I am always interested in a good book. I hope this thread could be one where folks are willing to recommend any good books they have read.

In Defence of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg

http://www.londonbookreview.com/lbr0012.html

Lomborg's is good, too, but much longer. Norberg's polemic can be done and dusted in an evening.

In reply to Freddie

Excellent...thank you. Have you read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"? I read that last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In reply to JimBob The Book of Nightwomen by Marlon James.

Historical fiction told in the voice of a young, green-eyed slave girl on the Jamaican Montpelier plantation in the early nineteenth century, this book is a masterpiece weaving magic, slavery and rebellion together in a very interesting way.

Q&A

In reply to JimBob

Happy Hooker. great book detailing the intricacies of human interaction which has withstood the test of time and is still relevant today

In reply to JimBob

Never heard of it, but from what I can make out, Norberg's book would seem a useful antidote.

If history's your bent, I suggest a book destined to become a revisionist classic:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780891418665.html

In reply to sudden

More like the uninhibitedness(sp) of human interaction. Today's interaction must be errr more tempered

In reply to Khary9

Excellent...thank you and I appreciate the link to the Q&A. I especially liked this comment,

In reply to Freddie

Nice...thank you again. I not too long ago read Rick Atkinson's "Army at Dawn" and while I picked up his second in the trilogy, "The Day of Battle", I opted instead to read Paul Johnson's "History of the American People", which is what I am currently reading.

In reply to sudden

Thanks...will definitely look this one up. BTW, your handle, does it have anything to do with the character "Sudden" created by Oliver Strange?

In reply to JimBob

yes, the man with a sardonic smile. written by strange at first but i believe christianssen took over the last in the series

you a fan

In reply to sudden

Gotta be a fan of a gunslinger who cleans up I read a few of the books...though it has been a long time I picked up any westerns.

I'm very suspicious of people who read books that don't start with 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'.

In reply to JohnDoe

Nothing wrong with reading "those" books and then some. After all, not all of us are sheep!

In reply to JimBob

On the other hand, I am a great believer in dropping the names of prestigious Russian authors, but that doesn't mean I'm reckless enough to actually read that communism-inciting garbage.

book and blog

In reply to JimBob

You ever heard the saying, "when everybody thinks alike, everyone is likely to be wrong ?"

Check out this book:

If you want to improve on your ability to make educated guesses---read that book and apply the wisdom it imparts.

Boomer

In reply to JimBob

Charlton Heston presents ... The Bible.

read any john le carre, robert ludlum, frederick forsyth, or louis l'amour


imo those guys write books that when you start reading them...you don't put it down till the book's done..and then you want to start on another.

Here are 2 excellent books that speak to our culture

In reply to JimBob

The Delta of Venus by Anais Nin.

In reply to JohnDoe

A closet Commie eh?

In reply to Boomer

Thanks Boomer - I am always looking to improve.

In reply to eXodus

Totally agree with you there, on the list of writers you sited whose books were hard to put down once one started to read them. l'amour's, older works were some of the best western I ever read. Loved the "Sackett" brothers.

In reply to Dukes

Thank you - love books that will increase my understanding of cultures.

In reply to JohnBull

Thank you - looks very interesting. A genre often overlooked.

Here are a couple of other books that I enjoyed reading.

"Charlie Wilson's War" by George Crile

"Ghost Wars" by Stephen Coll

In reply to JimBob

Read - HENRY GEORGE "PROGRESS AND POVERTY"

In reply to JimBob

also...len deighton that guy writes some excellent books

bump!

Harry Potter books - excellent stuff. Quite thrilling although the starts of some aren't the very best but terrific after that.

In reply to jen

That's why I never got through one.

THE WEst On Trial

and still is

The Merchant of Venice.

In reply to jen

A fan of fantasy...cool!!! Have you read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or "The Hobbit"... two of my all time favorites.

Recently, I read Paolini's Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr. Of the three the second was my favorite.

In reply to krishna

And do tell, why is the WEST still on trial?

In reply to cricketest

Ah...a lover of Shakesphere. Regardless the whispers that Shakesphere plagiarized from philosophers like Francis Bacon...I still love his writings. Merchant of Venice is one of my favorites, though King Lear is the one most dear to me. If you ever get the chance, check out Kurosawa's "Ran"...the Japanese (movie) Version of King Lear.

In reply to XDFIX

Thank you...it is added to my "Want to read list". Appreciate the recommendation. Also...thanks for bumping the thread

With all the shenanigans playing out behind the scenes with the speculators and all. I would like to recommend this book that I read a few years ago. "Ugly Americans" by Ben Mezrich, the same author of the New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House.

This is an easy read and while it may read like a fiction the story is "TRUE".

In reply to JimBob
If you enjoy reading true stories, then check out 57 Hours: A Survivor's Account of the Moscow Hostage Drama

In reply to tops

Will do...thanks.

Another book that I recommend, is "Holy War" by Karen Armstrong. Discusses the crusades and their impact.

