Good reads

[Ash]

Everytime i walk into a book store or a library my mind goes blank. I know no authors by name. My search keywords are to vague and misleading.

I just finished the popular books, 1984, Animal Farm, the Pearl, The Giver. Ive read Off the Map and Evasion awhile back. At the moment i am halfway through the book Ishamael. And im wanting to get the next book prepared. I have spend a lot of time in a book store searching for nothing in perticular.

Know of any good books ?

 

[danvan]

fuck i just typed this massive thing about books and then acedently got rid of it

ohhh well here goes take 2

the one book that i think you must read is

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

its a fantastic adventure thats sposed to be based on the true life of the writer
he escaped from prison and went over to india and did well umm he does so many things

its just genraly fantastic

its in almost all the book stores here in aus
so it should be over in the states

so steal yourself a copy!!!

 

[Cush]

danvan wrote:

so steal yourself a copy!!!

not posi. if there is any type of store that you shouldn't steal from, but should support, it's bookstores. yes they may be major corperations but all the major bookstore chains (borders, barns n nobles, waldenbooks) are all great companies. they treat thier employees very well, they offer nothing but the best things in the world, and they don't exploit anyone in the process. i don't care how much punk credit i lose by supporting a major corperation, I love borders and i'll do what i can to support them. same thing for barnes and noble.

 

[Beyond The Sun]

I just finished reading "At the Bottom of the River" by Jamaica Kincaid. I'd highly suggest it, very poetic.

Homer's "Odyssey" is good, I've only read the translation by Stanley Lombardo, but I liked it. Very easy to understand.

Check out any of Hemmingway's short stories.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is good as is Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Shit there's so many good books out there, I could go on and on. Just go to the library and browse for a while.

 

[danvan]

ohhh um ok

well i wasn't being all to serious about it
but yeah i spose your right

regardless its a good book

oh and fear and loathing in las vegas
and fight club
and the rum diary is pretty decent
nothing really happens but hunter is a great writer so its intresting

Post edited by: danvan, at: 2007/02/13 18:19

 

[mike]

A friend of mine got this book a while back called the alphabet of manliness, its pretty rediculous but I thought it was funny.

 

[Cush]

i've seen that one.

L is for lumberjack
C is for chuck norris.
P is for pirates.

that's all that i can remember from it but it was pretty awesome.

 

[scottyfoothill]

some good ones:

education of a wandering man, louis l'amour. - not his usual western, but a memoir of his traveling (ships, freights, etc) and how he learned through reading and observing

the old patagonian express, paul theroux. rides passenger trains from the united states all the way down to patagonia.

walden, henry david thoreau. a classic and quite insightful, at least i think so.

chronicles - volume one, bob dylan. whether or not you're into his music, his observations on the people he has met through the years and his life are really interesting

hobo, eddy joe cotton. fun and quick

if you're into bike travel at all there is:

catfish and mandala, andrew x. pham - he rides all through vietnam and has some crazy experiences while paralleling that trip with his life growing up and then leaving vietnam

two wheels north, forgot who wrote it. published by oregon state university, true story about two fellas in 1909 who take off from santa rosa, ca on their bikes and ride to seattle for a big expo.

so yeah, those are a few i might suggest...

-foothill

 

[crustychris]

I'm starting to read a lot of horror books. Currently I'm reading School Days by Robert Hughes and I like it a lot so far. I also liked Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman. It's about living a free life. Kinda out dated, but still a great read.

 

[Poking Victim]

My favorite authors are J.D. Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Ram Dass and Aldous Huxley.

Oh, and George Orwell

Post edited by: Poking Victim, at: 2007/02/15 01:53

 

[Matt Derrick]

Cush wrote:

danvan wrote:
so steal yourself a copy!!![/quote]...pport them. same thing for barnes and noble.

i couldn't disagree more. not only are they easy targets for the beginning shoplifter, but you should absolutely, without a doubt, rip them off as much as possible. bookstore chains are just as bad as walmart.

barnes and noble breaks unions, supports starbucks, and runs other, potentially way cooler mom and pop book stores with some actual personality out of town, just like walmart does to other mom and pop businesses. they also make it harder for 'used' book stores to compete, which are great stores, if you ever get to check one out, do it, because not only are you supporting a person, and not a corporation, but you usually get a hell of a deal on great used books. and they will BUY books back from you. great recycling practice.

speaking of recycling, most book store chains DO NOT recycle the thousands and thousands of books they throw out each week. we are talking about THOUSANDS of books that get thrown out (after getting the cover ripped off, so they can't be re-sold) not because there is anything wrong with them, but because they simply don't want anyone else to profit in any way (which is why they tear the covers off) that's the kind of greed we're dealing with here, they won't even donate them anyone or any organization.

so ya know what? fuck em. they aren't the great places of learning and saints of knowledge you think them to be. and im sorry, but while some book chains do have some benefit programs for their employees, they still get shit pay, no where near or even close to a living wage. so fuck that corporate sympathy shit, burn em all to the ground! (after taking all their books of course )

 

[FrumpyWatkins]

Not to mention they never carry any socially unacceptable or risque books. For the few books they do carry, they are dreadfully understocked except for shit to the likes of Harry Potter.

 

[Mady]

Alex Shakar's The savage girl is awesome. Also House of Leaves by Danielinski is amazing. They arnt super revolutionary novels but they are really entertaining.

 

[stinkpickle]

i've been reading franz kafka alomg my travels.. fuckin' amazing and mm jack london people of the abyss

 

[frankie b sick]

Wow! Okay, a book that I read, and it pretty much changed my life, or at least was a big part of it, is called The Alchemist.
The Alchemist is a book about a shepard who wishes to travel. This is why he becomes a shepard. He is told that there is no use in travel, etc. But, he knows he must. I wish I could remember better details for you, but it taps into some pretty amazing knowledge about the center of everything, and the connection we all have, etc. It is powerful and eye opening, and helped me reach into a higher realm of conscousness!

I hope you are able to check it out! . ^.^

Also, thank you to MattPist for educating us all about coorporate book stores. I knew that what was said about them felt wrong, but also didn't have enough knowledge to rebute it, so thank you for sharing this! ^_^

 

[danvan]

i lost my nerve when i tryed to steal fight club and brought it

and payed a stupid amount

it made me sick when i did

i always feel a lil ill after buying something that i know should be free or cheaper

its a good thing tho cos i get to put more cash away for my trip to America

 

[Tamah Go Das]

my best friends been telling me about that book and it sounds fucking awesome I gotta read it.

 

[Cush]

i've just finished master and margarita by bulgakov. it was amazing. I read mostly fantasy. the steriotypical elves, dwarves, wizards, goblins, and dragons (insert DnD joke of choice here) and i just picked up the entire white gold saga by stephen donaldson, the entire riddle master of hed trilogy, the gates to witchworld, and some random book called the assassins apprentice. although i finished up that last one on a plane ride to wyoming this morning.

 

[RejectofSociety]

I just finished reading Penny Rimbaud's autobiography 'Shibboleth - My Revolting Life'. If you can find a copy it's great stuff.

 

[Code Name Mary]

I recently finished reading "I, Lucifer" which is amazing and poetic and hysterically funny/vulgar/disgusting it's narrated by the devil himself...supposedly. Another excellent read is shutter babe, complete with photo's it's about a photo journalist and all of her amazing adventures and travels. And all of it's true so it makes that much better. I have been meaning to read dharma punx...any body know if it's any good?