My top ten
<u>The Razor's Edge</u> - Maugham
<u>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</u> - Pirsig
<u>The Master and Margharita</u> - Bulgakov
<u>Crime and Punishment</u> - Dostoyevsky*
<u>Catch-22</u> - Heller
<u>Thus Spoke Zarathustra</u> - Nietszche (trans. Walter Kaufman)
<u>On The Road</u> - Kerouac
<u>The Unbearable Ligthness of Being</u> - Kundera
<u>The Clan of the Cave Bear</u> - Auel
<u>Light in August</u> - Faulkner

really high up there
<u>Doctor Zhivago</u> - Pasternak
<u>The Mosquito Coast</u> - Theroux


Also very much enjoyed the Lovell book <u>Lost Moon</u> and the Krakuer book <u>Into Thin Air</u> but not sure they fit categorically (or historically).

* could really pick 2 or 3 others just as well as I never read a Dostoyevsky book that wasn't phenomenal. C&P however was the first I read and so it will always have that Star Wars E IV effect for me.

 

Are you bucking for my job?
Back off buddy.

Catch22 (obviously) - Heller
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Shirer (know history or be doomed to repeat it)
The Shining - Stephen King
Naked - David Sedaris
2001 ASO - AC Clarke
The Racing Driver - Denis Jenkinson (Just for his passion and to read about legends before my time)
Animal Farm - Orwell
C & P - Dostoyevsky

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"><u>The Clan of the Cave Bear</u> - Auel</TD></TR></TABLE>

I love all of Jean Auel's books. I can't wait for the next one to finally come out!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you bucking for my job?
Back off buddy.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry boss

Hey, have you read either <u>Utopia</u> or <u>Brave New World</u>? I'd think that you would enjoy these as well. I have a copy of <u>Naked</u> but haven't gotten to it yet (it was highly recommended). I am still slugging through <u>Half Past Midnight in Bohpal</u>, which is a fascianting book and a great history lesson but jeez is it depressing. I have bombed out to read some more light-hearted stuff like the Star Wars tweener books (which are real easy to read in a couple days) when they come out. Something else on the shelf saying "read me you lazy ****" is the new(er) Krakauer book (the name escapes me now - about the kid who went to Alaska to fatally live out a Call of the Wildish adventure).

Drumsy, I read the two that followed <u>Clan</u> and got progressively uninterested. I felt like I learned so much from the first one (geographically, historically) and a good bit from the second but by the third, the love story and such began to take away from it for me. If the latest took on more of the style of the first, I probably should revisit them. By and large, I am not too much on story tellers as much as great stories. I do however have my own exceptions (Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Kafka to name a couple).

BTW, if you guys are into conspiracy theory and such (scientifically speaking on religion), <u>Worlds in Collision</u> (Velikovsky) is some wild reading.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Something else on the shelf saying "read me you lazy ****" is the new(er) Krakauer book (the name escapes me now - about the kid who went to Alaska to fatally live out a Call of the Wildish adventure).

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Into the Wild

I have been wanting to read this one too, and thanks for the reminder. I now have a hold on it from the library.

 

Read-agains?

<u>Memoir from Ant-Proof Case</u> or <u>A Soldier of the Great War</u>: Mark Helprin
<u>The Alienist</u>: Caleb Carr
<u>The Second World War - Volumes 5 and 6</u>: Sir Winston Churchill
A few of the Sackett books: Louis Lamour
<u>The Martian Chronicles</u>: Ray Bradbury
<u>A Movable Feast</u>: Ernest Hemingway
<u>1988 Honda CRX</u>: Helms
Something by Hunter S. Thompson
Various SciFi from the cellar
Try once more to get all the way through <u>Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid</u>: Douglas Hofstadter

 

Have not done "Utopia" but it is on my list along with several others. I'm finding that I have lots of time to read since my period of unemployment began and I'm taking advantage of it. Working 60 to 70 hour weeks for the past 10 years put a hurtin' on the time spent exercising my brain.

