I really enjoyed The Little Prince. I guess it is my favorite because of its story and it was the first book my father read to me back when I was a kid. In a way it reminds me of Tezuka.
I really enjoyedThe Little Prince.I guess it is my favorite because of its story and it was the first book my father read to me back when I was a kid. In a way it reminds me of Tezuka.
I've only read Fight Club. I fucking love that book so much. I need to get more of his stuff.
I've just startedHauntedby Palahniuk, about a "writer's retreat" that turns into a social experiment. The cover's glow-in-the-dark, though, so I have to turn it over on my nightstand; it's kinda creepy to see when you're trying to go to sleep.
After watching Fight Club when it first came out in cinemas I went and bought every single Palanhiuk novel, he is truly an amazing writer and yet he is contemporary. Haunted is actually the first book that had some real creep out moments for me.
I also enjoyed Invisible Monsters, Survivor, Choke, Lullaby, Diary and Non Fiction.
As far as books you should read, I would have to include "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad and "Roots" by Alex Haley.
The Fast Company article on Johnathan Goodwin is extremely misleading. Rym is right. He gets better mileage by injecting [rocket] fuel, to wit: hydrogen. Injecting hydrogen (or natural gas, or nitrous oxide) will give you more horsepower. If you use enough of it, it will give you better mileage. It may also blow your engine apart. But hydrogen costs money too! In effect, these vehicles need two measures of fuel, miles per gallon of gasoline and miles per gallon of hydrogen.
Goodwin is a cool enough guy, but he's just a skilled craftsman. He's no Thomas Edison. Moreover, you're much more likely to end up driving a plug in hybrid than a car that uses both diesel fuel and hydrogen.
I've already given some recommendations on books previously in these forums, but I'll add West With The Night by Beryl Markham to the list. A very interesting life of a woman who grew up in colonial Africa first breeding horses with her father and then working as a bush pilot who ended up being the first person to fly across the Atlantic East to West. Oh, and Hemingway had this to say about her:
As it is she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pigpen. But she can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers.
I second Rym's The Sun Also Rises. Two things really stick with me from this one: first is my favorite funny when out of context quotation "Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs". Second is Hemingway's descriptions of food and eating in this book, which i also see in some of the Nick Adams stories and in The Old Man and the Sea. There is a part of Sun where the reporter and a buddy are fishing in Spain before the bull fights, and they put some wine in a stream to chill while they fish. It's not much more than a description of cleaning and cooking fish and drinking wine. It makes me hungry to read it; somehow capturing for me what I like best in food: good, fresh stuff, prepared simply. sort of like Hemingway's prose.
I'd toss Charles Dickens---or some subset of Chuck, anyway---into the mix. Bleak House is a fine novel which I had to fight with at first, taking three tries to get past the first hundred pages. Once I did that, it displaced David Copperfield as my favorite. He is good at diving down into the depths of misery, especially that of the wretched, helpless child. It feels a bit melodramatic at times (Oliver Twist), but deals with things that were real problems in his time (the Yorkshire Schools of Nicholas Nickleby, for example)
My favorite novel to all time is The Sirens of Titan by the late Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. It is a book length slap-down of all the idiots I've met who subscribe to the "God/Nature/Anything has a plan" school of nonsense. I still revere Mr. Allen, my ninth grade English teacher, for introducing this one to me. It more than makes up for the fact that it's his fault I use the work "groovy", no matter how I try to stop.
Finally, in the adventure story realm, I'll toss out a twoauthors: Patrick O'Brian (his Aubrey/Maturin series is a great complement to the Horatio Hornblower books), Ian Rankin (my favorite crime author, ever).
The last good books I can remember reading are the Song of Ice and Fire series. I'd definitely recommend these in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a complex, adult fantasy story.
Its not classic literature by any stretch, but I wouldd recommend John Dies at the End to any one that digs modern occult horror in the vein of Unknown Armies.
I'm glad someone mentioned All's quiet on the western front. That was a great book... being quite rebellious in high school I read the history book we given the first weekend. I aced every test in that class and refused to do any homework. At the end of the class the teacher said "I have to fail you.". I pointed out that would be counter productive as I would have to take the class again and I know the material. He said "OK read this book and and in a written report in 1 week." and handed me "All's quiet" I pretty much read it that night. I had a lot more respect for that teacher after that and got to read an excellent book I would have otherwise overlooked.
