I have a couple months off between school and work this summer so I'm going to catch up on some of the books I need to read before I die. Problem is, I don't know what those books are. Searching the internet yields a lot of lists, obviously, but those lists don't always do a great job of explaining WHY I need to read a particular book. I'm sure this thread has been done a thousand times here but we're going to do it right this time. Here's the ground rules: -You can only recommend one book per post -You have to explain WHY I need to read the book -If you agree with someone else's recommendation, "like" it. -If you disagree with someone else's recommendation, reply to their post and explain why the book sucks Thanks and gogogogogogo
Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill It's this multigenerational cross-border historical narrative about being black, passing and miscegenation. It's about being African-American and African-Canadian and how both are intertwined.
Because I told you so and it's one of three books I genuinely enjoyed through 5 years of literature studies, undergrad and grad.
I just bought "How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and also Cocktails Ever Written", but I haven't gotten around to reading it. I've heard if you like the show, you'll like the book. That said, I'd suggest "The Machine of Death". Why should you read it? Because one day you're gonna die.
I'm like you CK (slitting wrists now), I like reading books but I have no idea what's worthwhile out there, so I won't be much help. The last book I read was From The Corner Of His Eye, a Dean Koontz novel given to me by my ex, so lol.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel, if you haven't already Because it's AWESOME, that's why. It's an amazing journey in many layers, full of symbology and ends with a twist. The first pages aren't all that, but it gets sooo much better after that. It's unique in many ways and lingers in your thoughts long after you've read it..
Jay I'm a bit disappointed, I'd figure somebody with such high tastes as yours would disavow all knowledge of having watched a film as bad as Boondock Saints.
Between this and the Final Fantasy thread, this is starting to feel like the part of the movie where the bad guy is telling me we're not so different after all, him and I, while simultaneously I must make a critical moral decision in what now appears to be a gray area.
Life of Pi was terrible. It started off alright with his youth at the zoo but the rest with the boat and the island was unbearable.
Knowing your literary tastes could be helpful! I have this childish soft spot for romantic rebel books and rarely read anything else. I'm a stupid hippie dropout and you're a smart law student, so me recommending you beat literature, Harlem renaissance, Against the Grain, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater or the Thief's Journal or any book I read about drug abuse on American highways or gay sex in the 1800s will probably be unhelpful tips. Seeing as it's a "read before you die"-project, I guess cultural relevance or reception is more important than the entertainment value, but it's hard to guess what would good combination of the two for you. If you are looking for an important literary experience, I can only recommend my favorite book of all time, a medical book on depression from 1621 called The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton. You should read it because it is, to this day, the most unique book I have ever come across, and there is a fair chance you'll feel the same way. The book is a wildly chaotic and amazing collection of philosophical, scientific and (maybe accidentally) poetic approaches to human emotion, hopelessly and neatly structured as medical literature. The writer has a voice so unrecognizable and distinguished from all other books I've read. His razor sharp wit and feverish digressions take you up and around a million odd and unrelated subjects, while he insists upon maintaining over-explanatory and compulsively referential scientific arguments. To me, this contrast makes the book a magnum opus of outsider culture: slightly unintentional, beautiful, and fantastically unusual. I think you should read this book because it is important to occasionally feel surprised, impressed and aware of worlds of thought and its produce that you never knew existed. It's not art by accident, but it's not The Great Gatsby either. It's one of those accomplished and gorgeous things that just didn't go like planned, and reading this book will make you feel like history is filled with it. (While I don't think it has all that much relevance in the greater scheme of literary history, I read on wikipedia that many writers, including Keats and Beckett, site this book as a favorite. It is undoubtedly worth a read. for free here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10800)
Ade, that does sound like a good book, a thoughtful recommendation that tries to take into account your intended audience, and I would like it but I am trying to reserve "likes" for people who have actually read the book and agree. However don't you dare fucking condescend me with manufactured humility ever again.
I'm dead serious!!! no condescension no manufactured humility, I do drugs fuck people in the ass and read books about people who do drugs and fuck people in the ass while reminiscing about times I did drugs and fucked people in the ass, you go to university and have probably outgrown the romance of having an entire lifestyle based around upsetting your parents. Not addressing this difference would be impolite when recommending you something!!
Anything by Anton LaVey. Preferrably Satan Speaks or the Satanic Bible Why- Because it's the selfish smart-ass dickhead's religion/philosophy of choice. Reading it makes you ten years younger. King Diamond is into it, and King Diamond is fucking awesome.
And the Ass Saw the Angel, Nick Cave. Southern Gothic lit the voice of the main character is conveyed perfectly while not being distracting to read I like books where the lead character fancies himself an instrument of god, because it usually has some degree of derangement and is an entertaining time
