CP LITERATURE DRAFT - (Rapid Fire Free For All Round)

[Jagger]

Quick pick

Food & Drink

Gordon Ramsay's

In the Heat of the kitchen




http://www.amazon.com/Heat-Kitchen-G...5353143&sr=1-7

[Ronald Pagan]

For their sixth pick, The Cart Drawn Mountebanks are proud to select under the Canadian Literature category:

The God of Small Things

by

Arundhati Roy



I love this book. I love literature set in India and this book serves the purpose of bringing the reader, who probably does not have alot of experience with India right into the political and religious structures of the country through the eyes of the main character Rahel.

I don't really know what to say. It is a beautiful and tragic novel. Well worth the read.

[Circa89]

Originally Posted by habernac

for my pulp fiction selection, I'll take much maligned author Dan Brown's Angels and Demons.

I really don't understand the outrage when it comes to this book. On one hand, you have the Catholics getting their panties in a bunch. It's a work of fiction ya dummies, get over it. Then you have the criticism of his writing style. It was a quick, simple and entertaining read. It doesn't claim to be the next "Grapes of Wrath" or "Moby Dick". It's fluff. Take it as such. I'm not ashamed to say I liked it.

I'm with you there Habernac. I will defend myself to the bitter end when I say I enjoyed this book. It is quite fashionable to hate Dan Brown and this is more a backlash to his extreme popularity rather than taking the book for what it is. I read this book as Pope John Paul II was dying so it made it relevant, timely and I would assume a tad more interesting due to its timing.

I really enjoyed reading Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code but if you read any more of his books you quickly recognize his pattern and see the same formula over and over. At this point it becomes quite mundane and predictable.

At any rate I still enjoyed this book.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by octothorp

In the American Lit category, I'm selecting Norwood, by Charles Portis. There are some great books in the American Lit category not picked, and in the end I'm going with Norwood over some more famous great books, because I really love this one. Portis has been referred to as 'the least known great American writer', and this subtly comical book is one I highly recommend to almost anyone.



Written in 1966, it tells the story of ex-marine Norwood Pratt who, upon returning home to Texas from his military service, immediately begins a trip to New York city to collect a $70 dollar debt from a buddy in the service. Norwood, an eternally good-hearted man, makes his way to New York and back through a series of hitchhiked rides, stolen vehicles, and occasionally, legitimate transportation and meets a fascinating host of characters. But rather than romanticize the road-trip, Charles Portis finds a wonderful comedy throughout it. Meals are described to incredible effect (in fact, in some ways, I would say that Norwood uses food in a manner similar to how American Psycho uses fashion). And his writing is superb. Very simple, evocative, and witty writing.

I ordered this book yesterday. It better be good

[Burninator]

For my tenth pick of the draft, I select in the Canadian Literature category, The Wars, by Timothy Findley.


1977

The Wars is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley telling the story of a young Canadian officer in World War I. First published by Clarke Irwin, it won the Governor General's Award for fiction in 1977.

The novel follows the experiences of Robert Ross, an officer in the Canadian army who was nineteen when World War I broke out, and is narrated by a historian who is researching and understanding Ross's life, in particular a controversial wartime incident he instigated. The story is told through the memories of the few living people who knew him, and the historian's reconstructions based on archive materials. It portrays the life of an Edwardian higher class family in Canada's 20th century, and warfare on the Western Front.

Robert Ross, the protagonist, was inspired by T. E. Lawrence and the author's uncle, Thomas Irving Findley, to whom the novel is dedicated. Findley named the character after Canadian literary figure Robbie Ross. Robert Ross's sister, Rowena, was inspired by Mary Macdonald, daughter of Sir John A. Macdonald.

The Wars utilizes first-, second-, and third-person narrative, which is very rare in literature. The novel is also an example of historiographic metafiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wars

This book was recommended to me by kermitology. It was a good read, I really enjoyed it.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Nice pick--Findley's best work, IMO.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I ordered this book yesterday. It better be good

Oh man, I hate it when people call my bluff and actually get a book that I recommend. No, not really. I think you'll enjoy it.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Oh man, I hate it when people call my bluff and actually get a book that I recommend. No, not really. I think you'll enjoy it.

