Last Great Book You Have Read?

[Wall2Boogie]

Reading first issue of comic Preacher. Leave it by the *******.

Last book? Can't remember. I think it was The Secret back in 2005

Lol I too read the secret. Basically just a bunch of successful rich bastards saying if you think positive all good things come to you. Well I thought positive, the only positive thing I got out of thinking that way was a drug test.

If you made it past a thousand pages of atlas shrugged a tip of the hat to you. I've read William Faulkner sound and the fury but not a huge fan. I like reading books people have deemed as classics just to see if I enjoy them as well

 

[Supreme Lord Z]

Blood Meridian is among the very greatest American novels ever written. McCarthy is not an easy read insomuch as he disdains punctuation and goes on metaphorical side excursions that probably eludes lots of folks that don't like him... but his genius is deeply satisfying for those that do.

You remember it long after you've read it as it stays with you. That, moreso to me than anything else, is the sign of a great book.

"Aleksandar Hemon has called Blood Meridian "the greatest American novel of the past thirty years." In 2006, The New York Times conducted a poll of writers and critics regarding the most important works in American fiction from the previous 25 years; Blood Meridian was a runner-up, along with John Updike's four novels about Rabbit Angstromand Don DeLillo's Underworld while Toni Morrison's Beloved topped the list.[19] Novelist David Foster Wallace named Blood Meridian one of the five most underappreciated American novels since 1960[20] and described it as "[p]robably the most horrifying book of this century, at least [in] fiction."

In the entire range of American literature, only Moby-Dick bears comparison to Blood Meridian. Both are epic in scope, cosmically resonant, obsessed with open space and with language, exploring vast uncharted distances with a fanatically patient minuteness. Both manifest a sublime visionary power that is matched only by still more ferocious irony. Both savagely explode the American dream of manifest destiny (sic) of racial domination and endless imperial expansion. But if anything, McCarthy writes with a yet more terrible clarity than does Melville.

— Steven Shaviro, "A Reading of Blood Meridian"​

I like the snippet above from Wikipedia as it also mentions Delillo who is another one of my favorites that I've pimped in this thread.

 

[jockstrap_mcgee]

Second Bill Bryson. Anything Bill Bryson. A Walk in the Woods was hilarious and informative.

 

[Joneslab]

I liked The Road because I thought the father/son stuff was really well done. I don't think I would've appreciated it as much if I didn't have a son.

Also loved Blood Meridian back in college but it's kind of peak McCarthy. Definitely an acquired taste and you end up skimming a lot of it because it's like reading a stream of consciousness nightmare.

 

[Ukbrassowtipin]

I'm reading a couple books right now.

Picked up Cormac McCarthys Child of God. Also am reading a book called The One Man by Andrew Gross about a guy who goes undercover into a nazi concentration camp. Good so far.

 

[MychalG]

Just finished "Girl on the Train"..Before that, "Life" Keith Richards autobiography..I read books in spurts. I may read 2-3 in a row, then won't read one for a year or so..

 

[Hank Camacho]

Anyone read any Don Delillo?

I've got Underworld and Libra in the hopper and those look like they could be chores.

 

[slick rick.ksr]

Green Eggs and Ham

 

[starchief]

History of WWII fan here. Couple of good older books I've recently read:

Citizen Soldiers - Stephen Ambrose. Gives the reader a feel for what it was like to be a soldier in the ETO from after D-Day to the end of the war in Europe.

Enemy at the Gate - William Craig. The Battle of Stalingrad told in great but interesting detail. The sniper of movie fame is only a tiny detail in this book.

 

[Double Tay]

The sad and tragic life of Robert Peace. Read it about 6 months ago. *Might* be the best book I've ever read. Great twist mid-book and a true story. Incredible read.

 

[UK 82]

Lonesome Dove is the best book I've ever read but for someone that doesn't like to read it might be way too long.

 

[DSmith21]

A Quiet Flame by Phillip Kerr was very enjoyable. This was one of his best Bernie Gunther detective novels which are set in 1935-1950 Germany. Tom Hanks and HBO are trying to buy the rights to the character for a series based on his first three novels.

 

[P19978]

I highly recommend this if you like the Grateful Dead:

http://www.dennismcnally.com/books/a-long-strange-trip-grateful-dead/

 

[Supreme Lord Z]

Anyone read any Don Delillo?

I've got Underworld and Libra in the hopper and those look like they could be chores.

Libra is a page turner. I crushed that book. For some reason I never took to Underworld even though it is Delillo's most acclaimed book. I came to that one last right on the heels of Libra and White Noise and Underworld just never hit me like the other two did.

 

[Perrin75]

I do most of my reading through audiobooks now. Makes my commute and running go by a lot faster. If you are not a reader, you might give that a try. The Martian is an absolute must listen/read. It's fantastic. I also just finished a Man Called Ove. It's one of the best books I've read in a very long time. Also, if you are into technology thrillers, check out Daemon by Daniel Suarez.

For those who are into history, A World Undone is a great overview of WWI and 1861 is one of the better Civil War Books I have read in awhile.

 

[80 Proof]

Lonesome Dove is the best book I've ever read but for someone that doesn't like to read it might be way too long.

I've read it twice, and the rest of the books in the series once. I will read Lonesome Dove at least once more in my life. Just an incredible story.

 

[UK 82]

I've read it twice, and the rest of the books in the series once. I will read Lonesome Dove at least once more in my life. Just an incredible story.

