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Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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It's nearly fall here in the UP. Even though it's over 80 degrees today, there are a few leaves changing and there's been a chill in the air in the evenings. It's dark by about 8PM now.

Each fall, I start reading classics. I was on a Doestoevsky kick for a while, along with Tolstoy. This time, I picked up a couple of John Steinbeck books at a rummage sale.

Wow! I forgot how wonderful Steinbeck was. His prose is like poetry, and the themes are deep. His characters all have a depth to them, and he probes themes like "good" and "evil". I'm reading East of Eden now, and it's much different reading it as a middle aged person that it was back in high school.

Summer time is for "beach" trash type books, and I've read my share this summer too! But what are you guys reading for fall? What's the stuff that still blows you away by how good it is?
 
I've been meaning to finish War and Peace all year, I'm about 3-4 hundred in for the last year and instead of reading I come here.
 
The Stories of John Cheever ..I found it in a thrift store for a whopping $0.50

I had lost my copy back in the 70's ..
 
I'm on my 4th checkout from the library of A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Huge waitlist for the book, so I read a hundred pages, return it, put it hold again, and a month or two later get through another hundred pages.
 
East of Eden is one of my all time favorites...

I just finished Matterhorn:A novel of the Vietnam War by Marlantes. Excellent Novel.

Started Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Howard: Not nearly as good but has some very funny lines...

"With all the good will in the world, Johannes; You're as much fun as a leper at an orgy."

response...

"Why are all your similes sexual? That always irritated me"
 
Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher
It's a wonderful resource when trying to track down those off flavors in my homebrew and elsewhere.
 
Just finished up The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury last night (one of my all time favorites.) Also finished War by Sebastian Junger a few days ago.

Up next is Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
 
One of my favorite books, I've read it 6 or 8 times and each time is like the first time.
My wife is writing a post-apocalyptic novel and it was suggested by a friend of ours that she read it. I look forward to reading it myself.

I usually like reading two different books at once and have been on a Bradbury kick lately so I think I might read Something Wicked This Way Comes as well.
 
Currently, a collection of Mark Twain's short stories, but more often "Designing Great Beers".

Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" pretty much rocked me. I read it in high school, and I remember falling asleep once just after having read a particularly paranoid portion. While I slept I had feverish dreams (similar to the protagonist's, Raskolnikov) and woke up in a cold sweat. Now that's what I call quality writing; when the book affects your physiology.
 
Steinbeck is my favorite american classic author. Not many of his stories end in what I would call a "happy ending".

Right now I am trying to finish reading all of Michael Crichton's novels. Only have one more novel to go after the one I am reading now, then the rest of his early works under pennames.
 
Jonathan Franzen just released his second big novel, Freedom. It's been getting lots of great reviews. Looking forward to reading it, since The Corrections was really, really good, I thought.

I've been really itching to read Dave Eggers' most recent book, Zeitoun, which came out a year or so ago. Hopefully in the next week or so.

This summer I actually read Wuthering Heights for the first time. Hot damn, that's a well-written book!
 
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Beer and Philosophy: The Unexamined Beer Isn't Worth Drinking, Stephen Hales.

Don't read this book if you aren't into philosophy, because other than a few lighter sections, most of the essays are seriously philosophical dialogues on beer. Unfortunately, I know its going to lead to another philosophy kick for me...
 
I'm re-reading one the best series I've ever come across. Series is called "The Prince of Nothing" by R. Scott Bakker, and the first book is "The Darkness that Comes Before". Such amazing stuff.
 
"Empire of the Summer Moon - Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History" - S.C. Gwynne

From the dust jacket:
"S.C. Gwynne's "Empire of the Summer Moon" spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches."
 
Mostly SCI-FI FANTASY stuff for me. I'm currently fighting my way through Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series. I'm on book 6, and it's the farthest I've ever gotten through. I liked the first couple of books and I'm looking forward to the last trilogy, but man, the past 2 books have been tough.

Pratchett's Discworld is one series that I enjoy reading to the kids. I love making up the voices and they are so light and humorous. And I still have my MIL's Paul McCartney biography to read at some point. or not.
 
I'm into the Stieg Larsson trilogy right now. Finished "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" recently. Almost done "The Girl Who Played with Fire." Great books but, damn, they're behemoths.
 
Jonathan Franzen just released his second big novel, Freedom. It's been getting lots of great reviews. Looking forward to reading it, since The Corrections was really, really good, I thought.

Thanks for that. The Corrections was excellent. I'll have to pick up this new one.

