Author Topic: book recommendations  (Read 230063 times)

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Offline CNS

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #150 on: February 21, 2011, 07:42:41 PM »
Gatsby seconded.

Offline yoga-like_abana

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #151 on: February 21, 2011, 07:44:43 PM »
jurassic park

Offline SkinnyBenny

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #152 on: February 21, 2011, 07:51:27 PM »
Taught Gatsby to a school full of poor black kids in 2010 and they didn't hate it as much as I thought they would! Definitely still didn't have anything to identify with about it, but at least they liked the part where the chick got hit by the car.  :party:
"walking around mhk and crying in the rain because of love lost is the absolute purest and best thing in the world.  i hope i fall in love during the next few weeks and get my heart broken and it starts raining just to experience it one last time."   --Dlew12

Offline michigancat

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #153 on: February 21, 2011, 07:53:03 PM »
Taught Gatsby to a school full of poor black kids in 2010 and they didn't hate it as much as I thought they would! Definitely still didn't have anything to identify with about it, but at least they liked the part where the chick got hit by the car.  :party:

did you hit any of them?

I read gatsby this summer.

Offline pike

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #154 on: February 21, 2011, 07:54:06 PM »
The little Book of String Theory


^Fascinating

Offline CNS

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #155 on: February 21, 2011, 07:56:55 PM »
for whom the bell tolls

Offline SkinnyBenny

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #156 on: February 21, 2011, 08:50:09 PM »
Taught Gatsby to a school full of poor black kids in 2010 and they didn't hate it as much as I thought they would! Definitely still didn't have anything to identify with about it, but at least they liked the part where the chick got hit by the car.  :party:

did you hit any of them?

I read gatsby this summer.



No way brah.  Love all those d00ds and galz.
"walking around mhk and crying in the rain because of love lost is the absolute purest and best thing in the world.  i hope i fall in love during the next few weeks and get my heart broken and it starts raining just to experience it one last time."   --Dlew12

Offline chunkles

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #157 on: February 22, 2011, 01:10:58 PM »
Mo Willems:  Any of the 'Pigeon' Series.  Knuffle Bunny, KB Too, and KB Free are serviceable, but doesn't emotionally pull you in like his 'Pigeon' mastery.
Tony Diterlizzi:  'Ted'
Metamorphosis is good.
Really kind of hate Rick Riordan.
Read "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman, very dry. Read this almost entirely while on the toilet. Just watch The Watchmen or The Incredibles or Megamind instead. 
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Offline CNS

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #158 on: February 22, 2011, 01:21:38 PM »
Mo Willems:  Any of the 'Pigeon' Series.  Knuffle Bunny, KB Too, and KB Free are serviceable, but doesn't emotionally pull you in like his 'Pigeon' mastery.
Tony Diterlizzi:  'Ted'
Metamorphosis is good.
Really kind of hate Rick Riordan.
Read "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman, very dry. Read this almost entirely while on the toilet. Just watch The Watchmen or The Incredibles or Megamind instead. 
A.I.L.E.E.N.
Letters From a Nut by Ted Nancy

The pigeon books are well read at my house.   :gocho:

Offline asava

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #159 on: February 22, 2011, 02:35:54 PM »
Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Big Sur - Jack Kerouac
The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
Short Stories - Paul Bowles
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
Tropic of Capricorn - Henry Miller
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon (very long and complex)
Anything He's Ever Written - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Post Office - Charles Bukowski
Pulp - Charles Bukowski
Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski

if you feel like venturing outside of America, just give the word. Some real incredible stuff out there in that big bad world.

So, after Catcher in the Rye (pretty good), I was going to try something from this list, but my cacty library had basically nothing on the list, except for a lot of Vonnegut stuff. So I played it safe and will read Slaughterhouse Five next.

Anyone can feel free to add something that is considered "classic" or "timeless". Fiction/non-fiction and foreign authors welcome. Thanks, pals.

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov is probably top 3 writers of all time. Any of his books are incredible, but there are a few that deal with complex problems in intertextuality. However, that doesn't mean they wouldn't still be great reads if you just went through them without catching all the references to other works. Lolita would be a great start, Luhzin Defense another, the list goes on and on.

The Trial - Franz Kafka. Kafka is my favorite writer and has written some of my favorite works. The Trial is a good example of his world. Like his other novels it is incomplete, which can, at times be aggravating. If you can pick up a book of his complete short stories (which are real common and really good), I would highly recommend it. Not many of his stories are crazy long and can completely alter your perception of reality upon reading.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

To Loud a Solitude - Bohumil Hrabal

The Stranger - Camus (any book by Camus is pretty great, but most people start with this one).

Journey to the End of the Night - Louis Ferdinand Celine (my favorite book of all time. some of the most stylistic and incredible writing i've ever seen).

The Razors Edge - W. Sommerset Maugham (very similar to The Sun Also Rises but better. short book, but an interesting read).

Dostoevsky - Even though I'm not a crazy fan of him or anything, people should probably read at least one of his works.

Thirst for Love - Yukio Mishima (japans most prolific writer, also one of the most interesting authors as a person as I can think of) I have only read this one and Acts of Worship (a book of short stories) but everything I have read has blown me away.

Kafka On the Shore - Haruki Murakami (incredible contemporary writer who creates great stories and visualizations). He's also pretty famous for Norwegian Wood so that might be something to look into.

Thats a pretty good start to a list.




