Topic: Books Thread

[sangyo soichiro]

Just finished Fahrenheit 451, just started
Shock Doctrine.
So I am in an apocalypse kinda mood right now.

Here are a few classics of the genre

Lord of the Flies  by William Golding
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Dhalgren  by Samuel Delaney
Fail-Safe  by Eugene Burdick
War of the Worlds  by H.G. Wells

Don't forget:

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell

A few more along these lines that I enjoyed (well, post apocalyptic more so than alternate future)...
Earth Abides (1949), George Stewart
Alas, Babylon (1959), Pat Frank
Lucifer's Hammer (1977), Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
The Stand (1978), Stephen King
Swan Song (1987), Robert McCammon
The Road (2006), Cormac McCarthy



On the Beach was a pretty good movie too, starring Fred Astaire and Gregory Peck, among others.

[number13]

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions.
I've already read Fail Safe and Lord Of The
Flies is on my list.
 

[CBJoe]

I actually liked "The Road" (book not movie).  But I can say that I've never had a book inspire such a feeling hopelessness.  I don't mean this in a bad way... it's just that the writing methodology really brought forth the desired effect

Should NEVER have been made into a movie.   I'm all about DOOMDOOMDOOM, but the story didn't translate well to video format.


On a fantasy side note... I found the NightWatch, Daywatch, .... books by Sergei Lukyanenko to be very entertaining.

Cheers, Joe

[sangyo soichiro]

Have any of you read this book?

[BobbyR]

Have any of you read this book?

Yeah I did. The guy is an asshat. He failed to pin anything on the Angels and they laugh at him publicly on the web.

[SHELLFISH]

My escape is reading westerns. I'm from the northeast so go figure!

Louis Lamour is a great author and I have read every one. About 65!
I started reading Tony Hillerman (western mystery) and  William Johnstone (westerns).

[MCRider]

My escape is reading westerns. I'm from the northeast so go figure!

Louis Lamour is a great author and I have read every one. About 65!
I started reading Tony Hillerman (western mystery) and  William Johnstone (westerns).

I like LL as well, haven't read that many. But you've still got a ways to go to! More like 89 plus compilations. Man more than 1 per year!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_L%27Amour

[BobbyR]

My escape is reading westerns. I'm from the northeast so go figure!

Louis Lamour is a great author and I have read every one. About 65!
I started reading Tony Hillerman (western mystery) and  William Johnstone (westerns).

I read Elmoe Leonard modern and Western stories and I am from NY.

[Frankenkit]

Gary Paulsen's "Pilgrimage on a Steel Ride" was interesting and introspective... not as epic or interesting as Shenanigans' ride, but if you're feeling Cabin Fever and need to go on a long ride with someone, he's decent.

I've also liked the little bit of "The Life and Times of Sonny Barger" the memoirs of the guy who started the Hell's Angels.  I'll try to find it and get it from the library- it was out last time.  The way he writes it, he sounds like half Holden Caulfield and half Marlon Brando from The Wild One.  I know it's not going to be 100% factual, but taking into account the life Barger's had, 100% fact would likely send him and some others back to prison.   Great writing, though, flows well and reads like a movie.  Whether he wrote it or had someone ghost write it for him, whoever did it did a good job.

[Frankenkit]

Just finished Fahrenheit 451, just started
Shock Doctrine.
So I am in an apocalypse kinda mood right now.

Here are a few classics of the genre

Lord of the Flies  by William Golding
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Dhalgren  by Samuel Delaney
Fail-Safe  by Eugene Burdick
War of the Worlds  by H.G. Wells

Don't forget:

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell

A few more along these lines that I enjoyed (well, post apocalyptic more so than alternate future)...
Earth Abides (1949), George Stewart
Alas, Babylon (1959), Pat Frank
Lucifer's Hammer (1977), Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
The Stand (1978), Stephen King
Swan Song (1987), Robert McCammon
The Road (2006), Cormac McCarthy



On the Beach was a pretty good movie too, starring Fred Astaire and Gregory Peck, among others.

