Books

[gambrinus]

KBasa tried to hijack the UN thread and start a book chat, so I figured I'd start a new thread.

Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. 5 Star book in my never humble opinion. If you like his stuff you may want to try some of these..

"One Man's Wilderness" by Sam Keith from the journals of Richard Proenneke

"Batfishing in the Rainforest" by Randy Wayne White

"On The Water, Discovering America in a Rowboat" by Nathaniel Stone

Anything by Bill Bryson


In the "not outdoors / adventure" but funny as hell catagory...

Anything by Christopher Buckley

I also just finished the latest Ann Coulter book "How to Talk to a Liberal (if you must)"

[BubbaZanetti]

its been said before,

but i picked up Neil Peart's "Ghost Rider" last night and i'm feeling more in common with that book than i have with almost anything i've ever read, esp after just finishing my first big trip

[kbasa]

Hey gambrinus, you ever read anything by Tim Cahill?

[gambrinus]

I've read a few things by Cahill, but of the "Outside Magazine" writers, I always liked Randy W. White the best. Now he's making big$$ writing mystery novels (yuk)

RW

[BradfordBenn]

Anything by Christopher Buckley



Second that. :thumb Even funnier when you consider who his father is. :stick

[manicmechanic]

Hey, BubbaZ, he's got a new book out, Traveling Music, in which he writes about the music he listened to on a trip to Big Bend while driving his Z-8. So far (about halfway thru) it's a pretty good read.

Other that that, I'm going through my Heinlein collection, and trying to complete it.

[Hodag]

I like Ambose's look at the greatest generation. Also occasionally dig a Vonnegut, to bad no new ones.
I've read some really good books just grabbing one off of the library shelf also. Mostly non-fiction.
Mark

[gambrinus]

Isacson's bio of Ben Franklin is very good for you non-fiction fans.

RW

[username]

i like tom robbins' books. i wish he could write more of them, but i think he insists on writing them himself, and enjoying life in between books. it's for the best, but it has me feeling like a crackhead waiting for them to come out. one robbins sentence is more clever than entire lives.

edward abbey has a few that i liked. black sun. desert solitaire. he somehow is able to write about both nature and women in a way that makes each of these topics special as they really are. somehow he seems to simultaneously worship them, (yet not in an obsequious manner,) and treat them poorly. i cant explain it properly, but these two books, along with 'the road home' are great.

anything by jd salinger. him not publishing anything else is a literary tragedy. 'catcher in the rye' is a famous one. 'perfect day for banafish' is a good cllection of short stories, but i think my fave is 'franny and zooey,' particularly the part where zooey's mom has him cornered in the tub, and they are talking about franny, (and seymour, and everything else.) really good writing.

anything by charles bukowski. boy i love his stuff. i was sad when he died. bukowski wrote many memorable things, but the one that sticks in my mind is, "the most beautiful woman in the world is the one who walks by your window, and then she is gone." so many times in life i've seen a woman walk by, and for some odd reason, maybe it's the coffee, i fall in love with her as she walks by. she turns a corner or whatever, and i still have that euphoric feeling of "in love" even though i know im really not. it's neat. when that happens, it brings that quote to mind, and thinking of that quote, brings that feeling to mind. so if you see me sitting off by myself smiling, i'm likely thinking of that, or i've got gas. if youre new to bukowski, start with 'septugenarian stew.' it's a collection of poems and short stories. 'ham on rye' is a good first novel to start with.

hermann hesse is fantastic. start with siddhartha then work your way in.

i must admit that 'illusions' by richard bach taught me how to dissolve clouds, and convinced me that someday i will be able to swim in dirt. if youre not in the right frame of mind, or you have what i call a 'reality hangup' then the book wont do much for you.

henry miller i like a lot, although i enjoy reading interviews with him more than i enjoy reading his work. try "stand still like the hummingbird." for a good collection of conversations. the title alone is more useful than entire books written by others.

steinbeck of course, everyone's going to pick that. 'winter of our discontent' is good for you if you think you're stuck in your job. 'east of eden' is really good too, for other reasons. both make my heart heavy, but in a good way. 'cannery row' makes me want to build a time machine, load it up with a jug of wine, and go back to monterey in the heyday of sardine canning and get drunk under a tree, then stagger over to doc's and see what he caught last night.

i read a few hemingway short stories over the holiday, and i just cant get over how well that dude writes dialog. there is something about his writing, where it is sparse as hell, just as unflowery as it can get, yet when i read his work, i get an amazingly sharp mental picture of what is going on, and have no trouble imagining each aspect of it. "hills like white elephants" is a great example. i read it in high school, and have re-read it several times, and it always hits me right between the eyes. i was once in mojave, CA, and i swear i felt like i was in the exact diner where that book took place. i know that i wasnt, but somehow, everything converged, and it was amazing. if he hadnt written that story, that wouldve just been a diner. im no scholar, but im pretty sure that is my definition of great writing - economy of words and maximization of impact. (i lack this... ;) )

thats enough for now. im getting all nostalgic for the good books ive read. i can remember when i bought many of them, the bookstores, the people i was with, the way i felt when i first read them. the parts that i liked. the folks i shared them with. the associations i made later in life.

ahhhh, great thread. thanks gambrinus.

[BONEY]

Two Wheels Throught Terror (http://www.strikingviking.net)

[gambrinus]

If you like Charles Bukowski, you have to check out anything by
Edward Bunker... His book "No Beast So Fierce" is amazing. I also got to know him a bit during my time in L.A. as his son was in my third grade class. Very cool cat.

RW

[Chacifer]

Tom Robbins rocks my world! I read Even Cowgirls Get the Blues recently and I couldn't put it down. I was sad to finish it. How does he tell such incredible stories? How does every line that he writes evoke such joy?

Right now I'm middle of a fantastic book called The Amazing Adventrues of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Takes place in 1930s/40s America... two Jewish kids in NYC writing comic books, living life, growing up, hating Nazis... this is the simplistic description because I'm out of my mind right now from having been up all night, but check the book out, it's good.

Dharma Bums by Kerouac was obviously mind-blowing, but this Fall I read Big Sur and the darkness of the book left me feeling, well, dark.

I thoroughly enjoy F. Scott Fitzgerald, just read This Side of Paradise since I'm all about coming of age stories since they directly pertain to my life.

I heart books.http://games.bg/forums/images/smiles/reading.gif

[Chacifer]

Oh yeah, I bought myself a copy of Bukowski's **** Machine in German in the hopes that reading about racy subjects would encourage me to read German. So far, it hasn't. However, last summer I read Siddartha in the original German and it was just as beautiful, if not more so, as it is in English.

[username]

Tom Robbins rocks my world! I read Even Cowgirls Get the Blues recently and I couldn't put it down. I was sad to finish it. How does he tell such incredible stories? How does every line that he writes evoke such joy?


isnt it amazing? i read an interview somewhere, and he talked about how he focuses on every sentence. he says when he writes, he gets the general idea going, then goes over the book slowly and makes sure every sentence is interesting all by itself. his books are like truffle oil for the mind.

buk had his first big break in germany. hadn't heard of f*#$ machine though. im wondering if his titles get translated weirdly for other markets.

[Chacifer]

his books are like truffle oil for the mind.

This is the truth! Truffles, especially white truffles, are exquisite, just like Tom Robbins' writing.

May your day be filled with tartufo bianco.