considering getting into reading

[patsopinion]

Ive just recently really wanted to start reading books again
I read a lot in Highschool, i went to a kind of progressive high school with a lot of reading, but now im thinking i should get back into it


suggestions on books
i really like
Dune
midshipmen's hope (series(similar to starships troopers))
catcher in the rye

faster books with good characters
cant stand non fiction
i remember hating with a passion the great gadspy(sp?_

[ecobag2]

Ive just recently really wanted to start counting numbers again myself.
I counted numbers a lot in Highschool, i went to a kind of progressive high school with a lot of number counting, but now im thinking i should get back into it.


suggestions on numbers...
i really like
113
odd, 13 through 173
7, 14 and 666 (of course) b/c that's the number of our dark lord.

bigger numbers without zeros
cant stand fractions.
i remember hating with a passion negative numbers

[PapaBear]

faster books with good characters
Elmore Leonard

[SuperKarateMonkeyDeathFez]

Ive just recently really wanted to start counting numbers again myself.
I counted numbers a lot in Highschool, i went to a kind of progressive high school with a lot of number counting, but now im thinking i should get back into it.


suggestions on numbers...
i really like
113
odd, 13 through 173
7, 14 and 666 (of course) b/c that's the number of our dark lord.

bigger numbers without zeros
cant stand fractions.
i remember hating with a passion negative numbers

Fucking awesome.

Someone "stopping reading" is something I can't even begin to understand, so I'm going to bow out now.

[instrument]

With what you listed id suggest you try "graphic novels"

[ecobag2]

I know what you mean - my reading tends to go in waves.

I started going through the Pulitzer Prize winners - and you can't go wrong with them. There's a reason why they won their awards. But they're not fluff... a lot of them had a message that you'd have to plod through some it to get to. Overall very rewarding most of them I'd have to say.

Here are some that really stuck out...

The Cain Mutiny: Wouk - which was more along the lines of a fast paced, interesting, poigniant novel. This one I suggest to anyone. And it destroys the original movie.

Middlesex: Eugenedes (sp?) kind of a recap of 20th cent. American history ... with an intersex main character.

The Fixer: Malmud. Who knew the Russians killed mass amounts of Jews too? Wtf?

Rabbit Run and Rabbit is Rich: Updike I'm a huge Updike fan b/c of these accounts of how it sucks to be a man in the 70's and even worse - a married man.

Get the list and pick at random. There were only a few so far that I was dissapointed with. My original post was wiseass... but true. I'm doing math now and loving it but can't wait to get back to reading myself.

[Yosammity]

Confederacy of Dunces

The Life of Pi

[damainer]

I just got done reading "The Shack." It was a thought provoking read based in religous views. I am not a religous fellow but still found the views quite enjoyable.

[Thebazile78]

Ive just recently really wanted to start reading books again
I read a lot in Highschool, i went to a kind of progressive high school with a lot of reading, but now im thinking i should get back into it


suggestions on books
i really like
Dune
midshipmen's hope (series(similar to starships troopers))
catcher in the rye

faster books with good characters
cant stand non fiction
i remember hating with a passion the great gadspy(sp?_

It's "Gatsby" and most things I was "forced" to read in school, I hated too.

Like The Old Man and the Sea ... a 100-page book that I had to stop every 5 seconds to write a paragraph or two for a "reader's journal" we were supposed to write every 20 pages or so. (This was my Sophomore-in-high-school summer reading assignment. I was insulted.)

Maybe I'll go back and read it again ... without that stupid journal assignment breaking up the flow of the narration. (Then again, you might enjoy it. Hemingway writes a lot like your postings ... try it.)

Try The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) for starters, though. It's very quick.

As I already mentioned, try The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway) ... another quick read.

You might want to explore some "kid lit" ... in case you weren't aware, in the US some of the stuff we label "juvenile fiction" is slotted that way just because publishers don't know what to do with it, but the better ones have a lot of what you're looking for.

