Author Topic: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?  (Read 77724 times)

lifejoy

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #100 on: January 12, 2018, 01:14:38 PM »
Self Improvement: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
I just searched my library for the audio book of this. It returned just one title as relevant: Sexy Forever by Suzanne Somers. What do you all think - close enough?

LOL!!!

aceyou

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #101 on: February 09, 2018, 08:14:09 PM »
Self Improvement: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
I just searched my library for the audio book of this. It returned just one title as relevant: Sexy Forever by Suzanne Somers. What do you all think - close enough?


LOL!  The two are almost interchangeable.  ;)

Yeah, screw stoic joy, I didn't know there was an option to just be sexy forever instead...sign me up!!!!!

ematicic

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #102 on: April 30, 2018, 10:24:58 AM »
1. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
2. Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Particularly the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglass Adams
3. One Second After, by William Forstchen


All very different from each other but of all the reading I have done, these 3 were the hardest to put down and the most memorable.

Leisured

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #103 on: May 02, 2018, 06:12:54 AM »
One book I have not seen mentioned here: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

Cordivae

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #104 on: May 03, 2018, 11:51:46 AM »
Fiction:
#A timeless tale with mustachian theme and pitfalls.  Won a Pulitzer for a reason.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Self Help:
#This is the book that got me started in systematically being a better person.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg


Non-Fiction:
#Bill Gates lists this as his favorite book of all time.  I think it should be mandatory reading and is the perfect antidote to the 24-hr news cycle induced stress.
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

I'm a red panda

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #105 on: May 03, 2018, 12:02:39 PM »
One of my favorite books ever- Seven Summits by Dick Bass (and Rick Ridgeway).
Great for arm chair mountaineers.

Talk about being able to have FU money to do what you want.  I read it in 9th grade, and have read it probably 20 or more times since then.

grantmeaname

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #106 on: May 08, 2018, 06:46:46 PM »
Great thread, gang!

The Sparrow, by Maria Doria Russell.  It's about what happens if the first response to extraterrestrial communication is a space mission by Jesuits who attempt to visit the ETs' planet.  Hauntingly told.

On a deeper level, the novel explores the unintended disasters available when two cultures meet each other.  I'm not religious, but found the subtle spiritual speculations in the book to be fascinating as well.  My ex who mediates between cultures for a living said it was the best book on the topic she'd ever read.  My ex is gone, but her recommendation was superb.
A bit of preamble: Over the last year and a half I have been using Goodreads because I really like that I can drop a book onto my "to read" list any time I see an interesting recommendation and then just scroll through the list when I have finished or given up on the last round of books ordered from the library. The MMM forums, especially this thread, have been a good source of book recommendations; I just check through this subforum and a handful of other threads and drop anything intriguing onto my Goodreads list. I've found a few duds here and there, along with a big pile of good reads.

The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God are easily the best two books I've found here. Mad props to Bicycle_B for the recommendation. I finished Children of God on Saturday, not even 36 hours after I got to the front of the library's hold queue. I'm currently weighing whether I reread them both right now, start to finish, or if I give it a few weeks' time to let things settle. These books are everything first contact books like Speaker for the Dead could be if their authors really understood human beings, and it's hard to think of another book covering the same topics that doesn't pale in comparison. Seriously, go read The Sparrow.

pbkmaine

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #107 on: May 09, 2018, 06:03:04 PM »
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

stoaX

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #108 on: May 10, 2018, 04:47:40 PM »
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

Yup - great book.  I've liked all the books I've read by him.

JetBlast

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #109 on: May 28, 2018, 10:07:02 AM »
Not sure I’d say it’s the best ever, but one I really enjoyed and haven’t seen here is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It’s not that the philosophical ideas were new, but the way of exploring them and weaving them into the narrative is excellent.

It’s a book I’m glad I read in my late 20s instead of high school or even college. I don’t think I would have really understood it back then, or had the patience to see where it was going.

profnot

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #110 on: September 23, 2018, 03:27:27 PM »
Canadian authoress Louise Penny is my favorite.

