Best book you've ever read
- Thread starter Rimshot
- Start date
Wonderful book!
It also has several scenes involving straight shaving & shaving in general.
My favorite passage of shaving is when the sister sees her brother standing on the porch & he has is best suit on "and he's so closely shaved that his face shone like a newly polished oak floor"
But there is also one scene that was really grosse & got me thinking for a while about buying vintage straights
Slaughterhouse-V - Kurt Vonnegut
A lot of great suggestions in here already, but I want to throw in a new book that totally blew me away:
We, the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen. Simply phenomenal.
We, the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen. Simply phenomenal.
"The Guns of the South" by Harry Turtledove
This a spin on history and once you get over the altering of time, it is a deep and entertaining story. The portrayal of Robert E. Lee after the war (in the story) is a surprise.
This book has a bit of adventure, mystery, and a tad bit of romance. It tackles the race issue head on and the outcome is....nothing short of amazing.
I read this book at least twice a year.
"In the land of the White Death" by V. Albanov
This is the true story of the survivors of the Saint Anna in the Artic. From Amazon: "Albanov's epic begins in 1914, after he leaves the Saint Anna, a sailing vessel bound for Vladivostok and new hunting territory, 7,000 miles across dangerous water. Only a few months into the voyage, the ship is trapped in pack ice, where it drifts helplessly with the Kara Sea ice flow for nearly one and a half years. With supplies dwindling and no hope of rescue, Albanov, the ship's navigator, and 13 of his colleagues leave the boat and the remaining crew to look for land. Outfitted with sleds and kayaks built from scavenged fragments of the Saint Anna, Albanov begins his 18-month trek to Franz Josef Land with a broken chronometer, scant supplies, and a team of inexperienced men.
Facing starvation, subzero temperatures, and the loss of most of his team, Albanov persists, searching for an outpost rumored to be at Cape Flora, 120 miles from his original starting point. He and his last surviving shipmate survive a litany of amazing mishaps: asleep on an ice flow, they are dumped into frozen water while bound in a sleeping bag; scurvy nearly kills Albanov only a few miles from his destination; and once help arrives, they're caught in the first skirmishes of World War I, a conflict of which they had no knowledge."
Another book I read again and again. These are my 2 favorite books.
This a spin on history and once you get over the altering of time, it is a deep and entertaining story. The portrayal of Robert E. Lee after the war (in the story) is a surprise.
This book has a bit of adventure, mystery, and a tad bit of romance. It tackles the race issue head on and the outcome is....nothing short of amazing.
I read this book at least twice a year.
"In the land of the White Death" by V. Albanov
This is the true story of the survivors of the Saint Anna in the Artic. From Amazon: "Albanov's epic begins in 1914, after he leaves the Saint Anna, a sailing vessel bound for Vladivostok and new hunting territory, 7,000 miles across dangerous water. Only a few months into the voyage, the ship is trapped in pack ice, where it drifts helplessly with the Kara Sea ice flow for nearly one and a half years. With supplies dwindling and no hope of rescue, Albanov, the ship's navigator, and 13 of his colleagues leave the boat and the remaining crew to look for land. Outfitted with sleds and kayaks built from scavenged fragments of the Saint Anna, Albanov begins his 18-month trek to Franz Josef Land with a broken chronometer, scant supplies, and a team of inexperienced men.
Facing starvation, subzero temperatures, and the loss of most of his team, Albanov persists, searching for an outpost rumored to be at Cape Flora, 120 miles from his original starting point. He and his last surviving shipmate survive a litany of amazing mishaps: asleep on an ice flow, they are dumped into frozen water while bound in a sleeping bag; scurvy nearly kills Albanov only a few miles from his destination; and once help arrives, they're caught in the first skirmishes of World War I, a conflict of which they had no knowledge."
Another book I read again and again. These are my 2 favorite books.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Civil War A-Z (3 book set by Shelby Foote (sp?))
Demon in the Freezer, The Hot Zone, and The Cobra Event by Richard Preston
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyeski (sp?) - I read this in high school and it stuck with me. It was tough to follow, but once I really thought about it, it made sense.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Civil War A-Z (3 book set by Shelby Foote (sp?))
Demon in the Freezer, The Hot Zone, and The Cobra Event by Richard Preston
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyeski (sp?) - I read this in high school and it stuck with me. It was tough to follow, but once I really thought about it, it made sense.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Oh heck yeah re "Invisible Man." Genius/perfection.
I have read so many good books.
