Afghanistan: The Bear Trap

All about the training of the Mujahideen back in the 80s by the ISI and the supply of funds and weapons by the CIA and Saudi Arabia when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Interesting to learn about what all went on behind the curtains at the time and the conspiracy theories about the bizarre events that unfolded after the Soviets withdrew.

Right now i'm reading all the Amelia Atwater Rhoads collection , i love the way she writes and how i can stay glued to it for hours at a time , theres also a book i read a few weeks ago i dunno who its by but it was amazing it was calledLook for me by moonlight
AngelofSilence

The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman. It's a sweet read. It's part two of a series of three. I have not read the first. Got it out of a huge box of books from the home of the ever lovable golden-eyed jaguar. He and his papa go through books at about a mile a minute and leave stacks and stacks of leftovers in their wake. Tres good for me since they are all scifi and fantasy. Haha!

Wohoo! I finally managed to finish some of the books I was reading *does a crazy Irish dance* Now there's just the H.P. Lovecraft stories, if only I could stop leaving it over at my mate's house :roll:

And of course there are new books as well, I started and finished Maskerade by Terry Pratchett in a night (a very good book, but then i love all of the discworld series :D) And at the moment I'm reading Interview with the vampire, then re-reading Dracula (just to see which one I prefer) and the rest of the Dracula omnibus, along with a short Michael Moorcock novel

I think that's it, at least for the moment

From Socrates to Sarte: The philosophic quest. By T.Z. Lavine. So far so good. The book explores ethics, history, God, politics, truth, and Nature. I'm also finishing up Dante's Inferno. An excellent read. Just finished The Deh of Piglet ( the companion book to The Dao of Pooh.) Loved it.

House of leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.... and all i can say is that it is by far the strangest book I've ever read.

Jane, if you think that has perversion in it, read Naked Lunch...

:roll:

Cancer Ward by someone with the initials A.S. who's Russian (the spelling of the name escapes me and an attempt would just lead to embarassment...)

and

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Don't tell me I stpelled his name wrong- there are lots of different ways to spell it because the English and Russian alphabets differ.

...Raise your hand if you've got a fetish for Russian novelists! Ooo Ooo- Me! Me! Me!

Just finished "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson. Now i'm reading some of his other works: short stories etc.

Just finished "The Dancing Men"- one of the "Sherlock Holmes" short stories.

I had to read it for a cryptology course, but I found it pretty interesting. There's definitely some form of narcotic in those stories, because I can see myself getting addicted real easily.

Just finished reading the Dawn of the Dead comic book mini series published by IDW and written by STEVE NILES who is one TALENTED writer. check him out. www.steveniles.com

I have the first two issues and they are awesome. However, i'm having trouble finding the last issue. Ultimately i guess i might have to order it from abroad..... if i can.... i don't have a credit card... :roll:

The Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind

Terry Goodkind? God, I remember I read like 6 books by Goodkind when I was in 8th grade- that stuff is *really* entertaining- I should take something out of the library...hmm *ponders re-kindeling her fantasy obsession* maybe...
Anyways here's a link to this Sherlock Holmes story site I found- it's *awesome* yay sir aurthor conan doyle.. http://www.bakerstreet221b.de/canon/index.html

The Dancing Men's a good one..

I just started reading I am Legend by Richard Matheson
I liked what I've read so far.

1984 and Terminal Man rock! I love Crichton and Orwel.

I'm currently reading Hamlet, the Palmistry workbook, the Arabian Nights, and the Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe.

Just got finished with alien, now i'm reading salem's lot

a bright red scream.

I just finished reading "The wings of a dove" by Henry James.

Right now I'm reading - promise you won't laugh? - the autobiography of my favourite snooker player: Ronnie O'Sullivan.

I'm not ashamed to say it: I like snooker.

Haha- what's snooker?

I'm reading "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" for my cryptology class.

oooooo *espionage*

snooker

s - sassy
n - new-age
o - oblong
o - (or) oval
k - kites
e - everyone (can)
r - relish

i like snooker, too.

- mark

Just finished Wild Hairs by David J. Schow, and about to run down to Books-A-Million to grab another stack ive got on hold....

Last book I read...
 

Define Normal...by some chick...

I read it like, at the ending of last year, just because I was bored and had no one to celebrate with...*sigh*

So, it was like...HORRIBLE...

I want to rewrite it....

I've read a ton of books since last time I posted in here.
But the one I just finished, Stiff was hilarious, and kinda mind-set-changing.