I've heard that the "Inkheart" series by Cornelia Funke is really good (still need to read it myself) and I recently enjoyed the first three books in the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series by Rick Riordan, but these are more fantasy than anything else and it's hard to recommend fantasy if you seem like you prefer SciFi.

Have you read the novel Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein) or have you only seen the film? It's really good; slightly different focus from the movie, but the tone is there. This is one of my favorite books, in fact. (And I loved the film as well. For different reasons, of course, but it was a lot of fun to see the film and then read the novel, noting the things that were different or worked better in each.)

Also try Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Man in the High Castle and A Scanner Darkly (all by Philip K. Dick) ... good reads. Very interesting on different levels. Damn shame the man died young.

[Dude!]

you kind of limit your choices by your tastes
if you want an action movie packed into a book

for a good old classic that might fit the bill:

the count of monte cristo
by alexander dumas

[mikeyboy]

Ive just recently really wanted to start counting numbers again myself.
I counted numbers a lot in Highschool, i went to a kind of progressive high school with a lot of number counting, but now im thinking i should get back into it.


suggestions on numbers...
i really like
113
odd, 13 through 173
7, 14 and 666 (of course) b/c that's the number of our dark lord.

bigger numbers without zeros
cant stand fractions.
i remember hating with a passion negative numbers

:lol:

[KatPw]

Suggestions:

Sci-fi/Fantasy:
Terry Goodkind
Terry Prachett
Neil Stephenson
R.A. Salvatore
Isaac Asimov
The Drawing of the Dark By Tim Powers . Historical fantasy fiction that has to do with beer and the Fisher king.

Horror:
Brian Lumley
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (they wrote the Relic, great book awful movie. They also write separately)

Other:
Nelson DeMille (Can be hit or miss, I suggest Gold Coast, Plum Island, or Cathedral)
William Gibson

[KatPw]

I wanted to add, Neil Gaiman! I can't believe I forgot to add him. He wrote a great book with Terry Pratchett called Good Omens, one of my absolute favorites. Also check out American Gods.

[Thebazile78]

I wanted to add, Neil Gaiman! I can't believe I forgot to add him. He wrote a great book with Terry Pratchett called Good Omens, one of my absolute favorites. Also check out American Gods.

My pal Uri read American Gods and really enjoyed it.

I haven't read it yet, but that just might have to be on my list o' crap to send my best friend.

[KatPw]

My pal Uri read American Gods and really enjoyed it.

I haven't read it yet, but that just might have to be on my list o' crap to send my best friend.

It really sucked me in, and I didn't want it to end. I'm halfway through Anansi Boys, but I got distracted so I really should just read it over from the beginning at this point. I also have Coraline (one of his Junior Fiction novels) but I haven't read it yet.

[west milly Tom]

Ive just recently really wanted to start reading books again
I read a lot in Highschool, i went to a kind of progressive high school with a lot of reading, but now im thinking i should get back into it


suggestions on books
i really like
Dune
midshipmen's hope (series(similar to starships troopers))
catcher in the rye

faster books with good characters
cant stand non fiction
i remember hating with a passion the great gadspy(sp?_



Kurt Vonnegut will change your life. Start with "Cat's Cradle". My favorite Author/Book.

[KatPw]

Kurt Vonnegut will change your life. Start with "Cat's Cradle". My favorite Author/Book.

Mike loves Vonnegut. I have never read anything by him. I'll have to see which books of his we have in the collection. I know we definitely have Welcome to the Monkey House.

[west milly Tom]

Mike loves Vonnegut. I have never read anything by him. I'll have to see which books of his we have in the collection. I know we definitely have Welcome to the Monkey House.

That's a great one, The Sirens of Titan and Slaughter House 5 also awesome.

[west milly Tom]

He has his own vocabulary which he establishes in his earlier books. Its like a whole other language
And it works so well.

[nate1000]

Mike loves Vonnegut. I have never read anything by him. I'll have to see which books of his we have in the collection. I know we definitely have Welcome to the Monkey House.

