Post about books.

[cruiscin_lan]

I'm a voracious reader, and so I'm going to talk about books for a little while now. You know how much of a bookworm I am? On Wednesday I picked up Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan at the library in the morning and returned it that afternoon when I finished it. The only thing that keeps me from reading more is that it's impossible to read and drive at the same time.

I often go on what I call "author binges" where I go to the library and get out everything they have that a particular author has written, even if it means straddling genres (fiction and nonfiction, fantasy and sci-fi, etc.). Recent author binges have included a slew of women authors, particularly Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, and Bharati Mukherjee, as well as J. M. Coetzee and David Sedaris (for funsies). I seem to be shifting into a more modern/post-modern science fiction theme, since I checked out stacks of Vonnegut and C. S. Lewis yesterday.

Reading right now: The Master of Petersburgh by J. M. Coetzee. I'm nearly done with it now and then I'll have to figure out what I'd like to start next. I think it's seriously affecting my writing, because whatever I set down is in the present tense.

One book I always carry with me is Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, because even in translation it's the most beautiful prose I've ever read.

What are your favorite books? What are you reading? What would you recommend?

Comments

[sarahetc.livejournal.com]

My Favorite Books:

1. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
2. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
3. It, by Stephen King
4. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
5. Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle, vol. 1 by Neal Stephenson

Right now I'm reading Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe edited by Jane Espenson and it's making me want to committ violence, so I don't know how long I'm going to be hanging in there with it.

I read Cosmicomics and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino the same summer and I don't think I've ever been the same.

Authors I recommend: Neal Stephenson, Michael Chabon; even if you've read other things by Stephen King, you owe it to yourself to read The Dark Tower series; Christopher Moore for laugh out loud funny; Jasper Fforde for laugh out loud funny AND metafiction. I could go on and on.

[cruiscin-lan.livejournal.com]

On the Road is one of those books I just don't think I'll ever finish. I've started it like 20 times and never made it past page 50. There's nothing wrong with the book, I think there's something wrong with me (I'm the same way with, say, Grapes of Wrath).

Right now I'm reading Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe edited by Jane Espenson and it's making me want to committ violence, so I don't know how long I'm going to be hanging in there with it.

I have the first one but I never managed to slog my way through all the essays. Some were easier to read, some were more interesting, and some just plain sucked.

I love Michael Chabon and Christopher Moore but I'm only just barely familiar with the other authors you mentioned

[faded-facade.livejournal.com]

I used to work in a library for like 4-5 years so yeah, I have a huge love of books.

Currently, I'm reading Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It came to me as a recommendation from a friend and since it was available at the library, I decided to give it a try.

Some of my favorite books include:
- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
- Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
- The Snow Garden by Christopher Rice
- Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery

Depending on what you like to read would probably determine what books I'm more likely to recommend. I'd suggest any of the books I just listed under my favorites. In addition, I also recommend A.J. Jacobs' The Know it All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, Ayn Rand's Anthem, and Elissa Wall's Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs.

Hm, I just realized 3/4 I just listed are nonfiction. Oops! I swear I read a lot of fiction but over the past few months, I've been getting more into nonfiction.

[cruiscin-lan.livejournal.com]

Awww it's so cute that you have Anne of Green Gables on your favorites list. Personally my favorites include Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, which didn't come out until I was in college...

Nonfiction is a lot of fun, too - I like to read a lot of what Mary Roach has written.

[faded-facade.livejournal.com]

Haha, well, when I was like 10 years old or somewhere around there, a family friend gave me the entire box set for Christmas and I just devoured the books. They immediately became favorite books of mine that I could re-read forever and not get tired of.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus...I'm pretty sure I may have leafed through it while I was walking around B&N bored before. Oh well!

[psycho-llama.livejournal.com]

Hee, I just finished re-reading Anne of the Island last night. It's one of my favourite books ever.

[superkappa.livejournal.com]

My favorite book list is so long. Not even I know all of them.

But here are a few:

The Trick Is To Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway, Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block (I recommend anything by her, really.), The Mists of Avalon by by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Good Omens by Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman, Franny and Zoey by J.D. Sallinger, Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Summer Sisters by Judy Blume, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice and Sabriel by Garth Nix.

Some of these fit the modern/post modern sci-fo theme, some of them do not.

Right now, I'm reading Rolling The Rs by R. Zamora Linmark for my Asian American Gay and Lesbian Lit class, and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett for my History of Theater class. I haven't had much time to read outside of class, but I do have Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Snuff, which I just bought and plan to read when I get the chance.

[cruiscin-lan.livejournal.com]

You might be able to recognize a passage from your Sweet Charity that was heavily inspired by Franny and Zooey.

Ooops.

[superkappa.livejournal.com]

Seriously? That's awesome. I will definitely keep an eye out for it and try to spot it.

[psycho-llama.livejournal.com]

How are you finding Waiting for Godot? I've been meaning to give it a crack for the past year or so but never got around to it.

[superkappa.livejournal.com]

I've only just barely started it, but I like it. I think it would probably work better on stage though than as reading material.

[acinogan.livejournal.com]

i am never good at listing favorite books.

i have only one novel rec for you because i used to read like a book every couple days before i had a kid and now i read like a book every couple weeks...if that: Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

[cruiscin-lan.livejournal.com]

Calamity physics sounds like my kind of specialty!

[ateenwriter.livejournal.com]

I absolutely adore John Green's Looking for Alaska. It has literally some of the best wit and laughter and then the second half of the book focus more on darker issues but it all flows with such smoothness.

[kathrynthegr8.livejournal.com]

Vonnegut and Twain are my all time favorite authors. I read the first few sentences of this post and went "BOOYAH!"

[stefichan.livejournal.com]

I'm in the midst of the Sookie Stachhouse novels.

Which are retardedly entertaining.

It's pretty funny too, because when you look at the back cover of the book, its this round, jovial woman... and you just know she's thinking about sex sex sex.

>_>

But yes, I'd recommend them if you like funny mystery supernatural stuff.

One of my favorite fantasy series.

[catyuy.livejournal.com]

David Edding (and his wife Leigh)
The Belgariad series: Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, Enchanters' End Game

its sequel
The Malloreon series: Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva, Seeress of Kell

The Prequels to the Belgariad, (but best read after you finish it and the Malloreaon): Belgarath the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress

Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

[catyuy.livejournal.com]

Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon.
Harper Hall trilogy: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums.
Masterharper of Pern.
Renegades of Pern, All the Weyrs of Pern, The Dolphins of Pern, The Skies of Pern.
Dragonsdawn (is the prequel to the entire series but I'd read it before Dolphins)

There are other books in the series as well, but theses are the ones I love the most.

[psycho-llama.livejournal.com]

Reading: Fast Food Nation and The Memory Keeper's Daughter (it's a Jodi Piccoult-style brick which usually wouldn't be my thing but I've seen the movie and it's got tiny bit of genetics in the background so I thought I'd give it a go).

Favourites: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard I can read over and over again. Same for Kane and Abel by Jeffry Archer. I've got a LOT of Clancy, Crichton, Archer, Grisham and Matthew Reilly (Aussie action writer) on my bookshelves.

Next: Our Town, because I had to read it in high school and I've been thinking about it all this past month. Then maybe some non-fiction. Depends what catches my eye.

[superkappa.livejournal.com]

I'm going to read Arcadia later this quarter, I'm pretty excited. I loved Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead and I've been meaning to read more by Stoppard for a while.

I read Our Town last quarter, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was much better than I had remembered it to be when I had seen it on stage.