Salon - - Read any good books lately?

Doug Nelson · #1 12-13-2001, 06:17 AM

Read any good (fiction) books lately? I'm so bogged down with manuals and "how to" books I could use some good recommendations for relaxing.

kathleen · #2 12-14-2001, 01:51 PM

the year of jubilo by howard bahr. post civil war novel of a returning to home professor reluctantly gone to soldier. one of those kind you hate to get to the last page of because you've been living in those pages. the guy can write

Hankster65 · #3 12-14-2001, 03:50 PM

I don't read much fiction, but, Kathleen's mention of a Civil War novel made me think of a good one...Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier. A best seller for a long, long time and rightfully so. I first read it while camped out in the far north of Canada...hopefully that glorious experience hasn't prejudiced my view.

Doug Nelson · #4 04-26-2002, 07:38 AM

I thought I'd revive this thread.

Since my initial post I've read several books. The only one I could really recommend was Beowulf's Children by Niven, Pournelle, and Barnes.

I figure it's inevitable we'll have some scifi fans here

G. Couch · #5 04-26-2002, 09:41 AM

I just finished "Why Things Bite Back" by Edward Tenner. It's a non fiction book that talks about some of the unintended consequences of technology.

I also just reread "The Cosmic Serpent : DNA and the Origins of Knowledge" by Jeremy Narby

chris h · #6 04-27-2002, 03:11 AM

If you want to read a good adventure travel book before the days of satellite phones and rescue helicopters well here's a suggestion....

News from Tartary by Peter Fleming; ISBN: 1843410036

Written by the younger brother of Ian Fleming of Bond fame it recounts a trip made in the late 1930's from the east coast of China to its western province of Sinkiang and then through the Himalayas to India. Exciting stuff, a large part of the journey being on horseback and through various war zones being entertained at one time or another by the Japanese army and various Chinese warlords. After many adventures and close encounters they finally reach civilisation in the form of a welcome pot of tea on the Indian border ! Despite being a political journalist at the time Fleming never gets bogged down with political aspects of the trip and paints a vivid picture of the wilds of central Asia.

Doug Nelson · #7 04-27-2002, 04:37 AM

Speaking of travel books, I can recommend anything by Bill Bryson. He has the most unique take on just about everything.

winwintoo · #8 01-05-2006, 11:45 AM

Cold Mountain - the book - was mentioned here and I thought this was fitting.

On another group, someone mentioned this book - Behind the Seen

Full title: Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema, First Edition (Paperback)

It is interesting that a sub $1K piece of software was used to edit a major motion picture.

I haven't read the book or seen the movie, but now I'm interested in doing both.

Take care, Margaret

RL Design · #9 01-05-2006, 03:57 PM

One word... FANTASY!

I am currently reading a few different series of science fiction/fantasy books. Not at the same time

, I am waiting for the next books to be published, sigh... Best series is by Kate Elliott (Crown of Stars) and starts with Kings Dragon. I also really loved the Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier, starts with Daughter of the Forest.

kaulike · #10 01-12-2006, 07:00 PM

I'll second Bryson for non-fiction easy reading, intellectual entertainment. My wife and I re-read several of his books (in particular A Walk in the Woods) every holiday season just to laugh our butts off and decompress.

His latest tome, "A Short History of Nearly Everything", is being picked up by colleges worldwide. It is the most human-approachable work on natural history I have ever read (with apologies to Feynmann and many others).

dkcoats · #11 01-12-2006, 07:58 PM

I'll chime in in praise of Bill Bryson (though we're supposed to be talking fiction here as I understand it). I've only read A Walk in the Woods--need to get me some more.

Best fiction I've read in the past several months: No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I finished it, went back to the beginning and read it again. Absolutely astounding (he pretty much always is, but this is way up there). Warning: not for the faint of heart.

Let's see...then there's The Summer He Didn't Die--Jim Harrison working in the novella form he's so @#*ing good at. And how about The Time Traveller's Wife by (I'm not making this up) Audrey Niffenegger. Terrific.

dc