Books to read, 2006

[featherynscale]

triadruid, as always, reminds me that if I don't make a list, I'll never freaking remember.

My goal this year is to increase the ratio of non-fiction to fiction books that actually get read, and also to continue to move towards having read all of the books in the house.

To-Read: Fiction
- Re-read Wheel of Time Series, Robert Jordan (we own it!)
- Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman (when triadruid finishes it) (we own it)
- Life of Pi, Yann Martel (we own it)
- Siddhartha, Herman Hesse (have to get a copy)
- Finnegan's Wake, James Joyce (have to get one)
- Perdido Street Station, China Mieville (need to get)
- Promethea series (borrow from gamera_spinning)

To-Read: Nonfiction
- Metamagical Themas, Douglas Hofstedter (we own it, and have for years. Has anyone read it? No.)
- Zero: Biography of a Dangerous Idea (we own it)
- Training Trances (we own it)
- Generation Hex (have to get a copy)
- The Laughing Jesus (in the book club queue)
- The Hidden Messages in Water (in the book club queue)
- Chance, Amir Aczel (in the book club queue)
- The Shadow Club, Roberto Casati (in the book club queue)
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach (need to get)
- Strategies for Success

Also, taking suggestions: What have you read lately that was of interest? I'm interested in pretty much any fiction that isn't a romance or a western (with preference for sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and alternate history), and any non-fiction about math, science, philosophy, psychology/sociology, ethnography, religion, magic, language or non-military history. Thanks!

Comments

[kieyra.livejournal.com]

I can't say enough about CJ Cherryh's science fiction, especially her Merchanter/Alliance universe and particularly Cyteen, but the books are not really serial in nature and some find her writing style a little inaccessible.

History: I can read Alison Weir's books on British history almost endlessly. Very readable while also being cleary well-researched. You can pick them up cheap on amazon.

Sociology: A Woman's Right to Pornography by Wendy McElroy. Just slightly dated, but an interesting take on why true 'feminists' should be pro-porn.

[kieyra.livejournal.com]

And since I didn't actually provide a summary of Cyteen:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446671274/qid=1136573895/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4016398-7012810?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I never read any of Cherryh's stuff -- doesn't she have cat people? Or am I thinking of someone else?

I'm tremendously interested in your last recommendation, being, myself, a porn-friendly feminist :) I'll have to drag up a copy.

[kieyra.livejournal.com]

I never read any of Cherryh's stuff -- doesn't she have cat people? Or am I thinking of someone else?

That's her Chanur series, yes. That's also really good. She's the master of alien psychology and even occasionally (if off-stagedly) brings the rishathra. But Cyteen is her Dune, a Hugo-award winning monster that I've been re-reading since I was 19 and still getting new insights into it.

She also writes fantasy, but her style in that genre is way too wordy for me.

The porn book points out some really interesting conflicts within 'radical' feminism. It's been a few years since I read it, but for example:

--The scary alliance between the Andrea Dworkin types and the Christian patriarchy (I use that term with some irony, but you know what I mean)

--The inherent absurdity of saying that a woman should be able to choose any career except being a sex worker

--The theory that times of censorship have historically gone hand-in-hand with oppression of women

Etc. She also interviews Nina Hartley a bit about the sex industry and about her non-traditional marriage.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

There is a book I read a while ago called "The New Victorians" about feminism, it was interesting and addressed some of the ideas of saving women from themselves when it comes to sex work and such.