Just got back from a vaca and during the travel time I revelled in “The Lost City of Z” which chronicles a journalists search for the story of the lost explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett … what an amazingly well written book. It tops out around 300 pages; i finished it in about 7 hrs or so (of travel time). Couldn’t put it down … if you like adventure stories of the Amazon you’d love this book. It reminded me a little of Indiana Jones.
Short stories by Shirley Jackson. Man that story “The Lottery” is one of my favorites.
[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
Short stories by Shirley Jackson. Man that story “The Lottery” is one of my favorites.
[/quote]
X2000!
Also:
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Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” is a masterpiece.
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Ray Bradbury is always an entertaining read. Pick up the large volume that houses all his short stories. Great summer reading.
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
- Ray Bradbury is always an entertaining read. Pick up the large volume that houses all his short stories. Great summer reading.
[/quote]
This is probably one of the only authors I have read from this entire thread. I love Fahrenheit 451 but I read that back in middle school.
How difficult are all the recommendations from everyone to read? I’m not retarded or anything but without a few “beginner” books under my belt, I feel like shit just flies right over my head. Other than 1-2 books, I haven’t read much in the last year.
I have gotten about 3/4 of the way through Hitchhiker’s Guide but felt like I wasn’t really enjoying it because my brain hadn’t become accustomed to reading again so it felt forced. I’d rather start with a few easier books to get back in the saddle.
Does that make sense or am I actually just a slow person who is delusional as well?
[quote]coolnatedawg wrote:
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
- Ray Bradbury is always an entertaining read. Pick up the large volume that houses all his short stories. Great summer reading.
[/quote]
This is probably one of the only authors I have read from this entire thread. I love Fahrenheit 451 but I read that back in middle school.
How difficult are all the recommendations from everyone to read? I’m not retarded or anything but without a few “beginner” books under my belt, I feel like shit just flies right over my head. Other than 1-2 books, I haven’t read much in the last year.
I have gotten about 3/4 of the way through Hitchhiker’s Guide but felt like I wasn’t really enjoying it because my brain hadn’t become accustomed to reading again so it felt forced. I’d rather start with a few easier books to get back in the saddle.
Does that make sense or am I actually just a slow person who is delusional as well?[/quote]
Reading is like any other activity-- you get better at it the more you do it. All the subtle nuance will come to you with time as well.
I always recommend short story compilations to “new” readers because of attention span and commitment issues. You can finish a story per day, then dwell on it so its meaning sinks in.
Hemingway has a curt yet conversational style that’s easy to grasp for most males. You can pick up a volume of his short stories anywhere. And the aforementioned Bradbury has some really clever short stories that’ll have you thinking differently in no time.
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
[quote]coolnatedawg wrote:
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
- Ray Bradbury is always an entertaining read. Pick up the large volume that houses all his short stories. Great summer reading.
[/quote]
This is probably one of the only authors I have read from this entire thread. I love Fahrenheit 451 but I read that back in middle school.
How difficult are all the recommendations from everyone to read? I’m not retarded or anything but without a few “beginner” books under my belt, I feel like shit just flies right over my head. Other than 1-2 books, I haven’t read much in the last year.
I have gotten about 3/4 of the way through Hitchhiker’s Guide but felt like I wasn’t really enjoying it because my brain hadn’t become accustomed to reading again so it felt forced. I’d rather start with a few easier books to get back in the saddle.
Does that make sense or am I actually just a slow person who is delusional as well?[/quote]
Reading is like any other activity-- you get better at it the more you do it. All the subtle nuance will come to you with time as well.
I always recommend short story compilations to “new” readers because of attention span and commitment issues. You can finish a story per day, then dwell on it so its meaning sinks in.
Hemingway has a curt yet conversational style that’s easy to grasp for most males. You can pick up a volume of his short stories anywhere. And the aforementioned Bradbury has some really clever short stories that’ll have you thinking differently in no time.
[/quote]
Ok. I’ll look into some of their stuff. I have really wanted to start reading more so perhaps this will help re-introduce me. Thanks ID!
Another book I love is “Rage” by Stephen King (under the alias Richard Bachman). It might be difficult to find though.
[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
Read “of Mice and Men” by Salinger
[/quote]
I’ve read a book called “Of Mice and Men”, but that was from some other author… Steinbeck.
[quote]lnname wrote:
I can’t say i like of mice and men. Currently i am reading Prousts in search of lost time and Nietzsches thus spake zaraphrustra; I prefer them both to of mice and men, but they both have their own dull moments.
[/quote]
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None was really interesting. Nietzsche was a true genius, albeit a mad genius. Though if you’re able to, I recommend reading it in German.
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
1984 anyone? Read this and soak it in. You’ll always remember it fondly.
