The new hammock is up and waiting for me to crawl in it with a good book. So, the question…
What are the Dopers reading? I’m open to either fictior or non-fiction and just about any genre except:
SF/Fantasy - I get the impression that I’m not going to hear from the people who said they liked to make love to Pink Floyd (after a great Star Wars/2001 double feature and foreplay consisting of Dungeions and Dragons no doubt).
Self-help - I like myself just the way I am, thanks.
Well, I hear there’s a GREAT new biography of Anna Held comin’ out soon . . .
As for me, I am thoroughly enjoying John DeForest’s “Miss Ravenel’s Conversion from Secession to Loyalty,” a perfectly corking Civil War novel written in 1867 and just reissued. Demanding, but it’ll have you twirling in your hammock!
It’s all too predictable, but Harry Potter.
I’ve read all three, with my daughter to be sure, and enjoyed them all completely. I don’t usually “do” Sci-Fi, but these were fun!! For something totally different try “The Ultimate Evil”, by Maury Terry. He manages to tie Son of Sam with Manson. It takes a stretch, but if you follow from the beginning, you can see how he got there. BIZARRE
Always remember that you are unique, just like everybody else.
A great, great loopy entertaining nonfiction read: Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder. (Amazon link)
Truly unique, totally mindblowing, and never less than completely entertaining. Quite simply one of the best books I’ve ever read (to quote my own Amazon review).
Also, you didn’t exclude “true crime,” so I’m going to recommend David Simon’s Homicide, which was the basis for the amazing TV show. As good as the show was, the book is better. I’m also reading Simon’s latest, The Corner, which is also amazing but probably far too grim to qualify as “summertime” reading.
The Code Book, by Simon Singh. It’s a history of crytography and cryptanalysis, and an extremely enjoyable read. Plus, if you happen to be a tenacious codebreaker yourself, there might be a $15,000 prize in it for you.
Neal Stephenson’s “Cryptonomicon”. Now, usually Stephenson writes SF, but this is a great mainstream novel about the Allied cryptographers in WWII (and their descendants who all meet up with each other eventually)
“Stones from the River” by Ursula Hegi. Germany during and between wars, told from the POV of a dwarf.
Gee, I’ve been reading a lot of WWII stuff recently.
The book that goes on all my lists, “How to Travel with a Salmon” by Umberto Eco. It’s a series of non-academic essays he wrote for a newspaper. Extremely funny.
Thanks Cervaise I have been trying to dig up a name and author for Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder since I heard a discussion with the author on CBC radio here in here in Canada. I also agree with Homicide. Two non-fiction books I’d recommend are “Confederates in the Attic” by Tony Horwitz, about the modern day legacy of the Civil War. No it’s not that dry, cause he links up with some war reconstructors , including one whose specialty it portraying dead, bloated soldiers. The other one is “God of the Rodeo” by Daniel Bergner, about Attica Prison.
Keith
I’m reading a book called Hustler! by Henry Williamson. It’s the autobiography of a Chicago hooligan. I don’t get into mob stories, or serial killer stuff that makes up the lion’s share of true crime literature. But thieves are interesting.
For my taste, you can’t possibly go wrong with a good mystery or police procedural, preferably British. Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine) has written many creepy psychological stories of love and obsession, also an English detective series. Peter Robinson, Ian Banks, Reginald Hill, many others (look them up on Amazon.com) - wonderful stuff, not “the vicar’s been poisoned in the library”. Elizabeth George has produced many weighty tomes you just can’t put down. Americans - Robert Crais writes super stories about L.A. private detective Elvis Cole, such fun to break into someone’s house and look through their underwear drawer, among other things. Robert Parker. And Ed McBain, who has written 51 novels about cops in a made-up NYC, and each one is so good it brings tears to my eyes. His cops are like Barney Miller, only without the humor, and they can become more real to you than certain members of your family. I gave up on Stephen King several years ago; far as I’m concerned his books make good doorstops, and I dislike being told I must must must rush right out and buy his latest offering, he’s the literary equivilant of Julia Roberts to me. J.R.R. Tolkien is read over and over and over in our house. I don’t get science fiction, isn’t that something you read when you’re, like, 12? The Mr. has read and probably memorized every “Dune” book written, but I just can’t get into it. I also recommend anything by Bill Bryson, non-fiction travel writer, Paul Theroux ditto, and “Mirth of a Nation”, collection of humor. Any humor writer is nifty with me, there aren’t enough of them , too many are about politics, and I would rather read about do-it-yorself plastic sugery than politics.
You know, I don’t think threads on books can be overdone. So there. Shoot, some Dopers can read everything everyone’s suggested on a thread and still be waiting for more suggestions! Doesn’t take three weeks either.
Ok, for the OP.
“Morality Play” by Barry Unsworth – a mystery of sorts set in 14th century England. Better for the historical detail than the mystery.
“Wise Blood” by Flannery O’Connor. Has one of the best lines I’ve seen lately. In fact, I may make it my new motto. O’Connor’s writing about the local whore and says: “She was so well adjusted she didn’t need to think.”
Slight hijack:
My daughter just finished the Lidie Newton book by Jane Smiley. She said it was “like eating air.” (I guess she was unsatisfied.)
Does anyone know of any good fiction set in that time period, written from the black perspective?
(The first person who suggests “Mandingo” gets a thump.)
Since it hasn’t been mentioned, I’m gonna throw out a series that I really enjoyed when I read it last month – the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. The short and dirty discription would be “Buffy the Vampire Slayer for grownups,” but that doesn’t begin to convey the wierd and wild funness of these books. Basically, Hamilton gives us our modern world as it would be if the old Grimm fairy-tales had been true. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, fairies. VERY graffic, violent and sexy. I was hooked from the first book and did nothing but read and work for the 8 days it took me to finish them. Highly recommended. The first is Guilty Pleasures. Read it. Really.
Jess
Remember the Straight Dope credo: It’s all about wiping out ignorance, not coddling the ignorant.
I also just bought a book I read when I was a little kid. The Phanton Tollbooth. Reading it again was really refreshing, especially since I now understand all the subtle jokes that I didn’t get when I was little. I recommend it. It’s also a good one to read aloud to kids.