Author Topic: books to read  (Read 431279 times)

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givecigstosurfgroms

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2790 on: January 09, 2018, 09:13:16 AM »
I haven't read much but I remember liking "Artic Dreams"  which I read on va ca in mex once.  Great writing with mind blowing facts about how polar bears will travel 200 miles in a period of 3 days or how these whales or seals will have a hole a metre or two square that hasn't frozen yet that is the last connection between to VAST bodies of ocean that will freeze closed for the winter.  They end up having to go thru one at a time and they travel thousands of miles to get there and its location obviously is different every year and they know where it is regardless, with a day or two to spare.
"I just care about the river, I dont care about your back"

Alan

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2791 on: January 09, 2018, 09:56:02 AM »
I haven't read much but I remember liking "Artic Dreams"  which I read on va ca in mex once.  Great writing with mind blowing facts about how polar bears will travel 200 miles in a period of 3 days or how these whales or seals will have a hole a metre or two square that hasn't frozen yet that is the last connection between to VAST bodies of ocean that will freeze closed for the winter.  They end up having to go thru one at a time and they travel thousands of miles to get there and its location obviously is different every year and they know where it is regardless, with a day or two to spare.

Nice one. It's important to learn about history.
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givecigstosurfgroms

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2792 on: January 09, 2018, 10:54:12 AM »
Expand Quote
I haven't read much but I remember liking "Artic Dreams"  which I read on va ca in mex once.  Great writing with mind blowing facts about how polar bears will travel 200 miles in a period of 3 days or how these whales or seals will have a hole a metre or two square that hasn't frozen yet that is the last connection between to VAST bodies of ocean that will freeze closed for the winter.  They end up having to go thru one at a time and they travel thousands of miles to get there and its location obviously is different every year and they know where it is regardless, with a day or two to spare.
[close]
  Is that a global warming ref. ?    good one
Nice one. It's important to learn about history.
"I just care about the river, I dont care about your back"

tortfeasor

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2793 on: January 12, 2018, 09:26:58 AM »

Late to the party but I like it.


no shame in fun books. angels and demons is even better.



wrapping up this:


it had some cool parts but i'm not jumping up and down to recommend it.   sadly the last three books ive read have all kind of been a wash (lost city, shogun, and rise of the warrior cop).  im going back to dumb beach novels until  The Cadaver King finally gets released in feb.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 09:31:15 AM by tortfeasor »
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tortfeasor

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2794 on: January 12, 2018, 09:30:34 AM »
just finished me talk pretty one day, I really enjoyed it! Friend lent it to me about a year ago and I finally started it last week. I'm on homage to Catalonia now. I was thinking about that book about the replacements called trouble boys if any of you have read it

dude you should just ride the sedaris train and hop into Naked or Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.  one of the few authors that makes me actually laugh out loud when reading.
more heaven-cruise than hell-ride.

NeppuNeppu

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2795 on: January 30, 2018, 03:32:02 PM »
Finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and it was pretty rad. Not the most outstanding book, but it was really good. Still working through The Situationist International Anthology and it's some of the sickest philosophy I've read.
Going to start Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti soon.

botefdunn

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2796 on: January 30, 2018, 07:53:25 PM »
k. sello duiker, thirteen cents


read it for a lit class, really good though heavy. streets if capetown from a kids perspective,  somethinglike Tsotsi if you've see it, i don't have many references for south african stories though.

Trashcon

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2797 on: January 30, 2018, 09:08:09 PM »
If anyone liked "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk" (Stooges, MC5, Ramones, Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, Blondie, etc) check out "We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001" talks about Oblivians, New Bomb Turks, The Spits, Mummies, Jay Reatard, etc. Great read if you're into this music. Even if you're not, most of these punk heroes got into some heavy stuff that's interesting to read about.

slappies

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2798 on: January 31, 2018, 08:14:14 AM »
If anyone liked "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk" (Stooges, MC5, Ramones, Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, Blondie, etc) check out "We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001" talks about Oblivians, New Bomb Turks, The Spits, Mummies, Jay Reatard, etc. Great read if you're into this music. Even if you're not, most of these punk heroes got into some heavy stuff that's interesting to read about.

Woah good suggestion, I wasn't even aware of that book.
To add to this, check out "Treat Me Like Dirt" it's essentially the Canadian equivalent to "Please Kill Me". It focuses on the Toronto/Hamilton scene in the same time frame.
CRACK RAIDER RAZOR

fergus

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2799 on: February 01, 2018, 02:32:25 AM »
Rereading Mother Night by Vonnegut, even better the second time around.