It was pretty good, but if I were a mortician I wouldn't like it too much :P

i just finished Counte of Monte Cristo and am now starting JTHM directors cut....i know, total intelligence downgrade

NECROSCOPE
 

I'm almost through with Necroscope by Brian Lumley. It's the first of the series, and the best, I think, although I've only tried one other (maybe it was Deadspeak?) which I gave up on. This one held my attention, so I may try the next one I find.

Just finished with O'Sullivan's autobiography (btw Edible_Eye: fantastic acronym for SNOOKER!)

Started reading "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins

thanx, china doll. glad you approved.

i just started reading 'massage for dummies'.

i'm gonna need a few practice victims.

I just started a book on the Venona Project. Extremely interesting stuff, Communism, espionage... I'm obsessed with anything to do with Russia..

What I'm reading
 

Last night, I started Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister (sp) Crowley. It's pretty interesting fiction based on fact and striking how people got just as fucked up on cocaine in the 1920's , when it was legal, as they do now, when they can afford it.

What I'm currently reading is an old favorite.

Exiles Volume 1:The Ruins of Ambrai

The hubby and I are such huge Melanie Rawn fans we have all her books...... :roll:

Just finished "Misery" by Stephen King and "Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchet and then picked up "Night Watch" (another Terry Pratchet). Ah, funny little man that Pratchet fellow.

always have a huge pile of stuff to read

finished Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky the other day,
and i'm reading Guignol's Band by Louis-Ferdinand Celine now
next on the list is The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus, or perhaps Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

it just seems like i'll never read even a fraction of all the good books that are out there....

Dostoevsky is the *BEST* woo hooo!!!! I'm finishing up the Idiot (along with 300000 other books... god I hate simul-reading), and it's awesome. READ EVERYTHING RUSSIAN!! It's amazing! The dialect comes through so strongly, even in translation it's poetry.

i agree...there's just something about those depressing russian authors, haha!
and i totally know what you're talking about with the simul-reading.

also, with the russian-english translation, i find that at least some french comes off the same way. one of the reasons i loved Celine so much...try his book Journey to the End of the Night.

Yeah, it is interesting how they keep more French phrases than Russian. Quite ironic, actually- my French helped me more when I was reading Tolstoy more than when I read Zola.

Ever read "Cancer Ward"?

nein, but it's on the ever growing, never ending list now!
thanks!

supposedly it's siginificantly more fulfilling to read foreign lang. books in their orignal language...i met a guy who was learning russian entirely for that purpose.

Oh, I definitely would agree. Reading "The Stranger" is completely different than reading "L'Etranger" (same book... one's in French). You have to get to that point where you can think in the language, though. So you're not going "'Je crache sur tes yeux' Okay 'I spit on your eyes'.." It has to be the understanding of the language where you can't possibly translate it, because the meaning is so strong in the language.

You can sort of do that with reading translations, though, if you read enough of them. The authors repeat phrases that sound overly formal and awkward in English, but eventually you can recognize them for their true meaning, and "translate" them, I guess.

Good luck to your friend... fucking difficult language to learn.

oh, i dont even want to try learning a language that well, at least now (not to be a us-centric ugly american or anything...)
the only language i know sort of well at all aside from english is latin, and my repitoire of that is pretty limited.

well i guess the translator is as much a sort of second author of these english books, in how their mind interprets what the author meant originally, and how they think everything is supposed to glide together...although im sure there are some translators out there who dont care at all and just do it word-for word and leave just a dead, dull english version that's lost most of the vitality and meaning that the book had in another language.

mystic river by dennis lehane offers roughly 150 pages of perfect prose before the story begins to fall apart - just a little, though. the momentum of the book carries it right through to the end, despite the speed bump experienced by said thinning.

i'm going to watch the movie tonight and see how it holds up against the written word.

i was reading "the art of happiness" which is a book on budhism
now im reading a book on the meaning of halloween symbols

Rite now I'm reading TITHE by holly black, its a very good read.

I'm reading "Whores of lost Atlantis" by Charles Busch. A story of camp drag queens in NY. Kinda funny.
Amelie

Yep... Just like we all have posh accents and the worst we have is drive-by arguments :wink: :roll:

As far as I know, it's a class A drug and therefore highly illegal

I'm reading The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. Sure it's bullshit but what the hell? It's about as much fun as The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. Plus I'm reading three of the Darkside anthology books, all edited by John Pelan. Scary stuff in there. :twisted:

Reading The Essential Ellison recently.

It's reconfirmed two things.

One, Harlan Ellison is a big poopyhead.

Two, "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" is one of my favorite short stories....ever.