The Da Vinci CodeActually, I did pick up the Da Vinci Code. I had bought the English paperback edition a while back, because the German translation was only available in the expensive hardcover format, but I had never gotten around to read it until now. I just started to read it a few days ago -- a little slower than usually as I'm reading it in English, but so far, I like it.What's that thing about a secret Scooby-Doo ending, though, Caryn? What's a Scooby-Do ending, anyway?Here, a scoubidou is a small purposeless thing kids knot from coloured plastic strings. It's a playground craze that has hit Europe for a second time two summers ago (first time was when I was a kid and the hollow plastic tube art came sweeping over from France), and kids spend an amazing amount of time plaiting piles of these coloured items.I'm still pondering the connection with the Da Vinci Code ending, though...

Well now, let me enlighten you Panta about Scooby-Doo. Scooby-Doo happens to be one of the best kid cartoons ever. Among other preppy, Ken & Barbie type characters, it had a pothead named Shaggy who had a veritable, voice-challenged dog named Scooby-Doo who loved to eat Scooby snacks. The cartoons were usually mysteries that had easily predictable endings with a little lesson couched in them, you know for the kids.Hope that answers your question, but, um, I too, don't really get the reference. And I grew up on a steady diet of those cartoons! I'm really slow today for some reason...

well, i guess that answers my question about the nature of scooby-doo -- thanks, steve (but what's a scooby snack??).regarding its relation to the da vinci code (mysteries?) and endings (easily predictable?), i'll wait until caryn enlightens me... or until i may get it myself once i've reached the book's end.

Did you ever see Wayne's World? At the end of that movie, they do an alternate ending, which they call "the Scooby-Doo ending."A Scooby-Doo ending is almost always a variation of this:"It wasn't a real ghost at all!""Yeah! Old man Finster pretended to be a ghost to scare people away from the treasure!""That's right, I did! And I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you pesky kids!""Look! Scooby is wearing the ghost mask!"Everyone, "HA haha haha Ha ha HAha . . ."

Diary, Lint, & Wake Up SirI recently finish Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. I joyfully devoured every page of it. The man really can weave a hypnotic spell. This book was a lot better than Choke. I mean, Choke was pretty good, but Diary, in my opinion, is a classic. I see why people like Chuck so much.Levi has suggested that Wake Up, Sir, by Jonathan Ames, displays a sense of humor similar to my own, so I popped into the library yesterday and picked it up.Before I begin Wake Up, Sir, I'm going to finish up a quick read that has me laughing my ass off called Lint, by Steve Aylett. I've been hearing about this book for some time. I hope I'm not betraying a secret when I explain that Lint is a satirical fake biography of a science fiction writer. It's like what The Ruttles is to The Beatles or what Spinal Tap is to over-the-top heavy metal stadium rock bands. To really appreciate the parody, one should be familiar with the sci-fi genre, the beats, and the old pulp magazines. The fake story of Jeff Lint brims with stereotypical situations and phrases taken to ridiculous extremes. It is also full of one-liners. Some examples:"(Lint's) first published effort appeared in a wartime edition of Amazing Stories because he submitted it under the name Isaac Asimov.""As the pulps entered the fifties . . . dozens of new magazine appeared, with titles like Astounding, Bewildering, Confusing, Baffling...Useless...Appalling, Made-Up...Thrilling Wonder Stories, and Swell Punch-Ups.""Editor Hugo Gernsback" (actual editor of Amazing Stories) "resumed the practice of ordering up an octopus, a spaceman, and a screaming woman for the front of every issue.""By the sixties Lint's reputation was established firmly enough for several feuds to develop with other equally unknown authors, the main one being Cameo Herzog, creator of the Empty Trumpet books.""Lint began experimenting with what happens when you bend words the wrong way.""On several occasions he would visit Kerouac's 115th Street apartment, where fellow paleo-cyberpunk William Burroughs was also staying . . . Seeing the number Benzedrine inhalers the group was getting through, Lint asked an eminent flu specialist to call at the apartment . . ."

V. S. NaipaulSomething, I don't know what, has possessed me to give V. S. Naipaul another chance. I'm trying to work up some enthusiasm for "A Way in the World", figuring it's definitely supposedly good for me. We'll see how far I get.

YEAH BILL - you got it man!It's nice to know someone other than me wasted more of their precious childhood.A Scooby snack? I don't know what it was, but it sure looked delicious...Bill, what did they taste like?

