The Books Topic

Some favorites -

John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath - Powerful read about socioeconomic/class issues told through the lens of a family of farmers trying to make their way to California. Incredibly deep, emotional, and revelatory.

Phillip Pullman - His Dark Materials - series of 3 philosophical and spiritual fantasy novels. Combines mysticism with science in interesting ways.

Aldous Huxley - Brave New World - an incredibly prophetic dystopian novel. Predicted how psychology and tech advances would lead to a society addicted to pleasure.

Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions - hilarious and poignant book about art, consumerism, and hypocrisy in America. Rings especially true in 2018.

Edmond Rostand - Cyrano de Bergerac - very funny play about an a witty hero whose big nose prevents him from finding love.

My unambitious challenge for this year was to read ten books. I've only read nine. But I've also read 400 pages of a 992-page book (The Tommyknockers, by Stephen King) so I think my challenge is complete. 

Personally, I've never been much of a reader of novels, but give me a well written biography and I'm totally lost in the pages... which I guess is why I wrote two myself ! I kinda knew what I wanted to read... 

I'm reading The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry after being a fan of the film version for years.

It's quite strange, the same sense of desolation and sadness are in the novel but I feel that the characterizations are too direct, like there's less of a sense of mystery -- especially with Ruth Popper. Usually film dialogue is what's accused of laying out inner thoughts too much, but in this case I think Peter Bogdanovich's editing was smart.

I also find it kind of unpleasant to read about all the farm sex...

Any Adrian Mole diary.

Thanks, that's really succintly written. Leni's goofy humor is really cool.

The Beach Boys mentioned in the book I'm reading

I've never read Haruki Murakami, but I know he is a big Beach Boys fan - He has even translated a BB-related book (Pet Sounds (33 1/3) by Jim Fusilli.) into Japanese.

He recently hosted a radio program, and he apparently played deep cuts like Heigh Ho/Whistle While You Work/Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) from In the Key of Disney and Little Saint Nick from What I Really Want for Christmas.

Hi all,

Today I am reading Faceless Killers Henning Mankell. So far it is very good. The chapters are short and the writing is easy to understand. I like the fact that there are no long explanations.

Well it was -50 F wind chill here the other day... Suffice to say, I could relate to that part. (Less so the whole "prison camp" part. Which admittedly is kind of a big part...)

My favorite novel is The Great Gatsby, and that's been the case for the last 10 years. The writing style is just absolutely beautiful and Id give anything to write like F Scott Fitzgerald. Something about Nick's appreciation for Gatsby despite criticizing him all the while also struck a chord with me. This may be minor spoilers, but theres a brief incident in Chapter 2 which points to Nick being gay. It's subtle enough that you could play it off if that's not where you want the story to go. But it also adds some context for his fawning yet disapproval of Gatsby.

The passage Im thinking about is after the party Tom takes Nick to (where he breaks Myrtle's nose). Nick meets some older man there. Then suddenly there's a reference to the two of them lying in bed or on a couch together in their underwear and Nick getting up to go. It's very very brief, blink and you miss it, that doesn't even take up a whole page. But it implies Nick is a closeted gay or bisexual (he's going out with Jordan Baker, who's a girl but has short hair and is athletic) which in turn could significantly change the dynamic between him and Gatsby. Personally, I think the story works either way, but I find that when you're attracted to someone it's a lot easier to accept their flaws than it is if the relationship is strictly platonic. So considering how Nick is constantly fawning over Gatsby and transfixed by him at times, yet all the while critical of him and well-aware of his flaws, I think that detail makes a lot of sense.

We had to read another Fitzgerald novel besides Gatsby in school--Tender is the Night. And on my own I tried to read The Beautiful and Damned since I loved Gatsby so much. I stopped because I got started too late in the summer to finish before the school year, and once that hit I was too swamped to find the time. Id like to give that another chance. And This Side of Paradise was considered Fitzgeralds masterpiece in his own lifetime, so Id say thats worth a read too.

Im also a huge fan of A Separate Peace by John Knowles. It's about a close friendship but also the main characters envy and guilt towards his companion. It really reminded me of one of my close childhood friends who was always handsome, popular and charismatic. I loved him dearly but sometimes couldn't help but be jealous of his abilities while I always felt awkward and overshadowed by comparison. I love art like this, or Vertigo, that deals with these kinds of uncomfortable but realistic emotions we often pretend don't exist in the real world. 

To Kill a Mockingbird is amazing. Enough said.

My dad somehow someway let me read The Godfather by Mario Puzo when I was 13. I got a LOT of attention in school because of it too. It's a great novel, though it's often written off as trash because of the Lucy Mancini subplot. While that was admittedly kind of strange, it didn't distract me. I also liked the expanded Johnny Fontaine subplots, and missed them in the film. Reading that at the end of 7th Grade was a great feeling; it was like I officially stopped being a child and became an adult ready to read adult books. 