Above was written by George Martin which brings me to … Song of Ice and Fire. Yep that shit is so cool, I’m only two books through but again, excellent.[/quote]
1984 is fantastic.
As is Song of Ice and Fire.
If people like fantasy, check out the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Also, see if you can get a hold of his Elantris series as audiobooks.
I’d throw the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, and the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas into the mix.
[quote]BCSteel wrote:
I just finished Catcher in the Rye a couple days ago. Yup, its awesome.
Of Mice and Men, good call. Probably do that one next.[/quote]
Cather in the Rye…SUCKS. Holden is annoying and depressing. Who the hell wants to read a book/monolgue where the main character complains the whole fucking time.
Of Mice and Men is a great book though. Like the movie to.
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
Short stories by Shirley Jackson. Man that story “The Lottery” is one of my favorites.
[/quote]
X2000!
Also:
-
Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” is a masterpiece.
-
Ray Bradbury is always an entertaining read. Pick up the large volume that houses all his short stories. Great summer reading.
[/quote]
Bradbury can be downright creepy. I love that guy.
[quote]ZeroSleep wrote:
[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
Read “of Mice and Men” by Salinger
[/quote]
I’ve read a book called “Of Mice and Men”, but that was from some other author… Steinbeck.[/quote]
whoops! thanks for the catch
Along the same lines as Hemmingway and Callaghan is F. Scott Fitzgerald. I believe that all three came from roughly the same time line. I finished The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald a couple weeks back. Worth the read.
Aside from the racist parts in one or two of the books, James bond books are great classics.
I never cared much for Catcher in the Rye, but Salinger’s short story “A perfect day for Bananafish” is one of my favourites.
+1 on Bananafish
If we’re talking short stories, then I’d suggest reading any volume of the Pushcart Prize or the O’Henry awards. These are collections of the best short stories published at the end of each year(for instance, the 2009 Pushcart volume has the best short stories published in 2009, etc–these go back for decades, and include many of the most famous authors as well as complete unknowns). I prefer the Pushcart stories over O’Henry, but for variety these can’t be beat.
Fave short story: “A Poetics for Bullies” by Stanley Elkin
I love favourite book threads. I agree with many picks posted already (I haven’t read many of them in years, but I still have copies on the shelves). I like science-fiction and modern classics. For the sake of brevity I’ll leave a few really great titles from the last six months of reading…
“Home is the Hunter” – one of the best short stories I’ve ever read and it’s about professional headhunters duking it out in New York’s Central Park. This is the one story I think many t-nationers would really get kick out of. If you want a really top-notch science fiction short story collection, get Robert Silverberg’s Science-Fiction 101 – absolutely amazing collection (including “Home is the Hunter”). Read this collection and you’ll probably agree that the best Science Fiction is just as deep and as illuminating as any “real” works of literature.
“The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch” – if you haven’t read Philip K. Dick, you’ve probably watched at least 4 really kick ass movies based on his writing… and you probably know it but, like me, you never really went out of your way to find books by PKD and the only ones you do find are those crappy movie adaptations. (Can anyone tell me WHY companies hire someone to write a book based on a movie based on a really great book? I know it’s about the rights… but still… c’mon… One of the newer circles of Hell, post Dante, is devoted to the people who commit this atrocity.) I got turned onto this book after I read somewhere that this was John Lennon’s favourite. I don’t think there’s ever been anything ever like it. There couldn’t possibly be. Just imitations. Variations on the original mass hallucination…
“Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” – No book has never made cry… at least since before puberty… until this one. Tears fell on the last few pages of my copy at which point my inner asshole interjected, “Fuck you, man – it’s not even sad!” I blamed it on stress at work and a change in diet, and I briefly thought about getting a blood test. Anyways, life in a remote Greek island village is disrupted by the invasion of the facist Italian Forces during WW2… humanism unfolds in all its multi-hued glory and shame… blah blah blah.
“Wired for War” – a non-fiction title. Basically, the book tries to show what happens to ethics when the technology used to carry out war becomes too fast for humans to have any chance of reacting to – and we have no choice but to give AI units the authority/autonomy to kill people or neutralize targets without prior authorization or human involvement of any kind. Although I already knew much about the technology described in the book, the philosophical pitfalls lying along what could very well be the inevitable future of warfare (so it seems at this point) are put in a fairly compelling fashion. I found the stories about technology currently being deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the way that military personnel are incorporating and reacting to it to be very interesting.
Sorry for the wall o’ text.
TLDR? Read “Home is the Hunter” – especially you MMA’ers. EDIT: written by C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner. (Many other stories by the same name.)
Anything by james ellroy is great. American tabliod is trully epic. Pete bondurant is the most major badass in fiction off all time.
Of course fear and lothing in las vegas is always good to read over again, just makes you want to do crazy shit!
Agree with “magicpunch” I am legend and most off “mathesons” stuff is mind blowing.