Recently read; Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque by Joyce Carol Oates A great writer of scary, disturbing tales. Met her last week and she's a shining miracle of a woman. She signed my copy, answered a question...it was a wonderful experience. Next was Invisible Monsters by Chuck Pahlaniuk, a book that asks lots of interesting questions about gender, body image and identity in this day and age. Good stuff. Started Thomas Ligotti's Teatro Grottesco. Looks promising and I hear nothing but good things about his body of work.

Working on Anton Chekhov's Cherry Orchard in class, so I've been reading through a collection of his stories to help get in that world. Really amazing stuff. Plus, the collection I've got has everything in the order they were written, which really gives a fascinating look into his life. Can't believe that I never used to like this guy - had to really sit down to study him before I could appreciate his work.

The Plague by Albert Camus

Cool. Have you read Myth of Sissyphus?

I'm still reading Stephen King's Dreamcatcher...SSDD...

My best friends Girl - Dorothy Koomson

Sure have Doc.In fact that book was very influential for me when I was a teen.Still is I suppose,though my teen years are now a thing of the distant past.I list Camus among my favorite 3 or 4 writers.

I like a lot of things he had to say in there. I was in a production of his Caligula back in college, reread the stuff and found it much more substantial and less nihilistic than a lot of other existentialism.

the crow :)

That goes in comics! There's pictures and you know it!

Agree wholeheartedly! I think that was a major part of the appeal for me.Though I embraced life's futility at an early age I have never quite been able to shake this damned sunny disposition!

I just picked up Exquisite Corpse:Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murders.
The book ties the surrealist art movement and some of its biggest names in with the famous Murder.The art in this book alone makes it worth the price.

Kiss The Girls,Hellbound Heart,and Hideway I have just recently finished reading.Excellent and spellbinding books.:cool:

Anybody have any recommends?I love all horror or a solid thriller.

Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld by David Kaplan. An awesome account of the history of this scourge of Japan.
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Just finished Tsunimoy by Jeff Burk. Even more fun than Shatnerquake. You've definitely gotta check it out.

The Oxford History of the French Revolution by William Doyle. Pretty decent account of such an infamous revolution. Gets a little boggged down in details, but that is to be expected from a 400+ page book that is attempting to express such a convoluted event that would probably benefit from a 1000 or more pages. Ashe.
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HOLY FUCK PEEPS!!!! I need recommends for a nice compelling horror/thriller of maybe at the most 1,000pages.Please and thank you:cool::)

If you don't mind experimental language and some weirdness, I'd recommend my books Murderland part 1:h8 and Murderland 2:Life During Wartime. It's about a world where serial killers are the highest echelons of celebrity and the only hope for change is in the hands of a homicidal pharmacist.
Here's the link to part 1:
http://www.amazon.com/Murderland-Par...ref=pd_sim_b_1

Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling by David G. Schwartz. Written with a slightly annoying comic edge, the core material so far seems pretty credible. i really like the concept that gambling's origins came from ancient of divination, where the ancients would roll dice/bones to predict the future, followed by maybe a friendly wager from a competing fortune-teller. Ashe.
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That sounds awesome. You seriously seem like someone who would enjoy my book, Archelon Ranch.

I'm currently reading a lot of H.P. Lovecraft
in the last couple days I have read: The Hound, The Other Gods, Dunwich Horror, and The Call of Cthulhu. I'm currently working on reading At The Mountains of Madness

As good as the mythos stories are, I think his strongest work is his stuff that's less ingrained in the mythos, things like The Colour Out of Space, The Hands of Erich Zann and Pickman's Model.

"The Hellbound Heart" by Clive Barker

How To Survive A Zombie Apoc.
The Beast Of Gevaudan.

Llana of Gathol by Edgar Rice Burroughs

"The Lurking Fear and other Stories" by H.P. Lovecraft
(I also picked up a copy of "The Books of Blood" by Clive Barker, can't wait to start reading that.)

Nobody does atmosphere like Lovecraft.

I couldn't agree more, I also find the lack of dialogue in his stories interesting.

How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic by Pirie Madsen. If the title delivers then it should only be a short wait until i am king of the world...
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Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Psychopathia sexualis
 

A wonderful and quait little treatise on sexual deviancy from the 1890's. All the best bits are in latin though.

Welcome. That's pretty hardcore.

Thanks Hun
 

Thank You for the welcome. I found this little book which is actually quite quaint, as a recommendation in the apendix of Masoch's 'Venus in Furs'. Its interesting that the Victorians actually had quite enlghtened ideas and sympathy towards 'Sexual Deviants', however this good work is undone by their reference to the process of ejaculation as pollution. I prefer to read something that is challenging-never read chick lit and avoid chick flicks as much as I can too.

Chick lit worries me. It shows that girls weren't being raised in a way that encourages them to develop actual interests in things and activities and that at this rate, they might not ever be.

Spare me the Catherine Cookson! I love those books that show the darker side of the human psyche. The closest I have ever come, I think is Wuthering Heights and I have to say that book stirs me more than any modern work. I have just read a foundation in Gothic and as a result have started reading The Casltle of Otranto and will move on to The Monk. I love to watch movies of the books I have read, but think it makes me a little of a bore and chatterbox when I visit the cinema. What are you reading at the moment?

Steer clear of Mysteries of Udolpho. Challenging oneself is one thing but that book is tedium incarnate and contains snippets of some of the worst damn poetry you'll ever read Right now I am reading my friend Jess Gulbranson's book 10 A Boot Stomping 20 A Human Face 30 Go to 10, which is published by Legumeman, the Australian press I work with. I read about half of it then got busy, but I should finish it and have a blurb for him soon. It's a ton of fun, a book about hauntings, conspiracy theory and how we interact with pop culture. One of the things I love about Bizarro is that it doesn't sacrifice intelligence for fun or strangeness for excitement, even in the most scatological or apparenly silly books in the genre. After this, I move onto William Pauley III's Doom Magnetic, which I'm excited about. I've heard from people who read it that it's a reading experience closer to going to the movies than other books are and that it's weird and full of genrebending and excitement, so it should be a good experience. I've been reading the Tao Te Ching a lot too.

Some good recommendations, I will check them out. I do enjoy conspiracy theory/urban legend stuff. Snopes is a great site for this. And Udolpho is little slow, but only have 50 pages left and it goes against the grain not to finish a book.

I'm genuinely impressed. I had to read that book in five page increments over months.

I always have a book in my handbag to pick out when I am at a loose end and am usually reading 4 or 5 at a time. I just pick up what I fancy at the time. I can read anywhere; waiting to pick the kids up, waiting to see the doc or dentist or just when I want to chill with a ciggie and a can of lager. Its my escape. Udolpho is very dark and not easily accessable, I give you that, but I studied this era of history and attitudes to literature and art at the time as part of my degree. I think that maybe helps me to understand the reasons and times that it was written.