How can you not love a guy who signs his name with an asshole?

[pittphantoms]

Neil Gaiman is great - but I do not get the fuss about American Gods. I was bored to death with it. I did however love Neverwhere.

Someone else mentioned Count of Monte Cristo - by far my favorite book ever. If you have seen the awful movies released in the past 15 years about this subject - dont worry - they dont even remotely mirror the book.

On that Young Adult track that someone else suguested - I would agree if you like fiction that its actually not a bad way to get back into reading. My sister bought me the Eragon book years ago and I liked it a lot - but I also liked the LOTR books (ironicly I was bored by the movies)... I also read some of the Star Wars books a couple years back - if you are into that the Admiral Thrawn Trilogy is phenominal - and there is nothing you really need to read after seeing the movies to be able to understand it.

I just finished Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential - I loved it. I will reread it again some day. Stories of him doing lines the entire length of his restraunts bar was enough to sell me - but I actually learned about cooking as well. It is non-fiction but it is not some fact book...

Slaughterhouse Five is my favorite Vonnegut book - but I am sure that is the same for a lot of people.

[Thebazile78]

It really sucked me in, and I didn't want it to end. I'm halfway through Anansi Boys, but I got distracted so I really should just read it over from the beginning at this point. I also have Coraline (one of his Junior Fiction novels) but I haven't read it yet.

Uri's older sister, Leorah, enjoyed Coraline.

And there's a film version supposed to come out next year or so, isn't there?

[KatPw]

Uri's older sister, Leorah, enjoyed Coraline.

And there's a film version supposed to come out next year or so, isn't there?

I think there is a movie coming out. Did you see Mirror Mask? I enjoyed it. Very surreal. I also have the BBC miniseries of Neverwhere.

[Thebazile78]

....

Someone else mentioned Count of Monte Cristo - by far my favorite book ever. If you have seen the awful movies released in the past 15 years about this subject - dont worry - they dont even remotely mirror the book.

On that Young Adult track that someone else suguested - I would agree if you like fiction that its actually not a bad way to get back into reading. My sister bought me the Eragon book years ago and I liked it a lot - but I also liked the LOTR books (ironicly I was bored by the movies)...

.....

Maybe I'll pick up Monte Cristo at some point. I rarely judge books by the wretched films that are ordinarily made from them.

I only finished Eragon because I forced myself to finish it. It's not so much that I hated it, because that Paolini kid can write, but some of the elements really felt trite and tired. And that's unfortunate, because I had great pictures in my head for the parts that I did enjoy, like the dragon flight parts and the under-the-earth rebel "fortress."

And I really enjoyed the LOTR books ... but it took seeing the first film to get me to go back and read them. (I had tried for years to start them and it just didn't happen. The movie made me love the books and I also love the films, so I feel as though I've gotten the best of both narratives.)

[Thebazile78]

I think there is a movie coming out. Did you see Mirror Mask? I enjoyed it. Very surreal. I also have the BBC miniseries of Neverwhere.

I don't get out much.

I will say, however, that I love BBC adaptations of things. Even when they don't feature Colin Firth. (My best friend has the BBC Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth ... LOVED it.)

And I really need to go and get a library card because I've been avoiding the bookstore as it's such a huge temptation to over-spend on books!

p.s. - the Coraline film is slated to come out in February '09.

[KatPw]

I don't get out much.

I will say, however, that I love BBC adaptations of things. Even when they don't feature Colin Firth. (My best friend has the BBC Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth ... LOVED it.)

And I really need to go and get a library card because I've been avoiding the bookstore as it's such a huge temptation to over-spend on books!

Definitely get a library card. I finally got one (I had one as a kid, but stopped going once I got to college). Most libraries also lend out CDs and DVDs now, so it's even better. Mirror Mask came out about 2 years ago, so you can definitely find it on DVD to rent, or probably on a streaming site or FTP site if you are into that sort of thing.

