Topic: Books Thread

[alltherightpills]

I read Travels with Charley a couple of years ago and loved it.  I'm a huge Steinbeck fan, and aside from Grapes of Wrath, I've loved everything I've read by him. 

[fuzzybutt]

i'm reading The Hostage by WEB Griffin right now. What a fantastic read this is. Griffin is my favourite author now. i got a bunch of his books at the used book dispensary today.

[j-conn]

Stienbeck and Conrad is whose on my list.
Anyone here read 'The Painted Bird'?

[MacM2010]

Haven't read The Painted Bird, but I have Being There and Steps sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get around to them.  I've heard lots of good things about Kosinski, but I can't seem to get around to reading him.  But hey, buying the book is as good as reading it, right?

As far as book sites go, I joined www.goodreads.com when a bunch of friends invited me.  I'm guessing it's more or less identical to librarything, but it's out there too. 

[ryder60]

I wouldn't call him my favorite but Antoine de Saint Exupery is an excellent writer.

[alltherightpills]

What's everybody reading?  I'm a little over half way through She by H. Rider Haggard.  It's not a real heavy hitter, but it's a great adventure book.  I read The Man Who Was Thursday a week or two ago and loved it.  Between reading classic adventure stories and finishing up the James Bond novels, I guess I've been on a bit of an adventure kick. 

[Soos]

i forgot, just about anything by Hunter S Thompson. i'm getting ready to start reading the great shark hunt.

quite the man there.....too bad on the ending of his life.(suicide)
Actually haven't read anything by him, might have to see what I can find and check it out.


I love this thread, have picked up a few new books based on input, and now have a long list of books to get soon.



l8r

[BIKE]

Currently reading All the Pretty Horses.  So far so good, I just haven't dedicated the time to reading it so far, so it's going very slowly.

[Soos]

Dived into one of my favorite trillogy's today.
Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy. Been reading this series over and over, every few years. Probably since I was 10 or so.

JRR Tolkien is another all time favorite writer. Have quite a Tolkien collection.
Some were seriously AWESOME scores from people moving. (ie. FREE)
Quite a few mid to late 60's copies. Unfortunately none signed or anything, but 2 or 3 pristine condition copies of the hobbit.
 


Anyone ever read Pappilion?
If you have seen the movie, WELL worth the read.
The movie just misses too much.(as usual)



On that note... WTF happened to the book Dances with wolves when it went to a movie?
The book was what...84 pages? The movie took longer to watch it than it took to read the book. The movie was... 3+ hours!!



l8r

[Demon67]

My flood over Christmas wiped most of my book collection but have reread the General Danced at Dawn by George MacDonald Fraser and read Jack Chalkers Well of  Souls trilogy as well as Square Foot Gardening, I Know I should be wiring the house but.
Bill the demon.

[rhos1355]

Soos, yeah I've read the book "Papillion" back in the late '70s (could be wrong) but I read it after seeing the movie so I had double the enjoyment.
Having said that many years later, for some reason and I can't put my finger on the precise reason, I started to doubt as to the story's authenticity. There were parts of the story that just didn't add up. For example; in the latter part of the book he claimed he built up his strength and stamina in his legs by just standing waist deep in the sea and resisting the pull of the currents. Well I've tried this in the Indian Ocean where the waves are quite strong but there's not way a man can build up strength that way.

[Terry in Australia]

My flood over Christmas wiped most of my book collection but have reread the General Danced at Dawn by George MacDonald Fraser
Bill the demon.

Ah, now there is a brilliant writer Bill, have you read all the "Flashman" books? I started reading them when one of my old CO's nicknamed me "Flashman", and I needed to understand the connection. After reading the books, I wore that nickname like a badge of honor..........

It's a pity old GMF's gone to God, he was one of the worlds best writers, intelligent, witty, and creator of a legendary character who still lives on in the hearts of the converted, just waiting for another hilarious adventure, long after his real-life maker has fallen foul of the inevitable, mortality.

Vale George McDonald Fraser.

[Demon67]

Jeez Terry haven't read the Flashman series for years maybe when insurance settlement comes in I'll restock so they called you Flashman eh,  better than my nickname i'm now just about finished Mcuaslin sorry I haven't got my glasses with me so worda may not be right
Bill the demon.

[Blasbo]

Read a bunch of sci-fi when I was younger. Heinlein is my favorite (AFAIK I have every book published) but when I go back and read him now it doesn't have the same effect on me. Also a lot of Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Some fantasy such as Piers Anthony too.
These days I read more non fiction about whatever I'm interested, electronics, religion, old house repair, motorcycles.
I went back and read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance after first reading it about 30 years ago. I got a little more out of it this time.
Does the Honda Shop Manual and my Clymer Manual count?