Her novels are set in Quebec and feature the province’s Chief of Homicide. 
Gamache is an unusual detective in the genre - he is highly intelligent, he listens, he loves literature, and he adores his wife and children.  The writing and plots are top notch. Action scenes are terrific.  Plots always contain surprises.  Character development is wonderful.

Read the oldest book first, then in order.  The stories are all stand-alone but characters develop over the series.

mountain mustache

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #111 on: September 23, 2018, 03:39:37 PM »
All time best I've ever read, definitely LOTR Trilogy. There are no books that compare in my mind, no books that were a bigger part of my life than those. I've re-read them countless times, and I learn/discover something new each time!

Besides LOTR, I love anything Barbara Kingsolver has written, especially Animal Dreams, and Bean Trees.

wheezle

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #112 on: October 02, 2018, 01:57:35 PM »
Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford

grantmeaname

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #113 on: October 02, 2018, 06:56:34 PM »
Really? That's been on my to read list for a long time. What made it so impactful?

wheezle

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #114 on: October 02, 2018, 07:57:53 PM »
Really? That's been on my to read list for a long time. What made it so impactful?
I remember one passage where he's describing a master plumber explaining why you have to vent a toilet properly, because if you do it wrong, "the house will smell of shit."

There's something about seeing the real, tangible, and lasting effects of the work that you do every day that's basically what we, as humans, expect, but those of us who live a meaningless, paper-pushing white-collar existence don't ever feel it. So it's like we're missing something and we don't even know what it is.

He tells the story and makes the point very well. That we ought to MAKE things, because we're unhappy if we don't. It's a very compelling book.

StarBright

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #115 on: October 02, 2018, 08:03:51 PM »
Happy to see Cloud Atlas got a few mentions already - it is one of my favorite reads just because it hits so many genres and is a really gorgeous book.

My all-time favorite, re-read every year book is Possession by A.S. Byatt. If I could only choose one book for the rest of my life, that would be it.

Honorable mentions: Cloud Atlas, Katherine (or Dragonwyck) by Anya Seton, or Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters (Poetry but tells a story).

mountain mustache - Kinsgolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle is one I re-read often!
« Last Edit: October 02, 2018, 08:05:22 PM by StarBright »

stoaX

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #116 on: October 19, 2018, 02:49:00 PM »
Fiction:
#A timeless tale with mustachian theme and pitfalls.  Won a Pulitzer for a reason.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Self Help:
#This is the book that got me started in systematically being a better person.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg


Non-Fiction:
#Bill Gates lists this as his favorite book of all time.  I think it should be mandatory reading and is the perfect antidote to the 24-hr news cycle induced stress.
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Just finished listening to Enlightenment Now on audiobook.  I agree - it was worth every moment spent listening to it. 

GrowRichEnough

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #117 on: November 28, 2018, 04:29:01 AM »
There are a few books that have completely changed my life for the better, including ...

  • A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
  • Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez
  • The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

The full list is here, hope it's useful ...

http://www.growrichenough.com/life-changing-books/

Pieve

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #118 on: December 28, 2018, 03:22:32 AM »
The great Gatsby
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22

aliciagold

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #119 on: March 30, 2019, 02:52:48 AM »
The Foundation trilogy. Especially the first one.


daverobev

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #120 on: March 30, 2019, 09:19:30 AM »
I don't think anyone's mentioned Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I saw a few mentions of Steinbeck - I couldn't get into East of Eden, but I loved his Grapes of Wrath.

Similar in vein to Steinbeck's Travels with Charley is Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon.

Lots of people have mentioned Dune, which I haven't read for a few years. Might be time to go back to that.

Oh, I love Stephen Donaldson generally. His Gap Series is absolutely fantastic sci-fi. I gave my set away... might have to undo that.

(Edited to add authors).

Tyson

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #121 on: March 30, 2019, 09:40:12 AM »
I think Catch 22 has now kicked Moby Dick out of my top spot.

daverobev

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #122 on: March 30, 2019, 10:02:49 AM »
I think Catch 22 has now kicked Moby Dick out of my top spot.

