

"I love the fact that every generation seems to know that it can help us all increase our potential appeal in the search for love and romance.

"For all the talk of our superficial obsession with beauty, it looks like underneath it all we know that brains contribute to sex appeal too."

i find it pretty funny that there are guys who are impressed with women who read "song lyrics"

[Hagbard Celine]

Originally Posted by vtek

i find it pretty funny that there are guys who are impressed with women who read "song lyrics"

And "news websites"

[oedipus rex]

Originally Posted by kolya23

Faust Part I by Goethe - Some parts of it were really cool, and other parts were quite boring for many pages at a time. Overall, it's worth reading if you are into the classics, as the good passages reach a Shakespearean level of quality.

Faust is a poem, and comes off much better in the original German.... Das Ewigweibliche zieht uns hinan...

[kolya23]

Originally Posted by durex

Faust is a poem, and comes off much better in the original German.... Das Ewigweibliche zieht uns hinan...

I'm sure it does. It's hard to imagine how something like Shakespeare could work in translation, and Faust is the same way. Until I learn German, this is all I got though.

[Maine-iac]

I was listening to a speaker on the radio once who claimed that Shakespeare is even more revered in Germany than in England, and his works much better known to the general populace. He claimed it was because it was read in translation. He said that Shakespearean English can sound stilted to modern ears and turns a lot of English speakers off. They don't want to work at getting used to the way Elizabethan English flows. In translation, it's put into modern speech, and people have no problem with it and can appreciate the stories and characters.

It was an interesting thought, anyway.

[QMO]

Originally Posted by vtek

...i find it pretty funny that there are guys who are impressed with women who read "song lyrics"

I think the key to that is the fact that over half the survey participants were teenagers.

[Descalzo]

Originally Posted by Maine-iac

I was listening to a speaker on the radio once who claimed that Shakespeare is even more revered in Germany than in England, and his works much better known to the general populace. He claimed it was because it was read in translation. He said that Shakespearean English can sound stilted to modern ears and turns a lot of English speakers off. They don't want to work at getting used to the way Elizabethan English flows. In translation, it's put into modern speech, and people have no problem with it and can appreciate the stories and characters.

It was an interesting thought, anyway.

I read one of my favorite plays, "La Vida Es Sueño" in English. I was hoping for the same thing, but it was even harder than Spanish, and they ruined my favorite speeches.