I'm nearly finished with Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. It's been a slow read, for sure. I'm looking forward to the end of that book ;)
 
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Just finished my master's degree in may so I spent the summer reading anything that didn't require me to cite it for my thesis. :) I read about a book a week. Mostly "beach" trash... Patterson, Cook, Chriton, Evanovich, some authors I had never heard of and can't remember their names. I have never really read any american classic so I may dig into that for the fall. I would welcome recommendations.

I just finished the Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (of the Resurrection) very good I would recommend it. It's one of the few non-beach trash book I read this summer.
 
I'm getting to the end of Stephenson's newest, anathem. It's been really good... I think I've become a fanclub member at this point
 
I'm into the Stieg Larsson trilogy right now. Finished "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" recently. Almost done "The Girl Who Played with Fire." Great books but, damn, they're behemoths.

Yep. I'm about 200 pages into the second book. Not bad, though I think the first book was somewhat overrated. The Swedish version of the movie was pretty good though.

Also, I just finished "Trout Madness" by Robert Traver. I've read it about 15 times before, but it never gets old. A must read if you like fly-fishing!
 
Been re-reading some of my favorites. Right now I'm just finishing up Stranger in a Strange Land and I have Stephen King's It up next. After that I might go back to some new (to me) stuff. Gotta love Half-Price Books to load up the pipeline.
 
The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Just finished book 1 "The Blade Itself" and just started Book 2 "Before They are Hanged"
 
Thanks for that. The Corrections was excellent. I'll have to pick up this new one.

I'm nearly finished with Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. It's been a slow read, for sure. I'm looking forward to the end of that book ;)

My son introduced me to Cormac McCarthy with The Road ...what an extraordinary book, unlike anything I have ever read...I was very satisfied with the movie as well...but the book is not for everyone for sure...

Started No Country for Old Men ...after I finish I will get the movie..
 
My wife hated The Road so much she told me not to bother reading it. I read a little bit of it and don't see what the fuss is about. I thought it was pretty poorly written.

Like you said though, not for everybody.
 
I've been reading Designing Great Beers lately. I have Sh*t my Dad Says waiting for me at the library. I just need to go pick it up.
 
Yooper, My wife just finished War and Peace, and is enjoying Dr. Zhivago. She also suggests The Brothers Karamazov, and Anna Karenina. Pretty meaty I think, good for autumn?.. I like a little less drama. Running after Antelope is quick and well written. The last American Man is interesting, and poorly written. If you like Steinbeck you probably have read some Hemmingway. To have and have not is great.

I love Walden but have never made it all the way trough. If I had to choose ten books that would be one. What about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maint. A little 70s new age, but a good story with lots of interesting editorial, and as thought provoking as you want it to be.

On the lighter side, I like Louis Lamour, Carl Haaisen, Fredrick Forsyth, John D. McDonald.

And I really love my Kindle. Have Fun!
 
I'm two classes away from a BSIT degree, (at 40) so most of my reading has been JAVA related texts.

I have a nice size piled waiting on my completion of course work, including Atlas Shrugged and the Count of Monte Carlo. First up in the list is Armor, I read it every year.
 
Once again I'm about 200 pages into Moby Dick. I find myself picking that book up at least every couple of years, it never gets old for me.

Last March, on my 51st birthday I hiked up and skied down Mt Greylock, the tallest peak in Massachusetts. It is the mountain whose snow covered slopes Melville gazed upon as he crafted his story of good and evil. You can read this book on so many different levels, as a simple adventure tale or as a dialog between man and God, fate vs choice.

I agree with you, Yoop, about how we tend to pick up 'beefier' books when the weather turns colder. It's in the low 60's and raining here this week, perfect for exercising the noggin. Time to put away the lightweight reading, pull on a sweater and air out the corners of your mind.

I just finished a history of the Elmira, NY Civil War POW camp. Everything Andersonville was and more, since it was arguably done deliberately. Very interesting read.

PTN
 
Once again I'm about 200 pages into Moby Dick. I find myself picking that book up at least every couple of years, it never gets old for me.

Melville's Moby Dick was patterned after a true, nearly forgotten story of the whaleship The Essex. You really should read In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It's a great recounting of this story, and you'll learn more about whaling than from Queequeg.

http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Sea-Tragedy-Whaleship-Essex/dp/0141001828/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282657129&sr=8-1
 
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Melville's Moby Dick was patterned after a true, nearly forgotten story of the whaleship The Essex. You really should read In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It's a great recounting of this story, and you'll learn more about whaling than from Queequeg.

There's a book that tells you even more about whaling than Moby Dick? Jeez. I mean, Melville is fantastic, but I must admit, sometimes those parts of MD bog even me down a bit ...
 
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