Paddington Bear.

I've recently read 2 by Margaret Atwood . They were recommended by a woman I know . Written from a womans point of view (in my opinion ) . They were VG

The Robber Bride
Cat's Eye

It is truly amazing how many Dostoyevsky lovers are here on a Stones board. Maybe somebody (beelyboy?) could help us understand the link. "The Idiot" is my favorite.

Modern day, nobody rivals Tom Wolfe (A native of Richmond, Virgina) IMO. Bonfire, Man In Full, and I Am Charlotte Simmons are all great reads.

For absolute hilarity I've got to add "Post Office" by Charles Bukowski.

Of course, EL QUIJOTE by Miguel de Cervantes

tom wolfe has not written anything mildly relevant in over two decades..come on people stop smokin' the crack pipe!

Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita

stoned_in_dc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tom wolfe has not written anything mildly relevant
> in over two decades..come on people stop smokin'
> the crack pipe!


Dude, you're the one who's "stoned".

A Man In Full and Charlotte Simmons aren't Bonfire (what is?), but they're full of great characterizations and intricate plot lines. I'm no Rhoades Scholar, but I couldn't put them down. So far as being "relevant"-

Man In Full:
Illegal immigrants
Racial tensions
Prison Life
Shady Real Estate deals
Well-paid College athletes

Charlotte Simmons:
Well-paid College athletes & sports vs. education
Politically-correct college administrators
The culture of the entitled rich vs the blue-collar working class
Sexual mores of today's youth


I will agree Tom's prose isn't quite as sharp as it was in Bonfire. And, I never got around to reading "Hooking Up". I heard that one was not so good.

various translations of the Chuang Tzu (mair, watson, feng). it's the other major book in the philisophical Taoism school of thought, less known but far superior to its better known counterpart, Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. very rarely has any book (be it philosophy or whatever) simultaneously been as deep and as humorous as this one.

my favorite book of recent times in the non-fiction category is last year's "Screwed: the undeclared war on the middle class" by thom hartmann. i wish it was 4 times as long, it's so good.

fave fiction book is tough, there are so many that i first read when i was a kid and always return to over the years: asimov's Foundation series, dumas' count of monte cristo, sherlock holmes reader, various tim robbins' books...all pretty light. but the US news media has so shirked its responsibility to the citizenry that for 10 years now, all the new books/stuff i read are on politics and corporations; there's just no time to find new fiction. frustrating, but an informed citizenry is integral to any future hopes of a healthy democratic society.

fave poetry book: there are only 3 i can handle at length- stevie smith (british), patti smith, and ginsberg.

there's some great suggestions on this thread! kudos to the threadstarter...

Sohoe, get ready!! If you understand Ulysses the tenth time, I will bow to you in admiration (it wasn't enough for me).

Pascal, Pensées
Diderot, Le Neveu de Rameau
Tolstoï, War and Peace (I put Tolstoï 2000 light years ahead of Dostoïevski)
Musil, The Man without qualities
Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations


With these five, I have food for twenty lives of thought. But, in a different register, a dear personal favourite:

Romain Gary, La Vie devant soi.
Don't know if it was ever translated into English. Would probably didn't work as it's full of slang and triple-entendre; but it's a marvel. A sort of crossover between Chaplin's The Kid, The Little Prince by Saint Exupéry, and a Bukowski novel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-03-05 23:20 by otonneau.

The Godfather - Mario Puzzo
Ten Little Nigers - Agatha Cristie

Crime and Punishment
The Painted Bird
Fear and Loathing
Brothers Karamazov
On The Road
To Kill A Mocking Bird
The first couple of years of Hustler...AND





ROCKMAN

On The Road! Thank ya Rockie!
Now it gets even more complicated to choose...

The Naked And The Dead - Norman Mailer

The Red Room - August Strindberg

The Trial - Franz Kafka

Mr. Bump
Mr. Worry
Mr. Tickle
Mr. Tall
Mr. Topsyturvy
Mr. Sneeze
Mr. Strong
and
Mr. Silly.

Love most of the work done by Charles Bukowski and Hunter S Thompson

I am also fond of reading a good Batman graphic novel, like the Frank Miller stuff or The Long Halloween.

