Anyone still Read Books?

[Johnny P]

There are some greats listed here...I may repeat some..

Almost anything by Kurt Vonnegut is good...though some of his later books weren't that good imo
my faves by Vonnegut:
Player Piano
Sirens of Titan
Galapagos
Slapstick

Just finished "1984" for the first time and it creeped me the fuck out actually. Just started "Brave New World"
Read "On the Road" by Kerouac and honestly wasn't impressed. I need to read more Kerouac before I form more of an opinion on it though.

MOst Hunter S. Thompson is good reading. My fav is "The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Hells Angels" Fantastic piece of journalism. Can't go wrong with "Rum Diaries" nor "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"


Anyone into classic Science Fiction like Aurther C. CLarke or Robert Hienlen.

Check out

by Clarke:
2001: Space Odyssey
2010: Odyssey Two
2061: Odyssey Three
3001: The Final Odyssey
Childhood's End
Red Planet

by Hienlen:
Starship Troopers
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
JOB: Comedy of Errors


Some other random stuff Ive read and enjoyed

Endgame: Derrick Jensen
Language Older than Words: Derrick Jensen
Twilight of the Machines: John Zerzan
One Flew Over the Kuckoos Nest: Ken Kesey
White Fang: Jack London
Sea Wolf: Jack London
The Call of the Wild: Jack London
You Can't Win: Jack Black
The Hobbit
Fellowship of the Ring

I'll add more as I think of em....

 

[HoboGrow]

I've yet to run across any recommended reading threads on StP.
I usually travel with a good novel, a local native plants guide if possible, and of course, that good old C.C.
Off the top of my head:

--1984, George Orwell (fucking classic)
--Endgame, Derrick Jensen
--Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
--Recipes for Disaster, Crimethinc
--Steal This Book, Abbie Hoffman (outdated, but somehow still revolutionary)
--Fight Club, Chuck Palahnuik


(Sidenote) Is there any way to edit the typo in the title?

Rant, and also Snuff by Palahnuik are amazing books.

 

[Alaska]

Actually reading Ukulele for Dummies by Alistair Wood (creator of the ukulelehunt.com community) as more of a straight read than a reference book. I've been playing for about a year and a half, and this book is amazing. I'm finding out some of my habits, and trying to stop them before they get too bad (such as my tendency to normally use the down down-up up down strum in EVERYTHING I do) as well as learning better ways to incorporate melodies into my chord strummings. It's a great read, and the guy has always had a great sense of humor.

May sound like an advertisement, but chyeah. Good stuff.

 

[venusinpisces]

As for non-fiction, I love anything about physics, anthropology and nature as long as it's from an objective standpoint and the writer doesn't get his personal beliefs, views and feelings involved.

Well then you can discount the overwhelming majority of anthropological literature since it is based in a history of Western cultural domination. Try David Graeber. He is an anarchist anthropologist who writes about how many indigenous cultures provided a framework for dismantling contemporary social hierarchies.

 

[wizehop]

If you kids are going to mention Orwelll you cant forget "Down and Out in Paris and London" classic travel book, easy read and not too long.

 

[miklo]

Anybody like poetry?

 

[Asar]

Anybody like poetry?

Absolutely. All time favorite poet is W.B. Yeats.


"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with the golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams beneath your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

 

[c0dy]

i wish a storm would
come & blow this shit
away. or a bomb to
burn the Town & scour
the sea. i wish clean
death would come to me.
-Jim Morrison

 

[ipoPua]

my faves- huxley island and doors of perception. vonnegut cats cradle(of course) and sirens of titan. the hobbit. kerouac dharma bums. hope for the flowers. and currently this anthology of mostly poetry from a small publisher(forgot which) that my brother gave me. oh and mistress masham's repose!!

 

[ipoPua]

i read 'slaughter house five,' that was good. i'm actually reading 'huckleberry finn' right now. i found an awesome edition of it that's pretty close to the first edition.

aw man i just finally read huck finn myself last week, excellent book. i gotta get a copy of tom sawyer now

 

[Johnny P]

Just finished "Brave New World". All I can say is creepy....reminds me of what California will probably be like in 20 years...haha!

"Cats Cradle" is excellent! Almost forgot about that one.

 

[BobbinGoblin]

hope for the flowers.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shadowmarque]

Meanwhile -Jack Gilbert
It waits. While I am walking through the pine trees
along the river, it is waiting. It has waited a long time.
In southern France, in Belgium, and even Alabama.
Now it waits in New England while I say grace over
almost everything: for a possum dead on someone’s lawn,
the single light on a levee while Northampton sleeps,
and because the lanes between houses in Greek hamlets
are exactly the width of a donkey loaded on each side
with barley. Loneliness is the mother’s milk of America.
The heart is a foreign country whose language none
of us is good at.Winter lingers on in the woods,
but already it looks discarded as the birds return
and sing carelessly; as though there never was the power
or size of December. For nine years in me it has waited.
My life is pleasant, as usual.My body is a blessing
and my spirit clear. But the waiting does not let up.

 

[figgot]

My favorites are huxley(island in particular), Vonnegut, and the hobbit. I read a lot but thoseve been my tops for a long time, the hobbits my number one for sure

 

[ipoPua]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best book ever. My aunt n uncle gave my brother their copy from when it came out and he gave it to me and its just fantastic. Really pumped to see someone else knows it

 

[Everymanalion]

Blood Meridian. The best book you will ever read.

 

[frzrbrnd]

Blood Meridian. The best book you will ever read.

i am honestly surprised that this book isn't more popular among travelers/the crustie demographic. it's about a bunch of hard-drinkin', hard-assed, fightin' wanderers and the central character is a fourteen year old runaway. this novel is as crustie as a novel that takes place before cars were invented and trains were prominent can be.

 

[ipoPua]

definitely gonna see if my library has that. i owe 70 bucks so i'll have to read it there but i enjoy that.

 

[Everymanalion]

I have The Judge tattooed on my forehead for Judge Holden

 

[Aurelius]

Has anybody thought about getting a kindle, or some other kind of ereader? A new one is $70ish, but I've seen used ones on ebay for as little as a dollar+shipping. The only problem would be getting books on there/keeping it charged. But 7/11 sells solar chargers now, and a trip to your local library would fill it up in a few hours. You could have hundreds of books in one little package, just sayin.