I like this thread. Keep the recommendations coming please.

"The Cost of Capitalism: Understanding Market Mayhem and Stabilizing our Economic Future" by Robert Barbera

"Stabilizing an Unstable Economy" by Hyman P. Minsky

"GREENSPAN'S BUBBLES: THE AGE OF IGNORANCE AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE" by William Fleckenstein and Fred Sheehan

In reply to jen


i just re-read the entire series this weekend....it was quite interesting....alot better than the movies

In reply to JimBob
Kurosawa also did a trimmed but chilling version of Macbeth called 'Throne of Blood'. The Shakespeare-esque eye on illuminating the moral universe of characters has always been one of Kurosawa's greatest strength, even very much so in his early noir stuff like 'The Bad Sleeps Well'.

A departure from all these recommendations about Economics -- if anyone is interested in the modern (mostly post-tonal) classical music, Alex Ross's (the New Yorker writer) well-researched 'The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century' is a great read.

I am also re-reading the Thomas Mann novels. The German fiction of early twentieth century -- Mann, Kafka, Musil, Broch, Zweig -- probably is not that popular anymore, but I always get back to them whenever I can. If you haven't read Mann or Musil I would highly recommend starting with 'The Magic Mountain' or 'The Man Without Qualities'.

I can also recommend a delightghful little novel (light yet profound and very witty, uniquely French) that came out of France last year -- 'Elegance of the Hedgehog' by Muriel Barbery.

If post-post-modern philosophy (that is, after Foucault and Derrida) is your cup of tea, you cannot go wrong with Jean Baudrillard. 'Intelligence of Evil or The Lucidity Pact' is a startling read that would force you to confront your own intellect and ideology and the dead weights they carry. The aphoristic style is somewhat reminiscent of Nietzsche's, and he also has Nietzsche's love of paradoxes.

In reply to monty

Thanks Monty. The credit all belongs to the folks who have taken the time to recommend a book or more.

In reply to DrDread

Thank you DrDread...a popular genre in this time for sure.

In reply to eXodus

If you enjoyed Potter, then try Paolini's Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr. That is of course if you have not already read any of them.

In reply to subaltern

Thanks...you covered some excellent writers in your response. As someone who enjoyed Nietzsche (my favorite being "Thus spoke Zarathustra"), I was especially interested in your recommendation of Jean Baudrillard. I am delighted that you shared.

In reply to JimBob
You are welcome.

If you are planning to start reading Baudrillard, 'Intelligence of evil...' or 'The Cool Memeories' would probably be better introductions. If you are familiar with Foucault, 'Forget Foucault' can be the starting point too.

As you like Nietzsche's works (my favorites are Ecce Homo and The Genealogy of Morals), I would highly recommend the French-Romanian philosopher E.M.Cioran, especially the extraordinary 'The Temptation to Exist'.

In reply to JimBob

read all of em already

try voltaire's candide


quite funny that book


also..john sanford,vince flynn,james patterson,ted bell

one book i particularly liked was the count of monte cristo by dumas

another was shane by jack schafer [staple of any caribbean high school student ]

p.s do any of you guys know of a place where i could "acquire" ebook copies of l'amour novels? plz god not textfiles i beg you

In reply to subaltern

...nice, that is also one of my favorite. Thanks again for your recommendations. Switching genres...have you read "Three Cups of Tea"? A great story!

In reply to eXodus

Ah...nothing like a bit of revenge ...I love that book.

In reply to JimBob

i read the abridged version first as a pocket book with large print when i was like 8 or 9


then i read the unabridged version round 13-14 i fell in love with that book


also..another book i love is the lonesome gods by louis l'amour....man that guy can write

In reply to eXodus

Actually, I think "The Walking Drum" by him is his best.

In reply to JimBob
No, I haven't. But I read bout it (the author was doing a book tour in Boston area a few months back ). I applaud the author's humanity, dedication and moral strength. Haven't read the book so cannot speak about the writing.

And that K2 is indeed a devilish peak to climb.

In reply to tops

i've read so many of that guys books....and i love all of them...they're just so..exquisite lol for lack of a better word..

there's some i haven't read yet i'm trying to track them down as ebooks these days

In reply to subaltern

Indeed, K2 is so intimidating that I have read many a climbers have had their resolve broken even without setting foot.

On Mortenson's work, truly fascinating even more that it is in an area that would make weaker individuals quit.

The McDonald's thread reminded me of another book that I recommend. "JIHAD vs. McWorld" by Benjamin R. Barber.

The book, is an analysis of consumerist capitalism versus religious and tribal fundamentalism.

According to Barber, "Jihad is then a rabid response to colonialism and imperialism and their economic children, capitalism and modernity; it is diversity run amok, multiculturalism turned cancerous so that the cells keep dividing long after their division has ceased to serve the healthy corpus".

In reply to JimBob
It is not an uncommon, one might even say a fashionable point of view. With all due respect, I strongly disagree.

