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Recommend Some Good Summer Reading

fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
edited July 2009 in Strut Central
a page turner. a fun, easy, satisfying read. fiction or non.ie. i would recommend mario puzo's "the godfather", tom wolfe's "bonfire of the vanities". or david ritz's "divided soul" to those who have not read them.i like elmore leonard but not sure if i have read all the good ones. can you guys drop some knowledge? thanks
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  Comments

  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    For crime stuff, I love John Burdett's Bangkok series, starting with Bangkok 8. Thai Detective, son of a sex worker and an american service man, avenging his dead partner, running in and out of brothels, eating street food, appeasing the buddha, and so forth. Great stuff. Gets pretty violent, too.

    Denis Johnson just wrote a pulp novel, NOBODY MOVE, that I read in an afternoon, and f*cking loved. His literary work is among my favorite, but this one was great for fun.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    sorry for the crap image. short stories including the eponymous (am I using this correctly?) Roeg film. Too bad The Birds (Hitchcock), also by her, wasn't part of the collection, too, would fit in perfectly. Anyway - I am on the last story and it has been a great summer read - the stories are all a little off, dark, kinda sexy and really well-written.

  • pabloscooterpabloscooter 370 Posts
    I say go for Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls- it's easy to read and fun and a certfied classic that makes people think you're smart. It also has explosions, sex and guerilla warfare.
  • pabloscooterpabloscooter 370 Posts
    If you like crime stuff Chester Himes is good.
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    Don Felder: Heaven & Hell: My life with the Eagles
  • kicks79kicks79 1,338 Posts
    anything by Richard Price. Just finished Clockers and im reading Samaritan now.
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    a page turner. a fun, easy, satisfying read. fiction or non.

    I really like John D McDonald, he wrote a ton of books with an amazingly high standard throughout. Always some crime, with a good dose of life observation and philosophy thrown in.

    Same for Donald Westlake, including his books written as Richard Stark.

    Both write satisfying books that are easy to burn through or take slowly, whichever's your mood.
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    Just finished this (amazing)




    Now Reading this:



    A combo of fantasy and alternative history. Takes place during the Napoleonic wars.
  • zlatorogzlatorog 66 Posts
    i've been meaning to re-read this one:


    Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing
  • calkutacalkuta 160 Posts
  • Strider79itStrider79it 1,176 Posts
    friends of eddie coyle
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts

    not really fun. though best read in the sunnier months over the bleaker ones imo. essential reading still.
  • deathvalley90210deathvalley90210 398 Posts
    i recommend neal stephenson's 8 book baroque cycle to everybody i talk to about books. it's a dirty swashbuckling epic that includes alchemy, computers, capitalism, religion, etc.
  • pj4533pj4533 481 Posts
    Just started reading this new thang:



    vampires + virus + Guillermo Del Toro = awesome, whens the movie out.
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    Just started reading this new thang:



    vampires + virus + Guillermo Del Toro = awesome, whens the movie out.


    I saw that advertised somewhere. It looks very cool.
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    just about to finish this...


    SO well written, amazing...very recommended
  • DustedDonDustedDon 830 Posts
    just finished this one. a pretty straight forward reader compared to most PKDs stuff. very cool. love me some Dick.

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    love me some Dick.





    have you ever read "the man whose teeth were all exactly alike"? Another staightforward, no science fiction business Dick novel...enjoyable.
  • DustedDonDustedDon 830 Posts

    have you ever read "the man whose teeth were all exactly alike"? Another staightforward, no science fiction business Dick novel...enjoyable.

    no i havent read that one but i would like to check it out, as well as "confessions of a crap artist" which i guess is not SF and also very good.

    "flow my tears" is still in the SF genre but is more linear and just kind of easier to read then some of PKDs other tales, it deals a lot with self-identity and relationships.

  • phongonephongone 1,652 Posts
    just about to finish this...


    SO well written, amazing...very recommended

    You have great taste. This is an epic book. I can see most SS folks getting down with this.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Just about finished with this...



    It's made me want to read this one as well...

  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    Just about finished with this...


    I found this book to be a real disappointment.

    David Halberstam's Breaks of the Game covers a lot of the same material and is infinitely better.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Just about finished with this...


    I found this book to be a real disappointment.

    David Halberstam's Breaks of the Game covers a lot of the same material and is infinitely better.

    Yeah, it's weird how Feinstein repeats certain detailed segments of the story as if you didn't catch them in the earlier chapters.

    I've read Halberstam before, at least I did Summer of '49 about a decade ago...and yeah, my assumption would be that his would be a better treatment.

    Guess I'll have to grab that one as well...thanks for the tip.
  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    Just about finished with this...


    I found this book to be a real disappointment.

    David Halberstam's Breaks of the Game covers a lot of the same material and is infinitely better.

    Yeah, it's weird how Feinstein repeats certain detailed segments of the story as if you didn't catch them in the earlier chapters.

    I've read Halberstam before, at least I did Summer of '49 about a decade ago...and yeah, my assumption would be that his would be a better treatment.

    Guess I'll have to grab that one as well...thanks for the tip.

    The Halberstam book was out of print, but you can probably find an inexpensive used copy on half.com or amazon. It's also possible that his death two years ago resulted in the publisher making it available again--really one of the best basketball books ever written.

    Not trying to hate w/r/t the Feinstein book, by the way--it just seemed like he had a limited amount of material that he was trying to get as much mileage out of as possible.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Just about finished with this...


    I found this book to be a real disappointment.

    David Halberstam's Breaks of the Game covers a lot of the same material and is infinitely better.

    Yeah, it's weird how Feinstein repeats certain detailed segments of the story as if you didn't catch them in the earlier chapters.

    I've read Halberstam before, at least I did Summer of '49 about a decade ago...and yeah, my assumption would be that his would be a better treatment.

    Guess I'll have to grab that one as well...thanks for the tip.

    The Halberstam book was out of print, but you can probably find an inexpensive used copy on half.com or amazon. It's also possible that his death two years ago resulted in the publisher making it available again--really one of the best basketball books ever written.

    Not trying to hate w/r/t the Feinstein book, by the way--it just seemed like he had a limited amount of material that he was trying to get as much mileage out of as possible.

    Yeah, I've seen the Breaks of the Game book before...just didn't realize what it was about from the title alone.

    And yeah, don't worry about dogging the Feinstein book as your critique is dead-on.
  • FrankFrank 2,373 Posts
    Excellent Noir but much, much more than that, don't let the ugly cover fool you:


    I love this man's writing. His Lew Griffin series, set in 1960s New Orleans might arguably be even more astonishing. Really incredible stuff and a very unique style.
  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,129 Posts
    Speaking of Hemmingway, this weekend before I saw Soul Power, my stepfather who is well-read, mother and I walked into a bookstore that advertised with a neon sign "WE BUY & SELL BOOKS and RECORDS!" (although the owner said that they, for a year, haven't bought or sold any records). Anyhow, while I was walking around the shop, this lady, probably a little older than I, was apparently frustrated that she couldn't find a specific title of Hemmingway her husband named Ryan, same as myself, recommended to her a decade ago. I threw out one title of many, "The Sun Also Rises", which I only know of because it was made into a movie and, 50 years later, digitally restored. "YES! THAT'S THE ONE!". A surreal moment for me. I've read Victor Canning novels in high school that I am now watching through Mannix episodes.
  • gravelheadwrapgravelheadwrap corn 948 Posts
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts

    I just ordered that from Amazon last week.
  • LoopDreamsLoopDreams 1,195 Posts
    Great summer roadtrip book... bright sunshine, mindf*cs and sexy girls.

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