[O.T.] Book Recommendations?

brianormond · Post by **brianormond** » Sat May 03, 2003 9:35 pm

-"A Confederacy Of Dunces"- A funny tale of a spoiled, sheltered mama's boy forced to make his own way by fed-up Mom in New Orleans. -Forced to make himself useful, a hot dog stand and a pants factory become the venues through which young Ignatius J. Reilly inflicts himself on the world. The story is funny and compassionate toward its flawed characters. It is the only book written by John Kennedy Toole, who, sadly, committed suicide in 1969. Submitted to the publisher out of his effects, it has become a huge hit.

-"Tyll Ulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" -Pre-industrial German/Flanders tales of a quick-witted jester with a talent for humbling the haughty, ripping off the rapacious and making the world a better place. "Ulenspiegel" translates as "Owl and Mirror", the very logo of Tyll, a winking owl gripping a mirror. One always wants the cons perpetrated by Tyll to succeed.

-Mark Helprin's "Winters Tale" - An uneven but entertaining story of an Irish burglar/safecracker in New York through several generations, his mythical white horse, insanity, sacrifice and pursuit by the "Short Tail" gang. Some fantasy, but balanced out by many other elements. Interesting for its attention to historic New York, flowering of the industrial age, and religious and existential metaphor. -A little heavy for "light reading", but inventive and descriptive enough of place and culture to reward a reader's attention.-This one kept me tuned in through a round-trip Seattle-Detroit train journey-purchased at a used book store no less.

-"Made in America" by Bill Bryson- A witty trip through the American lexicon, with countless diversions down side roads of American words and expressions, and a de facto history of American cultural, social, economic and industrial change.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Sat May 03, 2003 9:49 pm

brianormond wrote:-"A Confederacy Of Dunces"- A funny tale of a spoiled, sheltered mama's boy forced to make his own way by fed-up Mom in New Orleans. -Forced to make himself useful, a hot dog stand and a pants factory become the venues .....

Yes! this is an excellent book!!!!! I have read it several times. It is absolutely amazing! If you choose this one, be sure to read the preface where the publisher tells of how the book actually came to be published. The author is John Kennedy Toole. He only wrote two books before he died (very young). I love the filing system that Ignatious devises and refer to it with my mom on a regular basis. She read it too and we work together.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Sat May 03, 2003 10:04 pm

The part where Charlie, descending again into
retardation, hears the beautiful scientist who loves him
and he loves passionately come to his door--she beats on it
desperately, trying to get in, but he won't open it.
After a long time she goes away. If 'sad' isn't
the right word, I'd substitute 'heart rending.'

Yes, A Confederacy of Dunces is especially
delightful to those of us who lived in New Orleans.

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Sat May 03, 2003 11:30 pm

I'll add my name to the list of those praising "A Confederacy of Dunces." A work of pure genius.

I also recently read "I Know this Much is True," by Wally Lamb. I resisted this book for a long time because it was one of the Oprah's book club selections, but a friend basically insisted that I read it. It is truly compelling.

Mostly I like historical fiction and hard boiled, noir-ish crime stuff. James Ellroy manages to combine the two in "American Tabloid" and its sequel, "The Cold Six Thousand." Plus he writes like Raymond Chandler on meth.

John Connolly is an Irishman who somehow writes American crime fiction. He has three novels out, and they are all excellent. You need a strong stomach for it, though. His protagonist is always chasing serial killers.

You can't go wrong with Don DeLillo (especially "White Noise", "Libra" or "Underworld"). I also enjoy Richard Russo, who writes in a lighter vein than most of my other favorites.

Write us a review when you're all done, Walden!

Happy Reading,

Jim

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Sun May 04, 2003 12:08 am

I'll add a hearty second to "A Winter's Tale" (gorgeous book!), and to ANYTHING by Bill Bryson. "Mother Tongue" is kind of a prequel to "Made in America" (it deals with the evolution of English, and is both hilarious and enlightening). Any of his travel books make for fascinating reading (and lots of laughs)..."irreverently affectionate" is how I'd describe his style.

