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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Sep 12, 2018 - 08:02am PT
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Hank,
One upside of reading is that it carries less risk than base jumping :)
On the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin (main characters) novels, I have recommended those books to many of my friends over the years. About half read the entire series, then read it again, sometimes multiple times, like I have.
It's very rich and dense with details about life at end of the 18th century, including nobility and slavery, warfare, domestic life, philosophy, botany, music, food and wine.
The other half don't make it through the first book and tell me,
"meh".
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Sep 12, 2018 - 08:59am PT
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The Octopus is a good read, not a slog. The best part, though, is after you read it you can look up Victor Davis Hanson's interpretation of the novel. VDH thinks Norris was sympathetic to the Southern Pacific!!!
Here's another great one not on the list: Joe Hill by Wallace Stegner.
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spectreman
Trad climber
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Sep 12, 2018 - 01:07pm PT
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A must read about the Vietnam War is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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Mike Honcho
Trad climber
Glenwood Springs, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 12, 2018 - 01:15pm PT
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A must read about the Vietnam War is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
I've heard that's good, it's on the list, thanks!
Reminds me of one of my favorite Largo stories "Rats" a little bit.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 12, 2018 - 01:24pm PT
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Best flying memoir of Nam: Flying Through Midnight by Halliday.
You can’t make that shiz up, and he is a gifted writer.
You should be able to relate, Honch, rumour has it you’ve done some flyin’ on Half Dome. 🤡
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perswig
climber
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Sep 12, 2018 - 02:11pm PT
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A must read about the Vietnam War is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
A good triptych of grunt-level Vietnam is the above book, Quang Tri Cadence by Jon Oplinger, and Into the Green by Cherokee Paul McDonald.
IDK about 100 books/die, but in my top 100 would certainly be The Alchemist.
Dale
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 14, 2018 - 07:19am PT
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A good list or at least a good rough draft of such a list, I’ve read eighty some of the op list, my list, or any bodies, would be different, but it’s a good staring point and you can’t. Go too far wrong with it.
This seems like a good place to talk about Harry Potter. I wouldn’t have any of those books on my own list. However, though they don’t work for me, I am still a JK Rowling fan, for what she has done.. Just because they didn’t click with me is not to say that she isn’t on to something that seems to really work for her fan base and much to her credit she has gotten millions of kids to actually read big dense books! Good on her! When I was a kid I was immersed in the Oz books, Edger Allen Poe, a wrinkle in time, then Tolkien, all of which inspired me to find my way into Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Kerouac, Steinbeck, Burroughs, Hemingway etc.
if that series works for kids today and inspires the inspiration to explore and puts them into the wider questioning world, then they have done something magnificent!
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don't have one
climber
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Sep 14, 2018 - 09:39am PT
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I remember feeling somewhat reluctant or obligated sitting down with the first Harry Potter, only to find myself pleasantly surprised and blasted through it; found the first three books to be entertaining, fun and funny, and it provides an easy parent-child connection that not many other books can do in terms entertaining both parent and child simultaneously. The audibles are great as well, and the movies take the usual 3rd place, but are fun and -- from the parenting point of view -- much better than something like Star Wars or anything Disney.
But if you're a crusty muggle climber who gets stressed out by money, politics, and bolts, and middle-age has zapped your imagination, HP will be hard to grasp. ;-)
When I look at that top 100, I can see ditching about half of the list before HP (although seems like HP should be grouped into one book as Lord of the rings did). Half of that list looks like books I remember reading in school. Yawn.
I'd add...
Lonesome Dove if you like cowboy fiction.
Hampton Sides Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder.
Gregory Crouches book Bonanza King is $.
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Aeriq
Social climber
Location: It's a MisterE
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Sep 14, 2018 - 07:02pm PT
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The 5 Agreements
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Cragcloud
Trad climber
Denmark
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Sep 15, 2018 - 08:26am PT
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The Road
Eiger Dreams
The Fifth Revolution
Into Thin Air
Into the Wild
...just adventure stuff ;)
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Sep 26, 2018 - 02:45pm PT
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It would really suck to be limited to 100 books in a lifetime. I have read three in a day while tent-bound in Patagonia. That would add ou to only a little over a months worth of reading.
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Sep 27, 2018 - 08:07am PT
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I have read 92 of the titles listed in the OP. What do I do with the next 20 years of life, watch television?
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Aeriq
Social climber
Location: It's a MisterE
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Missing some spiritual stuff:
Tao Te Ching (I have an early 60's hard-back translation)
Book of Runes - Ralph Blum
Not exactly good "reads" but some kind of reference nonetheless
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