This is going to be a good draft for future reading.

Although I have noticed that as I look through my books figuring out what to pick next, I keep thinking, "Oooh, I really should read this again" so my list of stuff I want to read has grown exponentially since the draft started.

And yes, I am someone who tends to reread things. I notice when I really enjoy a book, I get so engrossed that a year later I forget half the story. It is almost like I start speed reading and let the story flow over me rather than absorb it; then when I reread it I recall the overarching storyline, but much of the detail I could almost swear I had never read before.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Oh man, I hate it when people call my bluff and actually get a book that I recommend. No, not really. I think you'll enjoy it.

It sounded interesting, and it was cheap.

Good on Burninator for picking The Wars. I read it in highschool for writing an analysis on in English class. I wrote 26 some odd pages on it, dedicating huge sections to each chapter. By the time I was done I'd probably read it 8 times in a 6 week period.

It's my favourite book, but Three Day Road blew me away so much that I think I should read both again to see who takes the crown. Curiously both are Canadian novels about the First World War.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Go ahead and skip me, I am busy with work and stuff.

[RougeUnderoos]

Pulp Fiction -- The Stand by Steven King



I kinda like them post-apocalyptic future stories and I really liked this one when I was a teenager. The version I had was the size of a dictionary and I thought I might look like a clever young lad when I was reading this thing on the bus. I might have been wrong on that.

I remember a really crappy miniseries version was supposed to revitalize Molly Ringwald's career but that was a no-go. The failed film and revitalization were bitter disappointments for me and, I assume, Molly.

[octothorp]

In the travel category, I'm taking Jose Saramago's Journey to Portugal: one of the world's greatest living writers narrates an automobile journey through his homeland. It uses his distinctive narrative style to weave the experiences of the traveler with two thousand years of history of the outermost part of the Iberian Peninsula. I've said this about his fiction, but it applies here as well: there's third-person omniscience, and then there's Jose Saramago's third-person omniscience, which somehow takes the concept to a whole other level. We know that the traveller is Saramago, but it's really wonderful the way he uses this perspective to write about himself. It's also somewhat unusual to read about someone travelling through their homeland, where they already know about the history of every little church in every little town, but have not yet taken the time to experience these things.

[Circa89]

In the Category of FOOD and Drink

The Best of Bridge
The Best of Bridge publishing


This is a classic Calgary stand-by for all things tasty. First published in 1976 it was a group of Bridge playing homemakers who decided to swap recipes and eventual publish the best of the Best. Thus it was born.

Mona's mothers favourites cookies, The Wife Saver and Japanese Chicken Wings are some of my tried and true traditional recipes plucked from this culinary gem. I think if you lived in Calgary in the Eighties your Mom owned this series.

from the website
In 1975, at a weekend getaway, eight women friends had an idea: Since a consistent highlight of their decade-old bridge group was the food they prepared and enjoyed together, perhaps they should think about writing a cookbook. This spur-of-the-moment notion was the impetus for The Best of Bridge, which went on to become one of the most successful brands in Canadian publishing
From the outset, "The Ladies of the Best of Bridge," as they like to be known, had an unconventional vision of how their business would be run. It would be a partnership of equals, a celebration of friendship and — perhaps most of all — it would be fun. The bank manager who approved their first loan warned them they would never stay friends. They vowed to prove him wrong.
More than 30 years and 3.2 million copies later, the Ladies are enjoying the last laugh.

[Eastern Girl]

Might get made fun of for this one, but I will select with my second biography/memoir pick, I'm a Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music and Madness by Micky Dolenz. I am a big fan of the Monkees and I really enjoyed reading this one when I was younger.

