UC Berkeley iSchool discussion

The semester will soon be over, and while some people will undoubtedly choose to spend their free time carousing and spreading "cheer," I know some of us are looking forward to quiet nights of quality book time.

So what are people planning to read? I think I'll pick up a Patrick O'Brian book for the plane, and if I'm feeling ambitious, I might take a stab at Moby Dick. Against the Day has been weighing down my shelf since last xmas, so maybe I'll give Pynchon one last try when I get back to CA.

I'm planning to read The Magus by John Fowles. I'm also thinking about reading some Margaret Atwood and Umberto Eco books. And Don Quixote...been meaning to read that one for a while now.

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh is probably first up, followed by The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. If I get ambitious, Suite Francaise, which has been sitting on my shelf for a while now.

@Kenichi: Moby Dick is awesome, though it's been a while since I've read it. But you'll love it - it's all about cetology.

@Josh: Can't really recommend The Magus. The main character is such a tool that even though this is the foundation of the book, I still ended up annoyed...

Ah, the poor, neglected iSchool Goodreads Group! Nick, Moby Dick is still on my shelf and on my list. It's just so... big. Another gigantic book I'm afraid to start is Annals of a Former World, John McPhee's magnum opus on the geology of the US, particularly along I-80. I'd like to get a good scifi or fantasy book in there too. Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand looks interesting, but I don't remember enjoying The Einstein Intersection...

Wow, I thought this thread was so up to date - did not even notice the date. Timestamp fail.

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand was really good, but not a standard SF read - it's kind of all about gender, which makes it way more interesting than a lot of SF, but possibly much less readable. I've read some other Delany, and I agree that he's kind of hit or miss - Babel-17 wasn't bad, though it's the kind of SF book that has one good, interesting concept and then tries to build a story around it, with only middling success.

Hey Nick,

Your comments were not a total timestamp fail since I didn't read those books last winter and they are still on my to-read list for this winter.

I have also been eyeing that Michael Chabon book every time I go into a bookstore. That's the kind of book that will probably supplant the other books in the to-read queue. Its a priority queue!

Yeah, time for dreaming of Christmas reads! For me, it's usually time for crime fiction and spy stories. Ian Fleming is at the top of the list - I might even do an in-depth comparative study of 007 books and movies. Then, the new book by Arnaldur Indridason The Draining Lake (Icelandic crime, very dark and fascinating, even though occasionally badly written, as a lot of crime fiction) if someone has the good sense of giving it to me as a present. Suggestions along these lines? (The lines are clearly: anything that can be read with a switched off brains)

@Josh: did you get around reading Umberto Eco? If not, Traveling with a salmon and other essays seems like a good holiday reading, mixing very funny stories and more serious essays (Nick, you might like the essay about maps...)

Elisa, can you perform in-depth comparative studies with switched off brains? If so, your expertise continues to defy expectation.

I plan on knitting and listening to audio books from www.librivox.org. that will be awesome. any books (in the public domain) that are particularly good in audio?

Shawna, never listened to Librivox, but maybe I should start. Blackfeet Indian Stories looks interesting to me, but that may be because I just finished re-re-watching Gargoyles, which has a lot of myth.

Elisa, have you read Zugzwang?

Ken-ichi, an in-dept comparison between 007 movies and books can only be done with switched off brains, otherwise one might be driven insane by the stupidity (and misogyny). Never read Zugzwang, but it sounds perfect: I have to read a book with such an insane title!