best book you've read

[Pcdunn]

Favorite book? but our favorites change as we grow, so I will qualify mine a bit...

Favorite single book read when in elementary school: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Favorite series read when in elementary school: The Once and Future King by T. H. White

Favorite single book read as a teenager: Farhenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Favorite series read as a teenager: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Recently-read fiction books I really liked: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman ; From Hell: being a melodrama in sixteen parts by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.
Recently-read nonfiction books I really liked: Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James A. Sharpiro.

[c.d.]

Anybody else love Evelyn Waugh's work?

'Brideshead Revisted' is wonderful. If you enjoyed the sumptuous 1981 BBC adaptation do yourself a favor and read the book.

And then there are Waugh's wickedly sardonic books like 'Vile Bodies' from 1930.
Stephen Fry made a film of it called 'Bright Young Things' after its original title which Waugh changed because he felt it was too cliched.

Here's a good blog post about 'Vile Bodies': http://congenitallydisturbed.wordpre...s-vile-bodies/

Archaic

Hello Archaic,

There is an anecdote about Waugh that I have always liked. Apparently he like to bend the elbow and the story goes that one time when he was in the army an officer said something like you might want to think about cutting back a bit. To which Waugh gave him a dirty look and replied "surely you don't expect me to change the habits of a lifetime just on your whim."

c.d.

[c.d.]

Sorry, but you're all obviously wrong. The correct answer is clearly 'Moby Dick'.

"All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks ..."

Hello Chris,

Have you read the true story on which that was based? "In the Heart of the Sea:The Tragedy of the WhaleShip Essex" by Nathaniel Philbrick. If you think you have problems try being crammed into a tiny boat somewhere in the Pacific Ocean with no food and water and thousands of miles from land.

I think you would like it.

c.d.

[Magpie]

Anyone else here read any Stephen Donaldson?

Many folk tend to think about the Thomas Covenant Chronicles (which I've read and much liked) or the "Gap" series which alas I couldn't get into at all...but my favourites of his have to be the two "Mirror" books about Gerarden and Terisa...

There's something about those that hooks me...plus I was able to buy very good condition hardback copies of the pair a few years ago at a library sale for, wait for it, 30p each! (That's just under 50 cents each)

All the best

Dave

I loved the first two Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but not the third. I didn't ever realize that he'd written a third trilogy until last year

[barnflatwyngarde]

Easy answer "Ulysses" by James Joyce. I've lost count how many times I've read it.

I'm genuinely not trying to be flippant, but did you understand it the first time you read it?

I tried to read it and couldn't get into it.

I then read "Hear Comes Everybody" by Anthony Burgess, which is a guide to the novel for people who might be having trouble with it.

So I read it again, and couldn't get into it.

Again!

[Rob McCullough]

Easy answer "Ulysses" by James Joyce. I've lost count how many times I've read it.

[Cogidubnus]

Anyone else here read any Stephen Donaldson?

Many folk tend to think about the Thomas Covenant Chronicles (which I've read and much liked) or the "Gap" series which alas I couldn't get into at all...but my favourites of his have to be the two "Mirror" books about Gerarden and Terisa...

There's something about those that hooks me...plus I was able to buy very good condition hardback copies of the pair a few years ago at a library sale for, wait for it, 30p each! (That's just under 50 cents each)

All the best

Dave

[barnflatwyngarde]

One of the funniest lines delivered by Gielgud has to be in the stabbing scene in Murder on the Orient Express. They're all taking turns stabbing Widmark, saying " for my daughter," "for my wife" etc. Gielgud has to say "for my gentleman."

I always loved the story of Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud attending a party in Beverley Hills given by Mercedes McCambridge.

Old Ralphie got pissed early and thereafter was making a nuisance of himself by unsubtly propositioning all the women.

Sir John decided that the only way to preserve the integrity of British thesps everywhere was for him and Ralph to make a subtle exit.

