Discussion Forum

I am in need of good literature to read. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

I would recommend R. K. Narayan and Orhan Pamuk.

I have recently read:

The Third Policeman (Flann O'Brien)

The Dalkey Archive (Flann O'Brien)

Sir Nigel (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle}

The White Company (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dubliners (James Joyce)

And I'm now on with A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, also by Joyce.

See the pattern?

Are you reading the 10 most difficult to read books in reverse order?

That means the next three books are the Silmarillion (Tolkein) and then Harry Potter and the Incomprehensible Grammar by January Kitchen Rowling and the number one book is The Da Vinci Total In Code, by Dancersise Brown.

Iain

I have already read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I thought the first part of the book was OK - say, the first 450 pages - but then it ended wholly unsatisfactorily, for me. It felt like he didn't know how to end it, and it rambled on.

That's my opinion, anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

Actually, Iain, the next book I'm going to read is either The Hacienda - How Not To Run A Club by Peter Hook or Underground by Haruki Murakami.

I'll let you know when I've decided.

Well, Ellie, do NOT get an airport novel. They're all the same. Literally. No, no... literary! Hahah.

I would like to say To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, but that's banned in some Southern States for the word 'nigger' in it.

I would say The Economist, but that's not a book. That's a newsmagazine.

Here are some non-fiction books: Malcolm Gladwell - "Blink"

And some fiction: Jostein Gaarder - "Sophie's World"

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Quote: Inhopeless

Here are some non-fiction books: Malcolm Gladwell - "Blink"

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A little work on your plurals is needed, I think, Inhopeless.

Robyn Young.

I'm on the second of the 'Brethren' trilogy.............

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Quote: Ellie James

I am in need of good literature to read. Anyone have any suggestions?

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It's no good us throwing out the names of books, Ellie. We need to know what sort of stuff you normally read.

Monkey Woods....I guess my point of asking is that I'm trying to branch out and spread my literary wings so to speak. A few things on my Kindle are:

Squirrel Seeks Chimpunk by David Sedaris
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (mainly because I want to see the movie one day, so I need to read the book first)
Sh*t my Dad Says by Justin Halpern
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Steig Larson (because everyone I knew was reading it, but I still haven't found the time)

Plus, a dozen others that I would be too ashamed to mention....

I'm a single mom....so I don't have a lot of time. But, this summer I want to read things I've never heard about before and should have.

I KNEW you would mention The Economist....which I read on line the other day just to see what the big deal was. So. there.

Ellie

Try Richard Brautigan.

The Hawkline Monster.

He'd have made an excellent spoofer.

Not like that Colonel Juan - he's just nuts.

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Quote: Ellie James

I'm a single mom....

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Have you thought about the Kama Sutra?

I could come around and read it for you...

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Quote: Ellie James

...this summer I want to read things I've never heard about before and should have.

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I'm on my way.

You are writing for a Spoof site, so you would probably enjoy something with a little humor, satire, or irony in it.

If that is the case, then I would recommend:
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Dortmunder novels by Donald E. Westlake (humorous caper novels)
Just about anything by Kurt Vonnegut (especially his earlier stuff, like Slaughterhouse Five)
The Fletch, Flynn, and Skylar series all by Gregory McDonald
The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams

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Quote: Jalapenoman

You are writing for a Spoof site, so you would probably enjoy something with a little humor, satire, or irony in it.

If that is the case, then I would recommend:
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Dortmunder novels by Donald E. Westlake (humorous caper novels)
Just about anything by Kurt Vonnegut (especially his earlier stuff, like Slaughterhouse Five)
The Fletch, Flynn, and Skylar series all by Gregory McDonald
The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams

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Thanks J-man....I have a friend who has read all of those and has been after me for years to read them as well. Maybe I should take his advice more seriously. I tend not too since I've known him since we've been kids.

Peter Cook
Beachcomber
Spike Milligan
Douglas Adams
Edward Lear
Lewis Carroll
Karl Marx
Charles Dickens

(I was joking about Adolf Hitler, though they say he is hilarious; I'm not convinced: he was more of a stand-up man than a writer)

The Ascent Of Rum Doodle

A Spoof classic.

Viz Profanisaurus Rex

At the moment I'm reading 'The Fixer' by Bernard Malmoud, grim but utterly compelling. The one before that was 'In the Forrest' by Edna o Brian, not so grim, or compelling, but certainly quite touching. Both are new writers for me and I'd certainly give them a second go, especially Malmoud.

Brautigan rocks by the way. No-one writes a simile like Richard Brautigan.

Private Eye

The Salmon of Doubt (Douglas Adams short stories / thoughts)

Portrait of the artist as a young dog (Dylan Thomas)

The Beano

This Mitchell and Webb Book

Waiting for the Barbarians (J.M.Coetzee)

All nice and short if, like me, you have a short attention sp

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Quote: Inhopeless

Well, Ellie, do NOT get an airport novel. They're all the same. Literally. No, no... literary! Hahah.

I would like to say To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, but that's banned in some Southern States for the word 'nigger' in it.

I would say The Economist, but that's not a book. That's a newsmagazine.

Here are some non-fiction books: Malcolm Gladwell - "Blink"

And some fiction: Jostein Gaarder - "Sophie's World"

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If only I had gotten this message before I went to the airport book store. And, here, you can't get to the airport books store without first having to go through security, which meant I had to buy a ticket. So, I bought a ticket to the cheapest place possible. Oklahoma. If only I had read this beforehand it would have saved me from buying the most expensive crappy book EVER!

Ken Follett:

The Pillars of the Earth;

World Without End;

Fall of Giants, Volume 1.


Ayn Rand:

Atlas Shrugged.

Papillon by Henri Charierre.

Couldn't put the bloody thing down as a lit hungry 15 year old.

The Dennis the Menace Trilogy

- volumes 1-4

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Quote: Reddon

Papillon by Henri Charierre.

Couldn't put the bloody thing down as a lit hungry 15 year old.

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Did you read the follow-up, Skoob? Banco, it was called.

I read that, after his death, a lot of people came forward to say that a lot of what Charriere wrote was a figment of his own vivid imagination.

I liked the books so much, I WISHED THEM TO BE TRUE.

Minor embellishments notwithstanding, he was a fellow-and-a-half.