Literature and your favorite books.

[Faithless]

I'm addicted to the printed page.  I'll read anything, even instructions and cereal boxes if there's nothing else.

I've read lots of things that everyone else has posted here, so I'm just going to add one item.

A Book Dragon by Donn Kushner.  This is a charming little fairy tale that is one of the most delightful books I've ever read.  It is out of print and relatively rare, although there are several used copies on Amazon.com.  If you want a good read that will leave you with a really nice feeling, it's well worth the effort to find and buy.  Ironically, it's about a dragon and a bible, but don't let that stop you.  I'm actually going to buy a couple more copies of this book.  Mine is dog-eared, old, falling apart, and held together with a rubber band, which is why I won't lend it out anymore.

[curiosityandthecat]

[derail]

Hey, Curio, how did you get a job in the library?

My freshman year of college I got a Federal Work-Study position in the library. Stayed there my entire undergrad and part of my Master's. One of the supervisory positions came open and I snatched it right up. Fairly boring story, actually.  

[/derail]

[Wraitchel]

Come on Curio, don't hold out on us. A really juicy book list is the finest of gifts, and the solstice approaches...

[curiosityandthecat]

Come on Curio, don't hold out on us. A really juicy book list is the finest of gifts, and the solstice approaches...

I'll put something together. I'll try to keep it in the double digits.  

[Sophus]

Anyone else read The Dogma of Christ?

[Whitney]

Anyone else read The Dogma of Christ?

Nope, I've never heard of it.  Right now I'm trying to read books that at least aren't directly related to religion.  I get more than my fill from the forum.

[VanReal]

Wow, you have a broad range of acceptable topics, very good!

A couple that were interesting to me:

We Wish to Inform that Tomorrow we will be killed with our families (Philip Gourevitch)
Bitter Winds (Harry Wu)


Memoirs of Cleopatra (Margaret George)

I saw someone mention Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, that's a good one, takes about 45 minutes to read but is interestingly put and a good read.

The Stranger by Albert Camus is also a good one, several ways to look at the book.

[Painter46]

The "His Dark Materials" trilogy, by Philip Pullman is a fantastic series of novels, with an atheistic, anti-theist worldview. Billed as books for young people, these novels are as challenging and fascinating as any novels written for adults. Also "Spin" or any other sf novel by Robert Charles Wilson would be a good choice. Wilson talks about his atheism openly on his website.

[Mister Joy]

I just read The Dumb House by John Burnside. I'd reccommend it to anyone interested in philosophies of language, as well those with a taste for the gothic macabre

[karadan]

I just finished the Time Traveller's Wife.

I highly recommend that book to anyone who hasn't yet read it. It blew my socks off!  

[McQ]

Anyone else read The Dogma of Christ?

No. What did you think of it? Worth the read?


A book I finished recently is, The Terror, by Dan Simmonds. It is a fictional accounting of a real-life tragedy - the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to map the Northwest Passage in 1845-1849. Two specially outfitted ships, HMS Terror, and HMS Erebus, were sent to map the last remaining part of the Northwest Passage, and both ships were frozen in the ice, then lost. No one survived, but later expeditions found remnants of ships, camps, bones of the crew, etc.

Rather than try to describe it all, here is the link to the Amazon.com page: http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Novel-Dan- ... 0316017442


Let me say that this is the finest novel I can recall reading. It mixes historical accounts with gothic horror, Inuit mythology, and the isolation of the arctic perfectly. It will teach you and it will scare the shit out of you! It's REALLY long, but I'd read it again in a heartbeat.

[BadPoison]

I was just checking out Dan Simmon's list of works - several of his looked interesting. I might pick up one at the library on my lunch break. McQ have you (or anyone else reading this thread) read anything else by him?

[karadan]

Anyone else read The Dogma of Christ?

No. What did you think of it? Worth the read?


A book I finished recently is, The Terror, by Dan Simmonds. It is a fictional accounting of a real-life tragedy - the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to map the Northwest Passage in 1845-1849. Two specially outfitted ships, HMS Terror, and HMS Erebus, were sent to map the last remaining part of the Northwest Passage, and both ships were frozen in the ice, then lost. No one survived, but later expeditions found remnants of ships, camps, bones of the crew, etc.

Rather than try to describe it all, here is the link to the Amazon.com page: http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Novel-Dan- ... 0316017442


Let me say that this is the finest novel I can recall reading. It mixes historical accounts with gothic horror, Inuit mythology, and the isolation of the arctic perfectly. It will teach you and it will scare the shit out of you! It's REALLY long, but I'd read it again in a heartbeat.

Awesome. That and The Diamond Age are next on my 'to read' list then.

[McQ]

I was just checking out Dan Simmon's list of works - several of his looked interesting. I might pick up one at the library on my lunch break. McQ have you (or anyone else reading this thread) read anything else by him?

Funny thing is, I had never heard of him before I read that book. I came upon that book while looking for books to add to my Kindle2, on Amazon's site. Since I had just read, Who Goes There?, by John Campbell, and Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child, Amazon automatically recommended Terror. It had great reviews, and when I read a sample I thought, "Man, THIS is literature at its finest!"

I was not disappointed. Freaking great book!

[BadPoison]

I was just checking out Dan Simmon's list of works - several of his looked interesting. I might pick up one at the library on my lunch break. McQ have you (or anyone else reading this thread) read anything else by him?

Funny thing is, I had never heard of him before I read that book. I came upon that book while looking for books to add to my Kindle2, on Amazon's site. Since I had just read, Who Goes There?, by John Campbell, and Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child, Amazon automatically recommended Terror. It had great reviews, and when I read a sample I thought, "Man, THIS is literature at its finest!"

I was not disappointed. Freaking great book!

I picked Terror up at the local library today (along with some Stephen Hawking.) I'm looking forward to diving in.