What Book Are You Currently Reading ?

**Batman** · 07-09-2018 01:36 PM

God Is Not Great is the ultimate case against religion. In a series of acute readings of the major religious texts, Christopher Hitchens demonstrates the ways in which religion is man-made, dangerously sexually repressive and distorts the very origins of the cosmos. Above all, Hitchens argues that the concept of an omniscient God has profoundly damaged humanity, and proposes that the world might be a great deal better off without 'him'.

I love Christopher Hitchens, I've watched countless hours of him on You Tube and he always provides witty, intelligent debate and his grasp of language is superb.

I do think that this book suffers from the lack of counter arguments that get thrown at him during his debates though, these are what usually brings out the best in The Hitch.

To say that it was an interesting read would be an understatement however at times it did get a little tedious some arguments are repeated over and over and there were one or two chapters that I couldn't help but skim read, if you are a fan of The Hitch then you should read this (the entire audiobook is on youtube as well if you are too lazy to read the actual book)

Meet Quentin P., the most believably terrifying sexual psychopath and killer ever brought to life in fiction. The author deftly puts you inside the mind of a serial killer--succeeding not in writing about madness, but in writing with the logic of madness.

I reckon that I must be completely desensitised to all things disgusting.

I have read some of the reviews most people seem to either hate the book because they were disgusted by it or loved the book because they were disgusted by it.

I just felt kind of numb to it, the book started off strongly and I was intrigued but Q____ P____ (as the narrator refers to himself throughout the book) just didn't seem to go anywhere, yeah it was interesting to see things from inside the killers mind but it just seemed extremely bland. I suppose that is what things are like in a serial killers mind though, lack of empathy, compassion, almost robotic with well practised human emotions but I just found it all a little boring.

Talk of erections, orgasms, and the like doesn't offend me, as I say maybe I have just been desensitised over the years with horror films and books....and the daily news....

It is quite obviously based on old Jeff Dahmer but just isn't anywhere near as interesting or disturbing, I wouldn't really recommend this one

When I first heard about this book I was truly excited after reading House of Leaves a few years back, when I read about the kookiness of this book my excitement grew even more.

I loved the premise of the book, two stories running together alongside each other, the constant switching ends of the book was a nice little gimmick as well, this however is actually where things start to go downhill a little.

It seems as though there was too much emphasis on the 'gimmick' aspect of the book and not enough on the actual story telling side, each page has exactly 180 characters (per rotation) which makes 360 characters per page which makes a revolution, now in order to get to the magic 180 characters you get random whishwooble floobling words thrown in just to help Danielewski hit his magic quota, another thing that happens is that some words are needlessly extended e.g. looooooooong.

I like the idea of having two unreliable narrators both telling the same story at the same time from opposite sides of the coin but I think it would have worked a lot better if it was told as an actual story rather than a poem and without the author having to work within the self imposed constraints of 180 characters per page, also I think it would have been better if there was a build up of the two main characters before they meet so you actually had a bit of a pay off from constantly flipping the book after 8 pages, so it would be as though they crossed paths and things melded together.

Its a shame because it could have been a fantastic book but unfortunately I found it to be a bit of a mess.

**Batman** · 07-09-2018 01:56 PM

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

The classic novel of a post-literate future, ‘Fahrenheit 451’ stands alongside Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Bradbury’s powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

It is quite unnerving to read this book today, Ray Bradbury was spot on with his vision of the future, from the visual aspect it isn't quite as accurate as Orwells 1984 but from a social aspect he couldn't have been more right.

Books have been banned and firemen these days are actually deployed to start the fires in order to burn the outlawed books, Guy Montag runs across a curious young girl named Clarisse McClellan, Clarisse has a queer way of looking at the world...this is because she actually looks at the world, she sees the plants, the stars, the trees and the people whilst everyone else these days just tends to walk around in a haze.

Montags wife lives in such a way that she is almost at the point of social retardation, all she is interested in is watching 'the wall' (basically a big ass TV) and whatever program it is showing, she has no interests in anything else and whilst she seems to have a carefree attitude towards life this is blown out of the water when she takes an overdose, it could be that she was just so vacant that it was accidental but I got the impression that despite outward appearances she was deeply unhappy.

Montag starts questioning his job of burning books and reveals that he has been secretly stashing them away rather than burning them, it doesn't take long before Montags own home has been burned down and he is on the run himself, he discovers an unlikely ally who aids his escape and he winds up meeting up with other like minded people who keep their books in their heads for such a time as society needs them, that time is coming sooner than they could imagine.

In a world where social media has taken over I think the parallels between people of today and Mildred (Montags wife) are uncanny, the thing is that it isn't just social media, it is the news outlets, people form certain ideas and opinions on things (whether it be anything from celebrities to politics) just because an online article tells them to, people blindly follow these days and seem to have lost the ability to form their own opinions or even ask simple questions, that to me is where this book got it so right.

oh a final note Clarisse McClellan was the absolute highlight of this book, I wish that she was in it more.

**Batman** · 07-09-2018 01:59 PM

Next up I'm going to be reading this

Frank Hammond explains the practical application of the ministry of deliverance, patterned after the ministry of Jesus Christ. He presents information on such topics as: How demons enter When deliverance is needed Seven steps in receiving & ministering deliverance Seven steps in maintaining deliverance Self deliverance Demon manifestations Binding and loosing Practical advice for the deliverance minister Answers to commonly asked questions, and more. The Hammonds also present a categorized list of 53 Demonic Groupings, including various behavior patterns and addictions. And they include testimonies of deliverance throughout the book including Pride, Witchcraft, Nervousness, Stubborness, Defiance, Mental Illness and more. With over 1.5 million copies in print worldwide, and translated into more than a dozen languages, Pigs in the Parlor remains the authoritative book on the subject of deliverance."

And I think that is just about everything I have read since I last posted in here, I don't think I've missed any out anyway