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| &&&&& |
 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:52 am |
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i dont know how you guys feel about answering these type questions when you dish out stuff that you like, but if it isnt too annoying i think it would be cool to know what books or authors or whatever you guys like to read because i trust your taste i would say, im sort of bored with what im reading now and all the stuff my freinds recommend me is not the stuff i like to read
ohh and even too dont be limited to like literature type things im open to any book whether its like a biography or science book or history book |
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| deakin |
| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:55 pm |
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i got really into this book called savage detectives by roberto bolano. i think most of his stuff is really good, but that stood out to me. i also read a collection of short stories of his called LAst Evenings on Earth. another really good south american author is cortazar. i liked a collection of his called blow up and other stories. another really good short story writer that i have enjoyed in the right moments is Paul Bowles. I just borrowed a book called Monkey from Brian. it is sometimes also known as Journey to the WEst. it is an old chinese novel written about 400 years ago. its roughly about Buddhist pilgrimage for holy scriptures. but its super animated and full of dragons and magic spells and all sorts of fun stuff. another good short story writer (Although this one from russia) is nikolai leskov. i read a collection called The Enchanted Wanderer : Selected Tales.
on the inspirational side i have been really psyched reading Rumi recently. that is what it is. it's been really valuable to me even though in some ways it isn't really an "interesting" read. i especially like the translations of Coleman Barks in the The Essential Rumi. on the surface a lot of it sounds the same and can seem repetitive and even dull. but if you read it more as soul food and less as intellectual food, i think it can be incredibly inspiring. for me at least it has been profound.
on the non fiction side. my mom gave me a cool book on dreams called the history of last nights dream. it has some elements that aren't really my thing, but i got a lot out of it too. its definitely a psychology oriented sort of book in a way that i would normally shy away from, but it transcends that i think too. if you are into your own dreams, this could be cool.
Finally got around to reading the Silent World, which is jacques cousteau's first book. that is a super fun read about the early days of scuba exploration. i'm into it because i am into the oceans and scuba diving, but i think it would be cool for anyone to read.
yeah... there's a few. hope you find some of that inspiring.
what do you like to read? and what has been boring to you? |
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| &&&&& |
| Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:32 am |
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thanks a lot for the response, ill have to check out all that stuff, in response to your question is well im in high school and i joined this board not because im really a forum person at all and i dont really get on but i thought itd be cool to ask you guys what youve been reading cause i cant seem to find anything, and that part about the forums i think is cool. dont read very often even though i would like to but i think its important to read books and what initially made me think that way is i have a few friends that read nonstop. ive been through a lot of the authors that people usually run into when looking for some books to read: kerouac, dostoyevsky, toltsoy...and that stuff i would say hasn't been that inspiring or even really entertaining for me to read. i read kerouac's diaries and really didn't like reading all of his philisophical rants about things. the books i have liked reading is george orwell i think is preety good and people talk about him all the time and i really liked reading one flew over the cukoos nest probably because i just liked the movie and found the book later on and was able to return to it through that in a way. i think dreams are sweet and have read a lot about them but i cant remeber any specific books, they were all from sitting around in a bookstore, i think lucid dreams are sweet. i am reading heart of darkness right now and i have to be in a certain mood to pick it up but i cant all the time definently. i think that book though too is just another thing where i saw apocalypse now and was really excited and wanted to dive into it a little more, but i can appreciate and even enjoy some of the writing in it. and that scuba book sounds sweet ill have to find that.