[Bobblehead]

In the Canadian category, I will go with Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat

In 1948-1949, Canada's Dominion Wildlife Service assigns the author to investigate the cause of declining caribou populations and determine whether wolves are contributing to the shortage. Upon finding his quarry near Nueltin Lake, Mowat discovers that rather than being wanton killers of caribou, the wolves subsist quite heavily on small mammals such as rodents and hares, even choosing them over caribou when available. He concludes that "We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be -- the mythological epitome of a savage, ruthless killer -- which is, in reality, no more than the reflected image of ourself." Mowat comes to fear an onslaught of wolfers and government exterminators out to erase the wolves from the Arctic.

This is a tough category for me; no only because I saw one of my favourite choices taken so early, but also because there are a number of other good choices I could make in this category. In high school my final english course was Canadian english, and studied authors like McLuhan, Lawrence, Mitchell, Davies and Atwood, but I went with this Farley Mowat book because I had read it even before taking this course and it left an impression on my at that time, one that I still appreciate.

[Bobblehead]

Looks like Fanin80 has abandoned all the drafts

[driveway]

In the category of Pre 20th-Century, Team Discovery Channel is proud to select:



Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.

Surprisingly easy to read and utterly hilarious, Don Quixote is in many ways the foundation on which all modern literature rests occupies a unique space between the medieval romance and the modern novel and was selected by the Nobel Institute as The Greatest Book of All Time.

Published in two volumes a decade apart , Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and perhaps the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.[1]

Alonso Quixano, a retired country gentleman in his fifties, lives in an unnamed section of La Mancha with his niece and a housekeeper. He has become obsessed with books of chivalry, and believes their every word to be true, despite the fact that many of the events in them are clearly impossible. Quixano eventually appears to other people to have lost his mind from little sleep and food and because of so much reading.

He decides to go out as a knight-errant in search of adventure. He dons an old suit of armor, renames himself "Don Quixote de la Mancha," and names his skinny horse "Rocinante." He designates a neighboring farm girl, Aldonza Lorenzo, as his ladylove, renaming her Dulcinea del Toboso, while she knows nothing about this. Eventually, he "acquires" his iconic "helmet"

[rogermexico]

For this round I'll use my Wildcard pick to select Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.



This is a really fantastic book in a lot of ways. Legs was one of the editors of Punk magazine, the New York fanzine that was at ground zero of the Lower East Side/Bowery rock and roll scene centered around CBGBs and Max's Kansas City. The structure of the book - it's completely comprised of direct quotations without any kind of editorial interjection - make it really lively and unreliable in the best possible sense of the word.

All the key characters are here - Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Iggy Pop, Richard Hell, Debbie Harry, Johnny Thunders, Dee Dee Ramone, Lester Bangs - but it's the side characters and other voices that really make the book. The hangers on from the Factory, the groupies and junkies from the periphery, the lesser know characters and players, like Jayne County and Peter Laughner.

It's a sad, squalid, morbid book, and is often truly heartbreaking. Reading about the last days of Thunders, or Nico, or Stiv Bators, is really gut wrenching. You don't need to care about punk rock to enjoy the book, but if you do, it will change the way you listen to a lot of those old records.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by rogermexico

For this round I'll use my Wildcard pick to select Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.



This is a really fantastic book in a lot of ways. Legs was one of the editors of Punk magazine, the New York fanzine that was at ground zero of the Lower East Side/Bowery rock and roll scene centered around CBGBs and Max's Kansas City. The structure of the book - it's completely comprised of direct quotations without any kind of editorial interjection - make it really lively and unreliable in the best possible sense of the word.

All the key characters are here - Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Iggy Pop, Richard Hell, Debbie Harry, Johnny Thunders, Dee Dee Ramone, Lester Bangs - but it's the side characters and other voices that really make the book. The hangers on from the Factory, the groupies and junkies from the periphery, the lesser know characters and players, like Jayne County and Peter Laughner.

It's a sad, squalid, morbid book, and is often truly heartbreaking. Reading about the last days of Thunders, or Nico, or Stiv Bators, is really gut wrenching. You don't need to care about punk rock to enjoy the book, but if you do, it will change the way you listen to a lot of those old records.

I loved that book. It is a miracle Iggy Pop is alive today.

[Ronald Pagan]

Damn I was going to pick that. Frak, all of my picks are evaporating.