RRC Archives

Mack5 wrote:The Bible

good read!

Way of the peaceful warrior , read the three from the series once a year or so

The Long Walk.
West of Here.

Pigsteak, I am not a Hemingway fan either. However, I really enjoy his Nick Adams stories. You can pick up the majority of them in the collection,The Nick Adams Stories. It is mostly about Nick and his coming of age, something that I could really relate to. (Compared to a soldier with penis problem in The Sun Also Rises).

Blood Meridian is an awesome book. The writing is super poetic so it makes it a much slower read than The Road. (The road doesn't qualify for your 20 year stiplation). If you finish it in a weekend then you are a master reader. I think Cormac McCarthy will go down as one of America's best writers.

Toni Morrison's Beloved is awesome too. Parts of it are set in Kentucky too. It often tops the list of best books written in the last 50 years.

Rick Bass writes a lot of outdoorsy style literature. Pick him up if you want something a little more down to earth than the last two suggestions then.

If you want to read some good non-fiction go with Mary Karr's The Liar's Club. If you walk away after reading that and you aren't touched you are a piece of sandstone. (Sorry, I don't think this one counts because it was published about 15 years ago).

Being agnostic I think you may enjoy This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff. That is also non-fiction.

Richard Ford is also a great modern writer too. Fantastic literature.

Hunter S. Thompson's stuff used to be my favorite. Today, I particularly enjoy The Proud Highway because it shows where Thompson came from. Did you know he worked for Time before he was 20? Fascinating read.

If you just want a good read than The Stand or The Gunslinger by King are good reads. (If you start THe Gunslinger be prepared to stop climbing for a month or more while you finish the whole series).

However

However

However

Probably the best book I read in many a year was Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. It was published in the 2000s, but man it sure blows anything else I read for a long time out of the water. Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome book. Five out of Five stars.

Seriously if you decide to read only one of these suggestions than go with Three Day Road.

RRO wrote:Way of the peaceful warrior , read the three from the series once a year or so

I have the first. I'll put it next on my list!

Queen's Gambit ...
Walter Tevis, a Ky boy ... Also wrote The Hustler (not the magazine ... Yet another Ky boy).

whatahutch wrote:Pigsteak, I am not a Hemingway fan either. However, I really enjoy his Nick Adams stories. You can pick up the majority of them in the collection,The Nick Adams Stories. It is mostly about Nick and his coming of age, something that I could really relate to. (Compared to a soldier with penis problem in The Sun Also Rises).

Interesting. I suspect you and I appreciate different aspects of the writing. I'm just still amazed at the style, which I've been lead to believe was being developed in the Adams stories. And, about the penis problem- I'll give you the benefit of the doubt about the literal interpretation, I thought the impotence was barely mentioned and to me was more of a device to inquire about meaning. Just as the war can be understood as an abstract intensity.

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whatahutch wrote:Probably the best book I read in many a year was Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. It was published in the 2000s, but man it sure blows anything else I read for a long time out of the water. Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome book. Five out of Five stars.

Seriously if you decide to read only one of these suggestions than go with Three Day Road.

I'll check it out.

clif wrote:

whatahutch wrote:Probably the best book I read in many a year was Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. It was published in the 2000s, but man it sure blows anything else I read for a long time out of the water. Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome book. Five out of Five stars.

Seriously if you decide to read only one of these suggestions than go with Three Day Road.

I'll check it out.

Please tell me what you think after you read it. I was super impressed.

"the great and secret show" -clive barker