bobbob1313 Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I really think sometimes that a lot of the best writing ever was done by children's authors. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
austrya Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I really think sometimes that a lot of the best writing ever was done by children's authors. Have you read any of the Mysterious Benedict Society books? They're awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RainDogToo Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 The Catcher in the Rye- JD SalingerOn the Road- Jack KeouracGirl, Interrupted- Susanna KaysenChronicles- Bob Dylan A Coney Island Of the Mind- Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Poetry book count?) To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper LeeA Scanner Darkly-Phliip K DickThe Painted Bird- Jerzy KosinskiFear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. ThomsonNaked Lunch- William S BurroughsAll the Pretty Horses- Cormac McCarthyHam On Rye - Charles BukowskiBound for Glory- Woody GuthrieI Have America Surrounded- John Higgs Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Hollinger. Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 The only reason I finished Owen Meany was that I had to read it for... AP English Lit, I believe. I'm really glad I did, the last third of the book makes it all worthwhile. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kathyp Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I'll add to the love for Catcher In The Rye, a book that meant the world to me as a 14-year-old, but less so when I tried to re-read it in my twenties. Others (which I hope haven't been mentioned yet): The Golden Notebook - Doris LessingSlouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan DidionThe End Of Alice - AM HomesThe Easter Parade - Richard Yates Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aeglos Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 The Gift - NabokovThe Captive Mind - Czeslaw MiloszThe Immoralist - Andre GideCrime and Punishment - DostoevskyAda or Ardor - NabokovTender is the Night - Fitzgerald hon. mentions to any P. G. Wodehouse Jeeves or Blandings story and The Player of Games by Iain M Banks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kalle Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Slaughter House Five - VonnegutOf Mice And Men - SteinbeckLolita - NabakovFifth Business - DaviesTo Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RaspberryJam Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Donna, don't think I've given up on Brothers K! I'm slowly working my way through it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Good Old Neon Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 So, after years and years of wanting but not quite ever knowing exactly what sort of tattoo to have tattooed on meself I've decided to have the last sentence of Wallace's Infinite Jest incribed on the inside of my arm. As follows: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Just make sure your tattoo artist spellchecks 400,000 times before the needle hits your arm. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Don't forget to factor in costs for a lengthy "Notes and Errata" piece to be tattooed on your thigh explaining the sentence.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mpolak21 Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Don't forget to factor in costs for a lengthy "Notes and Errata" piece to be tattooed on your thigh explaining the sentence.... . You could tattoo some of the footnotes (though they are actually end notes) on your feet. Infinite Jest should have been on my list as well. --Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The High Heat Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Chronicles- Bob DylanSome of the finest writing I've come across, especially the first section ~ simple and elegant. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The High Heat Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper LeeThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark TwainRoots - Alex HaleyMystic River - Dennis LehaneThe Alchemist - Paulo Coelho Also love Richard Russo.Anybody read The Ha-Ha by Dave King; or Between the Bridge and the River by (TV's) Craig Ferguson? Not top 5 material but good reads. Don't be put off by a book being written by a tv star - not Ferguson anyway. His book blends humor, religion, sex and philosophy very well. His first novel - the writing gets better as the book goes on. I just bought Owen Meany at the local library sale (along with two other Irving novels) and it was my intention to read that next. Glad to see it so highly praised. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Donna, don't think I've given up on Brothers K! I'm slowly working my way through it! It's another of those great big books that slowly but surely draws you in with the beautiful writing and the involved individual stories. I love these characters like family (only without all the bickering at get-togethers ). I don't think I've ever hated more for a book to end. I wanted it to go on forever. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 It's another of those great big books that slowly but surely draws you in with the beautiful writing and the involved individual stories. I love these characters like family (only without all the bickering at get-togethers ). I don't think I've ever hated more for a book to end. I wanted it to go on forever.Brothers Karamazov was an assignment in college and I laughed at it's heft and figured I'd never get through it. I started it and really got into it and finished it. I had to lead a small group discussion on it and the discussion (certainly not because I lead) was one of my most memorable from English classes back then. Finishing that book made tackling Moby Dick a year later an easier mental task. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
