What are you reading?

[HeavensTek]

CS Lewis - Mere Christianity (almost done)

A Cry In The Wilderness - Keith Green

and Redwall - Brian Jacques

[uc pseudonym]

Socrates Meets Jesus by Peter Kreeft

I am curious, what is that about? Our friend Mr. Kreeft made the title well, or at least well enough to sound intruiging. I trust it has to do with the philosophies of both individuals, assuming that it is a work of nonfiction.

[bigsleepj]

I'm reading "To the white Sea" by James Dicky. It's a story of a aircraft gunner who is shot down over Tokyo during World War 2 and tries to survive with only only a small survival kit and a breadknife. This is one of the best written books I've ever come across. It's writing is spellbinding and hypnotic; Dicky, a poet, writes in such fascinating manner that everything seems like a dream, yet is not. 98% of the book is discriptions taking place in the main character's head and since a conversation in the beginning of the book there are no dialogue for over 300 pages. It's one of the best written books I've read in a while.

It's also (and this is the negative point) has possibly the most repulsive anti-hero to ever get put down on paper. He has no value for human life other than his own (and that point is certainly debatable). His view is sort of Darwinistic and indifferent to who lives and breathes. It is never said directly and it is insinuated that Muldrow only joined the airforce so that he could kill other people. The book is both sadastic and machoistic. At one point he runs across a little old Japanese lady, knives her then proceeds to cut of her head and, for the fun of it, toss it into a waterwheel to see it roll. Ugh! I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they're in the mood for a rather nasty stomach-churning oddessey into the mind of depraved rugged individualism. James Dicky also wrote "Deliverance" and if you've seen the movie, then you know what kind of worldview to expect. The only reason I'm sticking with the book is because it has a "harrowing" ending and I like those (within limits, off course).

[Ingemar]

I am curious, what is that about? Our friend Mr. Kreeft made the title well, or at least well enough to sound intruiging. I trust it has to do with the philosophies of both individuals, assuming that it is a work of nonfiction.

Socrates finds himself in Have It (Harvard) Divinity School after drinking the hemlock, and uses his famous method to confront the claims of Christ and challenge the beliefs of the students and professors, who can be considered the Sophists of our time. It is written in dialogue format (if you've read anything by Plato, this should be fairly familiar to you). It's very entertaining, even if you're not familiar with Socrates.

[uc pseudonym]

I have very much enjoyed most of Plato's dialogues. They are surprisingly readable, and often interesting. I may have to consider reading the book.

[Kesshin]

*shudders* I have required reading this summer, unfortunately. I say "unfortunately" because, though I love reading, my teacher is making me read Lord of the Flies. I hate that book.
Wonder if she'd let me read Lord of the Rings instead. Seriously, though, Lord of the Flies creeps me out, and I've only read a few pages. Then there's the report. *sighs*

I have been reading Crown Duel, though, and that is a much more entertaining book.

[Betafish]

I'm reading an awesome, awesome book called "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?" by Angela Thomas. It's a book for women about discovering the desires that God wove into our beings and how our desires are meant to be fulfilled ultimately by Him.
If you want to read a book for males about discovering your masculinity and how men were made, read "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. I recommend reading either of these books.

[Lynx]

i'm reading peretti's "piercing the darkness", and "temple of the winds" by terry goodkind

[Kokhiri Sojourn]

Just finished F. Kefa Sempangi's "A Distant Grief," and it was really good - about pursecution and the church under Idi Amin's dictatorship.

Just picked up "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole again, and I'm excited that I'll (hopefully) finish this time. School got in the way before.

[uc pseudonym]

*shudders* I have required reading this summer, unfortunately.

As do I, though fortunately very little. Just 1984 (by George Orwell), which shouldn't be bad because I wanted to read it anyway, a few other books and then a collection of short stories from a list. I wanted to read Isaac Asimov, but my AP English teacher didn't like hte idea.

[Kesshin]

1984... That's the science fiction book about the "big brother system", right? Sounds interesting. I'm not familiar with Isaac Asimov, though. What's that about?

[Lehn]

Walden by Thoreau, and some other shorter things by him.

[madphilb]

1984... That's the science fiction book about the "big brother system", right? Sounds interesting. I'm not familiar with Isaac Asimov, though. What's that about?

