New book

[zrez 0]

Just finished reading "Angels and Demons", and "da vinci code". Anyone have any other good books i should look into?

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

I recommend digital fortress also by dan brown.

What are you into in general, I am a big reader, here are some of my favorites

Frederick Forsyth:

Icon

Day of the Jackal

Fist of God

Jeffrey Deaver:

The Blue Nowhere (once you start, you will read until its done, its that good, seriously)

Any of the Lincoln Rhyme series (bone Collector, Cold Moon, Twelvth card etc...)

Richard North Patterson:

Balance of Power

Protect & Defend

Jeffrey Archer:

Kane & Abel

[jumanjaq143 0]

the autobiography of phil esposito!!

its hilarious, and is like the only book i read and that i was into!!

[hockeymom 2]

This is great - I was just thinking of starting a thread like this because my summer reading is a little too "weird" and I want to round it out.

Allsmoke's list is great..I'd add..

you must discover Leon Uris...QB VII is one of my favourites - all are great

Frank McCourt...Angela's Ashes, Tis and the newest Teacher Man are all fabulous

Graham Joyce... The Tooth Fairy is scary and funny...wow

James Frey... A Million Little Pieces - I don't care that they are arguing whether this is a proper memoir because someone is disputing a few pages; this was a riveting read.

Daniel Quinn...Ishmael - oh, a must read!

Douglas Adams 5 book trilogy "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - I DON'T care if you saw the movie...you have to read the books.

Ken Wilbur..."A Brief History of Everything" - fascinating and entertaining

~

My list this summer thus far includes:

Revisiting my twenties and rereading two books that influenced me for very different reasons:

"Sun Tzu: The Art of War" ....which is a several thousand year old primer on conflict and influenced how I stickhandled corporate politics and beyond.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. One of only 3 books I didn't finish in my life, this is considered a modern philosophical classic. I just didn't "get" it, although my friends did and loved it...twenty years later it remains on most people's "top ten most influential books" so I'm rereading it to see if a few more life miles makes a difference.

I'm also reading...

Ken Wilbur's tome on "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality" and I'm hoping it is just as good as "Brief History".

Saul Miller's book "Hockey Tough" ~ it's about "a winning mental game". He has been a psychological performance consultant to NHL players so I'm hoping his book brings a useful perspective.

[Jason Harris 31]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. One of only 3 books I didn't finish in my life, this is considered a modern philosophical classic.  I just didn't "get" it, although my friends did and loved it...twenty years later it remains on most people's "top ten most influential books" so I'm rereading it to see if a few more life miles makes a difference.

That was one of the books in my 10th grade English class. 50-60 pages a night. Talk about going right over our heads....

Most of these books I'm going to list are formulas, but when they are done right, it's hard to put them down. After staying up one night until about 4:30 to finish a page turner, I told my wife that I was going to have to stop ready these novels, because I become borderline addicted while reading them. Anyway....

* I agree with Allsmoke about Frederick Forsyth -- one of my favorite novelists -- and The Blue Nowhere.

* James Clavell wrote great historical novels: Shogun, Gai-Jin, Nobel House, King Rat, Whirlwind

* Michael Crichton's books are usually page turners: Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Timeline, Sphere, Congo, plus more

* I've never read any of John Grisham's books, but most have made great thrillers as movies: The Firm, Runaway Jury, The Chamber, The Pelican Brief, plus more

* Neanderthal and Almost Adam were fun reads about undiscovered worlds.

Now, if you'd like to read good philosophical books, read Herman Hesse. There's something very calming about Siddhartha.

[KYHockey3 0]

5 peopole youll meet in heaven

[Chadd 916]

I didn't really like Digital Fortress a lot of it seemed forced. I haven't read a lot of Forsyth, but "Dogs of War" wasn't bad.

[KYHockey3 0]

my favorite book of all times= the giver

i also like tears of a tiger, a man named dave, child named it

[Stampeder 2]

Frank McCourt...Angela's Ashes

Ah Grade 12 Lit, funny book. Kinda weird that they jerked it to sheep.

