I just finished Bad Monkeys on my e-reader and am ready for something new. Future books I want to read are cryptonomicon by stephenson and cats cradle by vonnegut, anyone have anything to reccomend? I really enjoyed bad monkeys.
My all-time favorite series is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Catch-22 is pretty good, too. Honestly haven't heard of the one's you mentioned, though.
I haven't read Bad Monkeys, but the other two you listed are good, especially Cryptonomicon. Probably a dumb suggestion, but if you haven't read it you should: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter - both more serious and not than these three listed books.
Yeah maybe I'll read hitchhikers, everyone says it's awesome. I highly reccomend Bluebeard by vonnegut if you are an artist type.
House of Leaves! Get it, read it, love it. It may seem a bit gimmicky at first, but soon your mind starts to twist, and turn with the book. An absolutely amazing and refreshing experience.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is easily the best book I've ever read. It's a very difficult and dense book, so don't expect an easy fun read. House of Leaves is a book I always like to recommend. It's a complex and mind bending book, but it's still a great read. It borders on horror. The way the book plays with your brain is weird. There's a whole forum about the book where people report on the nightmares they have while reading it. It's not because it's that scary, it's because it messes with your mind when you read it. Really fascinating concept too. Good stuff.
You should, if only for cultural references. (This reminds me of a business class my wife took, one day she came home with Office Space on DVD, as she hadn't seen it and it was recommended to her for the same reason...) BTW, if you do end up enjoying HH, don't bother with the movie, check out the old TV Show instead...
already saw the movie, but people who read the book always quote the coolest stuff, that didn't make it to the movie.
Yeah, it's very dialogue-heavy, which doesn't translate well to film. Also British Comedy -> American Film is not always a good combination.
I actually like that movie, for what it is. Of course it's not as good as the book, as most movies aren't, but it was a fun movie to watch. The books are great, though. You can even pick up a book of all the old radio show's transcripts. It makes for a pretty fun read, actually.
Book discussion on TA?! Awesome. Shouldn't you be rotting your brain with Enviro-Bear 2010 or something?! You really can't go wrong with any of Kurt Vonnegut's novels. He's my favorite author. My favorite of his is Dead Eye Dick. Also recommended are: Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Vistor Gischler (Near Future Horror. At times humorous.) Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (Japanese Violence Horror. The movie is a cult hit, but the novel is great.) Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman (Superhero Lit. Evil Genius Syndrome as a medical condition. If you like comics.) The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle (Irish Lit. The Commitments? That's Doyle. A must for music fans. The other two novels included are awesome too. Really anythign by Doyle. I rank him up way up there.) The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny (Political/Espionage Fantasy Saga. A bit beefy but good.) The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (Hardboiled! Chandler is one of the greatest) The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist (Cyberpunkish. A bit heavy on Blood and Sex.)
Well, it got my wife interested in the series, which was good enough for me! Personally, I thought the best part was the opening credits & the whole "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" was a brilliant in-joke. I also thought the revamped Guide animations were terrific. It's a good move, it just isn't as good as the source material.
I'll have you know Enviro-Bear is more effective at combating medical conditions than any amount of crappy ol' stem cell research.
Beefy? These are totally awesome books, that leave more questions than it answers as you go along, but you could read them a book a night - they're short! Too bad Zelazny died before he could write more of them. Speaking about short books, everyone read Flatland now! It won't take you very long...
Oh I just thought of a good one. If you liked the movie Trainspotting, you can read the sequel Porno by Irvine Welsh. It takes place like 10 years after Trainspotting, and follows all the same characters. It's bad ass, especially if you're heavy into Trainspotting like I am. Although I never did read the actual Trainspotting book. Hmmm, I'll have to do that.
Ohhh goodie!!! Another House of Leaves fan. Just as you said I usually refer the book as horror. Not that it's inherently scary, but for the sincerely detailed sensation of madness. Edit: Why do you think "house" is always in blue? Also I love HP lovecraft, and Philip K. Dick. Chuck Palaniuk also deserves a mention.
The individual books are short but the set is 1258 (OCD, yeah!) pages. That's more than The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, so yeah, beefy. I was thinking about Flatland the other day. I picked up a copy of this and I've yet to read it. Floating around here somewhere... It's on top of my 'to read' pile now. While on the subject of Zelazny, have you ever read The Millennial Contest series? Wicked funny.
