NerblyBear wrote:Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard's contributions as a philospher and theologian often get in the way of the fact that he was a very good writer (from a purely literary standpoint).

i heartily recommend either/or. it's quite a meal but whaty i've read i liked very much, particularly the introductory pages, and the rotation of crops.

I started reading this today.

I'm not a fan, in general, of vampire stories (excepting, of course, Dracula) But this one is different. I'm loving it, and not just because the main character works nights in a photo archive.

Bob is such an awesome writer, and I recommend any of his books to you guys, but if comix aren't your thing, start here.

sparky wrote:
And on that note, if anyone can recommend me something cheerful, uplifting and well written, please jump in. My recent reading matter has left me feeling glum.

Adam CR wrote:

sparky wrote:
And on that note, if anyone can recommend me something cheerful, uplifting and well written, please jump in. My recent reading matter has left me feeling glum.

I second The Third Policeman...It had me in tears. The style and sense of humour are light-years ahead of it's time.

What's it about, I hear you ask?....Bicycles.

(definitely a contender, along with Confederacy of Dunces, for funniest book ever!)

Daniel R C, RayJ, Adam and M. Cranius, thank you all for your suggestions. I will follow them all up.

By the way, have any of you read any Rupert Thomson? A good friend of mine has been egging me on to read him for a while.

The last good book of fiction that I've read was Desperate Characters by Paula Fox. Graceful and depressing.

If memory serves, Paula Fox is the estranged grandmother of Courtney Love.

Courtney could have learned a lot from Grandma.


Oh, well.

Whoever recommended Warlock by Oakley Hall was right on the money (even if, as I recall, s/he hadn't yet read it). What a fine, fine novel--already I rue the day I'll finish it. So good.

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:Whoever recommended Warlock by Oakley Hall was right on the money (even if, as I recall, s/he hadn't yet read it). What a fine, fine novel--already I rue the day I'll finish it. So good.

I haven't got round to reading Warlock yet, but I'll be starting it next...I anticipate it'll be great. Even though the film was slightly second-rate, it communicated the essential story well enough.

I'm hoping that it's gonna be the best book that I'd never heard of.

Anything by Charles Bukowski, and Death On The Installment Plan by Celine. Good works.

Cranius wrote:

Brett Eugene Ralph wrote:Whoever recommended Warlock by Oakley Hall was right on the money (even if, as I recall, s/he hadn't yet read it). What a fine, fine novel--already I rue the day I'll finish it. So good.

I haven't got round to reading Warlock yet, but I'll be starting it next...I anticipate it'll be great. Even though the film was slightly second-rate, it communicated the essential story well enough.

I'm hoping that it's gonna be the best book that I'd never heard of.

I can see how a film would be unnecessary because Warlock might be the most cinematic book I've ever read. Without resorting to oppressive detail, everything is carefully described, so much so that I felt like I was watching a movie. (And I'm one so obsessed with language--in its own right--that this almost never happens). I actually caught myself thinking sometime last week, "I can't wait to get home and finish watching that." You're gonna love it, Andrew.

I just ordered another Oakley Hall book, more a coming-of age novel, The Corpus of Joe Bailey. Stay tuned.