Agree 100%. There are very few books that I'll read more than once and this is one of those and I've read a ton of books. For those that don't read it's also regarded as one of the greatest movie westerns ever made. How can you go wrong with Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall. 80 Proof is right, an incredible story!

 

[80 Proof]

Agree 100%. There are very few books that I'll read more than once and this is one of those and I've read a ton of books. For those that don't read it's also regarded as one of the greatest movie westerns ever made. How can you go wrong with Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall. 80 Proof is right, an incredible story!

My favorite T-shirt right now is a pic of Gus McRae with the script "We don't rent pigs".

 

[kyaddict_rivals308450]

I'm on the sixth book of the Dark Tower series. Started this summer and I've been hooked.

 

[Ukbrassowtipin]

Oh if you haven't read the short story "Guts" from the book Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (guy that wrote Fight Club) then your missing out

 

[mrhotdice]

Ha ha ha well said Z

1491, America before Columbus.

Also read 1493. Both great books on history of the Americas before and after Columbus

 

[Tskware]

The last great one was a short thriller (but really it's impossible to pin down the genre) by Iain Reid called I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

But I'm Thinking of Ending Things is far more propulsive. And far more scary. It's just a unique, unhinged, frightening read that has stuck with me almost every day since I read it two months ago.

And before that is was probably Josh Malerman's Bird Box, which remains the best apocalyptic novel I've read not named The Road.

I was looking for somethign off beat and took your advice. I just finished I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Would not say it was great but the last plot twist was interesting, to say the least. Maybe I am dense, but did not see it coming until the last ten pages. It was worth the read.

I am now reading The Bird Box, which premise I honestly thought sounded really stupid, but damn, I can't put it down, it is really well written and tense.

Thanks

 

[Joneslab]

I was looking for somethign off beat and took your advice. I just finished I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Would not say it was great but the last plot twist was interesting, to say the least. Maybe I am dense, but did not see it coming until the last ten pages. It was worth the read.

I am now reading The Bird Box, which premise I honestly thought sounded really stupid, but damn, I can't put it down, it is really well written and tense.

Thanks

No problem. Glad you picked these up.

I didn't see the plot twist coming in I'm Thinking of Ending Things either. Totally caught me by surprise.

I've always liked books that are hard to define. That sort of slip between genres. Unfortunately there aren't a whole lot of them out there.

 

[Chuckinden]

Just finished "The Girl on the Train". Not bad, but hopefully the movie is better.

 

[ganner918_rivals60369]

Okay so what's the boards opinion on Blood Meridian? Its been sitting on the shelf so decided to start it after reading this thread. Only about a third of the way through and I'm still up in the air about it.

It's a hell of a slog. I've read two of his other books (All the Pretty Horses, No Country For Old Men) and it's by far the most difficult and least entertaining of any of them. Definitely a great work, but not something I really enjoyed. Dark, endlessly, mindlessly violent, almost nothing redeeming or relatable in any character in the entire book. Great, yes, but hard to get through.

I'm finishing Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh now. Really liking it, I'd put it ahead of The Satanic Verses but not as good as Midnight's Children (a must read for anyone).

Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marques is incredible. I'd recommend One Hundred Years of Solitude for an epic or No One Writes to the Colonel (I read this recently) for a short story/novella.

I'm a big fan of classic sci-fi, read Ubik by Philip K Dick earlier this year and loved it.

 

[Tskware]

It's a hell of a slog. I've read two of his other books (All the Pretty Horses, No Country For Old Men) and it's by far the most difficult and least entertaining of any of them. Definitely a great work, but not something I really enjoyed. Dark, endlessly, mindlessly violent, almost nothing redeeming or relatable in any character in the entire book. Great, yes, but hard to get through.

Yep, my take as well. The Road is a classic though, and I read the whole Border Trilogy, terrific stuff.

 

[Supreme Lord Z]

You have to have a lot of RAM to get Blood Meridian.

 

[domino79]

I like"Spot Goes Through the Farm," and "Runaway Bunny."

 

[Atrain7732]

Felt kinda bad a few years ago when I read blood meridian and just didn't care for it like I thought I would based on reputation. Glad to see others had same feeling.

Reading John Douglas' Mindhunter right now and it is predictably good. Had read some of his other books before and for a true crime fan they are the gold standard IMO.

Very good suggestions here as well. Will be checking out several mentioned. Thanks.

 

[mailman85_rivals376684]

I finished Blood Meridian and like most of you have said it was a tough one to get through. It was a good book but I don't know many people I would recommend it to. Felt like homework more than something enjoyable to kick back and read.

 

[Supreme Lord Z]

Blood Meridian in the wrong hands is like trying to run Windows 10 on a 3.1 machine.

The pretend West. Air brushed. Prettied up. Paper heroes comforting soft gawking Easterners with their daring exploits among faceless menacing savages. John Wayne. Guffaw.

Blood Meridian is the counter to that. It dares us to peek behind the pretty white fence. A metaphorical rampage into the absolute brutality of killing off entire nations of people and animals, even. That's nasty business and over it all presides "The Judge"... McCarthy's "devil" in the hell he paints as the real West. The brutal unforgiving landscape as stark as any ever in print. A lawless flesh colored slaughter. A Blood Meridian.

It is a greatness not meant for common consumption no more than selling Drouhin Laroze Clos Vougeot out of a McDonald's would be.

 

[Wall2Boogie]

You win the internet if you know who Rudolph Schmidt is in this classic novel. Any guesses?