Recommend a book-- sell it, make me read it

[GabonX]

Not sure if it's of any interest to you, but Slaughter House 5 famously recalls the events of the Dresden bombing in WW2. The main character was the "sole survivor" of the bombing if memory serves correctly.

On a completely unrelated note, I clicked the link to the video in your sig and I can't see it because it's marked "private".

[GabonX]

Ishmael- by Daniel Quinn

A book about a telepathic ape who puts out an ad, "teacher seeking student." An individual named Alan takes up the call. He has many discussions with Ismael, the telepathic ape. Ishmael is a very wise ape, or gorilla, cannot quite remember, and has many things to say about the state of the world and commentaries about it. A very interesting book if you're at all interested in sociology or the human race in general. It will give you a new perspective with which to view the world. I highly reccomend it. For more information on this book, and probably a better description than I could muster, visit this site... http://www.readishmael.com

lulz.. Sounds like it could be a fun read

I need to got back and finish The Naked Ape one of these days...

[saxitoxin]

Not sure if it's of any interest to you, but Slaughter House 5 famously recalls the events of the Dresden bombing in WW2. The main character was the "sole survivor" of the bombing if memory serves correctly.

I tried reading it in the early '70's but only got through the first page as the words were too difficult for me at the time. I'll add it to my list.

On a completely unrelated note, I clicked the link to the video in your sig and I can't see it because it's marked "private".

you're probably not clicking hard enough on your mouse, or you may need to reset your iPhone

[TheSaxlad]

Any Book by sam bourne.

All of them.

Especially The Chosen One.

[GabonX]

Have you read Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut?

noope.. is it good and stupid? i'm looking for fiction books that let me loose myself in the story without thinking much.

If you good and stupid I recommend Forrest Griffin's Got Fight?: The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat.

Got Fight book chronicles Forrest Griffin's follies regarding women, life, and his career as a professional fighter. This book will make you think, laugh, and cry. You'll learn sweet Mixed Martial Arts moves like the Omoplata and the Asian Dart.

Amazon.com has some good samples from the beginning of the book. Harper Collins(the publisher) has some material as well, but if those don't work on your computer, there's this exerpt which didn't make it into the book but demonstrates the tone:

Dick in a Box By Adam Singer

I have read Forrest’s book, Got Fight?, and I saw that he gave a lot of advice on picking up chicks. Seriously, I don’t know where he gets the balls. Granted he found a lovely wife, but back in the day, Forrest went out with a gaggle of monsters. We’re talking hippie chicks with smelly armpits, the whole nine yards. And if they didn’t have furry legs and smell like incense, they had something else seriously wrong with them. It’s not like Forrest had to go out with these bestial creatures. He was a cop and often worked in the bars—both of which get you more tail than you can handle. But leave it up to Forrest to find the worst chick out of the bunch.



A perfect example is the time Forrest banged a post-op transgender, or whatever lady boys are called when they get their junk surgically removed. The first time I learned about this was when Forrest, me, and a couple of other guys were lifting weights at the Ramsey Center on the University of Georgia campus. All of us were checking out this Asian chick with massive clip-on boobs, and Forrest begins shaking his head.
“No,” he said. “That chick used to be a dude.”

Of course we were curious as to how he knew this. I mean, this chick had on spandex, and between her legs she packed nothing more than a camel toe. After some berating, Forrest gave us the story. I guess he picked this chick up in a bar or some place and ended up banging her. He thought something was suspicious because he kept bottoming out, which is rare considering he’s no John Holms. He ended up going out with her a couple of more times before he put two and two together. However, I strongly feel he didn’t break up with her because she used to be a dude, but rather because she was psycho. So, if you’ve read Forrest book and are currently taking his advice on how to pick up women, chances are you will either end up with a post-op or a chick who lives in a trailer and constantly talks about the glory days of being on the road with the Grateful Dead.



Forrest Rebuttal

There is a follow up to this story, and although it’s not entirely redeeming, it makes me a feel a little bit better. A while after I broke up with this chick I got a call from Adam’s brother, Rory Singer, at two o’clock one morning.

“Hey Forrest. So, I know you were seeing this chick,” he slurred. “Well, she’s here at the bar and kinda. . . you know, kind of giving me (unintelligible slurring), do you mind if I hook up with her?”

Sleep deprived and not thinking straight, I gave him the completely wrong answer. I said, “Rory, trust me. You do not want to hook up with this chick.”

“Dude, I’m so sorry. I don’t want to disrespect you.”

I repeated, “Just trust me, do not do it.”

I have regretted those words ever since. Sleeping with a post-op is not something you want to be alone in. I wanted to give Rory enough information to do the right thing, but, in hindsight, I should have just lied to him and given him a big thumbs up.

As you can see, reading this book will make you a better person.

[Phatscotty]

http://www.greatcreditcontraction.com/

The Great Credit Contraction

The entire worldwide monetary system, built over hundreds and hundreds of years, is changing. Those who fail to understand the environment, with the applicable monetary science and economic law, and fail to take preemptive protective action may lose fortunes. Some already have.

If you desire to understand monetary science and basic economic law then at a minimum you must know how to distinguish money from fiat currency, how to protect your money with bailment instead of using fractional reserve banking and the effect that global quantitative easing will have on your savings.

[oVo]

Not sure if it's of any interest to you, but Slaughter House 5 famously recalls the events of the Dresden bombing in WW2. The main character was the "sole survivor" of the bombing if memory serves correctly.