anthony Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Finishing that book made tackling Moby Dick a year later an easier mental task. I just read Moby Dick. It was not what I expected and rather enjoyed it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I just read Moby Dick. It was not what I expected and rather enjoyed it.One of my favorites. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 If you have never seen this: Moby Dick (1998 version), you should check it out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I would like to put in a plug for Taylor Branch's trilogy of America in the King years. I am on volume two and it is really great. If you only have a chance or patience for one, Parting of the Waters is really worth checking out. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Moss Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I would like to put in a plug for Taylor Branch's trilogy of America in the King years. I am on volume two and it is really great. If you only have a chance or patience for one, Parting of the Waters is really worth checking out. LouieB I have thought about tackling those, it just seemed daunting at this point. Waiting for the right mind set. I have a hard time only reading one of any series so once I start I'm committed. Good to hear it's got your recommendation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I have thought about tackling those, it just seemed daunting at this point. Waiting for the right mind set. I have a hard time only reading one of any series so once I start I'm committed. Good to hear it's got your recommendation.I saw Taylor speak a few years back and he sold his books, so I bought all three and figured I would read them someday. I started the first and worked through it fairly quickly. It chronicles his early life up through the Kennedy assassination. This is the period of King's greatest successes and what he is predominantly known for. I won't say it is an easy read, but it is also not nearly as daunting as you may think. The second is somewhat different and steps back to the Kennedy assassination and moves forward through the Johnson years and the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights act (I just read to that point today.) The difference between the first and second is that it covers Malcolm X fairly extensively and the rise of 60s black nationalism. Both books have alot of information culled from FBI files, so that is kind of creepy but interesting. If you read Peter Guarlnick's bio of Elvis Presley, these books have a similar read. The early life of monumental figures are always more interesting since they include the person's formative years and as the person gets famous, they lose some of the historical luster they have as young people. I would also recommend the selected letters of Jack Kerouac that read similarly. The first half chronicals a struggling artist and the second half the fame and disapation of an unusual talent. I guess the moral of the story is, stay a struggling genius and don't get famous. While i have not yet read of King's final years, I am sure it includes some rather disheartening information about both his personal life and his failures (particularly in Chicago) and the receding of his influence on a mature civil rights movement and the emerging black power movement. These books contain alot of information, but are fairly novelistic in their arc I think, of course ending as we all know how the story ends (same with Elvis, same with Kerouac), tragically, but resulting in immortalization. The cast of characters in these books is facinating in and of itself. I would have to say that Branch gives Johnson his due and Kennedy a wary eye. Interesting perspective. Sorry to go on and on, just sitting here on a Saturday without much to do. LouieB LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
explodo Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 after the quake - Haruki MurakamiInteresting choice. One of my top collections of short stories. This is impossible, but a couple that I have not seen yet that would be in my top five: White Noise - Don DeLilloWind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami I would have to spend some serious time thinking to come up with the others, and most of them have already been mentioned. Slaughterhouse Five, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Moss Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I saw Taylor speak a few years back and he sold his books, so I bought all three and figured I would read them someday. I started the first and worked through it fairly quickly. It chronicles his early life up through the Kennedy assassination. This is the period of King's greatest successes and what he is predominantly known for. I won't say it is an easy read, but it is also not nearly as daunting as you may think. The second is somewhat different and steps back to the Kennedy assassination and moves forward through the Johnson years and the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights act (I just read to that point today.) The difference between the first and second is that it covers Malcolm X fairly extensively and the rise of 60s black nationalism. Both books have alot of information culled from FBI files, so that is kind of creepy but interesting. If you read Peter Guarlnick's bio of Elvis Presley, these books have a similar read. The early life of monumental figures are always more interesting since they include the person's formative years and as the person gets famous, they lose some of the historical luster they have as young people. I would also recommend the selected letters of Jack Kerouac that read similarly. The first half chronicals a struggling artist and the second half the fame and disapation of an unusual talent. I guess the moral of the story is, stay a struggling genius and don't get famous. While i have not yet read of King's final years, I am sure it includes some rather disheartening information about both his personal life and his failures (particularly in Chicago) and the receding of his influence on a mature civil rights movement and the emerging black power movement. These books contain alot of information, but are fairly novelistic in their arc I think, of course ending as we all know how the story ends (same with Elvis, same with Kerouac), tragically, but resulting in immortalization. The cast of characters in these books is facinating in and of itself. I would have to say that Branch gives Johnson his due and Kennedy a wary eye. Interesting perspective. Sorry to go on and on, just sitting here on a Saturday without much to do. LouieB LouieB This is very helpful and I love hearing your take on it. $37 for all three on Amazon, think I'm going to pull the trigger. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 This is very helpful and I love hearing your take on it. $37 for all three on Amazon, think I'm going to pull the trigger.Yea, go with the paperbacks. And don't think you have to finish them in a big hurry, they are really enjoyable (if you like history of course...). Let me know if I steered you right or straight off a cliff.... LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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