Anybody Read?

[Titus]

Mad magezine... haha

Um, at the mo I'm reading a play called shopping and fucking.

Then im in the first 60 or something pages of the ultimate hitchhikers guide

There has been the band of brothers book, jurassic park, lost world

And suprise, the wholoe X-Wing series of star wars to the likes of the bacta war, Ysannes revenge, wraith squadron etc. plus the phantom menace, ep 4 + 5, shadows of the empire. Bountyhunter tales. The new rebellion, dark force rising, rebel dawn, smugglars run.

Guess you can say iv'e read enough star wars huh?

[akda1ndaonly1]

Mad magezine... haha

I love that!

But yeah, I just had to read The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury for school. It was pretty interesting.

Edit:

Oh and I'm reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Really good book IMO.

[Toilet Duck]

i'm reading "prozac nation".

in addition, one of my favorite books is "flowers for algernon" by daniel keyes - the novel version, not the novella. and j.d. salinger's "catcher in the rye" is so wonderfully angsty.

[bp32]

The Alienist and Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr, Crytonomicon, and Of Mice and Men...

[drinian]

Let's see, where to start...

I guess I'll try to limit to fiction.

I have yet to find anything by Charles Dickens that I have disliked, save perhaps The Pickwick Papers, which may have been too topical and hard to access as a modern reader.

Read Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. Don't bother with the 750-page Gravity's Rainbow.

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is also excellent.

For lighter reading, I enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Tolkien and Rowling I doubt I'll have to mention here, but C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia sometimes get overlooked.

C.S. Lewis also wrote an excellent science-fiction trilogy, namely, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.

Someone else mentioned Ray Bradbury, and you certainly can't go wrong with his works. Arthur C. Clarke is a little more spotty, but 2001 is good. You can't argue with the guy who invented the space elevator.

Can you tell I'm a tremendous Anglophile?

[Sventevith]

I don't have time to read the entire thread at the moment - but yes. I read a lot, manga is just a minority of what I "read".

[Toilet Duck]

oh yeah, and i started reading narnia a little while ago... before i even knew that a movie of "the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" was being made. my family had an old box set of the complete series, and i don't think anyone ever read it or cared about it, so i swiped it. :)

[Mr. Tines]

The Alienist and Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr, Crytonomicon, and Of Mice and Men...

If you liked Cryptonomicon, you should enjoy Stephenson's later opus, the Baroque Cycle - Quicksilver (which should have been titled Danny Waterhouse and the Philosopher's Stone)/The Confusion/The System of the World.

There is speculation that he is committing trilogy, and that a third work in the continuity may eventually appear to wrap up the loose ends.

@drinian
I'll second Lot 49, and agree with your assessment of Clarke - much of his work is mostly of historical interest - but my vote goes for The City and the Stars.

And did you ever read the fragment of Lewis' 4th Ransom tale, The Dark Tower?

[Space Penis]

Does Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche count as fiction? IMO it's one of the greatest books ever written.

Also, everyone should read Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance, but y'know, everyone who's likely to read it probably already has.

[Shnooks]

Also, everyone should read Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance, but y'know, everyone who's likely to read it probably already has.

My dad read that a long time ago, along with my mom.

[Space Penis]

Also, everyone should read Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance, but y'know, everyone who's likely to read it probably already has.

My dad read that a long time ago, along with my mom.

Have you read it? You should. It's great. AFAIK it's the only book ever to get good reviews from both TIME and Vogue.

[drinian]

And did you ever read the fragment of Lewis' 4th Ransom tale, The Dark Tower?

Haven't, but I did hear about some of the controversy surrounding it and Walter Hooper. Is it worth reading?

Incidentally, if you're a Lewis fan, I can point you to a few active (or they were last year when I left them) Yahoo groups, one of which occasionally gets contributions from C.S. Lewis' stepson Douglas Gresham. Last I heard from him he was very excited about the new Wardrobe movie, which was then entering principal filming.

[Mr. Tines]

And did you ever read the fragment of Lewis' 4th Ransom tale, The Dark Tower?

Haven't, but I did hear about some of the controversy surrounding it and Walter Hooper. Is it worth reading?

