We have done favorite books etc, but thought this would be a better way to find the pulse of the readers on the board; and to get some good suggestions. 1) Am currently reading 'Galilee' by Clive Barker. I have not been a particular fan of his in the past, but the subject-matter and accolades made me make a purchase I am very grateful for. I am about 2/3 thru it and am REALLY loving it. 2) 'The Onion Field' by Joseph Wambaugh. The first half of this true story is quite good, but tended to bog down in the second half court scenes. Typicaly, I like court related books, but this one shows how tedious lawyers, judges and trials can be when the procedings are not related/edited in a deft manner. 3) 'The Empty Chair' by Jeffery Deaver. This is the 3rd or 4th book by Deaver I have read and all of them have proven to be fast paced, hair-raising good fun. 4)'The Eye of The Tiger' by Wilbur Smith. Like Deaver, Smith never EVER fails to deliver the goods. This one is no exception. 5) 'Lincoln' by Gore Vidal. I LOVE fictional history and next to Gary Jennings, Vidal is my favorite author. If you have any interest in Lincoln, the civil war or the United States in general, I would urge you to run out and buy this book. I love this book and actually slowed down my reading towards the end so that I could better savor it.
I know tim, it is a strange and mysterious concept, but I could swear I've seen mention of a member or two here who have read more than a box score
Hm... my tastes tend to run toward dry humor as I was weaned on Cat's Cradle. * I am currently reading 'Island of the Sequined Love Nun' by Christopher Moore. I would like to be reading 'Fluke' instead, another of his books, but this is all my library had when I was there. * My own manuscript. Yeah, I write. * 'Ten Big Ones' by Janet Evanovich. Not literary fiction, I know. I am also currently reading her latest, 'Eleven on Top'. (Actually, I'm reading like four books right now, all very slowly. The others are Evanovich rip-offs and REALLY suck, so I won't list them here.) This series is played out, just reading them for the style (yeah, I write kinda like her. Stop snickering). * 'The Pleasure of My Company' by Steve Martin. I like books that don't feel as though they need to be long or overly descriptive to be good. Knowing how difficult it is to write a novel that doesn't suck, I gained a much deeper appreciation for Martin and his humor after reading this. * 'On Writing' by Stephen King. Not fiction, but a wonderful book by a guy who writes a ton of it. I've never read one of his books cover-to-cover, but this is insightful to me nonetheless. While half of the book is auto-biographical, which I found a little self-serving and boring, it is still an interesting read into the life and craft of a fiction writer.
My last two I've been pretty girly, but good nonetheless. Sammy's Hill and Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm about to start either Dry by Augusten Burroughs or Diary by Chuck Palahniuk.
Good thread. 1) The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe - Just about done with this one, great great book. If you ever wanted a great non fiction book on the hippies, this is it. 2) Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut - Eh, it was a letdown. 3) Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk - GREAT book. Probably my 2nd favorite Palahniuk book behind Invisble Monsters 4) Diary by Chuck Palahniuk - This is probably the most bizzare book by Chuck. Once you get a grasp on it though it is great. Gets better and better as you go along. 5) The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis - I read this after watching the movie. Both are very good. They are also different enough that you wont feel like you're wasting your time by checking them both out.
Hey good choice, my #4. Have you read any of his other books? He's my favorite author, I've read everything of his except Haunted, which is his latest and I haven't heard very good things about. All of the novels I've read though have been fantastic.
