Well, (comparing the cat to god) At least the cat cleaned up after the chaos he caused, and left the kids alone. Tee Hee Hee
Great Books Thread
by Open mind 119 Replies latest social entertainment
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sweet pea
Awaken The Giant Within - Anthony Robbins (anything you want to do is possible, yes I've done the hot coals walk!)
Mutant Message From Down Under (very spiritual, thought provoking, read it in an hour)
Perfume - Patrick Suskind (bizarre, not seen the film as the book was too amazing to spoil)
Love In The Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (great love story)
In Search of Christian Freedom (sorry, know you didn't want this one but it's too important to me) -
Mulan
Most of the books listed so far, are a bit highbrow for me. I have a hard time with "established" literature. I find it so dull, it puts me to sleep. Maybe I have ADD.
The books I have loved over the years are, and I read a lot!:
Hawaii, by James Michener (read it many times)
Centenniel, also by Michener
The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown
All of the Nora Roberts books I can get my hands on..............okay, they are fluff, but very entertaining reading.
Most of Daniel Silva's books (can't recall the titles)
Grisham books, all of them
Memoirs of a Geisha
Nicholas and Alexandra (read this one about 35 years ago, or more............non-fiction about Russia's last Czar and his wife)
Saving Graces, biography of Elizabeth Edwards (John's wife)
A Mighty Heart, by Marianne Pearl (biography)
Leap of Faith, by Queen Noor of Jordan, biography
All of Patricia Cornwell's books (especially the ones featuring Kay Scarpetta)
The Other Boleyn Girl, by Phillippa Gregory (about Ann Boleyn's sister, Mary)
The Constant Princess, also by Phillippa Gregory (about Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife)
The ones that had the most impact on me in recent years were The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine (made me finally realize the Bible is nothing special) and The Christ Conspiracy that made me realize that all religions are the same, and almost all have the same beliefs and origins
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Lady Liberty
Of Course, "Crisis of Conscience", "Sign of the Last Days, When" by Carl Olof Jonsson, and I was just referred to a book yesterday entitled "1984" (my parents have read it and have said it was excellent).
Sincerely,
Lady Liberty
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Gregor
Steinbeck has been well represented here and rightly so. "The Grapes of Wrath" story of the Joad family odyssey was very close to the story of my maternal family during the 1930's.
"The Good Earth" Pearl Buck. Similar theme to the above but a completely different culture.
"Your Erroneous Zones" Wayne Dyer. Just what I needed to read at that time. Now seems elementary.
William Manchesters 3 vol. "Lion..." bio of Winston Churchill. Was one of the most interesting, flawed, and inspiring people I've ever read about.
Light reading, can't beat Michael Connelly.
Just started "Einstein". I'm hooked after only 50 pages.
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Amber Rose
I've been reading the Dancing Wu Li Masters. People compare it to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence which I read part of but found extremely boring. I didn't get the point of it. To whomever said they enjoyed that book would you explain why. Maybe if I heard someone else's perspective I could appreciate the book.
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Open mind
Mulan:
I have a hard time with "established" literature. I find it so dull, it puts me to sleep.
I'll drink to that. In fact, IMHO, books & wine have this in common: You like what you like. I'm willing to try something new (or established) but I won't continue to waste time, taste buds or brain cells on something I don't care for. Although I think I will give a little extra effort to some titles that keep coming up on this thread.
I'm impressed you've made it through Michener's stuff. A lot of folks won't even pick him up when they see how thick the book is. I made it about 1/4 of the way through Hawaii. Maybe I'll try it again. I'll never forget his speculative scene where the first polynesians sailing northward first noticed the "North Star" sitting still just above the horizon. It never dawned on me how that would have really been a mind blower for them since every star they had ever seen "moved".
Nice list.
Open Mind
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Open mind
Amber Rose:
People compare it to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence which I read part of but found extremely boring. I didn't get the point of it.
I'll explain Zen & the Art...if you'll explain your avatar. That is Alex Trebek w/no shirt, right?
Actually I can't explain Zen & the Art... right now. It's been years since I read it. I think I might give it a go again. It's interesting to see how the passage of time affects our view of books, movies, etc. Some books are just what we need at the time, like Gregor mentioned above. Zen & the Art....was good for me at the time.
BTW, I'm currently reading "The God Delusion" and enjoying it immensely. Problem is I can only read it covertly at work. No way at home with dubbies and it's almost as bad at work with a fair amount of Born Againers in management running around who actually bad mouth agnostics & atheists. I'll save that fight for another day.
Open Mind -
Seeker4
I must also say that Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was another big influence on me.
Considering that it is not necessarily about either Zen or motorcycle maintenance, I'd say its appeal is to the philosophical concept of quality as a guiding principle in life. Pirsig also used fiction to get across complex ideas, which is very appealing. I tried to read it once, got 50 pages in and couldn't finish. The next time I tried, I was hooked. I've read it a few times since. Get the 25th anniversary edition. Pirsig's new intro in that edition is VERY helpful.
With Henry Miller, it wasn't his Tropics books that I enjoyed so much, though the opening couple of paragraphs in one of them puts in a nutshell what I'm talking about (I'll try to find the quote). My favorite is the one I listed, which draws from all of his work. The favorite Miller book for many is The Colossus of Maroussi, a book about his travels in Greece. It was Miller's personal favorite.
Miller can be an acquired taste, and he is very much misunderstood. Someone who really "got" Miller was Erica Jong, and her The Devil at Large, about Miller, is excellent.
S4