Books we've read

[minsue]

Have you read The Screwtape Letters?

Carry on.

I have. I'm guessing, based on his other books, that it wasn't meant to be comedic. I did find it highly amusing, though. Of course, now that I think about it, I read it as a teenager so that likely has something to do with it.

 

[CharleyH]

too busy writing one to read one?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

For those who have read the Dune series, I would recommend the Uplift series by David Brin. Interesting books with a huge background. I love writers that can come up with original or imaginative backgrounds.

Sweet? The Narnia Chronicles are still amongst my all time favourites. Have you read The Screwtape Letters?

Carry on.

I read Dune. I thought it was fantastic while I was reading it, and then as soon as I stopped I couldn't remember a thing about it except for sandworms. It was like all bun and no meat.

---dr.M.

 

[SeaCat]

Wow, now this one got me to thinking. Books that have influenced my life? Hmmmmmm, R.A. Heinleins Time enough for Love. (Showed me there were others out there who thought the way I did.) Mein Kampf, ( A great view into a twisted mind. It makes as little sense in the original German as it does in English.) he Bible, Talmud, Khoran, and Book of Mormon, (They showed me that the only universal truth is to not go out of your way to hurt others.)Logans Run, (Even utopia has a price.) Ray Bradburies Farenheit 451. (If you've read it you can understand why it means so much to one who writes.) And of course Brave New World, where the author shows that even sex can be used as a weapon of control. (Hmmmmmm, do you think the church has read this.)

SeaCat

 

[sweetnpetite]

Sweet? The Narnia Chronicles are still amongst my all time favourites. Have you read The Screwtape Letters?

Carry on.

I have not read the Screwtape Letters, but I have heard of them, they sound rather interesting.

Another interesting Q for all:

HOw do you go about choosing books to read?

I usually just brouse the library, garage sale, book store, ect for books that seem interesting and leave with a big stack. Rarely do I seek out a specific title, or even author. I read a LOT of non-fiction, which I wouldn't bother to list bc, few would recognize the titles if I could even remember them. Excellent point, DocM. made about what books we read- I read 'whatever' for the most part. Can't seem to get intersted in a Tom Clancy though.

Books I looked for specifically --the Red Tent-- which was well worth it and the Poison Wood Bible wich was definatly well worth it. How Stella Got Her Groove Back (I was happy with) and Bridget Jones Diary (way better and funier than the movie) and it's sequel. I wasn't as impressed with "Sula" (I think it was called, an Oprah choice) although I was glad I read it, because it seemed to coincide with two other books I read at the same time (Poisonwood, and Red Tent) in one or more of it's themes (women's lives, full lifespan and beyond and some others I've sence forgotten- at any event they went well together even if Sula left me with a bad taste.

Another Oprah pick that didnt' quite do it for me was "Map of the World"

ONly book I purposly didn't finish- for whom the bell tolls. I was about half way through and commented to a teacher that I wasn't enjoying it and she said I shouldn't read it if I did'nt like it. So I quite. (If she hadn't 'given me permision' I would have finished it) It wasn't even required reading.

Another good q- what books are you glad they made you read in school?

For me- I don't think I ever had to read a story I didn't like, but I'd pick 1984, Lord of the Flies, MacBeth, Hamlet, Edgar Allen Poe (Cask of Amentillado. the Raven, Fall of the House of Usher) and probably a few more.

More good fantasy- THE black cauldren

 

[rgraham666]

Another interesting Q for all:

HOw do you go about choosing books to read?

Most often it is the authour that I use. I know I liked that book by them, so I'm often right in assuming I'll like this book as well. I'll always buy stuff by Michael Chrichton or John Keegan. Crichton's latest book, Prey is as good as Jurassic Park. And I'm wearing out my copy of Keegan's The History of Warfare

Next, I'll go for subject matter. I'll pick something that seems to have a different view on a subject I like. That's how I picked up Voltaire's Bastards. Another book I bought for this reason was The Undiscovered Mind by John Horgan. I liked it so much I'm searching around for his other book, The End of Science.

Finally, I'll buy a book because I've seen a blurb somewhere. The last book I bought for this reason was The End of History and The Last Man by Frances Fukiyama. I thought it was one of the funniest books I've ever read.

 

[Guest]

Sweet, I read book reviews regularly (I know what reviewers are better than others) and often go on that, esp. for authors or subjects I don't know very well.

Browsing in a bookstore (which I prefer to online) is fun. I read the blurbs, check out chapter titles and the author's bio info. Then I take a chance, usually proves worth it.

Reading itself leads to more reading. Some time ago, maybe twenty years, I read a book (based on the blurb info alone) called, The Last Romantic. It was a bio/history of Marie, the last queen of Roumania. It gave me the first good insights I'd ever had to WWII, and caused me to want to know more about Russian history. That led to my reading many bios of the tsars, histories of Russia, and books on the tsarist culture (on ballet, opera, art, Faberge, poetry, other literature, etc.) It even led to my studying Russian!

cheers, Perdita

 

[shereads]

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
First Love and Diary of a Superfluous Man by Turgenev
De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
The Inner Loneliness by Sebastian Moore
Aspects of Wagner by Brian Magee
The Dead by James Joyce
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
Dream Tigers by Jorge Luis Borges

Shakespeare: King Lear, Twelfth Night, Winter's Tale, As You Like It, Richard II, Henry IV 1&2, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline

Perdita's list - almost exactly! - with the addition of "Ravished by The Slave Masters," by Darleen someone.

I admit, I didn't finish "As You Like It." I didn't like it.

 

[NoJo]

I admit, I didn't finish "As You Like It." I didn't like it.

Hey sher, I just said "Lol".

 

[Guest]

Perdita's list - almost exactly!