Redwolf

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Sun May 04, 2003 5:15 am

Did anyone know that Danny Carnahan writes fiction? Does anyone know who Carnahan is? He's a fiddler/ zoukist/guitarist who made some recordings with dulcimer player Robin Petrie. I've never read his stuff and haven't seen it at the local bookstores. Has anyone read any of it? Here's a link
http://www.dannycarnahan.com/writing/novels.html
Here's what it says about his books:

"Death Dances in Jig Time and Fortune Turns the Wheel are Danny's first two mystery novels starring San Francisco Irish fiddler Niall Sweeney (known to his friends simply as Sweeney) and his literature professor wife Rose. A third novel in the series, With His Dying Breath, is nearing completion."

Steve

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun May 04, 2003 2:40 pm

SteveK wrote:Did anyone know that Danny Carnahan writes fiction? Does anyone know who Carnahan is? He's a fiddler/ zoukist/guitarist who made some recordings with dulcimer player Robin Petrie. I've never read his stuff and haven't seen it at the local bookstores. Has anyone read any of it? Here's a link
Steve

I didn't know he wrote fiction, but I LOVE some of his music. IMO, his best work was with Chris Caswell, flute/whistle/bodhran player extraordinaire (I'm not crazy about his piping, it may be extraordinaire, too, though). I still think their two albums, only available from Chris directly now, are among the best I've ever heard. It's mostly trad stuff, but they wrote a few songs, dances, and airs; I think their compositions are as traditional-sounding as Silly Wizard's.

Carnahan and Petrie did one album that I really love (I like most of their stuff, but without a passion) on which the material sounds an awful lot like Richard and Linda Thompson (Danny wrote most of it).

Richard Farina was another musician and songwright who wrote a novel, "Been down so long it looks like up to me" (on which the Doors song was based). Not one for you, Walden, depressing, full of sex and drugs, but still hilarious and very well-written. He died on the way home from the publication party.

I'll have to check out Danny's books. Now, though, I'm off to listen to Caswell-Carnahan.

elendil · Post by **elendil** » Sun May 04, 2003 4:20 pm

light, humorous fiction? you can't do better than p. g. wodehouse (uh, oh--i hope turner doesn't see me recommending such an english author!). the jeeves books are great, but my personal favorites are the mulliner stories and the drones club stories: try 'young men in spats.'

Conley · Post by **Conley** » Sun May 04, 2003 4:29 pm

James Herriott's All Creatures Great and Small series- great stories, great humor, probably the best characterization I've ever read. I love these books.

Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles-Fantastic historical fiction! Really amazing. Not light reading, but oh my goodness...worth it! Serious page turners, these six books.

-PG Wodehouse is hilarious! Try him on tape, especially Jeeves and Wooster. Oh my.... LOL just thinking about it.

-Cran! I adore the Blue Day Book! My children and I laugh over it all the time. So sweet. It also makes a great gift.

-Terry Pratchett and Discworld. These books were recommended to me by a dear friend, but when I saw Pratchett's mega-shelf of flourescent colored books at the library, I thought, "This is not my thing." Then I read the inside cover of The Hogfather and immediately thought, "This is definitely my thing." Very clever, very funny. Here's an excerpt from Soul Music:

"The question seldom addressed is WHERE Medusa had snakes. Underarm hair is an even more embarrassing problem when it keeps biting the top of the deoderant bottle."

-Winter's Tale, as mentioned above, was fascinating. Strange story, but incredibly written. It's been a while, but I remember thinking WOW a lot.

-Anyone read His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman?

fatveg · Post by **fatveg** » Sun May 04, 2003 4:48 pm

Conley wrote:-Anyone read His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman?

