Rainy Day Reading

[Liamy77]

robin hobb/ megan lindholm, r. feist, f. herbert, tolkein.... fantasy buff me?!.... well yup!

[tsangpo]

I got an ebook reader a few months ago so am working my way through all the free classics. Jack London, R L Stevenson, Moby Dick all come to mind as good authors/books to read while stuck in a tent. Poe and Lovecraft not so much.

[mjdalessa]

Some of my favourites include:
The Histories of Herodotus (Most epic book in history, takes you back to an unfamiliar world. Humorous in places too.)
Catcher in the Rye (Cult classic. Crude, but with sneaky underlying themes. Almost anyone can relate to this coming of age narrative.)
Nietsche extracts. (If you've never read any of his work, try it. Philosophy presented through articulate and poetic short stories.)
Through the Hidden Door by Rosemary Wells (Your childhood dream.)

The poems of Robert Louis Stevenson are Good too. My favourite is Armies in the Fire.

[pazzar]

I like a good classic - Bukowski, Orwell, Kerouac etc. I have been known to take the odd crime/terrorist novel, I'm a bit of a Ludlum fan.

For nostalgia I read Richard Flanagan, I love the way he connects with the inner Tasmanian, and his connection with the history, it really feels like you could know the characters. Being able to familiarise yourself with the settings is great.

And if I am in the most horrible conditions and I feel like the world is about to end, I find The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy most comforting. The words 'DON'T PANIC' written on the sides help me through the worst of times!

[tas-man]

The first that came to my mind is the 1964 book "Four Against Everest" which I found in a bookstore throwout table for 20c in about 1968. It was a cheap paperback edition, and was one of my sources of inspiration to "get out there." It went bush with me for re-reading over many years, until it fell apart. It is an amazing story of how four Americans made an illegal lightweight attempt on Mt Everest in 1962 in comparison to the efforts of the time that used an army of sherpas and oxygen and took "forever". The final chapter documented all their planning, preparation, equipment, food etc complete with weights of every item. Their focus on understanding all the risks but "being prepared" still stirs my blood and makes me want to set challenges for myself that take me out of my comfort zone . If anyone is interested in this story, here's a link with further information http://www.4everest.org/sayre/1962.html

4AgainstEverest.jpeg (26.34 KiB) Viewed 4232 times

[flyfisher]

Fascinating story there Ian, thanks for the link.

John