Books

ig · Post by ig » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:06 pm

My standard recommendation to anyone and everyone is Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. A work of complete genius, and painfully relevant even now. Especially now.

Other than that, try Bret Easton Ellis. And try watching Celebrity Big Brother at the same time for added effect.

zefa · Post by **zefa** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:59 pm

On the Alan Moore tip, heard an interview with him on Radio 4 some time ago that he refuses to put his name to any of the fims as he thinks they are/will be shit. He also wont accept any money by the film industry for rights/profits as he thinks they wont do the books justice...He's a really interesting guy, and it's refreshing to see someone do something for the love of doing it...

freestylethumbwars · Post by **freestylethumbwars** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:32 pm

[b]racket wrote:
freestylethumbwars wrote:also ive not read the last 2 he has written but chuck palahniuk has always really impressed me with the books ive read by him.

he's the guy who wrote the book fight club (david fincher made a film with brad pitt and edward norton) the films real good and so's the book coz its got a completly different ending.
Have you ever read 'Guts' by Chuck Palahniuk. So fuckin wrong.....

http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/books/haunted/guts.php

oh my.....

thats just horrifying

That used to be my worst fear in the world: my teenage virgin sister, thinking she's just getting fat, then giving birth to a two-headed retard baby. Both heads looking just like me. Me, the father AND the uncle

fuckin love him tho, ive just decided to go get all the books i havent got to read whilst im in new york.

also a good book that ive read a gazillion times, catcher in the rye by jd salinger.

datura · Post by **datura** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:41 pm

I'm reading Stone Junction by Jim Dodge at the moment..very good so far.

Just finished In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami which is excellent..some dark shit in that..also read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote which is excellent.

Nice little resource here for some uncollected Salinger short stories, quite a few with Holden Caulfield and the Glass family: http://www.freeweb.hu/tchl/salinger/

Re Alan Moore, apparently the V For Vendetta film is very good...Watchmen has been optioned, but no sign of it getting made yet..Anyone read his 'Voice of Fire' novel? I've got it, it's on the to read pile though.

casino addict · Post by **casino addict** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:03 pm

Currently reading 'A Death in Brazil' by Peter Robb - a fascinating book fusing the author's twenty years of experience travelling throughout the country with 450 years of history, from when Brazil was first colonized. Beautifully written and utterly engaging. Would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of travelling here.

baz · Post by **baz** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:06 pm

loads of really interesting recommendations, i'll have to check some of these out. recently read miles' autobiography myself, loved it... been reading some philip k dick stuff lately too, "valis" and "confessions of a crap artist". didn't realise that the latter was one of his "mainstream" novels, it was ok but i prefer his science fiction.

also trying to get time to start a book by thomas szasz at the minute, "the myth of mental illness".

dubmugga · Post by **dubmugga** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:13 pm

peripheral wrote: dubmugga u shld get out more m8. s'no wonder....

i get out heaps man, whaddayamean ???

just got back from a road trip around the country and off to Wellington in a couple of weeks for 6 weeks working the festival of the arts...

...normally I don't read fuck all eh, but those books were presents so i was kind of obliged

someone gave me a nostradamus one as well but, meh...

7 below · Post by **7 below** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:21 pm

I'm currently reading Hunter S Thompson - Hey Rube . A collection of his later articles sort 1988 - 2000 era. Not as good as his earlier stuff

- theres big collection (can't remember the title) of stuff from 1970-75.. thats really good (Apart from a lengthy tirade about Nixon and how much he hates him..)

scary · Post by **scary** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:05 pm

I'm reading the Illuminatus Trilogy right now and enjoying it.
Other recommendations ? Phew !

Iain Banks
Chuck Palahniuk
Edward Bunker
Harry Crews
Walter Mosley
Michel Houellebecq
Viktor Pelevin
Samuel R Delany
and so on...

So many books, so little time

seen · Post by **seen** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:13 pm

Branded by Alissa Quart.
Thats a stone cold killah read if you like learning about how the system and corporates indoctrinate the masses.

rickyricardo · Post by **rickyricardo** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:15 pm

Currently reading:

"Us and Them - Understanding your Tribal Mind" - David Bareby

I heard an interview w/ this guy a while back that was so compelling it made me get the book. Basically it talks about how and why make categories for people (black, white, christians, junglists, dubsteppers, etc), and how they affect our interactions with groups we see as "other". It's quite fascinating since it draws from many fields like biology, statistics, psychology, and sociology to help provide these explanations.