Time AdjustersI just finished Bill Ectric's Time Adjusters and Other Stories and Bill sure knows how to channel Rod Serling!Very cool & breezy read.

ah, thanks bill - i think i got it now!now i'll continue reading, and will see if there's a scooby-doo at the end...

Thank you, Stevadore. Can I quote you on that?

Yes, the Scooby Snacks are quite delicious and good for the teeth. They come in beef, chicken, and fish flavors.

Good for you ! :) I read 'magic seeds' and was happy happy for having done so. There were some hidden gems in the book.I am currently reading 'Sir Vidia's Shadow' by Paul Theroux who has been his prot

Paul Theroux...Sir Vidia's ShadowI am currently reading 'Sir Vidia's Shadow' by Paul Theroux who has been is prot

Roots by Alex HaleyI picked up this pithy 1976 novel a few weeks back for a paltry fifty cents. The book is definitely a page turner-I would love to see the mini-series- I was quite young when it aired in 1977. I have also read another excellent book by Haley- The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Massacre at Montsegur: A History ofMassacre at Montsegur: A History of the Albigensian Crusade

Interesting; one of the essential question of humanity is - why do we do war? I get the feeling it's like bully bluster: tough talking leaders who got nothing else to say but want to fake that nationalism chauvinism, to rally the rabble, when they got nothing else to say; no other ideas of what to do or how to lead. (My mental picture is of the character from "Dazed and Confused" who says - you're mouth's writing checks your body can't cash.) And of course the stupid rabble will always follow with nothing else to think, no ideas in their heads except we got to be better than somebody else, and somebody got to be out to get us. The excerpts from the Albigensian Crusade suggest a whole spectrum of stupid warring rationales: stupid religious dictators whose dictates naturally conflict with human nature; stupid monarchs who interbreed control over their people; and a multitude of alliances that inevitably pit cousin against cousin. In my own book, a character suggests that when politicos become interbred with industrialists, they often put greed ahead of need. But allow me to throw out a question for the great minds of our time - why war?

para novedad, los cl

Absolutely brother, quote away!

I enjoyed 'seawolf' by jack london

I bought in a saldos mesa and read some years ago "Les cathares" by Rene Nelli. The title is the Spanish version has a question as sub/title: "Herejia o democracia?". Impresionante landscape and ruins. Ideal for walking in a sunny afternoon in the middle of an existential crisis.

funny comments. I never thought in Scooby Doo but it's just like this... and Scooby Doo is more simpatico.

I read "Colmillo blanco" when I was a child. Enjoy the Salomon Islands!!

Narrative of the Life of Fr Douglassyou know, Frederick Douglass, the slave who taught himself to write. compelling. it was in the african-american history section. it also belongs in the american history section.

My Name is Red by PamukI didn't get too far with Naipaul. In anticipation of next week's PEN World Voices, I'm reading "My Name Is Red" by Orhan Pamuk. Interesting that this book revolves around the Islamic tradition of avoiding pictorial representations, a subject that has obviously been in the news lately. The fact that no published commentaries about the Denmark cartoon controversy mentioned this book (as far as I have seen) probably indicates that not many journalists know the book exists. It's certainly a relevant reference.

thanks both for reading!!!

American GodsBy Neil GaimanIt's a very fast read, very engrossing, very surreal, and very emotionally manipulating. I'm not too far into it though.

Mao IIRecently, I finished Mao II by Don Delillo. An incredible book, with layers upon layers upon layers that still leave my head spinning.Does anyone wish to discuss the book? I feel overwhelmed at times by it.

Well, I'd like to know more specifically what you like so much about it. I haven't read this one yet but I've been through a lot of DeLillo. Always leaves me intrigued but often less than satisfied. I'd like to know what it was you found in Mao II that pleased you so much.

hello all. new here, so i thought i'd jump into 'the davinci code' thread since i recently read the book in paperback and found it satisfying in a too-much-popcorn-gives-you-gut-rot kind of way.that said, i am looking forward to the movie because i feel the locations (yay paris! yay louvre at 2 am!), chase sequences (go smart car!) and fast-moving plot will serve a film better than a novel.

Wake Up, SirLevi, you were right. This is my kind of humor. I'm digging this book!

read Lint last night. laughed my ass off. it has prodded me back onto the road of reading everything P.K. Dick ever wrote. by the way, ever read "I Am Alive and You Are Dead" by Carrere? Check it

Knew it ...

