General Fiction

Westair · General Fiction

Only quality to keep up the standard Cool

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splitfamily4tune8*

well if you really want to make your head spin.....try 'foucaults pendulum' by umberto eco...also, 'the name of the rose' by the same author

Brookie · Atlas Shrugged

I have a First Edition 57th Impression, which was about half way though first year, of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
This is one of the greatest books of the 20th Century and everybody should read it especially politicians of all persuasions.

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splitfamily4tune8* · Re: Atlas Shrugged

Alice

Diddlie

I love reading but admit that it is most escapist chick lit that I read, easy to pick up whenever I get a chance. Also like crime and thriller type ones.

Gabbo's Run

i hate reading, do not have the patience to read a book. i buy the newspaper once a week and go straight to sports and for sale.

Cathy is the reader in this house.
Does she have any books?
Only about a thousand, she has books coming out the wood work.
Kids books, irish mhyths, and heeps of old books.
Me just not a reader, if i start a book, will read one page and then skip 20 as its all to booooring.

thats just me.

cheers brian

splitfamily4tune8*

Alice

I agree with you splitfamily (peter)..why make younger kids read crap that may be considered literary classics when it doesn't communicate to a generation. I am not a smarter person because I read old classics that are irrelevant to the world I live in. The western aristocracy of what is 'a must read' will not stimulate thought or discussion in today's people. It may be a noctch on someone's belt...someone I'd rather not converse with.
If you want high retention rates of literacy in students, give them something interesting to them to read.

Alice

whoops...I didn't mean to do that previous rant..what I wanted to say was that Shantaram is a great book..and the entire set of the Japanese manga Death Note..

Brookie

You are right Alice- it is not teaching them what to read but how to read and today it must be something to attract their interest.
Harry Potter has probably brought more kids and adults back to books than anything else in last 20 years or so.

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Alice

Extract from Bill Bryson's Down Under that I thought was quite funny...
A friend of Bill Bryson recounted that a story of an Australian friend of his. A neighbour to a building site had a child (3yrs old) who took an interest in the activity of the builders. She hung around the work site and became like a mascot to the crew...they gave her a token amount of money at the end of the week.
"She took this home to her mother who made all the appropriate cooings of admiration and suggested that they take it to the bank the next morning to deposit it in her account. When they went to the bank, the cashier was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her own pay packet.
'I've been building a house this week,' she replied proudly.
'Goodness!' said the cashier.
'And will you be building a house next week, too?'
'I will if we ever get the f***ing bricks,' answered the little girl" (Bryson)

Brookie

Sorting out a few boxes and came across Denis Wheatley's "Bill for the Use of A Body" and couldn't resist reading it again.
Must dig out some more.
Have read most of his many books over the years but still impressed with his ability to portray varied characters and locations.

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Rawdyn

Ahh yes Good old Zen and the art. I frikkin loved that book. Still not sure I understood it but i loved it.

Foucault's Pendulum rang really loud bells but I realised it was the physics experiment the book was named after that I remember. Sounds like a good read though.

Favourite Book: A.B. Facey - A Fortunate Life
Favourite Film: Jacob's Ladder (with Tim Robbins)
Favourite CD: Sixto Rodriguez - Cold Fact

General Fiction

Atlas Shrugged

Re: Atlas Shrugged