Oh yes. Don't be put off by the fact that these are 'targeted' at teenagers, these three (The Golden Compass(*), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) are absolutely fantastic reading, and totally gripping, and I've beaten every adult friend I have into reading them and they all love them.

Pullman has also written lots of shorter, lighter books for kids that are delightful.

My favorite Terry Pratchett/Discworld quote is:

He was the sort of person who stood on mountaintops during thunderstorms in wet copper armour shouting "All the Gods are b*****ds."

'Veg

(GC was called 'Northern Lights' when first published in the UK).

Conley · Post by **Conley** » Sun May 04, 2003 9:42 pm

Fatveg! You've read them! I just finished and oh my goodness...that trilogy is one of the strangest most out there things I've ever read. It really surprised me. All the way through. Brilliant though, I mean, how does the man come up with these things? I've also just finished the second book in the Sally Lockhart trilogy, but my library doesn't have the third which I find lame to the extreme. I have a love hate relationship with my library. Also with E-bay, but I digress. Would you mind if I PMed you about Dark Materials or you all talked out about them?

Here's another Pratchett quote. There are so many good ones, I can't resist:

"It's important to remember that the creatures of the night aren't simply the people of the day staying up late because they think that makes them cool and interesting. It takes more than heavy mascara and a pale complexion to cross the divide."

Ah, Pratchett. A bit dark for my tastes, but still...highly entertaining.

LimuHead · Post by **LimuHead** » Sun May 04, 2003 9:52 pm

Have you ever read any of, the late, Douglas Adams' books? He started
out with the 4 book trilogy (yes a 4 book trilogy!) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and wrote a few more books before his untimely death. He was an extremely entertaining writer.

Thanks for asking your question and reminding me of his writing. I'm going to pull all of his books out of the bookshelf again for another re-re-re-read. (They are THAT good -- AND FUNNY!)

lilymaid · Post by **lilymaid** » Mon May 05, 2003 3:38 pm

I just picked up Saint Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton. I've only read the first chapter, but I'm in love with it. It's not amusing or anything, just beautiful.

What made me fall in love with it was, when talking about Francis recieving stigmata, he called them “the unhealed everlasting wounds that heal the world.”

Ron Rowe · Post by **Ron Rowe** » Mon May 05, 2003 3:52 pm

For something just FLAT OUT FUNNY, try Pope Patrick by Peter De'Rossa,
for something funny, yet sad and bittersweet try Forever or Snow in August by Pete Hamill

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon May 05, 2003 4:30 pm

Two that I can recommend as being hilarious are 'Good Omens' by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and 'Big Trouble' by Dave Barry.

To get an idea about Good Omens, check out the customer reviews at amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

Here's the tag on the back cover:

We hear the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. Unfortunately, Sister Mary Loquacious of the Chattering Order has misplaced the Antichrist. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles. And the representatives from Heaven and Hell have decided they actually like the human race...

And here's the first page:

It was a nice day.
All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn't been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one.
The angel of the Eastern Gate put his wings over his head to shield himself from the first drops.
"I'm sorry," he said politely, "What was it you were saying?"
"I said, that one went down like a lead balloon," said the serpent.
"Oh. Yes," said the angel, whose name was Aziraphale.
"I think it was a bit of an overreaction, to be honest," said the serpent. "I mean, first offense and everything. I can't see what's so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil, anyway."
"It must be bad," reasoned Aziraphale, in the slightly concerned tones of one who can't see it either, and is worrying about it, "otherwise you wouldn't have been involved."
"They just said, Get up there and make some trouble," said the serpent, whose name was Crawly, although he was thinking of changing it now. Crawly, he'd decided, was not him.
"Yes, but you're a demon. I'm not sure if it's actually possible for you to do good," said Aziraphale. "It's down to your basic, you know, nature. Nothing personal, you understand."

Big Trouble was made into a mediocre movie with Tim Allen, but don't let that stop you. It's a book my mom, dad, brother and I passed around and all of us laughed our heads off. Here's the Amazon page for it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... ct-details