Religious fundamentalist violence (say inquisition or the razing of Buddhist and Hindu architectures in Indian subcontinent between 11-14 AD by various Islamist invaders and rules) predates modern capitalism and its origin lies more in the psychological archetypes of humanity, the collective herd complexes, our spiritual gullibility and subconscious penchant for violence.

The modern version of this fundamentalist violence is indeed a political force, but it is a political force of subjugation and oppression (of the native population), not of rebellion and change.

In reply to subaltern

Nicely put...and therein lies "one" of the weaknesses of Barber's argument.

In reply to subaltern
that's a lot of biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggg words

In reply to eXodus

Limewire used to be a good source for ebooks...though not sure if it is anymore.

Recommending another book to keep this thread alive. For the history war buffs, a good read is, Martin Glibert's "The First World War."

In reply to JimBob

recently got a torrent with some...will check limewire though


more authors for you...ted bell, jon land and irving wallace

In reply to JimBob
A very good one I recomend is Wings of the Morning
"From Library Journal
This is a gripping, impassioned tale of love and courage written by a man who risked his life and that of his family to save them all from the whims and vagaries of a failing revolution and dictatorship. On December 19, 1992, late in the afternoon, Lorenzo took off from the airstrip at Marathon Key, Florida, flew 95 miles south to the coast of Cuba in an aging twin-engine Cessna, and landed on a coastal highway where his wife and two children were anxiously waiting to be whisked away from a land of deprivation and oppression to a better world and a new life. The book is more than an intriguing story of heroism and defection. Lorenzo describes in detail his 15-year career in the Cuban Air Force, his training in the Soviet Union, his service in support of the Communist cause in such far-away places as Angola, and the final treachery that turned him against the Castro revolution. Highly recommended for popular reading"

In reply to eXodus
Have you ever read books by Wilber Smith?

In reply to tops

i don't believe so....i have heard of them but i can't really remember...gonna check the library nex weekend

In reply to JimBob

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" is a classic.

Read the 'Shock Doctrine' as well.
http://www.naomiklein.org/main
John Dean's 'Broken Government' is also excellent.

In reply to Chrissy

Just finished reading Raj Patel's Stuffed and Starved.

The world produces enough food but it the rapacious agri-business companies that distort the food supply.
An eye-opening book.

In reply to tops

It's a wonder he was able to undertake the mission of bringing his family out of Cuba without being shot out of the sky. I believe that Cuba at that time had Migs...though I am not sure how many of them were operational.

In reply to Chrissy

Indeed...that was a good read.


Thank you for the recommendation, I will check it out.

In reply to Superfly

I'll check that out

In reply to Chrissy Check out jack johnson bio, brilliant.I have just finish reading it.

Try reading Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel García Márquez in Spanish...a veritable tableau of Latin American society and then read the translation by Gregory Rabassa, a masterpiece in its own right....

L'Etranger by Camus...a small but powerful volume that explores (and exposes) the beliefs we all seek comfort in. Must be read in French...

Nada by Carmen LaForet, a Spanish writer who explores the psyche of a young woman coming of age in a world of dark shadows...something we all can relate too...

Las Ratas by Miguel Delibes, another Spanish writer who examines the insensitivity of bureaucracies and the unresponsive state and its unthinking destruction of its most precious assets, people. Caribbean people should relate to this quite easily.

El Reino de Este Mundo by Alejo Carpentier ( Cuban writer) who understood the meaning of revolution in our part of the world and who discusses the great contribution of the African conquerors such as Toussaint L'ouverture...Dessalines etc..., this book exhibits an intuitive understanding of the alternative Caribbean and those who best represent it - the nonmimicmen, the creators, the warriors

Os Sertoes (The Badlands) by Joao Guimaraes Rosa..the author captures in that massive novel the creativity of the Brazilian experiment...a difficult read, even for native speakers of Brazilian.(that's how many Brazilians describe their language)..because of the abundance of neologisms ...A reading of this book is guaranteed to alter your consciousness.

A House for Mr. Biswas...Naipaul at his best, when he wrote because he had something to say, a sad poignant book...and Miguel Street ( a collection of very short stories) by same author, a funny and true book of life in a backward colonial society.....

In reply to watchman

Thanks for your recommendations. I will certainly look into those that I have not read.

I have read both books you listed for Mr. Naipaul...excellent books indeed.

On the other writers, "Cien Años de Soledad" was one of my favorite of Gabriel García Márquez. IMHO, one of the best in the postmodernism literary style. I also liked "Amor en los tiempos del cólera"

I recommend "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende if you have not read it.

Another book that I thoroughly enjoyed was, "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri. The mention of Naipaul brought her to mind.

