Right now I'm reading

[Wild Bill]

Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

[Grandpa's Spells]

Excession by Ian Banks. Not quite feeling the series but I'd read a couple others after recommendations that were good. Don't generally read sci fi.

[Fat Cat]

Juggs by M M Publications, Ltd.

[Wild Bill]

"Last of the Breed" by Louis L'Amour
I was fan of Louis L`Amour before i stumbled on this book :(
Hard tot believe it is the same author, some stupid variant of "Rambo" with caricature Russians :)

I wish i never met this book :))

[vern]

Rereading "Class" by Paul Fussell. A great book about the US status system.

[vern]

"Last of the Breed" by Louis L'Amour
I was fan of Louis L`Amour before i stumbled on this book :(
Hard tot believe it is the same author, some stupid variant of "Rambo" with caricature Russians :)

I wish i never met this book :))

Damn Wild Bill, I remember reading that thirty years ago. I agree that it was pretty lousy.

[Fat Cat]

Unleashing the Wild Physique: Ultimate Bodybuilding for Men and Women by Robert Kennedy and Vince Gironda

[JimZipCode]

I was fan of Louis L`Amour before...

I read a shit-ton of L'Amour when I was a teenager. Very often would re-read them over the years; the literary equivalent of a can of Pringles maybe, or a package of Girl Scout Cookies. I know they're not "good"; but sometimes they're exactly what you want.

The 10 best Louis L'Amour westerns:
(by pub date)

• Westward the Tide (London, 1950; first US publication 1976)
• To Tame a Land (1955)
• The Daybreakers (1960)
• Flint (1960) **
• Sackett (1961) **
• Fallon (1963)
• The Key-Lock Man (1965)
• Down the Long Hills (1968) — L'Amour's only Golden Spur Award from the Western Writers of America
• Reilly's Luck (1970) **
• Fair Blows the Wind (1978)

**Top 3.

I once read an interesting essay by a guy named Jon Tuska, the foreward to a collection of L'Amour's stories. L'Amour of course got his start selling stories in the pulp magazine era. Tuska said there was an episode where L'Amour committed some very basic failure of professionalism — I forget the details, but he neglected to do some routine clerical thing that would enable him to retain or extend the copyright on his published stories — and he basically lost copyright to all his stories, prematurely. This was the reason behind his huge output of slim little novels. He took each of his "long stories" and expanded it into a novel, changed some names or some plot details, and just cranked that shit out. He was sort of hurrying to reclaim his intellectual property or something. Tuska said that the original (magazine) stories usually were much better than the later novel version. I wouldn't know; but that would make sense, and it would explain the hasty/sloppy character of a lot of his writing.

But damn I have enjoyed some of his books very much.

[JimZipCode]

Consequence, by Eric Fair. He was a contractor sent to Iraq to interrogate prisoners. He worked at Abu Ghraib.

I checked this out of the library, and read the preface or intro or whatever. Was intrigued.

Then my wife stole it from me, and she's been reading it for the last week or so. She says it's good.

[Wild Bill]

The 10 best Louis L'Amour westerns:
(by pub date)

• Westward the Tide (London, 1950; first US publication 1976)
• To Tame a Land (1955)
• The Daybreakers (1960)
• Flint (1960) **
• Sackett (1961) **
• Fallon (1963)
• The Key-Lock Man (1965)
• Down the Long Hills (1968) — L'Amour's only Golden Spur Award from the Western Writers of America
• Reilly's Luck (1970) **
• Fair Blows the Wind (1978)

**Top 3.

Hard for me to say wich i read, because most of his books i read in Russian, and they often changed title.
For example "To Tame a Land" in russian translate was "The gunfighter."
But i surely read those
[*] To Tame a Land (1955)
[*] Flint (1960) **
[*] Sackett (1961) **
[*] Fallon (1963)
[*] Down the Long Hills (1968)
[*] Fair Blows the Wind (1978)

And lot of others in russian.