On another note, "Stranger in a Strange Land" was one book I always wanted to read but never did. I stumbled across it in Renee's SciFi collection (remember, she's a math geek with an undergrad in physics, so it fits) and found it unreadable. I gave up at page 70. I don't know if it was the storytelling style or the 1961 beatnik scifi guy trying to write futuristic verbage, but I just couldn't do it.
So much for it being a "classic." At least in my eyes.

Currently reading Stephen King's "Desperation." - A typical King book... Easy read with a pace and story that sucks you in. You've done 100 pages before you realize it. Good stuff.

Renee has the entire King collection as well as 4 full bookcases full of odds and ends ranging from SciFi to history to things with titles like "The Physics of Immortality" (Which apparently contains a mathematical proof that God exists... I tried reading it but it made my head hurt). Lots of stuff here for me to keep myself entertained which doesn't suck at all.

 

ya'll sure are reading some pretty heavy stuff. Since I don't read to educate myself anymore, I now almost exclusively read science-fiction. Reading has become an escape. Some of my favorites:

Dune series - Frank Herbert
Foundation series + many others that tie into it - Isaac Asimov
The Gap series - Steven R. Donaldson
Lord of the Ring trilogy - Tolkien
Darwin's Radio & Darwin's Children - Greg Bear

Although I have found after re-reading a lot of the Asimov stuff that I tend to disagree with some of his views and style. Still a grand master of sci-fi though.
I highly recommend the Gap series by Donaldson. Loved it. The characters are all very human, failings and all. I liked that.

anyway.

 

I recommend these authors and books since we are on the topic:

Gunter Grass
- The Tin Drum
- The Flounder

Italo Calvino
- If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
- Invisible Cities

Maxim Gorky
- Mother

 

Here's two that haven't been mentioned:

<u>Balkan Ghosts</u> - Robert D. Kaplan
<u>The Da Vinci Code</u> - Dan Brown

 

My personal Favorite is <U>A Clockwork Orange</U> great stuff waaaaaayyy ahead of it's time.

If your into the whole euro trash thing I've read all of Irvine Welsh's (trainspotting)
and Maribou Stork nightmares and E are two messed up but fun books to read.

 

<U>Genome</U> by Matt Ridley. Really great way of looking at the human genome.

Karen
i know waaaaaaay more about genetics than i should

 

<U>BMW 3 Series 84-91</U> - Bentley
<U>Home Repair for Dummies</U>
<U>GCR</U> - Sports Car Club of America

Actually, there are a couple I've been meaning to start / finish for a while now...when I read it's commonly non-fiction, opinion, commentary type stuff, very few novels.

<U>The Varieties of Religious Experience</U> - William James
<U>Dixie Rising</U> - Peter Applebome
<U>The Best of Times</U> - Haynes Johnson
<U>For Common Things</U> - Jebediah Purdy
<U>The Fountainhead</U> - Ayn Rand

Recent reads include Lance Armstrong's autobiography <U>It's Not About the Bike</U>, Anthony Bourdain's <U>Kitchen Confidential</U>, and David Sedaris' <U>Me Talk Pretty One Day</U> which was friggin hysterical.

 

That's it! I should freaking know the name of it as it sat on the table in my landing for about 6 months.

Scott, buy Renee that book (Worlds in Collision). Based on what you say, I think she'd dig it.

