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08-08-2010, 03:25 PM
Thanks for the recommendation, Lumiere. Just found out Stephen Leather has got a free e-book version on his website- Looking forward to read it.
Some suggestions:
Charles Bukowski: Women - awesome book from a great author.
Isaac Bashevis Singer: The death of Methuselah. A collection of short stories. Themes such as relationships, passion and duty. Very interesting read from the jewish Nobel Prize winner.
Raymond Chandler: The long Goodbye. If you like suspense this is for you. An interesting plot spiced up with Chandlers great oneliners and knowledge of human nature.
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08-08-2010, 03:39 PM
Fat City, by Leonard Gardner
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08-09-2010, 03:36 AM
I'm reading a book called "McMafia: Seriously Organized Crime."
It's like "fast food nation" but for the history of organized crime towards the end of the twentieth century.
Non fiction - it covers the rise and fall of different organized crime groups around the world, but the first half is very post-soviet nations focused.
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08-09-2010, 05:51 AM
Quote: (08-09-2010 03:05 AM)Lumiere Wrote:
Quote: (08-08-2010 03:25 PM)beebopaloo Wrote:
Thanks for the recommendation, Lumiere. Just found out Stephen Leather has got a free e-book version on his website- Looking forward to read it.
So he has :
http://www.pattayapages.com/girls/images...dancer.pdf
However, I notice that it is missing the epilogue which actually tells you what happened to all of the characters after the book finishes.
Shit, I started reading it last night and couldn't put it down. This book's seriously jampacked with info about Thailand/Bkk and the bargirls. Might have to search the internet to get the epilogue, otherwise you can give me a resumé
I was thinking about the thread you put up, about your poker buddy while I was reading. These girls seriously know how to manipulate. And remembered how they'd try to pull similar schemes on me.
One time I picked up a chick in Narcissus and while we were driving to a love hotel she got on the phone with her german boyfriend. It was hilarious to hear how she was flipping the script on him. Of course I dumped her after the hotel and never gave her any money.
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08-11-2010, 06:41 AM
So just finished Private Dancer. Was able to find the epilogue online as well.. Definitely obligatory reading if you are going to Bangkok or already have been there. However it does paint a rather dystopic picture of the thais, which I feel should only apply to the touts and bargirls. They are not a dishonest people in general. I remember loosing all my money, passport and credit card in the airport, and when I got it back not a single bath was missing.
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08-11-2010, 11:15 AM
Quote: (08-08-2010 03:25 PM)beebopaloo Wrote:
Thanks for the recommendation, Lumiere. Just found out Stephen Leather has got a free e-book version on his website- Looking forward to read it.
Some suggestions:
Charles Bukowski: Women - awesome book from a great author.
Isaac Bashevis Singer: The death of Methuselah. A collection of short stories. Themes such as relationships, passion and duty. Very interesting read from the jewish Nobel Prize winner.
Raymond Chandler: The long Goodbye. If you like suspense this is for you. An interesting plot spiced up with Chandlers great oneliners and knowledge of human nature.
I liked that book. I think Bukowski through his alterego in the novel explores a man who is just flat out boorish, crude, confident and authentic. It made me think of Tucker Max watching Chinaski go through his different adventures with women and how he offended them (and fucked them) left and right. I didn't know about Bukowski until I saw Californication on Showtime and hearing that the main character of the show, Hank Moody, was a rip off of Charles Bukowski.
Just read Arkham Asylum by Garth Ennis. It is a story about the origin of the Asylum that holds Batman's most notorious criminals. It is a very emotional work which takes you through a lot of the madness in Batman's head. If anything it just reveals he is just as crazy as the villains he fights. The artwork is just crazy, well worth the purchase alone.
I am currently reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and A People's History Of The United States By Howard Zinn. I'll give a mini review of both when I'm finished.
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10-31-2010, 10:20 AM
Okay thought I'd just get this thread alive and going once again.
Just finished:
- The Rum Diary of Hunter S. Thompson. Awesome book. Takes place in Puerto Rico, where hunters' alter ego is a heavy drinking journalist chasing tail and you can sense the debauchery of male expats.
. The Quiet American by Graham Greene. Takes place in Vietnam during the French occupation. Two guys competing for one girl. And multiple nations and ideologies competing for a country. It is a classic and many of you have probably read it. If not then pick it up.
- In the Miso soup by Ryu Murakami. Japanese thriller set in Tokyos sex industry. If you like horror, absurdity and japanese peep shows and prostitutes this is one to pick up. Good english translation.
- Tucker Max - Assholes finish first: If you like Tucker you'll love his new book. Absurd stories of sex and drinking gone wild. But with a more mature perspective and even funnier stories. I have to say that I am impressed with what Tucker can pull off.
All of the above are great books. Especially if you are into our favorite hobby of going to exotic places and seducing hot chicks. Enjoy.
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12-02-2010, 08:35 PM
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand - this book changed my life
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield - Story of Sparta at Thermopalae told from the perspective of a slave
Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins - Had me laughing out loud and there's some deep plot lines also. The main character is a lot like us.
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12-03-2010, 08:57 AM
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
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12-03-2010, 09:48 AM
Currently reading The Gregg Reference Manual, Tenth edition. Heavy shit.
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12-03-2010, 10:17 AM
Budapeste, Chico Buarque.
Deixa que essa fase é passageira, amanhã será melhor você vai ver a cidade inteira seu samba saber de cor!
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12-04-2010, 06:08 AM
if you're into james bond you should read "james bond, the man and his world" by henry chancellor. it examines ian fleming's (guy who created bond) background and where he got the ideas for his novels, through travelling, WW2, strange characters he met
Detective Rust Cohle: "All the dick swagger you roll, you can't spot crazy pussy?"
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12-05-2010, 04:05 PM
Lum, how's The Fountainhead so far? It's the book that first made the philosophy of Objectivism spark interest.
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12-06-2010, 04:53 AM
Isaac Bashevis Singer was mentioned, and i agree, i read all of his books. he is a nobel prize winner in literature, but he is not pretentious in his writing and has a great eye for human relations.
if you're into aviation, the best book on the topic i read was Fate Is The Hunter by Ernest K. Gann. wrote in interesting prose about his life as a pilot from piston pounders to jets flying all over the world when flight was fairly unsafe.
Quo Vadis, by Mr. Sienkiewicz. About Rome during Nero period. Roman parties, political backstabing, birth of Christianity. pretty violent and interesting.
recently i read CityBoy, by Geraint Anderson, about a stockbroker from London, England. That book is hilarious. a lot of his stories made me lough out loud on public transport.
also, just finished Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein. A crime reporter in Japan, lots of yakuza shit and his story about being a mark for them. pretty interesting.
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12-06-2010, 04:58 AM
Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis. Straight up sex, drugs, and rock and roll. One of the coolest books I've ever read hands down. Dude had a crazy life. It's the lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers auto biography. I don't care if you like the band or not, it's totally worth the read.