The last book you read?

[fabulouslyghetto]

My second (third?) time getting cozy with Dr Edward Bynum's The African Unconscious. It'll probably take one more read before I even understand what the phuck he's talking about, definitely requires a thesaurus on standby for me. I'd gotten so comfy having a better vocabulary than the average idiot that I forgot about the collegiate reading level. I have never in my life had to look up so many words, and I'm the guy nobody can beat in Scrabble!

 

[gsdx]

I don't know. I haven't finished reading it yet.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

I don't know. I haven't finished reading it yet.

Ok I'm stoned but I'm not that stoned. Explain.

 

[gsdx]

If I finish reading it, this will be the last book I have read. Not the final. Just the last.

However, the previous last book I read was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Before that was The First King of Shannara by Terry Brooks. And before that was The Hobbit. And before that...

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

If I finish reading it, this will be the last book I have read. Not the final. Just the last.

However, the previous last book I read was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Before that was The First King of Shannara by Terry Brooks. And before that was The Hobbit. And before that...

Ahhh, thinking too hard is the real pandemic. I was so befuddled.

 

[PipRosi]

My second (third?) time getting cozy with Dr Edward Bynum's The African Unconscious. It'll probably take one more read before I even understand what the phuck he's talking about, definitely requires a thesaurus on standby for me. I'd gotten so comfy having a better vocabulary than the average idiot that I forgot about the collegiate reading level. I have never in my life had to look up so many words, and I'm the guy nobody can beat in Scrabble!

Cozy



The African Unconscious, intriguing, is it depth psychological?

I'm reading several books. Two of them (and some articles) are involving looking up vocabulary. I am but a humble supplicant at the teat of knowledge. (apologies for the imagery)

The last one I finished, ummmmm, Blood and Money by David McNalley? One of those books that if we had them in school, kids would become terrifyingly informed and actually ready to make decisions. Probably be banned.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

The African Unconscious, intriguing, is it depth psychological?

Part psych part socio-politics part history. I introduced it to an acquaintence of a friend of a friend who saw "mysticism" on the cover and immediately dismissed it as hokey voodoo scented oils and spells. I thought everybody knew to at least read the inside sleeve before making a decision, isn't there literally saying about judging a book by it's.... nevermind. Check it out if you ever get a chance. And seriously, unless you're bursting at the seams with SAT words keep a dictionary nearby. It reads like a textbook for somebody pursuing their doctorate.

 

[PipRosi]

Part psych part socio-politics part history. I introduced it to an acquaintence of a friend of a friend who saw "mysticism" on the cover and immediately dismissed it as hokey voodoo scented oils and spells. I thought everybody knew to at least read the inside sleeve before making a decision, isn't there literally saying about judging a book by it's.... nevermind. Check it out if you ever get a chance. And seriously, unless you're bursting at the seams with SAT words keep a dictionary nearby. It reads like a textbook for somebody pursuing their doctorate.

Whoa. "Part psych part socio-politics part history" is exactly the kind of thing I'm trying to write right now! Does he mention Jung at all? Yes, people are very dismissive of anything that smacks of magic or souls or Africa.

 

[rareboy]

Not read through yet, but I am in the midst of Around the World in Eighty Days.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

Whoa. "Part psych part socio-politics part history" is exactly the kind of thing I'm trying to write right now! Does he mention Jung at all? Yes, people are very dismissive of anything that smacks of magic or souls or Africa.

I wanna say he does mention Jung but Ive read other books that mention Jung so I may be confusing them. Final answer a soft maybe?

 

[bedbugy]

bangkok bank fixxed interest account

 

[smokeshadow]

Just finished re-reading (for the umpteenth time) David Weber's 9th volumn in his Safehold series, At the Sign of Triumph

Have just started Gama Ray Martinez's God of Neverland - "In this magical reimagining of J. M. Barrie's classic tale, Michael Darling-youngest of the Darling siblings and former Lost Boy, now all grown up-must return to the life he left behind to save Neverland from the brink of Collapse and keep humanity safe from magical and mythological threats, as well as answer the ultimate question: Where is Peter Pan?". . .from the flyleaf

 

[Araucaria]

I struggled through A Previous Life by Edmund White. The book had its problems, not the least of which was that the author never really bothered to tell readers why they should care about the two main characters, or any of the minor ones the main characters encountered.

 

[Latimer]

Part psych part socio-politics part history. And seriously, unless you're bursting at the seams with SAT words keep a dictionary nearby. It reads like a textbook for somebody pursuing their doctorate.

If an intelligent reader can't understand a book or essay without a dictionary at hand, it's safe to assume the author doesn't understand it either. "Reads like a textbook for somebody pursuing their doctorate" is hardly a strong recommendation. Don't waste your time.

The works of great thinkers and writers do not require the reader to look up more than a few words, if that. Among the books I'm currently reading is Machiavelli's "Discourses on Livy". I haven't opened a dictionary once.

 

[PipRosi]

I like expanding my vocabulary. I don't see how some are offended by new words. It seems like a case by case basis where you either think a word works or it doesn't, whether you had to look it up or not. Sure, no one but the highly pretentious are into super try-hard, dry acadamese style, but that's its own pot of goulash.

I suppose one good example is Infinite Jest. Wallace has a unique and compelling way with words and ideas. He throws in unfamiliar words. You just go with his runaway train of thoughts. Granted it's heavy on the cerebral fantasist kick and he can be such a big macho nerd. Zoinks.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

If an intelligent reader can't understand a book or essay without a dictionary at hand, it's safe to assume the author doesn't understand it either. "Reads like a textbook for somebody pursuing their doctorate" is hardly a strong recommendation. Don't waste your time.

The works of great thinkers and writers do not require the reader to look up more than a few words, if that. Among the books I'm currently reading is Machiavelli's "Discourses on Livy". I haven't opened a dictionary once.

Agree to disagree. My lack of vocabulary isn't an indictment on anyone but myself. He's not some quack poet who happened to run into a publisher while panhandling

-clinical psychologist and the director of behavioral medicine at the University of Massachusetts Health Services
-published in numerous scientific journals
-PhD, ABPP certified honey
-awarded by the APA

I have lots of friends who read and I cant say I've got a single one who's never struggled through at least one book, I remember also not understanding what was the fucking point of Catcher in the Rye. Felt like a series of short stories about an entitled brat. In The African Unconscious Dr Bynum touches on everything from archaeology to DNA he's a gifted writer, I'm just a dum dum.

 

[Peloso]

Strange Highways by Dean Koontz. The first and probably last Dean Koontz book I will ever read.

 

[gsdx]

I'm also reading Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' for the third time.

 

[bankside]

The Morning After - The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was, by Chantel Hébert

 

[purina]

I don"t really recall. My last post in the What are you reading? thread was Memoirs by Tennessee Williams. Most recently opened book in Calibre viewer was The Tudor Murder Files by James Moore.