Offline jmlynch1

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #160 on: February 22, 2011, 02:52:45 PM »
Quote
The Trial - Franz Kafka. Kafka is my favorite writer and has written some of my favorite works. The Trial is a good example of his world. Like his other novels it is incomplete, which can, at times be aggravating. If you can pick up a book of his complete short stories (which are real common and really good), I would highly recommend it. Not many of his stories are crazy long and can completely alter your perception of reality upon reading.
Good Lord, you are Kougar 2.0

Offline Dr Rick Daris

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #161 on: February 22, 2011, 02:56:07 PM »
fictional books just seem kind of stupid to me anymore. like, why even bother.

Offline asava

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #162 on: February 22, 2011, 02:58:38 PM »
Quote
The Trial - Franz Kafka. Kafka is my favorite writer and has written some of my favorite works. The Trial is a good example of his world. Like his other novels it is incomplete, which can, at times be aggravating. If you can pick up a book of his complete short stories (which are real common and really good), I would highly recommend it. Not many of his stories are crazy long and can completely alter your perception of reality upon reading.
Good Lord, you are Kougar 2.0

Baby Kangaroo, I will kill you. If you don't like Kafka you can suck it. Keep this up and you will never see that sombrero again.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2011, 03:01:25 PM by asava »

Offline CNS

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #163 on: February 22, 2011, 03:06:30 PM »
Non Fict(for Daris):  The Devil in the White City.


Offline SkinnyBenny

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #164 on: February 22, 2011, 06:28:00 PM »
fictional books just seem kind of stupid to me anymore. like, why even bother.

Honest is easy...fiction's where genius lies.
"walking around mhk and crying in the rain because of love lost is the absolute purest and best thing in the world.  i hope i fall in love during the next few weeks and get my heart broken and it starts raining just to experience it one last time."   --Dlew12

Offline Stevesie60

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #165 on: February 22, 2011, 06:34:38 PM »
@asava - Have you read "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham?

Offline pissclams

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #166 on: February 22, 2011, 06:45:50 PM »
does anyone else sip martinis and dress up in a tuxedo with top hat and tails, + a cane when you're reading your uppity books?  LMAO what a bunch of losers. 

hey book, i'm going to read you. 
book:  ok friend, i smell and you and me will be new friends.
ok sounds great book, lets hang out together like bigtime losers. 


Cheesy Mustache QB might make an appearance.

New warning: Don't get in a fight with someone who doesn't even need to bother to buy ink.

Offline ArchE_Cat

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #167 on: February 22, 2011, 08:10:48 PM »
Everybody Wants to go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die (or the Eschatology of Bluegrass) - Crowder & Hogan

Offline Deez Nutz

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #168 on: February 22, 2011, 08:47:26 PM »
Seriously what I have been doing for the past several years is checking out audiobooks from the public library and listening to them in the car because I know I will never have time to sit down and read most of these great books.  I do a massive amount of driving, and just listening to music the whole time can get old after a while.  So here are some very good books I've checked out and listened to recently and would recommend. 

Lord of the Rings Trilogy + The Hobbit
The Jungle
Robinson Crusoe
Dracula
Moby Dick  (massively long book)
The Great Gatsby
Call of the Wild
All 7 Chronicles of Narnia
No Country For Old Men (Just because the movie was so good)
Life on the Mississippi
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (favorite since I was a kid)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Treasure Island
Around the World in 80 Days
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Red Badge of Courage
Of Mice and Men (short)
The Old Man and the Sea (short)
The Sun Also Rises
The Lord of the Flies

I didn't list a lot of the non-classic or below average audiobooks I have listened to.  There are many other good books I want to listen to but that the library doesn't have available, so I will have to purchase more in the future if I can't find them to check out.  Some other good books I have actually read in the past:

The Godfather
Presumed Innocent
The Burden of Proof
The Remains of the Day
Beowulf
The Grapes of Wrath

Offline DQ12

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #169 on: February 25, 2011, 10:07:51 PM »
fictional books just seem kind of stupid to me anymore. like, why even bother.

Honest is easy...fiction's where genius lies.
And it's easier sometimes not to be sincere.  Somehow I make you believe.


"You want to stand next to someone and not be able to hear them, walk your ass into Manhattan, Kansas." - [REDACTED]

Offline kougar24

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #170 on: February 25, 2011, 10:10:19 PM »
Pillars of the Earth, or pretty much anything else by Ken Follett.

Anything by Harlan Coben.

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, by Tom Robbins.

Offline ew2x4

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #171 on: February 25, 2011, 10:26:10 PM »
The little Book of String Theory


^Fascinating

Read some Brian Greene. Really great stuff.

Offline nicname

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #172 on: February 26, 2011, 12:51:09 AM »
If there was a gif of nicname thwarting the attempted-flag-taker and then gesturing him to suck it, followed by motioning for all of Hilton Shelter to boo him louder, it'd be better than that auburn gif.

Offline nicname

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #173 on: February 26, 2011, 12:59:44 AM »
Also, FAB FIVE about the Michigan bball team is probably my fave sports book of all time.
If there was a gif of nicname thwarting the attempted-flag-taker and then gesturing him to suck it, followed by motioning for all of Hilton Shelter to boo him louder, it'd be better than that auburn gif.

Offline bubbles4ksu

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #174 on: February 26, 2011, 04:28:07 PM »
Has anyone read any Carl Sagan books? The famous Pale Blue Dot excerpt has consumed my every thought for the last 3 days.