What are some of the Books you think everyone should read? Like - MacBeth or Native Son [i think both should be read. . though MacBeth is a play ] What books do you recommend and why I think MacBeth shows alot about humanity as does Native Son Rocket River looking for something to read
Best Novel - Chesapeake by James Michener Best Science Fiction - The Dune series by Frank Herbert Best Fantasy - The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien Shogun by James Clavell is also a very good novel
Five books that changed my life: 1. The Bhagavad Gita -- By the time I finished reading it, I realized I was no longer afraid of death. 2. Song of Myself by Walt Whitman (Stephen Mitchell edit) -- Part poetry, part manifesto, part spiritual handbook. This is one of the most expansive and far-reaching works I've ever read. I'm still blown away that all of this truth and beauty came from one man's mind. 3. Walden by Henry Thoreau -- An American classic. 4. Einsten's Dreams by Alan Lightman -- An odd little book by an MIT professor. I never looked at time the same way after reading it. 5. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle -- I think that in any given era, there are enlightened people here to help guide the rest of us. This guy's one of them. This book is so dense with life-altering ideas, I can only read and digest a few pages at a time.
Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin deals with dark side of creativity better than any story I've read. Some of my other favorite books/stories: To the White Sea by James Dickey The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Cathedral by Raymond Carver Anything by Willa Cather The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway William Carlos Williams' Doctor stories
oh yeah? I just got done with my first ever Michael Connelly book, "Chasing the Dime" I found it to be average...predicable, but a good time killer sitting on an plane and airports.. Have you read "chasing the dime" and how does it compare to the Harry Bosch books ive heard good things about? --------- If you really enjoy Fantasy, LOTR type stuff, check out THE WHEEL OF TIME series by Robert Jordan...awsome series
I was given this book by some guy while i was smoking on the steps of the smithsonian waiting for the star wars exhibit to start about 5 years ago. he actually asked for a donation for something and i gave him a $1.25 in quaters. he then gave me the book. I still have it. havnt read it though.
Here are a few ones I've read recently: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides Life of Pi by Yann Martel Mao II by Don DeLillo Lies and the Lying Liars by Al Franken The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield (again) White Noise by Don DeLillo Stealing Jesus by Bruce Bawer Other good ones I've read this year: Three Junes, Cold Mountain, Everything is Illuminated, Reefer Madness, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Motherless Brooklyn, The Beach, and Kavelier and Clay. Anything by David Sedaris is worth reading. Get a subscription to Esquire just for his occasional articles. Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day are two of the funniest books of the last 10 years.
Some amazing choices so far, particularly my namesake and Native Son...Bigger's fate haunted me when I was about 11 or 12, still sort of does. Mrs. JB also nailed some of my choices, in particular Walden and Whitman,although I would add an age caveat on Song of Myself...I have given it to some kids who were just too young to get it. Others I would include ( excluding non-fiction, as it is dependent on leanings); Hamlet: Possibly the most introspective of Shakespeare's plays, with Lear, but examines some fundamental issues about life, fate, and God which MacBeth, for all it's incredible depth, sort of dismisses with an early version of Nihilism. A Man For All Seasons: The definitive work about moral and intellectual courage. Examies these and other issues with an incredible grasp of language and verbal sparring. The Great Gatsby: An incredible look into a man tormented by his version of The American Dream, and the discovery of it's hollow rewards long before mid-life crisis examinations became vogue, and Fitgerald writes like a poet. The Name of The Rose: An exploration of the dpeths and degrees of human understanding as influenced by belief, and the root of intellectual and spiritual bigotry. ANd a fascinating glimpse of a time and place long gone... The Unbearable Lightness of Being: Combines philosophy, psychology, and history while depicting a very human and very bittersweet love story. Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man: Does for literature what existentialism did for philosophy. The Stranger or The Plague : Both capture the same elemtns of human nature when confornted with the unknowable, and explore the means in which we seek to define our surroundings to suit our desires. The Trial: Probably the best example of the potential abuse of power hidden in a system, and the bewilderment of Man against Power. The Odyssey : The epitome of the arc of the journey theme, and probably the cornerstone of Western literature. Huckleberry Finn: Another journey epic, but the degree to which Clemens wrings the conflict of internal vs external moraity, and the personal vs. societal God is staggering, and the language is the first truly American ever set down by the maset himself. Heart of Darkness: Another journey, and much more clearly a decent onto self, with similar discoveries to Lord of The Flies and others, but with better presentation and character. Frankenstein: Rivals Hamlet, MacBeth, Oedipus Rex and others in terms of the seeds of hubris, but also includes a classic study of responsibility and moral integrity. There are too many, now that I've begun...From classic writers like Tolstoy, Chekov, Dickens, and Dumas who must be read to contemporaries like Michael Ondaatje, G.G. Marquez and Arundhati Roy. Still more depend on type and taste. This is impossible to narrow down. Aaargh. I will probably add several more posts like this...
Definitely not one of his better efforts. Read the Harry Bosch series, from the beginning. The Black Echo, The Black Ice, then The Concrete Blonde. By the end of Concrete Blonde, you'll be hooked. He also wrote Bloodwork, which is not a Harry Bosch book, but a Terry McCaleb vehicle, made famous by Clint Eastwood in the movie.
To Kill a MockingBird along with 1984 ANIMAL FARM - Love this one INHERIT THE WIND - [saw the movie on this one. . with Spencer Tracy] - Excellent Movie Rocket River I'm going to print out this thread when it is done. . . and post it in my to do list
I should preface this by noting that I read A LOT. I used to read two books a night when I was a kid (long bus rides), and my teacher in grade 3 got upset with me for reading in class once and emptied out my desk. They found 33 books/magazines/comics. Of course I've forgotten most of what I've read, so anything I remember really stood out. Books I read the first time as a teenager and still read: The Lord of the Rings Watership Down I still remember the impact they had on me. Others that made a strong impression over the years: C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) Beloved (Toni Morrison) Standouts in their relative genres: The first 6 books of The Wheel of Time (this series had great promise, but I think it has meandered out of control) Magician:Apprentice/Magician Master by Raymond Feist - great book, but the rest of the books in this world don't do it justice. Dune - fascinating world and characters Bah, nothing else comes to mind at the moment.
Two excellent books for understanding the modern political economy (and much more): Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
have you ever read, "Road to Serfdom" TJ?? i think you'd really like that book...it's an excellent, excellent read.
