Author Topic: Books Thread (Read 25391 times)

BlindJoe · « **Reply #125 on:** April 22, 2009, 03:44:49 PM »

Bump?

alltherightpills · « **Reply #126 on:** April 22, 2009, 06:00:28 PM »

I finished Cloud Atlas. It was one of those books that a. You don't want to end, and b. When it does end, you want to start it over immediately. I would highly recommend it.

I'm almost done with Land of Lincoln by Andrew Ferguson. It's not really a biography or anything, it's more of a book about the cultural impact of Lincoln (usually through kitsch.) It's pretty funny, but like I said, not terribly informative about the man himself.

I'm also reading Song of Myself (out of Leaves of Grass) by Walt Whitman, who is, as far as I'm concerned, the only poet worth reading.

I've also been halfassed cruising used book stores in search of Shelby Foote's The Civil War, but so far haven't found it. The first book of that series is the next in line on my reading list.

Looks like I'm on a mid-19th century kick...

josixpak · « **Reply #127 on:** April 23, 2009, 09:21:14 AM »

Wow, you guys are really reading some quality books! I, on the other hand, am currently reading Hell's Angel by Sonny Barger. I got it a couple days ago in the library. I think I was so desperate for a motorcycle book I picked it up.

This year has been a slow year for me in regards to books. So far I've only read 4!

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Boys Will Be Boys by Jeff Pearlman
Go Long! by Jerry Rice
The Watchmen by Alan Moore

Depending on what is available when I finish this book, I'll probably be looking at getting The Yankee Years by Joe Torre or Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton. For some reason, I've been in a biography mood. It also doesn't help that baseball season just started.

Any suggestions for biographies?

BlindJoe · « **Reply #128 on:** August 25, 2009, 07:15:23 PM »

This summer I've read Zen and the Art of MM and Shopclass as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford; currently in the middle of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, what have y'all been reading?

alltherightpills · « **Reply #129 on:** August 25, 2009, 08:33:41 PM »

Currently working my way through Killer in the Rain, a collection of short stories by Raymond Chandler. I'll also finish The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes tonight. This summer I've read:

Stardust - Neil Gaiman
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
Trawler - Redmond O'Hanlon
Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers
Take the Cannoli - Sarah Vowell
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
and
All of the Harry Potter books

Frankenkit · « **Reply #130 on:** August 25, 2009, 08:51:45 PM »

Pills, I strongly suggest Gaiman's "The Dream Hunters". It ranks with some of the best of his works, and the artwork is a real experience, too.

This summer, I've re-read the first three books in Dune, and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". It's been a slow summer for me, too, but I've been sorta busy.

CaféElite · « **Reply #131 on:** August 25, 2009, 09:23:41 PM »

Quote from: alltherightpills on August 25, 2009, 08:33:41 PM

Stardust - Neil Gaiman
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman
Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman

Good Omens is one of my fav books of all time..

demon78 · « **Reply #132 on:** August 26, 2009, 03:35:23 AM »

Hey Pills what did you think of good omens?
Bill the demon.

rhos1355 · « **Reply #133 on:** August 26, 2009, 05:00:38 AM »

Recently started "East of Eden" - John Steinbeck.

Compelling.

alltherightpills · « **Reply #134 on:** August 26, 2009, 05:40:16 AM »

Quote from: demon70 on August 26, 2009, 03:35:23 AM

Hey Pills what did you think of good omens?
Bill the demon.

I loved it. I found it in a used book store and picked it up based on the recommendations made in this thread. I thought the interpretation of the four horsemen of the apocalypse was brilliant, and all in all I thought it was pretty great.

gane · « **Reply #135 on:** August 26, 2009, 09:26:16 PM »

