I've been hitting the Entertainment section at Half Priced Books on Westheimer at Montrose pretty hard lately... I love to read biographies and autobiographies and lately it's been pretty trashy stuff, but fun to read nonetheless... 12 Days on the Road With The Sex Pistols - a final account of the last days of this seminal punk band. John Lydon: Rotten - the life and times of the former Sex Pistols front man The Stones - by Philip Norman - biographical account of the band up until the very late 70's. I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol - by Glen Matlock - original Sex Pistols bassist recounts his time with the band. Take It Like A Man - The Autobiography of Boy George - Yup, the flamboyant 80's icon wrote a pretty good book about himself.
The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz Siddhartha - Herman Hesse The Dharma Punx - Noah Levine Black & White Photography (don't know the author) Easier Than You Think - Richard Carlson
Decided to reread the Enders Game series (the original four). 1) Currently on Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card. 2) Previously read Xenocide by OSC 3) Speaker for the Dead by OSC 4) Ender's Game by OSC 5) Harry Potter 6 If I don't get some new books in the next week or two, I'll probably go back and reread the Dune series. I also read a lot of SF short stories.
have you read the keith richards bio by victor bokris? along w/ the miles davis autobiography, this is my favorite music-related book.
1) Cat's Eye, by Margaret Atwood -- I was at a branch public library the other day to get #2 on the list, but decided to see if they had any Douglas Adams (wanted to reread his Dirk Gently stuff) or Isaac Asimov (wanted to check out his early robot stuff -- I read the Foundation stuff in college). Right underneath, I saw the Atwood section and thought, "Cat's Eye is well-known, it's sci-fi, it'll probably be worth reading." I got it and started reading and reading. About 3/4 of the way through, I realized that The Handmaid's Tale is Atwood's sci-fi book and that this is pretty much a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story. Still worthwhile. 2) The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers, by Bill James and Rob Neyer -- I saw it mentioned in a Baseball Prospectus column and remembered that I'd be interested in it. The essays were fine, but I realized that I honestly don't really care what kind of pitches Waite Hoyt, Stan Coveleski, or John Denny threw. OK to check out from the library, but not a good purchase. 3) Advanced Perl Programming, by Simon Cozens -- I mostly got it because I had a job interview for a Perl position and needed to review. (Plus, I thought I had lost my copy of Programming Perl, which is all one really needs.) Perl's hard enough to read without self-altering code (didn't that go out of style in the '80s?), so I can't recommend it. 4) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling -- see mateo's comments (except that I always wanted Ginny and Harry to be together, so...). 5) A Right to be Hostile, by Aaron McGruder -- We don't get the Boondocks in Nashville, so this was the first time I'd really read it. It could be the best comic strip since Calvin and Hobbes. Next up: lots of Stanislaw Lem that I got from the library when dropping off books 1 and 2. (Of course, I should've remembered to get the Adams, Asimov and Atwood stuff, but it's too easy for me to get distracted in a library. I'll probably end up getting Cryptonomicon on my return trip.)
The Essential Chogyam Trungpa Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The Old Man and the Sea ~ Ernest Hemingway The Encyclopedia of Pastel Techniques ~ Judy Martin The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton
Only listing fiction as my non-fiction reading is less concerned with reading whole books at one sitting and more about reading sections within from multiple books at once and then shifting to other sections or books, etc. Pattern Recognition, William Gibson - not bad Flanders Panel, Arturo Perez-Reverte - bad My Life as a Fake, Peter Carey - I enjoyed this Baudalino, Umberto Eco - lukewarm Various selections from The Decadent Reader: Fiction, Fantasy, and Perversion From Fin-de-Siecle France, edited by Asti Hustvedt - mostly good stuff
1. Cisco cert. book 2. A random Star Wars book 3. The Godfather 4. Enders Game (Great book, I cant wait to read OSC's other works) 5. Dune (My favorite so far)
The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Michael Craig: details the 'Big Game' at the Bellagio where Andy Beal took on the pros in heads up hold 'em for $20 million +. The Secret Man: the Story of Watergate's Deep Throat by Bob Woodward. Steel My Soldiers Hearts by David Hackworth: "the hopeless to hardcore transformation of the 4th battalion, 39th infantry - Vietnam." Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene: a vacuum cleaner salesman becomes a MI6 agent in Havana and sparks a crisis with false reports. Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People by Amarillo Slim Preston: recounting his exploits like beating Willie Nelson for $300k in dominoes, Minnesota Fats in pool with a broom handle, and Evil Knievel at golf with a hammer.
Good call on "Middlesex," Mateo. Great, great book...I like to learn about things...the history of the Greek/Turk conflict, the race riots of Detroit in the 60's, hemaphrodites... The last five: "Hollywood" -Gore Vidal. This is another in his series of American history novels..this is set during the Wilson administration and chronicles the rise of show bizness in film and in politics. Great stuff. "Down Under" - Bill Bryson. I am currently reading this travel book about Australia. I am annoying my wife by constantly spouting off tidbits I've garnered from this book. "Understanding Power"- Noam Chomsky. This is really a collection of his seminars and lectures in the 80's and 90's. While I can quibble with his conclusions about certain topics, his broad ideas are compelling. Power looks after itself and itself only. "Don't Eat this Book" -Morgan Spurlock. This is the companion to "Super Size Me." I really enjoyed the documentary, but this is much, much better. This is actually some great muckraking journalism and gives a nice history of the rise McAmerica and all of the crap it's causing. "Your Cheatin' Heart" -Chet Flippo. This is a biography of Hank Williams and it is completely heartbreaking.
Yeah, he's pretty a pretty easy read. Also read the Half-Blood Prince - could say its so I have a conversation piece with my 11 year old but I actually like the series myself as well. And 'Magic Street' by Orson Scott Card. Not bad.
1) Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) - Better than the Da Vinci Code, and a lot more believable. tip for Dan Brown, why do all your characters have sigh before they say anything. Also, the whole "everything went black" to describe a guy dying is extremely cliche, you use it in every single one of your books along with the sighing thing. 2) The Hobbit (Tolkien) - I shoukldnt have to say anything about this 3) Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) - Monster of a book, I gained 5 pounds of muscle in my arms just from lugging it around 4) Quozl (Alan Dean Foster) - Humorous scifi novel about alien rabbits who are befuddled by Earth 5) Timeline (Michael Creichton) - almost done with it. This guy's writing style reminds me of Dan Brown, but with brains.
In that case, have you read Devil In The White City by Erik Larson? Damn good book about the Chicago World's Fair and America's first serial killer.
