Books and Literature.

[Ravie]

Well I noticed we dont have a thread for sharing good books and other liturature. And I'll be buying alot of books soon. Lets suggest and discuss!

I enjoy poetry and underground unpublished stories. I also enjoy books about travelers and people figuring out hardships. Dont have a good enough memory to list any though. Any good books I should check out?

 

[db3kfan]

Hardships: The People of Paper

In general: Moby-Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, House of Leaves, Story of the Eye, Beowulf, The Divine Comedy, Ender's Game

 

[macks]

I would reccomend Boxcar Bertha by Ben Rietman (sp?) and A Fortunate Life by Albert Facey. There's a ton more, but those two come to mind based on what you said you want to read, have fun, reading rules!

 

[soymilkshakes]

I loooove Sylvia Plath. I never read The Bell Jar but her poetry is amazing.

Some of my recent favorite books are The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera), cuz I'm a sucker for novels that are drenched with philosophical ramblings. And Sex Drugs & Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klostermann is awesome, a really hilarious analyzation of pop culture.

Catcher in the Rye is probably my all-time favorite, though. That, and..Harry Potter. Yeah, I said it.

 

[ben-david]

anything by Henry Miller

 

[Ravie]

I loooove Sylvia Plath. I never read The Bell Jar but her poetry is amazing.

Some of my recent favorite books are The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera), cuz I'm a sucker for novels that are drenched with philosophical ramblings. And Sex Drugs & Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klostermann is awesome, a really hilarious analyzation of pop culture.

Catcher in the Rye is probably my all-time favorite, though. That, and..Harry Potter. Yeah, I said it.

i read the bell jar about a month ago. it was good, but i lost interest alot. alot of dancing around the same subject.

 

[Miette]

-Tropic of Cancer or Big Sur by Henry Miler
-Burn Collector by Al Burian
-The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
-Anything by Leonard Cohen

 

[desaparecido]

Some of my recent favorite books are The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera),

mine as well, someone after my own heart.

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
& All the shorter poems of Robinson Jeffers

 

[nobo]

I just finished 'you can't win' for the second time. its a pretty poorly written book but it draws you in so close to the character, jack black, and really makes you long for a time when you really could just cut a hole in the glass at a jewelry shop and jack shit then hop on a train towards destination unknown....

 

[Miette]

i just finished "even cowgirls get the blues" by tom robbins. it is a little goofy at times, but is really well written. it tells the story of a character with abnormally large thumbs who uses them to hitch hike. check it out!

 

[permentaly damaged]

I'm reading The End of Faith by Sam Harris right now, and i would say that it is something folks should take at least a glance at.

Right now i cant think of too many other books that havent been mentioned already in this or other threads, but if i do then yeah...

 

[veggieguy12]

I'm reading The End of Faith by Sam Harris right now, and i would say that it is something folks should take at least a glance at.

I read all those atheist books (Betrand Russel's, George Smith's, Dawkins's, Hitchens's, Harris's, Irreligion, and Infidel) - God knows why, I'm already as firm an anti-theist as one could be. I think the only ones I could pick up now, having said that, are the titles from the former believers and preachers who've given it up. That's interesting.

Anyway, I think Harris is good, but a little over-focused on Islam.

 

[permentaly damaged]

Anyway, I think Harris is good, but a little over-focused on Islam.

I agree, I was expecting it more ot be focused on religions in the same detail as one another,but is still well written imo, and he can be pretty funny even if he wasnt trying to be.

 

[Dameon]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Hunter S. Thompson yet.

 

[Ravie]

you know that movie thats comming out? Ink Heart. i was thnking about reading the book instead of watching the movie. anyone read it?

 

[Gypsybones]

Currently reading "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine. published in 1776 it helped the people of the colony's too embrace the idea of revolution.

 

[Toddy]

almost finished Julian Jaynes' "Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind." written in the 70s, Jaynes theory is that humans around 3000 years ago and earlier made their everyday decisions by obeying auditory hallucinations originating in the right hemisphere of the brain, (similar to the modern schizophrenic) they literally heard the commands of their "gods." weird but he def makes his case. the psychobabble isn't over the top, it's mostly history and how it fits in with his trippy theory.

 

[Dandeforeshadow]

-Eulogy by Mary Jo Bang (I honestly like her more than Sylvia Plath and I'm a whore for Plath).
-Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism by Mary Daly (It sounds like it would be boring, but she actually uses a lot of word play that makes the book easy to laugh with and if you're an anarchist it's a text that will warm your heart)
-Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (if you like books about adventures this may be up your ally. Just fair warning that Lackey is a writer you either love or hate, there's very rarely an in between with her works).
-Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold (this is a great book if you're in to ones about travelers.)

That's all I could think of at the moment, but I'll see if I can find any more suggestions.

 

[matt]

I very much enjoyed Plath, but I was so into her poetry. Some of her short stories were published together as "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams" I highly recommend this book to any one who read the Bell Jar. Especially, "Into the Mountains" and "Superman and Paula Browns New Snowsuit"

 

[matt]

anything by Henry Miller

If you like Miller, you really oughta check out Anais Nin. She's incredible. Personally, I don't think her erotica is very good (especially compared to her other works). Read the books from Cities of the Intererior in order. I read one book out of order and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.