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the old page...things that used to be somewhere else |
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| Victor Pelevin. I love his work, unfortunately its not so easy to come by in the U.S. but he lets it be published on the web so you can read it there, or order it there. Yes, I am aware the website is in Russian...you don't want to know what I think about people who can't read Russian. |
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| Isaac Asimov. I consider him one of the greatest Science Fiction writers of all time. To those of you who think that science fiction is all bunk go and read some. I proudly attribute most of my outlook on life to the art of science fiction. And I am partial to his robot stories. |
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| Robert Anton Wilson. The newest author I like to read. I encourage your reading him if you can read. If you cant read you should learn. Not that you'd know I think that since you cant read this. Anyway I read the Illuminatus trilogy and liked it, but then I like most things that combine sex philosophy and drugs. I mean shit I liked Russia didn't I. |
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| Daniel Quinn. Read him. He is quite frankly one of the more compelling authors I've read recently. For those of you who don't know he is the author of Ishmael, along with other books. So as they say, read the book then visit the website. You could do it the other way but don't. |
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| Deborah Tannen. For those of you that think I read weird trash that only serves to render my mind a hodge podge of fancy and confusion, then stop, you are about to be disenchanted. She is a linguist who has written several kickass books on the topic and has also put out videos for those who like moving pictures. |
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| Douglas Adams. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy a book that amuses you and introduces many strange people and places, contradicts itself, loops in a devilish manner, and rarely if ever has good tea. But don't panic, you won't live any longer than twelve minutes, and if the book is too hard there is a movie. |
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| Mikhail Bulgakov. I first read his Master and Margarita, considered by many to be his opus (and I love it as well...I mean my god i spent many a day wandering around Patriarchs Pond because of the book), I however think his short stories don't get the credit they deserve and encourage the Diaboliad. |
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| Edgar Allan Poe. I can never get enough of him. I think that a selected tales book of his was probably one of the first book I ever bought. His work is dark and funny and fun to read. While probably most known in the US for his "Raven" poem, his short stories are damn good. Ohh and if you've never read "Bernice" read it. |
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| Evgeny Zamyatin. For those of you who ever wondered where D503we came from it is Zamyatin. The book is We and is probably the best distopian book out there. He is considered the first distopian writer and Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's brave new world both echo it. If you have read we you should read his other stuff which is damn good too. |
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| Nikolai Gogol. I read "the Nose" way back in grade school and was hooked. My favorite of his stories is called "diary of a madman" and is simply one of the best pieces of absurdism that i have read. Those of you who don't like the absurd fear not Gogol is known as the father of Russian realism, it just happens that what is real in Russia is rather absurd. |
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| Chris Van Allsburg. i have a secret suspicion that he is warping the minds of millions of children and lulling their parents into a false sense of security through pretty pictures. For those that only ever read the Polar Express and Jumanji (or god forbid only saw the movies) read the others. I recall liking The Mysteries of Harris Burdick and the Wretched Stone. |
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| J.D. Salinger. I never really met anyone who didn't like Salinger. But if you don't, whatever, I like him. As a matter of fact I enjoy him a lot. So read his shit its fun and nice. I especially like the collection Nine Stories but most of his shit is worth reading. Also for those cheap folk out there almost any library will have his works. |
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| Ayn Rand. You know if you ever want to feel good about yourself agree with Ayn Rand. It is an ego trip to the nth degree. Author of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and more. A Russian �migr� from Soviet times. |
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| Anna Akmatova. Actually the first author that I ever read in the original russian, it gives her a special place in my heart. A poetess of immense proportions. Her work is about the experience of life in Soviet Russia and focuses on the left behind. |
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| Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Of Tolstoy, Pushkin, and Dostoyevsky, Dostoyevsky is my favorite. Like all dreaming intellectuals I read Crime and Punishment way back in my formative years. As you should do but that being said notes from the underground (sometimes called The Underground Man) is just wicked cool. Don't blindly hate the underground man, try to understand him and his motives. I think too many people blindly hate him, I always liked him. |
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| Pearl S. Buck. You know i thought she was a man for the longest time. I am really not all that sure why but it is so. Interesting point I read her way back when, and thought i'd like to go to Asia some day. And look at me now |
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| Alexander Blok. A Russian poet of the revolutionary period does great things with rhythym. If you can get a native speaker to read you his work it is awesome. His war poems have a military cadence which is really cool to hear and makes you want to march along or clap or some shit like that. If you are reading the English there are some decent translations out there but you should befriend a Slav and hear the original even if you can't understand it. |
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| Herman Hesse. If memory serves me right Val and I went on a Hesse freak fest sometime in high school. It led to many a speculations on the mark of Cain and other shit along those lines. I think most people nowadays read Hesse and I think you should, he's fun. It's light and dark with a hint of pepper. I remember really liking Demian and Sidhartha. |
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| Lev Tolstoy. Sigh, I think Tolstoy is way overrated. Not that he doesn't have his uses, but, my god, I often think of him as the Russian Dickens, but way better than Dickens, so much so that I actually enjoy some of his work. I think his true strength lies in his short work. I used to have a collection of his short stories that I sold one day in a feeling of pure hatred of him, but i miss it now. They are well written descriptive and for those of you unfamiliar with the glory that is the Russian short story his are good, slightly dark but with these nice descriptions. Death of Ivan Illych is my favorite of his works. |
