Topic: What do you read?

[Canuckguy]

Im reading a book suggested to me from my friends at shroomery.org forum called "Conversations with God" its totally fucked up.  Its anti-religious and tries to prove we are god.  Very strange book!  Last thing I read was Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief which is an autobiography written by a criminal whos crimes have passed the statute of limitations, so he cant be convicted and confesses to everything.

I'z be reedN George Lakoff's 'Don't Think Of An Elephant' currently.

Regulars are K-man Vonnegut, Raaay Bradbury, John Barth* and Ian Fleming (duh.)


* Not to be confused with this guy:

"You Can't do That on Television" Classic!!!!!

I loved that show as a kid in the 80's.  I loved the skit where they would put a bad kid up against the firing squad post and the officer in charge of calling "FIRE!" would always screw up and end up being killed himself.  Classic stuff!

I also loved Hilarious House Of Frightenstein it was on Sunday mornings in the early 80s

http://www.frightenstein.com/

[melba the disco queen]

I'm just trying to figure out how I missed this thread when it was revived in February this year! Anyway, I've read many different kinds of literture (I've taken classes in everything from Greek & Roman mythology, to children's literature, to masterworks of German literature, to pulp detective novels, to post-colonial literature, to Shakespeare). I really like all the epic poems & plays from G&R mythology that I've read, some authors can be really cheeky! I collect children's picture books that were around in the 1980's (featuring characters such as He-Man, She-Ra, Fraggles, Wuzzles, Munch Bunch). I enjoy Harry Potter, The Series of Unfortunate Events (not just for children!), Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein, C.S. Lewis to name a few children's series & authors. Stephen King is my guilty pleasure; some of his best stories are not strictly 'horror' stories (Dark Tower series, Eyes of the Dragon, The Stand, The Long Walk). An author I have recently picked up is Gregory Maguire; I've read Wicked & Mirror Mirror .  Maguire reworks fairy tales and well known stories, very interesting. I really enjoy reading Shakespeare now, I don't think I really understood Shakespeare well enough in high school to appreciate how amazing his plays really are.
Here are some books that I've read in the last year or so that I would recommend: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (sorry can't remember the author & it's currently out on loan to a friend), Life of Pi by Yan Martel, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, Watership Down by Richard Adams, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.
I don't usually read non-fiction, but Alive by Piers Paul Read (the plane that crashes in the Andes), is pretty interesting. Also I love James Harriot's vet stories (although many make my cry!).

[Dirty Dancin]

"Can you read son?"
"That depends, can you go fuck yourself?"

I just noticed that I went over one post per day average ,so I'm celebrating by starting a new thread! \/  :cheers:  

What do you like to read (I mean in hard copy)?

I like two magazines: Cannabis Culture and Discover.
my favorite authors are:
William Deverell ( ex Vancouver lawer who writes Canadian thrillers)
Orson Scott Card (the famous Enders game series plus an eclectic mix of fantasy/sci fi and historical)
Neal Stephenson (another very eclectic author)
John Grisham (Fast paced fluff)
William Gibson (cyber punk)
JRR Tolken ( My dad started with the 4 books when I was 5 .I wouldn't let my kids see the movies untill I read the books to them.It took 2 years ,but was a great  fun)

Hey Saucy, my husband read Enders Game recently and is currently reading Speaker for the Dead. Are there any other works by Orson Scott Card that you highly recommend?

P.S.

JRR Tolkien Rules!      :clapping:

[Tallulah]

Yey, lovers of the cyberpunk sci-fi genre; two words, JOHN SHIRLEY
How can you not love a musician sci fi writer with an attitude?  He's written lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult.  I discovered him in a compilation of "The Years Best Sci-Fi 1989" where they included his mind blowing story "Shaman"

http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/

Click on his blog it's always a hoot.  Click on the link that says "I'm sane.  No, really" as well.   Then there's "Neverending Interview"...  

Free cyberpunk commentary updated daily from someone who knows.  If ya email him you might just get a really odd reply from the man.

[tweekedbutters]

right now im reading the kingdom of fear by hunter.s.thompson, its a good book a recommend it although it seems like he feels he always has to be different and impress people alot of his writing is different and really impressing.

