Recommend GP some books to read - Page 3

TCO · June 23, 2002, 15:21

Laz, yeah. Let's have it!

Jaako. More towards the latter. Involved sauna followed by jumping naked in the snow. No women would do it and most of the men refused to...Just me, Finn teacher and a couple of Dutchers...

Jaakko · June 23, 2002, 15:25

I've actually never done that, but then again I'm a real Finn, and I don't need to prove myself that way...

TCO · June 23, 2002, 15:30

Well...I have certificate and everything, signed by an INSEAD professor...

DanS · June 23, 2002, 17:32

I second Foucault's Pendulum--you might bump it up a couple of slots in your read queue. Name of the Rose demands a 100-page "investment" of time before the story actually kicks off, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

Re Keagan, yes the war historian. I haven't read his WWI book, but the Agincourt section of The Face of Battle was first-rate.

If you like inventive language, you might like Nabokov's Lolita.

If you're into modern sci-fi, William Gibson's Neuromancer is a good read.

CapTVK · June 23, 2002, 18:32

Don Quichote by Miguel Cervantes, it's quite funny, satirical and entertaining with a serious literary undertone about a dreamer and believer of tall tales and legends about knights who only ends up chasing windmills.

One of the world's literary masterpieces

Panag · June 23, 2002, 18:44

Quote:

Originally posted by GP
Just looking for some good stuff to read. Can be novels light or serious. (If it is too dense and literary...I don't want that.) Or can be interesting non-fiction. No science fiction/fantasy series. I generaly hate series. (There are a few I like...LOTR, HP...but usually they are too boring. Big tome like stretched out stories.)

hi ,

try the "Satanic verses" , Salman Rushdie , .....

have a nice day

Anodyne · June 23, 2002, 18:51

Yes, I agree: THE SATANIC VERSES by SALMAN RUSHDIE might be just the greatest book I've ever read...
Don Quijote was nice, too.

At the moment I'm reading Obabakoak by Bernardo Atxaga.

I might also recommend some Kerouac, Burroughs (William, the beat poet, not that other stupid ****), Kafka, Nietzsche, and perhaps Gabriel García Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges (haven't had time to start reading, but I'm expecting something great)

edit: WTF??!?! They censor words like TWAT nowadays??!?!

Panag · June 23, 2002, 18:55

hi ,

a bit heavy , but still , "islamic fundametalism" , by one youssef m. choueiri , .....try to get the revised edition of 1997 , it was first writen in 1990 , ....

have a nice day

Tingkai · June 23, 2002, 22:18

Quote:

Originally posted by MosesPresley
I'm a little late with a recommendation. It looks like you have plenty to choose from here, but if you have the time you might like Charles Bukowski. I recommend Post Office, Factotum, or Women.

What do you like about Bukowski? How would you describe his books (e.g. sci-fi, mystery, prose, etc.)?

blackice · June 23, 2002, 23:32

Stephan R. Donaldson The Illearth Wars 6 books great stuff.

Dr. Nick · June 23, 2002, 23:34

Terry Pratchett rulez.

Seriously, the Discworld series provide days of comic literature.

Dr. Nick · June 23, 2002, 23:35

You should also try some Jorge Luis Borges or Julio Cortazar.

Ogie Oglethorpe · June 23, 2002, 23:49

Quote:

Originally posted by loinburger
I also liked Cryptonomicon by Stephenson(?).

Good call on the Cryptonomicron.

Also if you like reading Biography's then I would recommend:

Gore Vidal's "Lincoln"

Ramo · June 23, 2002, 23:55

Nonfiction, eh? Ever read the autobiography "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman"?

Ethelred · June 24, 2002, 00:08

I liked that one a lot.

SuperSneak · June 24, 2002, 01:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Tingkai

What do you like about Bukowski? How would you describe his books (e.g. sci-fi, mystery, prose, etc.)?

Please allow me...Charles Bukowski was one of the most lazy, disgusting hedonists who ever put pen to paper. He was basically a Bowery bum who just so happened to write prodigiously, and was eventually "discovered" and made popular by the crowd that likes their prose gritty, extremely realistic and unforgiving. If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to be a sloppy, alcoholic skirt chaser cobbling toegether nickels for cheap cigars and wine and shlepping down at the horse tracks but always losing on the ponies and the tail, too....this is your man.
You love him or hate him...the movie Barfly was based on his life/works.
Totally autobiographical writer. I've really enjoyed him. In fact, my earlier recommendation of John Fante fits in, because Fante was one of Bukowski's biggest influences and they are not dissimilar...Fante is just gentler and more refined.

