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Jeffrey Carter
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0 posted 2004-06-07 05:43 AM


Anyone read any good books lately?

I am in the process of finishing "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz. Here are the liner notes from the cover...

"'The dead don't talk. I don't know why.' But they do try to comunicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn.

Maybe he has a gift, maybe it's a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd's otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different.

A myterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calender for August 15.

Today is August 14.

In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares -- and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humour, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere."


I highly recommend this book!


© Copyright 2004 Jeffrey D. Carter - All Rights Reserved
Michelle_loves_Mike
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1 posted 2004-06-07 08:59 AM


Koontz rocks! Im reading his novel "Shock" now, will have to check out Odd next.....KIng, Koontz, Cook, Rice, and Aul(Earth Children series, starts with Clan of the Cave Bear)............my favorite selection of authors  

Michelle

I wish all could find the true happiness I have found,,in the eyes of Mike

Aenimal
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2 posted 2004-06-07 09:50 AM


Haven't read much lately but here's a list of some favourites I've read and re-read in the last year

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien edited by Christopher Tolkien: A peek into the history of Middle Earth and histories hinted at within the Lord of The Rings Trilogy. Not an easy read but still rivetting that all this came from the mind of one man.(F)

Bringing Up The Dead by Joe Conelly: Highly recommend this look at the life of an EMS worker in Hell's Kitchen. Could be one of my favourites of all time, refused to watch the movie version when i saw the casting.(F)


The Elixir and The Stone by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh:an historical look at the influence of Hermetics throughout history.(NF)

NO Logo by Naomi Klein: a look at the power, influence and horrors of advertising (NF)

M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker: The book that spawned the movie and great TV show(at least until Trapper left)(F)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson: What's there to say? Thompson's writing is utter brilliance. His 'Gonzo' style is, at times, sheer poetry. You'll laugh, cry, be horrified and thoroughly entertained. (F?)

1984 by George Orwell: Incredibly poignant with the unfolding of current events.(F)

That's it for now

Nightshade
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3 posted 2004-06-07 10:01 AM


The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

White Oleander - Janet Fitch

Christopher
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4 posted 2004-06-07 11:44 AM


When Nietze Wept. Fredrich meets Freud. Imagine that.
Sunshine
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5 posted 2004-06-07 11:51 AM


DaVinci's Code
Poet deVine
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6 posted 2004-06-07 05:13 PM


I read 'Odd Thomas'..it was very good. Koontz has a new one out "The Taking"..it was odd..strange. Not my favorite of his.

Now I'm on to Tami Hoag!

rosepetals25
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7 posted 2004-06-07 07:28 PM


I am reading Raymond E. Feist right now.  He has a series of fantasy books called The Riftwar Saga.  I just got down with the first book "Magician: Apprentice" and have started the second one "Magician: Master".  I am liking them so far



Michelle_loves_Mike
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8 posted 2004-06-08 03:15 AM


my bad,,,Im reading Robin Cooks new one, shocked, lol

I wish all could find the true happiness I have found,,in the eyes of Mike

Janet Marie
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9 posted 2004-06-08 08:51 AM


As a matter of fact yes--
I was just sitting on the beach at the lake reading one the other day ...
Reflections on the Web

maybe youve heard of it?

Marshalzu
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10 posted 2004-06-08 08:54 AM


I'm reading all the Robert Heinlein books I can get my hands on, my favourites "The Day After Tommorow" (nothing to do with the film) and "Friday".
Ron
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11 posted 2004-06-08 10:16 AM


The scary part is I've read all but a few of the titles listed here (Raph's taste is much different than mine, it seems, sharing only two authors), yea, even including everything ever written by Heinlein (I think the first RAH novel I read was Glory Road, around 1965?).

I really need to get a life, I guess.  

Sunshine
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12 posted 2004-06-08 10:21 AM


You have a life Ron...
it's taking care of the rest of us!

Marshalzu
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13 posted 2004-06-08 10:39 AM


I kind of wondered what "Grok" was until I read "Stranger in a Strange Land" now at least I know where it comes from.
Sudhir Iyer
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14 posted 2004-06-08 03:34 PM


"The god of small things" by Arundhati Roy (she won the booker prize for this, probably about 7 years back) is one of the better ones that I have read of late...

Currently reading 'Metamorphosis and other stories' by Kafka...




Aenimal
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15 posted 2004-06-08 08:56 PM


well Ron we may have similar tastes somewhere down the line. the books above aren't neccessarily favourites, just the last few I've read, i have very eclectic tastes from classical to modern and everything in between
Jeffrey Carter
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16 posted 2004-06-09 03:37 PM


I just finished "Odd Thomas" and I must say, this is one of Koontz's best EVER ... it is rare that I find a book that can literally bring me to tears, but this one did. The final chapter was truly heartbreaking!

