[kaochiu]

Ok, i go with a few.
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
This book deserves far more reputation than it has, and it has a lot. If you enjoy reading, this is a real must read. Stories entangled with other stories with absolutely perfect math, lots of indescriptibly strange characters and no way to drop it once hooked. There are two different editions, one more popular for being more condensed, the other is the original and groups the complete stories. It was published in a newspaper as it was being written. A bit over two centuries ago.
Nagib Mahfouz. He got the nobel prize of literature for a reason. It's too prolific to name just one book, everybody has a different favourite, but i just like them all. "The Children of Gebelawi", also published as "The Children of the Alley" is one of my favourite books of all time.
Jorge Amado. The problem with Jorge Amado books is that they should be sold with a plane ticket in the last page that takes you straight to Bahia do Brasil, otherwise you'll suffer post-reading anxiety, specially if you live in a gloomy city. Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, a pleasure from begginning to end.
Umberto Eco. Again, this guy has this capacity of ending any of his books and feeling like you just learned new things. Few can say that. Recently i've read again Baudolino, a novel about the errands of sort of a spin doctor from the middle ages, at Barbarossa "service".
Salman Rushdie. Some people think he's boring, but that's because they've never read Shalimar the Clown. He's a master story teller.
That's the good thing with books, they're a bit like cannabis genetics, too many to try them all, and more coming all the time.

[paulo73]

I admit i do books, loads of them!!!
I can´t imagine a world without music&books. I´d probably start making them, music and books.
But in the meanwhile, because there are so many around, i just keep being the lazy me and enjoy other people´s creation.

Books that changed my Life in a big way.
"How to win friends and influence people" from Dale Carnegie
"Under a glass bell" from Anais Nin
"Heartsnatcher" , "The Ants" and "Froth of the daydream" from Boris Vian
"Non Violent Communication: A Language of Life" from Marshall B. Rosenberg
"Stranger in a Strange Land" from Robert A. Heinlein
"Raised from the Ground" and "Blindness" from José Saramago
"The Art of War" from Sun Tzu
Rumi´s works interpreted by Coleman Barks

And i better stop now because in a sense books made me what i am today. Reality always seemed very scarce when compared with everything that i´ve read by then

[Genghis Kush]

@Paulo76
Good call on,
"Non Violent Communication: A Language of Life" from Marshall B. Rosenberg

Definitely one of the best and most important books. The world would be a happier place if everyone read it

[Jahnice]

Originally Posted by Snook

why did you edit your original post, Jahnice?
Pics or it never happened>> HAHA!! just breakinem..

I don't see where you mean that I edited in this thread but I do it all the time.
I am OCD with spelling, grammar, punctuation ...maybe that was the reason.
Maybe I just felt like it.
Who knows.
We are all oddballs around here, so no need to 'break 'em'.

[Gry]

Loved books all my life, as a kid they were the most wonderful refuge. Hate to say it, as I did not like it at all, but "the secret team", may have had more impact than anything else.
It gave me a new of appreciation for integrity, it has also left me with a very lasting sense of regret.

[Jahnice]

Originally Posted by kaochiu

That's the good thing with books, they're a bit like cannabis genetics, too many to try them all, and more coming all the time.

i like that


i went into the shelves to check if i still had anything by Anais Nin.
she was a lover of Henry Miller in Paris the early 1900's when that was the place to be for artists, writers, musicians etc.
sounds like a pretty lively scene.
she wrote erotica from a female perspective that was really enchanting and beautiful while not being vulgar.
i must have given all the erotica type books away at some point or maybe they got put away in a secret place when the mother in law came to visit

anyway, i found a section devoted to trippers....
Hunter S. Thompson , Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Tom Wolfe, Irvine Welsh
i am personally not into hard drug escapism but i do like to read about other peoples experiences, ex. talking to aliens on mushrooms or whatever.
i saw Burroughs do a live read in the 90's.
he was quite a character with an immediately recognizable voice.
see 'dial a poem' series of music/art/literature where musicians have sampled his readings and overlayed music or noise.
same tripper genre---James Frey, A Million Little Pieces (oprah book club pick)
a tale of an addicts slip and the story of his 6 weeks in rehab. a really great read.

i cant say i loved books all my life like gry. i didn't read much until high school.
i have noticed that my reading comes and goes in waves.
normally i pick up a book if i am stressing out about something and want to immerse in another world.
books do that for me and sometimes i have a sense of loss when i finish a good one.

[Sdotnoop]

Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

[feeblebunny]

If on cannabis, only a clear cerebral sativa will allow me to comprehend what I've just read. Otherwise on indicas and blends I've got to start over again and again :|

Originally Posted by SoufLondon

Love discworld. Science fiction and cannabis go together so well. One of the all time "great" combos in life. Like tea and milk or bread and butter.

[wolfhoundaddy]

Captains and the kings. Taylor Caldwell. The story is about a poor Irish immigrant who comes to America and becomes wealthy. The true pleasure in reading is the authors style. She goes to great lengths to describe all the nuances of the characters involved. I read it every few years. I enjoy it that much.

[paulo73]

Essential books imo
"Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins
"Open veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galeano
"The Trial" By Franz Kafka

Btw Anais Nin wrote much more than Erotica and imo her best works are not even in that genre.