You have just written out my list of either favorites or "will-read" books... In some sad way, post-apocalyptic stories give me hope for the future of humanity.

[Rocking-M]

Have any of you read this book?

Yeah I did. The guy is an asshat. He failed to pin anything on the Angels and they laugh at him publicly on the web.

just saw that in the bookstore tonight, I wondered about it but figured it could compare with Hunter Thompson's Hell's Angels book.
Thanks for the review.

BTW, just read Kurt Vonnegut's "Bluebeard" and now for "Slaughterhouse Five".

[bucky katt]

after 15 years i'm re-reading a couple by Jack Kerouac, on the road,  and the dharma bums (my favorite)

[BeSeeingYou]

How about a survival at sea story. With whales!

In the Heart of the Sea:The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick.  
    The true story of the 1820 sinking of the Nantucket whaler Essex after being rammed by a large sperm whale in the South Pacific.  The crew take to three small boats and begin a harrowing fight for survival that only some survive to tell the tale.  An account written by one survivor was part of the inspiration for Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

[mark]

A rather interesting post-apocalyptic tale:



World Made By Hand - A novel of America's post-oil future by James Howard Kunstler.

[sangyo soichiro]

How about a survival at sea story. With whales!

In the Heart of the Sea:The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick.  
    The true story of the 1820 sinking of the Nantucket whaler Essex after being rammed by a large sperm whale in the South Pacific.  The crew take to three small boats and begin a harrowing fight for survival that only some survive to tell the tale.  An account written by one survivor was part of the inspiration for Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

I'll second this book.  It was very, very good.  For those that haven't read it, go to the bookstore and read the first few pages.  These pages set the tone for the book.  If you like them, you'll probably like the rest of the book.  I can't express how much of an impact this book had on me.

Have any of you read this book?

Yeah I did. The guy is an asshat. He failed to pin anything on the Angels and they laugh at him publicly on the web.

I heard this guy on the radio.  Now that I think about it, I guess he did sound like an asshat. 

Just finished Fahrenheit 451, just started
Shock Doctrine.
So I am in an apocalypse kinda mood right now.

Here are a few classics of the genre

Lord of the Flies  by William Golding
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Dhalgren  by Samuel Delaney
Fail-Safe  by Eugene Burdick
War of the Worlds  by H.G. Wells

Don't forget:

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell

A few more along these lines that I enjoyed (well, post apocalyptic more so than alternate future)...
Earth Abides (1949), George Stewart
Alas, Babylon (1959), Pat Frank
Lucifer's Hammer (1977), Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
The Stand (1978), Stephen King
Swan Song (1987), Robert McCammon
The Road (2006), Cormac McCarthy



On the Beach was a pretty good movie too, starring Fred Astaire and Gregory Peck, among others.

You have just written out my list of either favorites or "will-read" books... In some sad way, post-apocalyptic stories give me hope for the future of humanity.

I love post-apacalyptic stories too.  I've read a lot more that what I list, but these stuck out as favorites.  Another few that are worth mention are The Postman by David Brin, and The Rising, and City of the Dead, by Brian Keene.  The last two I liked a lot, but be warned, they are zombie books.   

A rather interesting post-apocalyptic tale:



World Made By Hand - A novel of America's post-oil future by James Howard Kunstler.

Thanks for the tip.  I'll check it out.   

[BeSeeingYou]

Just finished Fahrenheit 451, just started
Shock Doctrine.
So I am in an apocalypse kinda mood right now.

