Recomended Reading

The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

I guess I can best describe it as a visionary novel? It's set on this planet in the near future during a time of ecological collapse. Most of the land is ruled by the corporate authoritarian "Stewards". However one region has declared itself independent ( the Bay area of California). The Bay is a sort of "ecotopia" where there is no waste, no poverty, people have rejected violence and work cooperatively, the arts and culture are valued etc etc. This rebel area also has the precious resource of unpolluted water, which of course attracts the attention of the Stewards. The plot of the Fifth Sacred Thing follows ninety eight year old Maya Greenwood and her grandchildren Madrone and Bird as they fight to save the Bay area they love from the Stewards, and their struggle to do this without compromising their belief systems.
Hmm that sounds a bit serious and dull....it's a great read....and so, so hopeful.

 

Just thought of a few more........
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Twopence To Cross The Mersey - Helen Forrester
Cider With Rosie - Laurie Lee

The last couple were recommended to me by Dok so I can't take the credit for those

 

To Kill A Mockingbird- Harper Lee
The Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams
marvylous! x

 

Oooh, here's one that deserves a mention! Check out The Dark is Rising. It's classed as a children's book, but it's a whole lot more than that. It'll tune you into a whole world of Celtic/Arthurian British spirituality and mysticism. If you have kids, buy it today and corrupt them. If you don't, buy it for yourself and recapture the magic of your childhood.

 

Anything by Kerouac

The unbearable lightness of being - Milan Kundera

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - Robert Pirsig

The electric KOOLAID acid test - Tom Wolfe

Naked Lunch - William Burroughs

The outsider - Albert Camus

Sophies World - Jostein Gaardner

The Power of one - Bryce Courtney

All fantastic books in very different ways....

 

"papillon" henri charriere man sent to devils island escapes 30 years later after lots of attempts wonderful book

Birdman of Alcatraz: The Story of Robert Stroud Thomas E. Gaddis

man made to serve life in jail finds escape in birds

As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me
Josef M. Bauer
ex german soldier escapes from soviet lead mine , takes 3 years and walks 3000 miles through mainly siberia

The Long Walk:
Slavomir Rawicz group of people escape from soviet prison through mongolia

the great escape largest british escape
the wooden horse very clever classic escape

the jungle is neutral spencer chapman
man lives in jungle fighting war against japanese gets caught by them twice and escapes

 

These four walls:

A man who hatches a wily way to escape, fails to on the first time and finds himself with plenty of time to write a book anyway.















.

 

The perks of being a wallflower by stephen choblowsky (SP)
similar to catcher in the rye but i like it morw

 

oh yeah and also read "Wonderland Avenue" great true life tale of excess

 

"No-one here gets out alive", Jim Morrison biography,ggggrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeat

 

why i like monkeys by hg monkeywells

 

has anyone read a new book out lately called the kite runner? i cant remember who its by, but all i can say is you have to read it.
peace and love
stardust
xxx

 

The Bible (thats a fantastic read )
Anything by Jack Kerouac!! especially On the Road.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Kes
I am David (i seem to remember this being the first book that made me cry)

Hitler and my part in his downfall (now a hitlarious film) by Spike Milligain, one of the true comic geniuses eer to have lived.
yay!
Jaz

 

While I love a good work of fiction, this one does get a little far fetched in places and could use a little editting. Also, the hero was a bit gay, and I thought bringing him back from the dead was a bit of a cop-out.

 

haha i knew you'd say something like that. i can recommend what i like...
why was the hero a bit gay? and i'm certain noone wrote a story with the main character coming back from the dead before that... it's pretty original.
in my opinion, no one coulda made it up, it's far too complicated!
Jaz

 

'course you can dude. And I can give my literary opinion

Long hair, no mention of a girlfriend, bit of a pacifist.....

Woah. You're a bit poorly inforemd there, Jaz. Death and resurrection was a common theme in many spiritual traditions (which is almost certainly where christianity got its inspiration).

 

yeah man, of course you can give your literary opinion!!
what about the other bit? hehe - you commented on everything else!
I don't think this is the right place for a spiritual debate, tis a sticky book thread!
ok maybe i'm misinformed about the death and resurrecting subject, but christianity wasn't influenced by anything earthly at all, and i believe that he really did!
come on man, lets not upset this book thread
Jaz

 

I agree, Jaz. But the dropping the bible into recommended reading list was a religious statement, not a literary one. After all, I very much doubt anyone here's not heard of the bible

 

ok fair enough.
if anyone is a douglas adams fan, then "the salmon of doubt" is a really good book, it's a collection of works found on his computer after he died, and also has some very moving personal tributes. tis cool.

 

if you enjoyed the bible...
you may also like snow white and the seven dwarfs...