Sonic Youth Gossip - please recommend me a book for the summer!

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- - please recommend me a book for the summer! (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=2100)

Summer reading is what you want well here's the book: The Air Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller. Perhaps you will find some wisdom in the pages.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadicfollower

Seriously though, if you really want a fun and exciting read get, The Sickness Unto Death by Kierkegaard.

you are clearly out of your skull.

acousticrock87 has good taste in books, and i'll second the anthem recommendation for a quick read (i finished it in one sitting). if you ever get some time on your hands you really should try to get through atlas shrugged and/or the fountainhead . . . even if you don't entirely agree with them they will get you to see things in an entirely different light.

also, if i may, gilgamesh is a surprisingly good read for being so damn old (as in, sumerian). looking at my bookshelf, here are my choices for shorter works:

camus's the stranger
faulkner's as i lay dying
huxley's brave new world
voltaire's candide
beowulf
wells's the war of the worlds
kesey's one flew over the cuckoo's nest
potok's the chosen
steinbeck's of mice and men (which you've probably already read)
shelley's frankenstein

also, if you're up for slightly longer works try the following:

dostoevsky's the idiot
wright's native son
stoker's dracula
sinclair's the jungle (i hate the ideas in the book but it's still a good read)
tolkien's the lord of the rings
(i was about to recommend the koran but i don't think there's any danger of that book being foreign to you . . .)

i also second the recommendations for the picture of dorian gray, catch-22, and dante's inferno. (as you can see i'm big on "heavy" reads . . . :))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kegmama

A superior story of psychiatric rape, about the legendary Ms. Frances Farmer. It's a fictional biography, but a good read.

oh i've read that kegmama, it was good. the only probablem i had with it was that there were some part to the book that were made up. I think there was some controversey over the book, or maybe i'm thinking of another one, so now i don't know what i can believe about frances farmer.

kurt vonnegut - breakfast of champions
charles bukowski - post office
chuck palahniuk - choke
douglas coupland - generation x

one more thing, it's always a good idea to read the classics when you're young.. you just can't find the time to read them later on in your life..

The Crying Of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Only 127 pages, but a story that spans centuries, involves aerospace contractors, the US postal service, assasins disguised as Native Americans, LSD, underaged marriages, a Nazi doctor, a rock band called the Paranoids, a secret society called W.A.S.T.E, wonderful imagery, strong prose and excellent characterization; not something you'll forget in a hurry.

Oh yeah, A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley is good too... And Salman Rushdie's Haroun And The Sea Of Stories... Wonderfully beautiful

I suggest you
god bless you mr. rosewater

or

sirens of titan

both by the genius Kurt Vonnegut.
the first is a novel that describes the life of eliot rosewater, a millionaire who turns to a hamlet/st. francis
the second one is hallucinatory science fiction... some themes are incredible, like mercury's animals, robot aliens, war Mars vs. Earth, new religions...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kegmama

Yeah, that's why I said it's a 'fictional biography, but a good read!' :rolleyes: I found this interesting in regard to Frances:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Farmer

"Western State Hospital's medical archives record all of the lobotomies performed during her time there. Since lobotomies were considered a ground-breaking (and money saving) medical procedure at the time, the hospital did not attempt to conceal their work and kept extensive records. Although hundreds of patients underwent the procedure, no evidence has ever been presented to support the claim Farmer was among them. Farmer's own medical records show she was never operated on for any reason while she was institutionalized. Former staff members, including all the lobotomy ward nurses who were on duty during Frances' years at Western State (and who were still alive years later) confirmed during 1983 interviews with Seattle newspapers that Farmer did not receive a lobotomy. Nurse Beverly Tibbetts stated, “I worked on all the patients who had lobotomies, and Frances Farmer never came to that ward.”

yeah i read that too kegmama cause i did a project on her last year. I don't know what to believe regaurding her having a lombotomy or not. Have you seen the movie Frances? what do you really think happened? i know that's kind of a silly question cause you only have read about it in books and stuff, but i'm curious to know what you think.