ohh and kafka is not my thing. i read the great gatsby not too long ago and thought it was almost perfect i really liked that. the only book i would say that has had a real lasting impression on me is the giver. i havent read since like fifth grade but i can remeber most everything about it. |
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| Alexander |
| Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:46 am |
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&&&&& wrote: i have liked reading is george orwell i think is preety good and people talk about him all the time
check out Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
One of my favorites. |
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| maldenfilms |
| Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:31 am |
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Location: Boston, MA
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&&&&& wrote: thanks a lot for the response, ill have to check out all that stuff, in response to your question is well im in high school and i joined this board not because im really a forum person at all and i dont really get on but i thought itd be cool to ask you guys what youve been reading cause i cant seem to find anything, and that part about the forums i think is cool. dont read very often even though i would like to but i think its important to read books and what initially made me think that way is i have a few friends that read nonstop. ive been through a lot of the authors that people usually run into when looking for some books to read: kerouac, dostoyevsky, toltsoy...and that stuff i would say hasn't been that inspiring or even really entertaining for me to read. i read kerouac's diaries and really didn't like reading all of his philisophical rants about things. the books i have liked reading is george orwell i think is preety good and people talk about him all the time and i really liked reading one flew over the cukoos nest probably because i just liked the movie and found the book later on and was able to return to it through that in a way. i think dreams are sweet and have read a lot about them but i cant remeber any specific books, they were all from sitting around in a bookstore, i think lucid dreams are sweet. i am reading heart of darkness right now and i have to be in a certain mood to pick it up but i cant all the time definently. i think that book though too is just another thing where i saw apocalypse now and was really excited and wanted to dive into it a little more, but i can appreciate and even enjoy some of the writing in it. and that scuba book sounds sweet ill have to find that.
ohh and kafka is not my thing. i read the great gatsby not too long ago and thought it was almost perfect i really liked that. the only book i would say that has had a real lasting impression on me is the giver. i havent read since like fifth grade but i can remeber most everything about it.
both you and josh should check out House of Leaves if you haven't yet. it's sort of a strange cryptic thing to get into, and i generally don't like the overall genre but it's really fun and will suck you in. i don't know, i just thought i'd drop my two cents. enjoy. |
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| &&&&& |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:23 am |
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| a lot of people really like brave new world but ive never gotten around to it it does look good though |
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| floosy |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:00 am |
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| house of leaves is really great. |
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| jyjjy |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:21 am |
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Two of my favorites;
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
and
Vurt by Jeff Noon
Very interesting and easy to read books imo.
If you like science fiction/fantasy the first dozen or so books written by Orson Scott Card are pretty great. |
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| &&&&& |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:24 am |
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| read a book by both vonnegut and noon, i dont know if i like them both all that much, but apparently i read something by noon that wasnt supposed to be as good as his other stuff it was adapting alice in wonderland i reember. i have a few freinds that give me vonnegut books even when i dont ask them so they like him a lot but ive never been too much into the dude. a lot of teachers i know love him not only english teachers but like science and math teachers i know all like him a lot. |
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| midwest guy |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:28 am |
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Location: Rochelle, IL
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&&&&& wrote: read a book by both vonnegut and noon, i dont know if i like them both all that much, but apparently i read something by noon that wasnt supposed to be as good as his other stuff it was adapting alice in wonderland i reember. i have a few freinds that give me vonnegut books even when i dont ask them so they like him a lot but ive never been too much into the dude. a lot of teachers i know love him not only english teachers but like science and math teachers i know all like him a lot.
NEEDS MORE PERIODS!
j/k what book by vonnegut did you read? his writing style is unorganized and sorta stream of thought so that may be why you don't like him. |
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| Diamond Monster |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:08 am |
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Location: where is my peach
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| yeah i came in here to mention house of leaves, it's really great, i recommend it to everyone |
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| Stomp On Floor |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:45 am |
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Location: Boulder, CO
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Jitterbug Perfume
Jitterbug Perfume
Jitterbug Perfume
Jitterbug Perfume. (x4)
the Electric Kool-aid acid test
the Electric Kool-aid acid test
the Electric Kool-aid acid test (x3)
That. any ray bradbury, the famous Vonnegut's plus more, |
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| Six Pack |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:34 am |
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Location: cali
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House of Leaves is pretty damn awesome.
