The Idiot Board Readers Corner - General Discussion

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

For the Shadow series, just read the first one about Bean called Ender's Shadow, which is fantastic. I tried reading one of the later ones, and it read like it was written for a 12 year old with the attention span of a gnat.

 

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I am about halfway through the Tales of Alvin Maker, also by Orson Scott Card and he keeps these consistently very interesting. These are more fantastical history than sci-fi and I think he does a tremendous job.

 

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Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

I've put off reading this because the descriptions didn't make it sound very appealing. Having read all other McCarthy novels, I finally decided to give it a shot, and somewhat to my surprise I liked it a lot. This might be my favorite of his pre-Blood Meridian works.

The book deals with how the odd and disturbed relate to the rest of human society. The main character is a truly revolting person, but McCarthy does a great job of putting the reader into his point of view, and eliciting a weird sort of sympathy for him.

It is roughly 200 pages long, and very easily readable. The prose is outstanding, as it always is with McCarthy.

 

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With the semester finally over, I got to pick up a book for pure pleasure yesterday. James Ellroy released "Blood's a Rover," the third book in the "American Tabloid" trilogy a few months ago and my autographed copy has been sitting on the shelf since my sister shipped it to me. If you like historical fiction, conspiracy theory and the like, you will love this trilogy. The Kennedy and MLK assassinations, Hoover, Howard Hughes, and the mafia, all intertwined with rogue CIA and FBI characters, written in gritty noir-style. Makes for fun escapist reading.

 

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I disagree, I actually thought Speaker for the Dead was the best of the series although Xenocide was a slow read. That was 8 years or so ago so I should probably reread it but I've always considered it my favorite sci-fi novel. Could be wrong though, I also used to think that the Goosebumps books were compelling fiction...

 

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I just read Toby Young's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People after seeing Philalawyer's review for it. Very well-written and funny, kept my attention the whole way through which is pretty impressive because I had almost no interest in the subject matter going in. It's a memoir about the time he spent in New York working for Vanity Fair and how he managed to screw up every oppurtunity that comes his way over a five year period. A few chapters also step back from the plot and are very interesting critical pieces that are still relevant to the story at hand.

 

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Kiss Me, Judas by Will Chris Baer. "Sorrow is like the ocean and sometimes I wish my heart would stop." An ex-cop. He likes drugs, booze, is a little insane, just released from an insane asylum, and falls in love with the woman who seduced him and stole his kidney. Together they try to sell the organ. I've never read such poetry as Baer can produce like some kind of wonderful, sadistic effluvium. This book is smart, sexy, dangerous, and on the surface sounds like nothing special until you delve into it. Hands down the best thing I've eve read.

If anyone wants a limited preview: http://books.google.com/books?id=iy...er&dq=kiss+me+judas&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway. I fell in love with the man before I fell in love the work. This is the quintessential book of his. I don't care what anyone says. It's a doppleganger of Hemingway: depressed, sitting in a bar talking about drinking and love and loss. The last third of the book, which is about submarine hunting, kinda stinks. But the first two sections are pure awesome.

Tropic of Cancer or Sexus by Henry Miller. Either one. A true philosopher waxing seduction, life, the human condition. He can droll on like mad. That's kind of his schtick. He lulls you into a false sense of boredom only to explode all over your chin with pages of some of the best writing ever. Miller gets madly repetitive, though. Be wary which book you choose. Plexus and Nexus have about 100/900 pages worth reading. When the dude is on, no one can compare.

 

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Hey, there's this book I read called "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell"...

I kid.

"One Bullet Away", by Nathan Fick. If you've seen Generation Kill, Fick was the Platoon Commander. Read both books, actually.

 

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I'm half-way finished with Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini. The book is absolutely mesmerizing; it's more fast-paced and exciting than ninety percent of action films I've seen. It's non-stop swashbuckling adventure, with unique, larger-than-life characters who are nevertheless still very human in their actions and faults.

Set in the 1680's in Britain, under the rule of the despot James II, the book follows the life of Irish doctor and former soldier Peter Blood. After being convicted to die by the Bloody Assizes, the protagonist nevertheless makes his way to the Caribbean and eventually becomes a famous pirate.

I'm in no way exaggerating when I say that this might be the most exciting book ever written, beating out titles like "Gates of Fire", "Tai Pan", or "The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu". A thrilling read.

 

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I know these are not current books, but everyone should read Piers Anthony's "Bio of a Space Tyrant" series. Crazy insights into military and politics, while being set in a futuristic fantasy setting. Surprisingly compelling reading, and one of my favorite series of all time.

