What are you reading right now?

I've been reading a few books at the same time, so I'm a little all over the place. My biggest thing right now is that I'm re-teaching myself about Revolutionary War-era America, so I'm nose-deep in a lot of nonfiction books and research. My current subject of interest is Deborah Sampson, a woman who successfully served in the continental army for 18 months before getting caught and discharged. I just read through the headache that was her pension last week, and I just started reading Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson by Alfred F. Young. I know she has a proper biography that she actually contributed to, but it's surprisingly unreliable and more fantasy than reality. While I'm sure I could guess what's true and what isn't, I'm still putting off that book until I feel like a true smarty pants about her.

I'm also reading Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth. It's very engaging and entertaining, and it's definitely a good read if you're looking for nonfiction that isn't horribly dry. I do have a few bones to pick with it, but it's not a bad book. I just wouldn't quote it in a research paper.
 
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The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima, and Neal Stephenson's book of essays.
 
DuskEngine said:
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima, and Neal Stephenson's book of essays.
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What do you think of Mishima anyway?

As a white guy, from a country that waged total war on the country he was in, it's hard to have any kind of objective view on the guy and his talent.

So what's a dothead fag think of him?
 
I'm reading The Disaster Artist.

I pause sometimes during reading just to sit down. It's just such an unbelievable story.
 
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AnOminous said:
What do you think of Mishima anyway?

As a white guy, from a country that waged total war on the country he was in, it's hard to have any kind of objective view on the guy and his talent.

So what's a dothead fag think of him?
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India has plenty of conflicted and controversial nationalist figures from its own independence movement (Subhas Chandra Bose, Savarkar), and some of the concerns about post-war ennui and materialism that America is bringing in in the novel are kind of similar to things I've heard from Hindu traditionalists. Of course, Japan got owned super hard compared to most other places, so it's difficult to understand their post-war experience in particular.

I'll have more thoughts once I've finished the book, I'm sure. Just finished Summer.
 
Re-Reading High Rise by JG Ballard so it's reasonably fresh in my mind when I see the film later this year.
 
When I read Mishima I always had this half suspicion that he actually viewed nationalism as a horrible thing and was immersing himself in it as a sort of form of self-destruction. His books are often contemptuous of patriotic characters and he is dismissive of things that are usually the holy grail of Japanese nationalism, e.g. World War 2. I did think he might just be an alter-nationalist, but in 'Confessions of a Mask' he described a fighter manufacturing facility he worked in as a 'death factory' which is something it's pretty much impossible to reconcile with any form of nationalism. So that means that most of his life and public statements were some form of subversive performance art/culture jamming.

I know it sounds like I'm making excuses for him, but I have no problem viewing other writers I enjoy (e.g. Dostoyevsky) as people with genuinely hateful philosophies. I just can't reconcile Mishima's nationalism with what he actually wrote. I suppose it's possible that the books were trolling and his life was the real thing, but that seems less likely.

He's a genuinely talented author though. Even if you find the patriotism toxic, it's surprisingly absent in most of his books - Temple of the Golden Pavillion, for example, really has nothing to do with national identity.
 
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I finished reading through the 3 original books from the Millennium series. Dragon Tattoo through Hornet's Nest. 3 days.

Holy fuck his writing is dry.
 
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vertexwindi said:
I'm reading The Disaster Artist.

I pause sometimes during reading just to sit down. It's just such an unbelievable story.
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That book is amazing, I pre-ordered it and binge read it the day it came out. The stories in there are just incredible.


Currently reading The Sociology of Deviant Behaviour.
Surprisingly it isn't about Nick Bate or tumblr.
 
Um by Michael Erard - it's about speech errors and what they mean linguistically and psychologically.

I also recommend Babel no More by the same author about finding the person who speaks the most languages
 
I just realized that I'm not reading anything at the moment and now I'm sad. Any suggestions people? I'm after some real gritty high fantasy. What do people think of the Dwarfs books by Markus Heitz?
 
The writing on the wall. The cubicle wall of a public toilet to be more precise. 'Cumslut Craig' left his mobile number and apparently gives amazing blowjobs.
 
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I'm reading Perchance to Dream by Charles Beaumont. It's a collection of short stories by a writer for the original Twilight Zone. Recommended if you're into bizarre, speculative fiction.
 
LazarusOwenhart said:
I just realized that I'm not reading anything at the moment and now I'm sad. Any suggestions people? I'm after some real gritty high fantasy. What do people think of the Dwarfs books by Markus Heitz?
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I've never heard of the Dwarfs books, so I can't tell you quality-wise how they are. I'd recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss or the first two Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake.
 
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