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blank_dave

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Oct 12, 2009
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I'm trying to expand my horizons, and break out of my" reading rut". My normal choice of reading material consists of sci fi and fantasy. I'm just finishing off Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (Turn Coat). Also on my regular reading is Robert E Howard (Conan). I used to enjoy Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time), but got frustrated with how it was getting bogged down.

So now I'm looking for something new to read...And I'm not limiting myself to sci of fantasy, I'm willing to try anything. I have done some reading on buddhism, but that's about all I've deviated from the above.

About the only other thing I'd ask is to start me light. Alot of my reading is done prior to bed, or in the washroom.:o

Thanks in advance.
 
Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds by Zygmunt Bauman

Just saw that you were asking for light reading. The above is not exactly "light" if you're not used to academic writing. But a great read nonetheless, and I believe accessible to non-academics.
 
genintoronto said:
Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds by Zygmunt Bauman
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Found it...at the World's Biggest Book Store, in Toronto. Don't know when I'll be that way next. /rolls eye...Though I could use as an excuse to visit Genevieve again. :D

Just saw that you were asking for light reading. The above is not exactly "light" if you're not used to academic writing. But a great read nonetheless, and I believe accessible to non-academics.
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Remember, I was at one point an academic, before I became the Meat Head...Just my realm of academia was more oriented towards business, Buddhism, and psychology, not social sciences.
 
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blank_dave said:
I'm trying to expand my horizons, and break out of my" reading rut". My normal choice of reading material consists of sci fi and fantasy. I'm just finishing off Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (Turn Coat). Also on my regular reading is Robert E Howard (Conan). I used to enjoy Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time), but got frustrated with how it was getting bogged down.

So now I'm looking for something new to read...And I'm not limiting myself to sci of fantasy, I'm willing to try anything. I have done some reading on buddhism, but that's about all I've deviated from the above.

About the only other thing I'd ask is to start me light. Alot of my reading is done prior to bed, or in the washroom.:o

Thanks in advance.
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Hmmm, light reading? How about Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar? It's filled with jokes so you can skip the "history" of philosophy and just read the jokes. And the best thing is that it's a small book.
 
Some of the British authors from the 20's to 40's are excellent... Geoffrey Houshold, Nevil Shute, Ted Allbeury
 
freestuff said:
Hmmm, light reading? How about Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar? It's filled with jokes so you can skip the "history" of philosophy and just read the jokes. And the best thing is that it's a small book.
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I can second that recommendation, it's quite an amusing tome. Okay, that phrase sounded a little pretentious. Screw it, I like the word "tome".

Anyway, how about some modern humour? Jasper Fforde has a great series about a character called "Thursday Next", the first book is called "The Eyre Affair". And Christopher Moore writes some absolutely ridiculous story lines. My (and many other people's) personal favourite is "Lamb", but "A Dirty Job", "Bloodsucking Fiends", etc, are also quite good.

Amanda
 
alienencounters said:
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand or Valley of the Dolls by Jacquline Suzanne.
Just be warned there is a lot more fucking in V.O.T.D.
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But any in a graveyard, like Bad Voltage?

Saw Goodbye to Shy, by Leil Lowndes, and was tempted to pick it up...Actually she had a number of books in the self help section. There's two things I'm hesitant about though. How much help are the books really in the self help section? Useful, or just full of useful looking platitudes? The other being I'm rather self conscious and I'd feel awkward with them kicking around the house.
 
Brill said:
You sound like a Holden Caulfield character, have you read Catcher In The Rye?
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I've never really bothered with the "classics," but I think that's in part because I begrudge having to read them in high school. Now I did enjoy Brave New World and 1984, in part because my teacher allowed me to "buck the system" and run with my interpretations.

Since I've read Robert Howard (while known for Conan, he did do a range of writing before his suicide, including Lovecraftian horror (apparently, he corresponded with Lovecraft), westerns and boxing), Poe, a bit of Lovecraft, Dracula, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hide, and Ivanhoe.
 