Elmo Lewis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Bible
> To Kill A Mockingbird
> Up And Down With The Rolling Stones
> Green Eggs And Ham


Green Eggs and Ham - One of my favorites

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

The plot twists (goat, boat, house, mouse, rain, train, etc.) and the deep philosophy of I Am Sam (try it, you'll like it) really captured me at age 6. Cool pictures too.

JaggerFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mr. Bump
> Mr. Worry
> Mr. Tickle
> Mr. Tall
> Mr. Topsyturvy
> Mr. Sneeze
> Mr. Strong
> and
> Mr. Silly.


We got those books in Norway too. Quite good reading for a 3 year old.

It is so IMPRESSIVE to see the literacy of my fellow Stones fans!

No crap books here!

I'm also a great Tom Wolfe fan...Have spent a lot of time in the South and in "Man in Full" he really captured some of the characters I met along the way. His 1960s books are really fun - "Kandy Kolored" etc...his amazing profile of Phil Spector etc.

Elmo Lewis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The plot twists (goat, boat, house, mouse, rain,
> train, etc.) and the deep philosophy of I Am Sam
> (try it, you'll like it) really captured me at age
> 6. Cool pictures too.


Hell,it still captures me at 44.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

One hundred years of solitude
Mann without qualities
Narziss and Goldmund

I've read the above books more than 1 times. Every time I travel I bring at least two of them. I've read most of the other books that are mentioned on these pages and am impressed how well read all of you seem to be. Well done ...

deep thoughts
by jack handy

tom wolfe also touched upon the rolling stones in his early years. i am not sure which story to was, though i know it was in kandy kolor baby, he was following baby jane holzer about and she was talking about brian jones and the rolling stones in new york.

winter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> various translations of the Chuang Tzu (mair,
> watson, feng). it's the other major book in the
> philisophical Taoism school of thought, less known
> but far superior to its better known counterpart,
> Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. very rarely has any book
> (be it philosophy or whatever) simultaneously been
> as deep and as humorous as this one.
>
may i respectfully suggest stephen mitchell's tranlation of the Tao Te Ching.
tho that might be one of the versions you already have...
if not, imo it particularly, and with distinct poetic mastery, really opens these incredible touchstone writings in a perfectly original, even wondrous manner. Translation can mean everything in cases like this...
(he also has translations of The Book of Job and The Gospel According to Jesus The Christ that are revelatory, as well as many other books)

THe Hobbit( and all of the trilogy) by Tolkien followed by Fear Of Flying, Erica Jung, Last of The Mohigans, by Cooper, Atlas Shrugged by Rand, The Sun Also Rises, by Fitzgerald, White Fang by London, The Exorcist by Blatty.

Erik_Snow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JaggerFan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Mr. Bump
> > Mr. Worry
> > Mr. Tickle
> > Mr. Tall
> > Mr. Topsyturvy
> > Mr. Sneeze
> > Mr. Strong
> > and
> > Mr. Silly.
>
>
> We got those books in Norway too. Quite good
> reading for a 3 year old.

Yes, they are.

Forget the heavyweight one-book-a-decade writers, the arty-farty predictables and the virtually unreadables.

If you want a violent but hilarious Rock'n'Roller of a read with realistic dialogue go for anything in 'The Hap Collins/Leonard Pine' series by Joe R.Lansdale. They won't appear on any Academic Critique lists but by God it's slick writing. Literary equivalent of a 70's Stones Tour.

Life's too short for 'War and Peace' and my eyes aren't up to it now!

"I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon."

Beelyboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> may i respectfully suggest stephen mitchell's
> tranlation of the Tao Te Ching.
>imo it particularly, and with distinct
> poetic mastery, really opens these incredible
> touchstone writings in a perfectly original, even
> wondrous manner. Translation can mean everything
> in cases like this...

THANKS beelyboy! no, i have not run across that translation. the last tao te ching i got was feng/english in the '80's, so i think i'm due. the only chuang tzu i sought but was unable to find was by duyvendack (sp?), several passages were used by alan watts. thanks for the tip, bro.

I remember reading The Orion Mystery when it came out in 1994.
That was *mind-blowing*.

I avoid navel-gazing self-loathing authors or 'cultural scabs'.
Give me something real if I'm going to bother.

Ian MacLagan's "All The Rage" - a must have for Stones fans and other lovers of rock and roll music.

Chuck's book "Between Rock And A Home Place" is good reading too, but he doesn't name names like Mac does.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-03-06 19:41 by Elmo Lewis.