[alltherightpills]

Anybody reading anything good?

I just finished reading all of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels about 3 weeks ago.  If you haven't read them, they are really good.  Most are totally different from the movies.  I also just finished The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope.  It's a really good swashbuckling adventure story. 

But the best book I've read in a long time is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  It is a retelling of the jungle book story, but instead of being raised by animals, the orphaned kid is raised by ghosts in a graveyard.  I think it also just won the Newberry Award for children's literature.  It's a worth while read, and it is pretty short. 

[Caaveman82]

I finished Ishmael last week. Honestly, in my top five favorties. It's a thinker for sure.

Just started The Naked Lunch by Mr. William S. Heroin Addict Burroughs

[Demon67]

Alltheright pills if you liked Gaiman how about Terry Pratchet and his collaboration ?

[salvatore13]

Anybody reading anything good?

Love this thread!!!

Although I mainly read in Spanish sometimes I do it in English. Here you are my last readings:

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (for me the best writer alive) this novel is... can´t find the words, I spent the final 30 pages crying...
"Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan, another great writer I didn´t know.
"The Girl with the dragon tattoo" (in Spanish called "Man who hated women") by Stieg Larsson from the Millennium trilogy. I'm reading it now and enjoying. Stieg Larsson wrote this trilogy and died before it was released.

Go on with this thread please...

Salvatore

[78CB750CAFE]

I mostly read non fiction, deep metaphysical crap etc, but here is a run down of the more accessible stuff I like:

Just finished On The Road (The Original Scroll), which is the first draft of On The Road, a little more raw, dirty, and everyone's real name is used. Excellent read, worth it even if you read the originally published version a dozen times like I have.

Simultaneously reading Twist of the Wrist (Keith Code) and Proficient Motorcycling (Hough) I have 1 in each of my 2 favorite bathrooms in the house. I have Twist 2 and More Proficient Motorcycling in the wings when I finish the first ones. Never hurts to brush up before the big season.

One of my favorite current authors is Neal Stephenson. His Cryptonomicon is a great read and probably my fave book written in the last 20 years. I have a trilogy of his in the que if I think I will have the time to read 3 700 or so paged books. Maybe if I ever leave the garage I can do it.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez.... 'nuff said

Hunter F'ing Thompson, esp w/ Ralph Steadmans art.... Curse Of Lono, Great White Shark....

Ken Keesey

HP Lovecraft

Crackpot conspiracy crap (the Illuminati and Freemansons came from Mars and built this world for some proto-nazi demi-gods amusement, dont cha know??)

OOOOOOhhhhhhhh, almost forgot another major fave, Patrick Suskinds "Perfume".... book made me want to learn German just so I could read it in the original language.

Caveman: I am a huge Bill Burroughs fan, if Naked Lunch is your first of his, and ya dig it, LMK and I will dig up some of his less accessible stuff that I have and I can lend 'em to ya.

[alltherightpills]

Alltheright pills if you liked Gaiman how about Terry Pratchet and his collaboration ?

Bill, the only Gaiman books I've read are Coraline and The Graveyard Book.  I loved both of them though and after I finish the current book I'm reading, I'll look to pick up some more of his stuff.  Never read any Pratchet, though I've heard good things. 

Currently reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.  I'm less than half way through and it's incredible.  I have no idea how to explain it though.  There are six different stories in the book though each story carries a thread of the previous stories through it.  It isn't a collection of stories, it is a complete novel.  The stories are laid out chronologically, starting in the mid 1800's and on into the future.  Each story stops in the middle and another picks up and the entire book is laid out in a mirrored fashion.  So the stories are like this 123456654321.  Sounds complicated, but it isn't, it's just really hard to explain.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez.... 'nuff said

Have you read any Haruki Murakami?  He's Japanese and does a similar kind of magical-realism that Gabriel Garcia Marquez does.  I'd recommend either Kafka on the Shore or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Here's the plot summary for Kafka on the Shore:

Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between the two, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters.
The odd chapters tell the 15 year old Kafka's story as he runs away from his father's house to escape an Oedipal curse and to embark upon a quest to find his mother and sister.[4] After a series of adventures, he finds shelter in a quiet, private library in Takamatsu, run by the distant and aloof Miss Saeki and the androgynous Oshima. There he spends his days reading the unabridged Richard Francis Burton translation of A Thousand and One Nights and the collected works of Natsume Sōseki until the police begin inquiring after him in connection with a brutal murder.
The even chapters tell Nakata's story. Due to his uncanny abilities, he has found part-time work in his old age as a finder of lost cats (a clear reference to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle). The case of one particular lost cat puts him on a path that ultimately takes him far away from his home, ending up on the road for the first time in his life. He befriends a truck-driver named Hoshino. Hoshino takes him on as a passenger in his truck and soon becomes very attached to the old man.
Nakata and Kafka are on a collision course throughout the novel, but their convergence takes place as much on a metaphysical plane as it does in reality and, in fact, that can be said of the novel itself. Due to the Oedipal theme running through much of the novel, Kafka on the Shore has been called a modern Greek tragedy.