In reply to watchman

naipaul makes me remember 2nd form days ....those were fun


i would recommend A Cow Called Boy....just for nostalgia

In reply to watchman
Some great recommendations. I have read everything by Marquez (and Borges, and Fuentes and Llosa...and a few other Latin American novelists including the strange and posthumously popular Roberto Bolano) but all in English translation. Spanish is a language I planned to learn one of these days. And I must check out the other Latin American writers -- I read a few Carpentier stories -- that you have recommended.

IMHO, Gabo's 'Autumn of the Patriarch' can, arguably, stake a claim to be his finest novel. It is neither as immediately accessible nor as biblical as 'One Hundred Years...', but is technically brilliant and glows with a fire of imagination and political skepticism of the wise that is unmatched even among his extraordinary works.

About Camus...I think L'Etranger, despite being his most famous work especially in the English speaking world, doesn't stand in comaprison to The Plague (La Peste) or The Fall(La Chute). Though I have read everything that Camus wrote (incuding his resistance piences in Combat) I have only read La Chute in French. La Chute, even in English translation, remains a stunningly original and permanently relevant piece of literature...an entire novel in monologue of trenchant irony. Camus's eminetly readable 'light' philosophical works like 'Myth of Sissyphus' or 'The Rebel' should be standard readings for everyone who has read and liked Camus's fictional works.

In the canon of modern French litrature, Camus probably stands at the other end of the spectrum from Proust whose obsessive, miutiaue-filled exercise in capturing the entire contour of nostalgia on paper may not be everyone's cup of tea...but I enormously enjoyed the first two volumes of 'À la recherche du temps perdu' that I read. Completing Proust in this lifetime can be a noble literary goal for all lovers of literature.

I have read a few Naipaul and never really warmed up to him. A House for Mr. Biswas was definitely one of the better works...The Enigma of Arrival is good too. Some of his so-called masterpieces like 'A Bend in the River' is so infuriatingly polemical with an air of false superiority...and even derivative (of Conrad) to an extent.

Among all the modern English writers who are originally from outside the Anglo-American world...I would recommend Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie and Ben Okri. Especially for those on this MB who are interested about African literature, Okri's 'The Famished Road' is a postmodern masterpiece of breathtaking genius, an 'unputdownable' read as well.

If one is up for a challenge to tackle thorny pieces of James Joyce-esque scale, the American novelist Thomas Pynchon's 'Gravity's Rainbow' is as good a mind-bender as they come.

Keeping this thread alive and up front. Here is another recommendation -
"On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace" by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

In reply to subaltern

william golding's the lord of the flies

try that or

the coral island by r.m ballantyne


i would recommend others but my nose is buried in a microsoft 70-291 guide


p.s you could try that if you want

In reply to eXodus
Thanks.
I have read a few Golding novels including Lord Of The Flies...my favorite is Darkness Visible.

Haven't read 'Coral Island', will look it up.

Good luck with those MS guides.

In reply to subaltern

well....as of now...don't have to look at another microsoft academy book for two weeks

the coral island is pretty much the anti thesis of the lord of the flies or is it the other way around...cuz i think golding wrote his book after ballantyne.

golding had a book...the spire i think..it was pretty good but not as good as the lord of the flies...

steinback wrote some good books...my dad raised me on those

george orwell as well...i recall reading animal farm when i was 10 or 11...it had a cartoon picture of a pig...so i was probably attracted to it by that lol...well never judge a book by it's cover...cuz that was no cartoon lol

1984 was another one that was interesting

In reply to eXodus
Ahh, George Orwell...the reluctant weapon at the hand of right-wing intellectuals. 1984 is a novel that I did enjoy when I read it long time back. Animal Farm was too polemical for my taste.

Orwell remained in his own way a revolutionary all his life. His first prominent book 'Down and Out in Paris and London' remains a good read. Still refreshing.

If you have liked 1984, you may also want to try out Arthur Koestler's 'Darkness at Noon'. Not similar in plot or treatment, but does share a kinship with the same early intellectual spirit that correctly captured the putrid odor of tyranny that was coming out of the promised land.

In reply to subaltern

the wooden horse - eric williams

a ww2 pow novel that was quite intriguing

Ah thought them say caribbean men don't read.
me, if it's not a sports book, you aint gonna find me reading so. harry potter books just got lucky because i was bored and it was lying around and i then got hooked on it.

In reply to jen

Folks who take pleasure in the pagan teachings of those vile Harry Potter witchcraft manuals are definitely up to no good.

In reply to JohnDoe

lol a large group of readers may just disagree with you...have you ever read the chronicles of narnia series by c.s lewis?

In reply to JohnDoe what teachings, it's just a fantasy book. Yo think a man could just take a wand and mumble ah few words and things happen? I don't believe in those crap man and i'm sure you're a big man who knows better too.

