Books for those who can read

Tell us if you found a gem or a piece of shit, and who peddled it

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Fat Cat
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Post by Fat Cat »

That's a lot of hate.
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"I have longed for shipwrecks, for havoc and violent death.” - Havoc, T. Kristensen

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BabaLoo
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Post by BabaLoo »

"Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates" by Tom Robbins..
Just finished reading it for the third time. Tom Robbins at his finest. very very funny. Drugs, sex, angels, and invalids what more can you ask for in a book.


Hagbard
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Post by Hagbard »

BabaLoo wrote:"Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates" by Tom Robbins..
Just finished reading it for the third time. Tom Robbins at his finest. very very funny. Drugs, sex, angels, and invalids what more can you ask for in a book.
I liked that one a lot, probably my favorite by him. I thought Villa Incognito was kind of depressing. I met him at a signing for Villa in Raleigh in 2004, he has a really fucked up voice. He did make a good point though, saying that he was at his typewriter every single day at the same time. "If the muse wants to strike, she certainly knows where to find me."
?

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drwillis
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Post by drwillis »

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
This book was really great. I enjoyed reading it on vacation and never really wanted to put it down. I finished the books 375 pages in 3 days. The book is a story about pre-Russia invasion of Afghanistan through the Taliban years. It follows a family that escaped just as the Russians were invading but have to go back during Taliban rule.
Worth checking out even if it is 2 years old. I am picking up the second book by the author this week - A Thousand Splendid Suns.

kw

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beefheart
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Re: Books for those who can read

Post by beefheart »

The first post in this thread:
johno wrote:Genre: thrillers with a mystical bent.
Author: Michael Gruber
Titles: "Tropic of Night" and "Valley of Bones"
I'd like to recommend Gruber's latest The Book of Air and Shadow, another intellectual thriller. Three narrative threads, a first person narrator who could qualify as an IGxer, a third person omniscient back story, and a series of 17th century letters, weave together. No real mysticism, as in Gruber's Jimmy Paz novels cited above, but Russian gangsters, Shakspearean scholarship, Catholic theology, and --of coarse-- self loathing Jewery blend to produce a nice big mysytery, plus a meditation on reality that borders metafiction, with hardly any insult to readers in the 50th percentile.

It always seems to me that if you read a suspenseful popular novel of this length, 465 pages, that about a third of it is review. Most commercial novelists don't trust their reader to remember, let alone understand, what has previously transpired. Thankfully Gruber does.
Last edited by beefheart on Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ab g-d wrote:I can't understand how, given the training they did, the cavemen beat the dinosaurs.

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MonkeyJesus
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Re: Books for those who can read

Post by MonkeyJesus »

beefheart wrote: I'd like to recommend Gruber's latest The Book of Air and Shadow, another intellectual thriller.
I picked that up a few weeks ago and put it on the "shit I need to read" shelf. I'll have to get it out and dig through it.

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buckethead
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Post by buckethead »

Have only read this thread from pg 6 on, but.

Thoughts without a thinker, and
Wisdom of no escape.

Both were IG recommended in some thread or another. Both are fucking brilliant. I recommend reading Thoughts first if you feel like both.

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Fat Cat
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Post by Fat Cat »

Thoughts Without a Thinker is really an important book.
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"I have longed for shipwrecks, for havoc and violent death.” - Havoc, T. Kristensen

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Mickey O'neil
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Post by Mickey O'neil »

Fat Cat wrote:Thoughts Without a Thinker is really an important book.
I have this bookmarked at Amazon for future purchase. I'm in the process of reading What The Buddha Taught and Blood Meridian right now so as soon as I finish those two up I will get Thoughts...

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beefheart
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Post by beefheart »

Mickey:

One thing I remember from back in the day, when I had a buncha little kids: money was always tight.

Check out http://www.abebooks.com
ab g-d wrote:I can't understand how, given the training they did, the cavemen beat the dinosaurs.

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Fat Cat
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Post by Fat Cat »

Mickey O'neil wrote:
I have this bookmarked at Amazon for future purchase. I'm in the process of reading What The Buddha Taught
That's awesome, it's a great book and will help you enjoy Thoughts more.
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"I have longed for shipwrecks, for havoc and violent death.” - Havoc, T. Kristensen

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Mickey O'neil
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Post by Mickey O'neil »

beefheart wrote:Mickey:

One thing I remember from back in the day, when I had a buncha little kids: money was always tight.

Check out http://www.abebooks.com
Thanks Beefy!

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Mickey O'neil
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Post by Mickey O'neil »

Fat Cat wrote:
Mickey O'neil wrote:
I have this bookmarked at Amazon for future purchase. I'm in the process of reading What The Buddha Taught
That's awesome, it's a great book and will help you enjoy Thoughts more.
Appreciate it Mak!

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