[Saucy Bastard]

Hey Saucy, my husband read Enders Game recently and is currently reading Speaker for the Dead. Are there any other works by Orson Scott Card that you highly recommend?

P.S.

JRR Tolkien Rules!      :clapping:

There are a lot of Ender books...all good , but my favorite (after Enders Game of course) has to be Enders Shadow. It follows the orriginal story , but from Beans point of View.
Also by Orson Scott Card is the Alvin Maker series. It takes place in the US in the mid 1700's. Everything is different ,an alternate reality , but with all of the same characters (real historical figures).The problem that I had with that Very long series , is that I read them one after another without the usuall year or 3 between instalments. This made some of the themes a bit ...hmmm overworked or repetitive .

A great stand alone book by Card , and quite different from his others ,is Enchantment .Enchantment is the story of a Ukraine-born, American grad student who finds himself transported to the ninth century to play the prince in a Russian version of Sleeping Beauty

[Dirty Dancin]

Thanks for the info, Saucy!  

[ExPat]

I have a pile of books by Zola, de Balzac, and Collette that I'm working on. I loved "The Debacle," by Zola, an historical novel set during the Franco-Prussian war, so now I am working my way through all the English translations of his books that I can find. I sure wish now that I had taken much more French in high school.

I adore Edith Wharton and have read everything she wrote. I like Evelyn Waugh, but not his military fiction. "Vile Bodies" was fun, and "A Handful of Dust" was brilliant. Not too many other 20th century English authors that I can think of, except Tolkein, of course! I like most of the great 19th century British writers except for D. H Lawrence (he just seemed like a self absorbed sexist prick to me...) I've read everything by Jane Austen.

Dostoyevsky I loved and have read everything he wrote, much of it 2 or 3 times. "Fathers and Sons" by "Turgenev is wonderful. Tolstoy I just can't get into. Every so often I try to tackle "War and Peace" but give up 1/2 way through. I did like "Anna Karenina" when I read it as a teenager. I should give it another go. I'm currently reading Chekhov's plays as well and was lucky enough to see a great performance of "Three Sisiters" recently. I'm not a short story fan but since he is the master I've read some of his.

[melba the disco queen]

I just finished the latest Harry Potter book last night. I'm not going to reveal any spoilers (if you really wanted to know, I'm sure there's a million places on the web), but I'm just going to say that it is pretty good! The ending is pretty sad and fairly suprising.
I think my favourite in the series is still H.P. & The Goblet of Fire.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Most of my reading is done online.  News sites etc.  Last book I purchased was The Davinchi Code.  I haven't got into it much.  I find a book doesn't hold my attention as much as say TV or Video games.  At this point in my life reading is done when there is absolutly nothing else to do.

[Dirty Dancin]

Most of my reading is done online.  News sites etc.  Last book I purchased was The Davinchi Code.  I haven't got into it much.  I find a book doesn't hold my attention as much as say TV or Video games.  At this point in my life reading is done when there is absolutly nothing else to do.

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's had trouble getting into The Davinci Code. I was beginning to think I was the only one. At least a dozen friends and family members recommended it to me...said it was such a great/easy read they could barely put it down...breezed through in just a couple of days, etc. I think I read the first three chapters and moved on to something else. Of course, I was just getting heavily into TPB at the time, so maybe that had something to do with my distraction.  

[Naughty Laura Ingalls]

VC Andrews, Stephen King, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I've read every book out there by these authors, but they are so worthy of re-reads.

[Tipsy McStagger]

It's funny that we have some many educated book learning type people (reference to ricky) watching the show.  I bet people that dislike the show think that only idiots watch it.

The last book that I read and loved would be either Tommy Knockers or The Talisman.  I think I get into the stand as I saw the S.King bio and many of his readers hailed it as his best piece of work.

Tip

[Naughty Laura Ingalls]

It's funny that we have some many educated book learning type people (reference to ricky) watching the show.  I bet people that dislike the show think that only idiots watch it.

The last book that I read and loved would be either Tommy Knockers or The Talisman.  I think I get into the stand as I saw the S.King bio and many of his readers hailed it as his best piece of work.