Fair Blows the Wind i read in English (ordered printed book)

I would add some others to top list, but tastes are differ :)

But damn I have enjoyed some of his books very much.

True word! :)

[Wild Bill]

Well... shame to admit, i started "The Doom Brigade" (Dragonlance: Kang's Regiment #1).
And even more shame that i like it so far :)

[Fat Cat]

Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece by Stephen Fry

[Fat Cat]

Also, just finished...

Be Fit! Or be Damned! by Percy Cerutty

[JohnDoe]

Finished Jonathan Franzen's 'The Corrections' a week ago.

Just finished Cormac McCarthy's 'All the Pretty Horses' last night.

[JimZipCode]

Finished Jonathan Franzen's 'The Corrections' a week ago.

I liked that a lot. I fucking loved "Freedom".

Purity was amazing, but the Annabelle section was so tough to read that I dropped the book for like six months or a year. Very, very glad I finished it though. It was excellent.

[JimZipCode]

Pops by Michael Chabon. Essays on dadhood. The first one, about his fashion maven teenage son, is great.

[JohnDoe]

Finished Jonathan Franzen's 'The Corrections' a week ago.

I liked that a lot. I fucking loved "Freedom".

Purity was amazing, but the Annabelle section was so tough to read that I dropped the book for like six months or a year. Very, very glad I finished it though. It was excellent.

Good to know.

[Fat Cat]

The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig

[Sangoma]

Zweig is an amazing author. When I was in high school I came across the collection of his short stories. They haunted me for weeks.

[Fat Cat]

Zweig is an amazing author. When I was in high school I came across the collection of his short stories. They haunted me for weeks.

You know I wish I could agree but I find him to be a terrible bore. I'm pushing on, but I won't be rushing back. I guess what makes this book worth the effort is his evocation of fin de siècle Austro-Hungarian life and the interbellum period. He writes about a lot of interesting people, unfortunately he is not one of them. He's just too hypersensitive and priggish for me.

However, if you do like Zweig and want to try an author that is of a similar era and provenance--educated Austrian Jewry--try Ludwig Bemelmans. He's best known as a children's author but he penned a lot of great adult literature. He's everything Zweig wishes he was, a painter, author, bon vivant, and profound humanist. I suggest Hotel Bemelmans as a point of departure.

[Fat Cat]

Bronze Age Mindset by Bronze Age Pervert

The most unique book I have read a very long time, I will have to read it again as the first time through it's pretty overwhelming. I give this book my highest recommendation.

[Bram]

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This is an unfinished fantasy trilogy. It took me 4 tries to break free of the first 20 pages as I found it sluggish. But once I hit page 50 and the story truly begins, I have been hooked.

Nothing all that novel so far - a young hero and his trials, with his wins and losses along the way. But there's definite poetry in the telling of it.

[Fat Cat]

^^^I have had a few reading experiences like that, where once i finally push through an initial block I love the book.

[Sangoma]

Some books make work the whole way. Doctor Zhivago is kike that, The Mansion by Faulkner as well. The ending makes it more than worthwhile.

[Sangoma]

Zweig is an amazing author. When I was in high school I came across the collection of his short stories. They haunted me for weeks.

You know I wish I could agree but I find him to be a terrible bore. I'm pushing on, but I won't be rushing back. I guess what makes this book worth the effort is his evocation of fin de siècle Austro-Hungarian life and the interbellum period. He writes about a lot of interesting people, unfortunately he is not one of them. He's just too hypersensitive and priggish for me.

However, if you do like Zweig and want to try an author that is of a similar era and provenance--educated Austrian Jewry--try Ludwig Bemelmans. He's best known as a children's author but he penned a lot of great adult literature. He's everything Zweig wishes he was, a painter, author, bon vivant, and profound humanist. I suggest Hotel Bemelmans as a point of departure.

Ok, I will check him out. In exchange - my offering: The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil.