Books: What are you reading tonight? - Page 68 - The Lounge Discussion and Review on Literature, Arts, Culture

Blarg · 07-29-2008, 12:18 PM

Helter Skelter was definitely a fascinating read.

Mike, there was an incredible book on serial killer Richard Ramirez that I read, but I can remember the cover, not the title. I may dig through Amazon and find it. Really super chilling and well done.

Splendour · 07-29-2008, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Jett

I love this genre. I read Helter Skelter a few years ago, and am currently reading The Devil in the White City. I'm about halfway through it, and it's just awesome to watch everything develop.

If anyone could recommend me some titles based on the information i've given, I would really appreciate that.

How about Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. Its a true story about a famous crime and it was also considered by some to be the novel of the decade when he wrote it.

Blarg · 07-29-2008, 01:13 PM

Always wanted to read that one but never have yet. One thing for sure is that Capote was a hell of a good writer though.

kudzudemon · 07-29-2008, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Jett

I love this genre. I read Helter Skelter a few years ago, and am currently reading The Devil in the White City. I'm about halfway through it, and it's just awesome to watch everything develop.

If anyone could recommend me some titles based on the information i've given, I would really appreciate that.

At some point, read The Family, by Ed Sanders. It's a more detailed look at Manson and his followers, written from a more human and less legalistic perspective. It doesn't jump to the easy conclusions Helter Skelter did. Both books are very good, though.

kudzudemon · 07-29-2008, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splendour

How about Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. Its a true story about a famous crime and it was also considered by some to be the novel of the decade when he wrote it.

Great book. Also, The Executioner's Song, by Norman Mailer, about Gary Gilmore. All books of this stripe owe a debt to In Cold Blood, though.

kudzudemon · 07-29-2008, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blarg

Helter Skelter was definitely a fascinating read.

Mike, there was an incredible book on serial killer Richard Ramirez that I read, but I can remember the cover, not the title. I may dig through Amazon and find it. Really super chilling and well done.

If it was Philip Carlos' book The Night Stalker, that was a prety disturbing read. Not just about his crimes, but the personality cult that grew up around him.

kudzudemon · 07-29-2008, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splendour

I just picked up Bruce Feiler's "Abraham" and Jacob Needleman's "Lost Christianity" in the secondhand bookstore today.

So far Feilier's book is a rather charming read. The Boston Globe calls it "exquisitely written" and it is. Very reader friendly and interested in explaining Abraham's importance as a shared ancestor of the big 3 monotheistic religions. I believe it was a bestseller. I like the intro where he gives a small description of the city of Jerusalem. It gave me a small feeling for the city I never had before.
http://www.brucefeiler.com/about/index.html
slideshow: http://www.brucefeiler.com/resources/multi_slide.html

Jacob Needleman's book is his personal search for the essence of Christianity which he thinks has been obscured over the centuries. So far though only the introduction has been personal. I think his philosophy background kind of keeps him from getting too personal. He's a philosphy professor at San Francisco State University and before that studied philosophy at Harvard, Yale and the University of Freiburg, Germany. Part of his search involves him exploring the early contemplative history of Christianity.
http://www.jacobneedleman.com/index.htm

Splendour, have you read any John Shelby Spong or Katherine Armstrong?

Blarg · 07-29-2008, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kudzudemon

If it was Philip Carlos' book The Night Stalker, that was a prety disturbing read. Not just about his crimes, but the personality cult that grew up around him.

Yeah that was it. Disturbing for sure. The details of how Ramirez became a cult figure during and after the trial disturbed me quite a bit. I found some of the trial's hangers-on sounding about as sick as Ramirez himself. And in general the detail about Ramirez's past and life was really really good.

diebitter · 07-29-2008, 02:23 PM

William Shatner's 'Star Trek Movie Memories' for the third time. It's pulp, but it's fun.

larm · 07-29-2008, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkD

Just finished Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It won the pullitzer prize in non-fiction at some point. I found it quite meh and a real struggle to get through.

One of my problems was that it was pretty dry. I'm not sure if it was his writing or his material or both. I mean, reading about the history of plant domestication isn't very exciting.

My main problem was that basically once he outlined his four main factors for why things are the way they are he just repeated these factors ad naseum for the rest of the book. Anyways, I think a lot of people on 2+2 like this book but it's my least favorite non-fiction read of recent times.

If people like this sort of stuff they should read Alfred W. Crosby: "Ecological Imperialism - The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900"

Its not that long and its a pretty easy / well written read.

AJW · 07-29-2008, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Jett

I love this genre. I read Helter Skelter a few years ago, and am currently reading The Devil in the White City. I'm about halfway through it, and it's just awesome to watch everything develop.

If anyone could recommend me some titles based on the information i've given, I would really appreciate that.

The Shoemaker
I read this a long time ago and remember it made me very unhappy it shows abuse leading to madness and murder and worse still he makes his child an accomplice to his murders The Shoemaker

And another endorsement of In cold blood

Blarg · 07-29-2008, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJW

The Shoemaker
I read this a long time ago and remember it made me very unhappy it shows abuse leading to madness and murder and worse still he makes his child an accomplice to his murders The Shoemaker

And another endorsement of In cold blood

I read The Shoemaker way back when. Good stuff.

Later questioned by some psychologists as being a sort of psychological apologetics for bad behavior and possibly somewhat fictional or purposefully mistold, but it's hard to tell. Definitely a sad story.

urbanachiever · 07-30-2008, 11:53 PM

World war Z
American Gods
The Book of Secrets-OSHO

kitaristi0 · 07-31-2008, 07:59 AM

To jump on the serial killer/true crime bandwagon, I'm a third of the way through Mindhunter by John Douglas now and it's been ok so far. It's a semi-autobiography with serial killer tidbits added in about the guy who pioneered the FBI serial crime unit. He was also the inspiration for the FBI agent in Silence of the Lambs (not the girl, the older guy). I may check out The Night Stalker after I've finished this, Serial Killers by Vronsky, The Night Gardener by Pelecanos and Down and Out in Paris and London by Orwell.

diebitter · 07-31-2008, 09:11 AM

That's a good read

Also The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton about an English Pyschiatrist helping in real life British cases is pretty great and in the same arena

Includes cases like the sad death of the little boy James Bulger at the hands of two lads

You can get it second hand on Amazon for about a buck fifty