# What are you currently reading?



## ResistMuchObeyLittle (Dec 20, 2018)

I'm always looking for book recommendations. This year I had the goal of reading 100 books, I've got 2 to go. I'm currently finishing up Sartre-Being and nothingness. 

"The man who doesn't *read* good books has no advantage over the man who can't *read* them."


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## Deleted member 23824 (Dec 20, 2018)

Reading three,actually:

Grant, by Ron Chernow (500 pages in on a 1000 page book)
Just received Duffy Littlejohns book, and starting today.
Romans, Verse by Verse, by William R. Newall

There will be more, I read lots during the rainy winter

100 books in a year, wow! I have a friend like that, one of the most intelligent peolple I know, totally self-taught. He can converse on most any topic, has read all the ancient to modern philosophers. I wanna be like him when I grow up, but my head nearly explodes after reading 5 pages of the stuff he consumes on a daily basis. But I do what I can.


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## roughdraft (Dec 20, 2018)

damn you actually read all of Being and Nothingness??!!!

I recommend The Dead Father by Donald Barthelme

The Unbearable Lighntess of Being by Milan Kundera

Tropic of Cancer and Black Spring both by Henry Miller

Delta of Venus by Anais Nin

and honestly one of my old favorites is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

anything by Thomas Pynchon is rather interesting as well


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## Deleted member 21367 (Dec 20, 2018)

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance 

@roughdraft Gravitys Rainbow changed my life/ ruined me for a long time.


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## noothgrush (Dec 20, 2018)

ResistMuchObeyLittle said:


> I'm always looking for book recommendations. This year I had the goal of reading 100 books, I've got 2 to go. I'm currently finishing up Sartre-Being and nothingness.
> 
> "The man who doesn't *read* good books has no advantage over the man who can't *read* them."


 

Maybe you should read Heidegger's Being and Time next. I'm reading Down and Out in Paris and London (for the second time). I enjoy philosophy but being on the road doesn't allow me the time to soak it all in so i have been sticking to fiction.


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## Mrcharwe (Dec 20, 2018)

I'm working through Infinite Jest right now.

I have Philip K Dicks Ubik, and Vonneguts Cat's Cradle next in the line up.

Whenever I run out of ideas on what to read next, I go back and hit a classic I haven't read or red in a while. 

Books like: 1984, animal farm, a brave new world, on the road, dharma bums, handmaids tale, Lolita, huckfin, walden, one flew over the cuckoos nest, etc.


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## noothgrush (Dec 20, 2018)

Mrcharwe said:


> I'm working through Infinite Jest right now.
> 
> I have Philip K Dicks Ubik, and Vonneguts Cat's Cradle next in the line up.
> 
> ...


 
those are all great stories. I didn't care for brave new world though. i liked brave new world revisited a whole lot more.


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## Deleted member 23824 (Dec 20, 2018)

Juan Derlust said:


> the writing on the wall



LOL! We can all see that coming, unfortunately


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## xjamestravisx (Dec 20, 2018)

I’m currently painfully working my way through Dharma Bums.

Less painfully, I’m half through Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers, and a short story collection by Jorge Luis Borges called Labyrinths. Pretty good surrealist stuff.

I’ve read mostly horror since high school, so I’ve been trying my best to step out of that and read things I should have already, but didn’t.


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## roughdraft (Dec 20, 2018)

GuyWithTwoArms said:


> Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance



best recommendation so far i forgot about this one


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## Crazy Hobo Johnny (Dec 20, 2018)

*1. Deathlands by James Axler a post apocalyptic book series. They don't make the paperback books anymore, now audio books.
2. Guerilla Camping by Sean Spicer. Kindle book. All about Squating! From freight hopping to pitching a tent anywhere, etc. Available on Amazon*


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## troublefunk (Dec 20, 2018)

Re reading Hardcore zen by Brad Warner and How to be a stoic by Massimo Pigliucci.
Just started reading Funk by Rickey Vincent...as recommended by Chuck D so i'm thinking it must be pretty damn good.


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## THE REAL SCAVENGER (Dec 20, 2018)

I always carry the tao te ching


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## Koala (Dec 20, 2018)

A Separate Peace. Got it in a free box outside a book store in Philly.