My favorites are:
100 Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Les Miserables- Victor Hugo
Everything is Illuminated- Jonathan Safran Foer |
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| Hybrination |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:59 am |
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what do you guys think of haruki murakami?
his books satisfy a similar place for me as your guys' music.
They both have this quality about them...
Like for instance some of Avey's lyrics end up having all these great little ideas and really awesome imagery throughout them, but end up not having any easily discernible purpose.
It's similar with Haruki Murakami, the stories about the adventures of these various characters, end up being not so much about where the adventure is heading to at the end, as they are about all the various surreal experiences and introspection the characters go through in the process... |
Last edited by Hybrination on Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:22 am; edited 2 times in total |
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| ogerrob1487 |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:25 am |
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Location: wa
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| tristessa by jack k. really good. also all of isaac asimovs short stories. so good. |
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| funkel |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:21 pm |
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Location: N. Ireland
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I was gonna say House of Leaves, but it looks like I've been beaten to it (several times!!)
It's amazing, and completely unlike anything else I've ever read. |
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| Ziggack |
| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:52 pm |
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Location: Fort Worth, Texas (in a few days)
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| &&&&& |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:53 am |
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| i remeber reading issac asimov in elementry school and thinking it was cheesy then, i must of read some really crappy abriged version i guess...? |
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| acidqueen |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:10 am |
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Location: mountains switzerland
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Alessandro Baricco "Oceano Mare"
in English it's "Ocean Sea"....
read this |
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| Freak |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:31 pm |
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Location: The Good Ole Midwest
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My all-time favorites...
Cat's Cradle and The Sirens Of Titan by Vonnegut
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Any book by Chris Moore (I can't pick my favorite by him like I can with Vonnegut) |
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| solarlickwee |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:26 pm |
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Location: Lafayette, LA
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Personal favorites:
Another Roadside Attraction, Still Life With Woodpecker, Jitterbug Perfume (Robbins)
Stranger in a Strangeland (heinlein)
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Wolfe)
I can always appreciate Irvine Welsh's cunning vernacular and vivacious wit.
And Daniel Quinn's Ishmael was pretty lifechanging at the time of read... |
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| iliketowrite |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:50 pm |
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Location: BC, Canada
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| I too like Orwell a lot. I just picked up "the road to wigan pier", but I have not got to it yet. Beacause I am reading "Gonzo" a bio on Hunter S. Thompson (who in my opinion was a genius) and the "Bone" Graphic novels. Favorite author is probably Chuck Palahniuk. |
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| Fovrodi |
| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:34 am |
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Location: The Feeling Store
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| Are you serious? I don't consider myself a book expert but Hunter S. Thompson and Chuck Palahniuk are terrible writers. There's definitely better authors out there. The Bone novels are pretty good. |
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| bubbloy |
| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:01 am |
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Location: durham, north carolina
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| how is palahniuk a terrible writer? |
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| mister_cheech |
| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:56 am |
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| Because he naively preaches a nihilist philosophy that is proven hollow time and time by his frustratingly limited understanding of human existence and interaction. I might have at least enjoyed his stuff the same way I might enjoy Transformers or some other sleazy blockbuster was the impact of his writing not entirely dulled by the time he filters it through don delillo and bret easton ellis. |
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| mister_cheech |
| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:04 am |
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Hybrination wrote: what do you guys think of haruki murakami?
for me, his books satisfy a similar place for me as your guys' music.
They both have this quality about them...
Like for instance some of Avey's lyrics end up having all these great little ideas and really awesome imagery throughout them, but end up not having any easily discernible purpose.
