my dads old books that i grabbed b4 my mom could get rid of them

also, mine isnt in great shape but uh~

http://www.biblio.com/lds/wife-no-19-or-the-story-of-a-life-young-ann-eliza-1876~ctbk~2c83d~231300920

That's a second printing, probably from 1876. What's the copyright page of your copy look like?

I'd read the Tesla book first, but I also love Tesla.

id read even cowgirls get the blues, if i were u. or if u were me.

xp mine looks a lot like it's from 1876 - like that description is what i have

well that's pretty sweet - I love old books, esp when you get them from someone you know. I snagged all my grandfather's before they got binned - War and Peace, Robert E. Lee's memoirs, a bunch of chess books.

oh, also got a signed 1st edition of Booth Tarkington's The Women, but it's in terrible shape.

yea ill have 2 do some more investigating. just put it in a big ziploc so my cat doesnt destroy it or something

Depends on mood, but The Long Goodbye would be the right answer most of the time for me (even as a Pynchon stan).

Its got to be The Long Goodbye. The Trial is ripper too, but in a different way.

mr crunch otm

long goodbye, tesla, gravity's rainbow

neuromancer!

neuromancer -> the trial -> the long goodbye

gravity's rainbow (even if this wins im not reading it right now)
tesla: man out of time (my dad loved tesla)
stanislaw lem - tales of pirx the pilot
chandler - the long goodbye
arthur koestler - the case of the midwife toad
even cowgirls get the blues
hervey allen - the life and times of edgar allen poe
anneliza young - wife#19 or a life in bondage, a full expose ofmormonism
neuromancer
around the world in 80 days
kafka - the trial
walter b. gibson - the book of secrets, miracles ancient and modern

Ha -- I begin to see the pattern

Long Goodbye and Neuromancer have surprisingly similar styles -- either of them or the Kafka. Would also vote for the Lem, but hanen't read that one.

Good haul. I'd go for the Long Goodbye as well, really like that one, that character, the wassisname, the alcoholic chap - good character.

Terry something?

Lennox. It's my favourite Chandler.

That's it. Yes, I'd go some way along with that. It was always the one I never read when I was young (inc the short stories) and I totally loved it when I finally got round to reading it. Great feel to it (he said, vaguely, might have to re-read it)

My top Chandler too maybe - sad, rangy, lots of lovely digressive moments. Lets the literary side breathe. The passage on blondes!

I'd be interested in the Lem first - but its a nice box of stuff: was just reading about Ann Eliza Young.

Kafka, no doubt

Lem is damn fantastic no matter what.

yeah the balance of the stuff was mostly mysteries, which is almost exclusively what he read in the last id say 20 yrs. these were all waay back of the bookcase stuff. like, im sorta surprised about the pynchon and really wonder if he ever read it.

and i only said if that wins im not reading it b/c i have a copy of my own and have tried to get into it at least 3 times and always stopped at some pt

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

your dad sounds pretty cool, the only thing my dad ever reads is

http://www.carpages.co.uk/bugatti/bugatti_images/bugatti_veyron_31_05_06.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

huh did not see that coming

am currently reading the bill simmons bball book & sidney lumet's making movies book & the sportswriter by richard ford but will get on the kafka asap

arthur koestler - the case of the midwife toad

^this was a great & fascinating book, reads like a thriller. partial wiki descrip below

In the 1920s, experiments by Paul Kammerer on amphibians, particularly the midwife toad, appeared to find evidence supporting Lamarckism, but his specimens with supposedly-acquired black foot-pads were found to have been tampered with. In The Case of the Midwife Toad Arthur Koestler surmised that the tampering had been done by a Nazi sympathiser to discredit Kammerer for his political views, and that his research might actually have been valid. However most biologists believe that Kammerer was a fraud and even among those who believe he was not dishonest most believe that he misinterpreted the results of his experiments

Did you end up reading that Mormon book?

not yet! ive bought way too many other books @ book sales lately, its a bit of a problem

i did read the kafka (great, duh), most of the long goodbye (not really my thing) & the tesla bio

o & read like half of the lem book

Is the Tesla one good? I wanted to read one about him.

not really sure what else is out there abt him -- was a bit dry; it felt really comprehensive tho, moreso abt his life, money problems - things like that than really in depth abt all his work