OT: Books

[MickeyDavis]

It took me a long time to switch to a Kindle. I always loved having actual books. But I switched over for the most part a few years ago. The "problem" with a Kindle is every time I hear about an interesting book in 30 seconds I have it. Now i currently have a backlog of over 25 to read.

[AussieBuck]

It took me a long time to switch to a Kindle. I always loved having actual books. But I switched over for the most part a few years ago. The "problem" with a Kindle is every time I hear about an interesting book in 30 seconds I have it. Now i currently have a backlog of over 25 to read.

Oh yeah the Kindle, I have books to read on a Kindle I forgot existed. Thanks MD.

[ReasonablySober]

Just gonna be vulnerable for a second here- I’ve never actually read a book but you all have inspired me. Can’t wait to get started with some of these recommendations.

These are the novels that got me into reading:

The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew
John Grisham - The Client, The Partner, and Runaway Jury
Tom Clancy - Without Remorse
Clive Cussler - (I love all the Dirk Pitt novels) but Raise the Titanic, Sahara, and Shock Wave specifically
William Diehl - Primal Fear (movie was adapted), Show of Evil, and Reign in Hell. So there was a trilogy.
Michael Slade - (this is awesome horror that deserves movie adaptations) Headhunter, Cutthroat, Hangman, Death's Door, Bed of Nails
Bret Easton Ellis - The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho
Bernard Cornwell - The Warlord Chronicles, The Grail Quest Novels, The Saxon Stories
Don Winslow - Savages, The Kings of Cool, The Cartel Trilogy

[DrWood]

The thing that pisses me off about DFW the most is that he hanged himself so I can't find him and beat the crap out of him for inflicting the world with that self-indulgent piece of crap that is Infinite Jest.

Eh. He probably would've whipped your ass anyway.

I'd sucker punch him in-between him whining.

[DrWood]

Bret Easton Ellis - The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho
Bernard Cornwell - The Warlord Chronicles, The Grail Quest Novels, The Saxon Stories

I like these two writers a lot.

[HaroldinGMinor]

Just gonna be vulnerable for a second here- I’ve never actually read a book but you all have inspired me. Can’t wait to get started with some of these recommendations.

Don't bother with the recommendations. Just get this and you're all set to impress.

[Erifee]

Watch on YouTube

[hege53190]

Some of my favorites:
A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin

Totally agree. The first 3 books in the series is just an amazing accomplishment. It is easily my favorite trilogy. But a Storm of Swords is just another level of WTF.

Spoiler:

Reading the Red Wedding the first time was just like What is happening. And having to read something like 4 times just to believe the words on the page. They were clear as day. I just couldn't comprehend how a hero story could have that in it 2,000 pages into the story. Then to have the Purple wedding and Oberyn Martell included in a book was just another level of greatness. Having like 12 different POV characters was just wild and GRRM made it work. He was amazing.

I really wonder how the series would have turned out if GRRM did the 5 year jump like he planned and focused on the Starks and Tyrion like the original trilogy instead of writing about Samwell Tarley on a boat, Brienne touring the 7 kingdoms with Podrick, and Cersei going insane.

The reason I bring it up is I just listened to part of the first book again because I had the books on audible and was on a long car ride. GRRM really was on another level in terms of fantasy writing. I mean who comes up with HODOR knowing it will pay off 5,000 pages later? In the most gut punching memorable sad way possible.

[Nowak008]

Grit. I've met Angela and thought her presentation was amazing, so I might be biased on this, but the book itself was also great and worth a read if you like these types of things.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grit-angela-duckworth/1122569881?ean=9781501111112

I wish I got into reading otherwise. But then I think about the things I do instead of reading and I'm at peace with how my mind developed.

I would be interested in hearing her speak because I honestly thought Grit was one of the worst books I've ever read. It is a book of bad cliches.

As for your comment about reading.. It takes some work getting into a routine, but you would be surprised how many books you can read in a year if you replace the 30 minutes of mindless scrolling before bed with a book.

Another book I'd recommend avoiding is White Fragility. The book has some important points - colorblindness is bad, addressing white defensiveness. But she also says a lot of bizarre things: she says that kids today are just as racist as people were during Jim Crow and that Jackie Robinson shouldn't be celebrated as a hero. Plus the book is extremely fatalistic. I can't believe it is the #1 selling book in the country. Matt Taibbi has a good piece on it.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/on-white-fragility

[feldm093]

It's a bit out of date by ~90 (or ~40, depending on count) years, but I'm currently knee-deep in Fernando Pessoa's "The Book of Disquiet".

I don't think I've found an author or a series of writings that have moved me the way Pessoa has. Fascinating individual, fascinating writing, and a fascinating mind. Strange who it is we come across whose words have such personal resonance across the gulfs of both time and space.