Jac de Molay · June 24, 2002, 02:10

Quote:

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco - a great conspiracy/mystery sort of book, where a practical joke done by three book editors goes horribly wrong. Very complex. I can't tell much else, I've only started on it myself. But I do love it so far.

I triple the vote on this one. This is one of those books I read once a year as a gift to myself

. One of my favorite books, and got me seriously interested in the history and lore of the occult and esotericism. It's a book about everything

Dave

MosesPresley · June 24, 2002, 04:16

Quote:

Originally posted by SuperSneak

Please allow me...Charles Bukowski was one of the most lazy, disgusting hedonists who ever put pen to paper. He was basically a Bowery bum who just so happened to write prodigiously, and was eventually "discovered" and made popular by the crowd that likes their prose gritty, extremely realistic and unforgiving. If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to be a sloppy, alcoholic skirt chaser cobbling toegether nickels for cheap cigars and wine and shlepping down at the horse tracks but always losing on the ponies and the tail, too....this is your man.
You love him or hate him...the movie Barfly was based on his life/works.
Totally autobiographical writer. I've really enjoyed him. In fact, my earlier recommendation of John Fante fits in, because Fante was one of Bukowski's biggest influences and they are not dissimilar...Fante is just gentler and more refined.

Thanks, SuperSneak. I think you summed it up pretty well, but you forgot to mention that his stories are hilarious and strangely warm.

SuperSneak · June 24, 2002, 04:29

Yes, that's true. But people like GP may not be as perceptive as you and I, so you kind of have to put it in very simple terms.

TCO · June 24, 2002, 10:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Ramo
Nonfiction, eh? Ever read the autobiography "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman"?

Done that, been there. Plus actually met a couple people who knew Feinman...

Richelieu · June 24, 2002, 10:34

"The Rickover Effect: How One Man Made a Difference"
By Theodore Rockwell

Sounds like a match made in heaven...

Panag · June 24, 2002, 10:51

hi ,

the Mole People , ....

or something in a different way ; Biohazard

have a nice day

Imran Siddiqui · June 24, 2002, 14:45

Ever read 'Angela's Ashes' by Frank McCourt? Great book!

Bugs ****ing Bunny · June 24, 2002, 14:50

Quote:

Originally posted by MosesPresley

Thanks, SuperSneak. I think you summed it up pretty well, but you forgot to mention that his stories are hilarious and strangely warm.

Apart from the ones that are totally repulsive, such as ones about raping children.

Bugs ****ing Bunny · June 24, 2002, 14:55

GP- Some non-fiction tips.

"Into thin air"- Jon Krakauer. An account of the 1996 Mt Everest disaster. It's one of the most tense books I've ever read.

"The hot zone". I've forgotten who wrote it, but it's pretty famous. It's an account of the emergence of the Ebola and Marburg viruses, and it's the scariest book I've ever read, bar none.

"Touching the void"- Joe Simpson. I read a lot of mountaineering writing and this is one of the best. It's an account of Simpson trying to get off a mountain after breaking his leg then falling into a deep crevasse.

"The electric Kool-Aid Acid Test"- Tom Wolfe. The birth of psychedelia.

"In Pharaoh's army"- Tobias Woolfe. Best book I've read about the Vietnam war and the Tet offensive.

TCO · June 24, 2002, 15:07

Ron, I've read half off your list and I liked them. Will check out the rest.

MosesPresley · June 24, 2002, 16:45

Quote:

Originally posted by Ron Jeremy

Apart from the ones that are totally repulsive, such as ones about raping children.

WHAT?!

Give me the story title or book. I've read almost everything by the man and I haven't read any child rape stories.

Anodyne · June 24, 2002, 16:51

Hey Imran, I have Angela's Ashes in my bookshelf... waiting on the line to be read.

MosesPresley · June 24, 2002, 19:06

Ron Jeremy,

Are you sure you are not confusing Charles Bukowski with William S. Burroughs?
They were both beat generation writers, but other than that they have nothing in common.

Sten Sture · June 24, 2002, 19:13

I just finished reading Blind Man's Bluff and it made me think of you ya little Rickover.

the Keegan book I would recommend is "The History of Warfare" - more of the social history rather than a 'in 1916 the first tank appeared'

Speaking of 1916, the book "1915" by McDonald, iirc is a great personal look into the first full year of WW1 with a lot of letters home and first hand accounts.