 

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Just finished Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's really short, only about 115 pages, and there doesn't seem to be a ton of development of the plot or characters within those pages. The narrator is looking back on a murder that happened in his hometown some thirty years ago and telling how it happened and how everybody knew it was going to happen but nobody did anything to stop it. It was a pretty easy read and a good way to spend a couple of hours, but I wouldn't go in expecting to be moved too much. Now I guess I'll attack the pile of books I got for Christmas, starting with Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself, then maybe some of the Vonneguts or the books I got off of this thread.

 

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Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is a fantastic fantasy read- he and George RR Martin need to get off their asses and finish the sequels.

Other than that Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford is the best book ever. Period. I've never met anyone else that's read it though.

 

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Here's what I've been reading recently:

A Lesson Before Dying
I got this as a gift a couple months ago and decided to pick it up. It's about a young black man named Jefferson who gets sentenced to death for a crime he didn't really commit, and a young teacher hired by Jefferson's godmother to teach Jefferson "a lesson before dying." It was alright. With the exception of Jefferson, the characters were weak, and I outright hated a couple that I'm pretty sure I was supposed to sympathize with. But the story was well-paced and easy to read, so I didn't mind reading it. I wouldn't recommend buying it, but if you have it laying around, worth a shot.

13 Things That Don't Make Sense
This was great. In a classic move, I bought this for my dad a year ago, secretly hoping that I'd be able to read it down the road. The author outlines 13 things that "we" (i.e. smart people) don't understand. The topics range from dark matter, to why we die and sexually reproduce, to the Wow! signal, to free will. Awesome, awesome read, and a great bathroom book to boot (in fact, I read this book over the course of a couple weeks entirely while taking shits). Also a great primer to some complicated subjects.

Preacher: Gone to Texas
I needed an extra 5 dollars to get the Amazon free shipping when I was ordering Christmas gifts, so decided to give this a shot after seeing everyone rave about it on the Graphic Novel thread. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I was pissed when I finished it in a day and didn't have the following volumes. Anyone in LA willing to lend out the rest of the series in exchange for some books or something?

Moneyball
Good God I loved this book. I don't really care about baseball, but this was fucking awesome. I've always been interested in the application of mathematics and statistics to fields that don't normally use it, so this was perfect. Yeah the A's haven't been doing all that well lately, but Billy Beane's way of looking at the world is a mindset that really resonated with me.

Also re-read Watchmen and Happy Hour is for Amateurs. Both unbelievable books, especially Happy Hour. If you haven't read any of PhilaLawyer's stuff, start with this book. One of my all-time favorites.

Right now I'm about 300 pages into Atlas Shrugged -- which I'm probably going to read off and on for the next six months or so -- and started The Pixar Touch and The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture is Reinventing Capitalism.

 

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Killing Yourself to Live

Right on Timo. I just finished this. The tag line for the book is "85% of a true story."
It should have been: "Ingredients: 85% boring rambling, 15% pertinent information."
This book was supposed to be about how Klosterman drove across the country visiting the places of death for different dead musicians. And he did do that. But really, about 85% of every chapter was him whining about what a loser he was and how he blew it with different women in his life. I just wanted to throttle him while screaming "GET TO THE FUCKING POINT!"
However, when he was actually talking about the musicians, or some of his insights on life (like his theory about cocaine), it was very entertaining.
In the end, there was no closure. One of the girls he was pining over got married, and that was it.

No Country for Old Men
Great book, but McCarthy's style of writing takes some getting used to; ex: he never uses quotation marks. It can be a little difficult to tell who is saying what or if anyone is actually talking for the first couple of chapters until you get used to it.
The book answered some questions I had about the movie, and proved some theories/opinons I had about it.
Like

Spoiler

the sheriff being a coward. He abandonned his post in WWII, and the men he was commanding got killed. It also explains the "interraction" (or lack thereof) between the sheriff and Anton Chighur at the hotel where Llewellyn was killed.

Another thing I liked was how McCarthy describes small details about the things people were using in the book; Ex: the sheriff's patrol car had a 454.

I guess I'll read The Road next; I like post-apocalyptic stories.