[thomchatt3rton]

It's a bit out of date by ~90 (or ~40, depending on count) years, but I'm currently knee-deep in Fernando Pessoa's "The Book of Disquiet".

I don't think I've found an author or a series of writings that have moved me the way Pessoa has. Fascinating individual, fascinating writing, and a fascinating mind. Strange who it is we come across whose words have such personal resonance across the gulfs of both time and space.

I might check this out, provided it comes across ok in English. Never heard of Pessoa. I like the idea of a “factless autobiography” very much

[HaroldinGMinor]

I just read Flowers for Algernon for the first time and to paraphrase Uncle Enzo "Thata Charlie Gordon...he make a me cry!"

I loved this book.

[emunney]

Hadn't read it since I was a kid, but just finished reading the Chronicles of Prydain to my son and it is phenomenal, whips the **** out of the Hobbit, HP, Narnia, and all the other kid/YA-oriented fantasy I've read.

Have *not* read His Dark Materials, but from what I gather that's too old for the boy rn.

[CharityStripe34]

Currently reading "America: The Farewell Tour" by Chris Hedges which is a bit myopic and haunting, but still a fantastic read.

Next up is "Travel as a Political Act: How To Leave Your Baggage Behind" by Rick Stevens.

[thomchatt3rton]

Hadn't read it since I was a kid, but just finished reading the Chronicles of Prydain to my son and it is phenomenal, whips the **** out of the Hobbit, HP, Narnia, and all the other kid/YA-oriented fantasy I've read.

Have *not* read His Dark Materials, but from what I gather that's too old for the boy rn.

Really? I had very fond memories of those books from when I was a kid but I did not think they held up well. Maybe the first 2. But if your kid liked them, then I guess they held up, right?

I think The Hobbit is still the gold standard for fantasy books for kids. I agree about the Narnia books though. They’re pretty thin, actually.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[emunney]

Hadn't read it since I was a kid, but just finished reading the Chronicles of Prydain to my son and it is phenomenal, whips the **** out of the Hobbit, HP, Narnia, and all the other kid/YA-oriented fantasy I've read.

Have *not* read His Dark Materials, but from what I gather that's too old for the boy rn.

Really? I had very fond memories of those books from when I was a kid but I did not think they held up well. Maybe the first 2. But if your kid liked them, then I guess they held up, right?

I think The Hobbit is still the gold standard for fantasy books for kids. I agree about the Narnia books though. They’re pretty thin, actually.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

My kid liked them, I thought they were extraordinary, particularly the last two. I can't read The Hobbit, I find it incredibly tedious.

[thomchatt3rton]

Hadn't read it since I was a kid, but just finished reading the Chronicles of Prydain to my son and it is phenomenal, whips the **** out of the Hobbit, HP, Narnia, and all the other kid/YA-oriented fantasy I've read.

Have *not* read His Dark Materials, but from what I gather that's too old for the boy rn.

Really? I had very fond memories of those books from when I was a kid but I did not think they held up well. Maybe the first 2. But if your kid liked them, then I guess they held up, right?

I think The Hobbit is still the gold standard for fantasy books for kids. I agree about the Narnia books though. They’re pretty thin, actually.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

My kid liked them, I thought they were extraordinary, particularly the last two. I can't read The Hobbit, I find it incredibly tedious.

I think the Hobbit is incredibly rich and vivid, and has a depth to its world and characters those other books can’t hold a candle to. The language and writing, too, is on another level entirely. And it has a couple of truly memorable characters (Gandalf, Gollum and Smaug).

But I also admit to being particularly enamored with that specific era of Britishness, so if you’re not, then maybe some of The Hobbit’s charms aren’t quite as charming to you (tho CS Lewis comes from, literally, the same school as Tolkien and hes not nearly as good, so its not all just the period of writing I respond to). Idk.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[Licensed to Il]

I also think Hobbit is the gold standard for children's literature.

And Led Zeppelin agrees with me.

[skones]

Unless you're in a dual male household, Emily Nagoski's Come as You Are will teach you things and make you better at sex.

[skones]

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
A kid trains to save the world against alien invaders. I liked this book but didn't think it was the incredible work of fiction that its reputation led me to believe it would be.

I read it for the first time when I was 10 and I've probably read it about 30 times since. One of my favorite books. Consider the context, Orson Scott Card wrote Ender's Game in 1985 and stressed the importance of "the nets" as they would ultimately create global influence. Dude invented the internet for a **** book in 1985......

Anyways, others:
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Night by Elie Wiesel
Catcher in the Rye Sallinger
Things they Carried Tim O'Brien
Hitchikers Guide
Disaster Artist for all of you The Room fans. It's incredible.

off the top of my head for now.