Books

[kosmo vinyl]

kosmette would also like to point out she is reading lots of young adult books these days. and says the Bartimaeus trilogy is great fun if your into that type of thing...

[palahniukkubrick]

Originally posted by callat703:
    And Palahniuk seems to have a need to be shocking for the sake of being shocking, without having any real purpose - he loves extremely violent images that border on sadistic without really making a point for using them.
 
 

While not being true for all of his works, his new book  Haunted  certainly fits this description. He seems to have taken astray with his intentions to shock. But I still like him. To brennser I recommend Chuck's novel 'Survivor' about the last living member of a cult who is dictating his life story to a black box in a plane he hijacked. It is Chuck's best novel, with some truly hilarious moments and characters.

[Sage 703]

It might be that I need to give him another chance; I read Lullaby and was really turned off by it.  But perhaps I've spoken too soon, or just read the wrong book.

[palahniukkubrick]

Originally posted by callat703:
  It might be that I need to give him another chance; I read Lullaby and was really turned off by it.  But perhaps I've spoken too soon, or just read the wrong book.

I didn't much care for Lullaby either. Chuck shouldn't try to do horror. But check out 'Choke','Survivor', and 'Invisible Monsters'. They're all excellent reads.

[Frank Gallagher]

<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1740595971.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt=" - " />
 
 My wife said it's pretty good, I haven't had a chance to start it just yet.

[xcanuck]

For those with a soft spot for the Irish, I would definitely recommend Round Ireland With a Fridge, by Tony Hawks.
 
 It's an extremely funny travelogue. Basically, Tony Hawks makes a drunken bet in a pub one night that he can hitchhike all the way around Ireland in one month....with a refridgerator in tow. He actually pulls it off and the book describes his adventure. It gives people on this side of the pond a great feel for the genuine hospitality and humour of the Irish.

[brennser]

yup, read it - funny stuff - much better than 'McCarthys bar' which some people say is similar but which I found boring
 
 

Originally posted by xcanuck:
  For those with a soft spot for the Irish, I would definitely recommend Round Ireland With a Fridge, by Tony Hawks.
 
 It's an extremely funny travelogue. Basically, Tony Hawks makes a drunken bet in a pub one night that he can hitchhike all the way around Ireland in one month....with a refridgerator in tow. He actually pulls it off and the book describes his adventure. It gives people on this side of the pond a great feel for the genuine hospitality and humour of the Irish.

[beetsnotbeats]

Originally posted by callat703:
  I'm reading Michael Chabon's "The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay," and thus far its great.  Won the Pulitzer - very easy to read and entertaining.

But keep a dictionary handy; Chabon has a thing for obscure words. His mind probably works such that they come naturally for him but I often had to put down the deckled tome to look up words such as "deckled" (as used in "Wonder Boys," which is wonderful, by the way).

[kcjones119]

Recently I've enjoyed:
 "Fortress of Solitude" - Jonathan Letham
 "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" - Jonathan Safran Foer (His first novel, "everything is illuminated" is great too)
 
 I'd also throw in another vote for Middlesex and any Sedaris stuff.  If you haven't read it, Chuck Klosterman's "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" is excellent.  For anthologies of shorter articles any of DaCapo's Best Music Writing books or the Dave Eggers edited "Best American Non-Required Reading" books are damn good.

[Fico]

Julia Alvarez "Time of the Butterflies"
 
 Mario Vargas Llosa "Feast of the Goat"

[Sir HC]

"Freakanomics"  quick read but a lot of cool points about different cause/effect relations in the real world.

[Frank Gallagher]

Originally posted by brennser:
  yup, read it - funny stuff - much better than 'McCarthys bar' which some people say is similar but which I found boring
 
   

Originally posted by xcanuck:
  For those with a soft spot for the Irish, I would definitely recommend Round Ireland With a Fridge, by Tony Hawks.
 
 It's an extremely funny travelogue. Basically, Tony Hawks makes a drunken bet in a pub one night that he can hitchhike all the way around Ireland in one month....with a refridgerator in tow. He actually pulls it off and the book describes his adventure. It gives people on this side of the pond a great feel for the genuine hospitality and humour of the Irish.

[/b]

I enjoyed that one also.....the fact that nobody thought it weird that someone would be hitchiking round Ireland with a fridge in tow is typical of the all accepting Irish. (Well, apart from the refugees, but that's for another topic)
 
 Just asked her indoors, she says round Ireland is better than Jaywalking, but jaywalking is still worth a read.

[brennser]

ended up with this
 
 absolutely brilliant - a must for music fans or anyone who's been in a band
 
   <img src="http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0718146328.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" alt=" - " />

[vansmack]

Originally posted by brennser:
  ended up with this
 
 

I too enjoyed that.
 
 If you really want to understand the world today (quickly becoming my bible):
 
    <img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1593977514.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt=" - " />
 
 It's not overly technical, but an insightful look at how technology and most importantly global fiber-optic networks are quickly changing the world's economic landscape.

[Chip Chanko]

Originally posted by vansmack:
 If you really want to understand the world today (quickly becoming my bible):
 
     <img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1593977514.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt=" - " />
 
 It's not overly technical, but an insightful look at how technology and most importantly global fiber-optic networks are quickly changing the world's economic landscape. [/QB]

This is on my short list right now...his columns are great...the kind of stuff that gets me really energized on a morning flight (if i had coffee before getting on the plane).
 
 I just finished Pattern Recognition by William F. Gibson. It was a quick fun read (as his stuff usually is).