Walking with Spring - Earl V. Shaffer
The Complete Motorcycle Nomad - Roger Lovin
The Complete Walker - Colin Fletcher
Darkness at Dawn - Cornell Woolrich
Walking with Spring - Earl V. Shaffer
The Complete Motorcycle Nomad - Roger Lovin
The Complete Walker - Colin Fletcher
Darkness at Dawn - Cornell Woolrich
In light of whats been going on the past few days just re-read an old classic,always get a major wakup call from the book,Silent spring,by Rachel Carson
The Brothers Karamazov
Here's my top ten:
1) The Old Man and the Sea--there is one passage in the novel that, when I first read it, left me feeling like I was smacked over the head with sledgehammer.
Can you guess what passage?
2) The Great Gatsby--unfolds like an Athenian drama, and the number of poignant scenes in the novel make it a true masterpiece
3) Infinite Jest--when my grandchildren ask me: what was it like growing up in the 90's, I'll direct them to this fantastic, sad, and funny tome
4) The New York Trilogy--as a former graduate student in English Literature, I can say that all the important and significant aspects of post-modernism are crystallized in Auster's best work
5) Blood Meridian--Dante meets the Bible meets Moby-Dick meets late 20th century humanity meets the Wild West. What more could you ask for?
6) All the Pretty Horses--sometimes we all need to be reminded of what we lost when we grew up, and why we all long to be a cowboy
7) Moby-Dick--the perfect balance between simple plot and complex theme. This novel is an ever-giving gift; with each reading, I am prompted to re-evaluate my assumptions regarding life, meaning, and God
8) Ulysses--like Moby-Dick, except it prompts me to re-evaluate how I think about history, art, sexuality, and the significance, if any, of each day
9) To the Lighthouse--a superb reminder that Reason is, necessarily, defunct
10) SlaughterHouse Five--and so it goes...
1) The Old Man and the Sea--there is one passage in the novel that, when I first read it, left me feeling like I was smacked over the head with sledgehammer.
Can you guess what passage?
2) The Great Gatsby--unfolds like an Athenian drama, and the number of poignant scenes in the novel make it a true masterpiece
3) Infinite Jest--when my grandchildren ask me: what was it like growing up in the 90's, I'll direct them to this fantastic, sad, and funny tome
4) The New York Trilogy--as a former graduate student in English Literature, I can say that all the important and significant aspects of post-modernism are crystallized in Auster's best work
5) Blood Meridian--Dante meets the Bible meets Moby-Dick meets late 20th century humanity meets the Wild West. What more could you ask for?
6) All the Pretty Horses--sometimes we all need to be reminded of what we lost when we grew up, and why we all long to be a cowboy
7) Moby-Dick--the perfect balance between simple plot and complex theme. This novel is an ever-giving gift; with each reading, I am prompted to re-evaluate my assumptions regarding life, meaning, and God
8) Ulysses--like Moby-Dick, except it prompts me to re-evaluate how I think about history, art, sexuality, and the significance, if any, of each day
9) To the Lighthouse--a superb reminder that Reason is, necessarily, defunct
10) SlaughterHouse Five--and so it goes...
- Thread starter
- #112
And so it goes. 
Enders Game!
"Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys" by...Dave Barry. 
THE SOLOIST by Steve Lopez.
I am a professional musician and have been for 23+ years. I bought the book as just something to pass the time while my dad was in the hospital a few years ago. The book ended up being a life altering book. Made me look at my life a little different and be VERY VERY thankful for what I have.
I am a professional musician and have been for 23+ years. I bought the book as just something to pass the time while my dad was in the hospital a few years ago. The book ended up being a life altering book. Made me look at my life a little different and be VERY VERY thankful for what I have.
The Dark Eye - Ingrid Black
I'll second the vote for Cryptonomicon. My first Stephenson book and still my favorite.
I'd Ikke to add The Windup Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Probably not his most accessible work, but just a joy to read. I've read just about all of Murakamis fiction works, and they're all great.
For nonfiction: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstader. It's hard to explain, buts kind of a winding discourse on how mathematics, music, and art meet up, and how that can be used to think about thinking, and computation and the overlap that exists between the two.
I'd Ikke to add The Windup Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Probably not his most accessible work, but just a joy to read. I've read just about all of Murakamis fiction works, and they're all great.
For nonfiction: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstader. It's hard to explain, buts kind of a winding discourse on how mathematics, music, and art meet up, and how that can be used to think about thinking, and computation and the overlap that exists between the two.
The Caine Mutiny
"The Old Man and the Sea" by Hemingway is the greatest American novel ever written.
"Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy
"No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy
"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller is great and very funny.
I read it a while back but is it the description of the old man in the first chapter? I know the book is full of great passages but for me the description of the old man was a special experience.
"Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy
"No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy
"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller is great and very funny.
I read it a while back but is it the description of the old man in the first chapter? I know the book is full of great passages but for me the description of the old man was a special experience.
