Books...

[jem88]

One topic that doesn't seem to get discussed much in these parts. Here are my favourites off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Nineteen Eighty-Four- George Orwell

What A Carve Up (aka The Winshaw Legacy)- Jonathan Coe

The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck

Europa; Cara Massamina; Mimi's Ghost- all by Tim Parks

The Power and The Glory- Graham Greene

Trainspotting- Irvine Welsh

The World According To Garp- John Irving

St. Urbain's Horseman- Mordecai Richler


Any suggested reading?

 

[Hostile]

"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville

"The Divine Comedies" by Dante Alighieri

"Man of La Mancha" by Miguel de Cervantes

Anything by William Shakespeare. "Taming of the Shrew" is my favorite.

"The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway (All of his a great.)

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

"Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry

Anything by Louis L'Amour. "Down the Long Hills" is my favorite.

"The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum

"The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton


Edit: Some I forgot that others reminded me of.

The Harry Potter series & "The Hobbit" & "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Absolutely great reading.

TwoDeep3 told me about "Shogun" by James Clavelle, and I did enjoy it very much.


Others not mentioned that I forgot.

"The Slave" by Isaac Bashevis Singer

"Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo

"Tom Sawyer" & "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain (How could I forget?)

"The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe (Poe is a master.)

"The Brother Karamazov" by Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky

"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabakov

I'm done boring you.

 

[smarta5150]

The Art of War - Sun Tzu

 

[Kevinicus]

Well, only been reading now for about 5 years. I used to not even bother until I started reading the Left Behind series. It interested me then, but now I realize how awful the series actually was. Since then I've read a lot more, and ALL of it is MUCH better writing.

I've read most of Clancy's stuff now. Read all the Harry Potters. Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit. Black Hawk Down. Some series my wife got me into, basically it's kinda like Red Dawn (the movie), but set in Australia. Lots of other books I can't recall the names of. Right now I'm reading a series called Otherland It's ok, but it's taking me forever since I only read on my breaks and lunch at work.

I think my favorite series is by George R. R. Martin called 'A Song of Fire and Ice.' It's a seven book series that's only up to book 4 at the moment.

 

[Yeagermeister]

books?

 

[k19]

"A People's History of the United States: 1492-present" Howard Zinn

"The Twentieth Century: A People's History" Howard Zinn

"Civil Disobedience, and Other Essays" Henry David Thoreau

"Communist Manifesto" Karl Marx

"To Kill a Mockingbird" Harper Lee

"Fahrenheit 451" Ray Bradbury

"Everyone Poops" Taro Gomi

"Magic Tree House Series" Mary Pope Osborne

"Friday Night Lights" H. G. Bissinger

"Kinky Friedman's Guide to Texas Etiquette, or, How to Get to Heaven or Hell without Going through Dallas-Fort Worth" Kinky Friedman

"Landry's Boys: An Oral History of a Team and an Era" Peter Golenbock

"Where Have All Our Cowboys Gone?" Brian Jensen

 

[AbeBeta]

On the Road by Jack Kerouac rocked my world about 20 years ago. It has become a bit a cliche since but any 20 year olds out there need to read that.

More recently I can think of 5 that really stick with me. The type of books that you think about regularly.

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Marakami (his entire catalog is outstanding)

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson (Alread Dead is also great)

London Fields by Martin Amis (lots of other great ones by him as well)

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (his short stories are amazing as well)

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Read mostly non-fiction now -- none of it has the power of a great novel.

 

[Concord]

What nobody mentioned....

Sinners!

 

[Hostile]

On the Road by Jack Kerouac rocked my world about 20 years ago. It has become a bit a cliche since but any 20 year olds out there need to read that.

More recently I can think of 5 that really stick with me. The type of books that you think about regularly.

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Marakami (his entire catalog is outstanding)

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson (Alread Dead is also great)

London Fields by Martin Amis (lots of other great ones by him as well)

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (his short stories are amazing as well)

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Read mostly non-fiction now -- none of it has the power of a great novel.

I enjoyed "On the Road" a lot too. Part of that book describes a road here in Tucson in 1956 I think. You should see that road now.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Some authors I like, Koontz, Grisham, King, some of Tom Clancy.

Shogun - James Clavell Have read this book so many times, but will continue to read it at LEAST once a year. Have tried to read some of his other books but I think he used all the magic on this one.

The Stand, It, The Talisman (but not the sequel The Black House) - Stephen King. Have read the first 4-5 books of the dark tower series but that was years ago and have not got the last few that finished it up.

Swan Song - Robert McCammon - Similar to The Stand by Stephen King and although King may be better with character interaction I have found that the ideas in this book were a little more creative.

Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling - Kids books or not these are very well written and interesting. I would actually say after the first two books in the series that the rest are not really kids books as I doubt many young kids could follow the other books. So many hidden stories and other information tied in with this series. I look forward to see what she writes after the Potter series.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy - JRR Tolkein - Great books and much better than the movies. The movies were movies, in other words they always leave stuff out of long books and add other stuff for dramatic effect but the books are just better and a joy to read.

 

[Boom]

"Inside Delta Force" - Eric Haney
"Red Dragon" - Thomas Harris
"Black Sunday" - Thomas Harris
"The Bachman Books" - Stephen King
"The Bone Collector" - Jeffery Deaver
"The Bourne Identity/Supremacy" - Robert Ludlum
"The Andromeda Strain" - Michael Crichton
"Messiah" - Boris Starling
"Left Behind" - Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

 

[Crown Royal]

The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

The Catcher in the RyeJD Salinger


Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein


OthelloOr, like Hos said ANYTHING by Shakespeare

Running With Scissors Or any of the Augusten Burroughs books


The Elegant Universe Brian Greene


The Strange Case of the Dog in the Night Time I forgot the author on here - a quick google search would do it, though.

