What kind of books have you guys been reading lately?

[lem]

Curious about stuff people are reading either for entertainment or for education!
For me, lately Ive been reading Design as Art by Bruno Manari. I picked it up while walking through a bookstore when I was visiting my mom and I feel like its been really grounding when it comes to certain art I do ^^

 

[Cardinal_Richelieu]

Bruno Munari was an EXCELLENT designer and thinker. His works are incredibly interesting, woth a very funny and child-like view of things. I highly recommend his other books, especially Da Cosa Nasce Cosa, thoroughly explaining the design processes and artistic side of objects in a creative way! Golden books with golden writing! Would have loved to meet him.

On a side node I've been reading tons of old sci-fi books! Had the chance of rescuing some very moldy/dirty books from an old dusty bookstore and they're not only veeeery cool to read but man the covers are just *chef kiss!!!! Literally beautiful.
This one for example is so bonkers. Like written in the mate 60s is like a concentrated extract of classic fantasy adventure. It has EVERYTHING! And Lin Carter's wonky style gives it a lot of texture!

 

[lem]

Bruno Munari was an EXCELLENT designer and thinker. His works are incredibly interesting, woth a very funny and child-like view of things. I highly recommend his other books, especially Da Cosa Nasce Cosa, thoroughly explaining the design processes and artistic side of objects in a creative way! Golden books with golden writing! Would have loved to meet him.

On a side node I've been reading tons of old sci-fi books! Had the chance of rescuing some very moldy/dirty books from an old dusty bookstore and they're not only veeeery cool to read but man the covers are just *chef kiss!!!! Literally beautiful.
This one for example is so bonkers. Like written in the mate 60s is like a concentrated extract of classic fantasy adventure. It has EVERYTHING! And Lin Carter's wonky style gives it a lot of texture!

Yeah I really like how he described and viewed things just reading this, I really gotta look into more of his work though. Really appreciate the recommendation, Ill check that and his others out sometime! He seems like he wouldve been a nice dude to talk to haha.

And ooooh old sci-fi is always interesting. Ive been trying to get into that as well too since we're kind of in an era where a bunch of different concepts from back then are a thing now. And true the artstyles back then were really nice, especially with the textures! Book rescue is always really neat too, I love when people do that kind of stuff haha. I should check that one out sometime too ^^

 

[Cardinal_Richelieu]

YEAH! Do it, but with his approach! Books should be enjoyed! Treated like friends, so don't over do it!
Als totally! I think he would have been like the greatest of guys to talk to. One of my friends had some of his works (his parents are like super deep into the art world and i'm so envious) and man, they SPEAK! It's like the perfect mix of art and design. Dude was a MONSTER.
AND BOY, here in Europe books are not that much "trendy"like cds or even worse, like vinyls, so i usually manage to land so pretty cool deal going to fairs, flea markets or even charity stores. Literally managed to find Whole SCI-FI collections dirty cheap. Could't pass on all of that goodness.
Hope they stay like that for some time. Would explode to a bajillion bits if old books become the next trendy thing.
DO you have any kind of used bookshops or stuff like that nearby? They're like the BEST place where to find cool stff and talk to extremely interesting people!

 

[lem]

Oooh thats a good way to put it, Ive been trying to approach books like that but putting like that is a lot clearer
Woahhh thats really neat, and thats awesome you have easy access to them ^^
We may have something similar! But I haven't been able to go and look myself yet, I should try to keep an eye out

 

[Cardinal_Richelieu]

I'm like one of the worst readers on earth. LIterally i read veeery sporadically, like, I'm not constant on it, ahahaha!
But it's fine, beacause i fell like i'm not harming books by not giving them 1000% of my attention. Like with friends, sometimes you don0t see them or meet up with them for ages, but you still consder them friends! That's like my kind of behaviour with book!
Hey, if you're looking into some kind of books, lemme know! I might find some, either in english or italian! I love being able to dive into old, dusty bookshelves, best feeling ever.

 

[friedrich]

Read "There is no antimemetics division" by qntm some time ago and it has blown me away. Crazy good for something set in the fucking SCP universe lmfao. You really feel the existential dread creeping in at one point. Big rec!
Other than that been reading through polish book about history of Hongkong and Devon Price's "Unmasking autism" both of them being pretty interesting (men will literally do anything to not write their thesis).

 

[Mukky]

I've been reading "The Year I Met My Brain", a book about living with adult ADHD, it's really good so far! helping me come to terms with my condition

 

[Sonachine69]

It's a pretty obscure pick, but I'm rereading one of my favorite books "Samotne Rejsy" ("Alone across the Ocean") by Polish ocean dude Andrzej Urbańczyk.