[Thebazile78]

Definitely get a library card. I finally got one (I had one as a kid, but stopped going once I got to college). Most libraries also lend out CDs and DVDs now, so it's even better. Mirror Mask came out about 2 years ago, so you can definitely find it on DVD to rent, or probably on a streaming site or FTP site if you are into that sort of thing.

I had a library card when I was a kid, too. But, seeing as how the entirety of my town library could have fit into the Research Room at my college library, I kind of stuck to the library at college.

Add to the fact that I also majored in English with a minor in History and I was constantly buying books ... I still have a lot of the ones I bought because they're worth keeping. Like my Norton Anthology of Poetry (LOVE that thing) and my Samuel Beckett novels.

[pittphantoms]

Maybe I'll pick up Monte Cristo at some point. I rarely judge books by the wretched films that are ordinarily made from them.

I only finished Eragon because I forced myself to finish it. It's not so much that I hated it, because that Paolini kid can write, but some of the elements really felt trite and tired. And that's unfortunate, because I had great pictures in my head for the parts that I did enjoy, like the dragon flight parts and the under-the-earth rebel "fortress."

And I really enjoyed the LOTR books ... but it took seeing the first film to get me to go back and read them. (I had tried for years to start them and it just didn't happen. The movie made me love the books and I also love the films, so I feel as though I've gotten the best of both narratives.)

You are going to love the Count of Monte Cristo - I can tell from exactly what you liked about Eragon...

[KatPw]

I had a library card when I was a kid, too. But, seeing as how the entirety of my town library could have fit into the Research Room at my college library, I kind of stuck to the library at college.

Add to the fact that I also majored in English with a minor in History and I was constantly buying books ... I still have a lot of the ones I bought because they're worth keeping. Like my Norton Anthology of Poetry (LOVE that thing) and my Samuel Beckett novels.

Love my Norton Anthology of short fiction. Between me and Mike (he was an English major) we have a ton of books, but I only like buying stuff I want to keep now. I have issues with throwing away books, so I try not to buy something I only want to read once. A lot of libraries now do inter-library loans, so even if your local library is kind of small they can still get you what you are interested in. When you get your card, inquire if the library has an online database, that way you can search for titles before you go up to check out a book. I know my library system enables you to reserve books through their website.

[Thebazile78]

Love my Norton Anthology of short fiction. Between me and Mike (he was an English major) we have a ton of books, but I only like buying stuff I want to keep now. I have issues with throwing away books, so I try not to buy something I only want to read once. A lot of libraries now do inter-library loans, so even if your local library is kind of small they can still get you what you are interested in. When you get your card, inquire if the library has an online database, that way you can search for titles before you go up to check out a book. I know my library system enables you to reserve books through their website.

I live in a different town and county from where I grew up. The library system in my residential county is amazing. And I used to use inter-library loan quite often when I was a kid.

[KatPw]

I live in a different town and county from where I grew up. The library system in my residential county is amazing. And I used to use inter-library loan quite often when I was a kid.

I fortunate to live in an area with a great library system also. I even have a branch library withing walking distance of my house. The main branch of my town's library moved to a new building a few years ago. It's great, I swear you open the doors and hear an angel choir in your head!

[Thebazile78]

I fortunate to live in an area with a great library system also. I even have a branch library withing walking distance of my house. The main branch of my town's library moved to a new building a few years ago. It's great, I swear you open the doors and hear an angel choir in your head!

It's funny that's how you describe your "new" town library ... because that's how I felt when they gave us the library tour during Freshman Orientation in college.

[KatPw]

It's funny that's how you describe your "new" town library ... because that's how I felt when they gave us the library tour during Freshman Orientation in college.

I'm a complete book nerd, I love libraries and book stores. I'll read the back of a box of cereal if I'm desperate.

[RogerPodacter]

some GREAT sci-fi is Scott Orsen Card with the Ender's Game series. Just incredible if you're into future human race, space travel @ light speed, etc etc. i'm teh nerdsssssssss.

Bill Burr said to read The CAse Against the Federal Reserve lol.