On Deck:
"The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism" - Max Weber
"Extraordinarly Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds" - Charles MacKay

rickyricardo · Post by **rickyricardo** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:29 pm

seen wrote:Branded by Alissa Quart.
Thats a stone cold killah read if you like learning about how the system and corporates indoctrinate the masses.

Hmmm...looks like something I'd be interested in. I'll admit a rather peverse fascination with consumer culture and the psychological aspects of advertising.

Juliet Schor has a series of great books out that touch on this topic, most recently "Born to Buy" and her other books, "The Overworked American" and "The Overspent American"....which despite the focus on American consumer culture, translates over to any modern-day capitalist society.

zefa · Post by **zefa** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:11 pm

On a consumer tip, No Logo by Naomi Klein is a good read...

r33lc4sh · Post by **r33lc4sh** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:38 pm

everything by: p.k.dick and w.gibson

erbium · Post by **erbium** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:04 am

Read Illuminatus trilogy a couple of years ago. Absolutely brilliant book. Made no sense for the first 100 pages or so, but when it gets going I couldn't put it down.

Reading Bravo Two Zero at the moment, true story of an SAS patrol in Iraq in 1991 and how it all goes wrong. It's written by the commander of the patrol Andy McNab and is account of it all. It's quite a fascinating read actually.

Recently read Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre. Have also really enjoyed 1984 by George Orwell and 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark.

brett · Post by **brett** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:04 am

"I'm Andy McNab, I'm Andy McNab, I'm Andy Mc Nab, I'm Andie MacDowell ummmmm... "

Currently finishing off the Harry Potter series (my light reading) and then its on to any number of history related books, but most likely a little piece entitled "The Devils Anarchy: The Sea Robberies of the Most Famous Pirate Claes G. Compaen & The Very Remarkable Travles of Jan Erasmus Reyning, Buccaneer" by Stephen Snelders. and then probably an amusing little book, "Hudson's English History" by Roger Hudson.

ghettobot · Post by **ghettobot** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:04 am

pirate utopias by peter lamborn wilson. dreamy history...

then of course you may want to read temporary autonomous zone by hakim bey.

energy flash by simon reynolds. i pick this up from time to time and read a bit. nice parts about jungle (nice no u turn section!) and pirate radio.

awile back i read:
angry young spaceman (it takes place in space, you know.)
gun with occasional music (a gritty futur-o detective novel)

doomstep · Post by **doomstep** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:10 am

RickyRicardo wrote:Currently reading:

"Us and Them - Understanding your Tribal Mind" - David Bareby

I heard an interview w/ this guy a while back that was so compelling it made me get the book. Basically it talks about how and why make categories for people (black, white, christians, junglists, dubsteppers, etc), and how they affect our interactions with groups we see as "other". It's quite fascinating since it draws from many fields like biology, statistics, psychology, and sociology to help provide these explanations.

On Deck:
"The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism" - Max Weber
"Extraordinarly Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds" - Charles MacKay

... might have to look into that 1st one bruv. My old man told me about some research a mate of his was doing, mans is a statistics PHD, into accents / slang in Britain and the relationship b'tween those things and population density.

The title of that Weber is maddness, prob. WAAAYYY more relevant than it should be right now, stateside & daan-unda.

Big Up the dubstep Book Club massif

brett · Post by **brett** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 8:57 am

I found that during school I had little to no time for my own personal reading (regardless of how little I read the course texts).

As a I result, I have about thirty or so books I've collected in the last four years that I have yet to read. Anything from the Frazer's "The Golden Bough" to books about the wardens of Alcatraz to an examination of the CIA's counter-terrorist activities leading up to Sept. 11.

Maybe if I stopped buying books, I'd catch up with the ones I have.

paulie · Post by **paulie** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:10 am

erbium wrote:Reading Bravo Two Zero at the moment, true story of an SAS patrol in Iraq in 1991 and how it all goes wrong. It's written by the commander of the patrol Andy McNab and is account of it all. It's quite a fascinating read actually.

Read that recently, and The One That Got Away by Chris Ryan about the same thing. He's a proper cock, that guy. Also noticed Andy McNab on Brass Eye when perusing the DVD the other day!

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