Favorite Reads

[BendtheBar]

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
The Girl Next Door - Jack Ketchum (This one lingers for a long time)
The Woods Are Dark - Richard Laymon
The Gunslinger - Stephen King
The Shining - Stephen King
Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
The magician's Nephew - CS Lewis
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Titan - John Varley
Song of Kali - Dan Simmons

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Tannhauser

Wow, I don't know any of those writers. Dutch? Afrikaans?

Dutch, apart from Norman Manea who's originally from Suceava Romania and went to America with his works being translated into Dutch from the original Romanian.

I still have to read several chapters of the De Winter van De Belgica book to hubby; which I read direct into English for him, so that he gets to "read" the book as well.

It's a twofold purpose for me, since I get migraines, I tend only to read books that assist some purpose such as learnign a language or learning about exercise physiology, Norse grammar etc...it's an intriguing way of utilising time, at least for me.

[Fazc]

I don't tend to read too much fiction, mostly non-fiction stuff. Here's a short selection of some I have on my shelf right now:

One of my all time favourite books on sociology, ethics and philosophy.



This was a good read, he's gotten a little whacky in his old age but his writings are still brilliant even if you don't agree with his ideas. As an alternate explanation it's clear and concise.



This is just an absolutely brilliant book on philosophy. As an introduction to philosophy it's amazing because not only does it give you a brief history of philosophy it actually helps you to think philosophically, which is unique.



This is actually a book on poetry, beginners poetry. It's wonderful if you're into that kind of thing. It teaches you how to write a poem from the ground up and like any great author he does that in a way which is easily accessible.



Finally this is a very, very interesting book. It shows a very unique insight into the mind of a man struggling with his own religion.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
The Girl Next Door - Jack Ketchum (This one lingers for a long time)
The Woods Are Dark - Richard Laymon
The Gunslinger - Stephen King
The Shining - Stephen King
Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
The magician's Nephew - CS Lewis
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Titan - John Varley
Song of Kali - Dan Simmons

That reminds me!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Have not read No Country For Old Men, but I loved The Road, so I will get it. I ordered The Girl Next Door from Amazon.

[gaspers04]

Originally Posted by Jen

Yes! All of these. "IT" was my favorite from King. Clancy........ love.

The Stand was my favorite then It. I love all the older stuff but after awhile he started churning them out left and right and they began to lose there substance.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Jen

That reminds me!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Have not read No Country For Old Men, but I loved The Road, so I will get it. I ordered The Girl Next Door from Amazon.

The Road is great too.

Be warned, the Ketchum book will tear you up. It's based on a true story.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by gaspers04

The Stand was my favorite then It. I love all the older stuff but after awhile he started churning them out left and right and they began to lose there substance.

Very, very true. The older the book, the better. Misery was great, too.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

The Road is great too.

Be warned, the Ketchum book will tear you up. It's based on a true story.

Those are the ones I love the most.

[Tannhauser]

Originally Posted by 5kgLifter

Dutch.

Cool. Was Dutch your first language or second?

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Tannhauser

Cool. Was Dutch your first language or second?

2nd language (or 4th to 7th, depending on how you look at it); I did Swedish and communicated with a Swedish penfriend; braille Esperanto as well as ordinary Esperanto with penfriends from all over the globe; Glosa; French; Norwegian; and then did a comparative grammar study of about 14 languages, just for fun.

I want to get back in to the Dutch, properly, and also continue the Old Norse and the Glosa, the latter of which is a doddle anyway.