Your memory is part right, but mostly just serving you baloney... Vonnegut is not the sole survivor, but he was present during and after the bombing of Dresden, which is the city that received a wartime record in tonnage of bombs dropped on it in WWII.

His character in the book Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time... which leads to many interesting situations... including a trip to Tralfalmador where he resides with Montana Wildhack in a residence furnished from the Sears & Roebuck Catalogue.

[Phatscotty]

Not sure if it's of any interest to you, but Slaughter House 5 famously recalls the events of the Dresden bombing in WW2. The main character was the "sole survivor" of the bombing if memory serves correctly.

Your memory is part right, but mostly just serving you baloney... Vonnegut is not the sole survivor, but he was present during and after the bombing of Dresden, which is the city that received a wartime record in tonnage of bombs dropped on it in WWII.

His character in the book Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time... which leads to many interesting situations... including a trip to Tralfalmador where he resides with Montana Wildhack in a residence furnished from the Sears & Roebuck Catalogue.

Anyone for Sirens of Titan?

[nietzsche]

I just finished reading The Great Gatsby. You all must have read it in school, but I'm not American so it founded through Amazon.

Great little novel, nice prose and very engaging. I look forward to reading more of Scott Fitzgerald.

[MTIceman41]

I just finished reading The Great Gatsby. You all must have read it in school, but I'm not American so it founded through Amazon.

Great little novel, nice prose and very engaging. I look forward to reading more of Scott Fitzgerald.

If you liked Great Gatsby I would recommend The Razor's Edge (W. Somerset Maugham) & Suttree (Cormac McCarthy)

[ViperOverLord]

I just finished reading The Great Gatsby. You all must have read it in school, but I'm not American so it founded through Amazon.

Great little novel, nice prose and very engaging. I look forward to reading more of Scott Fitzgerald.

If you liked Great Gatsby I would recommend The Razor's Edge (W. Somerset Maugham) & Suttree (Cormac McCarthy)

MT - Give me some background/similarities as to why The Razor's Edge is worthwhile for those that like GB. I'm interested, but right now its sort of a face value statement to me.

Ni - Unfortunately I am not an avid reader (when it comes to novels). Part of that is because I used to savor too much. In college I learned how to read faster but I still never developed a huge desire to read a lot. But when I was in high school, we were assigned GB and I read it all in three days (even while savoring). It was the only school book that I ever read ahead. I've liked F Scott Fitzgerald ever since and have been restudying him in recent days. I rewatched the DVD I have about him 'Last Call' that includes Neve Campbell. It is about the last year and a half of his life when he was writing 'The Last Tychoon.' It's a great watch if you are into artsy movies and/or Fitzgerald.

Also The Last Tycoon is an awesome movie to watch. You can find bits of it on Youtube and even a good scene with Nicholson and DeNiro.

Fitzgerald's life itself is a fun study. He accomplished much and travelled all over and lived during amazing times. But still when he died he considered himself a failure as he was something of a struggling (but successful) writer through and through. Not until Post-WW II did he re-emerge.

Fitz wrote a lot of short stories. He was considered a great short story writer, but short stories was never my thing. You should read those if you're into that.

As far as novels go He wrote five of them (Just going off the top of my head with this stuff so sue me if I'm wrong)...

This Side Of Paradise(1920) - He was only 23 when it was published and he was a celebrity instantly. The thing about F Scott is that all of his work was very autobiographical. He would never fully admit it, but he didn't like to just make stuff up. He liked to experience it first. That's why his stories are even based on where he's been and just like the GB was based in NY (where he just lived, but he wrote it in Paris); so was this book based at Princeton where he went to school. It's fun to read that book and see how boys and girls acted then and how slutty girls would be even then lol. I never finished the book, just made about 70 pages. Its not as polished as GB at all, but a fun read I think.
The Beautiful and the damned (1922) - Largely consider autobiographical about F Scotts glamor marriage and his aloholism. (I haven't read any of it)
The Great Gatsby (1925) - He wrote that in only about half a year, which is amazing to me.
Tender Is The Night (1934) - I haven't read any of this but its interesting that his wife went nuts shortly before this and wrote her own book (1932) about their woes and he was mad that she stole a lot of his material. This is pretty much probably the better version of her book. You'll notice the huge time in between novels. He had a lot of personal problems with his wife (and alcoholism) that made it hard for him to sit down and write. He was not very good at having a life and being a writer. He would have to lock himself out of the world when he wanted to write.
The Last Tychoon (1941) - He died at the end of 1940 at only 44 of a heart attack. In the Depression he made some good bucks writing for Hollywood but he accomplished little and eventually his contract was not renewed. But he did become something of an insider and so his last book is all about studio politics and how brutal they are. Even though he did not finish the book. A lot was done and there are notes on how it was going to end. Had this book been completed, it would possibly be his signature work, although the beginnings and the endings of The Great Gatsby are certainly timeless.

[PLAYER57832]

Just read one book worthy of this thread, one I probably would not have read were it not reccommended to me.

The book is The Room. It is written from the perspective of a boy, just turning 5. At first, everything seems normal, though he names objects as if they were proper names, just like people's names -- "Table", "wardrobe", "bed", etc. Soon you realize something is not quite right. The boy has never left this room where he lives. He watches TV, but considers everything there "pretend", "not real". Gradually, you discover why.. and.. I won't spoil the plot by revealing more (even though some book jackets do).

[Army of GOD]

Gatsby is a ridiculously good book. Fitzgerald writes so well.