 

crime and punishment is a must read; it's one of the most influential books in all of russian lit., and being a dostoevsky fan, I'd also reccomend you read his other works.
"thus spoke z..." is also a good read.
for those that mentioned the "distopian" genre of lit., i'd reccomend eugene zamitans "we." his novel actually precedded orwell's "1984" by nearly half a century, and was actually completly plagerized by orwell.
don't know if the whole existentialism thing is your bag, but in that vein you might want to look up some of camus' work (i.e., the stranger), or steinbeck's "the pearl" (which is a very quick read, and one of his lesser known works). if the post-modern existential suits you, you may want to read either "painted bird," or "blind date" by jerzey kosinski.
for a little levity, you can pick anything by bukowski. among his works, my favorites are, "women" and "post office," but the man had midas' touch when it came to the printed word; therefore, anything you read is good, really. (he's also my favorite author/poet).
lastly, and on the topic of poetry, you could read "view with a grain of sand: selected poems" by Wislawa Szymborska (who's also polish, like bukowski and kosinski, as well as a nobel prize recipient).
enjoy the read.
regards,
hubert

 

Crime and Punishment is a damn good book, I enjoyed it...as an 18-year-old.

Phatty, don't waste your time with Light in August, unless you've read everything else ol' Billy wrote.

This "Da Vinci Code" book promises to be lame. I read "Digital Fortress" by the same author, and it absolutely sucked. to books that take a cool concept and turn it into a "thriller" so your mom can read it.

Re-reading "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu right now.

english major

 

Hubert, good pick with "The Pearl." Easily the best Steinbeck book I've read.

 

[QUOTE=krshultz David Sedaris' <U>Me Talk Pretty One Day</U> which was friggin hysterical.[/QUOTE]

We got this on tape to listen to during the 11 hour trip to Summit last year. OMFG there were parts where we laughed so hard we started to tear up.
Read by the author in front of a live audience. It is very highly recommended (unless you're a homophobe, then you need to stay far far away).

I'll recommend "worlds..." to Renee. She typically reads at least 2 books a week and is always looking for a good suggestion. I'm sure it would give me a migraine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Aleister Crowley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hubert, good pick with "The Pearl." Easily the best Steinbeck book I've read.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thank you. I didn't really enjoy steinbeck, as an author, until after my reading of "the pearl." so, i see that you're royalties off of "diary of a drug fiend" must still be rolling in, or have i got the wrong mr. crowley, ross?

at any rate, there's a ton more to read out there; i.e., anything written by hermann hesse; howard zinn (i.e., peoples history of the united states), and noam chomsky (i.e., manufacturing consent); einsteins universe (the author escapes me); hawkings "brief history of time"; nigel caulder "einsteins universe"; oscar wilde's various achievements; tolstoy's "war and peace"; faulkner's "the sound and the fury"; hemingway; marcel prousts "rembrance of things past," "swans way," etc etc etc

hubert -- the organic chemist. no... really... honest.

 

*adds to bookmarks*

i've been looking for some good books to read.

I just finished reading almost all of Ayn Rand's books, fiction and non-fiction.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bb6h22a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so, i see that you're royalties off of "diary of a drug fiend" must still be rolling in, or have i got the wrong mr. crowley, ross?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, that's him. Just started reading "Little Essays Toward Truth"...very slowly.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">at any rate, there's a ton more to read out there...howard zinn (i.e., peoples history of the united states)</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's a good one. Zinn is a nice guy and a hell of a tennis player.

Also try "The Power Elite" by C. Wright Mills, as long as you're in that vein.

 

I'm surprised you didn't like the Da Vinci Code... but then again, when I tried to read C&P, I wanted to shoot myself out of boredom. I got about half way through the book, and closed it, and it was never opened again...

 

I haven't read the Da Vinci code. I read Digital Fortress, his previous work, and wanted to throw it out the window. Amateurish writing style, horribly cliched plot devices, stupid character names.

It's an interesting subject to me, but I would prefer to read a journalist's telling of it, rather than a Dominick Dunne-style "thriller" with the inevitable romance and action...*puke*

 

I have grown to learn that books by the same author have varying degrees of entertainment. Therefore I have very little loyalty to authors (with the exception of Robert Kaplan)...

But you're right, I'm not as big of a fan of "thriller" twists, but it was still an entertaining, yet provocative read. In general, I despise most of the fiction genre, but this book embodies the true history of Christianity and it's trials and errors with the manifestation of Western civilization...

 

"chrisb_thebitter"

Thats really funny.