Following this thread to get suggestions so I can bring a good book on my upcoming bike tour!


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## Hazardoussix6six (Dec 20, 2018)

Shantaram, favorite book ever read!


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## Deleted member 21429 (Dec 20, 2018)

Russka The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd is what I'm currently reading and I will recommend Aztec by Gary Jennings. ~ peace


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## Coywolf (Dec 20, 2018)

I'm currently reading Jack Londons "Call of the Wild"

Soon to be on to "Robinson Crusoe"


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## Tude (Dec 20, 2018)

Revisiting book I started and want to finish - The Glass Castle and for this next week reading on "passing the NYS notary public exam". Stupendous heart rendering and outrageous reading I'm in for on that notary exam book. LOL. Want to take exam late January.

But need to finish glass castle. Have some audibles that I need to finish up too.


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## Jake Pemberton (Dec 20, 2018)

Just finished Suttree by Cormac McCarthy. Set in Knoxville, Tennessee in the 1950s, the main character lives in a houseboat on the Mississippi, makes a living by fishing, and gets involved in some rather humorous shenanigans with other outcasts, degenerates and down-and-outers. The prose is stunning (as with all of McCarthy's work) and it's a wonderful examination of one man's humanity.

The Magus by John Fowles is my current read. Can't elaborate too much, as I'm only about 40% of the way through it.

Upcoming reads will be a biography of Neal Cassady (aka "Dean Moriarty" in Kerouac's On The Road), then maybe a few stories by Borges.


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## ResistMuchObeyLittle (Dec 20, 2018)

@roughdraft Yes, Almost done with it. I consume books like a lot of people I know consume cigarettes. What can I say, I'm an INFJ! Lol Tropic of cancer and black spring are both great!

If I get a moment I'll write out the 100 books I've had a chance to read. I've only got 2 days to make my goal, next up is 2 Edward Abbey novels that I haven't read yet.
Before Sartre's Being and nothingness I read 2 books by Rousseau.

@GuyWithTwoArms Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance is one of my favorites.

@Mrcharwe Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is excellent, in my humble opinion. Actually, he's written so many great books it kind of makes me sick. lol

@Coywolf I finished Robinson Crusoe not long ago and it's one of the best books I've ever read. It's one that I'll definitely need to re-read. The language and style reminded me a lot of Frankenstein which is one of my favorite pieces of literature.
I remember an ex girfriend of mine recommending Frankenstein, and just for the sake of being difficult, told her I had no use reading about a stupid monster. Boy, Was I ever wrong about that. Years later I picked it up and I literally read it twice in a row, back to back. I couldn't believe how fucking good that book was. If i was still in contact with that ex i'd apologize for being such a dumb ass at that time in my life and being so hardheaded.


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## ResistMuchObeyLittle (Dec 20, 2018)

I've read a lot of Kerouac and I personally thought Big Sur was waaaay better than On the road. I also enjoyed The Dharma Bums, but everything else just seemed boring to me. You can kind of tell when he lost the fire. I think Jack London's The Road blows Kerouac's On the road out of the water- but that's just an opinion.

Jack London-Martin Eden is excellent. White Fang, To build a fire, The Sea Wolf are all great works of literature.


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## Raggamuffin (Dec 21, 2018)

ResistMuchObeyLittle said:


> I'm always looking for book recommendations. This year I had the goal of reading 100 books, I've got 2 to go. I'm currently finishing up Sartre-Being and nothingness.
> 
> "The man who doesn't *read* good books has no advantage over the man who can't *read* them."



How to see yourself as you really are : by 14th Dalai Lama (for spiritual growth)

Stardust : by Neil Gaiman (beautifully written fantasy)

Protector : by Larry Niven (sci-fi immersion)

Hats off for 100 books!! Amazing!! My slow reading pace restricts the amount I get through! Haha


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## ResistMuchObeyLittle (Dec 21, 2018)

@troublefunk Thanks for this recommendation- How to be a stoic by Massimo Pigliucci!!! 