Asimov is one of the reigning classic Sci-Fi authors.... he's the man responsible for the classic collection of short stories from which the movie I, Robot was made from.... can't say that I've ready any of his work though, and that's really a shame.... have to make a point to get a copy of I, Robot and read it or something.

As for what I'm reading... I'm actually between books right now (though I did pick up my copy of Megatokyo #1 and started re-reading it the other day).

[harina]

I'm reading Oliver Twist, that tells about an orphan boy's story, and Anne Frank's Diary (i think everyone knows it, right?), Gone with the wind (it's just little boring, i haven't continued reading it for months) and Bible (i think no-one knows what is it about XD).

[bigsleepj]

1984 was, despite some flaws, one of the best books I've read, although I also suspect that it has contributed to my somewhat pessimistic and cynical view of politics and history.

[uc pseudonym]

I'm already cynical in that regard, so I should be fine. I intend to read them all the last week before school, so I'll be prepared to discuss them at my best level.

As was stated, Isaac Asimov is an incredible science fiction writer. Unfortunately he was also an atheist, so I'll never get a chance to tell him how much I appreciate some of his work. Interestingly enough, however, Isaac Asimov's Guide to the Bible is actually a fair Christian resource.

I'd recommend him, madphilb. He has a plethora of stories, most of them pretty good and a few excellent. Better than any other science fiction writers I have current read.

[Technomancer]

At the moment I'm reading "Quicksilver" by Neil Stephenson, which is somewhat related to his earlier novel "Cryptonomicon". Both books are a great read, as is most of other Stephenson's stuff (Computer geeks might get a kick out of his non-fiction book "In The Beginning Was The Command Line")

I also have some summer reading which consists of:
"Acoustic Field Theory And Space-Time Signal Processing"
and "Boundary Elements: An Introductory Course"
plus a lot of papers from last May's ICASSP

[SManBeyond]

Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller (excellent read)

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths (Building Bridges to Faith Through Apologetics) by Alister E. McGrath

[Saint Kevin]

I'm reading Sean Hannity's Deliver Us From Evil, and a speed reading book of some kind. Semi-related question: Does anyone have any resources that they can recommend as pertain to speed reading? A lot of my goals in life require reading, and I would like to read more recreationally. To this end, I would really like to improve my reading speed. Any tips?

[SManBeyond]

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll

"The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind."

[Ducky]

I finished 1984 today. It drew me in from the first page, but despite how well it fits I can't quite mentally reconcile the ending.

[uc pseudonym]

That makes me want to read it, simply discuss the topic at hand...

[majanthehun]

i'm reading how to live like a jesus freak by dctalk (i think that's what it's called... im not sure)

oh yeah, and some guy i know wrote this series called 'the fall'... i'm working on that too

[Technomancer]

"The Book of Secrets" by M.G. Vassanji

[uc pseudonym]

i'm reading how to live like a jesus freak by dctalk (i think that's what it's called... im not sure)

That's a decent book, though I have never actually read it. I just know my peers in my church often use it in preparing lessons and the like.

[quote="majanthehun"]oh yeah, and some guy i know wrote this series called 'the fall'... i'm working on that too ]

Really? Who was that? Sounds familiar.

[majanthehun]

just some guy i met in this christian anime forum. good stuff, let me tell you. you should check it out one day, uc...

anyways, yeah, jesus freaks was good but the only reason why i was reading it was to get some tips on witnessing to apathetic teens. it helped, a bit.

[Renoa]

I'm reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I got interested in reading this book after I bought Hayley Westenra's debut CD with a song totally about it with a unique articualton in the music and her voice. The eternally bitter Heathcliff in his battle for revenge when his true love betrayed him for a higher social status and tortures her children like Catherine's brother treated him, and forces her daughter Cathy to wed his son. This is a very dark book with somewhat confusing elements. It was written in the 1800's just a year before the author's, Emily Bronte's, death. If you read this, buy the footnotes.

[uc pseudonym]

I am glad to hear that it helped.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Closing in on the end of The Tommyknockers (although for any given Stephen King book, "closing in" means a little less than two hundred pages left), and I'll follow it up with The Silence Of The Lambs.

[Azier the Swordsman]

I've got a whole pile of books to read right now...

The Face (Dean Koontz)
Success! The Glenn Bland Method (Glenn Bland)
The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing
Heaven's Wager (Ted Dekker)
The Memory of Earth (Orson Scott Card)
God's Smuggler (Based on a True Story)