M. (hristine Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 On carlos' recommendation. Just opened it for the first time today. I love that new book smell: "I followed the Abbey method (less a technique for thought and meditation than an opportunity for new possibilities and combinations): go to the wildest place you can find, alone if possible, open your mind, and walk." Link to post Share on other sites
chanman1128 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 When I was around 21 I went on a Kurt Vonnegut tear. Like you, I don't have a great attention span (didn't then either), but his style and imagination (and rather great sense of humor) make the stories fly by. I'd start with Breakfast of Champions. Just finished Breakfast of Champions, I really liked it a lot. ANy other recommendations? Link to post Share on other sites
myboyblue Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Just finished Elmore Leonard's latest - Rain Dogs. Has any other author had that level of pure output? Seems he has been at it forever and still getting it done. Link to post Share on other sites
mpolak21 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Plan on watching all of a mid-quality rip of The Landlord on YouTube (provided it's still up) tonight. --Mike Link to post Share on other sites
awatt Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 For new class I'm teaching in fall... Link to post Share on other sites
M. (hristine Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Plan on watching all of a mid-quality rip of The Landlord on YouTube (provided it's still up) tonight. --MikeHal Ashby was for me a definitive voice in the movies of the 70s. Might need to check this out. Link to post Share on other sites
mpolak21 Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Hal Ashby was for me a definitive voice in the movies of the 70s. Might need to check this out. It's well done, but a little pricey even for a hardback (it's listed at 30 on Amazon). It's good, but it's not 30 dollars good, so I'd recommend tracking it down in a library system or good old fashioned shoplifting. His run of films in the 70's sits alongside the best work of any director in my humble opinion, and no one got better music for a film than Ashby's score of Coming Home Coming Home soundtrack. I go back and forth between Being There and Coming Home as my favorites of his, and Harold and Maude is quite delightful as well. --Mike Link to post Share on other sites
Moss Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Just finished Breakfast of Champions, I really liked it a lot. ANy other recommendations? You have to go with Cat's Cradle at some point. One of my faves. Actually Welcome to the Monkey house is really good and not like his other books. A bunch of short stories that are written in a more "standard" style than his usual prose. Link to post Share on other sites
M. (hristine Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 It's well done, but a little pricey even for a hardback (it's listed at 30 on Amazon). It's good, but it's not 30 dollars good, so I'd recommend tracking it down in a library system or good old fashioned shoplifting. His run of films in the 70's sits alongside the best work of any director in my humble opinion, and no one got better music for a film than Ashby's score of Coming Home Coming Home soundtrack. I go back and forth between Being There and Coming Home as my favorites of his, and Harold and Maude is quite delightful as well. --Mike Add Shampoo to your list and you have the four pillars of 70s culture. It has been 20 years since I watched Coming Home, but Time Has Come Today and the climax of that movie are inextricably woven together in my mind. Not unlike the opening scenes in Apocalypse Now underpinned with The End by the Doors. Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 You have to go with Cat's Cradle at some point. One of my faves. Seconded - and, my personal favorite of his is Galapagos. Link to post Share on other sites
ms. yvon Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 When I was around 21 I went on a Kurt Vonnegut tear. Like you, I don't have a great attention span (didn't then either), but his style and imagination (and rather great sense of humor) make the stories fly by. I'd start with Breakfast of Champions.me, too! good call, sir s. i started reading ray bradbury's "dandelion wine" yesterday. it's my annual summer read. the tough bit is stretching it out through the season. Link to post Share on other sites
borracho Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 i'm reading this right now... read The Road and loved it, but it's so bleak and depressing! that was my first McCarthy book and am now getting into the rest of his catalog... Link to post Share on other sites
Lodestar Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 i'm reading this right now... read The Road and loved it, but it's so bleak and depressing! that was my first McCarthy book and am now getting into the rest of his catalog... I read the first 100 pages of Blood Meridian a couple months ago, but had to put it down. Just nothing at all about it moved me -- I couldn't see the characters, didn't care about them at all. And I got the same sense from the narrator, which compounded everything and made it worse. Sorry, Cormac. I'll probably try again in the future, since there are obviously people who consider the book sacred. I'm on the last story of a Richard Ford collection called A Multitude of Sins. If he's not the best living American writer, I need to read whoever is, because I'm just plowing through Ford's canon right now. Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 The Dharma Bums. Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 The Dharma Bums. I re-read that the other day. I still have the paper back of that and On The Road I got when I was about 18, I think. Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I re-read that the other day. I still have the paper back of that and On The Road I got when I was about 18, I think.This is my first read of it. I don't know why I never got around to reading it before, but here I am. I've got a compilation book that covers On the Road, The Dharma Bums, and The Subterraneans and a very detailed introduction about the stories, his life, his relationship with the press, etc. Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 This is my first read of it. I don't know why I never got around to reading it before, but here I am. I've got a compilation book that covers On the Road, The Dharma Bums, and The Subterraneans and a very detailed introduction about the stories, his life, his relationship with the press, etc. Mine are cheapy paperbacks. Visions of Cody - you should read that one. Here is the list: # The Town and the City (1946-1949) # On the Road (1948-1956) # Visions of Cody (1951-1952) # Pic (1951 & 1969) # Book of Dreams (1952-1960) # Doctor Sax (1952) # Maggie Cassidy (1953) # The Subterraneans (1953) # Tristessa (1955-1956) # Visions of Gerard (1956) # The Dharma Bums (1957) # Lonesome Traveler (1960)# Big Sur (1961) # Desolation Angels (1965) # Satori in Paris (1965) # Vanity of Duluoz (1968) Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Yeah, Visions of Cody is definitely on my list.... Link to post Share on other sites
gogo Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 So everyone in this thread seemed to think Columbine was a worthwhile read, huh? I'm hearing some mixed reviews in my real life... Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Yeah, Visions of Cody is definitely on my list.... I wish I could find this edition:Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac Visions of Cody by Jack KerouacMcGraw Hill, 1972, First Edition, intro by Allen Ginsberg. That was the edition I first read. Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Bummer you don't still have it. There's a used copy on Amazon for $75! It's the 1972 rather than the 1959 "1st edition," too.... Link to post Share on other sites
chanman1128 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 You have to go with Cat's Cradle at some point. One of my faves. Actually Welcome to the Monkey house is really good and not like his other books. A bunch of short stories that are written in a more "standard" style than his usual prose. I actually just finished cat's cradle today and i loved it. I loved both Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle, so Slaughter-House Five is next. Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I actually just finished cat's cradle today and i loved it. I loved both Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle, so Slaughter-House Five is next.Slaughterhouse-Five is the only Vonnegut I've started and not finished. Not sure why. Funny that you mentioned Catch-22 when you were first looking for suggestions: I've lumped the two together in my mind as two not dissimilar books I'll probably never get around to finishing. Link to post Share on other sites
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