To join in on the LOTR discussion ...
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of LOTR, or any other works by Tolkien, i did however read Hobbit, but it was ages ago and I honestky don't remember much ... I believe I was 14 or 15, and I even picked up the first of the LOTR trilogy after reading Hobbit, but never finished it. I had the same problem with LOTR as many of you guys already mentioned: it's just too simplistic, everyone's morals are very black and white, the books are full of stereotypes, etc.
But since Tolkien has a vast following among the metal community, I couldn't quite escape the whole Tolkien scene altogether, I went to see the whole LOTR movie trilogy, as well as the first Hobbit movie (which was quite a let down in comparison to LOTR movies). Aaaand since my bf happens to be "the biggest" Tolkien fan alive I happen to know a bit about other Tolkien works as well. From what I know the doomiest of his works is The Children of Thurin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_H%C3%BArin .
The story is really dark and revolves around hero/mankind's demise, Elf wars, etc. If I remember correctly, some of the story is even mentioned in Silmarillion.

Anyway to stay ON topic, I'm currently reading Vogel Federlos by Helga M. Novak.

I've been (re-)reading several of E.A. Poe's shorter stories in preparation of my BA thesis which will most likely deal with Poe's unreliable narrators in one way or another (I still have to work out a proper outline of the final topic). Today I was quite riveted by "Silence - A Fable" which I hadn't read before. The atmosphere is pretty intense and doomy! It didn't bring me any closer to defining my topic, though. "Eleonora", by contrast, another text I read for the first time today, might be mentioned somewhere in my analysis: it has some of the most conspicuous passages in terms of unreliable narration. Besides, there is another recurring motif in the story which I'd like to include in my paper: idealised female characters that die in the course of the plot, but never seem to be quite gone. The same can be found, in one form or another, in "Ligeia", "Morella", "The Fall of the House of Usher" and probably others which I still need to discover. I'm glad I finally came up with something.

In terms of "unreliable narrator" there's a famous example of the technique in one of Agatha Christie's first whodunit novels: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Just started Blood Meridian by Cormack McCarthy. I have to keep taking breaks, and definitely can't read it while I'm eating. Heavy stuff.

You can't read it while you're eating? Now that got me interested, must check it out.

What is it about?


I'm currently reading modern Icelandic authors, translated into German since I obviously can't speak Icelandic. I'm also thinking about re-reading some Russian classics.

Roughly halfway through reading this:

In French or in English?


Currently reading Süskind's Das Parfum.

I read it like 20 years ago; very good read I remember.

Picked the Dark Half by King at the library. Was in a rush so I had no time to muse over the shelves and King isn't the best writer out there but he does the job. I was conditioned too after listening to Young's soundtrack for the movie version.

On a side note, I've been immensely enjoying the few books I could get my hands on from China Mieville. A truly gifted author that will fill the void left by Barker's absence.

I started reading Jostein Gaarder's "Sofies Verden" a few months ago, but didn't get 'round to finishing it and had to bring it back to the library, and now they don't seem to have it anymore. I'm mildly annoyed by this. My plan was to bring it back and borrow it again at a later time, but according to their catalogue it doesn't exist anymore. Where the heck am I supposed to get the Norwegian original now, except in Norway?

Try https://www.bookdepository.com/ or maybe eBay and Amazon?

But it's funny, how the library suddenly doesn't have that book anymore. i mean, what could possibly happen - did someone just rip it apart, or did it get lost, or what.

I looked on Amazon...don't know how long this link will be up (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/8203168418/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used), but £1965.00 + P&P seems a bit expensive to me...

Yes, I stumbled over those ridiculous prices, too. In my book that's virtual unavailability.

must be a mistake...

The price is consistently high in different shops, although the one cited above is really an extreme example...

^^ Dafuq.

Currently reading the final chapters of Solzhenitsyn's "Cancer Ward". Quite nice but pales in comparison with Varlam Shalamov's stunning Kolyma Tales.

shakepeare / Hamlet
George orwell/ Animal Farm

After José Saramago's "Blindness" (surprisingly good, didn't expect much) now i'm almost at the of "Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis-Ferdinand Céline - quite stunning misanthropic depiction of the rotten nature of man. Very nice read if you want to lose all remaining faith in humanity=)