Here are a few classics of the genre

Lord of the Flies  by William Golding
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Dhalgren  by Samuel Delaney
Fail-Safe  by Eugene Burdick
War of the Worlds  by H.G. Wells

Don't forget:

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell

A few more along these lines that I enjoyed (well, post apocalyptic more so than alternate future)...
Earth Abides (1949), George Stewart
Alas, Babylon (1959), Pat Frank
Lucifer's Hammer (1977), Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
The Stand (1978), Stephen King
Swan Song (1987), Robert McCammon
The Road (2006), Cormac McCarthy



On the Beach was a pretty good movie too, starring Fred Astaire and Gregory Peck, among others.

You have just written out my list of either favorites or "will-read" books... In some sad way, post-apocalyptic stories give me hope for the future of humanity.

Kit
Put Dhalgren at the top of your list.  It's been 20 years since I read it but I think it will be just what you are looking for.  Anyone else read this?

[BeSeeingYou]

I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and noticed a few books I first read as a teen and have reread more than once that are still on my shelf.  Dove sparked my interest in sailing and Canoeing with the Cree in wilderness canoe tripping and I have been doing both ever since.  I would say they have had a major impact on my life.  What books have had a big impact on your life and how?

Death Be Not Proud        John Gunther
Lord of the Flies            William Golding
Dove                           Robin Lee Graham
To Kill a Mockingbird       Harper Lee
Forgotten Soldier           Guy Sajer
Canoeing with the Cree   Eric Sevareid

[Frankenkit]

The initial Dune trilogy had probably the biggest impact on me.  I read it for the first time in 8th grade, and the way Herbert's characters perceived the world around them and the subtleties of their communication really piqued my interest. Very different from the sledge hammer bluntness I was used to seeing.

I had some very good teachers who loaned me books from their personal collections, as they found them inspiring and knew they wouldn't be found in our school library... namely The Catcher in the Rye, On the Road, and Naked Lunch.  I was pretty young and innocent and probably too much so at the time to really understand much of Naked Lunch, but the former two nudged me further "out of the box" and helped me become the effing weirdo I am today.

[bucky katt]

Have any of you read this book?

i saw a program on history channel about him and his stint as an undercover officer. at least i think it was history

[BobbyR]

Have any of you read this book?

i saw a program on history channel about him and his stint as an undercover officer. at least i think it was history

Asshat

[Frankenkit]

I just finally finished Barger's book "Hell's Angel" and it kicked ass. 

[demon78]

Last one was "Maximum Effort" about the 1000 bomber raids over Europe and some of the raids on Japan, interesting, sounds like a lot of the crews were "twichy" every time they flew, of course with a 25% loss rate I would be too.
Bill the demon.

[Rocking-M]

How about a survival at sea story. With whales!

In the Heart of the Sea:The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick.  
    The true story of the 1820 sinking of the Nantucket whaler Essex after being rammed by a large sperm whale in the South Pacific.  The crew take to three small boats and begin a harrowing fight for survival that only some survive to tell the tale.  An account written by one survivor was part of the inspiration for Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

you could add, "The Terror" a novel based on the HMS Terror and the Franklin Expedition to cross through the NW Passage.
No survivors.

[BeSeeingYou]

How about a survival at sea story. With whales!

In the Heart of the Sea:The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick.  
    The true story of the 1820 sinking of the Nantucket whaler Essex after being rammed by a large sperm whale in the South Pacific.  The crew take to three small boats and begin a harrowing fight for survival that only some survive to tell the tale.  An account written by one survivor was part of the inspiration for Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

you could add, "The Terror" a novel based on the HMS Terror and the Franklin Expedition to cross through the NW Passage.
No survivors.

I read that a few years ago.  Combines historical fact and fiction, Inuit mythology, and a ghost/monster story.  It was very good.

[sangyo soichiro]

I just finally finished Barger's book "Hell's Angel" and it kicked ass. 

I read that one myself not that long ago.  It was very good.  Did you catch the part where he talks about the HAMC riding American bikes, but that Japanese bikes are higher quality?  I made a thread about it, the title of the thread has "Sonny Barger" in it... can't remember the rest.  I got a kick out of it.