A few other books I have read in the past 6 months or so...

Dean Koontz "By The Light of the Moon"

Stephen King "The Dark Tower V - Wolves of the Calla" actually I'm gonna re-read this one, there's a lot to take in in this series LOL

John Grisham "The King of Torts"

Dan Brown "The DaVinci Code" very good book btw

Patricia Cornwell "Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper Case Closed" She is very convincing in her arguments in this book

There are many others that I can't think of right now. I read alot. I try to read at least one book per week, of course, I don't always have time to do so, but that is what I aim for anyway LOL


inot2B
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17 posted 2004-06-12 12:10 PM


I just finished reading, Michael Savage's books, "The Enemy Within" and "The Savage Nation".

Arthur C Clarke, "Rendezvous with Rama"  then the next two "Rama II" & "Garden of Rama" with Gentry Lee. Then "Rama Revealed" by Arthur C Clarke.  I enjoyed the "Rama" books more than anything that I've read in the last few years.

Kaoru
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18 posted 2004-06-12 03:24 PM


yay! Books!

"What Evolution Is" by Ernst Mayr - This book is totally awesome, although educational to the most major degree. I loved it.

"Dr. Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe -
This is not like Goethe's Faust, as some people would think. Great, wonderful book. Recommended, highly.

"Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse - This book, as with all of Hesse's works (Including the most popular, "Steppenwolf") can positively change your life.

and lastly..

"The Flowers of Evil" by Charles Baudelaire - French poetry at it's finest, if you can find a version of the book that has both the French and English, it's great.


That's all I've read in the past couple months and whatnot. Sorry!

Obscurity
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19 posted 2004-06-13 03:31 PM


I've been reading The Celestine Prophecy, but I keep finding myself interrupted and having to start the whole thing over. :-(

I'd like to the series of Clan Of The Bear Claw? I think that's what it is called, but it seems really interesting. The last thing I read before that was probably, The Antichrist by Nietzche, The Art of War by Sun Tzu and some Zen Buddhist scrolls, I can't remember who wrote them at the moment though.

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20 posted 2004-06-13 06:08 PM


Madame Bovary... a huge critique on those of us who like to think and live romantically. It's the story of one woman who just takes it too far.. very good.

Also the Bible... it has a bit of everything for your summer reading tastes

Oh, make me Thine forever
And should I fainting be
Lord, let me never ever
Outlive my love for Thee

Jeffrey Carter
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21 posted 2004-06-14 03:06 AM


I had a gret find today at the Swap Meet. I found "For Us, The Living" by Robert A. Heinlein; paid 50 cents for it BTW.

I would never have even considered reading any of his books if it had not been for this little thread I started.

Aenimal
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22 posted 2004-06-15 01:36 AM


ah Megs your list..swoooons

wings of the moon
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23 posted 2004-06-22 05:13 PM


I must also recommend Les fleurs du mal/the flowers of evil, its brilliant.

At the moment (exams call)
i'm reading:

goodbye to all that - robert graves
birdsong-sebastian faulks
memoirs of an infantry officer-siegfried sassoon
boal's exercises for actors and non actors
the empty space- peter brook

poetry of:
graves, wilfred owen, herbert, sassoon, rosenberg, thomas, sorley etc etc

so mainly plunged in ww1 stuff...

Temptress
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24 posted 2004-06-22 07:43 PM


The last two I read were Anne Rice books. I am way behind. I got infatuated with her books when I read The Witching Hour.  I went on to read the rest of the Mayfair witch books and wished there were more...anyways...

Blackwood Farm (Anne Rice)

Merrick (Anne Rice)

I am currently not reading (because I don't write much during the times I have a book to read), but I do have David Copperfield and Dean Koontz "The Face" to choose from next.

All of my impurities are right here on my sleeve. This is Me"---Faith Hill


Jeffrey Carter
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25 posted 2004-06-29 04:16 PM


I just received my copy of "The Dark Tower VI - Song of Sussannah" by Stephen King, can't wait to get started on it.
serenity blaze
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26 posted 2004-06-29 05:03 PM


The Time Life Encyclopedia of Complete Home Repair.

Not much time for anything else...

OH...and?

Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World As a Smartmouth Goddess by Susan Jane Gilman

smile.

That one was a gift from a certain smouthmouth goddess pipster.

Jeffrey Carter
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27 posted 2004-07-09 07:06 PM


I just got a few more books ...

Robert A. Heinlein
"The Door Into Summer"
A gifted engineer must reinvent the future in order to reclaim his past in this Heinlein classic.

