books, books, books

SoLikeCandy · Post by **SoLikeCandy** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:50 am

I've been reading "The Egg Code" by Mike Heppener. It's a damn good book. I still, however, don't really know what it's about.

After reading classical literature all semester, I decided to also treat myself by reading "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King--the original, not the new one. An old favorite. Any fellow sci-fi geeks might consider getting in on the ground floor with the Dark Tower series--the fifth in a series of 7 books was released last month, and the last two will be released next year. I can't wait! It's escapism at its best.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:00 am

mood swung wrote:El Vez wrote:
-The Hours by Michael Cunningham
-Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

I bought these for my girlfriend and they now sit wrapped (badly, I might add!) under our tiny Xmas tree.
now that's not right! that's half the fun of a new book, being the first one to crack the spine! Santa is watching you, buddy.

I'm sorry MS, I don't quite get what you're saying. Should I have kept the books for myself? Not wrapped them?

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:04 am

I think she means you should have waited for your girl to read them first, then borrowed them.

I'm reading Brick Lane, which I just bought for my mother for the holidays. But my copy is from the library. See how it works, ElV?

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:10 am

I haven't read either book yet or even opened them. I bought them and immediately came home to wrap them and that was that. No cheating on my part. I guess I should have stated something to that effect rather than just posting on this thread without a disclaimer.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 12:11 pm

well, then El Vez, I'll put you back on the Good list. And I'll throw in one of those nice folding bookcases from B & N, too. Ho!Ho!Ho!

and another Dark Tower book is out? I live in a cave, not under a rock. how did I miss this? off to amend my wish list....

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:39 am

wish list amended.

**warning** overuse of the italics button below.

I just finished Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam Jr. I learned way more than I ever wanted to know about flanges and nozzles and rocket propellants, but it's really an interesting portrait of its time. I haven't seen the movie, but I'll be looking to rent it soon 'cos parts of it or all of it for all I know were filmed around here. I'm currently halfway thru Lee Smith's The Christmas Letters, which is just a tad schmaltzy (like Christmas can be), but she is just soooo damn good. Fair and Tender Ladies is probably my fave by her, but Saving Grace is also good and Oral History is exquisite. I got a phone call. A phone call from Hell.....

Post by **BlueChair** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 11:59 am

I'm reading The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. A great read so far.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 12:12 pm

I'm reading Road To McCarthy by Pete McCarthy. So far it's very funny just like his first book.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 3:10 pm

-Bushwacked: Life in George W. Bush's America by Molly Ivins & Lou DuBose. I really liked their previous book on Dubya and was very pleased to have this one waiting for me under the Xmas tree.

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:24 pm

Not a "book", per se, but a play in book form.

"The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee, for a new class I'm taking focusing on contemporary drama in English language. Interesting play.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:55 pm

"The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee, for a new class I'm taking focusing on contemporary drama in English language. Interesting play

I'm going to see Albee's Goat play in London in a few weeks. I believe its very good. Anyone out there seen the US production?

sulkygirl · Post by **sulkygirl** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 11:29 pm

SoLikeCandy wrote:After reading classical literature all semester, I decided to also treat myself by reading "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King--the original, not the new one. An old favorite. Any fellow sci-fi geeks might consider getting in on the ground floor with the Dark Tower series--the fifth in a series of 7 books was released last month, and the last two will be released next year. I can't wait! It's escapism at its best.

have yet to read book 5 (still too expensive in hardcover, although I did ask for it at Christmas), love the series!!

Could've done without the whole "Susan" bit in #4, but, I guess it remains essential to the story. Have read some of the exerpts (sp??) for #5 (the part about the "little sisters"), looks promising!!

Am currently re-reading James Michener's "Mexico".

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 11:38 pm

Got Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland for Xmas. I love his books, and I really look forward to reading this one. Right now, I'm stuck in an Al Franken whirlpool. I polished off Lies and the Lying liars who Tell Them (really funny) and am in the middle of rereading Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot (and other observations), which holds up very well. I also have Why Not Me? (story of the fictional rise and fall of the Al Franken presidency [the me administration?]). Anyway, Al Franken's writing is just really great. He's outrageous and biased as hell. He uses the same techniques the peope he hates use to get his point across. Of course he does it intentionally for the very purpose of exposing how so many politicians, pundits and political authors abuse their positions. And it's brilliant satire.

I recommend all of the above books.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:56 am

For the sports weenies out there, Jane Leavy's new biography of Sandy Koufax is outstanding.

