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Holiday Reading (pg. 3)
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| The Highroller |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
Tuesdays with Morrie
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| quote: | Originally posted by MKpacha
I passed this onto sling after reading it.... Fantastic . |
| quote: | Originally posted by musicsnob_NOT
I told Graham about this book in Ibiza. This book actually made me cry (yes I cried) and I remembered seeing one of the Nightline interviews not knowing anything about it while I was reading the book. I don't know where my copy is but I do know at least 6 people read it before I lost track of who had it. |
This book has been on my to-buy list for so long. I think I'm finally going to buy it. It's been recommended to me by enough people already.
| quote: | Originally posted by lopi
"J pod" - Douglas coupland (more current technology based "modern day microserfs" |
Brilliant, outrageously funny book. Jamie, get on reading this already!
| quote: | Originally posted by Ania_xox
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
This author is amazing. His prose totally draws you in and because of that, it's actually enjoyable to read - despite the fact that it was originally written in russian and later translated into english. |
I thought English was his second language, and one of the reasons why people find it so amazing is because he's such an amazing writer in a second language.
Anyway, I tried reading this book (like really tried - kept reading it long after I became bored with it), and although I could see why people would like it, books that are mainly about a romance between 2 people are not my thing.
| quote: | Originally posted by MarkT
given where you are right now, lol, maybe you'll appreciate that I also will begin brushing up on my French by reading some not-so-high-level books in preparation for a equivalency exam in the early spring. |
Yea, I guess I should pick up a French book to read over the holidays. It's too much to do my own leisure reading in French while I'm here. I have to use my dictionary as much as it is, haha.
If you don't mind me asking, what are you taking the equivalency exam for? Just to get the proficiency of your language back up to par, or for career reasons? |
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| catinthehat |
Here's my to do list:
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Shake Hands with the Devil by Romeo Dallaire
Don Quixote
Dante's Inferno
I doubt I'll read any of these over Christmas. |
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| zokissima |
| Just finishing A Farewell To Arms, and going to dig in something a bit deeper over the holidays. Not sure what yet. |
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| Silky Johnson |
Just about finished reading Kafka's 'The Trial', and am halfway through both 'The Marble Fawn' by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Tolstoy's 'War and Peace'.
I have a ton of books on my to read list. First up is 'The Devil in Love' by Jacques Cazotte. |
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| Knox |
| quote: | Originally posted by Skipper
What is his new one - the one about the staples store? Maybe I'll pick that up for some beach reading. |
The Gum Thief..... looks hilarious.... :toothless |
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| Irishaddict |
| quote: | Originally posted by Knox
Douglas Copland's "All Families are Psychotic" (falls under that twisted humour category IMO)is a great read... |
haha yes, another book that made me lol in public
I just started Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, and it will probably take me through the holidays to finish. |
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| Orko |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
Tuesdays with Morrie
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I felt this book a bit over hyped, and too sappy. Yes, it was a good book, but I just did not fall over reading it. Although it was a short book, it was too long because I 'got it' near the beginning, and did not gain much more by reading the whole way through. |
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| MarkT |
| quote: | Originally posted by The Highroller
...
If you don't mind me asking, what are you taking the equivalency exam for? Just to get the proficiency of your language back up to par, or for career reasons? |
school. I've finally gotten around to upgrading my ordinary B.A. to a proper 4 year...doing it through UMass online (very impressive setup). The U.S. has a broader, less focused philosophy behind a B.A. and have a language profficiency requirement. You can either take 4 half courses in languages or write a CLEP exam to demonstrate proficiency.
CLEP will save me $$$ and since I'm "competent" in French as it is, and my bf is virtually fluent, I figure that I can brush up in the coming months to satisfy UMass's requirements by scoring high enough on the CLEP exam.
then...possibly an MBA, perhaps even an MA in psyc if I can get in somewhere. so it's partly for career, partly because I'm enjoying being challenged again. work $$$ is fine and won't increase from the additional education, but I'm really enjoying the intellectual stimulation of being "back in school" :) |
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| Orko |
| quote: | Originally posted by MarkT
but I'm really enjoying the intellectual stimulation of being "back in school" :) |
Great to hear that people still get this type of satisfaction from education. |
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| Skipper |
| quote: | Originally posted by Orko
Great to hear that people still get this type of satisfaction from education. |
I've found that most students who work and then go back to school in their late 20's or later are far more engaged than they were the first time around. I certainly am. It's an entirely different learning environment. |
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| The Highroller |
| quote: | Originally posted by MarkT
... and my bf is virtually fluent... |
Key element here. This is your best ticket to learn the language. Practice with him as much as you can. |
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| infinity HiGH |
At this moment I'm reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Description:
Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex.
Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels.
Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.
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This book is really really long (about 1075 pages with small font size) but it's as engrossing as the description above states. I found that it dragged on a bit in the beginning, but once the pace picked up a little and I became familiar with the characters and their personalities I couldn't put it down. I'm just about halfway through it and I can safely say that I've never read anything as grand as this. Ayn Rand does a great job in presenting her characters and their motivations. Moments where she spends a good number of pages just describing whats going on in a certain characters head are plentiful, but it never takes away from the actual pace of the story and events.
Very inspiring and throught-provoking book.
Highly recommended. |
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