recommend me a jaw-droppin, kick ass book.

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fiction or non-fiction, new or classic, whatevah.

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Chuck Palahniuk - any of them.
I heart Chuck.

― Simeon (Simeon), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

― smee (smee), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I recommend SHADOW OF THE TORTURER by Gene Wolffffe bcz I am a goth! Hooray Tom you will be glad to know I got SWORD OV THEE LICTOR back from the evilgothlair and shall be reading it tonight with some fine ale.

― Sarah (starry), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course any book about Lord Bryon being a vampire would be good.

― Sarah (starry), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i disrecommend patricia cornwell's book on the solution of who is jack ripper, as it is TERRIBLE!!

― a fule and his money = soon parted (mark s), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)

BBC4 showed the accompanying Omnibus documentary to the Cornwell book. I was shocked that the BBC threw money at this tripe. Apparently you can see the evil in Walter Sickert's eyes.

― robster (robster), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

i agree with Simeon, I'd choose "Choke" as one of the best.

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Endgame by Samuel Beckett, Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. Really!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Selby's amazing, but I prefer The Demon.
Also, Carter Beats the Devil is a good romp. Meltzer's The Night (Alone) is probably only as fantastic as it is if you love the guy or are willing to follow him through. It's completely rewarding, but his, ah, unruly use of language might be discouraging to some. It's basically a love story between a man and his penis.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

That's a story I live too much to want to read, myself. I'm going to go and look for The Demon as soon as I can, ta

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Any Haruki Murakami books involving sheep. And, of course, William Gibson's Neuromancer.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Carter Beats The Devil seconded for page-turnin' melodramatic action. It has lion fights!

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

A number of us solved the Ripper mystery the other night. This was some achievement but unfortunately I have forgotten who we decided the culprit was. Can anyone help?

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. Did I say that loud enough?

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

That was meant to be big.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Little Tales of Misogeny by Patricia Highsmith

― No One (SiggyBaby), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Tim as I recall the finger of suspicion pointed at a Mr Jack T. Ripper.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

cornwell says at one point that the ELEPHANT MAN wz a suspect (he lived in that famous hospital on mile end road)!

(admittedly she also says this wz a silly theory, but she takes a whole page describing who he wz before she decides this)

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah yes how did the Police overlook JT Ripper? I mean *Honestly*.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

How bad was the Duke of Clarence's syphillis, outside of 'From Hell'? I heard of that Elephant Man theory sometime too, he doesn't seem the fastmoving attacker type... if poetry counts I really liked Robert Lowell's "Life Studies", nonfiction Edmund White "States of Desire" was good, recently

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Has anybody seen Vidocq (with Depardieu)? It's what From Hell COULD have been.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Survivor is by far the best Chuck Palahniuk book.

Murakami is always a good choice. A Confederacy of Dunces, The Princess Bride, A Clockwork Orange and more recently Ghostwritten and The Corrections are also springing to mind as must-reads. And then there's Watchmen, kicking more ass than everything else on this thread put together.

Poetry: I'm having a very enjoyable Edward Thomas phase.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Recent reads that were pretty good: "The Subject Steve" by Sam Lipsyte, "Notable American Women" by Ben Marcus, "Why Did I Ever" by Mary Robison, and.. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I recommend the Robison book the most because it's really clever and laugh-out-loud funny, whereas I will not recommend Gatsby because chances are you've already read it.

― Mandee, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Archel, as in "THE Watchmen" by Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons(I think)? I agree!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

The Magus by John Fowles or Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

― Christopher (Christopher), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

(i'll start a "don't read unless you are morbid" thread on JtR when i've finished the cornwell possibly)

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Half-Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins.

Best book written in second-person perspective evah!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, if you like books that are a little less traditional with their plot structure and a little on the whimsical, funny, hippy, sex-fiend side, I'd recommend any Tom Robbins book.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Brautigan's good for that sort of thing too I think.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah that Watchmen; I don't think there's a 'The' though is there? (If I was less underemployed I wouldn't need to discuss things like this.)

