Books and literature

[mowens]

I have always loved to read. Starting when I was in grade school, my dad would take me to the library. He would wait in the car while I browsed the books. My favorite subject then was the revolutionary war. There are a surprising number children's books on that subject or, at least, there were.

When I was in high school, or shortly after, I read a series of books by Carlos Castaneda about the teachings of Don Juan, a Yaqui indian shaman. It involved consuming massive quantities of hallucinogenic plants. 

Did anyone else read these are am I just weird?

[ghuns]

You're weird.

[champshire]

I would love to read more, but I find it hard to find time and a quiet spot to do so. A 2 year old and a 9 year old, 50 hrs a week minimum, and two jobs (side hustle) make it difficult. I do find it easy to have enough time for netflix at the end of the night. I need to readjust my priorities.

[Jim at Gentex]

I have also been a reader all my life, but never read any of the authors or genres Mike mentioned.

I have always been a sci-fi / fantasy / crime drama fan for the most part.

Reading the written word in a regular book is difficult for me because I like to get comfortable when I read, and I often fall asleep!

However, since the advent of audiobooks I have enjoyed probably a few hundred books in the audio format over the last decade.
Whenever I am running a production job I load up an audiobook on my phone or MP3 player, pop in my earbuds, and away I go!

I find it harder to concentrate to listen to an audiobook when I am doing CNC programming, but when running a repetitive production job it is quite enjoyable, and it helps the time to pass quicker.

[CNCAppsJames]

I've always been a pretty avid reader. My first full length books I remember was when I was in 4th Grade; The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. 

My next book was American Ceasar a biography of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Not sure why I picked that one but being in Military School probably had something to do with it... and my Grandtather who was an avid U.S. History Buff. I pretty much started reading history books around the middle of 5th grade, then went on to read a lot books and papers written by our founding Father's. In school I was bored more often than not so I read the dictionary. A lot. We didn't have a lot of money growing up so the library was a good friend. Even while I was a stoner in my teen years, I still read. 

Today I spend a fair amount of time pouring over legislation. It's kind of out of necessity... at least in the state I live in.

Authors I like; Leo Janos, Madeline L'Engle, Ronald Dahl, Thomas Sowell. Jack Carr, Ben Milligan, Jocko Willink, Thomas Paine. Thomas Jefferson, C.S. Lewis, Michael Connolly, Chris Kyle, Hollie McKay, Ben Rich,... to name a few. Some only authored/co-authored autobiographies, but my tastes are varied and change depending on my mood. 

[mowens]

I've always been a big syfy and fantasy buff as well. I read the Tolkein books around the time I read the Castaneda books.

I had a big Gandalf poster on my cubicle wall back in the 90s.

[beej]

I have always loved to read. Starting when I was in grade school, my dad would take me to the library. He would wait in the car while I browsed the books. My favorite subject then was the revolutionary war. There are a surprising number children's books on that subject or, at least, there were.

When I was in high school, or shortly after, I read a series of books by Carlos Castaneda about the teachings of Don Juan, a Yaqui indian shaman. It involved consuming massive quantities of hallucinogenic plants. 

Did anyone else read these are am I just weird?

I love non-fiction. have you ever read the book Joseph Plumb Martin, about his accounts of the revolutionary war? That was fascinating to read what those guys went through. The audio book is free on you tube.

Also, the Narrative of my Capture by the Sioux Indians, by Fanny Kelly was a great read.

[mowens]

You would probably like the Journals of Lewis and Clark. I read those. I thought it was very interesting one of their main food sources is rather surprising.

[CNCAppsJames]

My grandpa was a huge Louis L'Amour fan. I just may have to go down that rabbit hole. I am surprised they haven't made movie/tv series based on his books.

 Wonder why?

[ghuns]

I read A LOT. Generally fiction for entertainment purposes. Read all the King and Clancy classics. Re-read most of them.

Moved onto Brad Thor, Jack Carr, Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills, Mark Greaney, David Baldacci, Jo Nesbo, etc.

My problem is I read much faster than those slackers write. Except maybe Baldacci. That guy is a machine.

[neurosis]

I read the Tolkein books

I read The Hobbit and loved it. I tried to read The Lord of the Rings and couldn't make it 1/4 of the way through one book.    I could never remember everyone and everything and just got lost.

[YoDoug]

I read mostly self help type books. I just finished reading The Plant Based Athlete. I am currently reading David Goggin's second book, Never Finished.

[Brian]

When I was a kid, we had the World Book Encyclopedias, those cool Time-Life books, and a subscription to National Geographic magazine. *Everybody* saved their National Geographics for some reason-they were pretty good. I think my favorites were the encyclopedias (perhaps as close as we could get to the Web today)...I spent *hours* reading by myself; it was great!

Somehow, I haven't lost my curiosity as an adult, but I regret that I seem to not have nearly as much (free/unstructured) time as I did as a kid (though I'm glad to be busy with business-no complaints). We did read a bit of fiction in various HS classes, but somehow the "real" world has always felt more compelling to me.

You'd think I'd get tired of machining, what with being knee-deep in it every day, but somehow I still like to *read about it* in my off hours...go figure.

My wife was an English major and is a big reader to this day (mostly fiction).

So cool that we've got a bunch of readers here (and musicians, too)!

[Brian]

...and I forgot to mention that we also had some books about WW2, and the American West (can't remember if they were also published by Time-Life, or somebody else). It seemed like it was some sort of ongoing series or subscription perhaps. It was great to finish up and then await the latest arrival!

We *did* learn stuff in grade school, but often it felt like a rehash of what we'd already seen on our own!

[mowens]

My grandpa was a huge Louis L'Amour fan. I just may have to go down that rabbit hole. I am surprised they haven't made movie/tv series based on his books.

 Wonder why?

They have. My favorite is Hondo, with John Wayne.

Here are some others. These are made for tv as well as movies.

The Shadow Riders. Starring Tom Selleck. ...

Crossfire Trail. Starring Tom Selleck. ...

Conagher. Starring Sam Elliott. ...

A Reckoning. Starring June Dietrich. ...

The Quick and the Dead (1987) Starring Sam Elliott. ...

The Sacketts. Starring Tom Selleck. ...

Panhandle. Starring Rod Cameron. ...

Louis L'Amour's Crossfire Trail. Starring Tom Selleck.

How The West Was Won was not based on a Lamour novel, but he wrote one based on the movie.

I have been a Lamour fan for many years. Much of his stuff is formulaic and repetitive, but it's always good for some entertainment.

edit: Apparently there were a lot more than that. Here is a link to an article that talks about it.
https://www.insp.com/blog/louis-lamour-at-the-movies/

There have been 18 movies—including a Bob Hope comedy, seven TV movies, two series, one miniseries, and more than a dozen TV episodes either written by L'Amour himself or based on his stories.

I also have a first edition Zane Grey.