Several others - these are just books I've read in the last 6 mos or so that come to mind. Except Stranger in a Strange Land - I've read that every year for about 3 years.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

"Inside Delta Force" - Eric Haney
"Red Dragon" - Thomas Harris
"Black Sunday" - Thomas Harris
"The Bachman Books" - Stephen King
"The Bone Collector" - Jeffery Deaver
"The Bourne Identity/Supremacy" - Robert Ludlum
"The Andromeda Strain" - Michael Crichton
"Messiah" - Boris Starling
"Left Behind" - Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

Good call on Red Dragon...I actually liked that book better than the Silence of the lambs and MUCH better than Hannibal.

Now the movie was not quite as good as Silence of the lamb but the book was much better IMO.

That last book, Hannibal was just a bloated piece of ego by Harris IMO. That thing should have been really cut down a great deal.

Not sure if you knew but his new book - Hannibal Rising comes out early next month (Dec 5).

Sounds like it might be interesting.

From what I gather it is more about his youth and how he became the way he did and so on.

I just hope it is not another over write like Hannibal was.

 

[joseephuss]

You guys always give good recommendations. I have read some of what has been mentioned already and may have to look into others. I am not really much of a reader, but I have picked up a few books from time to time.

"Dianetics" L. Ron Hubbard.
I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I don't get it.

"A Brief History in Time" Stephen Hawking
Finally, information that normally only people with doctorates in physics and astronomy can understand is dumbed down, so you only need a masters degree to get it. Just kidding. I really enjoyed it.

"The Tao of Willie" Willie Nelson and Turk Pipkin
Short, light reading.

"Footfall" Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Alien invasions in the mold of War of the Worlds.

I enjoy science fiction and fantasy. Books such as Piers Anthony's Xanth series, Christopher Stasheff's Warlock series, C.S. Lewis' space trilogy, Arthur C. Clarke, Ursula K. LeGuin and a few others.

Stephen King short story compilations. I haven't read any of his novels, but his books with short stories are great. The best being "Different Seasons", which inspired the movies "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me". "Apt Pupil" was also made into a movie, but the ending was not that good.

 

[Boom]

Stephen King short story compilations. I haven't read any of his novels, but his books with short stories are great. The best being "Different Seasons", which inspired the movies "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me". "Apt Pupil" was also made into a movie, but the ending was not that good.

Have you read The Bachman Books? If not, it's a book of 4 stories he wrote under then pseudonym Richard Bachman The book contains:

Rage, The Long Walk (best he's every written IMO), Roadwork and The Running Man.

 

[Boom]

Good call on Red Dragon...I actually liked that book better than the Silence of the lambs and MUCH better than Hannibal.

Now the movie was not quite as good as Silence of the lamb but the book was much better IMO.

That last book, Hannibal was just a bloated piece of ego by Harris IMO. That thing should have been really cut down a great deal.

Not sure if you knew but his new book - Hannibal Rising comes out early next month (Dec 5).

Sounds like it might be interesting.

From what I gather it is more about his youth and how he became the way he did and so on.

I just hope it is not another over write like Hannibal was.

Boy howdy, was Hannibal a dog! He had 10 years to write it and that's what he came up with?

Thanks for the tip, I'll look for the new book when it comes out. I've never read Silence because I have a hard time reading a book if I've seen the movie first, even though I know the book is always better.

 

[joseephuss]

Have you read The Bachman Books? If not, it's a book of 4 stories he wrote under then pseudonym Richard Bachman The book contains:

Rage, The Long Walk (best he's every written IMO), Roadwork and The Running Man.

No, I haven't. I will have to look into it. I knew about it at one time, but it is one of those things that I lost track of during the years. Maybe it will be a Christmas gift to myself. Thanks.

 

[joseephuss]

Good call on Red Dragon...I actually liked that book better than the Silence of the lambs and MUCH better than Hannibal.

Now the movie was not quite as good as Silence of the lamb but the book was much better IMO.

That last book, Hannibal was just a bloated piece of ego by Harris IMO. That thing should have been really cut down a great deal.

Not sure if you knew but his new book - Hannibal Rising comes out early next month (Dec 5).

Sounds like it might be interesting.

From what I gather it is more about his youth and how he became the way he did and so on.

I just hope it is not another over write like Hannibal was.

The movie version of "Hannibal Rising" comes out in February of next year. I wonder if that says anything about the quality of the book.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Stephen King short story compilations. I haven't read any of his novels, but his books with short stories are great. The best being "Different Seasons", which inspired the movies "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me". "Apt Pupil" was also made into a movie, but the ending was not that good.

You know the funny thing is I never could get myself to read his short story books.

I might get one or two stories into it and just could not finish it.

Don't know why but I just don't care for the short stories.

Just can't get into the characters enough, which is kind of funny because if I have one criticism with King is that he (and he admits to this) runs off at the pen too much. Or as he says diarrhea of the pen.
Meaning sometimes he just puts too much into describing places or scenes.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

The movie version of "Hannibal Rising" comes out in February of next year. I wonder if that says anything about the quality of the book.

Ugg...probably will be another dog.

However I will give it a shot.

There are only a group of authors I tend to read and I get tired of reading some of the same books over and over.

I need to find some new writers in the King/Koontz/McCammon/Saul genre.