In reply to JohnDoe

also...why just j.k rowling...why not toliken and other numerous authors who write about similar topics..

just ignore it if ya don't like it ;)
e.g.

a few months ago in canada, atheists put up signs on transit buses "THERE’S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE"


when one of my co workers who is a staunch catholic saw that she got angry... so i asked her....are you offended by it..she said yes... so i asked does it physically harm you in some way? she said no..does it cause you any sort of emotional or mental trauma? she said no.


same applies to those books....unless seeing them and hearing them read and watchin dem movies causes you mental,physical or emotional trauma....just ignore em ...me on the other hand....i read anything that has words on em

"The Main Enemy" by Milt Bearden and James Risen

"Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills" by Charles Henderson

The UFO threads made me think of a classic. "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke

A favorite of mine, the book explores humanity's transformation to merge with a higher form; it also touches on the inability of humans to live in a "Utopian" society.

Many TV shows parodied the concept of "younger races" like humanity growing past its primitive stage and ascending to a higher plane of existence. Science fiction aficionados will relate.

I highly recommend this book...especially to the UFO crowd

In reply to JimBob

john wyndham - the chrysalids

In reply to eXodus

Nice...the thread on Miss Rice, brings to mind this book.

Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard Clarke.

In reply to JimBob

Familiar with the Arthur C. Clarke book.

Transcending humanity beyond its current violence-greed-murder-anxiety contour is a theme that has echoed in arts and literature across the centuries. But with Nietzsche the formulation in terms of evolutionary principle first came about, I think.

My favorite Sci-Fi writer is Stanislaw Lem. He is mostly known for his novel Solaris based on which Tarkovsky made a great movie, though the movies was a bit of departure from the book. If you haven't yet, check out Eden, The Cyberiad, Fiasco.

In reply to JimBob

was looking around for some ebooks and ran across this


there's tons of them there

In reply to subaltern

I am also a big fan of Stanislaw Lem; in fact your post made me go looking for my copy of The Cyberiad and I have yet to find it

It is funny how many of us on this thread recommending and commenting about books find that we have the same interest in reading. Good stuff!

In reply to eXodus

I see someone has been doing very diligent research Nice and thank you for sharing.

In reply to eXodus
From that ebook site you posted, I recommend you download 'Memoirs of a Geisha'...a very good book...I think they made it into a movie as well.

In reply to eXodus
Another good one is "A Fine Balance"...

In reply to tops

read it as a physical book a long time ago ;)

"Paris 1919" by Margaret Macmillan an excellent work of narrative history that covers the redrawing of the Middle East.

Keeping this thread alive - Band of Brothers
by Stephen Ambrose.

In reply to JimBob

bumppp


jack london - the call of the wild

In reply to eXodus

OKay MGL.....

Ah doan know if this was recommended before... but anyways... Kama Sutra

In reply to BallOil

Excellent recommendation. Immediately, brought to mind Miss Zinnzimma's (sp) thread on "69"

In reply to BallOil

nuh need book fi get pumz star

In reply to JimBob

true..

In reply to eXodus

understood..but to keep em is another story..

In reply to BallOil


tru tru.. nex ting yuh kno...joe grine reach nuh

Mr. Pullo recommended a book on another thread. I am just putting it here to keep all the recommended books on one thread.

From Mr. Pullo -

I've just finished reading a remarkably brilliant book by Jamaican author and UWI graduate Marlon James. The name of his book is "the Book of Night Women". This is James' second book, and it's definitely a page turner that you won't want to put down once you pick it up. It is certainly one of the most gripping books that I have read in ages.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, all I will say is rush out or jump online and order this book immediately!!!!

Birth of Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949 by Benny Morris.

Palestinian state issue will be a popular topic the next few days. I have recommended a book written by Israeli Benny Morris.

Morris’s book appears to have been the first Israeli who dealt with the ethnic cleansing of the Arabs. Providing details on the uprooting of about 700,000 Arab Palestinians from the territories that would become the Jewish state, the refusal to allow them back to homes after the war, and the formation of the refugee problem during the period of the 1948 war and after.

It should also be noted that Morris' tone has taken a turn over the recent years.

Gotta have this one in your collection. "The Third Reich" by William l. Shirer

Small Island

White Teeth

i recall reading these books a long time ago..dunno if you guys did

the perry rhodan series

it was science fiction


there was also


The Destroyer by sapir & murphy

and the executioner by don pendleton

Forty Men in a Boat by A.T. Balls

A real classic this .....

In reply to JohnBull

Yuh higle nuh rass yuh kno.....

In reply to BallOil

If you liked the "Kama Sutra"

You may want to try

The Perfumed Garden
of the Shaykh Nefwazi
Translated by Sir Richard Burton
[1886]

I don't know if this was said before but man, i thought west indian men don't read. Then again, most of you aren't west indians anymore.

In reply to jen

nahh...my dad used to read alot....even more than me i would say...and i read alot

my mom said that even when he went to take the cows to backdam he had a book...rice field he had a book..school he had a book/..non text
i guess i turned out the same way

In reply to eXodus fair enough mate, it's in your genes i reckon.

In reply to eXodus
Have you ever read books by Rohinton Mistry? Good author.