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:46 am

Noise: The Franken books are great, but for balance I read the O'Reilly's too. He's not as funny. I'm interested in reading Copeland's stuff. Can you recommend a good starting point?

Blue: Professor and the Madman is great.

Over Christmas I read Hard Times and Bleak House by Dickens. Loved them both. Hard Times is a great socialist novel; I'll probably assign it for my AP government class next year. Bleak House is more sprawling and deals with matters of the heart and the ridiculousness of the Chancery Court system in England, with the plight of England's orphans (a usual Dickens device) thrown in for good measure. Brilliant stuff.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 12:10 pm

Oh, pophead, I just read Bleak House! So good!

Currently reading The Master and Margarita. Anyone got any thoughts on that one?

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 12:12 pm

Pophead2k,

O'Reilly's books are fine for balance, but as you say, he's humor-challenged. Actually, each of Franken's books is well balanced by different authors. Lies deserves to be balanced by Bias by Bernie Goldberg. Goldberg is biased himself, but then aren't we alll... Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot almost requires a reading of one of Rush's books (of the two I would go to See I Told You So, which is more outrageous and cocky--thus more infuriating and entertaining).

Coupland is my favorite contemporary author of fiction. The best starting place is with his first book, Generation X (he coined that overused term in application to my age greoup). It's still one of his absolute best. And I like them all, but other highlights are Microserfs, Girlfriend in a Coma, and Miss Wyoming. Those are all just fabulous books. I really like Shampoo Planet, but it was the Generation X follow-up, and it suffered a bit from comparrison. All Families are Psychotic is very good as well. With repeated reading, it will likely become one of my favorites. Still, start with Generation X, and if you like it, none of them should dissapoint you much. He has also written some non-fiction and a collection of short stories that I adore called Life After God.

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 8:26 am

Thanks Noise, I'll check out Generation X first. I've always avoided it simply because I fall at the front end of that particular label and I never liked it! Its weird how we make these associations in our minds.

MBA: Are you a regular Dickens reader, or was Bleak House one of your first? If you haven't read it, I can't recommend enough The Pickwick Papers, which I believe was his first novel. By far his funniest, although it does have a long section in the middle which deals with debtor's prison and is pretty gloomy.

Has anyone else on the board read The Good Soldier Scveyk (sp?) by Jaroslev Hasek? One of the best war satires ever written by an amazing
Czech personality back in the 20s.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 8:49 am

pophead2k,

That label is highly annoying. Even Douglas Coupland thinks so, and he winces every time it's overused. The thing to remember is that before his book, the only Generation X was Billy Idol's band. Coupland tells a funny story about how he was noticing that this term he coined for the 21-35 year old set at the beginning of the 1990's was getting extended youger and younger, to his dismay. The book is about three disaffected young adults trying to make sense of the postmodern landscape. Not a teenybopper in sight. But some clothing company called him to get permission to print and mass market "Generation X" t-shirts. Coupland said, "There's nothing less Generation X than a Generation X t-shirt."

"Styrofoam. Ten minutes of convenience; ten thousand years in the local landfill."

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:27 am

pophead2k wrote:MBA: Are you a regular Dickens reader, or was Bleak House one of your first? If you haven't read it, I can't recommend enough The Pickwick Papers, which I believe was his first novel. By far his funniest, although it does have a long section in the middle which deals with debtor's prison and is pretty gloomy.

I've read: David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. So I guess I'm somewhere in between. I've read David Copperfield about three times, though. I'll definitely check out The Pickwick Papers, thanks for the suggestion, pophead.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:39 am

Great to see Dickens being mentioned! The man was a genius! I love the characters he uses in his books. Did you know one of the reasons many of them are so suspenseful, is that they were originally published as articles in a weekly magazine! Funny to think that someone so highly revered now, started out as a hack!
His first publication, incidentally, was Sketches by Boz (a book about life in london), but then he wrote the Pickwick Papers novel.

My personal favourites are 'Nicholas Nickleby', 'Great Expectations' and 'A Christmas carol and other haunting tales'

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 12:33 am

Dickens actually goes in and out of literary fashion because some people -- not me -- STILL think he's a hack. (Evelyn Waugh, I believe, hated Dickens.)

ice nine · Post by **ice nine** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 9:01 pm

Just began The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors by John Gribbin. It is an easy read and the subject matter is fascinating.

Post by **BlueChair** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 9:06 pm

Just read another play, The Homecoming by Harold Pinter

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 6:05 am

Finally got round to reading Stupid White Men.