Repug's book of the month club

[THEINCREDIBLEdork]

All of the books in this thread are books I was assigned to read in highschool. The Oregon education system must be lacking.

[DDTempest]

Originally Posted by f3lix

DDT, use the search button before you waste my time again.

NO YOU.

[Repugnant Abomination]

Originally Posted by THEINCREDIBLEdork

All of the books in this thread are books I was assigned to read in highschool. The Oregon education system must be lacking.

You joke, but it's true. Oregon ranks near the bottom in education.

[Repugnant Abomination]

Empire Falls is a 2001 novel written by Richard Russo. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2002.

A small, fictional mill town in Maine called Empire Falls, though once booming in industry, is quickly deteriorating. Owned by the powerful Whiting family, the town can no longer sustain itself. Seen through the eyes of Miles Roby, the manager of the Empire Grill, which is also owned by Mrs. Whiting, his struggles with family, including his divorce and his teenage daughter, greatly mirror the condition of the town. His soon-to-be ex-wife Janine is going out with and preparing to marry the owner of a fitness center in town. As prospects for the town's future dwindle, the past is visited to explain Miles' history as well as those around him and the town itself.

Sounds mundane, I know, but I haven't read many books as well crafted as this one. It hums along leisurely, a nice mixture of drama and comedy, fleshing out the characters and town until it has you completely roped in. Russo deals with grief in the most subtle and powerful way I've read, and the climax of the story is profound and heartbreaking.

This is a 5 star book.

[Repugnant Abomination]

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a 2000 novel by American author Michael Chabon that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. The novel follows the lives of the title characters, a Czech artist named Joe Kavalier and a Brooklyn-born writer named Sam Clay—both Jewish—before, during, and after World War II. Kavalier and Clay become major figures in the nascent comics industry during its "Golden Age." Kavalier & Clay was published to "nearly unanimous praise" and became a New York Times Best Seller, receiving nominations for the 2000 National Book Critics Circle Award and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. In 2006, Bret Easton Ellis declared the novel "one of the three great books of my generation."

Sweeping epic is the only way I can really describe this book - it's one of the most impressive novels I've ever read. You'll especially love it if you're a comic book fan. 5 stars.

[Repugnant Abomination]

Pretty sure everyone is familiar with this book, and if you're not you should be. An American classic, it's author is an iconic figure. Well ahead of its time, it deals with slavery through the eyes of a wild boy named Huck Finn, who constantly struggles with wanting to follow societal norms and following his conscience. Luckily the story is restrained and doesn't beat you over the head with what we consider today to be obvious. The most difficult aspect of the book is the dialogue, which is written in several southern dialects and is always phonetic. Anyway, pick it up if you haven't read it. If you don't want to read it then check out some of Twain's other works.

[Repugnant Abomination]

Homage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War, written in the first person.

Orwell served as both a private and a corporal in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937. The political party whose militia he served with (the POUM, an anti-Stalinist communist party) was declared an illegal organization and Orwell was subsequently forced to flee or face imprisonment.
By his own admission, Orwell joined the POUM rather than the Communist-run International Brigades by chance—but his experiences, in particular his and his wife's narrow escape from the Communist purges in Barcelona in June 1937, greatly increased his sympathy for POUM and, while not challenging his moral and political adhesion to the cause of Socialism and Marxism, made him a lifelong anti-Stalinist.
At the front, Orwell was shot through the neck and was nearly killed.

Not much to say other than this was a great read, especially for fans of history and politics. It's amazing how much of a fucking bad ass Orwell was and sad that not many people know it. 1984 is so well known that most of the population is ignorant in regards to his lesser read works. But I guess if you're going to be a victim of your own success than this is the way to go about it.

Christopher Hitchens wrote wrote a book called Why Orwell Matters in 2002, and there are several lectures he gave floating around on youtube if anyone is interested:

YouTube

YouTube

[Mr. Blonde]

I just finished this book yesterday:

It's basically gives a more in depth and understandable explanation of the big bang (than what most of us learn from school, anyway), the cosmic microwave background radiation, the structure and contents of the universe, and how the universe will end. It mentions many many experiments scientists have done, why they did them, and why all this shit matters. It also talks a lot about particle physics, and this was really my first introduction to the standard model. A lot of the shit was really hard to wrap my head around with a practically nonexistent background in physics and math, but it was still a pretty good introduction to the topic. I'll probably start reading it again to solidify some of the ideas and concepts a little better.

EDIT: It also talks a lot about the particle accelerator experiments you're always hearing about in the news, and gives a better understanding of why they're doing all those experiments. However, it was written in 2001, so it's slightly outdated (he makes some predictions about the world of physics eg: "This will be discovered in the next year or two, however" which clearly hasn't happened yet), but on the whole it's not that bad, seeing as how most of the breakthroughs in physics and astronomy were in the mid 20th century anyways.

