Jay Landsman Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 (edited) I quite like that title! This list will be of every book that I've read post-Harry Potter, as I've only recently started to really get immersed in book reading. Feel free to praise/criticise/laugh at my taste in books David Simon - Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Lester Bangs - Mainlines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste Jack Kerouac - On The Road F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls Hunter S. Thompson - The Rum Diary Hunter S. Thompson - Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga Hunter S. Thompson - The Great Shark Hunt Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 William S. Burroughs - Naked Lunch George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia Norman Mailer - The Fight Tom Wolfe - The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test A.J. Liebling - The Sweet Science Alex Haley - The Autobiography of Malcolm X Cormac McCarthy - The Road Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment Joseph Conrad - The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale Spike Milligan - Milligan's War P. J. O'Rourke - Peace Kills J. G. Ballard - Empire of the Sun Jane Smiley - The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton Charles Bukowski - Ham on Rye Gavin Evans - Dancing Shoes is Dead Carl Hiaasen - Tourist Season Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - The Communist Manifesto The bolded titles are ones that I own, but haven't got around to reading yet. Edited January 8, 2010 by Jay Landsman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Landsman Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 *Post Reserved* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Landsman Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 *This one too* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimmy619 Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Two of my favourite books are in your list!! 1984 and Fear & Loathing. I have a copy of the Rum Diary, but I haven't got around to reading it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Landsman Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 I finished The Rum Diary after a long session yesterday afternoon. It's the most conventionally written of his works, but it's still very engaging. I want to get hold of Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga and Kingdom of Fear in the near future - maybe I'll get them if I drop enough hints before christmas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 I love your taste in books! Except for the David Simon book, I've either read all of those, or I have them on my TBR pile or wish list. What's the Lester Bangs book like? And what did you think of Kerouac, Fitzgerald and Hemingway? I have Hell's Angels and The Kingdom of Fear, but I've yet to read them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Landsman Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 The Lester Bangs book in an excellent collection of some of his best articles, but I have heard that the other collection that was edited by Greil Marcus is better. You can really tell how much influence William Burroughs had on the writing of Bangs, and he never fails to mention it either. I loved On The Road - even if I did get the impression that he was quite patronising when it came to black people and the mexican people. I suppose it was normal in early twentieth-century America though. I enjoyed The Old Man and the Sea more than The Great Gatsby, as Hemingway did a brilliant job of building up the tension during the man's pursuit of the fish. I plan on purchasing For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms in the near future, but I doubt I will get hold of another Fitzgerald novel for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Have you ever read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe? I have it on my wish list, but from what I know about it and from what I know about your taste in literature, it might be something you'd enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Landsman Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 It happens to be on my wish-list too! Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer are two writers who's work I plan on exploring deeply in the coming months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Excellent! As you'll probably get to it before me (I have a rather large TBR pile), I'll be looking out for your thoughts. I do have Wolfe's The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby but, again, I have yet to read it. I believe this one is a collection of essays he wrote in the 60s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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