In reply to eXodus

Who could forget "Mack Bolan"...very interesting this reading list of yours. Very broad taste in reading...good stuff.

I guess you also read the Nick Carter series as well?

In reply to jen

It is safe to say then, that you are assuming that most or all who are posting on this thread are West Indian men? Common make a contribution to the thread. Recommend a book.

In reply to JimBob

Here is a list of my favorites:

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine (Jungian psychology) by Robert Moore, Douglas Gillette

The Varieties of Scientific Experience - Carl Sagan

Guns Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond

The Journey of Man - Spencer Wells


2884-Ixodia Escape by T.A. Sankar

In reply to JimBob

entire nick carter series
he was coooooll


and who can forget ian fleming's james bond

i read pretty much anything with writing on it

i've been known to read 4-6 books per day

Reading and Writing About Short Fiction by Edward Proffitt


this is a very interesting book we're using for short story writing in school atm

the stories are well....short

but they're quite vivid and interesting

particularly The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick
reminds me of a book i read a long time ago
night by eli weisel

if you check those

you could also check 2 other books

day and dawn both by eli weisel

the wasteland by alan paton

a short story set in apartheid south africe

he has a book with a collection of these it seems

i'll look it up and post it

"Holy War" by Karen Armstrong.

Are your Children Playing with Lucifer's Testicles: The Truth about Easter Eggs - Dr. Daniel Cameroon

Tampons: Satan's Little Cotton Fingers – Sister Taffy Crockett

Nancy Boy Chrissy, the Bed Wetting Sissy – Fred Deacon

In reply to JohnDoe

treasure island & kidnapped - r. l stevenson

In reply to eXodus

Blimey! Two of my all time favorites.

In reply to JimBob

those were some of the books i read as a much younger person..

around ages 8-11 when i really developed a voracious appetite for readion, we lived in the countryside so there wasn't much to do...fortunately for me...i had a hugeeeeeeeeee cabinet full of books so i started

treasure island was one of my first books ever read...kidnapped came a bit after
i remember sitting down with my dad's oxford unabridged dictionary while reading sumtimes to figure out some of the words

later on we moved to the city and i discovered the National Library, as well as a series called Modern Classics...this was really old classics in a condensed/abridged format in large print [yipeeee for me ]

here's a few that i can remember:

black beauty, moby dick, oliver twist, tom sawyer, huckleberry finn, Mutiny on the hms bounty, the tale of 2 cities, the count of monte cristo, the red badge of courage, great expectations, david copperfield, black beauty..and lots of otherst that i can't remember right now


p.s

i don't know if i mentioned these before
these were books that i read at one point and did analysis on later on in life
voltaire's candide, the seagull - anton chekov, doctor zhivago - boris pasternak


p.p.s
john steinbeck wrote quite a few good books
e.g the red pony, the pearl, adventures with charley..etc

p.p.p.s

i could probably go on and on and on about reading books

In reply to JimBob

The Post American World by Fareed Zakaria

The One that Got Away by Chris Ryan

In reply to eXodus

I cannot take book recommendations from somebody who loves J.K. Rowling's books about that depraved homosexual Harry Potter.

The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez.

In reply to JimBob
Get a coppy of 'Dancing in the dust' by Molope, Kagiso...a very good read.

In reply to JimBob

That's my favorite Gabo novel. Not near to as popular as 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' or even 'Love in the Time of Cholera'...but a technically brilliant virtuoso writing. Probably his angriest too.

Among Latin American writers, I like everything by Borges. And most by Vargas Llosa and Fuentes. I have read only a few by Julio Cortazar and Alvaro Mutis.

Vargas Llosa particularly has a very wide range -- from the social-sexual comedy of 'Aunt Julia and the scriptwriter' to the historical-political novels 'The War of the End of the World' set in post-slavery 19th century Brazil and 'The Feast of the Goat' about Trujilo and his assasination.

'Feast of the Goat' and 'The Autumn of the Patriarch' have some thematic similarities...though the perspective and executions are very different.

The died-young but prolific Chilean writer Roberto Bolano also is a fascinating read. I highly recommend 'The Savage Detectives' and any of his many short story collections.

In reply to JimBob
Do you like any of the English satirists (a limited description) of the twentieth century?
Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell or Kingsley Amis? I was introduced to these writers through my childhood love for P.G.Wodehouse. Recently re-read 'The Decline and Fall' and 'Lucky Jim'...screamingly funny!

In reply to JohnDoe

simple question
if someone else recommends the books above, you'd read them ?

you're most probably senior to me...so i'll give you the respect you deserve

can you explain though... why you call him a depraved homosexual?
is it a religious thing against the use of magic in a book?
is it blasphemous ?
if so...why limit it to just j.k rowling...why not anne rice, stephen king, j.r toliken, t.a barron [the author of the lost years of merlin series],and others [which i will mention later if this debate continues]...not as well known as these


i may pass my place reminding you of this but....remember the case of the catholic church vs galileo on the earth being heliocentric versus geocentric

as such...don't close your mindset...open it
you'll notice alot more

i have nothing against religion...especially the christian religion
one of the dearest,sweetest, most treasured ladies in my life; my second mother i could call her..is a christian pastor

p.s this wasn't meant to offend you in any way. this is a just a debate on opposing views and i hope this debate continues...i'll look forward to your reply

In reply to eXodus

You ask how do I know Harry Potter is a depraved homosexual???