I like "Million Little Peices" and "My Friend Leonard" by James Frey. Who cares if they aren't 100% true.

[kosydar 0]

my favorite book of all times= the giver

I had to read that when I was in third grade. Its definitely too much for that age group, but even then I realized it sucked.

[QandA 0]

The Giver blew, stupid educational system made us read it as well. Hills End was way better. Phil Esposito's biography is awesome, it's very accurate in his flamboyant style, and he expresses people as they should be.

[Chadd 916]

The Giver blew, stupid educational system made us read it as well. Hills End was way better. Phil Esposito's biography is awesome, it's very accurate in his flamboyant style, and he expresses people as they should be.

It's amazing how forced reading can turn people off to it as a source of entertainment. Then again we had to read three Steinbeck books, you can't even do that to a prisoner in the US (something about cruel and unusual punishment). Plus we had Huck Finn at some point too. The problem was our teacher, who had read the book every year for 27 years, wanted us to memorize the damn book. One question was "who wore a shoe with a star in the heel?" I guess memorizing random facts is better than teaching comprehension or how to enjoy a book. Then again I went to school in a totally fucked up redneck part of Pennsyltucky.

[hockeymom 2]

I read The Giver this year when my daughter had it in grade 8. We both loved it... it is one of her all time favourites thus far ...and she went on to read other books by the same author (forget the name..Lois ??).

It is quite dark and ominous and deals with individuality vs community - the pressures for subjucation of self to live within a system. There's no way I think anyone younger than grade 8 can get the themes in the book; but I thought it was very powerful. Sparked an awful lot of great conversations at home and apparently in her class. Luckily she had a great teacher who didn't kill books.

[KYHockey3 0]

i personally love the giver!!1

last year in my junior english class we were supposed to read:

scarlet letter

great gatsby

crucible

huck finn

and other stuff

we didnt read any of them!!! he was soo tight we just watched the movies on the books and that was the easiest english class ever!!!

2nd semester we watched about 10 movies!

[kosydar 0]

I read The Giver this year when my daughter had it in grade 8.  We both loved it... it is one of her all time favourites thus far ...and she went on to read other books by the same author (forget the name..Lois ??).

It is quite dark and ominous and deals with individuality vs community - the pressures for subjucation of self to live within a system.  There's no way I think anyone younger than grade 8 can get the themes in the book; but I thought it was very powerful.  Sparked an awful lot of great conversations at home and apparently in her class.  Luckily she had a great teacher who didn't kill books.

Like I said, I read it a good 13 or 14 years ago, so I remember basically nothing of it. All I remember is there being twins or something, and one of them being killed, and the main kids name was Jonas. There was a huge controversy about it being abortion or whatever, and parents flipped out and half the kids weren't allowed to read it. Thats the problem with trying to introduce controversial issues to kids at that age. Had I read the book and not been constantly warned and reminded of the "infantcide" in it, I wouldn't have even picked up on that. Now when I hear The Giver, I instantly think of abortion and pissed off parents.

Chadd, Huck Finn is a great book. In my Am Lit class junior year we had this literary scholar come in and talk with us about it. He argued that if anything, the book is anti-racist. He was African American, too. He said some real interesting stuff about that book which I never even picked up in reading it.

[kosydar 0]

i personally love the giver!!1

last year in my junior english class we were supposed to read:

scarlet letter

great gatsby

crucible

huck finn

and other stuff

we didnt read any of them!!! he was soo tight we just watched the movies on the books and that was the easiest english class ever!!!

2nd semester we watched about 10 movies!

Great Gatsby is a sick book, I'm going to reread that one when I have a chance. You realize that you missed out tremendously by not actually reading the books, right?

[Cheesehead 0]

The Giver blew, stupid educational system made us read it as well. Hills End was way better. Phil Esposito's biography is awesome, it's very accurate in his flamboyant style, and he expresses people as they should be.

