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Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: RobbieOC on 09 May 2007, 21:05

Title: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: RobbieOC on 09 May 2007, 21:05: I'm going to Africa later this summer for a month. I need some reading materials for said trip. I'm a fast reader so I'm probably going to need to take at least six with me. Maybe more if I cannot get ahold of a Game Boy before then. So, what are your suggestions? (Hint: The last good book I read was The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay, so anything in that vein would do. I also like books about culture and religion a lot, if they're well written... duh.) Thanks, guys.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: alongwaltz on 09 May 2007, 21:48: Have you read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer? Or The Life Of Pi by Yann Martel?
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: Emaline on 09 May 2007, 22:51: Culture as in pop culture, or culture as in "Let's go explore other cultures!"
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: ampersandwitch on 10 May 2007, 05:52: Shalimar the Clown.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: bujiatang on 10 May 2007, 07:24: Middlemarch by George Eliot. Read it serially like it was intended. Never read more than one chapter at a time and you won't go barking mad.

Since it is suppose to be broken up so much it is good travel fodder as you can set it down quickly.

Also, if a gunfight breaks out thick victorian literature can stop a bullet.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: mberan42 on 10 May 2007, 08:12: War & Peace
Ulysses
Les Miserables
Gravity's Rainbow

Those should keep you occupied for a while.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: Cartilage Head on 10 May 2007, 11:58: Get a big-ass volume of multiple Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy novels.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: jimbunny on 10 May 2007, 12:58: Go for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway.

Franny and Zooey, Salinger.

I found Contact by Carl Sagan to have a surprising and insightful, dare I say even-handed view of religion. Seems unlikely, I know, but I'm coming from a religious worldview myself.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: epifreak on 10 May 2007, 13:07: I've enjoyed the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. That should keep you occupied for a while, as there's 11 books out to date, all of which sit in the 600-1200 page range.

Or for a little light reading, I highly recommend Milton's Paradise Lost.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 10 May 2007, 13:49: Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard is beautifully written and really compelling, so I recommend that.
I also recommend 'Blindness' by Jose Saramago and 'Snow' by an author whose names escapes me. Both are really excellent and well worth reading.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: Mandy on 10 May 2007, 18:41: If you're into graphic novels and Iran, Persepolis is awesome. If you like memoirs and postwar Berlin, go for A Woman in Berlin. It'll rip out your heart and make you like it.

Is Robert Jordan really only on book 11? The way he fires out novels, I would've thought he'd at least broken 20 by now.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: rae on 11 May 2007, 05:07: Flowers for Algernon
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: mberan42 on 11 May 2007, 12:27: Quote from: Mandy on 10 May 2007, 18:41
Is Robert Jordan really only on book 11? The way he fires out novels, I would've thought he'd at least broken 20 by now.

#12 is mega-delayed, 'cause Robert Jordan has been (http://www.amyloidosis.org/) diagnosed with (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/amyloidosis/DS00431) Amyloidosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyloidosis).
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: Mandy on 11 May 2007, 14:00: Ahhh! Bummer to Robert Jordan!
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: jimbunny on 11 May 2007, 15:28: Howard's End by Forster also has some excellent things to say about culture, especially the way we use it to mark class boundaries.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: Blyss on 11 May 2007, 16:14: Snow Crash - by Neil Anderson.

Must read.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: thehoopiestfrood on 11 May 2007, 16:59: Do you mean Neal Stephenson, or is there more than one book called Snow Crash?

The Neal Stephenson one is amazing anyhow.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: Blyss on 14 May 2007, 11:08: Quote from: thehoopiestfrood on 11 May 2007, 16:59
Do you mean Neal Stephenson, or is there more than one book called Snow Crash?

The Neal Stephenson one is amazing anyhow.

No, I was just confused - Stephenson - yes Stephenson - go read it now.

:laugh:
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: RobbieOC on 25 May 2007, 00:43: Thanks, you guys. Sorry I kind of forgot about the thread for a while. Good suggestions. Much appreciated.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: Scytale on 25 May 2007, 01:52: I'd recommend American God's by Neil Gaiman, I read that while I was on a trip to New Zealand, that feature a lot about cultures and religions and is quite a uniquely written book.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: RobbieOC on 25 May 2007, 02:27: Quote from: Scytale on 25 May 2007, 01:52
I'd recommend American God's by Neil Gaiman, I read that while I was on a trip to New Zealand, that feature a lot about cultures and religions and is quite a uniquely written book.

I've actually already read this one. I'm also not a huge Gaiman fan, but this was an entertaining read. Thanks.
Title: Re: Can I make a book thread? Is that cool?
Post by: TrueNeutral on 26 May 2007, 04:32: Quote from: Cartilage Head on 10 May 2007, 11:58
Get a big-ass volume of multiple Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy novels.

I second this!