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I also wouldn't feel compelled to correct myself and substitute were for was in the above.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Has anybody seen Vidocq (with Depardieu)? It's what From Hell COULD have been.

Vidocq is more like the missing link between The Brotherhood of the Wolf and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. From Hell should have been like Eraserhead, dammit.

Read anything by Alan Moore, btw. And Dave Sim's Cerebus.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I've just finished Margaret Attwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and liked it a lot.

my theory that LitFic authors should stay away from SF is now in tatters.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Read anything by Alan Moore, btw.

maybe not WILDCats, though.

And Dave Sim's Cerebus.

at least the first 10,000 pages.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll second the nomination for Haruki Murakami. I've read "Hard-Boiled wonderland..." (which is great) and am now starting "Wind-up Bird Chronicles" (which is good so far).

― cprek (cprek), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Ooh digression but has anyone read CS Lewis' scifi trilogy? I just bought the first book for Matt on the grounds that he loves CS Lewis and scifi.. will he like it?

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i only ever read "out of the silent planet"

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Brautigan is far superior to Robbins, not that I'm biased, because my parents did name me (real name, not HM) from one of Brautigan's poems.

I thought Bros o' Wolf stinkstankstunk, was very much looking forward to it, but it was no Pootie Tang

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

That's the one I bought mark, is it good?

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah sorry I meant THE "Watchmen", Archel!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

"On the Crusts of Their Uppers" is quite rollicking

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

*looks at Andrew in utter confusion for several seconds; realises what he is actually saying; slaps forehead; laughs*

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

THE Watchmen VS V For Vendetta?

I swapped W for V with a pal about ten years ago, and can't recall enough about W. Should I buy it again?

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Whatever one may think of Haruki Murakami's books (I've heard his whiskey sours were excellent) I wouldn't describe them as "jaw-dropping" or "kick-ass".

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Jim Thompson's 'The getaway' is ''Kick-ass'' I think.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Charles Portis's 'The Dog of the South' is definitively kick-ass.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Emigrants" by W.G. Sebald.

― slutsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Gunsmith Cats - Goldie vs Misty

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

"Robbers" by Christopher Cook has a certain amount of kick.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Brookes Library has, like, *none* of these books.

― Graham (graham), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

NP - Banana Yoshimoto

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:58 (twenty-two years ago)

what no Gumsmith cats? what a piss poor library.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:59 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Emperor" by Ryszard Kapuscinski--beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat reportage/non-fiction about the collapse of Haile Selassie's reign in Ethiopia.

― Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracer, how about "the Murakami book I read was so jaw-droppingly bad I wanted to kick its stupid ass all the way to Boonton."

"All-American Ads of the 60s" looks very good.

― rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

No, certainly not.

― Graham (graham), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Testify, rosemary!! I can't stand him, either. He's almost as bad as Tom Robbins.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I really got into the "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" book, it was like having a more grown-up and psychological Narnia or something. Then I made the mistake of giving it to my dad as a Christmas present. Every time I asked him about it he get sort of embarrassed and try and change the subject. I could see that it bored him to tears. From that moment I could never remember quite what I thought was so thrilling about it (though I still love the Narnia books).

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Weaveworld - Clive Barker

― celeste (Celeste), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The Poor Bastard - Joe Matt

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Is there anywhere on ILE where JtN explains why 'The Dog of the South' is kickass? I'd be really interested in reading that.

― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Hall of Mirrors -- Robert Stone -- '70s paranoia-fic in New Orleans.

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 19:18 (twenty-two years ago)

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

― soan d. so, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Ooh digression but has anyone read CS Lewis' scifi trilogy? I just bought the first book for Matt on the grounds that he loves CS Lewis and scifi.. will he like it?

I liked it when I read it as a teenager. It's more overtly Christian than the Narnia books, so if Matt is a rabid atheist he might not like it. It's got some good stuff on psychology of alien races and stuff.

The second book is kind of bonkers and VERY christian, but still G*R*A*T*E. The third book is K-Rub.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not so sure that Watchmen or Cerebus are the best comics to recommend. The 28 300-page volumes of Lone Wolf & Cub are magnificent, and there are lots of tremendous Essential Marvel collections - first two Spideys and the three (so far) FFs are all brilliant.

