[quote]bpick86 wrote:
My wife gave me the entire Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. I just started the first book. Anyone read it and how do they feel about it? My dad just gave me his copy of The Racketeer by John Grisham and said it was excellent.[/quote]
Dark Tower series is probably Kings greatest IMO
I read the first one when it came out in the 80’s and only took 20 years to finish.[/quote]
That will probably be me. I do not read fiction very much at all. I read a lot just things like strength journals and nutrition books. Maybe I will have to devote a little more time to this and knock it out.[/quote]
Lol, no it took that long cause it took King that long to finish it[/quote]
I’ve read a handfull of SK books over the years but I still think The Stand is his finest work.
I just finished reading Jeffrey Archers Time Will Tell. Never read a greek tragedy style of book before. Very good. Bummer kind of ending like it’s supposed to I guess but then I was in Costco last week and seen the sequel for sale so maybe it will have a happy ending after all.
[quote]Ravenous_ wrote:
On a related note, has anyone read the books Stephen wrote as Richard Bachman? Running Man, The Long Walk, Blaze. They’re pretty awesome I think.
[/quote]
[quote]Ravenous_ wrote:
On a related note, has anyone read the books Stephen wrote as Richard Bachman? Running Man, The Long Walk, Blaze. They’re pretty awesome I think.
[/quote]
Rage is my favorite book ever.[/quote]
The Long Walk is one of mine
Currently on book 3 of “Journey to the West”. Probably read “Dream of the Red Chamber”, and the “Marshes of Mt. Liang” next so I can knock out all of the 4 great chinese novels in a swoop (read Three Kingdoms last year). Marshes of Mt. Liang is supposed to have a lot of action, so I’m saving it for last.
To whoever said they wanted to read “The Brother’s Karamozov”, I would recommend “Crime and Punishment” first, and maybe “The Idiot”. If you can’t get through those you probably won’t dig Karamozov.
[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:
Currently on book 3 of “Journey to the West”. Probably read “Dream of the Red Chamber”, and the “Marshes of Mt. Liang” next so I can knock out all of the 4 great chinese novels in a swoop (read Three Kingdoms last year). Marshes of Mt. Liang is supposed to have a lot of action, so I’m saving it for last.
To whoever said they wanted to read “The Brother’s Karamozov”, I would recommend “Crime and Punishment” first, and maybe “The Idiot”. If you can’t get through those you probably won’t dig Karamozov.[/quote]
“The Idiot” is a very good book, because he is anything but.
[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:
Currently on book 3 of “Journey to the West”. Probably read “Dream of the Red Chamber”, and the “Marshes of Mt. Liang” next so I can knock out all of the 4 great chinese novels in a swoop (read Three Kingdoms last year). Marshes of Mt. Liang is supposed to have a lot of action, so I’m saving it for last.
To whoever said they wanted to read “The Brother’s Karamozov”, I would recommend “Crime and Punishment” first, and maybe “The Idiot”. If you can’t get through those you probably won’t dig Karamozov.[/quote]
“The Idiot” is a very good book, because he is anything but.
He is a mirror, thats what he is. [/quote]
You ever read “The Devils” or “The Possessed”? Same book, different renditions of the title.
I’ll probably re-read it one day. It was a chore the first time, but there were a few scenes of brilliance that made the whole thing worth while. As I remember it, ten years after I read it, it seems like a great portrayal of the kind of mind that could shoot up a school full of children or leave a bomb in a crowded public place. Dostoyevski ran in extremist circles in his youth, so I think he knew the type of people he was writing about rather well.
Recently i picked up the “Bugger saga: The Civil War story of guerilla and bushwhacker warfare in Lauderdale County, Alabama and southern Middle Tennessee”. Which discusses some of the less obvious problems in the civil war and reconstruction era south, like deserters from both armies raping, pillaging, and plundering the area.
I kid you not when I started The Brothers Karamazov a few years ago I originally thought they were a team of acrobats. I mean that’s what I thought the book was about before I started it.
Was actually intending to get his latest book “Mastery” which is focusing on the mastery of skills, but a friend had a copy of this one so I thought I’d check out his earlier work first. Interesting book, but what I find most surprising about it is how well it was received considering the book is literally entirely about manipulating people to get what you want.
anyhow, read the first few sections without putting it down. He’s nothing amazing as a writer, but its very easy to follow and rarely boring. Cleopatra was a fucking gangsta.
