A Book You Should Read, But Can't Or Won't

[Listener]

What I mean is this:  what book do you think you should have read at this point in your life, but never got around to it, or gave up on it, or whatever.

Mine is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  I like a lot of her philosophies, so I said a few months ago, "self, we need another $7.00 to get Super Saver Shipping on this Amazon order.  Let's add in Atlas Shrugged."  Then I said, "self, that's a great idea."

No it wasn't.

The story didn't move.  The characters weren't dynamic.  I gave up after four chapters when it became clear that nothing was going to happen.  I didn't even care who John Galt was anymore.

Maybe at some point in the distant future, I'll try to take it on again.  But not now.

That's mine.  What's yours?

[nishi]

for a long time, i thought i should have read more faulkner besides the required "as i lay dying" in high school.

now, i've given him up for what will probably be lifelong lent as far as he is concerned.

[Beefy]

80% of the books I own.

If I had to pick one, I'll probably never finish Michener's Alaska.

[Dry then Catch]

HOLY SCHMORKEL i was going to say Atlas Shrugged before i even clicked it.


i read anthem and excerpts of Fountainhead, but I just don't like taht Ayn Rand.

[Listener]

HOLY SCHMORKEL i was going to say Atlas Shrugged before i even clicked it.


i read anthem and excerpts of Fountainhead, but I just don't like taht Ayn Rand.

I feel better about skipping over Rand because I've read more than my fair share of Heinlein... including the at-times-dreadfully-boring For Us The Living.  (It's okay, though, cos he makes up for it with Friday, The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, Time Enough For Love, and all the rest... I especially like Blert the Cat from TCWWTW...)

[ursus]

The Ayn Rand thread:
http://www.juntoonline.com/forum/index.php?topic=1232.0

You guys have company...

My own? The bio of Che Guevara by Jon Lee Anderson. Cool stuff, wacky life, a death that is opratic in it's scope, I just can't finish it.

[ignom]

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

[dazie]

Most of the "have to" books I seem to have been forced to read in school.

Now I look at my bookshelf replete with Civil War books and think "How can I call myself interested in the Civil War if I havent' ever read any Bruce Catton?"

So I'd say Bruce Catton.

[Beefy]

The Kama Sutra.

[SockmonkeyHolocaust]

Most of the "have to" books I seem to have been forced to read in school.

Now I look at my bookshelf replete with Civil War books and think "How can I call myself interested in the Civil War if I havent' ever read any Bruce Catton?"

So I'd say Bruce Catton.

Catton is for pedestrians.

[dazie]

Most of the "have to" books I seem to have been forced to read in school.

Now I look at my bookshelf replete with Civil War books and think "How can I call myself interested in the Civil War if I havent' ever read any Bruce Catton?"

So I'd say Bruce Catton.

Catton is for pedestrians.

?  Do tell.

[dc]

Most of the "have to" books I seem to have been forced to read in school.

Now I look at my bookshelf replete with Civil War books and think "How can I call myself interested in the Civil War if I havent' ever read any Bruce Catton?"

So I'd say Bruce Catton.

Catton is for pedestrians.

?  Do tell.

Catton is a nice introductory writer.  There's nothing there for someone who has advanced past a passing interest in the Civil War.

[meredith]

I've been wanting to read The Brothers K for a while now.  I tracked down a copy from Project Gutenberg, but then I made the excuse that I wanted to get a deadtree copy because it would be such a pain to read on a monitor.  I checked a few bookstores, but never saw a copy.  Thus, it has been on the back burner for a good long time.  It's going to be so burnt I'll throw away the whole pot.

[dc]

I've been wanting to read The Brothers K for a while now.  I tracked down a copy from Project Gutenberg, but then I made the excuse that I wanted to get a deadtree copy because it would be such a pain to read on a monitor.  I checked a few bookstores, but never saw a copy.  Thus, it has been on the back burner for a good long time.  It's going to be so burnt I'll throw away the whole pot.

Any B&N store should have it.  We actually publish a version of it in the B&N Classics line.