"Something Happened" also by Heller is... quite something, too.

stoaX

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #123 on: April 06, 2019, 04:45:11 PM »


Similar in vein to Steinbeck's Travels with Charley is Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon.



I enjoyed both of these as well.  Thanks for mentioning!

tamuaggie2011

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #124 on: May 29, 2019, 11:58:19 AM »
Different but if you're looking for a great historical fiction book:

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

stoaX

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #125 on: May 29, 2019, 04:34:06 PM »
Just finished reading "Educated" by Tara Westover.   Not necessarily a mustachian book but wow, what a story!

BussoV6

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #126 on: May 30, 2019, 07:49:13 AM »
Top three books for me have been...

A Tale of Two Cities (I reread every 10 years or so).
The Count of Monte Christo.  loved this gripping read.
Islands in the Stream.  I know Hemingway now has a reputation as a windbag, but I enjoyed a few of his books.


I read the book "Blue Highways" mentioned a few posts back and enjoyed it.

smileyface

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #127 on: June 01, 2019, 12:04:26 PM »
Most titles in my top 10 list have already been mentioned in this thread, and now I have a huge "to-read" list that would probably take me years to get through!

One that I love but I didn't see mentioned here is All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.  I read this for the first time last year, and it's one I'm glad I didn't read in high school--  I wouldn't have fully "gotten" it or fully appreciated it then.  If you like politics, this is just such a great read. 

A Fella from Stella

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #128 on: July 02, 2019, 08:58:56 AM »
I am not shitting you: "Diary of Edward the Hamster.

You will thank me.

A Fella from Stella

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #129 on: July 23, 2019, 02:04:41 PM »
The novels by Steve Martin, the comedian, are very good. They are not slapstick stories like you might expect, but serious works of fiction that happen to have some funny parts.

grantmeaname

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #130 on: July 24, 2019, 09:42:56 AM »
I really liked the audiobook of Shop Girl - Martin even read it.

ColoAndy

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #131 on: November 21, 2019, 02:03:29 PM »
All time favorite novel: "The Gold Coast" by Nelson Demille.

MrRobinBobin

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #132 on: February 01, 2020, 03:12:11 PM »
The Chronicles Of Narnia By Lewis. My favorite book of childhood and now I read it to my children. As for me, this is the greatest book anyone's ever written.

lemonlyman

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #133 on: February 13, 2020, 02:56:52 PM »
Business: The Essays of Warren Buffet 5th Edition

Self Help: Ryan Holiday's The Way, the Enemy, and the Key Trilogy

Fiction: Also The Foundation Trilogy

bbfronk

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #134 on: February 17, 2020, 07:10:10 AM »
The best books I have ever read are "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand and "Shantaram" by G. D. Roberts

MyOtherBrotherDarryl

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #135 on: February 25, 2020, 10:58:26 PM »
What a great thread! In return for the great boost to my reading list, here are some favorites I've read over the past few months.

Nonfiction:

Narrative Economics by Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller. An insightful look at how the stories we tell each other drive economic cycles. Seems especially relevant today.

Adults in the Room by Yanis Varoufakis.  A former Greek finance minister's political memoir of how the EU, USA, World Bank and others turned Greece into the Eurozone's whipping boy on the heels of the Great Recession.

The Evolution of Beauty by Richard Prum. An ornithologist at Yale describes, in no small depth, the evolution of beauty in birds as opposed to the evolution of strictly utilitarian features that would seem to better improve the odds of survival.

Fiction:

Tokyo Under Glass by William Kaden. Tokyo, 1992. An American banker takes over the Tokyo office of his investment bank after his predecessor's suicide and finds himself caught up in cross-Pacific political machinations.

The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason. England, 1860. A police detective is charged with finding a killer who smoothly integrates into all levels of society, from the dregs of London to friends of Queen Victoria.