[quote]Peterdbaker wrote:
The Stranger is fucking awesome. I wanna start Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. I also recently reread Watership Down. That book is a must read. I will actually have time to read more since I have graduated. [/quote]
Watership Down is a terrific book!
Currently reading: A Bright Shining Lie, John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam.
Very interesting read on the Vietnam war.
To whoever said they wanted to read “The Brother’s Karamozov”, I would recommend “Crime and Punishment” first, and maybe “The Idiot”. If you can’t get through those you probably won’t dig Karamozov.[/quote]
I agree. I enjoyed Crime and Punishment, but really struggled with the Brothers Karamazov. In fact if you’d have asked me what it was about immediately afterwards, I’d have struggled to tell you. It’s a hard book to sum up.
I’ve just finished Don Quixote (that’s two weeks I’m never getting back) and Touching the Void by Joe Simpson and am now reading American psycho. Man does Easton Ellis like to write about what the characters are wearing!
Earth Afire (sequel to earth Unaware and prequel to the entire Enderverse series) just came out and I bought and annihilated it in one sitting…one all day sitting. Thank you forced rest day.
If you haven’t read James Ellroy’s ‘American Tabloid’ or ‘The Cold 6 Thousand’ then you’re denying yourself one of the great literary characters of all time - Big Pete. Plus after you’ve read it I recommend you google some of the real life people mentioned in it, and wonder how Ellroy’s not been sued. I can also recommend his autobiography, which is disturbingly revealing (including the murder of his mother during the 50/60’s, his decent into living rough and housebreaking to sniffing women’s sheets … i shit you not).
‘The Wanderers’ by Richard Price is brilliant - about a 60’s street gang in New York.
As a Viking enthusiast I can say all of Robert Low’s books of the subject are ripping novels, of excellent historical research and scope.
When i’m on active service I like to read ‘Dispatches’ by O’Hare. Cos’ i’m a sadist like that …
oh yeah, and ‘Blood Meridian’, by Cormac McCarthy. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, you find yourself naked in a desert, sucking a pebble and on the run from a hairless giant preacher who probably wants to rape you, murder you and pull out your insides. Not necessarily in that order.
It makes ‘No Country For Old Men’ look like Cinderella …
What if the internet crashes, social networks are in limbo and, we can no longer used our precious electronic gadgets to call/skype each other, or access porn? What the fuck do we do?
South Park gave us a glimpse of the cyber ‘‘doomday’’, Revolution has done that shit too. But CyberStorm, takes it to a much bleaker, gloomier level. If you enjoy futuristic apocalypse concepts, this book is for you.
Just finished reading Amanda Knox’s book “Waiting to be heard”. Disturbing but highly interesting. Having lived a little while in Italy I can confirm her observations about Italy. I had the benefit of working with adults who warned me to stay away from the zingeri (gypsies) and the po-po, because they said they are fucked up and corrupt. So I followed that advice and got by fine…Of course, no one was murdered in my house either.
Now I am reading ‘American Gun: The history of America in 10 guns’
Finished King’s “IT” last week. Killed it in 6 days. The first 800 or so pages was probably the most entertaining book I’ve ever read. The last 300+ kinda trailed off… This was the first fiction book I’ve read in at least a decade, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In the middle of “The Big Rich” which is about the 4 main families in Texas oil history. About to start “World War Z”, and gonna re-read Hawkings “A Brief History Of Time” 'cause Hawking is the shit, and pretty sure I couldn’t fully wrap my brain around it the first time.
[quote]bpick86 wrote:
My wife gave me the entire Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. I just started the first book. Anyone read it and how do they feel about it? My dad just gave me his copy of The Racketeer by John Grisham and said it was excellent.[/quote]
Dark Tower series is probably Kings greatest IMO
I read the first one when it came out in the 80’s and only took 20 years to finish.[/quote]
That will probably be me. I do not read fiction very much at all. I read a lot just things like strength journals and nutrition books. Maybe I will have to devote a little more time to this and knock it out.[/quote]
Lol, no it took that long cause it took King that long to finish it[/quote]
Dark Tower books were great, up until Book 5( around the time Stephen had his accident). He hasn’t been the same since :(. On a related note, has anyone read the books Stephen wrote as Richard Bachman? Running Man, The Long Walk, Blaze. They’re pretty awesome I think.
[/quote]
I read a handful of his work as a teen, The Running Man being one of 'em. Don’t remember much about it other than it couldn’t have been more different than the movie. It was part of a series of short stories, wasn’t it?
