I finished Fight Club a while ago, and by the end I was absolutely in love with it. It distinguished itself from Choke just fine after I got into it a little more. (Late post is late, but whatever.)

I'm thinking of doing my second semester AP english project on Palahniuk, partly because she would probably hate me, but also because I have a lot to sort of... Discuss, about the themes in those books, particularly.

Anyway, it's been a long enough break that I feel like picking up another Palahniuk, if I can find it. I'm thinking Lullaby or Survivor, or maybe Diary, or something. I dunno. Any suggestions?

Rant is good if one gets over the style in which it was written. I'd do Invisible Monsters or Haunted if you want some good disturbing reads. Or better yet, get Ellis' American Psycho

Currently it's The Univited: The True Story of the Union Screaming House by Steven LaChance. It's about a seemingly normal house in Union, Missouri that just happens to hold a demon bent on destroying whoever lives there. The author and his kids were able to move away but the new renters aren't so lucky. He finds himself getting drawn back to the house to try and help, which sets off a battle for his soul and the souls of those still in the house. And it's a true story, not fiction.

Next up is The Possessed: the history & horror of the Watseka wonder by Troy Taylor. It's about a case from 1877 Kansas in which a young girl becomes possessed by the spirit of a young woman from the same town who just happened to die years before in an insane asylum. George and I watched a documentary on this case that has the same title as the book, so I want to read it. Never heard of a case before where a human spirit was the one doing the possessing.

I am currently reading: Mathematics: the Loss of Certainty. It's going slower than usual for me.

A True
Romance Novel
For Me

is it a sizzling romance?

It's Hot and Wet
And When You're Done You
Have to Wash the Juices
From Your Face

Yeah
It's Got Sizzle
Fo'Shizzle

Currently reading Diary -- Palahniuk. I actually quite enjoy it. Took me a bit to get into it, but yeah.

I read too much goddamn Palahniuk.

However, I have several other books on my repertoire -- The Girl who Passed for Normal, by Hugh Fleetwood (never heard of it before, just something that looked interesting in my library browsings) as well as The Truth Machine by James L. Halperin (same thing). I'm also in the middle of Catcher in the Rye. Or, well, towards the end of it. I keep breaking from it though, Iunno why. And then there's The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, which my brother recommended to me forever ago. And, lastly, I have a collection of short stories and poems by Charles Bukowski. Might end up doing my AP project on him instead.

...Yeah. Who knows if I actually read all this shit.

It's quite enjoyable though.

What Bukowski collection?

Septuagenarian Stew? I guess. It's a really beaten up looking book, the only one they actually had.

Ah yes, I had that one for awhile, not sure what happened to it.

Just finished Malcolm Gladwell what the dog saw, it didn't fair well among reviewers for its lack of focus, being a collection of previous published articles that have no unifing theme to make the total become greater than the sum of its parts. But I like that style of disjointed, random running around, looking into things that are overlooked or just assumed, and finding out how much there is story wise beneath the surface.

Prior to that was Super Freakonomics. not as good as the first, but interesting and well worth reading.

Prior to that was Taleb's The Black Swan, which I'm going to have to re-read, cause the thing is so damn long I forgot the beginning when I reached the end.

Prior to that was Dawkin's Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. I'm happy to say Dawkins is once again at his best: making science interesting, accessible, and best of all: inspiring

Now I'm working on Bertrand Russel's History of Western Philosophy (into the 13th century now) I like how he spends so much time talking about the history and social conditions that the Philosophers emerged from. I also like how he mentions modern philosophers who support or refute certain ideas, and best of all, I really love how he clearly states when he is spouting off an opinion. He makes it clear that "x is what I think" and this book was written long before the idea of taking on an obvious and clearly stated bias was an acceptable part of academic writing or journalism.


One thing I find very odd: I have a lot of trouble digesting fiction. it is very difficult for me to follow, I'm unable to follow the story, while keeping track of the references and allusions and thinking about the theme. I can' only do one at a time, and i don't like reading books more than twice.
but this kinda stuff....academic topics written about in every-day language, is easy. most people seem to think the opposite, that these books are hard while fiction is easy. Maybe I'm weird, but it reminds me of a quote by Canadian author Stephen Leacock, who wrote textbooks for a living and silly fiction on the side. people thought his fiction was an excuse to fool around, while his textbooks were his serious work. He claimed the opposite. Textbooks are mindless, just regurgitating facts, writing fiction- silly small-town adventures- that's hard work.

