The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi all,

How many people read books on this forum?  Have all of you read every book about The Beach Boys?  Do any of you read John Grisham, Luanne Rice, Danielle Steel or Phillip Roth? 

27.48 %.

Read constantly mostly true stories, crime, bios. Have quite a large BB related book collection. Currently reading a bio about Rasputin. Going through a Russian phase...

I read a lot of fiction. I read Grisham when i was a teenager. Never read Danielle Steel, never heard of Luanne Rice, but i've read more than half of Philip Roth's work, i'd say close to 20 of his 30 books. Are you a fan?

Read a bit of Grisham a few years ago - my favorite of his being The Last Juror.

Jack Kerouac is my favorite writer - nothing beats (no pun intended) On The Road, Dharma Bums, or The Town and the City. Love Hemingway - I've read most of his novels and most of his short stories - can't get enough.

Michael Crichton is my go-to thriller guy - Jurassic Park and Sphere are incredible. I read a bit of Tom Clancy from time to time - Red Storm Rising being my favorite of his.

Arthur C Clarke is my favorite science fiction writer. Childhood's End, 2001, 2010, Rendezvous With Rama - classics that should be read by all book lovers.

I've read a fair amount of Beach Boy books, Philip Lambert's book being my favorite - I can't wait for Jon Stebbin's reissue of The Real Beach Boy.

Currently reading The Rum Diary by Hunter S Thompson and Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov - both thoroughly entertaining.

I am a fan of Phillip Roth.  I'll admit I'm not familiar with the other writers you mentioned (of course I've heard of Grisham but I've never read any of his work).

Kerouac is one of my favourite writers, who mostly all seem to be white american males.

Along with Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, William Gaddis and William Gass.

My shelves are groaning under the weight.

I'm currently reading Light Years by James Salter.

I'm into Stephen King at the moment, in terms of fiction.
I personally prefer non-fiction books. Finished reading the Keith Richards autobiography recently, great book although it definitely shows his ego. I'd love to get Bill Wyman's Stone Alone autobiography soon, very interested in getting that.
I have yet to read any Beach Boys related books, other than Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys. I guess I'll get started when The Real Beach Boy reissue comes out. From what I heard, it's a great book

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham is my favorite book. Of Human Bondage is a close second. I read them when I was 15/16, and learned a lot from them.
I now own the majority of Maugham's work, all of it sitting on my desk.

I like classic literature: The Brother's Karamazov, Anna Karrenina, The Grapes Of Wrath...the stuff that has really stood the test of time.
Naseau and Islands In The Stream are next on my to-read list.

I love musician (auto)biographies though, they're a real guilty pleasure. I've read most of the published BB books (not the real beach boy though god damnit), Arthur Lee, Miles David, Keith Moon, Keith Richards, Leonard Cohen, Frank Zappa, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Wrecking Crew, The Velvet Underground, John Densmore, Pete Townshend...and more.
No real intellectual value from any of them, but they are very enjoyable.

I read Dostoevsky, Henry Miller, Thomas Mann, Knut Hamsun, Kerouac, Lawrence Durrell and Celine.  Currently reading Miller's Colossus of Maroussi.  Great book.

Currently on my shelf is a jolly good "Pippi Longstocking". My 2nd read since 2003 - the best non-BBs year ever. Aside, Erich Koestner's autobiography covering his childhood & a limited edition of Chekhov's letters during his life in Melikhovo. Highly interesting stuff, with lots of images of interior & exterior of the writer's estate. 'Chekhonte' is one of the rare Russian writers I actually like reading.

Looks like Heysaboda and I have some things in common: Dostoevsky and Hamsun are two of my absolute favorites. I also really like Isaac Bashevis Singer, Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Leo Tolstoy, Richard Ford, Albert Camus, Nikolai Gogol, Willa Cather, JM Coetzee. I love Jhumpa Lahiri, whose new The Lowland I finished recently. I read less nonfiction, but like Biblical criticism and history.

I love Dostoevsky, too. Just been reading Crime and Punishment on and off for a while - certainly one of the best books I've ever read.

I finished reading Frankenstein recently. I really enjoy romanticism.

Have you read The Brothers Karamazov? If not, do. You don't need me to tell you (in that it's pretty much universally accepted), but seriously one of the best few novels ever. So, so, so good.

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Hi all,

I am going to read Concealed in Death by J. D. Robb tomorrow.  I did read Catch A Wave last September.  I started Heroes & Villains on Tuesday night.  Have any of you read both books?  John Grisham's lastest is Sycamore Road.  It is very good.  Luanne Rice is a very good author.  Same with Danielle Steel.  Elizabeth Gilbert is great also.  So is Kristin Hannah.