If any read the 1st 4 or 5 books of King's "Dark Tower" series, It's fianlly complete. (after about 18 years). warning.. He gets kinda goofy in the end and introduces himself into story. ah well, I read series, as they provide long term entertainment.. Chalker's "Well of Souls", and Farmer's "The Magic Labrinth"are favorites. For an obscure read, "The Rivers Ran East" by Clarke, Is a biographical tome of a retired army Col. who travels the Amazon in search of the 7 Lost cities of Gold (Eldorado), I think I stole my copy from my Gram, at @ age 14 and have read at least 6 times. recent read's which I missed the 1st time around & found captivating, "The Light That Failed" Kippling, and "A Movable Feast" Hemmingway. I see no poetry entrys, Perhaps that's a stretch for most, but, Robert's Frost and Service have works which have occupied my mind on many a long tedious ride. G

demon78 · « **Reply #136 on:** August 30, 2009, 05:05:52 AM »

Reading Darwin's Watch excellent explanation about things such as creationist theory, etc and funny as hell in places as only Terry Pratchett can be, tough slogging for me as I feel guilty about reading instead of siding the house which means when I pick it up, I have to go back a few pages to follow the thread again.
Bill the demon.

Johnny5 · « **Reply #137 on:** August 31, 2009, 11:16:58 AM »

I love the trilogy by Ted Dekker, Black, Red, White. Dont care for his other books though. Too cliche.

Loved:

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Bradbury

Almost all of the Preston/Child books are good

Pet Cemetery and Misery - King

The Hobbit - Tolkien

BeSeeingYou · « **Reply #138 on:** September 01, 2009, 09:38:37 AM »

Just finished Kurt Vonneguts's Armageddon in Retrospect. Big fan of Vonnegut.

Currently reading Eric Sevareid's Not so Wild a Dream. While primarily known as a radio journalist/newscaster he is an excellent writer. This book written in 1946 mainly covers his experience in Europe just before the outbreak of WWII and then in other theaters during the war. Students of history will appreciate his first person accounts and insights into the events, people, and attitudes of the time. His chapter on coming back to America in 1940 when Britain alone stood against the might of Nazi Germany and trying to warn an indifferent public about the coming storm is interesting. Something glossed over in our history books is how some of the wealthy industrial class, politicians like the Tafts and Vandenbergs, fascist sympathizers, and "heroes" like Charles Lindbergh along with other isolationists fought to keep the U.S. neutral and plotted against FDR's Administration. He relates another interesting episode when on a skiing vacation in Bavaria in 1938 he has a collision on the slopes with Rudolph Hess the Deputy Fuhrer. Later he relates an episode while flying the "Hump" from India into China with a planeload of other journalists and civilians they have to bail out of their stricken DC-3.
This is a 500+ page book and not for the casual reader but the writing is great literature as he has a beautiful writing style and is a fascinating first person account of the times by a sharp mind.

Another book by Eric Sevareid that inspired me in my youth is Canoing with the Cree. It's the story of the summer of his high school graduation when he and a friend paddled a canoe 2250 miles north from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay in 1930.

ryder60 · « **Reply #139 on:** September 04, 2009, 02:41:15 PM »

Poetry is hard going for me. Presently working through 'Leaves of Grass' and Rilke's 'Sonnets to Orpheus'.

Just finished Thomas merton's 'The Springs of Contemplation' A retreat he gave for nuns.
Reading GK chesterton "Orthodoxy'
Thomas Moore "The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life'.
Margaret MacMillan's 'Paris 1919'
Still in Les Miserables'

If you liked the Sevaried's (sp) book, have you read the book Alisdair Cooke wrote during his drive around America during the war. I can't think of the title but it's a good look into the mentality of the country at rthe time.

coldright · « **Reply #140 on:** September 04, 2009, 06:05:33 PM »

Ryder60, good choices. I really love 'Leaves of Grass' and 'Sonnets to Orpheus' - Stephen Mitchell's translations of Rilke are my favorite. Thomas Merton is also a wonderful writer, such a rich contemplative soul.

I just picked up Peter Matthiessen's 'Shadow Country,' a new rendering of the Watson legend. I wonder if anyone here has read it?

