Dominick Dunne, ,Justice.

Memoirs of a Geisha.

Just finished reading 'Harpo Speaks'. The autobiography of Harpo Marx.

http://www.tiscali.cz/ente/images/6/7/5/2/675262.jpg

^ I wish I could pull a "Gookie" like him!!!

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Read it in H.S. required reading (this was in 1967?) I was
like WTF. . .ended up really liking the book and
getting a whole new perspective on the man.

Marty

Burning Chrome - William Gibson

Collection of short stories, including collaborations with Bruce Sterling, John Shirley and Micheal Swanwick.

One L | Scott Turow

Zurich 1953 International by Grandmaster David Bronstein. Very well written with great comments on the games. If you arn't a chess enthusiast, stay away. I am also reading Frank Brady's Profile of a Prodigy which is a biography of Fischers life and a few games. For relaxation, I am reading The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, and re-reading my favorite book of all time: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin.

One L | Scott Turow
that was a gripping and fascinating review!


I just finished Michael Crighton's "Prey"... a decent read. A cross between a thriller, tech/science exploration and a family crisis. Was satisfactor in all three categories, but none really that deep and rather predictable. If you like him and/or the topic, it's worth the time.

I just started Orson Scott Cards "Shadow of the Giant"... latest edition of the Ender's Game saga. Looks good so far!

I don't like to read but due to my hopes of getting a job I am forcing myself to read a Biography on William Faulkner, The Reviers, Rainbow Six, The Givers, and Herland

Has anyone heard of Louis L'Amour? I think he wrote some pulp-fiction detective stories. Any good?

...that was a gripping and fascinating review...

smartass

Opie, last time we talked you had just finished Ms. Pamela Anderson's Star: A Novel and were about to embark on the journey that is Ms. Jenna Jameson's How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale. I know you consider yourself a true connisseur of the "Plastic and Peroxide" literati and I had a few questions:

a) You compared Ms. Jameson's prose to that of Dostoyevsky. Could you elaborate.

b) Ms. Anderson, truly a woman of letters if ever there was one for the current epoch, was described by you as "fostering a neo-cosmopolitan view of urban post-structural diagetics". Again, could you elaborate.

Thanks.

A) JJameson embodies the spirit of Crime and Punishment. Her duality between right and wrong, serving the public and damaging women's rights... it's all too fascinating. You should see her live-action show where she shames David Blaine and turns him into an insect.

B) Pammie is helping women move beyond the struggle for independence and self-exploration into one of now-ness, if you will. She claims the struggle IS the ball-and-chain and women need to let go. As for "diagetics", I'm just going to assume you meant Dianetics cuz she did blow Hubbard in the backseat of a rebuilt '57 Chevy two years ago.

I hope I clarified my position, but I'm still confused by your comment, "Red Sox Sux0rs!"

...I'm just going to assume you meant Dianetics cuz she did blow Hubbard in the backseat of a rebuilt '57 Chevy two years ago...

Inriguing. LRH "dropped the body" in '83, but presumedly advised his Sea Org auditors that he would return. I assume you speak of the mega-thetan's reincarnation.

Xenu roXors

...off to read Hymn of Asia (dude, he's like totally siddartha --he even said it in this book!)

please avoid the implant stations both on mars, and the pyreness. saint hill briefing course and the philadephia lectures are better than Star Wars.

Blue Latitudes - Andy Horwitz

Very interesting telling of Mr. Horwitz's retracing of Captain Cook's voyages. Avoids the kind of hero worship common in such books.

Next is Brion Toss's "Rigger's Apprentice" - It's technically a guide to working on sailboat rigging, but it provides some good ideas for problem solving in general.

"Gray Fox" by Burke Davis

A sort of narrative biography of Robert E. Lee. It paints an interesting picture of the man and his conflicts from the days leading up to the Civil War through Appomatox. I haven't gotten too far, but I really have enjoyed what I've read.

It's not super heavy on details of his life as a straight biography would be, but it's interesting in its own way.

Oh, btw, I finished my term paper on "The Sound and the Fury" last weekend. I really enjoyed the book, but I have to say that although I had a lot of ideas and thoughts about the book, it was a bear to try and pull it all together into a single, cohesive term paper. The problems with my drafts and outlines were that it just seemed like a number of loosely related ideas, but i believe that I rectified that sufficiently prior to my final draft.

Burning Chrome - William Gibson

Collection of short stories, including collaborations with Bruce Sterling, John Shirley and Micheal Swanwick.

I love that book. My favorite stories are Burning Chrome and New Rose Hotel.

Right now I'm trying to finish up Perception and Imaging by Richard Zakia. It is an excellent overview of visual theory - recommended for anyone involved in creative pursuits, visual or otherwise.

As soon as this is done, I'm going to try to finish The Eight Gates of Zen by John Daido Loori. I've got too many books going right now...

Paris 1919 | Margaret MacMillan

End of WWI, Paris Peace Conference, Treaty of Versailles, yadda yadda yadda

Paris 1919 | Margaret MacMillan

End of WWI, Paris Peace Conference, Treaty of Versaille, yadda yadda yadda

I was going to read that for extra credit for a history class a couple years back, but I never got around to it. I heard it was really good.

Any thoughts, comments?

I was going to read that for extra credit for a history class a couple years back, but I never got around to it. I heard it was really good.

Any thoughts, comments?

I'm only 70 pages into it. I like it so far.

Just finished Gilead, which recently won the Pulitzer. It's sort of touching but also sort of boring. It's a bit too Protestant for me, also.