Are you serious? Why haven't we fallen in love? (I won't begrudge you AYL.)

Perdita

 

[sweetnpetite]

OH I forgot: "Diary of Anne Frank" which I have read several times, and always thought I was Anne in a past life or something. There was such a connection. Sometimes while reading it I will just start to cry in the middle, because I know how it will end

 

[dirtylover]

I recently read a book about a guy who accidentally started a cult
(or rather, a collective)

- Join Me, by Danny Wallace

It all started when he placed an add in Loot simply saying 'join me, send a passport photo to such and such an address...'

It's fantastically funny and easy to read, and really changed my view on what to 'usefully' do with my life. I think he's doing a tour of America at the moment and he's got his own site (which isn't that great):

http://www.join-me.co.uk

 

[NoJo]

Fascinating stuff, DL. Have you joined?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

And I'm wearing out my copy of Keegan's The History of Warfare

I was going to recommend Keegan's The Face of Battle to you when I saw you liked military history. It's probably the best book on what war is really like that I've ever read. I see though that it's not necessary.

---dr.M.

 

[dirtylover]

Fascinating stuff, DL. Have you joined?

Not yet.

I'm thinking of starting my own collective based on alternative happiness, but I've got to get to bed now. I'll talk more when I've sleapt a little.

 

[cloudy]

The Dune series.....read them all about 5 or 6 times now...

The Chronicles of Narnia were an absolute favorite when I was younger, so much so that I bought a hardback, boxed set several years ago, just to have.

Anything by Anne Rice - there are a couple I could have lived without (Violin comes to mind), but as a whole, I love her style.

The DaVinci Legacy by Lewis Perdue - scary, scary book, not as in "horror", but as in "this could actually happen."

Went through an Edgar Allan Poe phase for awhile years and years ago, but they just don't really do it for me anymore.

And, my absolute, all-time favorite:

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I actually had my son buy this for me at one of his elementary school book fairs.

 

[sweetnpetite]

I was going to recommend Keegan's The Face of Battle to you when I saw you liked military history. It's probably the best book on what war is really like that I've ever read. I see though that it's not necessary.

---dr.M.

This question has been on my mind a lot lately- why do men love war?

Maybe I'd better put that question on it's own thread...

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=241609

 

[Pornofan420]

Recently I've read:

-Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen and I'm finishing Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey. High-level summary: Phedre is a trained as courtesan/spy in a an alternate Europe. Her patron angel's gift is to feel pleasure through suffering. She is an anguisette, literally a divine uber-bottom. And highjinx ensue.

-Starfish and Maelstrom by Peter Watts. The characters have all be altered to be able to breath underwater and survive the crushing pressure at the bottom of the ocean. There, they work the geothermal vents to provide energy to the endless black hole that is mainland enegry consumption. Oh yeah, all the cyborgs living in the cramped quarters are violent abusers and/or the victims of same, trained in their sleep to be engineers. They're all bent enough, but not broken, to function in that environment.

They're also all volunteers. Things really suck back on land.

Books declined by Russian publishing houses as being "too dark". Behemoth is forthcoming.

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[shereads]

Just finished "Pompeii," a novel by Robert Harris. I loved it, but then I was hearing it on audio during a long ugly drive in the rain so I'm not entirely objective.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...103-7499616-1010225?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I've started "The Life of Pi," a strange little dream of a book. It's the second novel by Canadian author, Yann Martel, and is otherwise indescribable. Has anyone else read it?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...14067/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-7499616-1010225

"Beautifully fantastical and spirited." ~ Salon

 

[rgraham666]

On the weekend, I was at my local Goodwill and I found a copy of one of my old favourites Up The Organization: How to stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits.

Written by Robert Townsend who was CEO of Avis back when they were #2 but tried harder.

The chapters are in alphabetical order. Sample.

Thank You

A really neglected form of compensation.

Like The Art of War I believe that if this book was read and understood by the people in charge, we would be in a lot less trouble than we currently are.

 

[impressive]

Just noticed this thread (after the 4+ month mega BUMP).

If I could only take one suitcase full of books into exile, it'd contain:

The Dune series (all -- even God Emperor for contrast as well as the posthumous works written by Herbert's son)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Several of Heinlein's works (esp. Stranger in a Strange Land and Methusalah's Children)
Piers Anthony's Geodyssey series
Stephen King's The Stand
Isaac Asimov's Foundation series
Anne McCaffrey's Pern series
Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear and sequels

There's more -- but I'm probably out of space by now.

 

[fogbank]

Books that influenced me and my writing in a major way:

The Ghormanghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. Wonderful books, particularly the first two. The third one--finished and published posthumeously--not so much. When I was growing up, this was my LotR. Wonderfully macabre, and some of the most gorgeous writing I've ever encountered.

Winter's Tale by Mark Halpern. Magic-realist story of time travel and flying horses and journalism, set across a hundred and fifty years of New York history. Also hysterically funny at times. In my collection of books that I reread, this is my light to ghormanghast's dark.

Hundred Years of Solitude by GG Marquez. Another beautiful magic-realist book. I guess for me, this one is a book that really started to move me toward finding my own voice in my writing, and embracing my own place rather than writing about distant lands.

And to echo one that shereads mentioned, Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I love this book, a strange a beautiful tale, with a heart-wrenching ending. Partly a tale of a boy stranded on a boat with a tiger, partly a very logical discussion of animal psychology, and partly a treatise on spirituality and belief.

 

[Guest]

Fog and Sher: I've just started Life of Pi. It was recommended by a Jesuit priest. Sounds wonderful.

Perdita

 

[Guest]

Completely off topic, but I just wanted to say I miss Sub Joe and Dirtylover.