372 replies to this topic

[Mr. Roboto]

http://www.manybooks...-the-penis.html

[emeraldmaiden]

http://www.manybooks...-the-penis.html

That's it! Let me know what you think. It's short - 91 pages, I think. I read it in no time.

[Mr. Roboto]

Should be a hoot, hopefully I'll have time this week.

[Abaddon]

Starting reading The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce by Paul Torday. It's my third Torday book, and I'm liking it. Not a huge fan of his constant preoccupation with psychological problems and main characters with a 'secret past', but I adore the main plot point already. Man inherits 100,000-bottle wine cellar and turns into a rabid alcoholic as a result? Works for me. You know you're on to a winner when the first chapter involves the lead character getting off his tits drinking two £3,000 bottles of Petrus.

[Mr. Roboto]

. You know you're on to a winner when the first chapter involves the lead character getting off his tits drinking two £3,000 bottles of Petrus.

Sounds epic.

We always start with the Petrus but end up with the two buck chuck.

[Abaddon]

**Heads to the things to drink before I die thread**

[Timothy]

Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God

[Mr. Roboto]

I'm currently reading "Freakanomics" and so far I'm fairly underwhelmed.

[delusianne]

10 most difficult books:

http://listverse.com...literary-works/

I've read two of them: Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter. Moby Dick is exactly as described in that article. It is dense, detailed about whaling with less movement of plot, etc. It is worth it just to read Ahab's speech as the final hunt for the white whale begins (much of which is in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, by the way). That single passage is the epitome of anger and revenge in our literary tradition, so far as I'm concerned. For those unfamiliar, I post it here:

Ahab: I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! Let me hear thy hammer. Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine; thou uncracked keel; and only god-bullied hull; thou firm deck, and haughty helm, and Pole-pointed prow, - death-glorious ship! must ye then perish, and without me? Am I cut off from the last fond pride of meanest shipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole foregone life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!

At this point, the man, the captain, and his ship has been utterly destroyed. You can feel his acceptance of inevitable destruction, yet the finality of a confrontation with the whale is nothing in the face of his endless wrath and desire for vengeance. It's beautiful insanity.

I wrote my senior thesis as an English major about this book. It's difficult and I love it. To new readers, I would recommend a chapter or two/day. Keep moving, treat most of it as a historical document of the whaling industry of the 1800s, but don't let hte details bog you down.

Oh, God! One of my favorite books of ALL TIME, top three. The first time I read it I was a little apprehensive -- opened it up and looked at the chapter titles, started to smile... the deliberately-insanely long list of different names for the whale and the note from the sub-assistant. I fell in love

This just reminds me I have to read more Melville, this is the only one I've read. But how could the others be incomprehensible or boring, if this is his voice?

I love the structure of it -- esp the chapters that don't move the story along but only deepen the color and flavor. Little pieces of incidental music. One of my favorites is the one where they're lying in their bunks down below and they can hear the sharks outside the wooden walls, inches from their heads.

[freedom78]

10 most difficult books:

http://listverse.com...literary-works/

I've read two of them: Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter. Moby Dick is exactly as described in that article. It is dense, detailed about whaling with less movement of plot, etc. It is worth it just to read Ahab's speech as the final hunt for the white whale begins (much of which is in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, by the way). That single passage is the epitome of anger and revenge in our literary tradition, so far as I'm concerned. For those unfamiliar, I post it here:

Ahab: I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! Let me hear thy hammer. Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine; thou uncracked keel; and only god-bullied hull; thou firm deck, and haughty helm, and Pole-pointed prow, - death-glorious ship! must ye then perish, and without me? Am I cut off from the last fond pride of meanest shipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole foregone life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!

At this point, the man, the captain, and his ship has been utterly destroyed. You can feel his acceptance of inevitable destruction, yet the finality of a confrontation with the whale is nothing in the face of his endless wrath and desire for vengeance. It's beautiful insanity.

I wrote my senior thesis as an English major about this book. It's difficult and I love it. To new readers, I would recommend a chapter or two/day. Keep moving, treat most of it as a historical document of the whaling industry of the 1800s, but don't let hte details bog you down.

Oh, God! One of my favorite books of ALL TIME, top three. The first time I read it I was a little apprehensive -- opened it up and looked at the chapter titles, started to smile... the deliberately-insanely long list of different names for the whale and the note from the sub-assistant. I fell in love

This just reminds me I have to read more Melville, this is the only one I've read. But how could the others be incomprehensible or boring, if this is his voice?

I love the structure of it -- esp the chapters that don't move the story along but only deepen the color and flavor. Little pieces of incidental music. One of my favorites is the one where they're lying in their bunks down below and they can hear the sharks outside the wooden walls, inches from their heads.

Read some of his shorter stuff. "Bartleby the Scrivener" would be my first pick. Among his larger works, the cannibalistic islanders of "Typee" are worth reading about.

[Hula]

Game of Thrones...I had no idea this is a book series. I just saw the first episode on HBO and loved it. from what I read people who loved the books say the casting is great and they have followed the story very closely. I think I will keep watching it and maybe pick up one of the books once I figure out WTF is going on

http://www.hbo.com/g...ones/index.html


edited a better link

[freedom78]

Game of Thrones...I had no idea this is a book series. I just saw the first episode on HBO and loved it. from what I read people who loved the books say the casting is great and they have followed the story very closely. I think I will keep watching it and maybe pick up one of the books once I figure out WTF is going on

http://www.hbo.com/g...ones/index.html


edited a better link

Great books...but the series isn't finished and the author has gotten VERY slow in finishing it...BEWARE!

Currently reading "Wise Man's Fear"...second in a series (also a bit slow in coming...but not too bad).

[AxlsMainMan]

Late Nights on Air - pretty good story about people's lives intersecting and interweaving at a radio station in the Northwest Territories.

[Zimbochick]

10 Parody Novels That Get The Last Laugh

I have not read any of these, although some sound hilarious. I'm not sure why I never read Cold Comfort Farm, it's been on my list for years, I'll have to bump it up.