Just as they got to the door, they were intercepted by the hostess, who asked them why they were leaving early.

Sir John was rather flustered at being caught sneaking out and replied that he and Ralph had to leave as they were expected at another party given by that ghastly woman Mercedes McCambridge.

Miss McCambridge was startled for a moment before replying quite correctly that she was in fact Mercedes McCambridge.

There was the briefest of pauses before Sir John replied "Oh no dear lady not you, the other one!"

[alkuluku]

If you did read Soft Machine... do yourself a favor, re-read it and read the other two... as I said it is a trilogy and as "weird"
as Soft Machine is... when you read Ticket Soft Machine starts to make sense, but Ticket is "weird" haha then when you read nove Express all three make sense..... In a Burroughs kinda way anyway.


Steadmund Brand

I've been wanting to re-read Naked Lunch for years so I guess when I do, I'll read all four. Making sense is not what I expect from those books

[Steadmund Brand]

If you did read Soft Machine... do yourself a favor, re-read it and read the other two... as I said it is a trilogy and as "weird"
as Soft Machine is... when you read Ticket Soft Machine starts to make sense, but Ticket is "weird" haha then when you read nove Express all three make sense..... In a Burroughs kinda way anyway.


Steadmund Brand

[alkuluku]

Wow Burroughs made a list!!!!... I personally enjoyed Burroughs "Nova Trilogy" more than Naked Lunch ( Soft Machine, The Ticket that Exploded, and Nova Express) they could be considered the follow up to Naked Lunch...but those are the books I feel Burroughs found his voice (even if there is a bit too much of the "cut up" at times) but truth is, most people have only read Naked Lunch.. pitty it's really not his best work by a long shot.

Steadmund Brand-- An Agent of interzone!!

IIRC I've read Junky, Queer, NL and Soft Machine. It's been a long time since I did but I remember Naked Lunch was the book that made me laugh the most (out of any book I've ever read) by far and that's why it's on the list.

[Steadmund Brand]

The first time I read that Stuey book, it felt awesome. Read it again couple years ago and didn't feel that great anymore.

Here's five I really enjoyed:

David Bodanis - E=mc^2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
William S. Burroughs - Naked Lunch
Albert Mudrian - Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore
Simon Singh - Fermat's Last Theorem
Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

Wow Burroughs made a list!!!!... I personally enjoyed Burroughs "Nova Trilogy" more than Naked Lunch ( Soft Machine, The Ticket that Exploded, and Nova Express) they could be considered the follow up to Naked Lunch...but those are the books I feel Burroughs found his voice (even if there is a bit too much of the "cut up" at times) but truth is, most people have only read Naked Lunch.. pitty it's really not his best work by a long shot.

Steadmund Brand-- An Agent of interzone!!

[Steadmund Brand]

Fair dinkum?

I haven't heard it used that way, might be we're just lagging a bit behind the Yanks.

As you always do.....USA USA USA hahaha


Steadmund Brand--

[alkuluku]

The first time I read that Stuey book, it felt awesome. Read it again couple years ago and didn't feel that great anymore.

Here's five I really enjoyed:

David Bodanis - E=mc^2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation
William S. Burroughs - Naked Lunch
Albert Mudrian - Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore
Simon Singh - Fermat's Last Theorem
Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

[alkuluku]

The geekiest thing I've ever done--one time I got up at 7 am, settled myself into a comfy papasan chair with a thermos of tea and some sandwiches, and starting reading The Fellowship of the Ring, and 24 hours later I finished The Return of the King. Only bathroom breaks and thermos refills.

That's hard to top, but I think my story is pretty geek as well.

I was at Tuska festival (a metal music festival in Helsinki, Finland) and I was sitting under a tree reading One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ',The Kid', Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player. I was drinking beer though.

Later that day I was at the backstage area reading that book (and drinking more beer obviously) because Dimmu Borgir (a Norwegian "black" metal band I don't like) was so loud it was better to be behind the PA speakers.