"To The Stars"
This book contains 4 short novellas if you will..
"Between Planets"
The son of two scientists studying on Mars, Don Harvey is attending school on Earth when he recieves a message calling him home. It seems simple enough, but getting to Mars -- a planet he's never set foot on -- turns out to be a lot more complicated than he expects. Especially when secret police inexplicably hound his every step. And most especially when his flight is hijacked by Venerian rebels. Before he knows it, young Harvey is caught up in a deadly war between planets...

"The Rolling Stones"
The Stones are not your ordinary Lunar family, and the Stone twins -- Castor and Pollux -- are not your average teenage boys. Born mechanics and wheeler-dealers, all they want is to leave the Moon in a secondhand spaceship and make their fortunes out in the solar system. They don't count on their high-spirited family going along-- and what begins as a simple business expedition soon detours into danger...

"Starman Jones"
Growing up on a poor man's farm, Max dreams of becoming a spaceman, but it's not so easy for a smart lad with no connections... until he meets a scam artist who wangles their way aboard a starship. Still, it's one thing to pretend to be a crewman and quite another to actually be one... especially when the ship gets lost and lands on a hostile planet-- and Max is the only one who can get them home again...

"The Star Beast"
Pets are supposed to lower your blood pressure, but when your best friend is an alien cross between a rhino and a triceratops, anything can happen. Just ask John Stuart and his lovable Lummox -- an 8 legged beast with the intellegence of a tame dog and the appetite of a car compactor. Now an unexplained foray into the surrounding countryside has put Lummox and John in hot water -- just as some mysterious space voyagers turn up, ready to embroil them both in an interplanetary crisis!

"Expanded Universe"
This book contains 27 short stories by the Grand Master of Science Fiction...

The Wit and Wisdom of Robert A. Heinlein, author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, on subjects ranging from Crime and Punishment to the Love life of the American Teenager; from Nuclear power to the Pragmatics of Patriotism; from Prophecy to Destiny; from Geopolitics to Post-Holocaust America; from the Nature of courage to the nature of reality; it's all here and it's all great -- straight from the mind of the finest science fiction writer of them all. But beware: after reading it, you too will occupy an EXPANDED UNIVERSE!

Ray Bradbury
"Bradbury Stories"
This book contains 100 of his best loved and most celebrated stories.

J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Lord of the Rings"
I got this one just for the sheer joy of reading Tolkien again.

Bec
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28 posted 2004-07-10 08:35 PM


I'm reading a book called April Fool's Day, by Bryce Courtenay.

It's about Bryce's son, Damon, who had haemophilia and AIDS, and died on April Fool's Day, 1991.

The back cover says...

April Fool's Day is controversial, painful and heartbreaking, yet has a gentle humour. It is also life-affirming, and, above all, it is a testimony to the incredible regenerative strength of love -- how when we confront our worst, we can become our best. April Fool's Day will change the way you think.

Bryce Courtenay has written some amazing books - The Potato Factory, The Power of One, Tandia - but this one just has so much power and love. I've borrowed it from the library so many times I really should just track down a copy and buy it for myself!

B

"I'm not crazy I'm just a little unwell"~ Matchbox 20

Susan
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29 posted 2004-07-11 10:52 PM


Due to my limited time and my endless appetite, I read or listen to many books all at the same time.  Gotta love books.

Tolkien rules.  And for those who've yet to read the Silmarillion, it explains soooo much.  As for the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings series, got on CD and listened to it in the car.  Made it hard to turn the engine off.

Currently in the works of being read:

"The Deeper Wound" Deepak Chopra

"An Open Heart" Dalai Lama

"The art of Happiness" Dalai Lama

"Side Effects" Michael Palmer (great author for all you Robin Cook fans)

"Advanced Modern Arnis" by Dan Anderson

"Splendors of the Past" National Geographic.

Yes, I'm weird. Depends on the mood.  Now when the next Harry Potter comes out, well that baby is a one-nighter!

Also, am searching for "the Parthian" by Vic Hurley, written in 1960, should anyone come across a copy for sale

Susan

Happiness isn't something that happens to you, it's created from within you.  Joy is a state of mind.

Errandghost
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30 posted 2004-07-13 05:46 PM


Yes;  I am reading the best.
Jeffrey Carter
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31 posted 2004-07-13 06:13 PM


quote:
Yes;  I am reading the best.


What are you reading?

Essorant
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32 posted 2004-07-13 08:19 PM


I am currently looking at Germanic Mythology by Jakob Grimm.  
You may trust Grimm for learned look into Germans' antiquity.  


"A tale flies, a legend walks, knocks at the door.  The one can draw freely from the abundance of poetry, the other has almost the authority of history.  As the folk tale relates to legend, so does legend to history and, it may be added, so does history to real life."  --Grimm



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