It's just a big documental compilation of various stories about random guys thinking one day "-Damn, I really want to cross the ocean on my fucked up wooden fishing boat, it would be so rad!!:>>>" and managing to do that (most of the time). All stories are put in chronological order, and It's cool to see this curve of technological progress with each next story. It's not about setting and beating records, but every story is exceptional on its own.

It sounds stupid, but It's actually a pretty sweet book about the insane accomplishments of a simple person for the sole reason of pure passion. There are stories about different people with different reasons, methods, levels of experience, and physical capabilities or even limitations, but they all share the same ambition, and make it work their own way. To simply enjoy living doing what they love to do.

 

[Sonachine69]

I'm continuing my quest of learning more about American history & culturology, so I've picked up "History of the Civil War, 1861-1865" by James Ford Rhodes and have been reading it lately.

I'm not looking for an academic level of proficiency in American history, but after trying bacon earlier this year I felt this sudden urge; the Land of the Free has gifted me with such delicacy, now it's my turn to show some respect.

And it turned out to be such a great read, honestly. This book is filled with dates, and some events are extremely detailed, but it never forces you to remember everything. It's a history book, and some of the chapters are pretty hard to read, but in general, this book is insanely engaging. There are character arcs, epic quotes, and really inspiring stories. I read this book while taking notes in Notion and checking Google Maps, and as a bonus, now I can poorly draw the East Coast from my memory. I want to know more about your history and culture, so if you have recommendations for me - I will be happy to check it out!!

ps. My favorite part from this book was the 0079 Gundam battle. This shit was so intense and insane I spent the whole evening googling and learning more details about this event.

 

[Lesdeux]

I'm currently on a reread of The Divine Comedy, would recommend it to anyone who has been interested in reading it.

I want to know more about your history and culture, so if you have recommendations for me - I will be happy to check it out!!

History is great, I love learning about the past. Being from the US, I don't shy away from our history, good and bad. It makes me a more complete person to understand where I come from and allows me to portray the qualities I was told (read: propagandized) the United States upheld as I was growing up.

If you want more non-fiction historical texts, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown gets into Native American history of displacement and warfare. It's a pretty difficult read if you aren't prepared for what happens in it. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution by Eric Foner is another one I see recommended a lot and generally has a good reception.

If you want something more like great works of literature about American culture, John Steinbeck wrote a lot of 'em such as The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is often recommended as well. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy has been brought into debate on if it should be considered the Great American Novel. Another hard sell because it's heavy on the violence and brutality. Can hardly say I enjoyed it, but I appreciate that I finished it and can recognize why some people rate it so high.

If any of the above don't do it for you, I can always try to recommend different ones.

 

[Sonachine69]

I'm currently on a reread of The Divine Comedy, would recommend it to anyone who has been interested in reading it.


History is great, I love learning about the past. Being from the US, I don't shy away from our history, good and bad. It makes me a more complete person to understand where I come from and allows me to portray the qualities I was told (read: propagandized) the United States upheld as I was growing up.

If you want more non-fiction historical texts, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown gets into Native American history of displacement and warfare. It's a pretty difficult read if you aren't prepared for what happens in it. Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution by Eric Foner is another one I see recommended a lot and generally has a good reception.

If you want something more like great works of literature about American culture, John Steinbeck wrote a lot of 'em such as The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is often recommended as well. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy has been brought into debate on if it should be considered the Great American Novel. Another hard sell because it's heavy on the violence and brutality. Can hardly say I enjoyed it, but I appreciate that I finished it and can recognize why some people rate it so high.

If any of the above don't do it for you, I can always try to recommend different ones.

Damn, so many cool picks, I will definitely check it out! Thank you for spending your time, I really appreciate it!

I wanted to read something by Steinbeck for a long time. The bookstore near my house has a lot of his works, so I will pick something next time. And I have Blood Meridian sitting on my bookshelf for a year now! I read a lot of nasty stuff, but for now, I want to read something a little bit more chill :>

--
The Divine Comedy is perfect, It was one of my favorite books from the school curriculum. It would be great to reread it now when I'm older.
BTW, If you're into manga, check out "Dante's Divine Comedy" by Go Nagai (the guy who wrote Devilman). It's a very easy read, and It can and will get goofy from time to time, but if you liked the book It can be cool to check out the manga as well!

 

[ethos]

I'm currently pouring through "S" by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst - it's so unique, possibly in line with anyone that enjoyed House of Leaves. It's a story within a story - the book itself is a copy of a fictional book called 'The Ship of Theseus' by a fictional author named V.M. Straka, and the margins are filled with annotations of two indiviudals that are passing the copy of the book back and forth. There's intrigue about the author's supposed death, academic suspense, mistrust in the translator, meta-narratives... It's wild. It's even got tons of inserts of photos, notes, and more plot pieces that the two individuals shoved in the book to exchange with each other. For anyone into creative writing & boundary-breaking fiction, I'd definitely recommend it.