Mainly historical interest - and as a Cambridge man, it was amusing to see anther of the Inklings (Oxford) using the University Library as a Dark Tower. JRRTolkien's drawings of Barad Dur share the same architenture too.

[Carl Horn]

And did you ever read the fragment of Lewis' 4th Ransom tale, The Dark Tower?

Haven't, but I did hear about some of the controversy surrounding it and Walter Hooper. Is it worth reading?

Mainly historical interest - and as a Cambridge man, it was amusing to see anther of the Inklings (Oxford) using the University Library as a Dark Tower. JRRTolkien's drawings of Barad Dur share the same architenture too.

Cambridge? As The Young Ones were told on University Challenge, "No, the posh kids win--they always do."

I mostly read non-fiction; history. George Orwell deserves to be read for more than just his most famous work; he was one of those rare literary leftists who not only thought for himself, but went out to see for himself and do for himself. HOMAGE TO CATALONIA, about his combat as an anarchist soldier in Spain, is great (you know, at one time Miyazaki talked about doing another "pig" anime set in the Spanish Civil War), as is DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON. Actually, Orwell's essays on almost any subject are worth reading.

[Mr. Tines]

Cambridge? As The Young Ones were told on University Challenge, "No, the posh kids win--they always do."

I plead not guilty. I was a grammar school oik, a scholarship boy, whose dad used to work in steel mill. Once there, I was horrified to see the cream (i.e. the rich and thick) of the nation's youth - I'd vaguely assumed that sort of people were something out of history, had vanished with the war.

[Ryo]

I can't believe I've missed this thread... I mean, I even have favorite authors and stuff!

David Eddings - I suggest checking his books out if you're into fantasy, especially the stories about Sparhawk.

Stephen King - The horror, the horror! The book about a Buick 8 (I can't remember the English title) gave me the creeps. Seriously.

Robert Jordan - His "Wheel of Time" is a winner. I'm still waiting for the next book!

Michael Moore and Al Franken - Because I agree with them most of the time.


Update!


Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle - Well, duh!

[Shnooks]

Stephen King - The horror, the horror!

he is mah luver.

[Carl Horn]

Cambridge? As The Young Ones were told on University Challenge, "No, the posh kids win--they always do."

I plead not guilty. I was a grammar school oik, a scholarship boy, whose dad used to work in steel mill. Once there, I was horrified to see the cream (i.e. the rich and thick) of the nation's youth - I'd vaguely assumed that sort of people were something out of history, had vanished with the war.

I knew you weren't a toff But we're honored to have a Cambridge man on this forum. In fact I think I'm going to add that boast to my evamonkey flyer.

ALL: [singing] Rah, rah, rah, we're going to smash the oinks! Ha ha ha ha ha!

LORD WASHING MACHINE: You know, it's a rotten shame. I went to see the Careers Officer in Big College yesterday, and he said all he'd got left is chairman of British Rail! Well, I wanted to be Director General of the BBC.

LORD SNOT: Yes, it's rotten, they gave it to Skapper just because he directed our world tour of "Hamlet" and wrote our hilarious revue, "What Ho, Darkie". Honestly, chairman of a nationalized industry -- I'd rather be a Cabinet Minister!

KENDAL MINTCAKE: Well, I'm alright, 'cause my Daddy's bought me the Socialist Workers' Party for my birthday!

MISS MONEY-STERLING: At least we're going to smash the oinks at Scumbag College in University Challenge.

LORD SNOT: We've just got time before my balls drop!

—From THE YOUNG ONES, "Bambi"

[Space Penis]

<snip young ones>

I've got a porche. Meyaah!

[Vulkurt]

I read. I read daily. I read copious amounts. Unfortunately, it's all student papers. :x

When I do get to read for pleasure, I like to read a mix of fiction and non-fiction. I have been trying to get through Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of WWII by John Dower, which is excellent.

But, my all-time favorite is Bret Easton Ellis. I got to actually meet him last Wednesday night at a book signing of his latest: Lunar Park. Here's a pic:

[url]http://www.profdutterer.com/bee3.jpg[/url]

However, I would NOT recommend his books to everyone, as they contain lots of pornographic sex, graphic violence, drug use, and genearlly bad behavior. Sensitive readers should steer well away.