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson. On the heels of 9/11, a Muslim-American CIA agent in deep cover inside al-Qaeda is brought back home to continue the fight, despite his lack of allies in official and unofficial Washington. First in a series.

evme

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #136 on: May 03, 2020, 02:19:13 AM »
Best fiction books:
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
"The Stand" by Stephen King

Best book with pictures:
"Shelter" by Lloyd Kahn

Best non-fiction:
"The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver

stoaX

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #137 on: May 03, 2020, 05:13:49 AM »
2 more books that I have read recently and recommend: The Evolution of Everything by Matt Ridley and Shakespeare by Bill Bryson (I have enjoyed everything that Bill has written).

Tyler durden

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #138 on: May 07, 2020, 05:47:00 PM »
Not sure if its been mentioned as I didn't read the entire thread

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Best book I've read and the following 2 books to finish the series are equally as good.

They had a TV show on last year for about 5 episodes about the first book but it got cancelled.

Davnasty

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #139 on: July 25, 2020, 09:01:31 PM »
I'm digging the Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss. The storytelling is just amazing, and manages to be a little bit philosophical. Be warned though, it's an unfinished trilogy. And book 3 is taking a while. I have faith that the wait will be worth it, but there's always risk with an unfinished series.

Be still, my beating heart. I recently made the mistake of rereading the first two books - Being reminded of precisely how fantastic they are tore open all my old wounds of waiting for Book 3. Rothfuss needs to quit pushing that publication date back.

Oh, additional recommendation, in case anybody is a fan of autobiographies: My Wicked, Wicked Ways by Errol Flynn. His life pre-Hollywood was just one adventure after another - some of them have been proven untrue, but he's such a charming and charismatic storyteller that you don't even care. I mean, this is the guy who met and wooed his third wife at his own statutory rape trial. Clearly not a saint, but entertaining as hell.

"The last episode of The Kingkiller Chronicles series release date is August 20, 2020."

https://gizmoblaze.com/2020/07/13/doors-of-stone-release-date/

Maybe for real this time?

use2betrix

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #140 on: September 11, 2020, 02:16:55 PM »
I’ve read countless books that I could consider “bests” over the years, in terms of different topics.

I rarely read fiction anymore (it’s been years) but growing up, I enjoyed both, “A Painted House” by Josh Grisham and, “Where the Red Fern Grows,” as two easy favorites.

Books like Enders Game, the Harry Potter series, or Hunger Games series, can all make the list as well.

When it comes to non-fiction, also have a ton of favorites for each topic.. List to come..

GuitarStv

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #141 on: September 11, 2020, 05:08:30 PM »
The Chronicles Of Narnia By Lewis.

I remember really liking the books when I was young, and have been reading them to my son recently.  It's interesting re-reading them now that I'm older.  There's certainly some casual sexism resulting from the time they were written (the gifts from Father Christmas) that we've had to talk about on a few occasions, and it was a little uncomfortable for me like the depictions of the obviously Arab "Calormene" (especially in A Horse and His Boy).  Aside from those two minor niggles, on the whole the stories stand up surprisingly well.

Accrual

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #142 on: October 20, 2020, 06:39:20 PM »
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Easily

Sandi_k

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #143 on: October 20, 2020, 11:10:54 PM »

"The last episode of The Kingkiller Chronicles series release date is August 20, 2020."

https://gizmoblaze.com/2020/07/13/doors-of-stone-release-date/

Maybe for real this time?

Nope. I've been waiting for nearly 8 YEARS for Book 3. Gah!

daverobev

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #144 on: October 21, 2020, 08:51:23 AM »
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Easily

Funny, I just couldn't get into that. I like Steinbeck generally - read the Grapes of Wrath while travelling, and Travels with Charley later. I did Of Mice and Men at school. But E of E I just couldn't get into, not sure why.

Davnasty

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #145 on: October 21, 2020, 12:39:40 PM »

"The last episode of The Kingkiller Chronicles series release date is August 20, 2020."

https://gizmoblaze.com/2020/07/13/doors-of-stone-release-date/

Maybe for real this time?

