Well the holidays are fast approaching. Whether you celebrate Xmas or Yule, Chaunakah, Kwanzaa, or any other gift-giving holiday that I can't think of at the moment it makes me curious as to what books other people might be hoping to get or asking their gift givers to try and find them for present giving time. *hands 10p to Sal*I'm asking for a few more Vonnegut books to round out my meager collection. I only have about 9 of his books and I want to read more. I'd love to get his non-fiction book "A Man Without a Country" which he wrote the year before he died, and I'd love to find a copy of "Mother Night" so i can finally read the book that gave me my favourite quote. *throws in another 10p to Sal for good measure* (you should keep those btw, maybe 5 years from now i'll have quite a big collection built up and we can go on holiday. ) I also am requesting Patricia Cornwell's new book "The Book of the Dead". I've loved her Kay Scarpetta book series, they are delightfully dark and creepy but not so much that I can't sit in relative dark reading them for fear the boogie man is going to break down my door to get me. I've been tempted to add a Jeff Noon book or two to the list, but want to read Pollen first and see if I still like him. So, well I'm hoping that in this thread seeing books you guys might like, might also pique my curiousity of other books that I should look into obtaining. Some people though in my family don't seem to cherish books as much as I do and they find it silly that I ask for something I will read once and then sit it on a shelf. They obviously do not understand that nearly every book that lands on the shelf will at some point be re-read, and all are thought about - well most are thought about, there are a few duds. So, what are you asking for? Are you asking for books at all? Have you all given up reading - and if so what are you doing here? Enough of my sleep-deprived ramblings ... i need to learn to shut up. :tongue:
"Needle in the Groove" - Jeff Noon The whole James Clavell asian saga because I only own one of them. A couple of archaeology textbooks same for anthropology
I'm pretty sure I've got Mother Night - I went through a bit of a Vonnegut phase a few years ago. If I do it will be on my old bookshelves at my mother's house, I'll check in the next couple of days. Books I'm currently looking for are The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald and The Greater Trumps by Charles Williams.
hey phoenix_indigo, I thought of you yesterday when my old copy of Mother Night turned up at the bottom of a pile in my bedroom. Did you get it for Solstice after all?
I want Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance (coming from amazon, yay) and the ragged trousered philanthopist (sp).
omg i was looking up Jeff Noon books the other day and found this one i'd love to read called "Cobralingus" apparently it is no longer in print and the cheapest used paperback edition is £49.97 so if anyone happens to come across this one cheap, please let me know. if it's under £10 buy it and i'll pay ya back for it.
Keep an eagle eye out at car-boot sales - I got 3 more volumes of Stephen Lawhead's Arthurian saga for 60p at Brighton station last weekend. That's 60p for the lot, not each.
ragged trousered philanthropists looks good, that's on my list too along with seamus heaney's translation of beowulf, any essay collections by william morris or alexandra kollontai, any books of bukowski's or cummings' poems, and trotsky's attempt at an autobiography. ah and dostoyevsky's crime and punishment, but i guess that's available from any vaguely respectable library. even minehead's. my amazon wishlist's depressingly long.
I've got a CD set of Seamus Heaney reading his Beowulf translation, it's great stuff. You should add it your wishlist, hehe. Heaney came to do a reading at the college where I work a while ago and came across as a lovely guy.
awesome, i've heard his translation is unsurpassed and i only have some old one. i'll look into that cd then. don't think i've ever read any of his original poetry, but he's done a fair bit of translating which is impressive! it's a real skill.
Hmm, so many books I wanna get.. I think the rest of James Clavell's Asian series to start with - I have Shogun and Tai-pan, I just need King Rat and the fourth one that I can't remember the name of at the moment. Then maybe Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and perhaps one of Alan Watts' many good books on the Tao te Ching.
Zen Mind Beginner's Mind is a favourite of mine, I used to read a chapter every morning after meditating. I'm coming to realise that I seem to have many of the books on people's wishlists, perhaps you should all just come and raid my flat (not!)
aw yeah! sounds like fun. i'll be round about 7. seeing as you two seem to be all tao-y, don't suppose you know of some books on tai chi that are meant to be good.. i'm thinking of some in particular but i can't remember the names ...or author. it was either two books or a trilogy. my tai chi tutor lent one to me but i gave it back and i keep forgetting to ask her the name. looked really interesting, and well written. uh.. yeah no one will guess from that will they? ah well. my wish list used to include any books from the penguin 'great loves' series, but i just bought all of them on ebay for 12 quid. they're sitting next to me now. happiest day in a long time..