SFblah

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2800 on: February 01, 2018, 09:49:07 AM »
If you like Cormac McCarthy then you’ll love this. A Swede travels across the country during early 1900s.


Found this Scottish press called Charco that translates contemporary Latin American authors. I ordered all 5 they published so far. This is a really short read that has dictator undertones.

tortfeasor

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2801 on: February 02, 2018, 12:14:43 PM »

pretty early into this and already ready to say it will probably land on my top 10 nonfiction books of all time....





probably the only time i have used the phrase "fucking gnar" in a book review.
more heaven-cruise than hell-ride.

SFblah

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2802 on: February 03, 2018, 05:45:36 PM »
I knew Mark Suciu was getting some type of literature degree and thought of him while I was on Goodreads so if you wanna know what he reads here it is. Wonder what other pros have a Goodreads.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/57272458-mark-suciu

Anyone here on GR?

Alan

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2803 on: February 03, 2018, 07:06:06 PM »
Ha!

I haven't updated mine in years... It's kinda a chore.
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Grind King Rims

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2804 on: February 04, 2018, 06:21:22 AM »
As always, +1 for absolute nerdery.

tortfeasor

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2805 on: February 05, 2018, 10:51:47 AM »
my reading taste is far too plebeian to clink glasses with the fine reviewers of good reads.  so fuck that... ill stick to amazon reviews thank you very much.
more heaven-cruise than hell-ride.

shark tits

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2806 on: February 07, 2018, 05:07:38 PM »
'the stranger in the woods' by michael finkel. it's about a hermit in maine who burgled cabins and avoided human contact for 27 yrs.
i'm 33% done and he said he never got sick because you get sick from touching other humans. craze!
haven't got into the why's of it all but as someone who's contemplated going 'into the wild' it's curious.
he's kind of a book snob and he's locked up in augusta, i lived there for a few months. check it out if you like maine, hermits or interviews w/ jailbirds. 

Lobo

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2807 on: February 08, 2018, 11:58:29 AM »
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,I read it every year and now is the time!
Great read btw.

streetsoup

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2808 on: February 08, 2018, 04:45:28 PM »
Been loving Zane Grey novels lately. Classic westerns based throughout the united states, based on facts regarding native american conflicts, settling land, etc. Two that are really good are "The Last of the Plainsmen" and "Riders of the Purple Sage"

BuckyFellini

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2809 on: February 22, 2018, 06:12:55 PM »
Just finished Ubik by Philip K Dick. I got kind of burnt out on PKD a while ago after reading a bunch of his books in a row  - didn't even finish the last one I started. Some of his work is so out there that I don't even think he knew how to bring it back. But I'm so glad I finally bought Ubik. It's actually one of my favourites from him now. Really great story with good pacing.

A few others I've read recently:

Suttree - Cormac McCarthy, which was the last book of his for me to read. It was actually a nice way to wrap up his novels as it's lighter than most of his other work and doesn't leave you with a feeling of absolute despair at the end. I actually laughed out loud a couple times which I never thought would happen reading McCarthy.

Pimp - Iceberg Slim. This book is worth reading just for the dialogue alone. It's amazing.

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote. Picked up this one based on recommendations from this thread. Wasn't sure if I wanted to read over 350 pages centered on one crime scene but really enjoyed it. The thing that hooked me in right away with this book was Capote's writing style. Will have to check out the 1967 movie.

I Heard You Paint Houses": Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran & Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa - Charles Brandt. Loved this book, read through it super fast. It has a shitload of gnarly stories. Frank Sheeran had a lot to tell. Everything from union busting to mafia dealings to WWII to JFK to Hoffa. Martin Scorsese is actually making a movie based on this book called The Irishman. Really looking forward to it.


Next up is Notes on Blood Meridian: Revised and Expanded Edition - John Sepich, which almost definitely means I'll be rereading Blood Meridian right after that. Might have to check out that Hernan Diaz book posted above as well.

« Last Edit: February 22, 2018, 06:16:07 PM by BuckyFellini »

Andrefosho

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2810 on: February 25, 2018, 08:55:44 AM »

I did not have an idea about Dr. Sacks, this book just showed up in some year-best-books list. I was compelled to start it because of the motorcycle stories and by glancing over his bio on wikipedia convinced me to learn about this man. Thoroughly enjoyed the book and I plan to visit other Dr. Sacks writings.