Books: no one has mentioned my favourite book, 1001 Nights, my favourite novel, Dhalgren by Sam Delany, my favourite short story collection, Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges or my favourite series, John Updike's Rabbit tetralogy.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"How I Wrote Certain Of My Books" by Raymond Roussel.
"Oleanna" by David Mamet (a play)
"CivilWarLand In Bad Decline" by George Saunders (stories)
"The Verificationist" by Donald Antrim

I second:
His Dark Materials trilogy
Gene Wolfe's New Sun, Long Sun, Short Sun series
"Hard-Boiled Wonderland..."

― Daniel Vivian, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

the koran

http://www.asstastic.org/images/saddam_elected.jpg

― gygax!, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm reading Palahniuk's Lullaby. Its ok but hasn't grabbed me like Glue by Irvin Welsh which was my last which was t'riffic (apart from the cartoony ending)
Non fiction: Against Paranoid Nationalism: Ghassan Hage: f**kin good.

― gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" - Michael Chabon
"A Wild Sheep's Chase" and "Dance Dance Dance" - Haruki Murakami
"Video Night in Kathmandu" - Pico Iyer
"The Lady and the Monk" - Pico Iyer
"Confederates in the Attic" - Tony Horwitz

Seconding:
"His Dark Materials" trilogy
"Confederacy of Dunces"
Most of Tom Robbins works, especially "Skinny Legs and All"

If you're looking for more in-depth reviews, I can email you a .pdf file with my end-of-the-year recommendations list. Just drop me an email.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 22:27 (twenty-two years ago)

"Skinny legs and all" is the one about the conch shell etc? I love that book but everyone I've recommended it to can't make it past 20 pages (Robbins is like that, I guess...)

― gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 22:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Ooh digression but has anyone read CS Lewis' scifi trilogy? I just bought the first book for Matt on the grounds that he loves CS Lewis and scifi.. will he like it?

The trilogy's more popcorn reading than really interesting reading, but it's still pretty fun.

"The Illuminatus! Trilogy" by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea is awesome. Also "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce, I'm reading it for school and loving it so far.

― Maria (Maria), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Harry Crews-try the nonfiction "A Childhood" or "Florida Frenzy". Pretty crazy real life situations. "Car" or "Feast of Snakes" if your more into fiction.

― brg30 (brg30), Thursday, 13 February 2003 01:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Perfume by Patrick Suskind is an easy and fun read.

― felicity (felicity), Thursday, 13 February 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

― That Girl (thatgirl), Thursday, 13 February 2003 06:14 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Emperor" by Ryszard Kapuscinski--beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat reportage/non-fiction about the collapse of Haile Selassie's reign in Ethiopia.
-- Douglas (il...), February 12th, 2003.

Change that to read a piece of absolute fiction pretending to be factby Kapuscinski. I can't believe for all the blatant inventions in his work he is still taken seriously.

I'll second "Bastard out of Carolina" Would also recommend Keri Hulme's "The Bone People", beautiful and creepy

― H (Heruy), Thursday, 13 February 2003 06:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe not jaw-droppin, ass-kissin, but really amusing, try Carl Hiaasen's books:

Strip Tease
Stormy Weather
Lucky You
Skin Tight
Tourist Season
Sick Puppy
Double Whammy
etc.

They're mystery/crime novels, set in the seedy underbelly of Florida. Absolutely believable and hillarious and disgustingly violent. The best part? The bad guys ALWAYS get just what they deserve - in the most graphic and creative manner possible. Not brilliant or earth-shattering, but very enjoyable escapism.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Thursday, 13 February 2003 06:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Ryszard Kapuscinski

That is the most horrible misspelling of Rudyard Kipling's name I've ever seen.

James Ellroy's "The Big Nowhere" and "L.A. Confidential" are speedy hard-boiled bricks, great fun to read, but less fun to think about afterwards.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Thursday, 13 February 2003 11:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll second "Labyrinths" by Borges.

― Cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 13 February 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Hiaasen has Florida down. If you really want to know what it’s like to live there (I did for five miserable years), read his stuff— jaw-droppin-funny and kick ass.

― No One (SiggyBaby), Thursday, 13 February 2003 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

These books all sound very interesting, but none of the ones I've read can compete for jaw-dropping with Ben Marcus' "Notable American Women"

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 13 February 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I've just been rereading Hiaasen's Kick Ass, a collection of his weekly col's for the Miami Herald. Pretty funny, maybe more than any non-resident needs to know about civic politics, but it's alarming how much of this stuff wound up in his novels. Like, I'm not sure if I lost respect for him because he's not as imaginative as I had thought or gained respect for using these real life things to illustrate the bizarreness of FLA.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 13 February 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Wolf Solent by John Cowper Powys

― Possum Slimm (Possumslimm), Friday, 14 February 2003 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Horace - I think my favorite "real life" Hiaasen construct was/is the character in Sick Puppy who had the thing for Barbie Dolls - and the girls he was molding in that direction. It killed me.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 14 February 2003 23:51 (twenty-two years ago)

two weeks pass...

Why have I not read Jorge Luis Borges before?! I think I may have been put off by pretentious 'forrn literature' atmosphere surrounding, but hey! The other day I bought a second-hand copy of 'Labyrinths' for £1.50 off a nice man with a street stall, and started reading this morning on the way to work. Kick ASS is what I say, and I'm only halfway through the first story. I could have stayed on the bus all day, or at least until Northumberland Park.

Cheeky and _fascinating_.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 09:11 (twenty-two years ago)

my kick-ass suggestion is: the master and margarita by mikail bulgakov (i butchered his name), very nice political satire and laugh out loud funny in parts, also kinda confusing.

― todd swiss (eliti), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 09:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually enjoyed "Heart of a Dog" by Bulgavok more than Master & Margarita.

― Dave Fischer, Tuesday, 4 March 2003 09:38 (twenty-two years ago)

master and marge is great but i ph34r what translation may have done to the original text

― zemko (bob), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 10:43 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

the best non-fiction autobioggy-type book about the mafia? (just finished watchin the sopranos and have a thirst for more)

― NI, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 00:08 (seventeen years ago)

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night, by Mark Haddon.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 12 August 2008 00:12 (seventeen years ago)

i didn't know that was about the mafia.

― jed_, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 00:13 (seventeen years ago)

My suggestion? No, it isn't about the mafia. Sorry; I was responding to the original thread question.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 12 August 2008 00:15 (seventeen years ago)

in answer to the original thread question, just finished reading the excellent Searching for the perfect E by Decca Aitkenhead

― NI, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 00:16 (seventeen years ago)

"Adventures Of Maqroll" by Alvaro Mutis (or any collection of Maqroll stories)

― Capitaine Jay Vee, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 00:52 (seventeen years ago)

E.L. Doctorow - Billy Bathgate

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 00:59 (seventeen years ago)

Tim O'Brien - The Things They Carried

― milo z, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 01:07 (seventeen years ago)

Tim is great in general. I prefer July, July.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 01:21 (seventeen years ago)

NI, I'd read Wiseguy if you haven't already. So much in that book that wasn't featured in GoodFellas. It's cool if you've seen the movie, but you'd almost get more out of it if you hadn't.

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 01:54 (seventeen years ago)

^^seconded

also this is the best vietnam novel IMO and an old fashioned jaw-droppin kick ass book

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/0e/67/87d8e893e7a040880cf67110.L.jpg

― m coleman, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 03:43 (seventeen years ago)

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane is def. a kickass book. Plus his Kenzie-Gennaro series are great go-to 'crack' books that you can bang out in a day and not feel empty inside.

Also: Clockers, by Richard Price.

American Tabloid by James Ellroy.

― VegemiteGrrrl, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 05:33 (seventeen years ago)

Ooh...saw Weaveworld mentioned up thread:
Another kickass Clive Barker is The Great And Secret Show.
Vivid recollections of my mind being blown.

― VegemiteGrrrl, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 05:35 (seventeen years ago)

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