Loook Homeward, AngelI have been reading Thomas Wolfe's semi-autobiographical novel for the last two days. I will be traveling to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina next month and wanted to read a good, pithy novel to set the stage. I can see why Kerouac cited Wolfe as a major influence.

Frank O'HaraI'm reading the collected poems of Frank O'Hara. It's made me into a huge fan by default; it's hard not to read it all and be amazed and even intimidated. I feel like he balences this certain amount of friction and Lucidity in almost every poem. I think everyone can relate to that, when something they read just clicks with them in a certain way. It can't be explained, but it's an amazing feeling.I'm also up for anyone pointing me in a new direction. Paychecks are coming fast and I'm looking to cash them at the book store.

Too muchI'm reading four different books none of which I'm near the end of and might be picking up a fifth. I've been reading The Cider House Rules by John Irving for awhile now as a recommendation from I friend; it's suprisingly good. I also borrowed The Catcher in the Rye from a friend who didn't know he had it, and I love the writting. I picked up the last of the Deptford Trilogy a few days ago, World of Wonders. Anything written by Davies is gold to me anyways. I'm also reading Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut on and off, it's quite amusing. Finnaly, I'm thinking of picking up Man and his Symbols, by Carl Jung. Not really fiction but seems incredibly interesting.

John Berger's KingThe book is told from a dog's point of view about people living on abandoned land. Only 30 pages into the book, the narrative is not so tight but it is very readable. I just finished The Caine Mutiny and the characterization is good, although the book may now be dated and not fare as well as Moby Dick or Lord Jim.

look homeward angelthe portrait of the artist as a young man, the first third (Moriarty), Causing Deaths and saving lives (Johnathan Glover). It always seems important when at a crossroads to let your hand find among the books on all the shelves, the one written to give you today, insight concerning what you could otherwise spend years squandering. Maybe I need a recommendation...or maybe I need to get fired into all my Scottish History books to create some space for my mind to work in. Either way it is gut wrenching waking up each day without independence, watching other corruptions of rebellion from a bunch of work-shy students, working towards achieving nowt while i watch my dick shrink

call of the wild/jack londoni need to read the canon to fill the black hole in my self-esteem.

Los Bachman BooksStephen King's 4-piece fun time, written under Richard Bachman. Good stuff. After that I need to crank out some Poe that I've never had the pleasure to enjoy yet. After that, apparently I need to read some Vonnegut or my friend Betsy will stab me in the jaw.

Or you could order books by some of the writers on this site . . .

Gabriel Garcia MarquezI finished One Hundred Years of Solitude and now I'm finishing off Love In The Time of Cholera. I'm just loving every minute I get to spend with these books. SOmetimes I read a line and tear up because it is just beautiful and so simple. Any suggestions on where to go next?

I adore Gaiman. A friend of mine recently attended a signing and asked Gaiman what he does after he writes something he knows, as an author, is self-indulgent. Gaiman replied (with good humor) that he goes right on writing and comes back to it later, so at least he can enjoy the writing process before considering deleting such passages. Simple and fabu.

Great tale -- hack writing. But -- he's a multimillionaire as a result of his hackishness and I'll be slogging through the trenches 'til I die.

WordsworthThe Prelude. And other poems.I regret I put him off so long. This guy really did re-invent English poetry.Unlike most modern poetry, however, Wordsworth is able to wed the self and subject, rather than overwhelming the subject with the self. (Or make the self a pure subject, which the Prelude almost is....it maps the growth of his Poetic Mind from childhood to his switch to conservatism.) But his genuine self in the poetry was, at his time, a revolution. A precursor to Whitman's Me Myself, about fifty years later, and granddaddy to all us little "we's" and "I's" in poetry these days. What ruins his ecstacy though(which at times is not unlike some mystical vison of nature) is Christianity and Conservatism. In his later years he tried appending his "new" experience with Old Law and it (to me) soured the vision he tried to express early on.Anyway. That's what I'm reading.

the book practically *is* a movie.interesting, sometimes irritating combination of complexe theories and simple (often simplistic) ways to tell about them. very american, it seemed to me.a page turner. average writing. quite a few factual mistakes, clich

I liked Chronicles of a Death Foretold, though I've heard Solitude is where its at.

This is a nicely written review. Thanks, I enjoyed it. Have you posted any of your sonnets on Litkicks?

Villa IncognitoIt's the first Tom Robbins book I've read. Most of my friends who have read it said it wouldn't be worth the time, but I'm really liking it. I sort of want a stuffed Tanuki for my room now...