“Sick Puppy”
by: Carl Hiaasen
This twisted tale of an eco-terrorist getting his revenge on a litterbug is filled with severely twisted characters that you can’t help but believe they are based on real people. You truly get to know each character and be them psychotic, idiotic or patriotic, you can’t help but feel like you know these people or people like them. Truly a book I laughed out loud to, then again, I have a twisted sense of humor.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Series”
by: Douglas Adams
Brilliant is a word often abused to describe literary work and to be honest, it should be reserved for the very top tier of literature. For instance, Anne Rice is not brilliant. She might be a decent read you might or might not be able to sink your teeth into (what a shitty pun) but for me at least she fails to elevate her creations to the next level and her bullshit fancy wordiness sometimes gets on my nerves. Douglas Adams was nothing like Anne Rice starting by the fact that he had a penis and not ending because he read like Monty Python spewing quantum theories. Adams was brilliant and if you’ve ever wanted to read something smart funny that hasn’t had the over hype of Woody Allen, this might be a series you should check out.
“Dune”
by: Frank Herbert
People debate about Star Wars and Star Trek as if their fucking ensign rank or midichlorion count depended on it. That being said, I can throw Dune against either series and feel confident that based on literature, Dune might very well dominate the Science Fiction genre. True, Star Wars is more accessible, yes Star Trek wants everyone to join hands and sing kumbaya with a seven nippled princess that was probably getting bukkaked by the likes of Kirk and Spok. Dune is simply one of the biggest achievements in literature and after reading, I wouldn’t be surprised if Frank Herbert was merely documenting the reality of a parallel dimension. True the movie was a flop, but I’m not talking about movies, I’m talking about literary concepts and written worlds. All this not to mention some of the most memorable villains in the character courtesy of Vladimir Harkonnen. If you like Sci-fi and you want to read rather than watch, pick this up now.
“The Mystified Magistrate”
by: Marquis de Sade
Before sex drug and rock & roll, there was De Sade. The vilest, freest, sickest pervert this side of hell and he was a delicious writer. Surrealistic, mean, cruel and extremely vivid, you can’t help but sneer at the downfall of the bourgeoisie in his novels. Nihilism is an accusation he would have laughed at while masturbating an eight year old boy onto his nanny, but if the shoe fits? There is no correct morality, there is no correct morality, there is only life and he was the strongest advocate of enjoying it without harming anyone, well unless it was called for or requested. If you like your happy endings to be gooey, then he was definitely the marquis writer.
“Un Lun Dun”
by: China Miéville
If you are having Potter withdrawal, don’t read the press and believe everything speculated, try this novel on for size. It’s weird, kooky and as engrossing as Harry Potter, just leaps and bounds weirder. New fiction or weird fantasy are some titles given to writers of Miéville’s style, but I can recommend this book whole heartedly since my means of acquiring it were almost as random as the adventure told in the book. Well written, fast paced and as creative as opium or acid can let you be.
What about you guys? What do you think would be a worthy read?
6 comments:
In my head the Dune and the Foundation (I Asimov) were always competing for the top spot. I immensely enjoyed them both. Still in sci-fi, don't forget the Ender Saga by scott card, and omg, The Pandora series by herbert and ransom. Still sci-fi, give a little chance to Brothers Strugatsky and their wonderful wonderful Picnic on the side of the road (Tarkovsky made a film about it) - you know, the zone, anomalies, we're all fucking ants etc.
Phillip O Ceallaigh - Notes from a Turkish Brothel is a great book by all standards, very intense short stories.
Neil Gaiman - Air is a must read.
Do androids dream of electric sheep? for cyberpunk
The Beatnicks - must reads
vonnegut everything
haruki murakami - everything
ryu murakami - everything
michel houellebecq - everything
and many many more
(and mine too, but as an underfoot, not worthy of the company above - details some other time).
Many many MANY thanks for the recommends and I'll definitely look them up :D
"e" by Matthew Beaumont.
You can read entire pages at Amazon. I lost my copy, but I think Me has one available.
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.
Me had told me about 'E' and I think that just making a book off company emails is something DEFINITELY worth the read because the back and forth hatred found within an ad agency is some of the most entertaining when poo starts flying from one dept. to another.
Blink is new to me, but hey, it's good to sometimes read something in the vein of advertising or marketing because even dated books offer you different perspectives of how to attack a task.
Blink to me at least was focused more on thinking in general than marketing/advertising, although there were enough ad examples to qualify. It focused ont eh first reaction people have in a given situation.
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