Every ten or twelve years since the early sixties I have read and reread Robert trestles "The ragged trousered philanthropists" and Tolkien's "lord of the rings" every time i reread them I think that I probably won't do that again and put them in my Charity shop bag. I have just bought fresh copies! some things never change.
I recently enjoyed Tony Blair's "A Journey" Ian Rankin's "Rebus" novels plus some of his other works, Terry Pratchet's stuff, really enjoyed Stieg Larsson's Milenium trilogy and I am currently into Peter James' "Roy Grace" novels which are set quite close to where I live. I am on the second of six at the moment. I rarely read the same author's work consecutivley, I like to break them up with other different styles. The exception to this was Stieg Larsson, I devoured them one after another.

I find that I read in bursts, I may not touch a book for three months and then read a couple a week for a month or so, exact opposite of my Lady who always has a book on the go and reads steadily and slowly - takes all sorts I supose, not right, not wrong, just different as i often said in my career working for someone else.

Oh! - and a bit of Dickens from time to time, reread "A Christmas Carol" this past advent season and was intrigued by Scrooge promising Bob a better life and to "discuss it over a bowl of smoking bishop" - found the recipe and served it to guests on Christmas morning.

...and I've just checked the shelves, please add U.S. authors Michael Connoly, Robert Crais, James Lee Burke nad Koonz particularly the "Odd Thomas" series.
I'm also very much into a UK former standup comic who writes very dark crime novels, Mark Billingham.

Quote from: ver4 on January 03, 2011, 09:59:32 PM
Arthur Miller - The Crucible

Ahh, the crucible. In school I got to read the part of John Proctor, it was the teacher's way of keeping me awake. When it came to the parts with curse words and the 'whore' word, I made sure to read nice and loud 

I tried reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  It sucked. Back to supersport bike re-reads for me. 

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on January 04, 2011, 03:43:59 PM
Actually, Buddha my lamr for my big screen in my room did go out. Know of a good place where one can replace it? It is a RCA 53" DLP hi def. It is about $130 I see I'm soo broke!

I think it was tommyknockers where they were flying to Boston and people started disappearing. Hmmm, now was tommyknockers composed of short stories. or was it another of his books? I've read so many books I've forgotten some.

Yes, Arthur Miller is a good writter. I actually went to Salem to the museum was interesting. I have some pictures from March I'll post 'em up.

Mary

Dump it for a projector. Them on craigslist for under 200. I have a dell 2400 mp and love it. Yea 130 buck bulb every 3-4 years though.

Now these books they are what I call "shelf improvement". They make the shelf look so much classier. The #1 shelf improver IMHO is .... ding ding ding ... leather bound kamasutra.

Cool.
Buddha.

Ahh, yeah the Kamasutra you know they have a Kamasutra app now for Iphone and android! Down here in Fl a bunch of kids books on DVD ended up having the kamasutra instead. "Mommy what are those two people doing?"

Cal I'm the same as you I will go a month or so and not read then get into a kick and read everything in sight. I remember reading The Stand in one weekend.

Mary

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on January 05, 2011, 03:21:46 PM
Ahh, yeah the Kamasutra you know they have a Kamasutra app now for Iphone and android! Down here in Fl a bunch of kids books on DVD ended up having the kamasutra instead. "Mommy what are those two people doing?"

Mary

Yeah, that app sucks...no pictures...I'm very visual...

Later.

Quote from: madjak30 on January 05, 2011, 04:26:04 PM

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on January 05, 2011, 03:21:46 PM
Ahh, yeah the Kamasutra you know they have a Kamasutra app now for Iphone and android! Down here in Fl a bunch of kids books on DVD ended up having the kamasutra instead. "Mommy what are those two people doing?"

Mary

Yeah, that app sucks...no pictures...I'm very visual...

Later.

Soooooo, you dont read playboy/penthouse for teh articles Eh?

Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on January 05, 2011, 06:05:19 PM

Quote from: madjak30 on January 05, 2011, 04:26:04 PM

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on January 05, 2011, 03:21:46 PM
Ahh, yeah the Kamasutra you know they have a Kamasutra app now for Iphone and android! Down here in Fl a bunch of kids books on DVD ended up having the kamasutra instead. "Mommy what are those two people doing?"

Mary

Yeah, that app sucks...no pictures...I'm very visual...