American Psycho

As mentioned before, the movie was pretty accurate, but there were some things left out due to the fact that covering every aspect of the story could not be covered in a 2 hour movie.
Also as mentioned before, Bateman is MUCH CRAZIER in the book; he has decaying corpses in his apartment by the end of the story. He offhandedly mentions evil acts he has done that would have been nearly impossible to show in the movie because they would have been out of context (Ex: "As I enter the lobby, I notice that the woman working the front desk looks like a hotel maid in Aspen that I raped with a hairspray bottle when I was 14." Not a direct quote, but pretty damn similar.)
He also does a lot more cocaine in the book.
And also as mentioned above, Ellis goes WAY overboard on some of the descriptions, as well as some other parts (there are THREE COMPLETE CHAPTERS dedicated to nothing but chronicling Bateman's favorite bands/singers [Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis and the News, and Phil Collins/Genesis]). For example, there was another whole chapter that was just Bateman and two of his friends talking on the phone, arguing about where they were all going to have dinner. I GUESS it was important to the story somehow, but I'll be damned if I know why.

Spoiler

There was also a part in the book near the end where Bateman gets robbed by a cab driver that I didn't really think was important.

Once you get past all that though it's a good read.

 

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Right now I am reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It is a truly unbelievable read. I was hesitant at first, Junot Diaz being an MIT professor, thinking maybe it's a little too intellectual, but he keeps it street while simultaneously throwing in history lessons about the Dominican Republic and referencing well-known comic books. It won the Pulitzer, too. I can't recommend this high enough.

Other recommendations:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I don't think this is a spoiler, but I never imagined being so enthralled and hanging onto every word about a man in a well. Read it and you'll understand. This, and Kafka On the Shore, are phenomenal.

Cosmic Banditos by Allan Weisbecker. Stranded in Central America with his group of misfit criminal cohorts, Mr. Quark tries (successfully, I guess) to intertwine quantum physics and pot-smuggling. Lots of footnotes, but after the first couple pages you begin to look forward to them; a story within a story you could say.


Lord of the Barnyard by Tristan Egolf. A little different from what I normally read, but very entertaining. You can't help but sympathize with the protagonist, who's not only not had any advantages, he's had every possible disadvantage thrown his way in his childhood. He really doesn't overcome them either. A dirty, redneck version of Catcher In the Rye, would be my best analogy.

Any Bukowski, most notably Women. Never has skid row been so accessible and real for a middle class shlub like myself. Raw power in everything he wrote.


My only problem is I have exhausted all of my favorite authors. I've read the classics, and enjoyed all the Palahniuk, Ellis, Tom Robbins, Christopher Moore, Henry Miller, David Sedaris, the Beat generation, Confederacy of Dunces, Mailer, Cormac McCarthy etc. and I'm looking for suggestions. I used to just peruse B&N until i found something striking my interest, but currently reside in Costa Rica, and all the bookstores contain in the Ingles section is Dan Brown and the like. HELP!

 

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There is an ending, it's just hidden in the beginning, the middle and in characters 'dreams'. Pay attention to the names of the years, the random little asides, and especially the first few chapters. That said, Infinite Jest was the my favorite book of all time.

For those of you who haven't read it, read it, I know it's really long and seems daunting, but it's completely worth it.

 

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I have been blowing through the "prey" series by John Sandford. It's all about a cop who hunt's serial killers in Minniapolis of all places.

It reads a little like a Dan Brown novel but they are exciting and have great characters and thrilling plot lines. I think there are 17 in the series, I actually went to the library to get four more of them and was stunned too see how many were written. You don't need to start at any one book but the first three are:

Rules of Prey
Shadow Prey
Eyes of Prey

I have been loving them, I highly recommend all of them!

 

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To continue with the series posts, I highly recommend The Bourne Series:

The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum

There are two others, but they weren't written by Robert Ludlum (he died, but he did finish the series--it's just that someone else wrote the next two. I haven't read them).

If you've seen the movies and liked them, you will love the books. And the best part is that you won't be bored reading something you've seen, because the books are very, very different from the movies--some of the plot twists in the books don't happen in the movie, and vice versa.

You'll love 'em, trust me.

 

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I usually carry a book in my purse for times when I am waiting in lines, getting the oil in my car changed, horribly long waits in doctor's offices, etc. It is usually some piece of mindless entertainment or chic lit bullshit.

However, I finished Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a condescending, egomaniacal, self-centered smart-ass, or why you should never carry a Prada Bag to the unemployment office . It was actually pretty funny. I don't necessarily suggest it for guys, unless you lost your job due to market saturation or the shitty economy. I have caviar tastes on a ramen noodle budget so I could completely identify with the title character. (Not to mention a completely useless degree and years of experience selling IT equipment that don't bode well on a resume anymore.)

The author also used footnotes which I had not seen in a chic lit piece in a while.

It's a good beach read.

 

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Currently reading Junky, William S Burroughs first novel. A GREAT look at being an addict in the first half of the 20th century.

And, while Karouac is considered the better writer of the beat generation, I find Burroughs work to be much more concise and entertaining, if not entirely pleasant.