Time for a new book - any suggestions?

I finished this about a week ago (read it over the course of 2 days):

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Wryly sarcastic road trip odyssey by a great (and often overlooked) American author. Portis is best known for penning True Grit, but so far his two follow-up novels, Norwood, and this one, have delivered.

This is supposedly the first in a "loose" trilogy of secret society books (followd by Master of Atlantis and Gringoes)...I definitely think there were more than a few things "hidden" between the lines and pages in this book that went over-my-head, at least in terms of references and what not. But regardless, it's a well-written, easy going romp with a sly sense of the absurd running through its undercurrent.

Here's a nice piece about Portis and his work for the uninitiated:
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-portis-reader/#!

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Originally Posted by Flyoverland Captive

Funny, a friend just gave me a copy, and I put it in my donate-to-the-library pile, since I rarely read novels. I’ll put it in my read-next pile...

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Yeah, my Dad sent it to me for my birthday one year, and it sat on the shelf for a couple years, because I don't do a lot of reading. I was surprised how much I liked it.

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Originally Posted by bobz

I'm most of the way through NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub And Other Stories. Let's just say it's going to be a different reading experience than A Long Strange Trip (which I have on my shelf but haven't read yet). Perhaps a bit more along the lines of On The Road With The Ramones (which I have read), except that these NOFXers were way the fuck more out there, in terms of lifestyle, no offense to Joey & the gang (okay, Dee Dee was pretty out there). I mean, how is it possible that the Ramones are nearly all dead, and these guys are all still alive?

Anyway, a good tale about ongoing survival and unlikely success, and a peek into the dark side of punk.

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Just finished this; wow, what a fucked up (and brutally honest) book. Anybody wants my copy, it’s yours for shipping (I rarely keep books).

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Originally Posted by Flyoverland Captive

Just finished this; wow, what a fucked up (and brutally honest) book. Anybody wants my copy, it’s yours for shipping (I rarely keep books).

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Check out “shibboleth: my revolting life” as another twisted punk rock memoir by Penny Rimbaud of Crass

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Originally Posted by SB

The last stand of the Tin Can Sailors

also

Neptunes Inferno

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Started Neptune's Inferno last week and I'm enjoying it. Thanks for the recco!

Two excellent fiction novels by Chigozie Obioma... The Fishermen...and An Orchestra Of Minorities

The River by Peter Heller is very good (though I'm also a fan of the rest of his work). Makes me want do a Canadian/Boundary Waters river trip.

I'm not sure it's recommended, but I just read it. Found it by grabbing random books in the library fiction section.

Quin's Shanghai Circus by Edward Whittemore.
https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1...5l/2176588.jpg

It's an odd book. Not a great book, but an interesting book- a shorter pynchon. From the "rectum of lunacy" it's an absurdist realist journey to the east. Here's the opening

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Some twenty years after the end of the war with Japan a freighter arrived in Brooklyn with the largest collection of Japanese pornography ever assembled in a Western tongue. The owner of the collection, a huge, smiling fat man named Geraty, presented a passport to customs that showed he was a native-born American about as old as the century, an exile who had left the United States nearly four decades before. The collection contained all the pornographic works written in Japan during the last three hundred and fifty years, or since the time when Japan first closed itself to the West... The manuscripts were illustrated with ink drawings exquisitely detailed to show every hair. Even the cat hairs could be counted, where cats appeared.

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If anyone's read it, I'm curious their thoughts. If you haven't - well, it's at a bunch of librarys. also kindle, don't blame me if you don't like it. I can see why the reviews are really split. Oh, and it doesn't have any quotation marks.

I need a new book, should scan this thread for ideas.

Just finished the Art of Racing in the Rain, recommended in some other thread. Good read but annoyed me too.

I also did not love The Art of racing in the rain despite many loving it. with all due respect to those that liked it- I thought it was consistently cheesy/ cringeworthy
have you checked out Natural Born Hero's?
It's a great blend of an exciting band of real WWII rebels as well as some running & nutrition info sprinkled in
Bet you'd dig it

'In Our Mad and Furious City' - interesting tragedy told in contemporary London street slang.
Slices out some fucked up truths, but I liked the way it moved words around.

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Originally Posted by b-bear

I also did not love The Art of racing in the rain despite many loving it. with all due respect to those that liked it- I thought it was consistently cheesy/ cringeworthy
have you checked out Natural Born Hero's?
It's a great blend of an exciting band of real WWII rebels as well as some running & nutrition info sprinkled in
Bet you'd dig it

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Cool, I'll check it out

Just finished Baldacci "The Fallen". Gripping and entertaining

Just finished the NOFX book. Riveting. Thanks for the suggestion

getting ready to start all creatures great and small with the boy. my first novels and my favorite for years. i wanted to be a vet until my first pet died and i was so crushed i knew i could never be a vet.

I’m reading “a really big lunch” for the first time. Not fiction, but a rad collection of articles. Highly recommended. Harrison is a master.

"Dancing Bears", an allegory between the dancing bears of eastern Europe who, after being freed, continue to dance when in the presence of people and citizens of eastern Europe who pine for the good old days under tyranny.

It starts out well but kind of diverges into unfocused and seeming random stories. Maybe it's just me but I was initially interested but that waned as the book progressed.

about 1/2 way through something in the water. Riveting, but in a worthless beach read sorta way.

I wish all books could be this good. First in a trilogy.

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That's one of my favorites. I just worked my way through This House of Sky.

^^Great, classic memoir. I almost prefer his novels though. Have you read The Bartender's Tale? Good one, lots of plot twists but still nothing melodramatic, which I appreciate about Doig.

Just finished The Fifth Season by NK Jemison (recommended to me by pegleg, but not in this thread). Really cool book. Now I have to wait till the sequel is free at the library.

I checked out Natural Born Heroes from the library, but haven't cracked it yet.

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Originally Posted by Danno

I checked out Natural Born Heroes from the library, but haven't cracked it yet.

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Enjoyable read, but a bit hard to follow at times. And has added to what I am already exploring re diet and exercise. Along with a cool story.

Here’s one I just picked up, by Aaron Franklin, of Franklin BBQ fame:

https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Stea...0964/ref=nodl_

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Originally Posted by Danno

Just finished The Fifth Season by NK Jemison (recommended to me by pegleg, but not in this thread). Really cool book. Now I have to wait till the sequel is free at the library.
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Excellent trilogy - well worth the wait for II and III!