Last 5 books: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Story of a young girl who discovers she is a hermaphrodite, and the family history that leads up to her birth. My wife read it first and couldn't stop gushing over it. I thought it was damn good. Won the Pulitzer. Harry Potter 6 Well, I had read 1-5, so it was inevitable. Better than the fifth one and the second one. I still think #3 and #4 are the best, and #1 is a good read just for the scope of the universe the writer created. Personally I could care less about Harry's crush on his buddy's sister, but I like the wizard war stuff. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Slicker than ****. Great book. The second novel by Stephenson that I have read this year (read Cryptonomicon - WOW - in May) and I plan on reading the Baroque Cycle next. Aztec by Gary Jennings. I completely got sucked into the life of Mixtli Dark Cloud. I swear I could taste the chocolat, smell the blood of combat, see the forbidden purple stolen from the priests on the volcanic island...this is a great novel. Yeah, its got a lot of blood (think Sin City times 1000) and sex (most of it kinky) and it starts a little slow, but Jenning paints a vivid landscape. A must read, imho. Black Boy by Richard Wright. Powerful stuff. I'm glad my wife saved this book from college. I really enjoyed it.
*Currently reading Kanthapura The Ramayana Harry Potter Half-Blood Prince Middlesex I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
1. NBA DISH 2. Rockets 2006: Game action and roster moves 3. BBS Hangout 4. BBS Hangout: Debate and Discussion (sequel to BBS Hangout) 5. Texans, Astros, Comets (Prequel to BBS Hangout....) Honestly, I think the last real story books I've read where in High School. Christopher Pike's books were good. THE LAST VAMPIRE series was my favorite.
After like 10 years of not reading for anything other than school, I'm starting to get back into it again. The last books I read: 5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 4. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 3. Life, the Universe, and Everything 2. Ender's Game -- GREAT BOOK!!!! currently (will be done by this time next week): Speaker for the Dead Planned upcoming: The next two books in the Ender series Then Pride and Prejudice Then we'll see . . .
I can't even REMEMBER the last time I read 5 books, lol. Maybe it was sometime in high school but even then I always read the cliff notes. Books have never been able to sustain my attention, for some reason.
1. Why Do Men Have Nipples? 2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 3. Rocket Boys 4. Flowers for Algernon 5. 1984
5. Eco- NAme of the the Rose 4. Joyce- Ulysses 3. Whitman- Poetry and Prose (blech) 2. Dickinson- Complete poems 1. Tolstoy- War and Peace Yes, I'm an English Grad Student. Yes thats why I don't post very much any more.
Da Vinci Code Angels and Demons Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Harry Potter Concurrently Reading shot by shot and Scriptwriter's Bible
1. the freemasons - an english book, so it mostly deals w/ european freemasonry. its a history of freemasonry w/in the context of 2000 years of christian/european history. i like all the conspiracy/secret society stuff, but this book does alot to dispel alot of the myths about the masons. 2. the history of the conquest of mexico - written in the mid-1800's. 1000 page book on cortez and his conquest of mexico. simply, one of the most surreal and epic stories ive ever read and one of the most engaging books. i couldnt put it down. cortez very well might be the baddest ass in the history of bad asses. 3. lords of chaos - about the norwegian black metal scene of the early 1990's. they should make a movie about it. members of bands burning down 1000 year old christian churches, desecrating graves, killing random people on the street and murdering members of other bands - all to prove who was the most EVIL! 4. a tale of two cities - ive read this book 3 times now. i come back to it every 4 or 5 years. my favorite fiction book. 5. zen mind, beginners mind - this is my bible. i can open this book up at random and take some wisdom out of it or something to carry me thru the day.
Beowulf. Surprised at how good it is as poetry. A High Wind in Jamaica - Can't remember author's name. Cool book. It's about children on a pirate ship, but definitely not a book for children. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie. I thought Rushdie was famous for pissing off a bunch of Muslims. Actually, his prose is great. The Short Reign of Pippin IV - John Steinbeck. One of his less known -- and less good -- books; a kind of satire that puts a random frenchman in the throne of France in the 1930s. Scoop - Evelyn Waugh. Very funny book for something that is real literature. A satire of foreign correspondents in 3rd world countries.
The Misbehavior of Markets (Mandlebrot) Why Globalization Works (Wolfe) Don't Waste your Life (Piper) The Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan) Confederacy of Dunces (Toole)
