Which Book Are You Currently Reading?
- Thread starter Joy
- Start date
Snow Queen
Mannceaux Signature Collection
Maybe you could use this to make a better database
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2008
- Gender
- Timecube
I'll write a database in Lisp that will eventually become self aware.
Or a text editor.
Sydney
The Good Samaritan
I just finished Allegiant by Veronica Roth (aka the final Divergent book). Wasn't really a fan of how Tris and Tobias made out at the end of almost every chapter, but it had it's exciting moments here and there. The ending was interesting, and it'll take me some time to process it, but overall it was a decent book. It wasn't the best in the trilogy, that's for sure.
Also I get to read the Scarlet Letter soon for school. Yay, adultery! My favorite!
Also I get to read the Scarlet Letter soon for school. Yay, adultery! My favorite!
The recently released Dragon Age: Last Flight. I'm not too far into it, but it seems to discuss a part of the history of the setting through the perspective a present day character dealing with current events leading up to the new game.
Stupid romance novel. Horses and Herion. So stupid, but such a guilty pleasure.
Batman
Not all those who wander are lost...
I've been on a huge linguistics kick the last few weeks, so my recent reading reflects that.
Just finished reading "The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language", by Steven Pinker. It's by far the best introduction to linguistics for the lay public ever written. Each chapter covers a different major field or topic in linguistics, with an overall unifying theme being an examination and promotion of Chomskyan grammar theory and the notion that language is an innate human instinct controlled by modules in the brain made possible by natural selection. It's several semesters worth of introductory and intermediate college linguistics classes packed into one book.
Before that, I read "Language Myths", edited by Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill. The book is a collection of 21 essays written by 22 linguists laying waste to the most common language myths held by the general public and non-linguist academics alike. It's a great introduction to language in general and does a wonderful job setting the record straight for so much of the nonsense behind myths that lots of people consider facts or common sense about language that, in fact, turn out to be gravely mistaken.
After that, I read "Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of a 'Pure' Standard English", by John McWhorter. This book is probably the most erudite and devastating slam on the false attitudes behind prescriptivism and sociolinguistic prestige I have ever read. It thoroughly dismantles prescriptive grammar attitudes, embarrasses those who cling to prestige notions of language and dialect, and sheds much needed light on language discrimination and linguistic misinformation in the United States. Beyond that, it's a fascinating overview of creole languages, issues with translation, recommendations for English language education, and a really intriguing examination of African American Vernacular English - its grammar and evolutionary history.
Now I'm reading "English with An Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States", by Rosina Lippi-Green. I'm not very far into the book, but so far I really like it and it's extremely well researched. The book is evidently one of the most comprehensive sociolinguistic examinations of the attitudes behind and consequences of language discrimination.
Just finished reading "The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language", by Steven Pinker. It's by far the best introduction to linguistics for the lay public ever written. Each chapter covers a different major field or topic in linguistics, with an overall unifying theme being an examination and promotion of Chomskyan grammar theory and the notion that language is an innate human instinct controlled by modules in the brain made possible by natural selection. It's several semesters worth of introductory and intermediate college linguistics classes packed into one book.
Before that, I read "Language Myths", edited by Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill. The book is a collection of 21 essays written by 22 linguists laying waste to the most common language myths held by the general public and non-linguist academics alike. It's a great introduction to language in general and does a wonderful job setting the record straight for so much of the nonsense behind myths that lots of people consider facts or common sense about language that, in fact, turn out to be gravely mistaken.
After that, I read "Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of a 'Pure' Standard English", by John McWhorter. This book is probably the most erudite and devastating slam on the false attitudes behind prescriptivism and sociolinguistic prestige I have ever read. It thoroughly dismantles prescriptive grammar attitudes, embarrasses those who cling to prestige notions of language and dialect, and sheds much needed light on language discrimination and linguistic misinformation in the United States. Beyond that, it's a fascinating overview of creole languages, issues with translation, recommendations for English language education, and a really intriguing examination of African American Vernacular English - its grammar and evolutionary history.
Now I'm reading "English with An Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States", by Rosina Lippi-Green. I'm not very far into the book, but so far I really like it and it's extremely well researched. The book is evidently one of the most comprehensive sociolinguistic examinations of the attitudes behind and consequences of language discrimination.
