50 books this year

[glowbelly]

i'm trying to read 50 books this year and here's what i've read so far:

1. moby dick - melville
2. still life with woodpecker - drrrr name not coming to me right now, by the dude who wrote even cowgirls get the blues
3. a fine balance - rohinton mistry
4. wicked - gregory maguire
5. one hundred years of solitude - gabriel garcia marquez
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. harry potter books
12. the oxbow incident - walter van tilburg clark
13. heidi - johanna spyri
14. northern lights - phillip pullman
15. a wrinkle in time - madeleine l'engle
16. beloved - toni morrison (again)
17. memories of my meloncholy whores - gabriel garcia marquez
18. the fall and rise of delores vauxhall mcbride - joshua chafin (jeager s. meistersen)

more to follow...

[kahljorn]

I've recommended this before, but if you are buying books, I recommend anything by John Fante :(

[Esuohlim]

You forgot a Harry Potter book in there :o

[glowbelly]

i haven't gotten it yet! daphne is sending it over from canadnanda land for my son's birthday. i have to read it first to make sure it is appropriate for a two year old ;)

[Womti]

read oliver twist by charles dickens :(

[GADZOOKS]

did you just read that in high school, wotwoman?

[Womti]

aactually I did, gaddy zookazooks

[glowbelly]

i've read oliver twist at least 4 times. some other teenage boy come in here and tell me to read catcher in the rye, PUHHHHLEEEEEASE?

[executioneer]

what about a day no pigs would die or to kill a mockingbird :eek

[theapportioner]

Read books by J.M. Coetzee (anything, really), Orhan Pamuk (My Name is Red), Don Delillo (Underworld)...

[Womti]

I cant actually read

[Cliff Steele]

you should read jonathan strange and mr. norrell by Susanna Clark if you are into the harry potter books, it is about two magicians in the 1800's reviving magic in England, it's a really fun book, and it blends the story with history, they are used by the government in the war with France

[kahljorn]

catcher in the rye is a good book ;O

[Fathom Zero]

The Phantom Tollbooth.

[sloth]

some of my favourite books:

dostoevsky - the idiot
bukowski - post office
conrad - heart of darkness
cocteau - the miscreant
suskind - perfume (forget that godawful movie)

and if you're running out of time, anything by gogol, luis borges, kafka and e.t.a. hoffman.

[glowbelly]

the only writer i'd read more of off that list is bukowski and that's just because i love the movie 'barfly.'

i forgot to add a book, so i added it up there. see if you can find it!

ps: actually, i added 2 :eek

[executioneer]

read some old agatha christie mysteries!

[kahljorn]

i just watched barfly the other day that is a really good movie there's supposed to be a new documentary about him soon

"I hate plants"

also if you like bukowski again you'd like john fante since bukowski basically got his writing style from john fante and was bukowskis favorite writer.

[FartinMowler]

Barfly :lol

[executioneer]

i always thought that was the adverb form of "barfy" :(

[Zomboid]

Andy: And check this out - I found this movie called "Barfully!"
Posey: Andy, I think that movie is actually called "BarFLY!"
Andy: Not 'barfully' like the adjective?
Kevin: 'Barfully' is not a word, and if it were, it would be an adverb, as in 'the sewage oozed barfully.'

ahh I miss mission hill :(

[glowbelly]

i added 3 more so nyah. i'll add the dubliners by james joyce in a couple of days (hopefully). then i think i'll be attacking portrait of an artist as a young man just for the hay of it.

[kahljorn]

add the road to los angeles by john fante. He is very easy to read, much like Kurt Vonnegut. I read his book overnight.

i read that again yesterday it's a good book about LIFE. I think him and Dostoevsky are some of the most realistic writers I have ever read. Very few other writers can write believable characters, that seem to be real and have real psychologies. Probably both of these writers are so realistic because they write about themselves.
Right now I'm reading Kafka's the trial and he's so fucking boring i hate him so far why do people like him? It is an intriguing book but still irritating and if I saw kafka writing this book i would punch him in the face.

alright the first quarter or third of the trial is shit. I don't know if it's because I have a bad translation or what, but the common dialogue is so horrible. Now that I'm almost done with it, it has gotten better, and it strikes me as hilarious that all the courts are in attics :lol when this guy talks to him he says that there's scarcely an attic in town that doesn't have a court of inquiry in it.

[glowbelly]

kahl, i shall read this book that you suggest, but you have to do me a favor:

read either infinite jest by david foster wallace, or beloved by toni morrison. those are 2 of my all time faves.

it'll be like we traded smartsies.

[kahljorn]

awesome. I'll check out infinite jest because toni morrison's writing style reminds me of children's books.
i think you'll probably like it. Hopefully I'm not suggesting something that you will take as utter shit :o

[glowbelly]

i hope i like it, too, but if i don't i'll still finish it. i read all of moby dick and hated the thing 2 pages in.

warning: infinite jest is VERY LONG.

[kahljorn]

Yea, I read about it on Amazon. The book by fante is only about 200 pages, but it's part of a series.

[J. Tithonus Pednaud]

If we are just talking 'classic' 20th century novels, your list should include:

Rabbit, Run by John Updike (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit%2C_Run)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_%28novel%29)
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian)
A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dance_To_The_Music_Of_Time)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita)

A few years back, I managed to read all 100 of Time's proclaimed Books of the Century. I was traveling a lot and had a lot of free time. I was most surprised by Lolita, given the subject matter, but the writing style is stellar.

I recently read Never Let Me Go (http://www.amazon.com/Never-Let-Me-Kazuo-Ishiguro/dp/1400078776/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3809497-7578814?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180668742&sr=1-1) and I enjoyed it quite a lot. I don't read many novels these days...more eclectic texts on odd subjects like Edison's Eve (http://www.amazon.com/Edisons-Eve-Magical-History-Mechanical/dp/0679451129), which deals with the history of animatronics and the quest for mechanical life, and very old natural history and medicine texts.

I also just bought a television, the first I have owned in well over a decade so I am rotting my brain with television these days as well.

[glowbelly]

we're not talking 'bout any specific novels, buddo.

i've read rabbit, run, one flew over the..., and lolita.

i think i'm going to have to put this on hold because i just started classes and this summer term is going to kick my ass.

[J. Tithonus Pednaud]

I recall reading somewhere on this board that you were headed back to school. Best of luck, sincerely.

[Girl Drink Drunk]

Read all of Chris Crutcher's books.

[theapportioner]

Has nobody mentioned Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow"? Mind you, I've tried twice but haven't been able to get through it, but it's considered essential.

Philip Roth is another important author, though I can't say I care for him that much.

[AChimp]

Jaeger wrote a book?

[glowbelly]

yes, he sure did and it's not that bad, either. the story is solid and extremely entertaining. the first half is a bit of a mess, but he knows it and i think he's rewriting it, i'm not sure. the last half is really darn good and i couldn't put it down. i think he's posted some of it on his livejournal. and he'll probably send you an electronic copy of it if you hit him up on gmail.

apportioner: i have wanted to read gravity's rainbow forever, but i can never seem to find a copy :(

i married a communist by philip roth is one of my favorite books. yes.

[Jaeger S Meistersen]

A bit of a mess?

fuck...

[glowbelly]

and that is how you make a big ego-head meanie second guess himself, folks.

[Darryl]

Yay, Books! :love

[FartinMowler]

I read a book called The one armed Art Fag :bestthread