Recent content by Fred R

It's easy for me to get burned out on a particular author if I read too many of their books back-to-back. You mentioned several Hemingways so I wondered if that might be the case. I've heard many people mention that they don't particularly care for Hemingway's longer works but they quite like...

I do a backflip onto a box of baby ducks. Then I take one of the flattened baby ducks and use that as a bookmark. Well not really, I was just trying to think of something marginally more disturbing than dogearing a book. :D Usually it's just some old receipt or scrap of paper. I buy lots of...

I know that except for that last bump, all these messages are a year old. Still, I feel the need to respond — being one of those much maligned prostitutes of the art world. ;) You can't lay all the blame at the doorstep of the graphic designer. You've got the illustrators and...

Not that much really. Since becoming a parent, I find that much of that extra time has gone away! I've got hours of things on DVR to watch and a healthy selection of DVDs should I decide to or find the time to do some viewing.

Sounds like it could be The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell.

I'm rather possessive as well, but I have no qualms about buying used books as long as they aren't too beat up. Once they come home with me though I try my best not to further their destruction. My wife... a lovely, wonderful woman in so very many respects, is not careful with books. Luckily...

I'll take those condolences if you've still got them, beer good. I hate to see anything go to waste. A bit of a packrat, I am. I have to agree with pretty much everyone else that people do still read for entertainment. I can't think of any type of reading that falls outside of entertainment...

I'm currently reading the book and I'm down to the last few chapters. Perhaps I'm a particularly obtuse reader or I'm in for one big homosexual surprise in those last few pages! I'm aware that quite a bit of sexual undercurrent has been read into Stokers's Dracula but I'd never heard that...

I like them if they help me to better understand what the author is trying to convey. Maybe I'm a little OCD, but if there is a footnote, I will read it. For this reason I prefer that they be at the bottom of the page rather than in the back of the book. For the last several months I've...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig might fit what you're looking for. Don't let the Motorcycle Maintenance bit throw you, it's not some kind of shop manual! Maybe check out its Amazon page to see if it sounds like something you would enjoy. I'd post a link, but I see...

Raiders from the Rings by Alan Nourse. It's a pulpy little book published in the '60s. It holds a special place in my heart because it was the first science fiction I ever read. Niven's Ringworld stands out as one of my most enjoyable SF reads. The original Dune trilogy, by Frank Herbert...

You sound like my wife. Our reading tastes are rather different. She usually doesn't trust my recommendations — unless I mention that it's depressing! :D Off the top of my head, The Grapes of Wrath, The Jungle, and Bastard Out of Carolina, stand out in my mind as pretty depressing.

You might like Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson. It is somewhat obscure as classics go. Hudson was a Victorian-era naturalist. His descriptions of the South American jungles are fantastic. It has an unusual love story and strong themes of civilization vs. the natural world.

I don't know if my librarians take any interest in what people check out or not. About a third of my reading is science fiction, and some of the cover artwork is tacky enough to make me self-conscious. Every so often I'll use the self checkout if it's particularly cringeworthy. The cashiers...

There are certain old friends I like to revisit every few years. Authors like Mark Twain, Tolkein, Douglas Adams. Maybe not a terribly distinguished "highbrow" list, but like someone else said, "comfort food." In addition to being good stories they take me back to the same time and place as...