Holidays!!!!! What are you reading currently!

Hi mates, I propose a new game (not really a game but we may have fun). Just you need to answer the following questions:

What are you reading currently:
1- Author + title
2-why you decided to read the book
3-The first sentence in the book
4-Page you are on
5-What you think of the book till now (Don't analyse, just express your feelings)

It woud be nice to know what you are reading mates, and your opinions on the books... If you're not reading any book, try to remmeber a novel that moved you or tell us about your favourite author!.
Cheers everyone and read you soon!!

My God what a wonderful topic it is Being a bookovorous* I'll enjoooy talking about my daily ventures in the words' realm.

Let's goooo

*The suffix -vorous is used meaning feeding on a specefic food. eg:carnivorous -- Feeding on meat ( since carno means "Flesh" in Latin).

We have also the suffix: -vora when naming groups ( we can say that it's the plural) eg: carnivora
and we have the suffix: -vore when naming individuals eg: Herbivore

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Title: Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience

Edition: A Perennial Classic, New York

why you decided to read the book: Because I endeavoured to explore Transcendentalism first hand, since Thoreau is an icon of the movement. I'm reading it too, because I'm interested in understanding the concept of "Civil Disobedience" since I think it should be applied nowadays in a country like ours! I'm also reading it because it is mentioned in two of my best movies ever ( Into The Wild and The Great Debaters). Finally I'm reading it for my own pleasure and we should not forget that Thoreau is a poet.

The first sentence in the book: "When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond."

Page you are on: P 54

What you think of the book up to now: I'm amazed and excited.

Some quotations that moved me:

" Living one's own life to the full is the best means of helping one's fellow man" P XIV

"The place for a just man is also a prison..." p XV

" It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields. What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can." p 7

"To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically." P 11

"We worship not the Graces, nor the Parcae, but Fashion. She spins and weaves and cuts with full authority. The head monkey at Paris puts on traveller's cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same." P19

"While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them" P25

" Men have become the tools of their tools" P28

If I'll carry on picking up all the sayings that I liked I'll rewrite the entire book

Hi, I'm currently reading two books.

The first one is :
Title: The Penguin Book of American Short Stories ( 21 American short stories written by prominent literary figures like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, F.Scott Fitzgerald, and others.)
Editor: James Cochrane.
Edition : Penguin Books Ltd .England.
Why you decided to read the book: Because I’m interested in American literature, and the book is a collection that offers stories by some of my favourite writers. Moreover, this book is a good source that would supplement and enrich my readings.
The first sentence
in the book : 1st sentence in the first story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving :
« A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,
Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,
For ever flushing round a summer sky. »
Caslte of Indolence
Page you are on : P 56/ 2 stories so far.
What do you think of the book up to now : It was tiresome the first time, but after I finished the second story I’m more exited to read the whole collection.

I quote the sentences that I liked while reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

"The pedagogue’s mouth watered, as he looked upon this sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his devouring mind’s eye, he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese were swimming in their own gravy; and the ducks pairing cosily in dishes, like snug married couples, with a decent competency of onion sauce."-20

The second book is a novel :

Author: David Lodge
Title: How Far Can You Go ?
Edition: Penguin Books Ltd , England.
why you decided to read the book: Because it’s my auntie’s novel, and now mine (the best gift ever). I’m reading it too for pleasure, it consoles me on my way home, and when I’m bored. Moreover, I love the UK and the events are set in England.
The first sentence in the book: « It is just after eight o’clock in the morning of a dark February day, in this year of grace nineteen hundred and fifty-two ».
Page you are on: P 227 out of 243.
What you think of the book up to now: I like it, it worths to be read. It could be my favourite novel but I don’t like some of its parts. But still reading the novel makes me
thank God million of times that we are muslims, because it tells the story of some catholic students who were confronted with the permissive modern society.

A sentence from How Far Can You Go? that I like so much is:
" All worked hard in the weeks preceding their examination, though, as it is the habit of students, when they met they pretended otherwise". P32

WHAT A BRILLIANT IDIA MY FRIEND

Thanks for this good idea that may encourage students to read..
As of me..i'm barely reading one book..a collection of short stories..
Author..Edgar Allan Poe
I decided to read it cause i had a former impression about its writer.Since reading his famous poem "The Raven",i couldn't wait to read more for this writer and find out if he's as much good in prose as in poetry.
Well..it turned out that it takes a very good level to understand what's meant in his short stories like..The Mask of The Red Death..
and The Black Cat..
I'll continue reading and try to write what i may come up with...

Hi, I'm currently reading Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

Author: Ernest Hemingway
Title: The Old Man and the Sea
Why you decided to read the book: I really don't know, I've chosen it randomly.
The first sentence in the book: « He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Golf Stream and he had gone eighty four days now without taking a fish ».
Page you are on: P39 out of 135.
What you think of the book up to now: Till now, it's boring like all other sea tales ... But I have to read it, and read other novels by Hemingway.

Of all the sea tales,you have to make an exception for this one dear Ezinma.you're gonna find out how great writer Himingway is to write such a novel whose characters are just few..you're gonna live with the lonely old man in middle of the sea..you're gonna love it.

TITLE:ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES
WHY YOU DECIDED TO READ THE BOOK:nostalgia to my boyhood
THE FIRST SS:once upon a time,in a persian city,there lived two brothers who loved each other very much and often visit each other....
PAGE YOU'RE IN: i have finikshed
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE BOOK TILL NOW:since i've finished reading it,iwould say simply it's wonderful if not great

I wonder why nobody is posting in this thread! I think it is more preferable if we modify the title to What are you reading currently?

Mates, I wanted to tell you that I've decided never read Hemingway again and no incentive can draw me to change my mind. I posted once that I'm reading the The Old Man and the Sea, I haven't finished it . Then I've chosen another novel by Hemingway entitled The Sun Also Rises, the same impression...even towards other books. It's getting serious, I cannot read cover to cover.

Hello mates, here again I share with you what I am reading these days. Winter holiday! there's nothing as beautiful as sipping tea and reading.

1- Author= Stephenie Meyer

2- title= New Moon, from the Twilight saga.

3-why you decided to read the book= My brother downloaded the books, and from time to time I feel the need to read a few pages.Perhaps I won't finish the whole book, who knows though I have a strong feeling that I'll stop reading it after a few days

4-The first sentence in the book= " I felt like I was trapped in one of those terrifying nightmares, the one where you have to run, run till your lungs burst but can't make your body move fast enough"

5-Page you are on= 142 out of 563

6-What you think of the book till now (Don't analyse, just express your feelings)= Vampires, Zombies, killers, cold weather!! Well I don't really like it, but a good pastime anyway, esp. when feeling bored.

Hello ,
i want to tell you what i am reading .

1-Author: Mark Twain
2-Title: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
3-Why you decided to read the book: We will study it in American literature, and the teacher asked us to read this novel at least once.
4-The first sentence in the book: You do not know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter.
5- Page you are on: 61 out of 281 (I am too far).
6-What you think of the book till now: At first i get bored of it because of some strange and difficult words, but now i think that i start to like it.

Hello everyone!
I have started reading this novel "gulliver's travels"
I'm sure you have all seen this cartoon before, or at least the part where he reaches the island of "little human beings"...I used to have dreams ( nightmares) when I saw this cartoon.

So it's really nice to READ the story now days... you may want to give it a try,It's really amusing.

You can have it HERE

Currently i'm at:

Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Title:Selected eassays (The American Scholar\Nature\Self-Reliance\Experience\Thoreau).
Why you decided to read the book: I judged it from its cover.
Page you are on: 121
What you think of the book till now:very difficult and inspiring.