ABearWithFurniture Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 I spend a lot of time on planes and reading makes the time go by...some suggestions: Read all the Clive Cussler - Dirk Pitt series that BC mentioned. Sort of a working man's, underwater James Bond. Very good but can get kind of cheesy at times, especially when Clive shows up... Like a lot of the John Grisham books, especially The Firm (movie wasn't that good), Runaway Jury, The Brethren and King of Torts... I've been reading all of Greg Ile's books in the last 3 months...really liked True Evil. Crichton has some good reads, although he's got some really bad ones as well...Jurassic Park is about as good as it gets while most of his later stuff, like Prey, I thought was pretty poor. Patterson has been mentioned and he's got some good reads if you are into serial killers/thrillers, although Thomas Harris's Red Dragon is still one of the best serial killer books I've ever perused. I've got an office full of used paperbacks right now if anyone is interested...I think my wife boxes a few of them up when I'm gone and puts them out on the curb with the garbage...let me know if you want to do some book swapping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 You seem to be a mystery guy...I don't think I have much to offer. Kim Stanley Robinson - one of the better "hard" sf authors out there IMO; his Mars trilogy might be daunting, but The Years of Rice and Salt and The Memory of Whiteness are better starting points Jim Harrison - if Hemingway was a better writer and a feminist, he'd write this sorta stuff; his novel are OK but I think he really excels in the novella form. Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon - um, I can't explain it, it's got so much going on. But it's good. Tim Krabbe - I've only read The Rider and The Cave, and while the former was a snappy read if a bit unfocused, the latter may have been one of the most heartbreaking books I've ever read. Plus his brother Jeroen was the bad guy in The Fugitive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 (edited) If anyone out there at all is interested in the history of the western US or water rights, I'd suggest Cadillac Desert (Marc Reisner). In fact, I'd recommend if for anyone that lives in semi-arid or arid west. The amount of research in this book along with the savagely written narration just had me enthralled (but my wife found it boring). Presently, I plan on to re-reading some HST nonfiction/fiction, as I haven't read anything of his for a few years. I've still yet to read someone who manages to strike a chord with me the way he does....Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail deserves another page flipping : "Nixon has never been one of my favorite people anyway. For years I've regarded his existence as a monument to all the rancid genes and broken chromosones that corrupt the possibilities of the American Dream; he was a foul caricature of himself, a man with no soul, no inner convictions, with the integrity of a hyena and the style of a poison toad. The Nixon I remembered was absolutely humorless; I couldn't imagine him laughing at anything except maybe a paraplegic who wanted to vote Democratic but couldn't quite reach the lever on the voting machine.” It's amazing he got press credentials with the man...wouldn't happen today. Edited January 14, 2009 by bushwacked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 If anyone out there at all is interested in the history of the western US or water rights, I'd suggest Cadillac Desert (Marc Reisner). In fact, I'd recommend if for anyone that lives in semi-arid or arid west. The amount of research in this book along with the savagely written narration just had me enthralled. +1 Presently, I plan on to re-reading some HST nonfiction/fiction, as I haven't read anything of his for a few years. I've still yet to read someone who manages to strike a chord with me the way he does....Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail deserves another page flipping : "Nixon has never been one of my favorite people anyway. For years I've regarded his existence as a monument to all the rancid genes and broken chromosones that corrupt the possibilities of the American Dream; he was a foul caricature of himself, a man with no soul, no inner convictions, with the integrity of a hyena and the style of a poison toad. The Nixon I remembered was absolutely humorless; I couldn't imagine him laughing at anything except maybe a paraplegic who wanted to vote Democratic but couldn't quite reach the lever on the voting machine.” It's amazing he got press credentials with the man...wouldn't happen today. He and PJ O'Rourke are kindred spirits...whereas HST is an absolute iconoclast, O'Rourke comes off as merely snarky, but O'Rourke is insightful and funny. I remember reading a bit by HST where he was talking about how everyone piled on and kicked Nixon when he was down..."I was kicking him when he was upright" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Like Soup Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Lately I've been "reading" via audio-books the George R. R. Martin series, "A Game of Thrones." Put simply, I find it amazing. It's not often I read a series where I don't know what's going to happen next and no main character is safe. Good info here. Yet that series remains unfinished, right? im waiting for his next Me too. It has been a couple of years, right? That is why I started a new series that I posted on here at the Tailgate and highly recommend. Steven Erickson's Book of the Malazan Fallen (first book is Gardens of the Moon). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaP'N GRuNGe Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon - um, I can't explain it, it's got so much going on. But it's good. I picked this one up along with a couple of the Rollin's books after Christmas with a gift card. Looks interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vote Quimby2 Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Lately I've been "reading" via audio-books the George R. R. Martin series, "A Game of Thrones." Put simply, I find it amazing. It's not often I read a series where I don't know what's going to happen next and no main character is safe. Great series. I'm currently reading a Feast for Crows. I know there is talk of HBO making it a series. Hopefully that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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