Great books

Aye, the good old days of fighting Nazis then writing books about your escapades in occupied Europe are all over. Damn the times we live in now when a fat man with a beard is all that is left standing in our way.
 
CC wrote:
Anyone know the name of that early Russian sci-fi book about a dog who's testicles are replaced with that of a mans and he becomes as a man?
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Right. The book just flashed back into my memory, it happens in St.Petersburg, right? I recall that the dog had a human brain transplanted as well, not only human balls..

damn, what was the author's name...
 
Well, I have to agree that Clancy is entertainment, and I enjoyed his books when he started, but they became crap too fast. Characters are cardboard, way too simple minded conservativism, overzealousness in tech.

I liked Ludlum too, but it has the same problem- eventually it turns to crap. Ludlum is all about super conspiracies, tough language, and paranoia.

McClean's Guns of Navarone is also a favorite adventure yarn, but he too suffers the same fate- stories become too predictable. Compare- When Eagles Dare and Force 10 from Navarone and the stories look alike.

This is the problem with recycled genre fiction- after awhile it turns to crap. Why? because its too much formula. When it becomes just mass produced crap than it stops being entertaining because its not fresh or interesting.

But I also think that "good literature" is also a sub genre in itself even if it does not regard itself as such.

I like to read horror (and yes, most of it is crap). I think Koontz's problem is that he has to avoid becoming too manufactured. King can be great but sometimes he just rambles on for hundreds of pointless pages.

But then why are Jules Verne, HG Wells, Poe, Stoker and Mary Shelly, and increasingly Lovecraft, considered to be 'literature' and genre is considered to be crap? These horror/sci-fi writers were not that signficant in their lives but became "literature" only after the writers had long since died. I think a few of Kings novels will probably be seen a classics sometime in the future.

So I think we need to be careful with entertainment vs. literature.

Right now on my plate for fiction I have- mostly because I am thinking about detective fiction and thrillers, but also the noir genre-

Conrad's the Secret Agent- so far so good.
King's Wolves of Calla
Thompson- The Killer in Me-
Hammett- Maltese Falcon and Red Harvast
Lots of Patricial Highsmith
Richard Stark
James Ellroy
and the Zanzibar Chest (gift from wife).

But that's only what's on the shelf waiting to be read.

For those interested in crime noir, check out-
Crime Novels : American Noir of the 1950s : The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers

That said, I think you should be selective and wide ranging in your reading. Read "good" fiction but also don't shy away from entertaining fiction as well. Some of it is quite fun and good.

For example here's a piece from the beginning of the "Killer Inside of Me"in which the main character- the local sherriff who has a sociopathic side that he is trying to contain meets up with a citizen who thanks him for helping out his son. The story is told by the sherriff in the first person-

"Only you," he said, "Because you are good, you make others so." He was all ready to sign off with that, but I wasn't. I leaned an elbow on the counter, crossed one foot behind the other, and took a long slow drag on my cigar. I liked the guy- as much as I like most people, anyway- but he was too good to let go. Polite, intelligent: guys like that are my meat.

A wonderful bit. But probably you will have to read the story.

Let's see favorite stories (which transcend both "good literature" and entertainment)-

Robert Louis Stevenson- Dr. Jeckell and Mr Hyde.
Jack London- The Seawolf
Raymond Chandler- The Big Sleep.
Conrad's - Lord Jim
Dumas- The Three Muskateers
Eco- Foucault Pendulum
Lovecraft- the Dunwich Horrow, Call of Cythulu
McMurphy- Lonesome Dove
I agree with Kharn- Watership Down is a great read.
Theroux- the Mosquito Coast

More, but I can't think of them right now.
 
if your like me and you like your books chock full of insanity and sharp plot twists every few chapters that will knock the wind out of you..

then i recommend Chuck Palahniuk of fight club fame,...
i've really haven't read a bad book of his but my favorites would have to be..

choke
invisible monsters
fight club

im currently reading his new book diary, which is so far excellent as well and will probably be joining that list shortly....
 