I have to say it's been a while since a book "wowed" me. The Time Traveller's Wife was good. Life of Pi and The Kiterunner were both good books, both award winners. I finally read a Salman Rushdie book, The Enchantress of Florence. It was good.

I'm with you on Robert Jordan. Read the first few, but then it just seemed like it was a business churning out new sequels to a successful franchise. But it never went anywhere. Got tired and moved on.

Been reading Raymond Feist lately. Meh. He's okay. Read The Lost Symbol. Like Dan Brown's other books, strong on story, weak on writing. Literature it's not.

Non-fiction, I liked 1919, but then I'm a history buff. The World Without Us was a bit of an interesting thought experiment.

Read a couple on Einstein, one a biography (Einstein: His Life and Universe) and the other on the search for gravity waves, I can't remember the name, although I think it had E=MC2 in the title.

I read a lot. Not as much as I used to, but still a lot.

If you want some different recommendations, try anything by Frederick Forsyth (Day of the Jackal was my favourite), any of the Bond novels by Ian Fleming, for short stories I liked all the Sherlock Holmes, I recently re-read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

For some Canadiana science fiction, Robert Sawyer is good. Novels are short, a little formulaic, but good plot lines.

Have fun!

Two more: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and The City of Falling Angels, both by John Berendt. Read the second one on my way to Venice... Ahh, Venice...
 
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One other book I enjoyed was Larry Niven's "modern" retake on the Inferno. It's not so much a rewrite, as the main character's found himself in Hell and you get to see how it's changed since Dante's take on it. I'm very tempted to pick up a copy of the Inferno proper, just so I can see the changes.
 
Agree with the Sawyer recommendation from MS4M. And if you're into alternate history, Harry Turtledove is well known for that, and S.M. Stirling has some interesting series.

As for non-fiction, I'm a big linguistics buff, and Bill Bryson has a very readable book in "The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way". Apparently his "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is quite good too, but I have yet to read that one myself...
 
When I'm done with my book, I'll send you a copy. Not exactly going to be light reading, but you'll either find it humorous, horrifying or just damned offensive.
 
I just read "Old City Hall" by Robert Rotenberg. An enjoyable read and nice to see Toronto highlighted.

Fernie
 
noticed you mentioned ...

"worlds biggest bookstore" (Amazon.com might have grounds to refute that claim, but why quibble?) Have you ever considered a library? You will probably find you have only scratched the SF&F surface, but if you are looking to broaden your horizons, a few authors that most would consider comparatively light, but very readable:

Mary Renault
Patrick O'Brian
Tony Hillerman
Bernard Cornwell
Paul C. Doherty (and his numerous pen names)

All are prolific authors and should be well represented in even smaller libraries. If you need to "branch out" from there, ask about interlibrary loans.:cool:
 
y2kmark said:
"worlds biggest bookstore" (Amazon.com might have grounds to refute that claim, but why quibble?)
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It's an older store, and used to be an independent. Now they're part of Chapters/Coles. And it could very well be in reference to their physical size.

Where I got most of my Burn Hogarth books on art. I'm not a good artist, but I'm good on theory.

Have you ever considered a library?
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Local library sucks something fierce. But what do you expect from a rural farmer's library. Besides, I like to take my time when I read, maybe 5-10 pages a day. Plus I like to own my books, so I know they're at hand if I wish to go back to them.

Now, I was curious, has anyone read any of Leil Lowndes' offerings, and what was your take on them? I am rather curious about checking them out, and what I read was some rather interesting advice.
 
Brill said:
You sound like a Holden Caulfield character, have you read Catcher In The Rye?
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Brill, just picked it up today. Read the first paragraph in Coles. When I got to the bit about "I'd tell you about my past, but I find it boring..." I cracked a smile and thought "I like this guy already."

Also grabbed Plato and a Platypus as well.
 
At a rate of maybe 6-12 a year?

blank_dave said:
I like to take my time when I read, maybe 5-10 pages a day.
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I guess they better be good. Anyone read Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker? Found that one not at all predictable.
 
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