[Demon67]

Alltherightpills I find if I'm really down for a period, reading Terry Pratchett always causes me to star chuckling and puts the world in perspective, try Good Omens with Neil Gaiman, now having said all that I find I can't burn through a bunch of disc world books, I have to leave a month or so between each one. I guess I'm at the stage where I can't read meta physical or dark stuff anymore with aplomb, the real world is too dark at the moment.
Bill the demon.

[78CB750CAFE]

Alltheright pills if you liked Gaiman how about Terry Pratchet and his collaboration ?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez.... 'nuff said

Have you read any Haruki Murakami?  He's Japanese and does a similar kind of magical-realism that Gabriel Garcia Marquez does.  I'd recommend either Kafka on the Shore or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Hmm... sounds interesting... maybe I will reserve it at the library

[sangyo soichiro]

... i also just finished "without remorse" by tom clancy, he's my favourite writer

That was probably his best novel. well, maybe a tossup between WR and Red Storm Rising.

I liked The Sum of all Fears.  And if you also liked this book, Thomas Harris' Black Sunday was another along these lines that I really liked.

Schrödinger's Rabbits. is good over view of how strange quantum theory really is. Its not bogged down by the details so its a good even for The casual reader.

Have you read The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene?  It is a layman's guide to string theory and a fantastic read.  He also did a 3 hour special on PBS (I think you can watch it on their website.)

I enjoyed Hyperspace by Michio Kaku, and In Search of Schrodinger's Cat by John Gribbin.  I've read a million of these type of books, but those two are the most memorable for me.

I did like McCarthy and I had a great soft spot for Kurt V. as a person. 

The Road I liked quite a bit.  But I'm a fan of apocalyptic fiction.  SK's The Stand is one of my all time favorites. 

Vonnegut is great.  One of the most memorable books of his I've read was Timequake.

The Terror (0ne heck of a novel based on the Historical HMS Terror and Erabus of the Franklin Expedition)

Then you might like Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea.  Endurance by Alfred Lansing is another along these lines.  I enjoyed both quite a bit.

...Guns, Germs, and Steel....

Ah yes.  That's one on my radar.  Lately I've gotten the 'bug' for learning about pathogens (yeah, I know that's not what Guns, Germs, and Steel is entirely about, but it provided a segue).

Two books that I enjoyed about deadly germs were Richard Preston's The Hot Zone, and The Demon in the Freezer.

Well no-one here has mentioned "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" yet, and probably for good reason.

It's definitely more philosophy than motorcycle maintenance, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Two other books I greatly enjoyed this year were The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by the Afghan writer Khaled Hosseini.

I've also read The Kite Runner.  I thought it was pretty good for the most part, but a little too deus ex machina for my taste.  Definitely a tear-jerker though.

If we can talk just "pop" fiction.  I loved The Shining.  Thought the movie was great.  Then I read the book.  Wow.  Kept me looking over my shoulder for a week.

The book was good, but I thought this was one of those rare cases where the movie was a bit better.  Both were good though.

If you like SK, I liked 'Salem's Lot quite a bit.





I go through lots of different interests.  I've read quite a bit of true crime, apocalyptic fiction, horror, science, philosophy, general fiction, survival stories, + other stuff.

Some memorable books I've read that I haven't already mentioned are:
Zodiac, by Robert Graysmith
Space, by James Michener
Earth Abides, by George Stewart
The Rising, and City of the Dead, by Brian Keene
Alive, by Piers Paul Read
Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins (don't hate...)
The Gift of Fear, by Gavin De Becker
This Present Darkness, and Piercing the Darkness, by Frank Peretti
All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque
Hiroshima, by John Hersey
Sex and the Origins of Death, by William R. Clark
Innumeracy, by John Allen Paulos
7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey
I better stop here otherwise the list may get out of hand....

[fuzzybutt]

right now i'm reading from the first book, to the most recent one, Robert B Parkers Spenser series.

[winnipeg550guy]

Just finished re-reading both:

- Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means
- Stolen Continents: The Americas Through Indian Eyes Since 1492

 Now on to - The Standard Catalog of Japanese Motorcycles 1959 - 2007, covers lots of models with some brief histories and specs, lots of good pics.