ConstinpatedCraprunner said:
I thought the opposite. I thought that Raskolinkon was dualistic, and dispite being "morally paralized" in some respects had some element of decency. Maybe that was why I perferd it to Karamozov, maybe it was because I was half asleep most of the time I was reading Karamozov
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*spoilers for karamazow etc*

He was, in my opinion, not morally paralyzed as the book itself pretty much states outright, but rather morally confused, both keeping to the ongoing sets of morals in his subconcious as well as a concious strife with these morals, which makes him hard to relate to as most people have a stiff set of morals. Not to say those bits in the police station didn't make my heart go badabum badabum...badabum...The thing with Raskolnikov is that he isn't as universal as Dostojewski's other characters. A Raskolnikov, just like the middle Karamazow brother (Ivan? Not Dmitri or Aljosja or the bastard child, the other one), is something rather too much of his own time, which can't really be avoided by a writer, unless he knows the future, but still...

Karamazow is generally more related to because it has a wide spread of deeply explored characters that you can relate to. While the book is, in the strictest sense, about Aljosja, but Ivan's (?) talk with the devil is one of the greatest literary "pieces" of all time. Everyone is explored up to some point, which means the book doesn't need a thoroughly dualistic main character...

The Idiot himself was just charming in his glaring imperfections. He's pretty much exactly what you don't want him to be. Fell in love with the guy from page 1.

CC said:
Dont feel bad Kharn, everyone loves Dutch culture. I have a Brughel desktop, and my weed comes from Amsterdam.
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I don't like Amsterdam weed. Too chemical. Oftimes not potent enough. Most mass-produced Dutch weed is pretty bad, though. I smoke PP, which is common, but one of the rarer ones, and more "special". Still not the best around, though
 
All quiet on the western front is a favorite.
Terry pratchett writes great books.
I tried reading tom clancy a while ago but i fell asleep, and decided i should try something different.

The crusader books by Jan Gulliou are worth a read. He is a swedish author.

I´m thinking about reading the books by hamsun, but i´m a lasy sod.
Damn i gotta go and be a surface svimmer. cya all.

BTW: i read a little inn a book that was about sparta and ancient wars in greece, i think it was called Through The Mist.
 
ConstinpatedCraprunner said:
Anyone here like Umberto Eco?
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I started reading "Name of the Rose" a few years ago but gave up in despair after ten pages because I didn't know enough about religion and architecture to enjoy the descriptions. I might give it another try, but I doubt it somehow.
 
Foucault's Pendulum is quite a task to get through, as is the Name of the Rose. I liked both quite a bit.

Also I would add a good author is Kundera.

One of my favorites is also Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
 
At the moment, my favorite author is Matthew T. Anderson. Feed was thought-provoking, Thirsty is the best horror story I've ever read, and Burger Wuss was hilarious.

Douglas Adams is amazing. I love the whole Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series-- hilarious.

Christopher Moore is good, from what I've read. Which is Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, one of many books he's published. Oh. My. God. It was really really funny. He also wrote one called Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story.

Another good one is Janet Tashjian, author of The Gospel According to Larry, a good read if you're into the footnotes and/or anti-consumerism. This one has nothing to do with Jesus.

The last one to come to my mind now is Carol Plum-Ucci, who wrote The Body of Christopher Creed. I guess it's a mystery book. Whatever, it's good, in my opinion.

Those are all the teenage reads I can think of; The HHTTG series kind of crosses over to the adult read section. By that I mean that although the rest may be considered 'mature,' (swearing, sexual references, violence, etcetera,) Adams's works are actually mature. Another such mature read is The Tough Coughs as He Ploughs the Dough: Early Writings and cartoons by Dr. Seuss, edited by Richard Marshall. Surprising if you're expecting a buch of rhymes about little whos living in Whoville. Politics, word misuse, history, and the facts of life- present by Dr. Seuss.
 
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