[Thebazile78]

I'm a complete book nerd, I love libraries and book stores. I'll read the back of a box of cereal if I'm desperate.

My desperation is either the articles in the local throwaway, Highlights for Children (dr's office; family practice) or Glamour and Vogue.

(Truthfully, I read a wonderful article/interview in Vogue with Aayan Hirsi Ali a few years ago, shortly before her book, Infidel came out. I still haven't read the book, but I reallly did enjoy the interview!)

[KatPw]

My desperation is either the articles in the local throwaway, Highlights for Children (dr's office; family practice) or Glamour and Vogue.

(Truthfully, I read a wonderful article/interview in Vogue with Aayan Hirsi Ali a few years ago, shortly before her book, Infidel came out. I still haven't read the book, but I reallly did enjoy the interview!)

Vogue does have interesting articles. I always thought Glamor was one of the better "fashion" mags, Allure also. I've limited myself in terms of magazine subs, because of the clutter. We get Time Out New York and Rolling Stone. But since I work at a dental office I read tons of stuff there on my free time, and I can bring magazines home if I want. So I read a lot of New York (they have some pretty interesting articles), Newsweek and U.S. News. I read a lot online too, like The Atlantic and Salon.

[Thebazile78]

Vogue does have interesting articles. I always thought Glamor was one of the better "fashion" mags, Allure also. I've limited myself in terms of magazine subs, because of the clutter. We get Time Out New York and Rolling Stone. But since I work at a dental office I read tons of stuff there on my free time, and I can bring magazines home if I want. So I read a lot of New York (they have some pretty interesting articles), Newsweek and U.S. News. I read a lot online too, like The Atlantic and Salon.

I have a subscription to Cooking Light because, of all the magazines out on the newsstands, that's the one I usually pick up as an impulse-buy. Plus, my "niece" sells magazine subscriptions through her school, so I got the subscription through her fundraiser last year.

I read a lot of articles from Newsweek and Time online and have been reading Slate since it started in the 90s. Occasionally, I will grab an article from Wired or Salon, but not as often as Slate.

[KatPw]

I have a subscription to Cooking Light because, of all the magazines out on the newsstands, that's the one I usually pick up as an impulse-buy. Plus, my "niece" sells magazine subscriptions through her school, so I got the subscription through her fundraiser last year.

I read a lot of articles from Newsweek and Time online and have been reading Slate since it started in the 90s. Occasionally, I will grab an article from Wired or Salon, but not as often as Slate.

I love Cooking Light. Picking up an occasional copy really inspired me down the road of healthier eating.

[ecobag2]

I know what you mean - my reading tends to go in waves.

I started going through the Pulitzer Prize winners - and you can't go wrong with them. There's a reason why they won their awards. But they're not fluff... a lot of them had a message that you'd have to plod through some it to get to. Overall very rewarding most of them I'd have to say.

Here are some that really stuck out...

The Cain Mutiny: Wouk - which was more along the lines of a fast paced, interesting, poigniant novel. This one I suggest to anyone. And it destroys the original movie.

Middlesex: Eugenedes (sp?) kind of a recap of 20th cent. American history ... with an intersex main character.

The Fixer: Malmud. Who knew the Russians killed mass amounts of Jews too? Wtf?

Rabbit Run and Rabbit is Rich: Updike I'm a huge Updike fan b/c of these accounts of how it sucks to be a man in the 70's and even worse - a married man.

Get the list and pick at random. There were only a few so far that I was dissapointed with. My original post was wiseass... but true. I'm doing math now and loving it but can't wait to get back to reading myself.

:lol:

a rolling lolzer from Mikey? I'll never wash this post again.

[Thebazile78]

ecobag - Middlesex is by Jeffrey Eugenides. I read about it when it first came out, but haven't picked it up ... your description makes it sound interesting. Maybe I'll read it soon. Thanks!

[Puggle_kicker]

Stephen King, the Dark Tower Series.

'Nuff said.