Last edited:
Vacuum Diagrams
A collection of mind bending amazing SciFi short stories by Stephen Baxter. Part of the series of novels known as the Xeelee Sequence. Batman recommended this to me and I would recommend this to anyone else to be sure, they are amazing stories and all based on accurate scientific concepts. It's hard to describe it all without giving anything away, but lets just say as you get deeper in it makes epic sagas like Star Wars or Star Trek look like child's play.
A collection of mind bending amazing SciFi short stories by Stephen Baxter. Part of the series of novels known as the Xeelee Sequence. Batman recommended this to me and I would recommend this to anyone else to be sure, they are amazing stories and all based on accurate scientific concepts. It's hard to describe it all without giving anything away, but lets just say as you get deeper in it makes epic sagas like Star Wars or Star Trek look like child's play.
Batman
Not all those who wander are lost...
Garo
Boy Wonder
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.
Murakami has a wonderfully terse prose style not unlike Hemingway, but given that Murakami is Japanese, the cultural differences between what he emphasizes and what Hemingway does are really neat and intriguing. The book so far has been dominated by beautiful descriptions of process: the everyday acts of Japanese life that I imagine go often overlooked by those who live there, but are new and different to somebody who is more or a less a stranger to the culture. The plot thus far has been a winding pseudo-detective narrative marked by its relatively low stakes, but the sheer curiosity of the prose and the way that the book almost incidentally captures Japanese culture is enough to propel me through the pages.
Loving it so far.
Murakami has a wonderfully terse prose style not unlike Hemingway, but given that Murakami is Japanese, the cultural differences between what he emphasizes and what Hemingway does are really neat and intriguing. The book so far has been dominated by beautiful descriptions of process: the everyday acts of Japanese life that I imagine go often overlooked by those who live there, but are new and different to somebody who is more or a less a stranger to the culture. The plot thus far has been a winding pseudo-detective narrative marked by its relatively low stakes, but the sheer curiosity of the prose and the way that the book almost incidentally captures Japanese culture is enough to propel me through the pages.
Loving it so far.
Batman
Not all those who wander are lost...
I'm reading "Authority in Language: Investigating Standard English", by James Milroy and Leslie Milroy. It's one of the best books on the matter of prescriptivism, linguistic prestige, and language discrimination out there. The sociolinguistic analysis of the causes and consequences of the myth of standard language supremacy and the discrimination of non-standard dialects is phenomenal.
I'm also reading bits and pieces of "The Silmarillion", by J.R.R. Tolkien; edited by Christopher Tolkien. With The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies coming out in a few months I've been feeling that Tolkien lust brewing inside me the last few days so I decided to poke around the lore some. The battle between Fingolfin and Morgoth gives me chills.
I'm also reading bits and pieces of "The Silmarillion", by J.R.R. Tolkien; edited by Christopher Tolkien. With The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies coming out in a few months I've been feeling that Tolkien lust brewing inside me the last few days so I decided to poke around the lore some. The battle between Fingolfin and Morgoth gives me chills.
Scorch Trials, the second maze runner book. I'm finally getting around to reading this series after it being recommended to me a thousand times. I gotta say i really liked the first book, and i'm hoping the second will be just as good. WARING: DON'T READ THE SPOILER PART UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE FIRST BOOK
Anyway yeah the first one was really good so i would definitely recommend it to just about anyone.
The only thing is what i really liked about the first book is how unique it was. Like how many books do you read about a bunch of teenage guys trapped in a giant maze? Also i really liked the feel of the first book, of these boys civilisation they made. Also i really liked the character chuck. And now he's dead i feel like i almost don't wanna read on cuz i miss him so much. Plus now it's just another lame post-apocalyptic story, so it's not nearly as cool and unique any more. I'll still read on though
Batman
Not all those who wander are lost...
I just started reading "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again", by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's the first step in a massive Tolkien read I'm planning on undertaking. I'd like to read all 7 of the core books, plus Letters, in an attempt to reinforce my knowledge of the mythos. Plus it's just been too long since I've read these beautiful masterpieces.
Last edited:
Batman
Not all those who wander are lost...
Finished "The Hobbit," and I just started "The Fellowship of the Ring".