I really wanted to like that book and I did enjoy it at first but by the end I felt like it just didn't add up to very much and I wound up pretty disappointed by it.

Believe it or not but people in Vancouver really act like that, and not just a small minority too but at least a good 40% of the population.

Impressive.
I wish my friends were half that entertaining. Maybe Vancouver is in my future...

My favourite war book too...or at least one of them. Like the blurb says...the greatest war novel of all time.
If that book doesn't leave the reader with any sense of wars utter inhumanity, nothing will.

Which reminds me of another favourite book of mine. Primo Levi's, 'If This Is a Man'.
Levi was an anti fascist resistance fighter who was captured and deported to Auschwitz.
The entire book is like a prose poem. If it wasn't for the horrendous subject matter, it would be a work of beauty. Primo Levi bares his soul.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ThisisaMan.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...(Vonnegut).jpg
This was not the first Vonnegut I picked up, but is still high on my list of Vonnegut novels. It's been a few years since I've picked it up, so maybe a reread is on the way.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...book_cover.jpg

This might possibly be my favorite right now. This was the beginning, if not, what initiated a crucial transition in my life. He isn't my favorite author, but his way with words moves me like I haven't been moved in a long time. He has developed some of my favorite characters. I've only read another by him entitled The Farewell Party, but ten pages before I finished, my usual fear of ending a novel kicked in and I've yet to finish it ..

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3..._Chronicle.jpg

This is one of the best books I've ever read, and easily my favorite. An absolute masterpiece.

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/s...eTheLiving.jpg

A lot of people talk about how awful a philosopher and writer Ayn Rand was, but I really don't give a shit. This is one of the best plots ever concieved, and it's way more than just a love story. If you don't like this book, you might not have a frontal lobe.


http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/s...an_Denisov.jpg

Aside from Night by Elie Wiesel, this was probably the first mature book I'd ever read. I read both when I was in 7th grade, and this one played a big part in shaping my tastes in literature

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/s...ry/n189004.jpg

People always talk about how they see parts of themselves in "Catcher In The Rye", but fuck that. This book will tell you more about yourself and entertain you more than that adolescent semi-controversial bullshit.

Two of my favorite as well.
Did you know you can buy signed lithograph's of the " *******" in Breakfast of Champions for about $2,000.

in no order:

the river why by david james duncan
texasville/lonesome dove by larry mcmurtry
the road by cormac mccarthy
love signs by linda goodman
fear and loathing on the campaign trail by hunter thompson

I've been on the lookout for it. It's been 17 years since I last read it.

the brothers k is also another great book by duncan

So I hear.....

The River Why was sandwiched between Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig and The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Casteneda. Twas a very impressionable portion of my life. Those 3 books gave me the neurosis that I am today.

river and zen did the same to me

I still believe I'll know my soulmate cuz' she'll be smokin' Camel non-filters.

Quintessentially English:
http://ccjjharmon.files.wordpress.co...3/willows.jpeg
Best debut novel I have read for a long time. Dark, violent, blackly comic:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/im...45/n228608.jpg
Absolutely essential:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg
A lot of it is based on myths and was propoganda but an amazing book thats just under 900 years old:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BFVMM3S6L.jpg

Yeah, that was my favorite book as a kid. It's really cool.

If you haven't already, you should read Michael Wood's 'In Search of the Dark Ages'. Like Shama's 'History of Britain' it was a BBC TV documentary series.
The documentary was good (hard to get hold of these days) but the book is superlative.
And as for Geoffrey Monmouth's ancient account...I really need to get round to buying a copy.

Moby Dick is my favorite book followed by The Stranger by Albert Camus.

Melville's writing style is the most beautiful and the atmosphere created in the book is a spiritual experience in itself. Then you have Ishmael who is my favorite book character. My god, I could go on.

I have both Wood's 'In Search Of The Dark Ages' and 'In Search Of Civilisation'. Both superlative I have to say. Good shout. As for Geoffrey Of Monmouth- it was more of a fanciful story than historical writing but it has a wonderful fantastical prose that drags you in. I would love to find the writings of Bede too.

A great read for sure...but it left me wishing I hasn't read through to the end. Almost like it would have been better had I stopped reading a few chapters before that.

Love this! Also one of my faves as a kid. I was actually trying to talk to someone about this not too long ago...lol.

Then you need to get 'In the footsteps of Alexander'. It surpasses all of the historical series by Wood. Brilliant book.
The documentary is epic too (watch em' all). Any non Brits with a love of history may find these vids interesting. The BBC do it best.
If I could be one person in history...Alexander would be that man. Apart from Bestie of course. ;)



Bede? Religious propaganda written by Bede to create the notion of English christianity, when in fact it already existed in a purer form on his arrival.
Fabricated lies.

of course. Bede was a monk after all but I am drawn to the romanticism of his writings more than histrorical and religious notions. It was the dark ages after all

Not so dark as previously reported. I could put another documentary up that you'd be interested in, but I don't wanna get SATCH all grumpy. This being a book thread. :/

We should start our own history thread Lee.

That would be really cool sriously. We will have to look into that for sure.

OT...which brings me neatly to this book. A must read and one of my favourite history books. Great first person insight into ancient history despite some obvious embellishments.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/01...1.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I have not read that I have to admit. I am sure that you will like this although it's a beast of a book:

http://static.bookdepository.co.uk/a...0753813928.jpg

Another favorite of mine that I'm starting after not having read it in a few years. Even though I can't say he's not a legend, I still believe that James Baldwin is one of the most underrated authors of American literature.

http://lopezbooks.com/images/kl/024491.jpg

I'm watching History of Britain though I'm only up to the Norman Conquest atm. I find it fascinating how sophisticated Skara Brae was around 3000 BC.

I'm still reading England - The Autobiography which I bought ages ago. It's slow reading but interesting.

Great website about Skara Brae here: Skara Brae - The Discovery and Excavation of Orkney's finest Neolithic Settlement. I have watched a couple of documentaries and I could sit and watch things like that all day long.

lord of the flies, life of pie, mary higgens clark-two little girls in blue(all mary higgens clark books are execellent!!!!!!)

The metamorphoses - Franz Kafka

http://czechmeout.files.wordpress.co...01lzzzzzzz.jpg

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/be...006/2092-1.jpg

The Wall - Sartre [but read it french (Le Mur), original language is always best]

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...120229181_.jpg

The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/do...ooks/114-1.jpg

big ups, the wall is bananas.

but imo kafka on the shore > metamorphosis.

http://10thirty.files.wordpress.com/...elers-wife.jpg

Yeah, you heard me!

http://www.ebookchm.com/screen/tutorials/5xptcpe.jpg

Seriously, one of my faves.

^ +1

Great book adidasss. I seem to remember reading this on your recommendation?

Perhaps. I know I was raving about it for a good long while...:laughing:

Be about 3 years ago...

ha...what?

http://www.yogalifestyle.com/images/...Warrior354.jpg

And The Journey of Socrates. I couldn't find the image.

aside from the chapter about the history of 'echo' i thought this was one of the best reads i've ever had. always hated the idea that it was a 'horror' novel though. then again self-realization can be a pretty horrifying concept for some i suppose.

i think listening to his sisters music and indirectly learning about their family from that direction provided a different sort of insight to interpreting the book. i actually found out about the novel from a little insert in poe's 'haunted' album.


any thoughts on Danielewski's 'Only Revolutions'?