Thread: A Good Book

Dearest neither mightier, I do not swallow Rands philosophy nor do I expect any one else to. I simply love the story. Great charachters. It has always amazed me how knowledgable she was of human nature and at the same time thought people would somehow be better if only they adopted HER philosophy. Another thing that I do like about her stories is that she has heros who are actually heroic.BTW I truly appreciate your rview of Thucydides.

I don't think we need to worry- Nun2sharp is always civil, and I highly doubt that anyone here is going to get so pissed about Ayn Rand that we need to duck and cover. This forum is a little different than most

Berticus, I highly suggest Journey to the West. It's a very good read and religiously enlightening.

One I forgot to mention is a relatively recent addition to my stacks- Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang. I was perusing the bookstore one day and saw this attractive paperback. Realizing that my knowledge of Mao Zedong was rudimentary at best, I picked it up and started reading. Let me just say "Wow!". It is extremely in-depth and really opens your eyes to the man responsible for modern China. Anyone even remotely interested in history would do well to pick this one up. It has been criticized for being subjective, but I think any discerning history reader can pick out fact from opinion and form a conclusion.

Recreational reading: Louis L'Amour; Zane Grey; John Grisham; James Patterson ( especially the Alex Cross series) and Phillip K. Dick.

So many books, so little time...I enjoy Dan Brown (anyone know anything about his long overdue next one?) and John Grisham for modern fiction. I keep saying I don't like Grisham's style (too simple, like Hemingway) but I keep reading him because he tells a damn good story. I haven't read Tom Clancy but I I've bought a number of his books and am waiting to get to them. I also enjoyed Robert Ludlum's Bourne series. (If anyone besides myself was disappointed that they cast a 12 year old as Jason Bourne and mutilated the story, get ahold of the TV mini-series from the 80s. Richard Chamberlain made a much more credible Bourne. The story follows closely to the book. (And then of course, there's the exquisite Jacqueline Smith.) I like historical fiction by authors such as Morgan Lewellyn, Irving Wallace and Jeff Scharra. And don't let me forget the twisted graphic novelist, Alan Moore.

Lately it's been Chaucer, but I like Spencer, Shakespeare, and Marlowe, as well. I just finished reading Joe Conrad's "Victory" for the 2nd go-round. I think Conrad is my favorite writer of all time. I suggest to anyone who hasn't read it to pick up "The Secret Agent". Great writing, great story. Oh, and "Typhoon", too. The guy's a friggin GENIUS.

I see a lot of sci-fi fans here. I'm surprised I don't see Arthur C. Clarke in the mix. Not just a great SF writer, but a great writer, period.

Xman mentioned Poe. I love his stuff. I recently read some of his satire and it had me in stitches. He had a great wit when he wasn't being melancholy.

A lot of people mentioned A.Conan Doyle, too. I love the Holmes stories. I re-read them pretty frequently.

Speaking of the Mystery genre, two of my personal favorites are Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. If you like hard-boiled detective stories, read "Red Harvest". It's like WWII, but with more violence. After I finish reading Chaucer's "The Cannon's Yeoman's Tale", I plan on picking up some Chandler.

For a fun read Ken Follett is always an author I can depend on. And Dumas. and dozens more, but they're my go to authors.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

...I don't get to read much at home with a 3year old and a 1 1/2 year old...

See now, I have a 3 year old and a 10 month old and I get tons of reading done. Lately I've been immersed in Where the Wild Things Are, the Maisy and Curious George anthologies, and for those times when something a little lighter is called for, Dr. Seuss.

When the kids won't let me near their books I've lately had to settle for:

The World Without Us - Alan Weisman. Fascinating stuff, love it.
The Price of Admiralty - John Keegan. One of the best military historians.
Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution - Richard Wolfson.

I'm a big fan of Pratchett, but his latest offerings haven't had the same kind of brilliant word play that his earlier stuff does. Still, my favourite book in any genre is Good Omens. Hilarious.

Originally Posted by Pudu

See now, I have a 3 year old and a 10 month old and I get tons of reading done. Lately I've been immersed in Where the Wild Things Are, the Maisy and Curious George anthologies, and for those times when something a little lighter is called for, Dr. Seuss.

When the kids won't let me near their books I've lately had to settle for:

The World Without Us - Alan Weisman. Fascinating stuff, love it.
The Price of Admiralty - John Keegan. One of the best military historians.
Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution - Richard Wolfson.

I'm a big fan of Pratchett, but his latest offerings haven't had the same kind of brilliant word play that his earlier stuff does. Still, my favourite book in any genre is Good Omens. Hilarious.

Interesting since I like his latter books better.

It'd be a strange world if we all liked the same stuff though. So it's ok.

Books, you said books... That's something I share with my wife: we are both hit very hard by BAD... I think we actually own a little less than 5000 books, and it is still growing - 3000 books of philosophy (we are both working in the same field) and 2000, mostly of literature but also art, music, cooking, religion, tea...

I'm also never able to read only one book at a time (and I'm not counting the books I have to read for my job)... so now I'm reading Nothing to be frightened of by Julian Barnes, Diaries 1969-1979. The Python Years by MIchael Palin, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Hercule Poirot: the Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie, Jeeves and Wooster Omnibus by P.G. Wodehouse and Acide sulfurique by Amélie Nothomb.

My wife is currently reading: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama, The Intelligencer by Leslie Silbert, The New Atheist Cursaders by Becky Garrison, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and Le démon de la théorie by Antoine Compagnon.

I don't think I have a preferred author or book, but I have times when I like better classic, sometime science fiction, investigation novel, poetry...

To Quick Orange: If you are interested in Mao and Chinese politic, a must read is Politics and Purges in China by Frederick C. Teiwes. It is a really fascinating book about the pre-Cultural Revolution politics in China.

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

Terry Goodkind, (Sword of Truth series)

Frank Herbert (Dune) and his son Brian Herbert (also Dune series)

Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time)

uhm...that dude that wrote Aragon and it's sequel. Paolini

Orson Scott Card (Ender series and Giant series.)

Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series)

There's gotta be a few more....but I'll be damned if I know them from of the top of my head.

The 3rd book in the Eragon series comes out towards the end of this year, and I must say I'm looking forward to it.

The author may not be Tolken, but his work is very promising especially considering he wrote them before he could vote...



and no one else has said it yet, so I will... Harry Potter Okay yes I said it, laugh... I found the Harry Potter series by Jk Rowling to be very engaging, and not just childrens books. In fact I liked them so much I have my very own dark mark. And I have the set on my painfully limited bookshelf right up there along side Tolken, Poe, and Doyle.
I was actually very upset, when a certain patriarchal head master died in the 6th book... This is the only time I can remember being so engaged in a story; that I felt such a strong emotion regarding a fictional character.


I also have to give an honorable mention to Bram Stoker... I read Dracula every other year it seems. I doubt I will ever get tired of it.