What are you reading? What did you read? What should I read next?
I shall submit: Timothy Findley (the book about the Ark, but I can’t remember the name of it ... “Not Wanted on the Voyage”?)
and Margaret Atwood (just pick something and dislike it, if you like. I had a boyfriend once who used to call her “Margaret Catfood").
They’re both Canadian, but then, so is William Shatner.
I read James Joyce, “Ulysses”, once, with commentaries. It’s cool if you have time. I ain’t doin’ it again. Anyone out there got time to read “Remembrance of Things Past”???
Favorite Stephen King novels (pick two): Mine: Salem’s Lot. The Stand.
Right at the moment I am not reading anything, but I just finished reading some good animal books by someone named Vicki Hearne, eg. “Animal Happiness”. Sadly, she’s dead of cancer, just recently, but lives in her books.
It would be cool to see what other people are reading, have read, or recommend.
Three books I would recommend are Time Adjusters by Bill Ectric, The Summer of the Mets by Levi Asher, and Fire on Ice by Sasha Cohen. Books I plan to read next are OC Gun by Henry Baum, and Thief by J. Johnson. (Of course I’d also recommend reading the books I’ve written - will send you a link, if you want.)
Three books I would recommend are Time Adjusters by Bill Ectric, The Summer of the Mets by Levi Asher, and Fire on Ice by Sasha Cohen. Books I plan to read next are OC Gun by Henry Baum, and Thief by J. Johnson. (Of course I’d also recommend reading the books I’ve written - will send you a link, if you want.)
Why? I mean, what did you like about the books? I can go to the library!
(Sure, send me a link. Is it going to be as good as, eg., OC Gun by Henry Baum? Maybe I won’t HAVE to go to the library!)
Thanks for asking. Bill’s book is a wonderful collection of short stories. You can read one at his homepage, billectric.org. Levi’s book is a profound story of ‘trying to fit in.’ I think it’s essential reading, for understanding who we are, and what we should be. I’ve a personal preference for my own writing, and will send you a link. So...no, you won’t have to go to the library.
I’ve been an avid reader since I first learned how. I read the encyclopedia constantly as a young kid. I love all the classics, especially all the things I was not interested in when it was being pushed on me in school.
Here are a few of my favorites some old some older:
Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls
Knut Hamsen - Hunger
Anais Nin - Delta of Venus
Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange (with all 21 Chapters...original US version dropped 21st chapter)
Leonard Cohen - Beautiful Losers, which was really a tough read because of his flow of consciousness style of writing, but rewarding in the end
B. Kliban - Whack Your Porcupine (the best insight to my personality)
Dumas - Three Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo
The Russians....I ride a bus to work....lots of time
Science Fiction was my first love… Robert Heinlein - Job, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones translated by Paul Rep
The King is Dead - Shortstories about Dead Elv-i, in particular Joe Lansdale’s - Bubba Hotep. Lansdale writes really entertaining horror and short stories
Stephen King was an early interest, but I have not kept up. Christine, The Stand, It, All the Bachman Books
Shakespeare’s Love Sonnets
Shel Silverstien - Where the Sidewalk Ends
and of course Charles Bukowski...take your pick of his work, it is all interesting. A friend of mine has a bunch of his readings on CD and that is really how I was first introduced to him.
I’ve really been on the horror shelf lately. None of it is safe for kids though.
You might find an author you’ve never heard of before. http://thehorrorfan.blogspot.com
i just read ken kesey’s sometimes a great notion, and i thought it was better than one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. stephen king’s the dark tower is an essential read and probably the weirdest thing i’ve read is doug nufer’s never again which can be found in its entirety here: http://www.ubu.com/contemp/nufer/nufer.pdf
note that he never uses the same word twice. how about that for a writing exercise.
Got some great books in the mail - Space Savers by Bill Ectric, Winter of Different Directions by Steven McDermott, and Storyglossia 2006 collection. Also got email-copy of Midnight in America, and Down for the Count, both by the great Don Eminizer. Nothing but good things to say about these excellent books. Highly recommended. Damn, if I weren’t so busy writing, all I’d do is read.
One of my all-time favorites is “The Mists of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I’m not crazy about the sequels and prequels though. Isn’t that often the case?!
“The Mists of Avalon” is wonderful. Got lost in it. Never read any sequels or prequels but did try to read it again and couldn’t. There was something about the magic of the first reading that could not be recaptured. I still remember how happy it made me, though; it’s probably changed me forever in some way!
“The Other Bolyne Girl” is a good one. I was reading it on a plane, having bought it by accident at an airport, and then lost it at my destination, half-way through my trip. When I got back I could not find it anywhere and had to order it from Amazon. It came and I backtracked a bit and finished it for about $12.00. Then lent it to a friend who says she’s busy reading it and has to go home to keep reading it.
The author is a pretty well-known person whose name I can’t remember, has written other books, none of which I have read.
Great historical fiction. I’ve always been an Anne Bolyne fan and this book has a nice twist to it, although she’d probably have the author’s head offed if she could.
Phantom - by Susan Kay — I have read it 6 times. Kay creates the life of the Phantom of the Opera from birth to death. Who he is, where he came from, the tragic experiences that drove him underground, his genius. It is an amazingly well written tragedy/love story that introduces you to both the most primal and most advanced aspects of humanity. PLEASE read it!! It was out of print, but I believe they reprinted again last year or so - even if you have to search for it, it’s worth it!
I also love all of Mitch Albom’s books - Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. They are great books for personal reflection and thought provocation.
Steven King—Lisey’s Story —it walks a magical line between reality that turns to fantasy....but you never really know when or if it’s really just perception.
