[Perry] “Read This”
Gather round children.
It’s time for a story.
Goody-goody gosh, right?
A while back, a good friend of mine, Matthew, called me out for a cup of coffee with a story.
So Matt was standing in the bookstore, calling me for book recommendations. When he got off the phone with me, a man that had been eavesdropping on his side of the conversation began to talk to him.
Now this guy, according to Matt, was…a big guy.
Okay, that’s not quite accurate.
According to Matt, this guy could have been the “man with no life” from South Park’s World of Warcraft episode.
Anyway, this guy took it upon himself to preach the word, telling Matt about this amazing novel that he just had to read…except he couldn’t find it on the shelves.
Being the nice guy, Matt told the man that he’d keep an eye out for the novel and left as soon as he could get away.
Picking up a couple new books, Matthew sat down at the Starbucks in the store to peruse his new purchases. He’d been there for just a few minutes when a book came flying out of nowhere, landing in his lap.
Looking up with a, “What the fuck?” he saw the fat man from earlier who just pointed a big, fat finger in his face and said two words.
“Read this.”
And then the fat man walked away, never to be heard from again.
Matt looked at the book that a complete stranger had just dumped onto him and thought to himself, “Of all the nerve…” but then figured, he couldn’t just ignore a move as ballsy as that.
So Matt bought the book.
A week later, he called me out for a cup of coffee.
Once Matt was done telling me his story, he stood up, dropped a thick novel into my lap and stuck a finger in my face.
“Read this.”
Then he walked away.
At first, just like him, all I could think was, “Cheeky bastard…”
But after a move like that, what was I to do?
I took the book home with me to read.
Two days later, when I finished the book, I knew there was only one thing I could do.
I called up another friend of mine out for coffee with a copy of the book, ready to drop into her lap.
That book was The Name of the Wind.
You’ve had them too, haven’t you?
Sure you have. Books that were so damned good that you just wanted to shove them into someone’s hands and stand over them to make sure they actually read it?
What’re some of your “read this” books?
24 Comments
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
I’ve never heard of that one.
What’s it about?
BLJ isn’t a novel. It’s a semi-autobiographical collection of essays subtitled ‘Non-Religous Thoughts on Christian Spirituality’. Donald Miller is basically Anne LaMont (Bird by Bird) with testerone. For a female friend, I’d recommend Bird by Bird, for a male, I’d recommend BLJ.
I had the exact reaction you describe when I got done reading the book. I wanted everyone I knew to read it.
I’ve never thought much about how the book might read to a non-Christian, but I would recommend just as strongly. Miller touches on aspects of life all people, Christian and non-Christian search for.
If you will allow me one quote from BLJ to show you some of the content:
“Many of our attempts to understand Christian faith have only cheapened it. I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me. The little we do understand, that grain of sand our minds are capable of grasping, those ideas such as God is good, God feels, God loves, God knows all, are enough to keep our hearts dwelling on His majesty and otherness forever.”
Heh, hopefully not offending, but it sounds a bit like a sermon ^^”
Oh no offense taken, buddy. I appreciate you guys letting me talk a little about it. I’m just such a huge fan of Miller and Lamont’s stuff, and I hope my talking about them didn’t make anyone uncomfortable.
At least to me, they are nothing like a sermon, but then again I’m someone who gladly and passionately seeks weekly Bible teaching (sermons) so I’m probably not the best judge.
My new one is Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.
*grin*
Nothing like getting folks in trouble for inappropriate giggling at the dinner table.
Hush you.
And yes, I’m completely a convert. I’ve been going around to certain friends that I think would appreciate the caustic humor and so far, I haven’t had a single person turn it down.
For the record, I’m showing them the little bit about her pet raccoons that her father brought home and how it latched onto her sister’s face like a screaming raccoon hat XD.
<3 I saw that she had some of her books available at a costco, and I'll admit to being a terrible fan and waiting to see if it shows up there to buy it.
I'm totally buying it. And when I'm done with it, I'll probably give it to a friend, because it's that damn good. Cannot collect dust.
I wish I knew the South Park reference here. And I am also confused by the description of the man as fat.
Otherwise, the overbearing, in-your-face book pimp should be my son. (*giggle* I should change his name from Book Nazi to Book Pimp.)
And if you were asking him, then the answer is any book that he has read. He cares not for what your personal preferences are. You will be reading the last book he just read.
Of recent memory, some the books that I wanted to share include
“The Cabinet of Wonders ” Marie Rutkoski
“The Alchemyst” Michael Scott
*abrupt end of list*
Heh, my bad.
In South Park, there’s an episode where they cover the game The World of Warcraft, and there’s a joke in there about some player who’s become so powerful that nobody else can stop him…and how that’s only possible by such a person who has absolutely no life.
Then the show cuts to a scene of a hugely fat man sitting at his computer, brushing chip crumbs off of his chest hehe.
