The one thing that is missing...

...is a topic about books. Really, how the hell can you all not have a forum about books? the last didn't either, i don't believe... I guess it makes sense. the tribe was never really literary... (not meant as a slur)
---cause my nephew Andrew told me to

anyway, I'm tired of going into a store and trying to find a new sci-fi novel only to pick one up, start reading a few pages into it and find that it essentially sucks.

---Andrew again

What books are you fellas reading recently (if at all)? (andrew) Some of the authors I've been reading recently have been Kate Elliot and (andrew) Karen Miller. There have been a lot of others, but I'm running out of tried and true authors. I've already explored the likes of Le Guin and Douglas Adams and I'm getting frustrated with some of these stupid ones I've tried. And as much as I love the Sookie Stackhouse novels and the True Blood television series, not to mention the novels of Anne Rice, vampiric and otherwise (her Mayfair family trilogy for instance), there has been an inundation of really bad, steretypically cheesy and predictable vampire novels on the shelves of book stores' science fiction section everywhere.

so... any recommendations?

I can't read books. First of all, I hate them... for the same reason that you do - I can't stand to devote 2 chapters of focus only to find out that the book is a complete waste of time. I have read many books resulting in just two somewhat enjoyable experiences - "The Dark Portal" from the Deptford Mice trilogy and "Ender's Game."

I have to struggle to make myself sit still through anything. To me, time spent focusing on someone else's creation is time where I could be interacting with something - making my own creation. Reading goes extremely slow for me, because by the time I've read 5 words, I've thought of a new build order for Starcraft that I'm DYING to try out in a 3 vs 3 match. It is literally impossible to keep my mind from drifting somewhere else.

And from what I understand, popular literature sucks. I read the first book of Harry Potter. It was a crock of Poos. Another cookie cutter hero whom I had NO SYMPATHY for. His talents fell into his lap, he was an utter wimp, and he defeated his enemies through sheer luck and blind faith. He and his friends had grinding, smart-ass personalities and I just wanted them to die.

And then there's Twilight... Good lord, the things that people can put themselves through... The pain they can inflict upon themselves...

To put it shortly, I won't be participating in this forum.

I've been listening to the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast and it provides a lot of insight into the life and works of one of the most inspiring weird horror writers of the 20th century. A lot of his stories are bad and racist but if you sift through you can find the diamonds in the rough like "The Rats in the Walls", "The Call of Cthulhu", and a host of others. Also, all his works can be found for free online at a few different sites.

When I was younger I read for entertainment. I loved Chronicles of Narnia and the first four Harry Potter books. But, whether I was too old or the books had just gone bad, by the fifth book I was unimpressed and came to hate Harry as a character. I kept reading mostly because of the adult wizards in the books like Dumbledore, Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, etc. Most of my favorite characters died and my favorite of the trio (Hermione) ended up marrying my least favorite of the trio (Ron). Disgusting. I definitely could have done without the epilogue.

The author I really became entranced with in junior high was Stephen King. Here was writing I had never seen before; stories with swearing, sex, death, gore, guns, supernatural entities, and some pretty interesting characters, especially in the Dark Tower series.

After I chewed through most of SKs good stuff I grew out of him as well and haven't really found a replacement since, which has been somewhat disheartening. I'll probably keep reading the occasional SK book but I won't love them like I used too, because I've seen much of the same thing already. I haven't found a lot of time to read for myself nowadays and I don't enjoy it nearly as much. But I'll never stop reading altogether. Stephen King says in his memoir On Writing that to be a great writer you have to put in the work. And that means you have to read a lot AND write a lot. In the process, you'll read a lot of bad stuff. But just knowing the difference between good and bad writing is essential for any good writing to occur at all. Just like a musician who has to listen to great (and not so great) artists to be a great musician, a writer has to put in the work.

As for recommendations for adults and writers I'd say:

Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon
J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye
Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
Harry Potter series (even though some of the characters and plot are unfortunately bad, the writing is consistently great)
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion (pretty much anything by this man is the most well-thought out thing ever. his books do tend to bog down with the details, but details were his bread and butter.)

I'll add more later.

I recommend:

King Dork by Frank Portman
So Punk Rock by Micol and David Ostow
Love Me by Garrison Keillor
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Insomnia by Stephen King
Emily the Strange books by Rob Reger (haven't read them, but a friend sez they're wonderful)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
***** Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Jane Proulx *****

You just got the legendary three-burnham-in-a-row response.

Oh Lovecraft. I've been getting into Gaberiel Marquez as of late, him and his crazy magical realism. I'm also attempting to make my way through the 100 books you should read before you die, starting wiht Catch-22, which is hilarious.

I recommend that bad boy if you want some war time shenanigans.

I've also been trying to finish that list but if I have to read Moby Dick I may never finish it