Great Books???

[cyrus buelton]

I prefer non-fiction style books, but some listed below might not be considered that, but some obviously are:

In no order:


Lone Survivor - Marcus Lattrell (most recently read.....what a moving book)

Black Hawk Down - Mark Bowden
Killing Pablo - Mark Bowden
Company of Heroes - Michael Durant (Super-Six Four's pilot....batter of the Mog, see above)
Nightstalkers - Michael Durant
Roughneck 91 - Frank Antenori (what a bunch of cowboy's this unit was/is)

switching to other genre's.......

The Art of War - Sun Tzu
The Republic - Plato (everyone SHOULD BE REQUIRED to read this one)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon, historian.
Anything Pre-Revolution War / Forming of the United States books

Animal Farm
Fahrenheit 451

I could keep going.


I am really looking forward to the release of George W Bush's book in a few months. I am actually thinking about pre-ordering it on Amazon today. Please don't discuss this book, just mentioning I think it will be a very good read.

[RAT900]

Some others you might either want to revisit or know already

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates,

A Confederate General from Big Sur by Richard Brautigan,

The Winter of Our Discontent and Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck,

Book of Illusions by Paul Auster,

Feast of Love by Charles Baxter,

Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart,

A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus,

Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon,

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy,

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor,

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers,

Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami,

[cyrus buelton]

Thanks for the list, Rat.

My wife has quite a collection of Ben Franklin books. She absolutely loves him.


I really want to read "What if the South had won the Civil War?" or something to that extent. Tizzy was telling me about it a few years ago, but I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

[zzilla]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

The Art of War by Sun Tsu

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

More to follow

[il d00d]

Whaddaya like to read?

A few of my faves:
White Noise - Dom DeLillo
Lolita - Nabokov
Any of the Bukowski novels: Ham on Rye and Post Office are my favorite.

A few I have read more recently:
Blindness - Jose Saramago
Downtown Owl - Chuck Klostermann
Children of Men - PD James (a different story than the movie)

Fun reads:
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Hichhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry

[cyrus buelton]

Michael Savage books are great too. I read one a while back and found it to be interesting.


but then again..........I own every Gary Larson book.

[Billyzoom]

I'm more a fiction guy...some of my favorites...

A prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Nicholas Nickleby - Dickens

[JEFF_H]

historical fiction is my favorite genre....

William Diehl- The Hunt (originally '27')
Stephen Pressfield- Gates of Fire
Wilbur Smith- The River God
Erich Maria Remarque- All Quiet on the Western Front
Michael Shaara- The Killer Angels (I like all of Jeff Shaaras books too)
Conn Iggulden- Genghis: Birth of an Empire

and just to mix it up-
Christopher Moore- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

[hihhs]

I'm more a fiction guy...some of my favorites...

A prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Nicholas Nickleby - Dickens

I was once in a book store in Massachusetts, and my SO at the time pointed to a man a said, "that's John Updike". I ended up standing near him. A woman walked up and said she was fan. He was gracious.
So, in one of those wonderful brain-fart moments, I said to him, "I'm an admirer of your work. A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favorite books". He gave me an odd look and said, "it is one of mine too"

It was about five minutes later that I realized the incredibly stupid thing I'd done. That was about fifteen years ago, and I'm still embarrassed.

[triangleforge]

If you liked Blue Highways, some of William Least Heat-Moon's other books are favorites of mine -- River Horse and PrairyErth are both good reads; the first an account of his trip to traverse the U.S. (almost) entirely by river, and the second a wonderful, multi-layered essay (?) about Chase County, Kansas.

I'm currently about a third of the way through Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner and believe I'm about that far along in the process of finding a new favorite novel.

[triangleforge]

Christopher Moore- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Christopher Moore is a HUGE hit in our household; you might enjoy a recent interview I heard with him: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125676630

[djrashonal]

World War Z by Max Brooks

It's a good read, extremely captivating because you become very quickly attached to the people's lives he paints in the book.

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/worldwarz/

I uploaded it here if you'd like to read a bit of it before you buy it 
http://rapidshare.com/files/380862268/World_War_Z__An_Oral_History_of_the_Zombie_War__23_.zip.html

[superjohn]

Christopher Moore is a HUGE hit in our household; you might enjoy a recent interview I heard with him: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125676630

I LOVE his stuff. Read all of them now.

[cyrus buelton]

Is it politically correct to say I like a few of Mark Twain's books?


Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are classics. Loved them as a kid.

too bad some schools and school libraries have banned them for reasons I can't mention.


I wonder if those said libraries carry Fahrenheit 451?

[Pip]

Any of the "Ender" books by Orson Scott Card.
"Welcome to the Monkey House" and "Bagombo Snuff Box" by Kurt Vonnegut.
"A Wrinkle in Time" Madeline L'Engel