Looking for some new books to read

[elmer92413]

Looking for travel books. Not travel guides, but books about people who have traveled like Steinbeck's Travels with Charley. I'd really like to read one about sailing, I know I read one a long time ago about a kid who sailed out of California into the Pacific on his own.

I'm also looking for books, movies, ect, that deal with the theme of Immortality, such as Shelley's Mortal Immortal and Tolkien's LorR.

 

[zinfamous]

hah, my first recommendation was going to be Travels with Charley.

Did you ever read Kon Tiki? that's rather fascinating.

 

[SlitheryDee]

The Mummy: Or Ramses the Damned by Anne Rice had a strong immortality theme. How that particular brand of immortality worked is fairly novel as well (not vampirism).

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'm also looking for books, movies, ect, that deal with the theme of Immortality, such as Shelley's Mortal Immortal and Tolkien's LorR.

I'll second Ramses the Damned.

L.E. Modesitt Jr. has used the theme of immortality in several books, including:
The Forever Hero - ISBN-10: 0312868383
http://www.amazon.com/Forever-...&qid=1242419840&sr=8-1
And in The Timegod (sequel to Timediver's Dawn), Hammer of Darkness, and to a lesser extent in The Parafaith War and its sequel The Ethos Effect.

 

[elmer92413]

Originally posted by: zinfamous
Did you ever read Kon Tiki? that's rather fascinating.

Never heard of it, but it sounds like what I'd like to read, so I'm going to see if my library has it.

Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
The Mummy: Or Ramses the Damned by Anne Rice had a strong immortality theme. How that particular brand of immortality worked is fairly novel as well (not vampirism).

I've always meant to read Rice's works, but I've never got around to it. I take it this is separate from her vampire stuff?

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
L.E. Modesitt Jr. has used the theme of immortality in several books, including:
The Forever Hero - ISBN-10: 0312868383
http://www.amazon.com/Forever-...&qid=1242419840&sr=8-1
And in The Timegod (sequel to Timediver's Dawn), Hammer of Darkness, and to a lesser extent in The Parafaith War and its sequel The Ethos Effect.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[elmer92413]

Any other suggestions?

 

[ProfJohn]

Under the Tuscan Sun. Although it is less of a travel book and more of a book about what it is like for two Americans to buy and remodel a house in Tuscany.

 

[gar3555]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Under the Tuscan Sun. Although it is less of a travel book and more of a book about what it is like for two Americans to buy and remodel a house in Tuscany.

wasn't it also some romantic movie...ah...yes it was: Under the Tuscan sun

doesn't look to good...but then I haven't read the book. Into the wild is a good book about travel IMO, also shackleton is a good book, kinda travel...just around Antarctica.

edit: the book I remember is called Shackleton's Way

 

[ProfJohn]

The movie and the book are very different.

There is no romance plot to the book. It was written by a college professor who bought and fixed up an old Italian farm house. It is more of a memoir about the writer and her husbands journey to fix up the old house.

If you want to read about traveling and seeing new places then it is a bad book, but if you want to get a sense of what it is like to live in a foreign country and see different cultures at work then it is a good book.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

I'm also looking for books, movies, ect, that deal with the theme of Immortality, such as Shelley's Mortal Immortal and Tolkien's LorR.

I'll second Ramses the Damned.

L.E. Modesitt Jr. has used the theme of immortality in several books, including:
The Forever Hero - ISBN-10: 0312868383
http://www.amazon.com/Forever-...&qid=1242419840&sr=8-1
And in The Timegod (sequel to Timediver's Dawn), Hammer of Darkness, and to a lesser extent in The Parafaith War and its sequel The Ethos Effect.

Seconded. Very very good.

Also, the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony is quite a bit of fun.

 

[pontifex]

Not sailing but check out some books by Wilfred Thesiger. He wrote several books about his travels in the Middle East. Arabian Sands is the best of them, imo.

My favorite author, Lord Dunsany, wrote 3 biographies and he traveled quite a lot, mostly to Africa. He also wrote a series of books about a man named Jorkens who traveled a lot as well, but these were fictional stories. The books are also very difficult to find and can be quite expensive. There were 3 collections released several years ago and the 1st one is rare and expensive but the other 2 can usually be found online for around $20-30.