moar Said:

Anything pertaining to Kama Sutra.

GERARD MAINES LIVED ACROSS THE HALL from a woman named Benna, who four minutes into any conversation always managed to say the word penis. He was not a prude, but, nonetheless, it made him wince. He worked with children all day, taught a kind of aerobics to pre-schoolers, and the most extreme language he was likely to hear seemed to him to be in code, in acronyms, or maybe even in German--boo-boo, finky, peenick--words that were difficult to figure out even in context, and words, therefore, from which he felt quite safe. He suspected it was not unlike people he knew who hated operas in translation. "Believe me," they would explain, "you just don't want to know what they're saying."

Today they were talking about families.

"Fathers and sons," she said, "they're like governments: always having sword fights with their penises."

"Really," said Gerard, sitting at her kitchen table, gulping at near-beer for breakfast. He palmed his beard like a man trying to decide.

"But what do I know." She smiled and shrugged. "I grew up in a trailer. It's not like a real family with a house." This was her excuse for everything, her own self-deprecating refrain; she'd grown up in a trailer in upstate New York and was therefore unqualified to pronounce on any of the subjects she continued to pronounce on.

Gerard had his own line of self-excuse: "I was a retard in my father's play."

"A retard in your father's play?"

"Yes," he said, realizing that faced with the large questions of life and not finding large answers, one must then settle for makeshift, little answers, just as on any given day a person must at least eat something, even if it was not marvelous and huge. "He wrote plays in our town. Then he did the casting and directing. It was harder to venture out through the rest of life after that."

"How awful for you," said Benna, pouring more near-beer into both their glasses.

"Yes," he said. He loved her very much.

Kakielynn Said:

I love:
Wuthering Heights.
=]

livewithsoul Said:

The best book ever written by far.

forkimified Said:

DOUGLAS ADAMS

Kakielynn Said:

Agreed and agreed.

And i got reminded today
of someone i forgot, by some mental lapse.

Orson Scott Card.
<3

moar Said:

Anything pertaining to Kama Sutra.

catherinelaurel Said:

Anyone into Faulkner?

livewithsoul Said:

yeah, I loved Andy Greenwald's book, that's how I found out about MOC too. He's writing a novel that's coming out soon. if you want to read it then I suggest you check out his website. www.andygreenwald.com

LucySkyDiamonds Said:

OMG, now I feel like less of a loser...that's also how I found out about MOC. I picked up the book in a Virgin MegaStore in Hollywood while I was on vacation, cuz I was getting sick of reading "The Great Gatsby" cuz it sucks ass, and I was like "Hmmm...this place sounds interesting..."

Wow. I'm such a dork. ; )

deadiwellmaybe Said:

Ayn Rand will change your life. C.S. Lewis commands the english language like no one else. anything by Steinbeck is great. East of Eden is my favorite novel ever. if you like brave new world, fahrenheit 451 or 1984 try anthem or we. if you like harry potter try the earagon trilogy.

deadiwellmaybe Said:

palahniuk sucks. he uses shock instead of style. it's slightly entertaining for 1 novel but played out after that.

forkimified Said:

If you like dystopias and the like, try John Brunner - The Sheep Look Up, Phillip K Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep... I guess Neuromancer might fall into that category also. And several other cyberpunk titles I won't get into now. If you want someone who commands the english like no one else, Willam Gibson has a very distinct and engaging authorial voice.


I've only read two books of his so far: Haunted and Lullaby. I enjoyed Lullaby. It kind of reminded me of Good Omens or American Gods in its modern magical surreality, but completely different. Kind of like an updated gen-x Dirk Gently even. I'd say go for it if you like any of those. Heck, if you're into that kind of thing, you might also like things such as Roger Zelazny's Amber series, or for something a lot shorter and easier to keep track of than the Amber series but along the same lines, Alan Dean Foster's novel To The Vanishing Point. They all kind of fall into the same 'normal modern person stuck in a magical situation' type of mould with fun or engaging stories and crazy 'what-if' ideas (and going further off track, I'll now reccomend everyone go out and buy any Corum, Elric, or other Eternal Champion books by Michael Moorcock, and some of Terry Pratchett's Discworld. If you like any of these books, you'll probably like the others, or at least see many similarities between them all, for reasons which I won't get into now because it'll require a ten-page essay. If you like Harry Potter you'd be better off reading these instead of more childrens' books [although, Terry Pratchett's childrens' books are excellent], especially ones written by teenagers).

I forced myself through parts of "Haunted" though. It was slightly too... urban legendy? He's definitely a better author than I'd expected, though. And what I've read seems more funny-shocking than shocking-shocking, unless you're a conservative type or didn't see an R-movie until you were 18. I'd probably read more from him. He's a good author, if overhyped. Although, he kind of does put me in the mood to go read some more Kurt Vonnegut instead.

As far as books with dragons go... you can't go wrong with The Hobbit. Tolkien commands the english language like no one else.

xvegrevengex Said:

Days of war, nights of love.


book will change your life. It's pretty heavy with political agendas, but if you look past that you can get good things out of it. It pretty much directly addresses the philosophy that "I am my own person, and no one can own me, so I will do whatever I want, whenever I want."


its wonderful.

EnderWiggin Said:

Neil Gaiman is a phenomenal author, even if his movie attempts haven't been all that fantastic. Liked Stardust though. American Gods will be, I think, remembered as a "great novel," Neverwhere is pretty fantastic escapist fantasy, Stardust was just cute with a heap of satire, and Good Omens (him with Terry Pratchett) is worth reading for the main characters alone.

alphadan Said:

I'm now rereading the Narnia series, since they're making Prince Caspian.

deadiwellmaybe Said:

Ayn Rand will change your life.

deadiwellmaybe Said:

palahniuk sucks. he uses shock instead of style. it's slightly entertaining for 1 novel but played out after that.

deadiwellmaybe Said:

starship troopers