[patsopinion]

has anyone used the amazon book reader

is there something like that for the computer so i dont have to pay for the book but i can pay just for the service?


it seems like the ipod touch should have someting like that


does anyone know?
its just that the amazon kindle is so expensive, id like to have something like that because imma cheap ass i would like to have it on an existing platform

[weekapaugjz]

Try The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) for starters, though. It's very quick.



i had to read this for a graduate seminar and thought i was going to hate it after reading the back of it. after i started reading it, i couldn't put it down. i think i finished it in two sittings in one day. very enjoyable read and thought provoking. have you read anything else by atwood that you would recommend?

[SatCam]

The latest things I have read are the "Dear Dumb Diary" series of books for 5th grade girls and "The Clique" from a series for 7th grade girls. I would have to say the former is much more of a "fun" book to read, while the latter is more of a chore to get through for those few spots where they talk about the girl's boobies and their bras and shit.

[extracheese]

Go with the masses - they are never wrong:
My Favorites :

Dean Koontz
John Grisham
David Baldacci
Ken Follet
Dan Brown

Sci Fi
Orson Scott Card
Christopher Hinz
John Scalzi

[JAH1013]

James Norton has some really deep stuff. You might want to get the Cliff's Notes first. It's pretty complicated and dry. Or, I suggest Carl Hiassen or Randy Wayne White.

[Knowledged_one]

James Norton has some really deep stuff. You might want to get the Cliff's Notes first. It's pretty complicated and dry. Or, I suggest Carl Hiassen or Randy Wayne White.

whos james norton
and check out the event group books they are on the third and the first two were really good

[Thebazile78]

i had to read this for a graduate seminar and thought i was going to hate it after reading the back of it. after i started reading it, i couldn't put it down. i think i finished it in two sittings in one day. very enjoyable read and thought provoking. have you read anything else by atwood that you would recommend?

I read it for a college class as well and it's since become one of my favorite novels. I haven't read her other novels, but have been eyeing Oryx and Drake for a while.

I also love her short stories, especially her retelling of Bluebeard's Egg, which creeped me out after I re-read it the fourth or fifth time because I wasn't getting what she meant until then. If you search her on Amazon, you'll find pretty much everything, but I definitely recommend her short stories.

[Thebazile78]

has anyone used the amazon book reader

is there something like that for the computer so i dont have to pay for the book but i can pay just for the service?


it seems like the ipod touch should have someting like that


does anyone know?
its just that the amazon kindle is so expensive, id like to have something like that because imma cheap ass i would like to have it on an existing platform

The Sony reader is actually cheaper than the Amazon Kindle and is available at Borders stores.

It was always my understanding that the goal of the eBook was to make it read-able on your computer, but I don't know if it's a reality as yet.

[yojimbo7248]

If any of you happen to be in Portland, they have the world's greatest bookstore, Powell's. It's so great that it alone justifies a Portland trip.

[ecobag2]

ecobag - Middlesex is by Jeffrey Eugenides. I read about it when it first came out, but haven't picked it up ... your description makes it sound interesting. Maybe I'll read it soon. Thanks!

sure. it is - if I were shopping for bazile78 for Winter Carnival I'd get her this book.

I'm pretty sure a big part of the Pulitzer for fiction is that it has to discuss American culture in some way. He focuses on the immigrant experience to the Detroit area around the turn of the 20th cent. There's some pretty good discussion of what it was like to find work in the auto plants, prohibition, then he just plows through and talks about the sixties, the generation to follow and so forth.

And like I mentioned... the twist is that the narrator is intersex; and who can't get down with that topic?

[Rob roccoli]

"The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler
"Island" or "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
"The Long Walk" by Richard Backman (Stephen King) was creepy
"1984" by Orson Welles
"Catch 22" by Joseph Heller is one of my all-time favorites
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick was better than Blade Runner in my opinon
"Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said" also Philip K. Dick
"Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk
Just some of my favorites. "The Watchmen" by Alan Moore was really good as well. Can't wait for the movie.