What you reading?

[Lord Funk]

I haven't read anything in about a year besides the newspaper and some magazines.

The last book I read was called "An Underground Education" by Richard Zacks. It's a non fiction book pretty much going into detail with photos of the stuff history books have left out of their pages. From the real origins of fairy tales (not the watered down versions today) to Pocahontas being a spokeswoman for the tobacco industry to the 1949 Nobel prize winner who performed lobotomies with an ice pick. It's pretty interesting to say the least.

Here's an excerpt:

Jackie Robinson was not the first black man to play in the Major Leagues. A handful of blacks player in organized major leagues, such as the American Association, in the 10th century until they were banned in the late 1880s. Black jockeys won fifteen of the first twenty-eight Kentucky Derbies until they were ousted in 1911. The majority of blacks were legally disenfranchised in the southern and boarder states from 1890 to 1907. In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld segregation. Enormously popular minstrel shows barnstormed the country depicting blacks as toadying fools. An African pygmy was exhibited behind bars at the Bronx Zoo. In 1921, whites in Tulsa, Oklahoma, dropped dynamite from a plane onto a black ghetto, killing seventy-five people and wrecking more than 1,100 homes.

That sounds really interesting. Reminds me of a great book I read years back called "Lies My History Teacher Told Me".

[Noname]

Im reading The Godfather II book now. Its a fucking great book. If you liked the movie you should definetly check the Godfather books. Its much better then the movies.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Che: A Memoir By Fidel Castro
Timothy Leary - High Priest

[Low Key]

I haven't read anything in about a year besides the newspaper and some magazines.

The last book I read was called "An Underground Education" by Richard Zacks. It's a non fiction book pretty much going into detail with photos of the stuff history books have left out of their pages. From the real origins of fairy tales (not the watered down versions today) to Pocahontas being a spokeswoman for the tobacco industry to the 1949 Nobel prize winner who performed lobotomies with an ice pick. It's pretty interesting to say the least.

Here's an excerpt:

Jackie Robinson was not the first black man to play in the Major Leagues. A handful of blacks played in organized major leagues, such as the American Association, in the 19th century until they were banned in the late 1880s. Black jockeys won fifteen of the first twenty-eight Kentucky Derbies until they were ousted in 1911. The majority of blacks were legally disenfranchised in the southern and boarder states from 1890 to 1907. In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld segregation. Enormously popular minstrel shows barnstormed the country depicting blacks as toadying fools. An African pygmy was exhibited behind bars at the Bronx Zoo. In 1921, whites in Tulsa, Oklahoma, dropped dynamite from a plane onto a black ghetto, killing seventy-five people and wrecking more than 1,100 homes.

That sounds really interesting. Reminds me of a great book I read years back called "Lies My History Teacher Told Me".

*Edit* I fixed my typos so the excerpt reads better.

I really enjoy books with more off beat facts that aren't so mainstream. The history books make the worlds' past seem so tame and unified and I know it wasn't like that. I'll have to check out the book you mentioned above. The title already has me interested.

[CRAFTY]

I gotta read a bunch of books for my French class (last year of university!):

Albert Camus - L'étranger (The Stranger - Keanu Reeves' favourite book btw. Didn't find it all that interesting myself though)
Paul Coelho - L'alchimiste (The Alchemist)
Molière - L'Avare
Jean-Paul Sartre - Le Mur
Voltaire - Zadig & Candide

That's it as far as 'serious litterature' goes. A few weeks ago I read some great crime novels by George Pelecanos (writer on The Wire):

Right As Rain
Hell To Pay

^^^^I can recommend ANY Pelecanos book if you're into crime novels.

[Lord Funk]

A few weeks ago I read some great crime novels by George Pelecanos (writer on The Wire):

Right As Rain
Hell To Pay

^^^^I can recommend ANY Pelecanos book if you're into crime novels.

Yeah, I love crime novels. They're great when you don't want anything too heavy - I rarely remember the plots once I finish them, but they always suck me in while I'm reading them. Might check Pelecanos out

I particularly liike Ian Rankin's John Rebus series set in Scotland, although the later novels aren't a patch on the earlier ones.


EDIT: On Amazon.co.uk, one reviewer compares Pelecano to Ian Rankin. Cool
I'm reading a pretty crap book at the moment - a novel called 'Plainsong' by Kent Haruf, about the residents of a small farming town in Colarado in the early 1980s. I liked it when I read the first page in the shop, but Christ it's slow. I'm nearly half way through and I'm wondering where the hell it's going...

[WS4L]

i just finished - THE LIFE IN GUANTANAMO - ( hardest jail in the world )  by NIZAR SASSI

[CRAFTY]

I particularly liike Ian Rankin's John Rebus series set in Scotland, although the later novels aren't a patch on the earlier ones.

Ian Rankin...never heard of him. I'll check him out after my exams (end of June). Thanks for the suggestion!

[gav09]

Think I'm gonna start readin Cosa Nostra : Story Of The Sicilian Mafia as I just finished the Dre book!

[The Watcher]

picked up a few tpb comics today

civil war - fantastic four
civil war - wolverine
civil war - road to civil war
civil war - frontline

they didnt have spiderman or the series civil war in stock, gotta wait for those

[KURUPTION-81]

Im Reading

The Ambler Warning by Robert Ludlum

On parrish island, off the coast of virginia, there is a little known and never visited psychiatric facility. There, far from prying eyes, the government stores former intelligence employees whose psychiatric state makes them a danger to their own government.

One of these employees, former agent Hal Ambler, is kept heavily medicated and closely watched. but there's one difference between Hal and the other patients, Hal isn't crazy. Hal pulls off a daring escape and now he's out to discover who stashed him there and why. But the world he returns to has changed. No one remembers him, there are no official records of Hal Ambler, and, when he first looks in the mirror, the face he sees is not his own.

[Lord Funk]

^^^

I like the sound of that - is it any good?

I'm onto 'My Trade', a history of British journalism by a BBC journalist called Andrew Marr - really interesting.

Also read a pretty interesting book at the weekend called 'How To Write Great Copy' by a fella called Dominic Gettins. It's about the creative process behind writing adverts - a random read but gives you a great insight into how everything from TV commercials to posters are put together. I'd recommend it for any creative types here

[KURUPTION-81]

^^^

I like the sound of that - is it any good?

yeah its pretty good. In all honesty im not a huge reader so i dont have a lot of books to compare it to. Ive enjoyed it though , when i finish im gonna check out some other robert ludlum novels as my dad has a load of them.

[Bramsterdam (see ya)]

I started The Bridge (Boo Yaa's recommendation) and so far its dino.

[CRAFTY]

Im Reading

The Ambler Warning by Robert Ludlum

On parrish island, off the coast of virginia, there is a little known and never visited psychiatric facility. There, far from prying eyes, the government stores former intelligence employees whose psychiatric state makes them a danger to their own government.

One of these employees, former agent Hal Ambler, is kept heavily medicated and closely watched. but there's one difference between Hal and the other patients, Hal isn't crazy. Hal pulls off a daring escape and now he's out to discover who stashed him there and why. But the world he returns to has changed. No one remembers him, there are no official records of Hal Ambler, and, when he first looks in the mirror, the face he sees is not his own.

Sounds pretty interesting. I'll have to check that out... *props