# read any good books lately **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2000, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030 "2000-02-19T03:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![melanietarrant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@melanietarrant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melanietarrant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/1 "2000-02-19T03:34:00Z")
there was no school today so i spent today reading marvin k mooney will you please go now fox in socks puppy roundup and about a million pokemon stories. i am starving for a good (grownup) book. anyone read any good fiction lately? ps. by ‘grownup’ i don’t mean smut pps. unless it’s good well written smut that’s attached to a story with an actual plot ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/2 "2000-02-19T04:11:00Z")
Good intelligent fun, slightly bawdy and laugh-out-loud entertaining: Louis de Bernieres’ trilogy, “The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts,” “Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord,” and “The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman.” Vintage International division of Vintage Books division of Random House, Inc. The bit about ‘Dolores’ Chicken of a True Man’ is worth the price of admission all by itself. Dr. Watson ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/3 "2000-02-19T04:17:00Z")
I’m wending my way through Joe Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard stories. Cormac McCarthy Lite. But excellent. Lansdale writes great dialogue, and I’m pretty sure these two guys are real. ---
**Author:** ![deathawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@deathawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deathawk)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/4 "2000-02-19T05:31:00Z")
Recently read volumes 6-9 of the history of middle earth. If you really like Lord of the Rings, these are fascinating. Christpher Tolkein, JRR’s son, goes through the earlier versions of the texts. While he is not a very good literary historian, and I would have preferred a slightly different approach to the presentation, the stuff is rather interesting. Characters that started differently, the way the plot developed, different versions of scenes. Quite interesting. And definately a needed break from the the technical stuff I have to plow through at work… ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/5 "2000-02-19T05:40:00Z")
If you like fantasy, try Steven Brust’s _Jhereg_ series. And Robin Hobbs’s _Farseer_ (Assassin) trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Studi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Studi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Studi)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/6 "2000-02-19T05:42:00Z")
_The Dead_, by James Joyce. Studi * * * When I grow up, I want to be the Minister of Silly Walks. ---
**Author:** ![Nu\_Vo\_Da\_Da](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@Nu\_Vo\_Da\_Da](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nu_Vo_Da_Da)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/7 "2000-02-19T05:46:00Z")
Phillip K Dick is an incredible writer, you really should read something by him. (the movies made from his works are all disappointing, don’t bother watching them) Also Irvine Welsh is good, though it takes a bit of practice till you can understand his use of dialect without having to read the dialogue outloud. And while I know that Nietzsche didn’t write fiction, I still feel the obligation to push his works, they’re incredible. ---
**Author:** ![beefymeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@beefymeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beefymeg)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/8 "2000-02-19T05:48:00Z")
Any of the **Lonesome Dove** series (Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo or Comanche Moon, which I am currently in the middle of and loving every page) are incredible books. Even if you think you don’t like “cowboy stories” they are just wonderful. One of my other favorites is **A Prayer for Owen Meany** by John Irving. Stick with it through the end - it’ll really affect you. And skip the movie version (Simon Birch) - it’s cute, but it loses the essence of the book. * * * Sucks to your assmar. ---
**Author:** ![TaleraRis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@TaleraRis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaleraRis)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/9 "2000-02-19T05:49:00Z")
I recommend anything by Terry Pratchett. He’s very funny. Connie Willis is also an excellent writer. Her stories are full of believable characters that are well fleshed out and amazing concepts on time travel and chaos theory and things of that nature. Ray Bradbury is always a classic, and Sharon Shinn writes very entertaining books, especially her Archangel series. * * * When are you going to realize being normal isn’t necessarily a good thing? ---
**Author:** ![crackwise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@crackwise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crackwise)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/10 "2000-02-19T05:54:00Z")
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. -Gerry Mander melanietarrant, Fox in Socks - my absoLUTEly favoRITE Dr. Seuss book. Tongue twister. * * * I am large, I contradict myself, I contain multitudes. ~Walt Whitman ---