It's similar with Haruki Murakami, the stories about the adventures of these various characters, end up being not so much about where the adventure is heading to at the end, as they are about all the various surreal experiences and introspection the characters go through in the process...
murakami is a genius. his prose is so sparing and so evocative. i sincerely think the end of the wind up bird chronicle is one of the most sublime things ever - it captures dream logic so perfectly. as much as i love the wind-up bird chronicle and kafka at the shore, i have to say that it's almost insulting how much of a calculated torture session sputnik sweetheart was. i always feel very uneasy when he discusses the idea of someone becoming empty or only having half a shadow, and the book is essentially the process of such a thing in slow motion. so, so depressing...
i too would be interested to know if ac knows about him |
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| the nice marmot |
| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:30 am |
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i agree. everything is genius except for sputnik sweetheart. reading his latest short story collection these days, and it's good, though i'm not usually that into short stories. if they are good, i always just get annoyed they aren't longer.
and i liked most of palahniuks stuff up to haunted, which might be the worst book i've ever read. after that i haven't even considered picking up any of his book, even for re-reads of the ones i liked in the first place. |
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| pearl |
| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:22 am |
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Location: irvine / la jolla, ca
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midwest guy wrote: &&&&& wrote: read a book by both vonnegut and noon, i dont know if i like them both all that much, but apparently i read something by noon that wasnt supposed to be as good as his other stuff it was adapting alice in wonderland i reember. i have a few freinds that give me vonnegut books even when i dont ask them so they like him a lot but ive never been too much into the dude. a lot of teachers i know love him not only english teachers but like science and math teachers i know all like him a lot.
NEEDS MORE PERIODS!
j/k what book by vonnegut did you read? his writing style is unorganized and sorta stream of thought so that may be why you don't like him.
you're not j/k
i like vonnegut. dave eggers's books are nice, but i still haven't gotten around to reading "what is the what." i'm reading 1984 right now and it's good too, although i'm stuck on the goldstein part. also, i try to read every article in believer magazine every month. they're lengthy but informative about random things. |
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| bdtrppr6 |
| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:33 pm |
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| philip k dick's 'man in the high castle' or 'a scanner darkly' are both mind benders as is robert anton wilson's illuminatus trilogy. anything by either is usually great, but can be spotty. dick's short stories are real good and there are millions of em. |
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| J toale--fast and bulbous |
| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:55 am |
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bubbloy wrote: how is palahniuk a terrible writer?
because he has a sophomoric sense of humor and and sub-sophomoric writing style
Hunter S. Thompson is fun and quite good but he can't really be considered a "writer", more of a humorist or a journalist
also, the giver is the worst book i've ever read and 'graphic novel' is an annoying and ostentatious term |
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| Xelart |
| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:35 pm |
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lighten up man
its all just oppinions so you might as well be courteous |
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| solarlickwee |
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:22 am |
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Location: Lafayette, LA
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man, after reading this thread I picked up a Murakami (Dancer Dancer Dancer) and House of Leaves. I started with the former, and am absolutely in love with his style.
My best friend and I have very similar taste in everything; however, there is always a very noticeable difference. I do believe Murakami may be my tom robbins. (though always appreciative of the latter). |
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| J toale--fast and bulbous |
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:53 am |
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Xelart wrote: lighten up man
its all just oppinions so you might as well be courteous
where is the fun in that?
normally i would agree with you but for some reason the giver just pisses me off like nothing else (being forced to read it three times didn't help, once in grade school, once in middle school and again in high school)
besides, i didn't mean it personally
and while like/dislike of chuck/the giver is based on opinion
Thompson IS a journalist
and
graphic novel IS an annoying and ostentation term |
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| funeralpudding |
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:48 pm |
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Location: TX
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| deakin |
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:40 pm |
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hey... back to the first dude that asked the question.
