930 Forums

Book recommendations

DeathFromAbove1979
Joined: November 29, 2006 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 5038
Book recommendations December 23, 2008 at 07:52 AM UTC #
I just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and I need a new book. I'm sure a lot of you read and I was wondering if there were any good reads you all have come across in the past and maybe what you're reading right now
Darth Ed
Joined: May 19, 2003 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 1159
Re: Book recommendations December 23, 2008 at 05:19 PM UTC #
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon – It's the funniest, the saddest, most disturbing, most beautiful, most disgusting, most rewarding, most amazing novel I've ever read, and the best novel I probably ever will read. The writing is so good that you'll want to read it aloud to savor ever syllable. A sprawling cast (you'll need to take notes to keep track of everyone, seriously) set in Europe during the waning months of WWII. If you have an interest in World War II, physics, rocketry, mathematics, psychology, musicals, statistics, sexual deviancy, Tarot cards, drug usage, mysticism, filmmaking, synchronicity, and conspiracy theories, then this is the book for you! It's a challenging post-modern work, but, if you read Cormac McCarthy, you can handle it. I highly recommend reading A Gravity's Rainbow Companion by Steven Weisenburger concurrently for illumination of the more obscure references.

   What Jessica said– hair much shorter, wearing a darker mouth of different outline, harder lipstick, her typewriter banking in a phalanx of letters between them– was: "We're going to be married. We're trying very hard to have a baby."
   All at once there is nothing but his asshole between Gravity and Roger. "I don't care. Have his baby. I'll love you both– just come with me Jess, please … I need you…."
   She flips a red lever on her intercom. Far away a buzzer goes off. "Security." Her voice is perfectly hard, the word still clap-echoing in the air as in through the screen door of the Quonset office wth a smell of tide flats come the coppers, looking grim. Security. Her magic word, her spell against demons.
Doctor Doom
Joined: April 23, 2001 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 3745
Re: Book recommendations December 23, 2008 at 06:00 PM UTC #
I love Thomas Pynchon's other stuff, but I couldn't even get 1/4 of the way through Gravity's Rainbow.  But I also know other peeps who love it  and love discussing it with others who've read it.  I think your brain just needs to be wired in a very specific way to get it.

DeathFromAbove1979
Joined: November 29, 2006 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 5038
Re: Book recommendations December 23, 2008 at 06:38 PM UTC #
I'll give Gravity's Rainbow a shot, I was looking for something insane. Keep 'em comin!
Darth Ed
Joined: May 19, 2003 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 1159
Re: Book recommendations December 24, 2008 at 03:25 AM UTC #
If you have want something really insane (and fun!), you should try Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. That's another book I recommend reading aloud. Or better yet find a recording of Burroughs reading it. That really added to my appreciation.

I love everything Michael Chabon has written. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a good one to start with. A healthy appeciation of comic books and their history helps with that novel. If that sort of thing doesn't interest you, skip it.

Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is seriously one of the top three or four best novels I've read.

If you like science fiction, do yourself a favor and read everything Gene Wolfe has written.
jaguar
Joined: October 28, 2001 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 3869
Re: Book recommendations December 24, 2008 at 09:11 AM UTC #
Darth wrote:
If you have want something really insane (and fun!), you should try Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. That's another book I recommend reading aloud. Or better yet find a recording of Burroughs reading it. That really added to my appreciation.


That's funny because I was going to recommend the exact same book. The film is pretty good too if you have a head for understanding it all and like that kind of stuff.

I'd also recommend The Town And The City by Jack Kerouac. You have to get past the sickeningly sweet set up but it's important for what is to follow.

Gravity's Rainbow is a serious feast of words. It would also help to have at least of slight bit of understanding of the Tarot in order to follow the plot.

A little Philip K. Dick is always good to get you wondering if all those drugs he consumed opened up some sort of doorway in his mind that allowed him to envision some of the things that were to come.

Seth Hurwitz
Joined: October 02, 1999 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 1014
Re: Book recommendations December 24, 2008 at 12:47 PM UTC #
I read In Cold Blood recently

what a great book
Rhett Miller
Joined: November 15, 2001 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 17762
Re: Book recommendations December 24, 2008 at 12:52 PM UTC #
i'm currently reading and enjoying Something to Tell You by Hanief Kureishi.