**Author:** ![dansir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@dansir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dansir)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/11 "2000-02-19T06:03:00Z")
Crackwise, Too funny I just read my son three DR.Suess books. He has them memorized unfornately at the age of four so I cant skip any words. But I really like John Grisham, V.C. Andrews eventhough she writes the same stuff just different characters, and old Stephen King like the SHINING, THE STAND ect. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/12 "2000-02-19T06:21:00Z")
Today, I read Spalding Gray’s _Morning, Noon & Night_. Recommended to me by a friend…I didn’t realize that I already knew his work from his monologues on NPR and TV. Good stuff. Ummm…other than that, I’ve read “Tickle, Tickle”, “Teletubbies Take A Nap”, “Po’s Magic Watering Can”, and “Goodnight Moon”. I made it through a few articles in Parenting and Rolling Stone magazine the other day…not bad. I give them two stars each, but I don’t foresee any made-for-TV movies coming out of it. * * * “It’s okay. I wouldn’t remember me either.” ---
**Author:** ![CatRimbaud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@CatRimbaud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatRimbaud)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/13 "2000-02-19T06:27:00Z")
Currently reading: _Letters of the Marquis de Sade_ _Armand_ by Anne Rice _Flowers of Evil_ by Charles Baudelaire _The Anais Nin Reader_ _Van Gogh_ _Lakota Woman_ _Christianity & Archaeology_ As I’m only mildly intelligent, I don’t remember most of the authors’ names. I’ll be sure to let you know how they turn out…but they’re all pretty good so far. ## I’m also reading: _Sam & the Firefly_ _If You Give a Mouse a Cookie_ _There’s a Monster Under My Bed_ at least three or four times daily, and twice at bedtime. I have included a certain amount of filth to please the gentlemen of the press. –Baudelaire ---
**Author:** ![George\_Gray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@George\_Gray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Gray)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/14 "2000-02-19T09:21:00Z")
## As far as novels, anything by Don DeLillo: Libra, End Zone, White Noise, Underworld, and Americana are all excellent. If you’re into poetry, try Robert Lowell or W.H. Auden. “The world is everything that is the case.” --Ludwig Wittgenstein ---
**Author:** ![tenspeedjohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenspeedjohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenspeedjohn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/15 "2000-02-19T12:59:00Z")
I’m re-reading the Lord of the Rings now. Also, I was thrilled to see The Cider House Rules may be up for awards. I haven’t seen it but love John Irving. Does the movie do the book justice? * * * If chickens could pee, they would be wet on the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![xekul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/838e76/32.png) [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/16 "2000-02-19T15:34:00Z")
Right now I’m reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (okay, it’s not fiction, but it’s good), a collection of translated stories by Jorge Luis Borges and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. If you want literary smut, try Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch or Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov… * * * ``Beware of elaborate telescopic meat; it will find its way back to the forest.’’ – William S. Burroughs, Tom Waits ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/17 "2000-02-19T16:41:00Z")
**xekul** - Lolita is the cleanest smutty book I’ve ever read. I finally read it after the movie came out – the Jeremy Irons version (which I thought was excellent, except that it destroyed my romantic fantasies about Frank Langella) – and maybe I’m dense (or just a superficial reader), but my take was comedy-romance-satire-tragedy. Did I get it all wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/18 "2000-02-19T16:54:00Z")
> [@](#): > > If you want literary smut, try Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch or Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov… Have you seen _Lo’s Diary_ by Pia Pera? It’s a retelling of Nabokov’s story from Lolita’s point of view. As for a recommendation, try _Thank You for Smoking_ by Christopher Buckley. Read it now and thank me later. ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/19 "2000-02-19T17:14:00Z")
## Hrm, Just reread Shogun by Clavell, and am currently reading V for Vendetta by Moore. Don’t let the fact it is a graphic novel fool you, it is an excellent story. (I prefer it to The Watchmen by far.) Am also reading Federation by H.Beam Piper, an excellent collection of short stories. \>\>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.\<\< —The dragon observes ---
**Author:** ![xekul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/838e76/32.png) [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030/20 "2000-02-19T17:19:00Z")
AuntiePam: Yeah, I thought the love scenes in Lolita were more humorous than erotic, and I’ve gotten into a few debates where I defended against it being pornographic, but I really haven’t read many sexier novels… at least until I find English translations of the works of the Marquis de Sade. Captain Nemo: I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t read it, only excerpts posted on, if I remember correctly, Nabokov’s son’s web page… Maybe it was a bad translation, but what I’ve read was horrible compared to the original… * * * ``Beware of elaborate telescopic meat; it will find its way back to the forest.’’ – William S. Burroughs, Tom Waits [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-any-good-books-lately/14030.md?page=2)