what do you read?

Long thread...

I have enjoyed plenty of individual books over the years. The two writers I enjoy most consistently are Ian Banks and Graham Green (rip).

On the lighter side I enjoy Nick Hornby and Terry Pratchett.

I went through a long Irvine Welsh phase during the 1990's I should re-read some of those books to see if I still enjoy them.
 
Paul Auster: Brooklyn Follies.

Well written and very entertaining. The only thing that leaves me scratching my head was the last paragraph. IMHO, it was self-indulgent, and was did not add in the least to the story.

Auster has moved to the top of the list as a must read.
 
The road

walter said:
First I am hearing, but did a quick google and a bunch of info popped up.
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i almost wanted to slit my wrists after reading it i cant imagine what a movie will do...

one of the most depressing books ever, and i couldnt put it down until i finished it ...i read it in 2-3 days
 
Shaggz said:
Paul Auster: Brooklyn Follies.

Well written and very entertaining. The only thing that leaves me scratching my head was the last paragraph. IMHO, it was self-indulgent, and was did not add in the least to the story.

Auster has moved to the top of the list as a must read.
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I missed this post - I'm also a fan of Aster. I read something of his a while ago and I've been itching to pick up another one for some time now but just never got around to it. He's a unique writer, very entertaining.
 
One of my best friends in our department at school gave copies of Infinite Jest to me, my wife, and a few other friends. The implication is that we'll have a book club at some point.

I'm about 50 pages in, and finding it less readable than I'd expected, based on all I've heard over the years.
 
The implication is that we'll have a book club at some point. I'm about 50 pages in said:
Join the club...the club made up of those who found that book 'less readable' and never finished it.😉

I couldn't get into it either.
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"The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. Fantastic read...suppose humanity is completely wiped out? What would happen to all that we have created? Its an exploration of material and systems degradation and how the earth would evolve on. It sounds grim but there are some really eye opening insights based on past and current situations.

From The New Yorker
Teasing out the consequences of a simple thought experiment—what would happen if the human species were suddenly extinguished—Weisman has written a sort of pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted house. Among the highlights: with pumps not working, the New York City subways would fill with water within days, while weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets and wild predators would ravage the domesticated dogs. Texas’s unattended petrochemical complexes might ignite, scattering hydrogen cyanide to the winds—a "mini chemical nuclear winter." After thousands of years, the Chunnel, rubber tires, and more than a billion tons of plastic might remain, but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve, and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the earth might revert to Eden.
 
walter said:
I have never seen it, but isn't Infinite Jest just some really long book that no one can get into?
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Yeah, it's like the hipster version of Ulysses, apart from the fact that it's awfully heavy for skinny book nerds to haul all over the place.
 
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I believe it's 1000 pages, many of those pages long-winded footnotes. After 200 pages I asked myself, "Why are you reading this?" I had gotten absolutely nothing out of it. And I had read 100 pages too many. It should also be noted that the pages are huge. The book has to be 300,000 words at least.

I also failed at Gravity's Rainbow at least 2 times, if not 3.

Currently into a lot of SciFi. Right now it's Dangerous Visions, a Harlan Ellison edited anthology. So far so good.
 
For those of you who read No Country for Old Men and then saw the movie, what are your predictions for The Road movie?
 
walter said:
For those of you who read No Country for Old Men and then saw the movie, what are your predictions for The Road movie?
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I thought the Cohen brothers put too much humor into No Country.

Can Hollywood actually make a movie as dark as The Road actually is? Probably not without putting in some hokey ass joke stuff. Plus it really isnt exactly the ideal socio-economic climate to be releasing a film about people with nothing and no options either so expect to see way more hope than McCarthy gave it.

I loved that book deeply. Blood Meridian is still my favorite. Ridley Scott is maybe going to make the film version of it but has said there is no point in making it if its not the whole nine yards....if you have read it then you understand what he is getting at. And again its probably not the right climate to be making a movie like that either.

Either way I cant wait to see them.🙂

One more thing...All the Pretty Horses was a terrible adaptation of the book. They should have called it All the Corny Actors.
 
Excuse me for being super late to the party as I just came across this thread that I think dated back a couple of years. I did my homework though as I read it all on my bb while my daughter had a double length gymnastics session this morning...There are a lot of things that I plan to check out, most repeated in mention seems to be the road, pi, so I will check these out. My reading varies as I tend to find something, then wear it out to death and move on. Last summer someone gave me a Patterson book (Cross series) found it enough of an escape to read the whole series then I read a few others that were not in the series and said that's enough of this. I did the same with Follet after Pillars of the Earth (which I really liked for entertainment value although pretty hefty) and then read his other intrigue stuff and was done. I got turned on to a couple of things by listening to WNYC while I am in my car a lot and they tend to interview a lot of authors. I am horrible at remembering author's names but that lead me to Blood Money, non fiction on our mess in the middle east and so on. Got half way and said if half of this is true I can't read the other half. I do believe it is important to be informed but when I start to feel hopeless I call it a day. I have gone through many "spiritual" zen like books and suppose I could use a good one again. Am open to suggestions. Never read Into the Wild but just happened to watch it the other night after having the DVD sit around for a while. I found it engaging and had it stir up a lot of stuff for me that made it tough to get it out of my head for a couple of days. I read an earlier post about an opinion of him being arrogant. I am not sure what word I could use but that does not ring true for me, I seemed to identify with the burning desire of "anywhere is better than here, but you end up having to bring yourself with you" kind of thing. Not sure how the book depicts it but (without giving anything away if someone hasn't seen it) I think that changes in the end of the movie. Now I happen to be reading a book on Frank Zappa that a freind gave me. I was never a huge fan at all and don't even own an album but it is interesting how brilliant but socially out of whack he was some due to experiences with "the man" and most by his italian upbringing. There is some pretty interesting folklore throughout though, (history of the lyrics of smoke on the water, how he actually discovered Alice Cooper and other wacky bits nicely woven into his life story) Duh with the way he named his kids and so on, but you have to give him this though, he was one of the first people that foresaw the end of the music business due to digitally being able to copy music. I have been slowing on this and find myself reading Bicycling and Performing Songwriter mags. That's usually a sign I am onto the next thing. Thanks for all the info I have gotten out of all the previous posts.
 
just picked up "Gods Middle Finger" Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre
by richard grant. Lookin forward to this one.
 
Just read Demille's spencerville which was engaging once it got going but a little predictble but well written. I am getting bored with this whole genre tho.I need something different
 
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