Lots and lots and lots of Bukowski.

Post Office was pretty good. So was Barfly (got the screenplay, haven't actually seen the movie). Even the biographies of this guy are pretty interesting. The only thing that sucks is trying to write a research paper about him. It's so much bullshit I almost feel bad for it. Ah well.

As much as I enjoy the guy's writing, I can't wait for this shit to be over so I can go back to reading what I want to read.

Yeah, reading Bukowski has been known to cause cynicism, in my experience.

Anyways, I picked up:


The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
My Education by William S. Burroughs

Why do I torture myself with heavy reading?

I seem to be very slowly working through I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World by Mike Edison.

I just started Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan and have How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker in queue

I just finished demon haunted world 2 weeks ago!
then i finished pale blue dot last week, and Feynman's what do you care what other people think yesterday

I find Carl Sagan's books kind of inconsistent. You will have one paragraph that is possibly the most brilliant, insightful, moving thing you've ever heard from a scientist, then the rest of the chapter is bla bla bla, followed by another absolutely brilliant quote, then more bla.
He's kind of like the doors, or david bowie. when he hits it, he really hits it, but damn, there are a lot of misses in there, too.

I'm a huge Carl Sagan fan. He's a very interesting man and led a very interesting life. He's about as close to a hero as I get anymore. He's a scientist and a skeptic, so I'm willing to forgive some inconsistencies. Hell, even James Randi is inconsistent sometimes.
I love Richard Feynman. He was a truly brilliant man that was genuinely excited about science. I watched a few of his interviews and his enthusiasm is contagious. It also comes out in his writings.
Damn, I didn't mean for this to sound like a review, but I guess my hero worship of those two men bled through anyway. Forgive my fanboy-ism

no worries, I love both those guys, too.

this was my first time reading a Feynman book, and I really enjoyed it. I have seen quotations from him all over the place, and I read about him on good old wikipedia, but never a whole book till now, and you are absolutely right, his enthusiasm is fantastic. It makes me wish I was smarter, so I could be a scientist too, instead of an artist. I love how he seems to have a down to earth attitude, along with a genuine curiosity and passion.

Have you read that bit from the opening of pale blue dot? it is powerful enough to move a man to tears.

Today I started Michael shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things. (the audiobook version)

is it possible to find any steven pinker audiobooks? that guy is awesome, but nothing comes up on google or pirate bay. any ideas of where else I can find audio books?

I have How the Mind Works in audiobook form. It's the only one I could find

I have it now, too.

I will be starting it today.

I play audiobooks while I paint, and so far, I've covered 41 books in 10 months. That's not too bad.

unfortunately, I wont be downloading anything else for a while. Acquiring 2 seasons of Bones in HD has me close to my monthly limit.
Curse you, Rogers, and your 25 gig/month limit!

My lord, sometimes I download more than that in a day. I would cry.

believe me, I am close to tears myself.
There is no real competition in broadband internet in Canada. Where I live, there is only rogers and bell. The smaller companies are just re-selling one of these company's services.
I could pay more for higher speed and 100 gb/month caps, but I'm cheap. ultra high speed should not cost $70/month. fuck you rogers! I'm paying about $40 now for the second-worst service they offer.
no watching ted talks for 2 weeks! this is hell! I might have to actually get some work done.
I miss my Korean internet so much. over there, high speed actually means "high speed", not "rip off" like it means over here.
Anyone remember when North America was the world leader in technology? (I was born in the eighties, so I'm too young to know about those days.)

So far, Pinker's book is OK, but not excellent. lets hope the end is better than the 1st 1/4.

edit: done the Pinker book. it does get better near the end, a lot better.
I think I am completely out of audio books now. damn! (now im transferring 8 gigs of 32 kbps mono mp3 files to an external hard drive, to clear up some new porn space on my laptop)

I started reading No more Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover. It's about helping guys who feel the need to be 'nice guys' all the time at the expense of being truly themselves. (Un)Fortunately, I have had this problem my entire life and do not wish to suffer it's ill effects any more

just for fun?