Am now about 1/3 through Desperate Characters by Paula Fox. It's very well written and has painfully incisive prose; however, I sort of wish I weren't reading yet another novel about people freaking out and living bad lives because of their character flaws. Any thoughts on the run of literature that evokes this theme?

A Greedy *******'s Diary, by Eric Idle. Very funny.

About to finish Paris Spleen by Baudelaire. Should finish Philip Slater's In Pursuit of Loneliness by the end of the week.

Feels good to be reducing the number of "active" books on my shelf.

(Also, post #2,400! w00t!)

somehow I'm not reading anything right now.
I did see there is a 4th Ringworld book that I'll
pick up this weekend.

Marty

About to finish Paris Spleen by Baudelaire. Should finish Philip Slater's In Pursuit of Loneliness by the end of the week.

Feels good to be reducing the number of "active" books on my shelf.

(Also, post #2,400! w00t!)

You do pick some obscure ones Dave.

I'm going to make my second attempt at Proust's Swann's Way.

Race, Rock, And Elvis | Michael T. Bertrand

You do pick some obscure ones Dave.

You should see my collection of books on Japanese sociology.

About 30 pages to go in the Slater book now.

And some low class types call bike riders geeks............the above reading list puts that to shame.........oh to spend dinner and an evening with any 5 or 7 of the above posters, what a conversation we would have

I am now reading 'Slaughterhouse 5' by Kurt Vonnegut Jnr. It's fascinating, depressing and amusing all at once. I can't read more than one of his books every couple of months, it puts too many strange thoughts in my head.

pascal's penances

I love old sci-fi. I'm currently reading Arthur C. Clarke's The Nine Billion Names of God (1967)
Just finished a copy of The Philip K. Dick Reader last week.

the bible.... researching, really :B

Finishing up "Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis and starting "Disney War" by James D. Stewart

I read a book reciently called 'Trout Fishing in America'

I'm busting out my old faves... Hop on Pop, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and then some Castaneda.

The Dark Tower series by Steven King.

The first book is "The Gunslinger"... the opening line of which is:

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

"The Race", quick easy read, makes you want to ride.

Walter the Farting Dog | William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

It's a good read; fast, angry, sexual...
Sorry, ripped off the book report scene from 3 O'Clock High. Seriously, if you have kids, get this book, they will love it. Funny and with the universal moral that everyone has importance even if they are a flatulent dog. Aand the final scene, when Walter diffuses the dirty AA-bomb in D.C. with 1 second left on the timer, and the Prez is so moved by Walter's heroism (while the Veep was hidden in the undisclosed bunker) that he takes back George Tenet's Presidential Medal Of Freedom and gives it to Walter is very moving...Oh, dear, I hope I haven't given away too much? ;)

A biography of the English general who won at Waterloo, Wellington. I am reading this because my town of Hobart is dominated by Mt Wellington. Very well written.

a

At the library this afternoon I picked up a copy of the October Files book on Andy Warhol. Interesting so far - it'll be a good, quick read.

Just finished "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. Great author, fantastic book. I'll definitely be picking up some of her other titles soon. Highly recommended.

The King of Torts | John Grisham

I like Grisham...I've read most of his books. I have to say, my fav of his was A Painted House. I finished that book wanting more!!!

Right now I'm reading "Chi Running" and "Running and Breathing". I want to learn to love running. (I love the swim, and the bike...the run not so much)

I'm just wrapping up the 6-book series The Dune Chronicles. Next I'm planning to read The Outsiders, Love in the Time of Cholera, and then The Notebook.

Started re-reading The War Of The Spider Queen. I think it holds together pretty well considering that a different author wrote each book. It's probably not of interest to anyone who's not a D&D fantasy geek. I picked up books 5 and 6 when they came out but held off on them so I could refresh my memory of the sub-plots and characters from the beginning. If anybody besides me is into dark elves and their naughtiness, check it out, yo!

I like Grisham...I've read most of his books. I have to say, my fav of his was A Painted House. I finished that book wanting more!!!

Right now I'm reading "Chi Running" and "Running and Breathing". I want to learn to love running. (I love the swim, and the bike...the run not so much)

I have read the partner, the street lawyer, and the testament. I have seen movie for rainmaker and I am not interested in the chamber, because I already know the story. I have seen some of the client movie.

If you have anymore grisham recommendations please let me know. thanks

The Dark Tower and Other Short Stories, by CS Lewis. Includes some fragments of novels that he was working on when he died. An excellent one called "Ten Years After" about how Meneleus felt when he finally got Helen back at the end of the Trojan War.

Recent reads: Fast Food Nation
French Revolutions - Tim Moore
Skinny Legs and All - Tom Robbins
Lost Continent - Bill Bryson
Cadilliac Desert - Mark Reisner
The Big Year - Mark Obmascik

In the pile: Desert Solitude - Edward Abbey
Neil Armstrong's biography - forgot the title and author
Middlemarch - G. Elliot
Travels with My Donkey - Tim Moore
Mauraders, Usupers and Infidels - forgot author

american political thought | collection of essays

infinite jest, by David Foster Wallace
very funny, about the persuit of happiness in America

infinite jest, by David Foster Wallace
very funny, about the persuit of happiness in America

One of my five stranded-on-an-island books is Wallace's collection "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again." His observations are so acute and hilarious. The notes are addictive to read. You'll learn a bit about calculus, the Illinois State Fair, David Lynch, lots about tennis, and never want to go on a Carribean cruise ever! It's an awesome collection.