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| Alexander Pushkin. Pushkin is known as the founder of Russian literature. I know he is virtually unknown in the west but hell folks expand your mind. He was a poet, Evgennii Onegin is his most famous poem. He also wrote prose and The Queen of Spades is his most noted. Several of his works have been made into operas and other forms of musical and artistic spectacle and they are damn good. I am aware that the link on his name takes you to a museum site but i was excited when I found it because I had been there. this one is on Pushkin |
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| Fyodor Sologub. Yeah brings back memories of a year when I was mixing original text with various English translations, which for those of you who don't indulge, it is like mixing beer and alcohol, seems like a good idea but not so fun in the morning. He is a good writer. Some great dream sequences/ hallucinations. I am pretty sure that Russians were experimenting with drugs long before their Western counterparts. And no, I don't consider Russia to be Western |
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| Roald Dahl. I first read his work in fifth grade. The book was Matilda. After that I went on possibly my first author binge and read as many of his books as I could find I think the only major one I have not read to date is the BFG but I will someday, have no fear. I like to think of his work as slightly warped reading for children who know what funny means or possibly are getting picked on in school. So I liked them. |
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| Beverly Cleary. I remember reading her when I was oh so young. Actually her autobiography was the first three hundred page book I read. And yes these are the kind of things I remember. I loved Ramona and was not a fan of the Ralph stories but I did read them. Ramona always was my favorite though and I hated when Beezus got to much story time. |
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| Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Oh they are very special to me. They co-wrote the Dragonlance series, which I started reading back in sixth or seventh grade. The first science-fiction fantasy I was to ever read. I remember carrying around the extremely heavy trilogy sets. Sigh, but it is escapism to the nth, and I love escapism. You will still find me carrying a tome of it sandwiched between some highbrow junk. |
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| Umberto Eco. I am reading his Island of the Day Before Yesterday. Not bad, a little slow at the get go, but its flowing now. Plus, it reminds me of Zadig which I enjoyed. |
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| James Joyce. I am reading his Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I enjoy the cadence of it, makes me wonder if there are any recordings of him reading his work. Let me know if you know. |
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| Marita Sturken. I am reading her Tangled Memories. It is about the impact of images and media on the way history is handed down, centralized on US history from the Civil Rights movement onwards. Pretty good, not the most well written thing I have read but the topic is interesting enough that is covers up stylistic faults. Nowhere near as good as Palmer, I wonder if I can get his books over here. Hmm. |
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| Yann Martel. I read his life of pi, not bad. Funny and a bit cryptic at the end. I like books that always carry the possibility that two people will come out with a completely different conclusion. |
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| Lois Lowry. I read her Giver and Number of the Stars growing up. always enjoyed them, fun yet simple stories, good for getting kids to think. And yes it is good for kids to think. |
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William Gibson. I read his Neuromancer. Like life of pi I read it straight through. It was just damn engaging. By now you all know I enjoy my science fiction and this was a good one. It has a nice blend of death, chaos, drugs, and computers. read it its fun. |
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| Carl Sagan. I just read Contact, not a bad book, not exactly earth shattering. Better than the movie (I liked the movie as well but as with most books to movies minus Jane Austin novels, the book was better). I encourage it. It's interesting at least. |
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| Neal Stephenson. I like. It has been awhile since I found an author that I really enjoy reading. He is one of them. I recommend his Snow Crash to start. And The Deliverator it belongs to an elite order. |
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| Mark Z. Danielewski. Convoluted but fun. I am reading his House of Leaves, which is supposedly the manuscript of a fictional character, who compiled the work of a man named Zampano, who produced obscene amounts of data on a Documentary that was never made. Fun I tell you fun. |
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| Viktoria Fromkin. She posthumously wrote a linguistic's text book that I loved. I am currently not able to write the name but it was good. damn good. she also wrote lots of articles and shit non-posthumously that i enjoyed as well. |
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| Palmer. Ohh he has a first name but if you know who he is that is all you need know. Yes, I along with millions of other agree that his history of the world is THE history of the world...you know like THE ballroom dance club. |
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| The Daily Show with John Stewart. Of course america the book made it, I mean my god any book that lets you dress the supreme justices, take poles, and learn is going to be represented. Also it teaches you about canada. Well not really but people from canada get all uppity if you don't give them their due. |
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follow the superball...the superball being those gigantic bouncing balls...this is of course the list of my previous train of thought sites.
Niels Bohr, Kultcha, Taoism, Hashishim, Archimedes, John Dillinger, Discordia, Hepatitis B, Book Burning, Rebec, Just go here, Santur, skittles, Pierre de fermat, london clay, 2+2=5, Biafra, Geodesic Domes, Bucky Fuller, BBC Radio 4, Kid of Speed, Sir Edward Coke, Critical paranoia, Gary Barkov, George Bush, Yellow, Robots, Ftrain, Online Texts (i told you i am desperate), A frightened Boy, Indonesian Gamelan, Eric conveys an Emotion, Bush Kerry Debate, Grow (sick mad puzzlation), Lipogram Fun, Arabic, Malakas, Kodaly, Lemonade Stand, Steady Hand, Walk the drunk Home, Rugby, Sorry everybody (val is on page 24 I think), Game theory, Lumberjack Song, USA, Happy NK kid, Exercise, Floating Logos, Plankton, The Bible, Atheists, Mehal Shah, Poetry, Incriminati, Val Made It, Why I will never be seen as crazy, How to make a valid argument for straight jackets, How to have fun, hapland, necker cube |
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