So suffice it to say, in my little story told above, the man doing the initial recommending was…a pretty husky fellow ^^”
I really like that attitude you describe in your son, though! Shows that the man gets passionate about what he likes and that’s almost never a bad thing =)
(aside: LOVED The name of the Wind)
Other books:
Pandora’s Star (and follow-up book) by Peter Hamilton
HUGE world, filled with many different political groups, etc, all very believable. I think it has one of the scariest aliens EVER.
(the second series based in this world was good, but not one of my favorites)
Night’s Dawn series by Peter Hamilton
another HUGE world fleshed out in minute detail by Mr. Hamilton, this guy can really build a world! He’s one of the reasons I feel so inadequate in my own world-building.
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan for something a little different
My all-time favorite:
The Malazan Book of the Fallen Thirteen books and counting, mostly by Steven Erickson, a few by Ian Esselmont
This is the most difficult series I have ever read. The world is also gigantic with a long, richly developed history. Reading this series takes more effort than most of my college classes took, but it’s worth it. I’ve been reading and re-reading this series for over ten years (off and on, but mostly ‘on’). Check out the re-read going on over at Tor books: http://www.tor.com/features/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen
Try it out, although there are a lot of battle scenes (some gory), but really, the series is very, very rewarding for the character and world development. (btw – there are more characters than I can count, and Erickson really blurs the lines between good and bad. In many cases you will root for both sides in a conflict, nothing is cut-and-dried)
Hamilton’s fantastic and while I haven’t read the Pandora Star one, I’ve read the Greg Mandel trilogy and the Night’s Dawn.
The Mandel one was amazing. Tightly paced, great plot twists and good characters with a fascinating twist on government operated psionics programs.
But the Night’s Dawn?
I really enjoyed the first chunk of it…but around the halfway point, I started getting nervous.
Too much was happening and too much was in the air, I had no idea in the world how he was going to end things.
When I got 80% of the way through the third book and there’s STILL no resolution in sight, I was going, “oh no…” inside.
Then he hits you with that garbage, hack ending and I threw the book at the wall.
…Or I would have if it wasn’t on my Kindle. So I threw it at the wall in my head, that counts, right?
I love some of Hamilton’s work and will recommend them without any reservation but the Night’s Dawn and go take a running jump off a cliff -.-
Those Erikson books…I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the covers in the bookstore. They’re pretty distinctive and hard to miss, but I’m not sure I have it in me right now for any more epic, 10+ volume fantasies hehe.
*sheepish* I forgot about the crap ending! I think I closed it out of my mind! The rest of the series was just so darned good! You’re right, of course, and now I wish I hadn’t mentioned it!
However, please try Pandora’s Star and its sequel, I think you’ll like them (except for one part that I may have conveniently forgotten), but the ending is good.
I know it’s daunting and hard to believe, but the Erikson series is really worth the effort. I’ve never seen something so HUGE pulled off so well. (Now you have me scared, though, I haven’t gotten to the end, and what if it sucks?)
Horrific ending :(
And as interesting as a lot of the world-building was (the voidhawks!!), I thought the blatant self-insertion with the Joshua Calvert character was…a little much heh.
But I’m definitely open to trying out Pandora’s Star. I’ll add it to the list.
With regard to massive epic fantasy series’s…have you tried Wheel of Time?
I read the first book of Wheel a long, long time ago and I liked it. For some reason, when I started the second I didn’t like it and quit reading. Honestly, I don’t remember why. Maybe I’ll try them again. After The Malazan series, I’m not sure I’ll be up for another gigantic series for some time.
Funny, after Wheel of time, that’s how I feel about all of the other epic fantasy series’ ^^”
*whisper*
Is it just me, or is Perry take on a new persona every time he replies? It is like you never know who is speaking to you. It is kinda fun, in a really creepy way. Is that some special power Canadians have? Who was Peter Jennings, really???
PerrySnow,
The reason you like that attitude is because you are not ten, being chased around the house by your 14 year old Book Nazi brother who is screaming at you to read a certain book. I can confusedly say that for any number of years, the biggest fights between my boys were about books. We own three HARDBACK copies of the Deathly Hallows because the Book Nazi and the Rebel Alliance had been at war too long and the Star Fleet Federation had to do something to save the universe as we know it.
I do? *boggle.
How so? Haha.
Your metaphor lost me somewhere between the Star Trek Wars and the Star Wars Trek versus Hitler but I enjoyed it immensely regardless =D
/giggle
It might be because you keep changing both your name AND your icon when you comment.
<.<
Anne, your comment reminds me of this : http://media-cache0.pinterest.com/upload/215539532135943548_JyrEW5dG_c.jpg
That’s by accident >.>
I think it used to stay as Snow but it changed somewhere after I started logging in and out of wordpress and I didn’t notice hehe.
But SHOULD I take on a new persona for every post? I could always try to fake an Australian accent…
For me, it’ll have to be Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro, I cried at the ending. Every so often, I have to go back and reread the ending. :’(
I’ve heard a lot about this one but I’ve never actually gotten around to it.
They turned it into a movie, if I remember correctly, yeah?
yes there’s a movie, but it lost something transitioning from paper to screen.. :(
So if I had to try one or the other, you’d most definitely recommend the book version huh? Hehe.