Which book are you reading currently? #7

There's this website called the book depository that ships from the UK for free. Er, free shipping, I mean. But I just can't be bothered.

 

Great Expectations. However, Pip needs a smack in the face IMO.

 

Just started "The Monk" by Matthew Lewis... I have to read the first 238 pages for class tomorrow.

 

Started on "The man who mistook his wife for a hat". It's a collection short stories from a neuropsychologist who wants to tell the story of the people behind the bizarre medical case studies.

All the short stories are about people he treated in his office and suffer from some mental deficit caused by a brain lesion or a brain tumour, and the effect that the brain damage had on their behaviour. I'm 'enjoying' (some parts are quite sad) it so far, but I'm not sure how dated it is in the field of neuropsychology. It was released in the same year as me, 1985, so it may be hopelessly outdated at some points. It mentioned that certain abstract aspects of the conscious like judgement appear in the right hemisphere, but my intro into Psychology book doesn't mention anything about that. :/

 

Have you read any comical situations yet in the book? The title of it makes me laugh...

 

I just finished reading Battle Royale.. Back to Discworld, I think!

 

@Triactus

Yes it contains some comical situations.

The first chapter of the book is the one that the book was named after. It's about a teacher in music who suffers from a serious case of visual agnosia: he cannot visually recognise things as a whole. In the story he only recognizes a glove as a glove when puts it on, before that he thought it could be a container for 5 different kinds of coins.

When he leaves from the initial consult with the psychologist, he reaches for his hat, "he took hold of his wife's head and tried to lift it off, to put it on. [...] His wife looked as if she was used to such things." Generally, he can only recognize people when they talk to him. At the second meeting with the writer, he wants to shake hands with the grandfather clock. Only after the writer makes his physical location clear by making sounds with his voice, is the patient capable to of recognizing the writer.

 

I just finished "Dust of Dreams", the 9th volume of Steven Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen".

At last some of the mysteries are lifted. But then there are new ones ...
Slow start as usual but a real pageturner at the end.
And since it's "just" the first half of a two volume novel it leaves you with lots of cliffhangers

 

I just finished The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway. I don't know why, but I really enjoyed it. I mean, it seemed to be kind of just meandering along with no real plot or anything, but I really liked it. I think it was that "understated" style of writing because I could really feel the narrator's emotions even though it always appeared as if he just kind of took everything as it came along and didn't really care.

The interactions were kind of strange though. I don't understand how people could stand each other being so acerbic and deliberately insulting all the time, heh.

 

I was afriad of that. I think I will wait to read it.

 

Piers Ploughman by Langland

 

The Wheel of Time 1
Dragonflight (A. McCaffrey, I like many of the dragons of Pern stories)
The Politically Correct Guide to American History (weird book)
Cat's Cradle (Bokonon!)
The Book of Three (Chronicles of Prydain, childish but I've always wanted to know what this was about. Will be looking for The Black Cauldron soon)

Over two weeks, Wheel of Time unfinished. Had plenty of time to read thanks to some holidays.

I bought the wheel of time book for only 2 dollars - hardcover, very good condition. I barely had to bargain with the seller, seems no one here just wanted it .
Weeee

 

Recently read through of couple of the Recluce books by Modesitt; I'm currently enjoying 'The Towers of the Sunset'.

 

One of my childhood's favorite books.
And I still reread all the 5 books of this series once every several years

 

So after something like a month I finally finished Matthew Stover's Jericho Moon. It's, I believe, only the second work of fiction I've encountered in which the big bad is the Abrahamic God. Which means it's totally awesome.

Actually, it's totally awesome for other reasons, too, but still.

 

I read The Shining this weekend - fantastic book! The movie adaptation is crap though - decent horror flick, but shallow and watered down when compared to the book.

 

Which movie adaptation? The Kubrick or the Stephen King one? While the Kubrick version may not have followed the book very well (of what I heard since I haven't read it), it is a really really good movie!

 

The Kubrick one. I mean, it was a decent movie, but there was no depth - Jack seemed crazy right from the beginning (which begs the question: if he is crazy, why does he have a family - not many would knowingly marry a crazy person); his love for Danny is not developed, so it is not as scary when he loses it and tries to kill him; it isn't quite clear that it is the hotel making him this way (a. because he always seemed crazy, b. the hotel didn't interact with him enough - the hedge animals from the book would have been sweet); Danny's shining isn't discussed enough - they just make it seem like he is a crazy epileptic (his croaking "redrum" wasn't scary/creepy - it was annoying), which made Halloran's worry and appearance more random - it didn't seem like they were communicating.

/end rant