I think his real name was Remark, but his pseudonym was Remarque. According to Wikipedia, anyway. I can understand how you'd rather be French than German after WWI.
_______________________
"Live every week like it's Shark Week."
Posts: 1485 | Location: New York/Denver | Registered: August 05, 2005
(just finished reading more about David Caruso than I ever wanted to know).
I get the impression that after he was offered the job on CSI, he must have fallen to his knees and wept with gratitude. Talk about a career on life support until that point.
_______________________
"Live every week like it's Shark Week."
Posts: 1485 | Location: New York/Denver | Registered: August 05, 2005
A lot of people make fun of me because they say my tastes are too high-brow, but that's OK. If kicking back with a six-pack of Iron City and enjoying a freshly-minted copy of Swank, Club or Penthouse Forum is nerdy, so be it. I'll just have to rub elbow patches with the tweed-and-pipe crowd between herfs.
Since it's now available in softcover, I finally got around to reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's work on Lincoln, "Team of Rivals". In the past couple of weeks, I've also read Andrea Mitchell's "Talking Back", Michael Ruhlman's "The Making of a Chef", and Ben Mezrich's "Busting Vegas" (the sequel to "Bringing Down the House").
One of my guilty pleasures is Robert Parker's "Spencer" series. You can read 'em in one sitting, and they're the literary equivalent of popcorn, but I love popcorn.
'Question authority. Think for yourself. Filter out the spin. Engage elected officials critically. Make them defend what they're doing in your name. Derive the truth. Speak truth to power.'
Posts: 4065 | Location: Boston | Registered: April 16, 2005
I'm a law student, so most of my reading is legal textbooks and case law. When I have the time I like to read primarily fiction. My favourite author is Mordecai Richler, and I would recommend just about anything he has written, especially The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Joshua Then and Now, and Barney's Version.
Also a big fan of historical fiction like James Clavell, and I enjoy the odd fantasy and sci-fi novel.
"Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain." -Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada 1968-1979, 1980-1984
Mostly history, biography, and political tomes, with some fiction to spice things up. Right now, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala .
___________
The world Julian wanted to preserve and restore is gone...the barbarians are at the gate. Yet when they breach the wall, they will find nothing of value to seize, only empty relics. The spirit of what we were has fled.
-Gore Vidal, "Julian"
Posts: 522 | Location: St. Albans, WV | Registered: February 03, 2004
Kurt Vonnegut - all of his books; he is my absolute favorite.
A Confederacy of Dunces from John Kennedy Toole is an absolutely hilarious journey into the mad mind of a sad individual.
I LOVE Gabriel Garcia Marquez' work.
David Foster Wallace is a new favorite; David Sedaris is good; I read a lot of Paste magazine; I read Tape OP; other music related magazines and websites, too
_____________________________________ The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. -H. L. Mencken
Posts: 1467 | Location: Bugtussle, MS | Registered: August 24, 2006
MWG - I'm also a big Vonnegut fan, and I just read One Hundred Years of Solitude over the Christmas holiday and loved it. What else would you recommend from Marquez?
"Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain." -Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada 1968-1979, 1980-1984
I haven't read much of Kurt Vonnegut's work, but Slaughterhouse-Five was very good. Canada Joe, what did you study prior to law school? I'm writing an essay for school,and I'm going to use The True Believer by Eric Hoffer, I would highly recommend it to anybody who didn't read it.
Oh, I almost forgot my question. Can anyone recommend a good profile of Al-Qaeda? I know there are many books like that out there, but I don't want to waste my time. I'm looking for educational backround, financial backround etc. Anything about their lives previous to joining terrorist groups.
"Think for a moment about whether it is ethical to throw a living creature into boiling water before sucking it down with a cup of melted butter"
Originally posted by jms2788: Oh, I almost forgot my question. Can anyone recommend a good profile of Al-Qaeda? I know there are many books like that out there, but I don't want to waste my time. I'm looking for educational backround, financial backround etc. Anything about their lives previous to joining terrorist groups.
May I suggest, when you finish profiling Al-Qaeda, how about a profile on a hero of WWI and a poor stragling artist by the name of Adolf Schicklgruber.
Posts: 315 | Location: Brighton Beach/New York | Registered: November 01, 2006
JMS, I did my MA in international relations with a focus on religion in politics. I have never seen a great book on Al-Qaeda, but try and find something on the Mujahadeen of the 1970s and 80s for some interesting background on Al-Qaeda.
"Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain." -Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada 1968-1979, 1980-1984
Originally posted by Don Charles: Since I am an English professor, I spend a lot of time reading (as in all the time).
Currently, Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue for my class in the English language. Bill Bryson is one of the funniest writers we have today. Anyone between the ages of 50 and 60 will enjoy his memoir about growing up: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
I just finished Pauline Chen's Final Exam. Chen is a surgeon (and a fine writer) and this is her book about learning how to deal with death of her patients--an art/skill not taught in medical school.
Also reading at present Bob Woodward's State of Denial, which makes you wonder how Rummy hung on for so long.
For relaxation--Newsweek, The New Yorker, and our old friend, CA (just finished reading more about David Caruso than I ever wanted to know).
I did not know that, Don. What areas do you teach?
______________________________ It's stay away from Malaysia for fear of vampires year!
"The word Fascism has now no meaning except insofar as it signifies 'something not desirable'." -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946
High Post Count = Manliness and Importance
#2 Most Friendly Guy, Connoisseur of All Things Fine, Elitist Ass, and One of the Two Biggest Douchebags in the Forums
Have you read Consider the Lobster? Excellent essays. His essays are better than his novels.
______________________________ It's stay away from Malaysia for fear of vampires year!
"The word Fascism has now no meaning except insofar as it signifies 'something not desirable'." -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946
High Post Count = Manliness and Importance
#2 Most Friendly Guy, Connoisseur of All Things Fine, Elitist Ass, and One of the Two Biggest Douchebags in the Forums
Originally posted by MeanWillieGreen: Canada Joe, from Marquez, I liked: Chronicle of a Death Foretold Love in the Time of Cholera
I have only read those, but I like them a lot; I should pick some of his books up again and give him some love.
For another Latin mysticism/love novel, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel and The Milagro Beanfield War by John Nichols are good books.
Corol - thanks for the tip on DFW; I'll give that a read
You haven't read One Hundred Years of Solitude????
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again is another good Wallace collection.
______________________________ It's stay away from Malaysia for fear of vampires year!
"The word Fascism has now no meaning except insofar as it signifies 'something not desirable'." -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946
High Post Count = Manliness and Importance
#2 Most Friendly Guy, Connoisseur of All Things Fine, Elitist Ass, and One of the Two Biggest Douchebags in the Forums
I read a lot of historical fiction such as Sharon Kay Penman- "When Christ and His Saints Slept", any kind of non fiction medieval history, Colin Dexter mysteries- Inspector Morse(I've read them all), anything by Ken Follett, Edmund Rutherfurd- "Sarum", histories of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and travel guides.
Posts: 325 | Location: Dixie | Registered: November 07, 2006