Best book I've read in the last five years was A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Mobius
Joined: March 28, 2002 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 1371
Re: Book recommendations December 24, 2008 at 02:53 PM UTC #
Three really good ones I've recently picked up (if you're into sociology, history/politics and/or NBA hoops):

Outliers (now vansmack approved!)
Team of Rivals
Free Darko Presents the Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac

Some other out there (though not naked lunch out there) classics, in case you've missed them:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Confederacy of Dunces


And my favorites from Cormac McCarthy:

The Crossing
All the Pretty Horses
James Ford
Joined: July 22, 2009 at 09:02 PM UTC
Posts: 5620
Re: Book recommendations January 04, 2011 at 01:12 PM UTC #
I'm on a Krakauer roll…

Just finished Under the Banner of Heaven, which points out what a douchey lot the Mormons are. and starting Where Men Win Glory, which prresumably will tell me what a douchey lot the military are.
K8teebug
Joined: August 03, 2004 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 4126
Re: Book recommendations January 04, 2011 at 01:36 PM UTC #
Krakauer is great. 

My favorite book as of late is Everything Matters!  by Ron Currie Jr.  Just a wonderful story.

I have also really loved reading the Song of Ice and Fire Series.  I am not much of a fantasy reader, and these are just really awesome books.  The first one, Game of Thrones, is being adapted for HBO and the producers called the story "Sopranos in Middle Earth".  About sums it up.

The Hunger Games series is fun by Suzanne Collins.  Young adult, but a good dystopia book.  Might not want to read them immediately after The Road, because that's about the best dystopia book I've ever read.

Too Much Happiness - Alice Munro -  great short stories.  I especially liked this book of hers.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender

History of Love and/or Great House - Nicole Krauss.  She is the wife of the guy who wrote Everything is Illuminated.  Both are fantastic.
Relaxer
Joined: October 15, 2001 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 5410
Re: Book recommendations January 04, 2011 at 02:11 PM UTC #


Best book I read in 2010. pretty heartbreaking but overall has an uplifting vibe, testament to the human spirit etc etc. I think Dave Eggers is pretty overrated but I can't fuck with what he did in this book.
James Ford
Joined: July 22, 2009 at 09:02 PM UTC
Posts: 5620
Re: Book recommendations January 04, 2011 at 02:15 PM UTC #
Considering he finished the Road over two years ago, I think he'll be ok.  ;)


K8teebug wrote:
The Hunger Games series is fun by Suzanne Collins.  Young adult, but a good dystopia book.  Might not want to read them immediately after The Road, because that's about the best dystopia book I've ever read.

sweetcell
Joined: July 18, 2006 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 22608
Re: Book recommendations January 04, 2011 at 03:32 PM UTC #
some good recommendations here.  thanks folks.

K8teebug wrote:
The Hunger Games series is fun by Suzanne Collins.  Young adult, but a good dystopia book.  Might not want to read them immediately after The Road, because that's about the best dystopia book I've ever read.

i got in to the hunger games over the holiday break, now on #3 of 3.  quite enjoyable.  minor complaint: the occasional peppering of chick-lit, primarily in the first book - the longing for her father, back in a time when everything was perfect…  ::)  otherwise, a fun light read.
ggw
Joined: December 16, 2001 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 14237
Re: Book recommendations January 04, 2011 at 03:42 PM UTC #
brennser wrote:

A Visit From the Good Squad

http://www.amazon.com/Visit-Goon-Squad-Jennifer-Egan/dp/0307592839


This is in my "to read" stack.  I'm zipping through Kitchen Confidential right now and then diving into the Keith Richards autobiography.

I think the books I enjoyed most in 2010 were Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City and David Goodville's American Subversive
DeathFromAbove1979
Joined: November 29, 2006 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 5038
Re: Book recommendations January 04, 2011 at 06:13 PM UTC #
Currently reading my friend's book. He spent about 2 years writing it. It's a WWII book, but with a nazi experimentation/Indiana Jones twist. I think it's pretty well written and am thuroughly enjoying it. You can read about it more on his site and order a copy. He also has a short story available for download on his site in case you're curious to see what his style is like. The story comes from the 'Lucky Ford Universe'

http://www.unusualoccurrences.com/

If you like action/adventure/WWII stuff, I'd say it's worth the read!
← Back to board