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I'd like to nominate If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. I've heard amazing things about this book and I'd love to read it with fellow truebookies!

The first book that comes to Mind is "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break," by Steven Sherrill. I'm not usually a fan of MFA stuff because though technically perfect they tend to lack soul and experience. This is his debut novel, but it's just an odd little book, and if you are a fan of lit I think you would like it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/603260.The_Minotaur_Takes_a_Cigarette_Break?ac=1

Conversely, there is Paul Carter's "Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse." He is not the best writer, but boy, does he have a story to tell. I loved this book. Definitely a different perspective. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/866847.Don_t_Tell_Mum_I_Work_on_the_Rigs_She_Thinks_I_m_a_Piano_Player_in_a_Whorehouse?ac=1

So I've decided I am a book slut. For every book I read I probably start about five. And when I finish a book I've probably started reading it a good three or four times, at least before moving on to something else.

In that spirit, I would like to apologise to Messrs Murakami and De Lillo. It wasn't your turn gents.

Instead, I read a complete surprise and re-read an old favourite.

White Tiger was a bit of a sleeper for me. I've had it in my bookshelf for a good 18 months am a bit irritated that I waited so long to read it. It is vivid and vicious and funny at times. Highly recommended.

The old favourite I revisited was Breakfast of Champions. I think I'm a bit in love with Vonnegut Jr. And so on.

I'm waiting for a good opportunity to read <em>Gravity's Rainbow</em>, and to re-read <em>The Illuminatus Trilogy!</em>. I recently read The Crying of Lot 49 and fell in love with Pynchon, so I want to check out all of his works. The Illuminatus Trilogy! is something that I read when I was younger, but would like to read again now that I'm a better "reader". I think I'd like to finish reading Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy first though (which I read up to Voltaire before putting down for the past few months), because The Illuminatus Trilogy! pushes many different beliefs and philosophies on the reader (before tearing down those same beliefs), and I think a solid foundation of philosophy may be a solid tool to have on me for the trip (although not a necessary one).

Aside from that, I've got a lot of non-fiction stuff I'd like to read through -- mostly books on brewing beer, HVAC, and playing the guitar/music theory, and the aforementioned philosophy text -- so I'll probably concentrate on reading those for the immediate future, with some of Oscar Wilde's plays in the midst of it for when I crave something that isn't non-fiction. (I've read The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, but I have the "Barnes & Noble Classics" edition that has four more of his plays that I've yet to read.)

My "to-read list" is essentially my bookshelf, but those first two books I mentioned are the ones that I'm really waiting to get at, and that I have actual plans to read at the moment. Although, what usually happens is that I crave reading some good literature so I grab a book almost arbitrarily and start to read (which is essentially why I'm reading The Rum Diary at the moment).

I picked up Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy again this week, after not reading it for a few months. I read through the chapter on Voltaire and The French Enlightenment, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really like Voltaire's wit and much of his philosophy, so I'm looking forward to reading more from him in the future. I'm starting today the chapter on Immanuel Kant and German Idealism, which should be interesting since I see Kant mentioned a lot over in /r/philosophy.

Other than that, I find myself really starting to crave a solid work of fiction, so I'll either be digging through my shelves of unread books pretty soon, or I may order myself a copy of Pynchon's V.

silly answer: Shatnerquake!

Good answer: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

I'm currently reading Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and it is exemplary. His prose is powerful and crystal clear.

I'm reading Viriconium by M John Harrison. I'm a big fan of the Dying Earth subgenre of science fiction / fantasy so I was thrilled to finally get around to this book. So far the only disappointing aspect is that the plots haven't lived up to the prose and setting. Harrison is an extraordinary wordsmith and the writing frequently blows me away, especially coupled with the compelling setting he's created, but then the plots have so far been pretty standard fantasy quest stuff. But, I still have quite a few stories left in the collection and I believe they get increasingly experimental and abstract, so we shall see.

I just recently finished Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley. It was one of the best written, and most informative history books I have had the pleasure of reading. Highly recommended.

I also powered through Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The guy has some very interesting theories, and his writing is quite good. The only negative about it is that when he describes his past behavior he sounds like far too many students I've known in classes. The ones who think the class is a personal debate between them and the teacher, who think they have a deep level of understanding that transcends absolutely everyone else in the room even as they misunderstand some of the basic concepts in the class. But, their ideas usually aren't half as interesting as this authors. Although in modern culture that so readily accepts ideas like Tao, mu, and wabisabi his philosophical ideas aren't actually that wild, but I imagine that our acceptance of those values had more than a little to do with the popularity of his book.

I'm currently reading Orange Is the New Black: My Year In a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman after watching the Netflix adaptation (which I thought was outstanding). It's interesting and I'm reading it quickly, but it's a little dry. It's also definitely less dramatic than the show.

I'm also reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, which is very inspiring, and The Essential Neruda edited by Mark Eisner.

I have tried to read The Story of Philosophy in my younger days but always found myself giving it up after a couple of chapters, although the chapters that I read did seem quite enjoyable. Basically, I found that it was probably too dense for me at that time. Are you reading this like a chapter at a time or something or just straight through?

I've been reading it quite slowly, and about a chapter at a time. Each chapter holds up well as it's own individual unit, although they tend to build off of the earlier ones because philosophy did the same.

I took a philosophy class early in college that made me feel that philosophy is bullshit, and all that philosophers were doing is using logical "loopholes" and questionable premises to come to their own conclusions. I really regret that the class left this impression on me, because it isn't at all a true depiction of philosophy. Honestly, they should have just used The Story of Philosophy as the textbook, because it's been a fantastic overview of philosophy, and has served as a great introduction. After a few years I realized that there is more to philosophy, and I wanted to learn about it. I did some research as far as where to start, and I ended up with Will Durant's book.

I love how the book explains the historical context and the personal lives of the philosophers (I may actually like it more than the actual philosophy).

It certainly isn't an easy read, but I wouldn't call it challenging either -- although these terms are all relative to the reader. Durant uses a broad vocabulary in the book, and I find myself referencing my dictionary frequently. He also uses a lot of metaphors and allusions that aren't always easy to grasp at first. Because of this I can understand why it could seem dense. I'm happy that it's written this way, because he makes it more interesting than rote philosophy -- you can tell that he is passionate about the topics he covers.

Also, to be dead honest, philosophy can be boring. It's a lot like learning math in your spare time -- you're going to have to want to learn it. It isn't pleasure reading, although Durant makes the experience as pleasant as possible. But if you do want to learn about philosophy, I can't think of a better place to start.