the thing that i have found the older i get is that i care much less about what i am supposed to read and much more about what i am inspired to read. and if i follow that train i often get to those things that you are supposed to read anyway, and either way i enjoy it all way more and i learn a lot more. you know what i mean? you don't really need to justify what you read to anyone. and what you like and how much you like it will change anyway. there are books i thought were amazing when i was 12 or 17 or 24 that i don't like anymore. and vice versa. its really just about having fun and getting interested in stuff that interests you. i realize this sounds really vague and loose. but i actually think its true with reading as with almost anything. if big long comic books (graphic novels?) are your thing... read 'em. have fun. if you get excited by reading mathematical theory, go for it. but don't get bummed at yourself when you don't seem to be "getting" the things that other people are getting into. a while back i was going through a spell of not enjoying reading. then i picked up the count of monte christo, which can be argues is not the best book for a number of reasons. i loved it. i couldn't put it down. and then it made me want to find something else that was fun like that and next thing i knew i was reading like crazy again.... i don't know why i wrote this. hope it's helpful. oh and don't listen to people that tell you what you are interested in is stupid. it might be bad or stupid to them. it might even be bad or stupid to a majority of people or culture as whole... but that doesn't mean that it is bad or stupid to you if you are getting something from it and growing. |
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| &&&&& |
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:21 pm |
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| i know what you mean about finding something that is cool to you and sort of tuning out a lot of what other people think. ive sorta gotten that down i hope but with the books nothing just really seemed to go for me. i think a while though i used to be sorta snooby about music around people sometimes in some really small ways and sometimes in really big ways like "this band sucks" saying that to friends or just people i was around talking or listening to music with. now i think ive grown out of that and am cool with really whatever works for anyone musically or with books and that kind of stuff. i think to truly find stuff you like and sort of have a connection with is to branch out and look for all things that you could possibly like. i used to never really like a lot of movies that holloywood put out and then awhile ago i saw school of rock with a friend and we laughed probably the hardest through it. i had seen it before but i rediscovered how funny it really was. now im big on lots of funny movies and jack black and will ferrel and things like that. but if i had listened to what someone had to say about those movies in a more critical way and taken it for the truth i probably would never of found something i really like a lot. |
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| JimJones |
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:35 pm |
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Location: I WANT A SIGNATURE DAMN IT
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| i read books! get silence by john cage! |
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| iliketowrite |
| Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:46 am |
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Location: BC, Canada
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| wow alright, I did not know they were not called graphic novels anymore sorry, how about picture book? comics? I guess i could call them comics from now on. Thompson was a journalist and a writer, he did write about things, that pretty much makes him a writer. He also did it beautifully, the man's rants are truly inspiring. As for Chuck his books are just a fun read so lighten up. Read some Tolstoy |
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| samizdat |
| Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:57 am |
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infinite jest by david foster wallace - 1000+ page novel about everything contemporary america: drug addiction, irony, television, international conspiracy, tennis, and a movie (called infinite jest) that is lethally (literally) entertaining. really hard to sum it up; most of it takes place in a tennis academy and a halfway house right down the street. despite the page length, i found it easy to get through, but that's probably because i liked it so much. easily my favorite book at the moment. it's definitely a like it or love it kinda book. his prose is very cerebral and lengthy.
ficciones by jorge luis borges - arguably his best collection of short stories. amazing and one-of-a-kind author. very concise. the idea lying behind most of his "fictions" is questioning the divide between fiction and non-fiction, mainly by "narrating" as if the events he's talking about actually happened or as if he's in a scholarly debate about certain issues. can get pretty layered/trippy. you house of leaves readers will probably like him. almost always good at ending his stories.
both of these authors might be perceived as relatively difficult... they were completely accessible to me, but i've been reading for a while (one more semester for my english BA). i second the murakami recommendation, specifically wind-up bird; it's a surreal tragedy with great imagery and concealed logic, if that makes sense. |
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| Paperhouse |
| Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:38 am |
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no one's mentioned Nabokov yr all fooooooools! Every sentence is magical. I'd probably consider myself a fan of any writer who once in their life succeeded in doing what he does with every little line.
Vonnegut is my comfort writer. Whenever I don't feel like reading anything, or feel like I haven't read enough lately, I'll pick up one of his and spend a day nestled in his soft arms.
Deleuze is my philosophical soul brother, although I have to temper him with a bit of Levinas to be as ethical as I'd like to be. |
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