| Author | Message | ||
     abigail law Member Username: Abigail Post Number: 55 Registered: 06-2005 |
so how about books now... personal favourites include confederacy of dunces by john kennedy toole - funniest book ever written nico, songs they never play on the radio by james young - best book on the music industry written peter ackroyd's biography of william blake philip larkin's collected poetry edmund gosse father & son | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 36 Registered: 01-2006 |
Paul Auster | ||
| Mark Tuffield Member Username: Mark_t Post Number: 29 Registered: 05-2005 |
My reading tends to be very one dimensional these days, but the following are books that at different times I have read and greatly enjoyed:- John P. Marquand – Point of No Return Gerry Glaskin – A World of Our Own Irwin Shaw – The Troubled Air Ernest K. Gann – The High and The Mighty Ernest K. Gann – Fate is the Hunter Raymond Chandler – Farwell, My Lovely Ian Banks – The Crow Road Ian M. Banks – Look to Windward | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 218 Registered: 05-2005 |
trainspotting - irvine welsh hi fidelity - nick hornby (naff film) dont really read books anymore, since my 20s almost every non working, non sleeping moment, is spent listening to music. im not one of those people who can read and listen to music at the same time, and anyway i dont think you can possibly be able to enjoy both equally. it has to be one or the other, and i chose music i guess. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 88 Registered: 07-2005 |
There is a thread on "what are you reading now" which had a disappointing turnout, I agree Kevin you can't read and listen to music at the same time. Well men can't,though my wife seems adept at it. Updike-Rabbits Quartet Philip Pullman -Dark Materials ( I usually hate fantasy books-but this was great Hemmingway-Grapes of Wrath Just read Saturday by Ian Mcewan which was illumintaing, great writer | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 117 Registered: 03-2006 |
Money - Martin Amis Catch 22 - Joseph Heller Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole The Moviegoer - Walker Percy High Fidelity - Nick Hornby Thomas Guide to Orange County Burning the Days - James Salter Wake Up, Sir! - Jonathan Ames Last Car to Elysian Fields - James Lee Burke (really, anything by him) | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 91 Registered: 07-2005 |
Of course Steinbeck wrote grapes of wrath. Apologies. James Lee Burkes good. How about Henning Mankel the swedish crime writer,hes as good if not betterthan JLB, I think you can get his books in the states Hardin. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 118 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thanks Jerry, I will check out Mr. Mankel..I have a weakness for crime fiction... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 223 Registered: 10-2004 |
(for the sake of brevity i'm only listing fictional literature, and leaving out political, biographical, & historical stuff.) -Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon -White Noise - Don Delillo -Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole (I agree about this being the funniest book ever written!) -Grendel - John Gardner -Slaughter House Five - Kurt Vonnegut -the Stranger - Albert Camus -Pastoralia - George Saunders (I highly recommend this guy, he's somewhat new. Funny as hell, and the master of inner-dialog. This is a collection of some of the most brilliant short stories I've ever read. he's called the "next Vonnegut and Pynchon" for a reason. He has another collection of short stories called "Civil War Land in Bad Decline," which is also good). -Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot (I know, I know... I am the only person I know how actually likes this play). -William Faulkner - the Sound and the Fury -Lolita & Pale Fire - Nabakov (One of the most masterful writers in the English language and yet his native tongue is Russian). | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 121 Registered: 03-2006 |
Howzabout Underworld, Jeff? What'd you think of it? I thought it had some brilliant passages, whole sections even, but maybe didn't work as a whole...love the whole baseball in NY section in particular.... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 123 Registered: 03-2006 |
Also, props to Lolita...what a beautiful, heartbreaking book...a shame so many, particularly in today's political climate, dismiss it as a "dirty" book. Never caught up on the rest of Nabokov, though I intend to...Martin Amis, who's probably my favorite author, praises him to the max. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 224 Registered: 10-2004 |
Hardin - haven't read underworld yet, but it's on my list. I recently read DeLillo's "Mao II" which didn't impress me as much. And yeah, I think Nabakov was a true genius. I'd recommend "Pale Fire" and "Pnin." "Bend Sinister" isn't bad either. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 268 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oor Wullie annuals Jack Kerouac - On the road Margrave of the Marshes - John Peel Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis Scott Walker biography | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 229 Registered: 05-2005 |
what??? the broons annuals are far better spence! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 270 Registered: 05-2005 |
Actually Kev they are, but Oor Wullie will alway resonate with me as I wasn't an only child, but my sister was 10 years older than me, so whilst she was reading about Les and The Bay City Rollers, I'd be listening to David Soul's Black Bean Soup and reading my Oour Wullie annual! My Mum's family in Penicuik just south of Edinburgh amongst the Pentland Hills, they were just like the Broons!! Real large family where everyone lived in the same hoose! | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 42 Registered: 05-2005 |