I recently read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein. Highly recommended.
I recently read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein. Highly recommended.In that vein, I recently read "It Can't Happen Here" by Upton Sinclair. They're quite different, but a lot of that comes from the futuristic setting of "Moon". I would definitely recommend "It Can't Happen Here" to anyone who liked "Moon" for anything beyond the sci-fi parts, as well as anyone interested in politics.
Also, Starship Troopers is a far better book than the movie -- though it doesn't have Dina Myer's jubblies.
I've not been able to make myself see the flick, but I agree that Jason is a man of taste and distintion...I mean that the book is good.
It actually changed my view of caning. I happened to read it about the time that little shit got a few strokes from Singapore for vandalism. Since then, I will occasionally argue for bringing back the stocks and the pillory and "administrative punishment" for crimes where they could have some deterrent effect. Petty crimes --- things that are annoying more than dangerous -- like low-grade vandalism, joy riding, talking to loud on one's cell phone, and similar, fall into that category for me.
Mostly, I do that to see the looks on my friends' faces, hearing such things coming from someone they've pegged as a left-leaning, libertarian-minded, civil-rights-matter kind of guy.
Mostly, there is a part of me that thinks Singapore has the right idea when they cane people for vandalism. I have a list of other things I'd use the cane for as well. Maybe we could start a new thread.
My favorite novel to all time isThe Sirens of Titanby the late Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. It is a book length slap-down of all the idiots I've met who subscribe to the "God/Nature/Anything has a plan" school of nonsense. I still revere Mr. Allen, my ninth grade English teacher, for introducing this one to me. It more than makes up for the fact that it's his fault I use the work "groovy", no matter how I try to stop.
That's such a good book. All of his illusions are stripped away by the end. Neat idea, too, that someone can exist as a wavelength. Uh, spoilers.
You know, we should do this book club idea Scott mentioned on the show, even if it is just forum, without a show. I know I want to read more, and I want to read a lot of all of your recommendations and this might be just the right excuse.
I freely admit that reading Starship Troopers at an early age was one of the deciding factors for my going into the military. Not for the fighting and hi-tech stuff in the book either, I joined up for the comradely and brothership aspects. Aspects that I found sorely lacking...
Mostly, there is a part of me that thinks Singapore has the right idea when they cane people for vandalism. I have a list of other things I'd use the cane for as well. Maybe we could start a new thread.
I'd cane for most of the things discussed in in this thread. I'd also cane for
1. Ninth grade moustaches (Not the Jason Lee or Tom Selleck nice bushy ones. Those are cool. It's the little crappy ones that need to go.) 2. Baggy pants bunched up around the wearer's knees 3. Playing most rap music in public. 4. Wearing gold chains. 5. Owning/driving commercial Hummvees. Being seen in a Humvee limousine would mean the stocks for many days. 6. Being on my lawn.
It's been a while since I read American Gods, but I remember it reminding me a lot of "The Stand". Coraline is another good book by Gaiman. Even after reading Gaiman I can still read and enjoy Harry Potter...so ha!
I'm current reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" and I love it. For some reason I keep thinking of the game "Mass Effect" as I read it...and the weird thing is, I don't even know what the Mass Effect story is.
House of Leaves is pretty damn disorienting at times. Also, the typography is awesome. Note that the blue box's content is not mirrored on the previous page. It's a list of things the hallways of Navidsons' house do not have. It starts on page 119. The bordered-off areaon the left side is a list of buildings that the house doesn't resemble, starting on page 120. There's a total of 450 footnotes, mostly citing books that are being referred to(vast majority of which don't actually exist). Every house, including haus and maison are written in blue and Minotaur is written in red.
And that was to give you a picture of the insanity of the novel. It's about a house that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside(how deep does a quarter fall if it falls for 50 minutes?) and a blind man who writes a book about it, spills ink on the pages, and dies, the book being given to the "main character", who tries to recover the text, destroying too much of it in the progress. Oh, and the house doesn't exist.
I just got Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. It is one of the most interestingly written books I've ever read.
OMG! I got that yesterday for Saint Nicolas day too! O.O Haven't read much in it yet. First 12 or so pages. Will read more this weekend. Mostly train book
OMG! I got that yesterday for Saint Nicolas day too! O.O Haven't read much in it yet. First 12 or so pages. Will read more this weekend. Mostly train book
I'm on page thirty, I think. I love how Alex narrates.