These days it's kind of cliche, but Harry Potter is great. I've seldom read books that just completely enthralled me to the point I read thousands of pages in like 3 months. I have a lot of great memories being 13 and reading in bed on a cool autumn night before passing out  I've very seldom had such fun reading a book series. The best one, by far, is Goblet of Fire.

The first three Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire books are great, and the other two have their moments too. Unfortunately the series will probably never be finished, so get invested at your own risk. The first four seasons of the TV show are great too, but I never appreciated certain characters like Ser Davos and Renly before reading the books. Like, Catelyn is pretty one-note in the show, but being able to read her inner thoughts as she's proud of her son yet fearing for his safety all the time was very profound. And Tyrion used to be really cool on the show, but he was mostly just a drunken wisecracker; in the books you see how he's completely traumatized and constantly putting himself down in his own head over what his father did to him.

The Hobbit was great, though unfortunately I've yet to read the more iconic Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton is great. The movie is WAY too dumbed down, "kiddie-fied" and schmaltzy thanks to Spielberg being Spielberg. The novel is a lot more cerebral; it has this amazing rants by Ian Malcolm that are a scathing critique of the modern world (without being too political if that makes sense). These are the heart of the story but they were completely removed from the film. Also, a lot more characters die and John Hammond is an unrepentant asshole instead of the strangely whimsical Walt Disney-with-science he is in the movie.

Holes by Louis Sachar is the first novel I really loved (I liked reading before that, but just kid stories mostly.) I didn't expect to like it at all, but my mom got it for me so it was around. I distinctly remember I only started reading it because I was sent to my room (in the time before kids had cellphones, and before I had my own laptop) so with nothing else to do I picked it up. I ended up loving it and finishing the whole thing in a few days. 

1984 needs no introduction.

Neither does Catcher in the Rye though it's a lot less "deep" now than it was when I was 18 .


Unfortunately starting in high school I stopped reading for pleasure for awhile due to being swamped with homework, a job and extra curriculars all the time. I still read a bit but not as much as I'd have liked to. I started A Tale of Two Cities in 10th or 11th grade but could never finish it for this reason (I got like 5/6 of the way thru.) Even though it's not a book, I loved reading the text of Waiting For Godot for school. In 11th Grade we read/talked about a lot of great books that I'd have loved to read but unfortunately didn't have the time.

I only really got back into reading for pleasure at the end of senior year when I read Catch a Wave during Senior Week. 

Since then I've mostly just read non-fiction stuff, usually biographies about my heroes. In college, I read The Diana Chronicles about Princess Di, and some other biographies about: Syd Barrett (A Very Irregular Head, Crazy Diamond), Jimi Hendrix (Roomful of Mirrors), Janis Joplin (Scars of Sweet Paradise), Arthur Lee (Forever Changes), Jim Morrison (No One Here Gets Out Alive), Brian Jones (The Life and Death of a Rock Legend) and Grace Slick's autobiography. There might have been one or two others, but they're not coming to mind right now. I'd recommend any of them except (Im sorry to say) Grace Slick's book.

Non-biography stuff included: How Rome Fell by Adrian Goldsworthy, Carthage Must Be Destroyed, The 18 Day Running Mate by Joshua Glasser and Terry: My Daughter's Life and Death Struggle with Alcoholism by Geroge McGovern. Again, there might have been a few more but they're not coming to mind just now. I'd recommend all of the ones listed here, as long as Rome and George McGovern appeal to you.

Terry in particular is such a sweet, heartbreaking book. It's basically a biography about George's troubled daughter, with emphasis on her deadly addiction. It's so vulnerable (George includes some excerpts from her diary, and openly criticizes himself for spending too much time at work) that it just made me want to reach back in time and tell him he's a great man and it wasn't his fault, to say nothing for the words of comfort I wish I could have offered Terry herself.

The only two fiction books I read for fun in college were Goodburger 2 Go (way below my reading level, but Id always wanted to read it as a kid but could never find it and there was no Amazon) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The former is an interesting enough read you can knock off in one afternoon if you grew up watching Nickelodeon and saw Goodburger in theaters. I enjoyed it for what it was; Ed falling in love with a mime was especially cute. The latter is an absolute classic that really puts you in the headspace of a hippie in the Sixties. 


Since graduating college, Ive just recently read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I really liked them a lot though I probably would have appreciated them more if I were a kid. I tried to read Ulysses by James Joyce but just couldn't do it. I'll give that another try sometime.

I recently bought Cassandra by Christa Wolf and Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I also bought several political books, including a biography of Trump written by some of the editors of the Washington Post. (I despise the man but I think he, his campaign, and the Russia scandal are all fascinating topics.)