[Mr. Blonde]

Just finished The Greatest Show on Earth last night:

This book was significantly different from The God Delusion, in that it goes back to Dawkins' more scientific writing and has a lot less speculation. It is basically a 400+ page textbook on experiments and observations offering proof of evolution on Earth. It doesn't speculate too much on the origin of life, only what comes after it and what has happened. There are still anti-religious overtones, but rightly so, as (and he repeats this quite often throughout the book) 40% of Americans still believe that the Earth was created by a god less than 10,000 years ago.

Hopefully, this book will be the coup de grace to almost any form of creationism and intelligent design, but that's quite a bit of wishful thinking. We're all taught in science classes and perhaps TV shows the basic underlying concept of evolution; this is the first book i've read that has solidified it as scientific fact, and not a "theory" in the "hypothetical" sense, but a theory in the scientifically proved, time and time and again, sense. I would highly suggest it to anyone with a desire to deeply understand our origins.

[Repugnant Abomination]

This book left me dumbfounded it was so good. The Road may have won McCarthy the Pulitzer, but this book is superior in my opinion. It's probably better than Blood Meridian, too. It left me sad, inspired and in awe. Some of the best writing I've come across. Brief synopsis:

The novel begins with Suttree observing police as they pull a man from the river who committed suicide. Suttree is living alone in a house-boat, on the fringes of society on the Tennessee River. Suttree earns money by fishing for the occasional catfish. He has left a life of luxury, rejecting his father and family, and abandoning his wife and son.

A large cast of characters, largely misfits and grotesques, are introduced; The most endearing being Gene Harrogate, whom Suttree meets in a work camp. Harrogate was sent to the work camp for having sex with a farmer's watermelons.

Read it.



I have a big man crush Hitchens, so this book was a real treat. It's nice to read his opinions on things other than religion (though he does let religion have it in this book, too). What's great about him is he's not partisan - he pisses the right and left off - in fact, he makes the very notion of right and left seem kind of ridiculous. This is a solid read for anyone interested in social and political commentary. Definitely makes you want to take up a cause, any cause, as long as you believe in it.

[angry pancake]

On Chapter 12 of the Fountainhead. I wonder if Roark ends up boffing Francon's daughter and blowing up the housing development?

[Mr. Blonde]

I don't know what "boffing" means, i'm guessing you could only mean fucking or killing, and if you're in chapter 12 you should already know the answer to one of those. In regard to your other prediction...well I guess you'll just have to read faster, sir.

[Mr. Blonde]

I finished a few books on my trip. One of the ones I had been working on before I left and mentioned in that other thread, is Christopher Hitchens' (whom I also have a mancrush on) god is not Great.



Great book to read if you want a more in-depth historical coverage of the horrors religion has wrought on Earth, and while it may have made sense in the infancy of our species, it makes none now.

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is a classic I never read that I picked up used and cheap (how i like 'em) and finished in one day.



It is a short but brilliant (and ahead of its time--written in 1953--the foresight of the drama of "reality TV" and big screens I found quite amusing) "Huxleywellian" novel about censorship and book-burning, in a future where "firefighters" no longer put out fires (all houses are essentially fireproof, except if these guys burn it down that is. they never address that really, but they do date themselves by the use of asbestos), but instead get reports of people who are reading and harbouring books in their houses, and then burn all the books, the houses, and sometimes the people inside of them. As you may have guessed, the story revolves around one such firefighter who "wakes up" and fights back against the system he used to be a part of. Simply said, a classic. "The Hound" alone makes me want to see it re-made into a modern movie, but I feel like they kind of already did with "Equilibrium".

Tom Robbins - Skinny Legs and All.



I've only read one of Tom Robbins' books before, A Jitterbug Perfume, and he is what I would call a truly original writer. In the two books i've read, he seems to have the common pattern of intertwining storylines with separate characters into each others throughout the book, events over long periods of time (the two books i've read examples are a couple who has discovered how to attain everlasting youth and events they've experienced in several thousand years, and in "Skinny Legs" he accomplishes this by giving personalities to inanimate objects who have been around for several thousand years, regaling "newer" inanimate objects with tales of what they have seen), lots of good ole' human sex, mythology, and religion. This specific book centers a lot more around religion, specifically The Dance of the Seven Veils, and focuses aroun a married couple, 5 inanimate objects who give themselves the ability of locomotion, a Jew and an Arab who open a Middle-Eastern themed restaurant called "Isaac and Ishmael's" across from the United Nation in New York, and a shitload of art. It is a pretty damn fine book, if you want a mind opener.


Orson Scott Card's Ender in Exile.