The one book I recommend more than any other is Marcus Aurelius-Meditations. It's the closest thing to a Bible that I have. Ryan Holiday also wrote a great book concerning Stoicism called The Obstacle is the way.


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## troublefunk (Dec 21, 2018)

ResistMuchObeyLittle said:


> @troublefunk Thanks for this recommendation- How to be a stoic by Massimo Pigliucci!!!
> 
> The one book I recommend more than any other is Marcus Aurelius-Meditations. It's the closest thing to a Bible that I have. Ryan Holiday also wrote a great book concerning Stoicism called The Obstacle is the way.


How could i forget Meditations!! I do own a copy and it is a classic.Brilliant book you can refer to on a daily basis. 
Massimo Pigliucci also has a great blog also called how to be a stoic which is always worth a read.


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## Mrcharwe (Dec 21, 2018)

ResistMuchObeyLittle said:


> @troublefunk Thanks for this recommendation- How to be a stoic by Massimo Pigliucci!!!
> 
> The one book I recommend more than any other is Marcus Aurelius-Meditations. It's the closest thing to a Bible that I have. Ryan Holiday also wrote a great book concerning Stoicism called The Obstacle is the way.



Marcus Aurelius Meditations is a favorite of mine also. I like that you can just flip it open read a few thoughts and go back to your day.


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## roughdraft (Dec 21, 2018)

i love it bro big hug

it'll be a good day i get back on my reading


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## BusGypsy (Mar 7, 2019)

An indigenous Peoples History of the United States.


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## anyiki (Mar 8, 2019)

i love this!!
reading is the best, trying to read it all read it often and be humble -- the more ya know the more ya know ya dont know, and the more interesting and complex things become

reading: 

the tipping point: how little things can make a big difference -- malcolm gladwell (interesting dig into social psychology, broadly applicable and useful when considering how things get passed around in society, don't always vibe with author's perspective or lack of analysis in his examples but its interesting)

just read:

lakota woman -- mary crow dog 
black elk speaks as told by john g neihardt -- john g neihardt
invisible cities -- italo calvino (such a treat for exercising the imagination)
indian givers -- jack weatherford
10th of december -- george saunders
how the irish saved civilization -- thomas cahill
genghis khan and the making of the modern world -- jack weatherford (highly recommend so interesting !! and as a result of his research and publishing of this book he won mongolia's highest honor -- the order of the polar star [ which upon further investigation looks like they straight up created for him in a national attempt to support understanding of mongolian culture] for detailing a history of the country that has been repressed by foreign dominance for so long)

up next (to choose from):

the power -- naomi alderman
empire of the summer moon -- s. c. gwynne
mitakuye oyasin "we are all related" -- dr. a. c. ross
the state of native america: genocide, colonization and resistance -- various authors
iroquois diplomacy on the early american frontier -- timothy j shannon

i love books, goddamnit !!!


more than the book itself, i'm really enjoying being recently in love with reading again (after a break post-shove-it-down-your-throat-school-reading) and trying self-guided curriculum meanderings across topics... anyone else on this path? 

on a semi-tangent beyond books but concerning learning and reading, i just opened my first solo art show and created a little online mini-encyclopedia i'd love to share here if people are looking at some topics to dive into reading/learning about! the show revolves around fantasy and escapism and contemplating how/when/why we engage in fantasy to disengage in our surrounding realities, and how we (the royal We) can (and historically have) used fantastic ideals to cross over and transform our realities (ie. places like the slabs). the website is at http://fantasy-spaces.info and i'd be honored if folks checked it out -- i'm not too tech savy but my goal is to get it editable by anyone (who keeps it respectful! and who isn't a bot) so resources can be added to the further material section of each topic, so folks can immediately watch a cool movie on a topic they're curious about, insert a suggestion for a related thing, read more papers, go to events around it, etc. etc.. If this all sounds wildly confusing, sorry it probably is, but if you check out the website i think it'll be clear. topics covered in light depth (with resources for continued learning) range from afrofuturism and science-fiction to land-based occupations and micronations to biohacking to drag to drugs to meditation to space colonization to transformation festivals, and more. i'd really love any feedback if anyone checks it out!!

keep reading keep learning keep questioning !!!


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