Nope. I've been waiting for nearly 8 YEARS for Book 3. Gah!

Same. I even re-read books 1 & 2 in anticipation. For the fourth time.

Oh well, still enjoyed them.

phildonnia

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #146 on: November 12, 2020, 03:17:02 PM »
Here are my all-time favorites:

Fiction:
Permutation City, by Greg Egan
Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman

And a short story:
The Children's Story, by James Clavell

Non-Fiction:
Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter
The Big Questions, by Steven Landsburg
Beginnings of Infinity, by David Deutsch
American Nations, by Colin Woodard
How to Want What You Have, by Timothy Miller
The Root of all Money, by V.G. Grafe

Geppetto

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #147 on: September 07, 2021, 08:56:36 PM »
Fiction:

What’s Bred in the Bone, Robertson Davies (hon. mention: Fifth Business)
 - Art fakery & mastery & the junction of the two; espionage; psychodrama
The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky
 - the apotheosis of the novel bar none
The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
The Count of Monte Cristo (as stated by many on here)
 - beyond delicious, the original cocaine-fueled page turner
The Agony & the Ecstasy, Irving Stone
 - historical fiction on the life and work of Michelangelo Buonarroti
Ancestral Shadows, Russell Kirk
 - Ghost stories

Non-fiction:
After Virtue by Alastair McIntyre
Love and Responsibility, Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II)

Classics: (All very accessible and hugely enjoyable)
Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius
The Art of War, Sun Tzu

There’s a good start anyhow!

Chris Pascale

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #148 on: October 10, 2021, 05:40:44 PM »
I am highly reco'ing the 2 novels of J. Ryan Stradal. They were so good I reached out to thank him.

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Re: Best book you've ever read? Book recommendations?
« Reply #149 on: November 07, 2021, 10:07:05 AM »

"The last episode of The Kingkiller Chronicles series release date is August 20, 2020."

https://gizmoblaze.com/2020/07/13/doors-of-stone-release-date/

Maybe for real this time?

Nope. I've been waiting for nearly 8 YEARS for Book 3. Gah!

Same. I even re-read books 1 & 2 in anticipation. For the fourth time.

Oh well, still enjoyed them.
It's darkly amusing to see posts about that trilogy, years apart, still waiting for that 3rd book... I doubt it will ever come out. Rothfuss is either too depressed to finish it, or too worried that the end result won't be perfect enough. His own editor mentioned (last year, I think) that she hadn't seen a single word of Book 3 in 7 years. O_o If he publishes it and the reception is less than stellar, he'll lose fans. If he doesn't publish, and continues to promote his inefficient charity (it's better to just give $ directly to Heifer International), or sell trilogy-related jams and soaps (true story!) and replica swords, he'll keep raking in that money while more and more people get sucked into the fan club by their well-meaning friends...

This is kind of tragic: the Kingkiller Chronicle subreddit used to be moderated by a die-hard fan that would delete any and all criticism of Rothfuss or his publishing schedule. That moderator unexpectedly died of cancer a couple of years ago. He was in his 30s. O_o The guy spent a significant chunk of his last years white-knighting for the book that he wouldn't even live to see. :( I doubt the third book will ever come out, and ditto for GRRM's Game of Thrones series.

On a lighter note :) , here is my all-time favourite fiction book: Soon I will be invincible by Austin Grossman. I dare you to read the first page of the free preview without laughing. :P This book is like Watchmen on steroids: it goes even deeper into all the superhero/villain tropes, and does so in a very interesting and soulful way. The premise is simple: the world's smartest man, Dr Impossible, escapes from the supermax prison yet again, and hatches a new plot to take over the world. The second protagonist is a clinically depressed female cyborg who is broke and almost homeless when she gets recruited to a new team dedicated to tracking down the villain. Nothing is as it seems, though. :)

This book isn't just random Batman-style shenanigans - it's quite motivational in its own way, too. The protagonist's relentless obsession with taking over the world is quite applicable to the way some of us yearn to achieve FIRE no matter what. ;)