What's on your bookshelf?

[GateXC]

Ironically the best of the book series is made into the worst movie.

As bad as it may be, Moonraker is still a better film than either A View to A Kill or License to Kill.

 

[Zach R.]

I'd say AVTAK and Moonraker are equalliy horrid, but better than Licence to Kill? I disagree.

 

[cwchmc]

i'm a big pulp fan so my bookshelves hold a lot of pulp collections. Especially Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. I recently finished The Maltese Falcon and had started The Big Sleep. However, I just found out I'm going to be a father so the past couple weeks I've been reading baby and pregnancy books/magazines of any sort i can get my hands on.

Chuck

 

[Section10]

I have a wide library of reading interests:
Old cars, trucks, trains, tractors.
Hunting, fishing, trapping, gardening. (One would think trappers to be a very scholarly bunch by the amazing variety of trapping books out there)
Old 78 records, firearms and ballistics.
Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, G. MacDonald, A.C. Doyle. (I love English writers)
Walden, The Prince. (2 great books)
Wildcrafting & foraging, herb lore, mushrooms. (In my neck of the woods I'm considered an authority on wild plants and their uses)
Holy Bible and New Testament exegetical aids, i.e. Greek grammar, parsing guides, lexicons, Greek N.T. commentaries, etc.
I also enjoy the older pocket western stories from the 40's - 60's. The newer ones are a little too "adult" for me.

 

[jake_fink]

cwchmc said:
i'm a big pulp fan so my bookshelves hold a lot of pulp collections. Especially Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. I recently finished The Maltese Falcon and had started The Big Sleep. However, I just found out I'm going to be a father so the past couple weeks I've been reading baby and pregnancy books/magazines of any sort i can get my hands on.

Ha ha! I am also a big pulp fan, and when I found out I was going to be a father in 2004 I also started reading pregnancy, baby and parenting books. I'll warm you though, some of those books, like What to Expect When You're Expecting, are scarier than anything by H. P. Lovecraft.

Incidentally, my boy is named Dashiell.

:cheers1:

 

[MudInYerEye]

All the great ones. Flannery O'Connor, Mark Twain, Jim Thompson, Ring Lardner, and that Faulkner guy.

 

[cwchmc]

Ha ha! I am also a big pulp fan, and when I found out I was going to be a father in 2004 I also started reading pregnancy, baby and parenting books. I'll warm you though, some of those books, like What to Expect When You're Expecting, are scarier than anything by H. P. Lovecraft.

Incidentally, my boy is named Dashiell.

Yes..I've been reading What to Expect...actually so far so good....i'm not nearly as scared as I thought I would be. Though I have had several "Oh my..." moments.
My wife vetoed Dashiell, but she likes Cormac(an REH character for the uninitiated).

Chuck

 

[jake_fink]

Are you going for the full Cormac Mac Art, or leaving it at Cormac? Folks might think you're a fan of Cormac Macarthy, and you very well may be. It's a good name. I guess Iron Mike (another REH character) is out. We've been told that Dashiell is becoming a popular name choice. Who knew?

 

[Mr. Jason]

books

The last book that I really liked was "Chasing the Devil's Tail." It's a crime novel set in Storyville, New Orleans in the '20s. I tried reading "The Devil in the White City" but got bored then went for "Dogfighter." Now I'm giving up on "Dogfighter" and going for something in the new Hard Case Crime set that has come out lately.

 

[Marty M.]

I like pictures.

Sales and motavational books. And, books about clothes and clothing styles.

Marty

 

[MudInYerEye]

...Lafcadio Hearn, Horace McCoy, Herbert Asbury...

 

[magneto]

...Lafcadio Hearn, Horace McCoy, Herbert Asbury...

Ah, another Lafcadio Hearn reader...what a fascinating life he had! I love his writings on Meiji Japan.

I have recently discovered Ross MacDonald (not to be confused with all the other Golden Era MacDonald authors!)...entertaining Southern California noir...

 

[Deleted member 259]

my most recent gain, The Print of My Rememberance, Augustus Thomas 1st Edition 1922

Illustrated with photographs and numerous drawings by the author. Thomas writes about his life from childhood during the Civil War, his dream of writing for the theatre and then working in the theatre, writing for newspapers, describing people he met, writing plays and meeting more actors, writing about his travels, etc.

Really facinating, especially for my line of work, and exquisitly written.

 

[Twitch]

Well since I write about the era I have about 500 books on WW 2 mostly combat aviation. When I remember a quote I need it becomes quite difficult to recall which book it is to be found in so I can use it in a bibliography.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I am a writer and editor and so keep many reference books, dictionaries, books of quotes, grammar, idioms, writers on writing.

Many of my books are in storage at this time, but I have my favorites with me -- Shakespeare, Greek dramas, classic plays, short story collections, some Sc-Fi, some horror, and some of my favorite authors and subjects.

Have a number of books by Annie Dillard. Books on Arthurian lore, on the grail and other mysteries of the world.

My favorite book to read (and re-read): Matthiason's The Snow Leopard. Also Mitchell's Ceremonial Time, Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways, poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Frost, and English/American classic poetry. HP Lovecraft, some earlier King, Twain, Arthur C. Clarke, and some classic non-fiction. I also have a collection of astronomy books. I have read almost all of Grisham's books.

I keep a book of baby names. Someone spotted it on my reference shelve and looked at me, quizzically. "I write fiction sometimes, " I said, "and can actually get stuck if I don't have a name for a character."

Dashiell, by the way, is a wonderful name.

That reminds me, I read a lot of the girl detective novels that abound at this time: Have read Grafton all the way through, now have the "S" book; Nevada Barr, who gives us grand tours of the National Parks while her ranger solves a murder; Paretsky's V.I. Warshevski, who I like because she is stylish and mouthy and (like me) a poor housekeeper; Muller's Sharon McCone who works out of San Francisco; Grafton's Kinsey Milhone, who has the same ornery thoughts as V.I., but keeps it to herself (and us); and am now reading Sharon McCrumb books; Ghost Riders, The Rosewood Casket, etc. She writes about Appalachia in a way that makes you want to live there.

I have lots of books and writings on nature. I love to read an author who can turn a good phrase about land and water, who can write about a place that makes it come alive and become a character in a story.

I am also interested in getting that Holmes anthology. I just read, for the first time in my life, Hound of the Baskervilles, and enjoyed it immensely.

I am happiest when in the middle of a good book. I will drag it with me everywhere and, if I have 5 minutes to sit and wait, will read.

karol