Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
I personally love transgressive fiction, so my tastes are a little more risque than most. Aside from that, my literature preferences are more of a mile wide and an inch deep.
I still cannot make it through this without lying down.
Originally Posted by NewChief:
Try out Barbara Kingsolver. I really like Prodigal Summer, then I'd move to Poisonwood Bible. If you like Hiaasen, you might like Kurt Vonnegut, though it borders on sci-fi, sort of.
I'll look into both of those folks. Thanks, bud. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BucEyedPea:
Contemporary or classic?
Contemporary:
Frank McCourt start with Angela's Ashes. You will cry but you will also laugh. Incredible storyteller.
Classics:
Jane Austen start with Pride and Prejudice.:-)
Originally Posted by BucEyedPea:
Frank McCourt's next one is T'Is . Also very good and will also have you laughing.
Just saw your posts, BEP. I can do the classics if they're not too old school with the language. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean. John Irving mentioned in his auto-biography that Graham Greene was the author that inspired him to read, so I searched out some Graham Greene novels figuring they'd be up my alley as well. Problem being, Graham was a writer from the old days, when people spoke (and wrote) differently. It was a hassle because the language of the book just seemed outdated and not very smooth. I hope I'm explaining that correctly. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Baby Lee:
I'm sure I've recommended Chuck in this very thread, albeit long ago. But if Hamas needs a voucher, I'll be his Huckleberry. It's dark, seamy stuff, but breezily written so it comes off more as 'scandalous!!' reading than a slog.
TimBone mentioned McMurtry, which would have been my next choice to pick up a long line of books. But if he liked that, I'd recommend Cormac McCarthy and Elmore Leonard. Both deal with sparse American settings and terse characters with wit.
I found out about McCarthy after both No Country and The Road became movies. I've went back and forth on whether to read something from him because I loved No Country but hated The Road.
Originally Posted by TimBone:
I found out about McCarthy after both No Country and The Road became movies. I've went back and forth on whether to read something from him because I loved No Country but hated The Road.
Got a book recommendation for me?
All the Pretty Horses is nice and not too insane.
Blood Meridian if you want to dive into the deep end.
The Road, imo, really isn't indicative of the rest of his work. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TimBone:
I found out about McCarthy after both No Country and The Road became movies. I've went back and forth on whether to read something from him because I loved No Country but hated The Road.
Got a book recommendation for me?
Originally Posted by NewChief:
All the Pretty Horses is nice and not too insane.
Blood Meridian if you want to dive into the deep end.
The Road, imo, really isn't indicative of the rest of his work.
AtPH is probably his best, but I REALLY liked Blood Meridian. Difference being, I read AtPH hardcover, . . . and listened to Blood Meridian on tape while on long trips, so I consumed it passively, in 3-4 hour chunks, a week or two at a time.
So I can't speak to NC's 'off the deep end' remark, except it really is a descent into a hellscape. Basically deeper and deeper doo-doo in the lawless old west. Think if Apocalypse Now was set in the Mexico territories.
But it stuck with me and I enjoyed it a lot.
And I agree, The Road is a much more sparse, spare, dire work.
If I were starting new, I'd warm up with Elmore Leonard shorts, then move to AtPH, then BM, then The Road from Cormac.
BEP's recommendation of McCourt will seem like a fellow traveller to McCarthy, McMurtry and Leonard, though he has a vastly different, autobiographical, story to tell. [Reply]
I'm reading the Bosch series by Michael Connolly. Hollywood detective. Really well written, interesting characters, interesting cases, engaging back story from book to book as the series progresses.
Originally Posted by TimBone:
That is....interesting.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed it. But it was...different. I'm gonna look for more from this dude.
God forbid my folks see my dick.
Survivor--follows the last surviving member of a death cult (a la The Order of the Solar Temple and Jonestown).
Choke--protagonist is a sex addict that pays for his mother's nursing home by choking on food at prestigious restaurants and developing a parasitic relationship with those who save him.
Fight Club. I'm sure you're familiar with it. The book is better than the film, save the ending, which is superior in celluloid.
Invisible Monsters: former fashion model is disfigured by a gunshot wound to the face. And that's the most normal thing that happens.
Damned. 13 year old girl allegedly dies of a marijuana overdose, is sent to Hell, and is shoehorned into a Breakfast Club-esque clique while paying off her penance for her sins--working as a telemarketer. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BucEyedPea:
That's why I didn't recommend him you condescending snob. Not everyone is into postmodern, allusion-heavy text, transgressive fiction about society's misfits or notoriously difficult reads. Not everyone is a hi-brow lit snob or seeking Gertrude Stein etc. He used the word "enjoy" or was it "enjoyable. "
Did you ever stop to think that the stuff that is too dense for you might be enjoyable to others? [Reply]
Originally Posted by TimBone:
Just saw your posts, BEP. I can do the classics if they're not too old school with the language. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean. John Irving mentioned in his auto-biography that Graham Greene was the author that inspired him to read, so I searched out some Graham Greene novels figuring they'd be up my alley as well. Problem being, Graham was a writer from the old days, when people spoke (and wrote) differently. It was a hassle because the language of the book just seemed outdated and not very smooth. I hope I'm explaining that correctly.
You are. I understand what you're saying.
So Gertrude Stein or Shakespeare isn't up your alley.
It's like reading Shakespeare. I was being tongue-n'cheek with the Jane Austen rec though. Chick books. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Baby Lee:
I'm sure I've recommended Chuck in this very thread, albeit long ago. But if Hamas needs a voucher, I'll be his Huckleberry. It's dark, seamy stuff, but breezily written so it comes off more as 'scandalous!!' reading than a slog.
TimBone mentioned McMurtry, which would have been my next choice to pick up a long line of books. But if he liked that, I'd recommend Cormac McCarthy and Elmore Leonard. Both deal with sparse American settings and terse characters with wit.
It's also endlessly hilarious if you are a sucker for Charlie Murphy level darkness in your comedy. [Reply]