 
I'm fascinated by spaceflight and by people who are doing it. This book dives into the characters who are born with the stuff to fly jets.


Same spaceflight obsession, and reading Endurance led me to read The Right Stuff. Good insight what happens at modern day spaceflight operation.


This I "read" as an audiobook. I will join tortfeasor and describe this as "fucking gnar". I picked up this book because my girlfriend's father has been sent to Afghanistan as part of his mandatory military service still when our country was part of USSR. Unfortunately damage has been done and he is not in his best shape neither physically nor mentally. War is the worst.

tortfeasor

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2811 on: March 08, 2018, 07:55:02 AM »
took longer than i thought but finished "Rise and Kill First" book was fucking amazing and led to a lot of side research.
i would give it a glowing 8/10 (5 being average).  Really heavy book though.  Since the rest of my queue is apears to also cover some seriously heavy topics i have decided to lighten up my content and throw this book into the mix.   excited for this one. easily one of my top 5 writers.


   
more heaven-cruise than hell-ride.

handsclapanin

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2812 on: March 08, 2018, 11:30:43 AM »
Recently finished another Haruki Murakami book. Kafka on the Shore. After reading so many of his books in a row; they all kind of blend together with their similar themes. Decided to stop using this thread as a Post you reading Thread and actually take some recommendations.
That being said:



Recently read this for the second time. It's a semi-autobiographical satire about the Devil coming to Moscow and laying bare hypocrisy and corruption. Bulgakov was never published in his lifetime - he struggled with censorship and was marginalized because his work didn't contain heroic communist characters. The Master and Margarita is his seminal novel and his life's work - he dictated revisions to his wife shortly before his death. A staggering, wonderful book.

Just finished this and really enjoyed it. If not likable; he made the Devil out to be not such a bad guy. And Behemoth, the cat, was hilarious. Thanks for the rec!

Grind King Rims

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2813 on: March 08, 2018, 04:16:53 PM »
handsclapanin, which Murakami book would you recommend to start on?

Just finished Women by Bukowski and I do not know why I read so much Bukowski, but that had to have been the worst. It really lacked anything of substance.

handsclapanin

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2814 on: March 09, 2018, 08:10:17 AM »
handsclapanin, which Murakami book would you recommend to start on?



I'd go with After Dark.
It's one of his shorter ones.
Kafka on the Shore and Wind Up Bird Chronicles are his long big novels.
I feel like you still get the same elements in his shorter works. Dreams, music (jazz & classical) and a little sex seem to permeate all his writing.

Grind King Rims

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2815 on: March 09, 2018, 08:13:55 AM »
Right on, right on, I can get down with all of the above. Cheers man.

7 year old

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2816 on: March 09, 2018, 11:57:50 AM »
I wouldn't recommend reading the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles.
I just finished it the other day, it's a good book, but there was no fucking reason it should have been that long. Felt like he was throwing shit at the wall a lot of the time.

I like his book of short stories called After the Quake. I got a lot more (in less time) out of that one.

ShredWilliams

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2817 on: March 10, 2018, 10:12:43 AM »
handsclapanin, which Murakami book would you recommend to start on?

Just finished Women by Bukowski and I do not know why I read so much Bukowski, but that had to have been the worst. It really lacked anything of substance.

I’m not handsclapanin, but I would recommend Norwegian Wood. That was my first Murakami. Quick and easy read. Not as far out as some of the others.

Grind King Rims

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2818 on: March 10, 2018, 01:19:47 PM »
Expand Quote
handsclapanin, which Murakami book would you recommend to start on?

Just finished Women by Bukowski and I do not know why I read so much Bukowski, but that had to have been the worst. It really lacked anything of substance.
[close]

I’m not handsclapanin, but I would recommend Norwegian Wood. That was my first Murakami. Quick and easy read. Not as far out as some of the others.

Thank you. +1

Chinaski's underpants

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2819 on: March 10, 2018, 05:54:21 PM »
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
handsclapanin, which Murakami book would you recommend to start on?

Just finished Women by Bukowski and I do not know why I read so much Bukowski, but that had to have been the worst. It really lacked anything of substance.
[close]

I’m not handsclapanin, but I would recommend Norwegian Wood. That was my first Murakami. Quick and easy read. Not as far out as some of the others.
[close]

Thank you. +1

I would also recommend 'Hard-boiled Wonderland...', much more straightforward sci-fi, closer to a Vonnegut novel.