Later.

Soooooo, you dont read playboy/penthouse for teh articles Eh?

Hey now, there's writing on some of the pics...it's art, and I appreciate it...

Later.

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on January 05, 2011, 03:21:46 PM
I remember reading The Stand in one weekend.

Mary

Thanks for jogging my memory.

Picked up Gerald's Game on the way to work. Finished it by the end of the shift. Dang machines broke down so the only thing left to do was read. As I got paid for the day (night) and all I did was read, that makes me a Professional Reader. 

Funniest Book? I got the most laughs from the four HItchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy books and Catch 22 had me in fits of laughter, tears rolling down my cheeks, in places.

Michael

Well, working in security when we don't have events and I'm stuck at gate 10 I get 7.5 hours of reading in easy. Ugh, I can't wait to get back to work two more weeks! I need money.

Mary

As do i. its my bday in 10 days, and i need alky money. not doctor money LOL i wanna get lit ( then try and postwhore )

Hey Mary  -  I read "The Stand" in a couple of days as well, I really enjoyed SK's early stuff and the stuff published as "Stephen Marlow" - i went off the later work, you got the feeling that he was writing for adeptation to Hollywood, big on effects but the stories got weaker. Having said that i did read a fair bit of it.

Finished teh stand in 1 night. well 6 hours , yes i have no life

Quote from: Cal Price on January 06, 2011, 02:23:39 AM
Hey Mary  -  I read "The Stand" in a couple of days as well, I really enjoyed SK's early stuff and the stuff published as "Stephen Marlow" - i went off the later work, you got the feeling that he was writing for adeptation to Hollywood, big on effects but the stories got weaker. Having said that i did read a fair bit of it.

Bachman Books were enjoyable, as was he joint authorship with Peter Straub in The Talisman. I found signs of the weakening in his writing include...

- Waffling that has no bearing on the story. While I was reading IT he just seemed to be going round and round, writing for the sake of writing, without the story taking any further direction. I thought, he doesn't know how to finish it. And later read that he confessed to not knowing how to finish it until he had a dream about spiders and made the creature a Big Spider in the sewer. Yeah, what a pleasing ending that was... NOT.

- Stories take years to finish. I don't have it in front of me, but I recall on the inside cover of The Dark Hald the years span something like 8 years. As in, it took him 8 years to write that story. Which means, he had several stories going at once and was really waiting for some kind of inspiration so he could finish them. Any inspiration, like big spiders, would do.

- Stories about nothing much but padding. Gerald's Game is a prime example. Hundreds of pages of a woman tied to a bed. How much can really go on in her head here? And throw in a flash to an Old Woman to link it to Delores Claibourne. Come on. My impression of Both of those books were... he was writing to fulfill a contractual obligation, to give Double Day two books by a certain date. So instead of books with substance, he wrote books of padding. I mean, let's face it a Koontz book, say something like Chase or Lightening, have so much happening in them you cannot make One movie from them, but so little happens in a king book they directly adapt to a movie.

Michael

I didn't finish "Gerald's Game" - I think it was my last attempt at anything of his, come to think of it "Cujo" was pretty dire 'n'all.

Derek Foster http://www.stopworking.ca/

Bill Bryson - Notes From A Small Island , In A Sunburned Country, A Walk In The Woods, Neither Here Nor There

John Grisham - Ford County, An Innocent Man

David Chilton - The Wealthy Barber

Lisa Genova - Still Alice

William P. Young - The Shack

Timothy Ferris - The 4-hour Workweek

William Shatner - Up Till Now  

Jeff Rubin - Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller

how was the Shat's book? I gotta find a cheap copy of the lost symbol. I think the last King novel I read was The green Mile that was decent.

I'm contemplenting an e-reader. I dunno.

Mary

Bill's 2nd autobiography has been OK; normally I just watch the Biography Channel. Last autobiography I read was Chaplin's, in about 1992...LOL

Love Bryson, agree about funniest being Hitchhikers Guide and catch 22 also Robert Rankin's "Brentford trilogy" which runs to six or eight books! is hilarious but perhaps a little to English for the humour to travel.

My Lady is currently reading an E Phillips Oppenheim novel, I have read a few, brilliant writing and something of an insight into to ruling classes from the late 19th century to WW1. - Google the guy, very interesting and wrote on both sides of the pond.