It's amazing how forced reading can turn people off to it as a source of entertainment. Then again we had to read three Steinbeck books, you can't even do that to a prisoner in the US (something about cruel and unusual punishment). Plus we had Huck Finn at some point too. The problem was our teacher, who had read the book every year for 27 years, wanted us to memorize the damn book. One question was "who wore a shoe with a star in the heel?" I guess memorizing random facts is better than teaching comprehension or how to enjoy a book. Then again I went to school in a totally fucked up redneck part of Pennsyltucky.

steinbeck ughh. we had to read the pearl last year. our teacher kept coming up with random symbols. this is what exactly she said and i qoute"The ants represent the mexicans on how they were....." fell asleep. somethin about ants being crushed? i dont know. but it was a very boring book.

[kosydar 0]

Did Steinbeck write Grapes of Wrath? That book was absolutely terrible.

[hockeymom 2]

Yeah, Steinbeck wrote Grapes of Wrath... also East of Eden and of Mice and Men ... my favourite was the Red Pony, but maybe it was the horse theme..lol

[hockeymom 2]

* James Clavell wrote great historical novels: Shogun, Gai-Jin, Nobel House, King Rat, Whirlwind

Now, if you'd like to read good philosophical books, read Herman Hesse. There's something very calming about Siddhartha.

I can't believe I forgot Clavell's books... every single one of them was great.

Jason... somehow I have not managed to read Hesse - and you are the third person to mention him to me this week... I suppose the universe is telling me to go get the book...lol

Have you read "The Journey to the East" - it's a Hesse book my friends mentioned

[Chadd 916]

Yeah, Steinbeck wrote Grapes of Wrath... also East of Eden and of Mice and Men ... my favourite was the Red Pony, but maybe it was the horse theme..lol

If you enjoyed the red pony, you may have issues. Steinbeck is the type of author who will use 100 words to say what others can say in 10. Unlike some other "classic" authors, he doesn't prove anything extra in those 90 additional words. I did like the Hemingway stuff I read, but I haven't picked up any since school.

[kosydar 0]

Yeah, Steinbeck wrote Grapes of Wrath... also East of Eden and of Mice and Men ... my favourite was the Red Pony, but maybe it was the horse theme..lol

If you enjoyed the red pony, you may have issues. Steinbeck is the type of author who will use 100 words to say what others can say in 10. Unlike some other "classic" authors, he doesn't prove anything extra in those 90 additional words. I did like the Hemingway stuff I read, but I haven't picked up any since school.

Old Man and the Sea is a great book. Short, too.

[Jason Harris 31]

Steinbeck is the type of author who will use 100 words to say what others can say in 10. Unlike some other "classic" authors, he doesn't prove anything extra in those 90 additional words.

Well, now we now while I'll never be a classic author.... B)

Jason... somehow I have not managed to read Hesse - and you are the third person to mention him to me this week... I suppose the universe is telling me to go get the book...lol

Have you read "The Journey to the East" - it's a Hesse book my friends mentioned

No, I haven't, hockeymom. I'll see if the library has it.

[hockeymom 2]

Yeah, Steinbeck wrote Grapes of Wrath... also East of Eden and of Mice and Men ... my favourite was the Red Pony, but maybe it was the horse theme..lol

If you enjoyed the red pony, you may have issues. Steinbeck is the type of author who will use 100 words to say what others can say in 10. Unlike some other "classic" authors, he doesn't prove anything extra in those 90 additional words. I did like the Hemingway stuff I read, but I haven't picked up any since school.

Oh Chadd I most definitely have issues! LOL - Don't need a Red Pony to establish that one.

But, seriously, I'm curious - what books do you like? You've commented on posts but haven't actually said what books or novels "called you to be".

[Hooah4 12]

Just finished reading "Angels and Demons", and "da vinci code". Anyone have any other good books i should look into?

Try the Last Templar. Very similar theme.

If you like true sci-fi, thr any Ray Bradbury stuff (especially Fahrenheit 451