Highly recommend Ivan Doig, especially 'This House of Sky.'

ryder60 · « **Reply #141 on:** September 04, 2009, 08:04:47 PM »

Highly recommend Ivan Doig,
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Yes, I especially appreciated his autobiographical ones. About 6-7 years ago I took my parents to Illinois for a visit and came home via Ringling and Smith River Falls to see the towns. One day I'm going back to the Stockman's Bar where his father hired workers.

coldright · « **Reply #142 on:** September 04, 2009, 10:30:19 PM »

I made it a point to visit Ringling on an eight day road trip from WA to CO once.

Pinhead · « **Reply #143 on:** September 04, 2009, 11:30:03 PM »

I've read tons and tons of technical writings and such. Only read one story book, though, which was Stephen King's Rose Madder. I actually read it 4 times.

Extremely psychological.

bucky katt · « **Reply #144 on:** September 04, 2009, 11:34:30 PM »

i'm now looking for an entire library of tom clancys fiction books. the wifes anti-christ dachsund ate, chewed, peed, crapped on a couple of boxes of books this afternoon. including hard backed, original printings of cardinal of the kremlin, sum of all fears, red dawn rising. it's lucky for the dog i would never hit, kick or otherwise hurt an animal. paperbacks asd long as there readable, i dont buy books to collect, i buy them to be read over and over.

coldright · « **Reply #145 on:** September 05, 2009, 09:20:01 AM »

Quote from: bucky katt on September 04, 2009, 11:34:30 PM

i'm now looking for an entire library of tom clancys fiction books. the wifes anti-christ dachsund ate, chewed, peed, crapped on a couple of boxes of books this afternoon. including hard backed, original printings of cardinal of the kremlin, sum of all fears, red dawn rising. it's lucky for the dog i would never hit, kick or otherwise hurt an animal. paperbacks asd long as there readable, i dont buy books to collect, i buy them to be read over and over.

Bucky, I don't read Tom Clancy, but I'll keep an eye out in the used bookstores for his work in hard back. When I find something, I'll pick it up for you.

ryder60 · « **Reply #146 on:** September 06, 2009, 12:45:18 PM »

Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer
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I read it years ago. It's worth reading, not your usual war story.

ryder60 · « **Reply #147 on:** September 06, 2009, 01:03:34 PM »

I made it a point to visit Ringling on an eight day road trip from WA to CO once.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll presume you are familiar with Wallace Stegner. Every time I go east across Canada I go through Eastend, Saskatchewan to see the Stegner house. I usually walk the yard and sit in front of the house. When I first read 'Wolfwillow' I was quite affected. He and I seemed to have a somewhat comparable childhood, not withstanding the difference in our ages. He used a term I can't think of presently but he referred to himself as some sort of little savage. The penny dropped for me as I realized I also grew up a flat land, big sky, blowing snow, outhouse using, river swimming, shooting anything that moved, dirt farm, savage. WO Mitchell wasn't the craftsman Stegner was but his stories of prairie youth are also very dear to me. I also have a soft spot for William Kitterage and Norman McLean.

coldright · « **Reply #148 on:** September 06, 2009, 01:25:49 PM »

Yes, I am very familiar with Stegner. Literature of the Western (North) American Landscape has long been my favorite genre. My great-grandparents were miners and farmers, grandparents lived the Grapes of Wrath, my father a cowboy artist and my stepfather a timber faller. It took five generations from Ireland to Oregon. My people moved continually westward until my family reached the west coast in the early 70's, my life reflects the western landscape very well. My parents moved up to the small town in CO where my grandmother had been born so that I could be born there as well. We lived in the same cabin where my great-grandmother, my namesake, had 13 children (five lived), it had an outhouse and a pot belly stove.

At times, I'm grateful for the impermanence, but there always a sense of wonder at the lives of the families around us that lived and worked in a place for generations. I have the heart of a drifter and have never felt that any one place is home... the American West and it's vast repository of stories and landscapes has always been that home.

A photo of an abandoned church near Ringling... as I recollect.

demon78 · « **Reply #149 on:** September 06, 2009, 03:04:24 PM »

Ryder60 did you ever hear the interviews Zotski did with Bill Mitchell (sorry about the Spelling on Peter's name) they are priceless.
Bill the demon.

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Author Topic: Books Thread (Read 25391 times)

rhos1355