What book(s) are you reading currently?

[Starkos]

Originally Posted by bowlinggreen

it is pretty overrated. I think in part it was praised because it was "edgy" in a very straight-laced time period.

I think in modern times Holden Caulfield would have been a school shooter.

Just like Mark David Chapman was

Hate that book with a vengeance.

[charliels531]

Originally Posted by casualobserver

Just finished "The Catcher in the Rye" because I've seen it mentioned in so many films and it's so evident in social history that I thought I needed to read it.

I want the time back that I invested in it. It's shite. Thankfully Salinger was such an awkward sod about rights that we haven't been subjected to a film of this overrated dross.

c.o.

You might want to read some of Salinger's short stories (the Franny and Zoey stories) before taking on "Catcher".

Like many books that have a flare of popularity, part of the book's significance was its time and place. It was a time when publishing a book with the word "fuck" in it could get a writer prosecuted in much of the United States.

"The Great Gatsby" had a similar history. I read it 12 or 13 times before I understood its greatness. I agree that "Catcher" has little of the literary quality of "Gatsby".

[Roubignol]

My Religion (1884-1885) by Leon Tolstoy

An interesting book written by one of the most famous anarchists ever: Leon Tolstoy.
Leon Tolstoy who claimed to be nihilist during a long part of his life, slowly became Christian.
But he was disgusted by the interpretation of the Jesus Christ's sermons made by Christian churches, that manipulated people thanks to unfair dogmas.

I shall explain elsewhere, in two voluminous treatises, why I did not understand the doctrine of Jesus, and how at length it became clear to me. These works are a criticism of dogmatic theology and a new translation of the four Gospels, followed by a concordance. In these writings I seek methodically to disentangle everything that tends to conceal the truth from men; I translate the four Gospels anew, verse by verse, and I bring them together in a new concordance. The work has lasted for six years. Each year, each month, I discover new meanings which corroborate the fundamental idea; I correct the errors which have crept in, and I put the last touches to what I have already written. My life, whose final term is not far distant, will doubtless end before I have finished my work; but I am convinced that the work will be of great service; so I shall do all that I can to bring it to completion.

This book is based on one sentence of Jesus Christ which is never recorded by the "churches" and which according to Tolstoy is the most important of all: "Resist not evil".

When I apprehended clearly the words "Resist not evil," my conception of the doctrine of Jesus was entirely changed; and I was astounded, not that I had failed to understand it before, but that I had misunderstood it so strangely. I knew, as we all know, that the true significance of the doctrine of Jesus was comprised in the injunction to love one's neighbor. When we say, "Turn the other cheek," "Love your enemies," we express the very essence of Christianity. I knew all that from my childhood; but why had I failed to understand aright these simple words? Why had I always sought for some ulterior meaning? "Resist not evil" means, never resist, never oppose violence; or, in other words, never do anything contrary to the law of love.

By analyzing and formally following this sentence: "Resist not evil", Leon Tolstoy demonstrates how the State and the Churches have dominated the people thanks to unfair laws and precepts.

In the last Chapter (the twelfth) Tolstoi demonstrates that if humanity consciously follows this sentence "Resist not evil" with no fear, as it was followed by the first Christian martyrs, the domination through the State instaured by of the greedy, brutal and lazy people will disappear by itself, because evil people will have no possibility anymore to exploit the good ones.

You can read it in English following this link here

[Sir Honkers]

Re-reading The Tomb. The first in the Repairman Jack series by F Paul Wilson. I forgot I had all those books and a vote of thanks to Fatrat1 who mentioned him in the Bakers Dozen thread and thus reminded me I had 'em.

[73north]

started to read the Final Book of the 4 , of the Lesbian Journal series that I bought last month - and here it is , so far , not too bad …
Oh and just to add a final insult to my crappy week -
when I went to change a lightbulb in a spare bedroom , the plastic bayonet
attachment decided to break , so now I have no light and can't read it in there
… oh joy of life
( as ever , posted for Brecht )

[BondJmsBond]

I'm reading The Last Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, on book 3 now and it's become a bit of a slog. I'm committed to finishing but find myself looking forward to it being done so I can get on to something else.

[73north]

This is the next book I have started - from the Black Flame imprint 2000ad series
Rogue Trooper
( some books in the series were terrific - some just so-so )

[bowlinggreen]

Re-reading "Earth Abides", an old classic by George R. Stewart.

https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Abides-.../dp/0345487133

Great post-apocalyptic literature. xyzde69 would probably enjoy living in the world of this novel.

[rlg118]

Breaking Babe Ruth: Baseball's Campaign Against Its Biggest Star by Edmund F. Wehrle

[Starkos]

True story of Australian Chris Parnell, who was wrongly accused of drug trafficking in 1985 and found himself catapulted into the maelstrom of madness and degradation that only exists within Indonesian jails. Surrounded by murderers and sadistic, violent criminals, he soon learned that life can be as cheap as a bowl of rice or a cigarette.

This is an incredible tale of fatalism and bureaucracy, of corruption and the horrors of prison, but most of all it is a no-holds-barred account of what the human spirit can endure.

It almost makes Midnight Express feel like a walk in the park. On the same level of intensity as Henri Charrière's Papillon.

Highly recommended