Alex Haley
Puzo
Stephen King (his work has fallen off a bit...)
S.E. Hinton
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S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders and That Was Then, This is Now

Alex Haley's Roots

Mike Lupica's Red Zone (Great book about the greedy, behind the scenes NFL.)

W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe (Anybody seen Field Of Dreams? Well this is better.)

The Godfather (Better than the film, IMO.)

Georgie Anne Geyer's Guerilla Prince (Great insight into the mind of madness that is Fidel Castro.)

Bruce Feldman's Cane Mutiny (A raucous insight into the modern dynasty of College Football, The Miami Hurricanes.)

Bob Zmuda's Andy Kaufman Revealed (An excellent profile into Zmuda's wild friendship with Andy Kaufman.)
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Only if you promise to provide the cheat sheets!! Not sure if I can do the entire thing from memory.

I agree, though Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and company did a great job with the film. The effort, the love for writing, can be detected through Mario Puzo's stories. Yesterday I started reading Fools Die for school and the first chapter/book was a good introduction. I'm looking forward to reading more of the book.

A few of my favorite stories include (in no order):

Godfather
Trumpet of the Swan
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Firm
The Testament
The Green Mile

Oh, and Leon Uris! QBVII and Exodus are wonderful books. IMHO, QBVII is one of the best courtroom dramas ever written.

Dylan Thomas is amazing.

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Bob Dylan's namesake. (He changed it from Zimmerman)


I also enjoy Robert Frost and had to study him extensively here at college. Such a depressed man. He tried to kill himself many times, but could not because of his family.

The Doc

I agree. QBVII is an excellent courtroom drama. Man it was soooo long ago that I read it. Good movie too.


Don Cardi

S.E. Hinton was one of the first authors I ever read, and she was my absolute favorite at one point. After all the books I've read since then, she's still in my top three authors of all time. And I don't think it's only for sentimental reasons. Not bad for a 16 year old chick from Tulsa, eh?

I also love anything by Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, and almost anything by Shakespeare and Robert Frost. As for other books/short stories:

The Human Comedy
On The Road
A Farewell to Arms
The Old Man and the Sea
The Beautiful and the Damned
The Great Gatsby
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer
The Yellow Wallpaper
Dracula

That's all I can think of at the moment. I also love powerful rhetoric, things that make words more effective than a slap in the face; the perfect example being Cicero's speeches and orations. Really amazing stuff.

By the way, Silas Marner lost me at spinning-wheels and farmhouses. I (thankfully) never had to read that, nor had I even heard of it, like Gigi... but talk about boring, my senior year, we had to read Samson Agonistes, by John Milton.
That's the only time that I ever read the first two pages and then didn't look at the book ever again. For the assignment, we had to write a paper about it, and since I'd somewhat listened in class, I knew the themes-- I wrote a ten page paper on the influence of religion and politics of the 1600's on the subject and themes of the book and I got an A on the paper and in the class. Either I got lucky, or my teacher was a total idiot.

A History of the World in ten and a half chapters - by Julian Barnes - we read it in first year at Uni and it's an absolutely amazing book. I can't recommend it enough.

I too have unfortunately had a bit of a reading overdose since taking english, french and italian literature for two years at university... I'm only now learning to pick up a book without reaching for my highlighter pens and postits... I blame this entirely on what I reckon to be the WORST BOOK IN THE WORLD. EVER. EVEN INCLUDING SILAS MARNER.
= Ulysses by James Joyce (it's generally heresy to criticise the great Ulysses but I really think it's a case of the emperor's new clothes - anyone here like it? And manage to read the whole 999 pages?) In case you're lucky and have never had to read it, here's the first page or so (good website btw! thanks for the link!) http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/29/61 For a real treat, check out the section called 'Oxen of the Sun' :rolleyes:

I did.....

Universally that person's acumen is esteemed very little perceptive concerning whatsoever matters are being held as most profitable by mortals with sapience endowed to be studied who is ignorant of that which the most in doctrine erudite and certainly by reason of that in them high mind's ornament deserving of veneration constantly maintain when by general consent they affirm that other circumstances being equal by no exterior splendour is the prosperity of a nation more efficaciously asserted than by the measure of how far forward may have progressed the tribute of its solicitude for that proliferent continuance which of evils the original if it be absent when fortunately present constitutes the certain sign of omnipollent nature's incorrupted benefaction.

I think he left out a comma or two in there.

My compliments. You've found something worse than Silas Marner which, as bad as it was, is at least understandable.

Funny story... In my 20 years, I never noticed Silas Marner before I saw it mentioned here. Today, at the UCLA bookstore, I saw it a few feet away, and it immediately caught my eye! I bet some poor Lit class has to read it. I picked it up and opened to chapter one, and sure enough, I could almost hear the hum of the spinning wheels, or whatever the hell that first line is.

So thank you for broadening my horizons, TB, PL, JG, and SC. My life is now richer because I can notice these books and have a little chuckle to myself. :p

I'm halfway through The Catcher In The Rye, an excellent book so far.

Anyone meantion Samuel Becket's magnificent play: "Waiting For Godot" ? A quick, but powerful read. It packs a helluva punch.

just finished reading Veronika decides to Die and Tuesday with Morrie. i recommend this books, both are great read.

GoodFella

That is my list.lol

J.K. Rowling is my new favorite author. The Harry Potter books were just incredible. There's gonna be one more book written in the series.

Other favorites:

Mario Puzo
Roald Dahl
Ernest Hemmingway
Edgar Allan Poe
Mark Winegardner (JUST KIDDING!)
John Grisham
Tom Clancy

To catch-up on what I've missed:

Judging by my only read of The Godfather, Puzo tells a good story, but doesn't tell it well. Crudely-written and patchy novel with only moments of linguistic worth.

Silas Marner is a verbose, dated yarn which induces yawns early on and gets better; the themes it deals with are relevant enough, but the characters suffer from cardboarditis. I've read far worse.

SC, did you know Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening before it was quoted in The Sopranos? Bet you were delighted when it came up on it (assuming you already knew of it).

My favourite novels:

The Magus by John Fowles
The Collector by John Fowles
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Executive Orders by Tom Clancy
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Great Book

"When Genius Failed- The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management"- Lowenstein (fascinating book- read it 3 times over, back-to-back)

It's been a while but I really enjoyed The Physician by Noah Gordon ... The story of a guy born in London in 1000a.d. who becomes a physician, and travels through Europe and the Near East.