Tip

"The Stand" was a very good book, and yes, it probably one of his greatest works. My most favourite more recent book would be "The Girl who loved Tom Gordon", that book is a trip, I couldn't put it down. "Thinner" or "Cujo" are always classic Stephen King quick reads.

http://www.stephenking.com/index_flash.php

[Tipsy McStagger]

I read more when I was a pre-teen.  That's when I read cujo...I enjoyed it alot !

[melba the disco queen]

The last book that I read and loved would be either Tommy Knockers or The Talisman.  I think I get into the stand as I saw the S.King bio and many of his readers hailed it as his best piece of work.

Tip

"The Stand" was a very good book, and yes, it probably one of his greatest works. My most favourite more recent book would be "The Girl who loved Tom Gordon", that book is a trip, I couldn't put it down. "Thinner" or "Cujo" are always classic Stephen King quick reads.

http://www.stephenking.com/index_flash.php

I agree that The Stand is one of King's greatest books, the mini-series was also very enjoyable (suprising considering most of his books that get turned into mini-series stink). Tommyknockers was one of my favourites when I was a teenager, I was into aliens (X Files). For anyone wanting a quick King book, try Eyes of the Dragon (if you have also read The Stand, you may recognize a certain bad guy in this book). For anyone wanting a super long  King read try the Dark Tower Series. Right now I'm in the middle of re-reading Apt Pupil.

[DavidB_Bubbles]

The Stand was the first Stephen King book that I read in the early 1980's and I have been hooked ever since. I think The Stand is his finest work also. Yes Melba the Mini-series was actually very good. With then an unknown Gary Sinise. Apt Pupil is a very good short story from his book Different Seasons. Three of those stories have been made into movies. Apt Pupil, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body (Stand by Me). I have not seen Apt Pupil yet but Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption are classics  

[melba the disco queen]

Apt Pupil is a very good short story from his book Different Seasons. Three of those stories have been made into movies. Apt Pupil, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body (Stand by Me). I have not seen Apt Pupil yet but Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption are classics  

I haven't seen the movie for Apt Pupil either, but upon re-reading it I realized I really had no memory of what it was about. I think I got it mixed up with Rage (which appears under his pseudonym Richard Bachmann). But I agree Stand By Me & Shawshank Redemption are excellent movies.

[Saucy Bastard]

So we ( most of my reading these days is to my 2 boys( 5 and 8 ) ) finished the Half Blood Prince near the end of August . We had just come home from an all day Pirate party in a remote coastal bay with 30 adults and kids , complete with treasure hunts , prizes , races and everyone in costume. So naturally , I bought a copy of Treasure Island (the original , not one of thos readers digest style dumbed down verssions!). The boys loved it , even though the 150 year old writing was a bit dificult . I found myself not having to explaining words so musch as the  syntax. We finished 3 nights ago and have moved on to John Wyndhams The Chrysalids, a great classic. I first discovered it back as a kid of 7 or 9, serialized on CBC Radio (Oh how I miss you CBC! ). then read it as a teen. After that I'm all set with Ann Mcaffreys Dragon Song , the first of the Pern, Harper Hall Trilogy. My mom read those to me and my sis as teens , great fantasy , with a strong female protagonist !

Who's reading what these days? 

[StoneChimes]

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. But just started.

[DavidB_Bubbles]

Saucy, I loved Treasure Island and Moby Dick as a kid. They are fantastic books for all to enjoy. I have always loved the tales of the Sea. So with that in mind right now I am reading In the Heart of the Sea

[Cappy]

Do cereal boxes classify as hardcovers?

[misfit_ramone_TylerCat]

last book i read was udnercover by john bevere for my MTI training good book.
before that i read cracking the davincis code, which proves the davincis code even though a fictional novel has so called facts in it and this historically proves it wrong very interesting book if your into that kinda stuff.( iread the book cause it saved my faith davinci code troubled me and this answered my questions about its claims)
i love stephen king very very very much have hism ovies and everything and a large collection on my shelf.

[Becca]

Do cereal boxes classify as hardcovers?

Only if they're crusted over with dried milk and sugar.

Cheers,
B.

[TheSamsquantch]

Currently, I'm reading the Farmers' Almanac 2005-2006.

I have been reading Grimm's Fairy Tales at work some nights, and need to read the Douglas Adams' book "The Long Dark Teatime for the Soul" again; I've not read it in at least 10 years.