[meredith]

Any B&N store should have it.  We actually publish a version of it in the B&N Classics line.

Thanks for the tip.  I rarely visit those fancy bookstores; I prefer to troll the used bookstores.

[dc]

I've been wanting to read The Brothers K for a while now.  I tracked down a copy from Project Gutenberg, but then I made the excuse that I wanted to get a deadtree copy because it would be such a pain to read on a monitor.  I checked a few bookstores, but never saw a copy.  Thus, it has been on the back burner for a good long time.  It's going to be so burnt I'll throw away the whole pot.

Any B&N store should have it.  We actually publish a version of it in the B&N Classics line.

Thanks for the tip.  I rarely visit those fancy bookstores; I prefer to troll the used bookstores.

Ah, a cheapskate.  Don't worry, the Classics line is budget priced, unlike the copies from those thieving regular publisher bastards.

[meredith]

Ah, a cheapskate.  Don't worry, the Classics line is budget priced, unlike the copies from those thieving regular publisher bastards.

Bastards!

B&N isn't bad with the pricing.  Not nearly as bad as *shudder* Border's.

[dc]

Ah, a cheapskate.  Don't worry, the Classics line is budget priced, unlike the copies from those thieving regular publisher bastards.

Bastards!

B&N isn't bad with the pricing.  Not nearly as bad as *shudder* Border's.

A lot of it is because the upper levels feel that the publishers are driving up book prices without merit, and the company has been committed to proving that good books don't have to be so damn expensive.  So there's B&N publishing and Sterling Publishers as a part of the company now.  Sterling will sell to any bookseller (except Border's, but that's because Border's won't buy.) They're picky about selling to places like Wal-Mart, but that's because Wal-Mart insists  on screwing both the publisher *and* the author.

[ignom]

When I was studying publishing at NYU, all my professors had day jobs with the big companies like Simon & Schuster and Penguin imprints. God, did they all hate Barnes & Noble for publishing their own books.

[dc]

When I was studying publishing at NYU, all my professors had day jobs with the big companies like Simon & Schuster and Penguin imprints. God, did they all hate Barnes & Noble for publishing their own books.

Because it endangers their cash cow and monopoly on pricing.

[ignom]

When I was studying publishing at NYU, all my professors had day jobs with the big companies like Simon & Schuster and Penguin imprints. God, did they all hate Barnes & Noble for publishing their own books.

Because it endangers their cash cow and monopoly on pricing.

That was part of it.

All the people I met in publishing, especially people newer to the industry, were in constant fear of losing there jobs. Or maybe they all just wanted me to leave New York.

[dc]

When I was studying publishing at NYU, all my professors had day jobs with the big companies like Simon & Schuster and Penguin imprints. God, did they all hate Barnes & Noble for publishing their own books.

Because it endangers their cash cow and monopoly on pricing.

That was part of it.

All the people I met in publishing, especially people newer to the industry, were in constant fear of losing there jobs. Or maybe they all just wanted me to leave New York.

The publishing industry is headed for trouble.  Between pushing hardcovers up over $30, and paperbacks near $10, which has hurt sales (they claim that sales are down because "people aren't reading."), and the amount of unedited and unfiltered shit being dropped into the market by "print on demand" titles, there are big problems brewing.

[dazie]

Most of the "have to" books I seem to have been forced to read in school.

Now I look at my bookshelf replete with Civil War books and think "How can I call myself interested in the Civil War if I havent' ever read any Bruce Catton?"

So I'd say Bruce Catton.

Catton is for pedestrians.

?  Do tell.

Catton is a nice introductory writer.  There's nothing there for someone who has advanced past a passing interest in the Civil War.

That's why I figure I should read it.  I've read more in depth stuff, why not the introductory stuff?  One thing I just cannot get through though is Longstreet's autobiography.  GAWD what an awful writer.

[Jessie]

The Cat in the Hat.

I hear that's a real classic.

[dazie]

The Cat in the Hat.

I hear that's a real classic.

I always hated that book.  I thought the cat was naughty and that Thing 1 and Thing 2 were just reprobates.