Here’s a list comprised of favorites and also books read recently, in no particular order; some literary, some comedy, some nonfiction (every American should read the Schlosser and Dean books): Henry Miller - A Devil In Paradise B. Traven - The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre Frank Herbert - Dune Nick Hornby - How To Be Good David Mamet - Writing In Restaurants Bill Bryson - A Walk In The Woods Max Brooks - The Zombie Survival Guide Harry G. Frankfurt - On Bullshit Michael Crichton - Rising Sun Arthur C. Clarke - 2001 Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five Eric Schlosser - Fast Food Nation David DeKok - Unseen Danger John W. Dean - Worse Than Watergate Theodore Dreiser - An American Tragedy | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 208 Registered: 04-2005 |
I've worked in book publishing more than a third of my life, and despite that (or because of?), I have a terrible memory for books I've read, even though I'm always working through something. I'm embarrassed how unliterary I am compared to most of the people on this board, despite my profession. But here are a few that stand out in my memory: Confederacy of Dunces - Abigail, Hardin, and Jeff couldn't be more right about this one. And it gets better each time I read it. Bonfire of the Vanities - I always loved Tom Wolfe; this is his most engrossing read. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 - Hunter S. Thompson was so brilliant when he was on, so awful when he wasn't. This was his best book about politics, before he'd killed ALL of his brain cells. The Sea, The Sea - A coworker recommended this; Iris Murdoch wouldn't normally be my type of writer. But this is a rich, complex, unforgettable book. Kafka on the Shore - My favorite book by Haruki Murakami; dreamlike and mindbending, yet somehow plausible at the same time. Music for Chameleons - In Cold Blood is a better book, but this collection of short stories and other odds and sods is the most enjoyable way to read Capote. Go-Betweens - David Nichols. C'mon people...someone had to mention this! And Rob, I read both of Eric Schlosser's books in the past month. You're right--they're must-reads. They make you realize that the evil corporate takeover of the U.S. happened a long time ago and that Bush is just the most obvious corporate-puppet president. His handing over of the country to corporate billionaires is nothing new; it's just more blatant and unapologetic than ever before. | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 47 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald. A work of genius. Stop waiting for the great American novel - it's already been written. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 237 Registered: 05-2005 |
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 144 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rob, forgot about the Bryson - one of those rare books that really do make you laugh out loud. Very funny stuff. Agree, too Kurt, about "Bonfire". What a stunning book and what a crappy movie version of it! What the hell were they thinking. Did you see Capote? I can't quite give it a rave, but still found it well worth seeing and Phillip Seymour HOffman is typically brilliant... | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 93 Registered: 07-2005 |
Forgot about Richard Ford, Ian Rankin and Richard Yates | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 151 Registered: 03-2006 |
I've been meaning to check out Rankin, Jerry. Is it good hard-boiled detective stuff? | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 95 Registered: 07-2005 |
Hardin the rebus are well worth getting into, I started with Black and Blue which was great. yes Hard boiled rebus is a boozer,music fan and a loner, but the charactersc are great and the plots are good and modern/contemporary. its see Edinburgh the tourist wouldn't see.After reading a cuple I then started reading in a chronological order,and you can see how Rankin changed him alightly form beeing a Jazz fan to a real Stoned fan. really recommended. PS sorry for not getting back sooner but been busy and had students with me at work so nil private time for chat room | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 96 Registered: 07-2005 |
should be Stones fan -not stoned | ||
| Duncan Hurwood Member Username: Duncan_h Post Number: 37 Registered: 05-2005 |
The most memorable book I've read in the last year or so is the recent Booker Prize sucess: "The Sea" by John Banville. I found it quite upsetting, but I'd recommend it to anyone who loves good prose (and a narrator who seems to have been left behind by a Beckett play). | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 89 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings! | ||
| Matt Ellis Member Username: Matt_ellis Post Number: 87 Registered: 11-2004 |
The Go-Between by LP Hartley It has nothing to do with our favourite band. I remember it because it was one of few books I really enjoyed studying at school. It actually made me remember the band when I first came to discover them because that phrase already meant something to me....that, and of course hearing Cattle & Cane on a magazine cover CD which blew me away! | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 44 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kurt - I agree, but it’s debatable about when the tipping point actually happened. A lot of the ugly agribusiness consolidation happened during the early 80’s. I cringe every time I hear the name Arthur Daniels Midland. 1984 also witnessed the final breakup of the Ma Bell telephone company monopoly, which might have seemed a benign move to balance the scale. However, that was a Bad Thing (it was a tightly regulated monopoly, and AT&T’s business practices - at the time - were under close scrutiny). The 7 “baby bells” that were formed greeted the opportunity willingly - this was seen as a route to riches by their owners. And now, they’re consolidating again. It's becoming Ma Bell again - (I'm reminded of the "liquid metal attraction" scene in the Terminator II) - but without the scrutiny. Hardin - laugh out loud! You just reminded me of another one: Stark, by Ben Elton. That book also made me laugh out loud. I don’t know if it’s available stateside. I bought my copy in a bookstore when I was living in St. Kilda / Melbourne, Australia around 1990. Prompted by A Walk In The Woods, I actually checked out some of the locations mentioned, most notably Centralia, which is a day trip for me. Google Centralia if you want an eye-opener (and have a little time to burn). I also spent a couple days in Gatlinburg long before the big commercial boom, but I hear that it’s now (well, 10 years ago, at least) horrid. |