While the rest of you are talking about smart-people books, I'm going to admit I love The Princess Bride by William Goldman. His forward is maybe the saddest little story ever.
While the rest of you are talking about smart-people books, I'm going to admit I love The Princess Bride by William Goldman. His forward is maybe the saddest little story ever.
I just finished The Sun Also Rises, and I don't really see the non-"love is horrible" theme of the book. Even looking at the boxer as the main character, which he really is in a weird way.
Comments
I've just startedHauntedby Palahniuk, about a "writer's retreat" that turns into a social experiment. The cover's glow-in-the-dark, though, so I have to turn it over on my nightstand; it's kinda creepy to see when you're trying to go to sleep.
After watching Fight Club when it first came out in cinemas I went and bought every single Palanhiuk novel, he is truly an amazing writer and yet he is contemporary. Haunted is actually the first book that had some real creep out moments for me.
I also enjoyed Invisible Monsters, Survivor, Choke, Lullaby, Diary and Non Fiction.
As far as books you should read, I would have to include "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad and "Roots" by Alex Haley.
Speaker was so much better, because it takes everything Ender's Game was and BLOWS IT UP to massive proportions.
Goodwin is a cool enough guy, but he's just a skilled craftsman. He's no Thomas Edison. Moreover, you're much more likely to end up driving a plug in hybrid than a car that uses both diesel fuel and hydrogen.
I'd toss Charles Dickens---or some subset of Chuck, anyway---into the mix. Bleak House is a fine novel which I had to fight with at first, taking three tries to get past the first hundred pages. Once I did that, it displaced David Copperfield as my favorite. He is good at diving down into the depths of misery, especially that of the wretched, helpless child. It feels a bit melodramatic at times (Oliver Twist), but deals with things that were real problems in his time (the Yorkshire Schools of Nicholas Nickleby, for example)
My favorite novel to all time is The Sirens of Titan by the late Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. It is a book length slap-down of all the idiots I've met who subscribe to the "God/Nature/Anything has a plan" school of nonsense. I still revere Mr. Allen, my ninth grade English teacher, for introducing this one to me. It more than makes up for the fact that it's his fault I use the work "groovy", no matter how I try to stop.
Finally, in the adventure story realm, I'll toss out a twoauthors: Patrick O'Brian (his Aubrey/Maturin series is a great complement to the Horatio Hornblower books), Ian Rankin (my favorite crime author, ever).
Its not classic literature by any stretch, but I wouldd recommend John Dies at the End to any one that digs modern occult horror in the vein of Unknown Armies.
I recently read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein. Highly recommended.
It actually changed my view of caning. I happened to read it about the time that little shit got a few strokes from Singapore for vandalism. Since then, I will occasionally argue for bringing back the stocks and the pillory and "administrative punishment" for crimes where they could have some deterrent effect. Petty crimes --- things that are annoying more than dangerous -- like low-grade vandalism, joy riding, talking to loud on one's cell phone, and similar, fall into that category for me.
Mostly, I do that to see the looks on my friends' faces, hearing such things coming from someone they've pegged as a left-leaning, libertarian-minded, civil-rights-matter kind of guy.
Mostly, there is a part of me that thinks Singapore has the right idea when they cane people for vandalism. I have a list of other things I'd use the cane for as well. Maybe we could start a new thread.
1. Ninth grade moustaches (Not the Jason Lee or Tom Selleck nice bushy ones. Those are cool. It's the little crappy ones that need to go.)
2. Baggy pants bunched up around the wearer's knees
3. Playing most rap music in public.
4. Wearing gold chains.
5. Owning/driving commercial Hummvees. Being seen in a Humvee limousine would mean the stocks for many days.
6. Being on my lawn.
I'm current reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" and I love it. For some reason I keep thinking of the game "Mass Effect" as I read it...and the weird thing is, I don't even know what the Mass Effect story is.
And that was to give you a picture of the insanity of the novel. It's about a house that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside(how deep does a quarter fall if it falls for 50 minutes?) and a blind man who writes a book about it, spills ink on the pages, and dies, the book being given to the "main character", who tries to recover the text, destroying too much of it in the progress. Oh, and the house doesn't exist.