BOOKS: What are you reading?

[purina]

I like the big one better.

Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal by Jay Parini

 

[zoltanspawn]

Beckett's grim yet comic jumble of reminiscence from a deathbed, Malone Dies (1951).

 

[Matt89]

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger By Stephen King

 

[BiMeGuy]

I am Beta Testing a new Author's book right now.

 

[PalacePaul]

I just bought La prima pietra (The first stone) by Krysztof Charamsa. He is a Catholic priest who came out as gay in 2015. I can't wait to start reading.

 

[evelyn]

shelley's Frankenstein, 1818 text.

 

[Kulindahr]

I just finished Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling.

Instead of shying away from the absurd, he finds in the absurd the very basis of his faith.

It's a refreshing take on Christianity than we typically see in these more trivial times.

I noticed that popped up as an e-book for 99 cents -- grabbed it!

 

[Kulindahr]

The Lost History of Christianity


It's about Christians to the east of the Roman Empire, and it's fascinating. I've learned some amazing things, like:

All those works by Aristotle and others that Europe later got from the Arabs, which launched a cultural change in Europe, were translated into Arabic by Christians, and that's how the Muslims got them

The canon we got through Rome, that so many claim was imposed by imperial will to eliminate unwanted Gospels, is even stricter/smaller than the canon used in the east -- and they had no imperial government to make a canon stick; they had all the ones people today should have been in the canon and a few more, but rejected them. This proves the "imperial power" theory of the orthodox canon is ludicrous.

At the time of Saint Francis, there were more Christians outside the old Roman Empire lands than inside!

Christians and Buddhists in the Persian Empire often built monasteries side by side -- and a lot of those had back doors so they could share each others' libraries!

In the fourteenth century, religious oppression blossomed across three continents. This was the time of the "Little Ice Age" -- coincidence?



All in all, I think we in the West, while we got orthodox Christianity, also got a much narrower, legalistic version -- and that can be attributed to Theodosius (not so much Constantine) making Christianity the official religion of the Empire.

 

[theworldwithout]

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

 

[Matt89]

Re-reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child By J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne

 

[zoltanspawn]

Nancy Farmer's The Lord of Opium (2013) didn't live up to the excellence of its predecessor The House of the Scorpion, mired in an onerous moralism, though still a good entertainment.

 

[BiMeGuy]

Aesop's Fables

 

[Matt89]

Nevertheless By Alec Baldwin

 

[Kulindahr]

Just finished Buddha by Depak Chopra

currently reading a history of Spain

oh -- and before that, Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, in which I found an astounding error in high-school level physics!

 

[zoltanspawn]

Ian McGuire's The North Water (2016).

A veteran of mayhem encounters even more on a whaling expedition to Greenland.



A terrifically entertaining account of the 19th century.

Blood-soaked snow, intrigue, villainy and mystery.

 

[Irish Queer]

Not sure if I posted this before but Brother Odd. I'm really enjoying the Odd Thomas books a good read that is enjoyable and easy yet still scary and exciting with a likable hero and supporting cast.

 

[purina]

Gore Vidal by Ed Kaplan

 

[MakeDigitalLove]

Grimm's Fairytales
Alice's Avdentures in Wonderland

 

[zoltanspawn]

The Children of Hurin (2007) by the Tolkiens is in an extended episode in the style of The Silmarillion. As an excursion, it's always a pleasure to marvel at J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination, though this book lacks the breadth and splendor of The Silmarillion. His more popular works feel like the unfolding of a world, this merely a tale.

 

[hornyalltime]

One of my favorite series by one of my favorite authors, MOON SHIMMERS (book 19) of the Otherworld Series by Yasmine Galenorn.