I have already written of the absolute fucking genius of pretty much anything written in the Ender saga, and this is no separate case. Written in 2008, it covers what happens to Ender immediately following Enders Game, when he can't return to Earth because of the politics and war he would bring and he is "exiled" to one of the new colonies, the first of the ones on the Formic worlds. It is an excellent story and brings a semblance of connection to what happened between the events of Enders Game and where his story picks back up in Speaker of the Dead, 3000 years later. Needless to say, this book was a definitely much-needed piece to the puzzle, one of the reasons I put down Speaker for the Dead almost immediately was simply BECAUSE it took place 3000 years after the first book, relativistic effects of time travel to hell! ID, you would probably like this.

If there are still any of you who have never read Enders game, holy hell, what is wrong with you? It's one of the best books ever written IMO.

EDIT: Oh, I also read a fairly short book about Marx called, of course, Introducing Marx. It was mainly so short because it was in comic book form by a (apparently) famous Mexican comic artist named "Rius". It was pretty good but still fairly vague for how short the book was. Good overview, just enough to pique my interest. I'll be starting in on The Communist Manifesto relatively soon, hopefully.

[angry pancake]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

I don't know what "boffing" means, i'm guessing you could only mean fucking or killing, and if you're in chapter 12 you should already know the answer to one of those. In regard to your other prediction...well I guess you'll just have to read faster, sir.

Boffing = fucking. The questions were sarcastic as the answer is yes to both. The book is about 1300 pages. She's just now introducing Ms. Francon. Our heroine ends up fucking pretty much every male character. A movie was made out of it around 60 years ago. I'd have thought pretty much everyone was familiar with it.

[Mr. Blonde]

I just read it/finished it for the first time earlier this year. I think I talk about it somewhere in this thread. You'd be surprised how many kids aren't into reading 1300 page 70-year old classics these days, and public schools certainly don't have the time or teacher effort to teach a book of that caliber.

[angry pancake]

I think I liked it better the first time. Now I just think Roark is just a dumb ass for turning down good projects to go work in a quarry.

[Mr. Blonde]

By Chicago geneticist Jerry Coyne, pretty much the same shit in Dawkins' book, moreso to hammer home a lot of the concepts. It's pretty good, for anyone wanting to learn more about the topic (and if you haven't read a book explicitly about it (highschool/entry level university biology doesn't count), there is probably a lot you don't know), i'd suggest this one before Dawkins' for sure. Solid read, and even more important for the American Nubblites, seeing as only about 40% of the U.S. population believes in evolution. Amazing.



A friend lent this to me without my asking, so of course I was obliged to read it. It was short, however, only about 60 pages and not as poetic and faggy and, let's face it, Repug-like as I thought it was going to be. Much of Rilke's advice can be applied to almost any situation, and I got a lot of good little quotes from this book. Pick it up if you get the chance, especially if you're feelin' lonely



Fuckin' kick-ass scifi book recommended by a friend. About 430 pages long and I finished it in only a few days...I rape scifi so much faster than non fiction it's depressing. Anyways it's about a future war against antlike creatures on some planet somewhere. Robotic battle armor has gotten widespread and nearly invincible and while it starts out with gory awesome battle action, it very quickly turns into a critique of military bureaucracy, interpersonal relationships on low-habitated planets, and space piracy. Lot's of violence and overall just a really good book to read.

Fun fact: about 15 pages in I started to think "This sounds a lot like the MJOLNIR armor in Halo". Looked it up on wikipedia, and sure enough, they got a lot of their inspiration for Master Chief's battle armor from this book.

[DJ FC]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

even more important for the American Nubblites, seeing as only about 40% of the U.S. population believes in evolution. Amazing.

Because Nubblites are clearly religious zealots.

[Mr. Blonde]

That's not what I meant. I still meet a lot of people -- 3 of 5 my English speaking co-workers alone (not to mention the Koreans) don't believe that we evolved from primates (let alone that we ARE primates). Which doesn't make any sense at all seeing as how they don't deny the fossil record or bacterial/viral resistance.

You were actually the first person who actually tried to explain evolution to me in an understandable way, on Nubblies back in my retard years (thanks for that by the way). So what I meant was, having a decent knowledge base to try to enlighten people in friendly discussion is a good thing for those of us who have to deal with these folks to have.

I imagine you don't run into this problem very often these days, though.

[thekremlin]

Hey guys thanks for hijacking this thread

[Mr. Blonde]

Two possibilities:

1. Why make a book thread for every single user?

2. DJ FC and I only went two posts off topic.

[Repugnant Abomination]

Recently read: Suttree, Atonement, Hitch-22, tinkers.
Currently reading: Crime and Punishment.

[Mr. Blonde]

Way to half-ass it dude.

[Beebs]

I read yet another book on Balkan history, this one was about the Yugoslav Wars, don't even remember the name.

I really can't explain my fascination.

[vaga1220 *]

Originally Posted by Repugnant Abomination

Recently read: Suttree, Atonement, Hitch-22, tinkers.
Currently reading: Crime and Punishment.

That's fucking awesome man!

Me, I recently read a book and I'm planing on reading another book some time in the future.