Books/Literature Thread

[Andy Taylor]

I'm on bio kick lately: going through Zappa and Kate Bush bio's at the moment.

[chefcraig]

I'm on bio kick lately: going through Zappa and Kate Bush bio's at the moment.

Andy, if you wish to read a terrific book on Zappa, you must pick up The Real Frank Zappa Book. It is indeed written by the man himself, and edited by Peter Occhiogrosso. Laugh out loud funny, and more insightful than any book on music I've ever read. Yes, it does cover the man's career, yet also veers into other areas that are not only entertaining, yet enlightening as well.

[Andy Taylor]

Andy, if you wish to read a terrific book on Zappa, you must pick up The Real Frank Zappa Book. It is indeed written by the man himself, and edited by Peter Occhiogrosso. Laugh out loud funny, and more insightful than any book on music I've ever read. Yes, it does cover the man's career, yet also veers into other areas that are not only entertaining, yet enlightening as well.

Yep, it must be interesting to hear Frank's version of it. I saw various mentions of it and I was planning on checking up on it. Actually if you haven't read this one, the bio by Barry Miles is great too. He did McCartney's official bio. In this one he takes Frank's quotes from different places including the book you mention and he gives you a complete different perspective. Zappa thought himself a cool revolutionary type figure but Miles takes him down a peg or two. Funny thing is ... I'm not really a Zappa music fan. I appreciate the humour more than the music and he's a huge influence on Warren Cuccurullo so I wanted to check out more.

[Nickdfresh]

I feel self-conscious when I'm reading the Anais Nin book on the subway commuting to and from work. I hold the book a certain way so that no one can see the title, but if someone reads over my shoulder...oh, well.

I wouldn't worry, I doubt more than .01% of the population even has a clue who she is...

Henry James, however, caused an uproar with his "filthy" books...:0

[Ally_Kat]

seriously. If you like zombies, you'll love this

[Matt White]

Hmmm...lets see....

DEEP BLUES by Robert Palmer

MODERN TIMES by Paul Johnson

WISE GUY by Nicholas Pileggi

THE DISCOVERERS by Daniel Boorstin

THE GERMAN WAY OF WAR: From the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich by Robert M. Citino

[Andy Taylor]

seriously. If you like zombies, you'll love this

Wtf?

[Seshmeister]

seriously. If you like zombies, you'll love this

That's also the tagline on the New Testament...

[Andy Taylor]

One of the funniest things I've read.

[Nickdfresh]

A fun little quiz:

Mom's Homeroom - Learn ways to help your kid succeed in school

[chefcraig]

Just finished Dan Simmons' "The Crook Factory", a 95% true tale of Earnest Hemingway's adventures in Cuba during WWII. Hemingway took an assortment of drunks, millionaires, whores, priests, bartenders and fisherman and turned them into a counter-espionage ring, spying on Nazi's and tracking German submarines from a fishing boat. Through articles released via the Freedom Of Information act, Simmons was able to piece together a tale that is entertaining as hell, and totally believable. Real life people such as Ian Fleming and J. Edgar Hoover make appearances, along with some documents that lead one to believe that John F. Kennedy may have passed on American secrets to a female German spy in the early days of the war (When his father Joe found this out, Kennedy was transferred from South Carolina to the Pacific Theater).

Fascinating stuff, and as I said, a mostly true story.

[Coyote]

This week I picked up "Zen Guitar" by Philip Toshio Sudo, and I started on "The Montauk Project" by Preston B. Nichols & Peter Moon.

[binnie]

Books I'd recommend to anyone:

Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

A dystopia in the vein of Orwell's 1984 but in more disturbing in many respects.

Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace

A whodunit? with a serious of twists. It will make you question about how we can know anything for certain.

Siri Hustvedt - What I Loved

I'd call it a 'bitter love story' but that really doesn't do it justice.

Martin Amis - Money

A very slow start, but you'll be hooked after 150 pages. A burn out story about the perils of greed.

Graham Greene - The Burnt Out Case

One of his less 'obvious' novels (although they are all worth a read). Sad, funny, frustrating and compelling - one of those books that you can't tear yourself away from.

[Matt White]

[Pennypacker]

Im currently reading Daniel Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust

Basically, all Germans had a "radical eliminationist anti-semitism" in their nature, which eventually brought about the Holocaust. Much controversy around this thesis...