Well first off he's English!!!

Furthermore, when he lives with his dreadful Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, he sleeps "in the closet."

As Harry becomes more attuned to his satanic powers, he comes "out of the closet" and befriends Hagrid, an old biker "bear" of lascivious intentions.

If there is any question that Harry is a homo, it is settled once and for all when he flees the home of his Muggle foster family, the Dursleys.

What is the first thing he does???

He goes shopping!!!

Making the rounds at the exclusive boutiques of Diagon Alley Outlet Mall, Harry picks out flamboyant accessories for a foppish wardrobe full of ludicrous flowing gowns and hats.

Like all Nancy-Boys, he becomes fascinated with 11-inch cylindrical objects he can hold in his hand and spends much time flying around with a pole wedged between the cheeks of his bottom.

Once Harry arrives at Hogwarts, he is free to begin an unbroken daisy chain of homosexual liaisons.

Fortunately, explicit details of the frantic buggery that is endemic at all British boarding schools is mercifully left out of the books.

But this does not mean that Harry doesn't devote shocking attention to finding other homosexuals to pair off with.

If you think I am making this up, I direct your attention to page 171 of the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, for the brazen matchmaking exploits of young British homosexuals:

Yes, it is utterly shameless!!!

When not plotting same-sex trysts, Harry is busy disobeying adults as he prowls around the forbidden hallways of Hogwarts at night, hoping to catch adults in compromising situations.

Harry Potter is simply one in a long line of liberal establishment vehicles intended to lure impressionable children astray with subtle and sometimes not too subtle imagery.

In reply to subaltern

I could not have said that any better. Superb bit of writing.

Subaltern - you have some impressive range of reading.

I have not read 'The Savage Detectives'; now that you recommended it, I am bound to get me a copy. Thanks and keep them coming.

In reply to JohnDoe


sir ...this is one of the weakest arguments i've ever heard


i'll tell you why

1.

2.

3.

this is only 3 points ...there's a lot more ;)

1. if i'm to follow this statement...i would infer that.....all englishmen are homosexuals ?

that's a false premise ;) for as such...we'd be calling all the members of the english cricket team homosexuals

2. you need to read the book to understand there properly the circumstances in which he was forced to live in the closet under the stairs....the phrase in the closet doesn't always refer to being a 'closet' homosexual ..if so we'd be calling R. Kelly a homo

3. now....have you ever seen a child from the countryside visit the city... then maybe you'll understand this...also... i want you to read this story... the shawl by cynthia ozick ..then you may understand the theme "deprivation of basic physical/emotional needs"..the character in that story didn't have a chance of attending to those basic needs...she then regressed into a somewhat childish state at the end...but i'm straying...
any deprived child....having found out that he's richer than his best dreams ever were would go on a spree [the clothes he bought are a norm in his society also ;)]..as a matter of fact...ask any current hip hop star/strugggling upcoming artiste or any individual who has worn cast off clothes that's not their size...what's the first thing they do when they recieve an advance?

p.s you're letting your religion dictate you...which is good i suppose..but i bring you back to Galileo vs Church ;)

some books are meant to be read as books...and books only


p.p.s do you know where i can get a list of books banned by the Church ?

In reply to eXodus

ROTFLMAO at your thoughtful and polite response.

Anyway, the fact is that anal sex is as common in England as a handshake in the United States.

The practice of having male go up into male is so endemic on that rainy little island that its inhabitants have taken to telling strangers "bugger off" when the buggery, which is ordinarily expected whenever two males meet, has been called off unexpectedly.

More on Harvey Potter later.

BTW, did you know that the J.K. in J.K Rowling stands for Jesus Killer!!!

In reply to JohnDoe

welll..whadda ya kno...you learn sumptin new everyday...

what do you think of j.r tolkien's books?

In reply to eXodus

The relationship between Frodo and Sam, mirrors the strained homosexual relationship between Tolkien and his English lover, Theologian, C.S. Lewis.

In reply to JohnDoe

and your views of c.s lewis and the fact that aslan was said to be a caricature of christ ;)

Thread, JimBob is looking for you

In reply to tops

Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles! How did you pull that off? Your search skills rival that of MGL Thanks Bro...much appreciated!

Okay, now that the thread is back up (must remember to keep it alive). Here is a new recommendation.

All the news about Iran, made me pull this one off the shelf for another read.

"All The Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer - it covers the 1953 CIA led coup.

In reply to tops

i was too lol

stephen king's the shining, salem's lot & carrie




p.s books that i should be reading but am not....maybe you guys wanna check them out


Planning, Implementing, And Maintaining A Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory
Infrastructure (exam 70-294) (Pkg text and lab book)
by Microsoft Learning, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN#978-0-470-06892-2

Gibson, D.L., T.G. Murphy et al. All About Law - Exploring the Canadian Legal System, 5th Edition,. ON: Nelson Publishing.

CCNA: Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide: Exam 640-802,6th edition
by Todd Lammle, Sybex(John Wiley & Sons), ISBN#978-0-470-11008-9

In reply to eXodus

If you like Stephen King's work, then you should try Clive Barker's "Books of Blood".

In reply to JimBob

will check it this weekend

In reply to JimBob
Did you read any of Tagore's literature or VS Naipaul? Post office for example.

Some of the new books

Interpreter of Maladies
the white tiger
The god of small things
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
A Fine Balance
Water

Currently reading "Four saints and an angel" by Barbadian author
Dr.Ronald Williams.

Very good book.

In reply to Internationalfan
Tagore was a prolific writer -- poems, songs, novels, short stories, essays -- and except for some collection of poems he remains poorly translated. I have read most of his works in original Bengali. Generally in west whenever he is talked about the spiritual aspects of his writing is overly stressed (his inimitable Vedanta-meets-Sufi wisdom is indeed strikingly original), his sharp eye for social and political malaise, his wit and witticisms, and his genuine and profound concern for mankind are easily forgotten.



It seems that you are rather fond of the current group of Indian writers in English. Rushdie, especially early Rushdie though Enchantress of Florence was great too, remains the best of them. The Lahiris and the Rays and the Adigas are rather lightweight stuff. Rohinton Mistry and especially his Dickensian epic A Fine Balance is a great read. Some other authors you may want to try (if you haven't yet): Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee (especially his debut 'English August: An Indian Story').

Have you ever read any Nirad C. Chaudhury? Politically he was a bit like Naipaul, colonial apologist and all but not at all dismissive and hypocritical like Sir Vidia...but he wrote magnificent prose. Try 'Autobiography of an Unknown Indian' or 'Thy Hand, Great Anarch!'.

In reply to JimBob
Talking about Iran, do you plan to read Shahriar Mandanipour's new postmodern novel about the impossibility of writing a real novel of love in modern day Iran: 'Censoring an Iranian Love Story'? I am reading and hearing mixed reviews about it.

That reminds me of highly recommending the great postmodernist master from Turkey -- Orhan Pamuk. 'My Name is Red' and 'Snow' are by now very well known in the west. But some of his earlier works like 'The Black Book' or 'The New Life' are enchanting and unnerving at the same time.

In reply to subaltern
I like old school not the new once. I have read some new once but still like the old epics. Nirad C chaudary, RK narayan etc.. are taught as part of our ciriculum.

In reply to Internationalfan

I have read both Tagore and Naipaul. On the newbie's... I have only read Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation, I will check out the others. Keep them coming.

In reply to subaltern

Totally agree with you on Naipaul and yes, early Rushdie work is his best.

Have to admit, I am envious that you could consume Tagore in Bengali. People like me have to deal with poor translations. Thanks again, and those recommendations and comments coming.

In reply to subaltern

Post an update when you have finished reading this one. I am interested on your take.

In reply to eXodus
Check your pm.

In reply to tops

did ...sent a reply too

In reply to eXodus

victor canning - the runaways

The Attack - Yasmina Khadra

Has anybody mentioned RENEGADE by Richard Wolffe.I just started it and find it fascinating.

In reply to nevavex

the flight of the grey goose - victor canning


p.s


does anyone have this book

the painted tent also by victor canning

this is the third book in the series

the first two being the runaways and the flight of the grey gooses

Tom Sawyer - good book.

Mark Twain A Life by Ron Power.

BUMP

dan brown - deception point

Any football (soccer) fans? a good book, "Keane, the autobiography" Author: Keane, Roy 1971-; Dunphy, Eamon.
The life story of the Irish footballer who played with Nottingham Forest then became the captain of Manchester United.

Another very good read is: "You guys are history!"
Author: Malcolm, Devon.
'Malcolm reflects on his early years in cricket, in his teens, as his family moved to England from his home in the Caribbean, and how this raw fast bowler was put through his paces in the Yorkshire League.'

This one I highly recommend. As you know, Devon Malcolm went on to play cricket for England, he talked of the politics, life on tour with the England team, confrontation with batsmen (including Viv Richards) and lots of very interesting things.

A Walk in the Woods' by Bill Bryson

"The art of wrist spin bowling" by Peter Philpott is amazing. We should get a copy and send to those West Indian players. it's mainly about wrist spinners but there's loads in their to tell you how to up your game and mentally too.

In reply to JimBob
Not that much impressed but you can read "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found" and give your view.

Danny Boyle after the global success of Slumdog Millionaire bought the rights for making a movie.