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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 24, 2018 - 05:20pm PT
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There is no "greatest," but there are a handful of great writers and I often get asked about them. Who is my favorite? When it comes to literary non-fiction, New Journalism, or whatever you wanna call it, Gary Smith is first on my and many other lists (many time National Book Award winner).
Here are a couple gems for when you don't know what to do with the night. Of course with these pieces, photographer Marvin Newman has to be heard: "When photography works well, you can go inside the psyche of the people in the picture. You can see beyond the moment.” Can I get a witness?
https://www.si.com/longform/cotton-bowl/index.html#map8
https://www.si.com/boxing/2014/10/10/muhammad-ali-entourage
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Sep 24, 2018 - 05:22pm PT
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Mark Twain is the first that pops into my mind.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Sep 24, 2018 - 05:24pm PT
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American? Too nationalist.
Carl Sagan. Richard Dawkins. James Burke. In the nonfiction genre, those are a few of my favorites. Not only informative but entertaining af.
Gene Roddenberry left his mark on me, too. Creative af.
Any of the above should have won a Nobel in literature. In retrospect, this is pretty evident.
Hey, I left you a couple questions (actually left over from 2011 - 2017) on the Mind thread. Fwiw.
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Urmas
Social climber
Sierra Eastside
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Sep 24, 2018 - 06:51pm PT
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Jody, you know Jack London was a socialist.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Sep 24, 2018 - 08:55pm PT
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Besides Jody Langstuff my vote would be for Chuck Palahniuk.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Sep 24, 2018 - 09:02pm PT
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It has to do with your overtly anti-socialist flava, yo.
mostly.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Sep 24, 2018 - 09:12pm PT
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Mark Twain jumps to mind first. But then I get nostalgic for Hunter S. Thompson.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Sep 24, 2018 - 09:13pm PT
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Sep 24, 2018 - 10:08pm PT
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For me, something recent and familiar.
"The Log From the Sea of Cortez" by John Steinbeck was wonderfully subtle. He's the master of constructing complex characters in your mind by way of layering the smallest nuances people exhibit. The scenery is similarly built, mostly by tapping into the reader's own memories. I think I smelled corn tortillas burning in a skillet a few times while reading it.
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10b4me
Social climber
Lida Junction
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Sep 24, 2018 - 10:24pm PT
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Twain
Steinbeck
Vine Deloria
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Pete_N
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Sep 24, 2018 - 11:31pm PT
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Geez. Asking for the "greatest" kinda puts a damper on something like this, but here are a few names that come to my mind (deliberately excluding some of the obvious ones):
David Foster Wallace
Louise Erdrich
George Saunders
Wallace Stegner
Flannery O'Connor
Zora Neale Hurston
Sherman Alexi
James Welch
Studs Terkel
Bailey White
Andrei Codrescu (Romanian, I know, but one of the best observers of America I've ever read/heard)
Cormac McCarthy [edited to add!]
Why? Looking for inspiration?
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Sep 25, 2018 - 01:40am PT
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Joseph Alexander Altsheler
Joseph Alexander Altsheler (April 29, 1862 – June 5, 1919) was an American newspaper reporter, editor and author of popular juvenile historical fiction. He was a prolific writer, and produced fifty-one novels and at least fifty-three short stories. Thirty-two of his novels were part of his seven series:
The Civil War Series (8 volumes)
The French and Indian War Series (6 volumes)
The Gold Series (2 volumes)
The Great West Series (2 volumes)
The Texan Series (3 volumes)
The World War Series (3 volumes)
The Young Trailers Series (8 volumes)
Although each of the thirty-two novels constitutes an independent story, Altsheler suggested a reading order for each series (i.e., he numbered the volumes). The remaining nineteen novels can be read in any order. [Note, however, that A Knight of Philadelphia was later expanded through the addition of nineteen chapters and some minor tweaks to become Mr. Altsheler's novel In Hostile Red.]
The short stories, of course, can be read in any order. However, some readers might prefer to read them in the order in which they were published. The short story list below is displayed in chronological order with the publication dates shown alongside the titles.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Sep 25, 2018 - 06:13am PT
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Story teller? William Faulkner. Each of his short stories is a gem.
Thomas Berger is also up there, he had a real flair for capturing the midwest.
Hard to beat Theodore Sturgeon for originality!
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Sep 25, 2018 - 08:07am PT
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What a question. There are so many writers worth noting (at least for me), and so many captivating stories that they’ve written. We’d need a set of criteria to help us decide. Some metrics would probably be needed . . . and herein again we fall headlong into reductions. How could we measure an experience of reading? How can we measure any experience?
Forgetting for the moment scholarly literary criticism, the experience of reading and our views of the works we read are possibly more reflective indications of what we are and how we see than indications of what the writings are themselves.
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Sep 25, 2018 - 08:42am PT
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When I first read "The Right Stuff", I started to read other Tom Wolfe stories, and his perceptions on contemporary society, both fiction and non-fiction.
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jbaker
Trad climber
Redwood City, CA
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Sep 25, 2018 - 03:02pm PT
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Taking this in the direction of great tellers of the American story, some recent good reads are:
Colson Whitehead - The Underground Railroad is brilliant
Michelle Alexander - The New Jim Crow
John Carreyrou - Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Man of Constant Sorrow by Dr. Ralph Stanley
George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo
Michael Lewis is always an interesting writer. I saw him speak last year, and was kind of surprised that he came off as a bit of an ass who was full of himself.
Not American, but Trevor Noah's Born a Crime is a good read.
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Adventurer
Mountain climber
Virginia
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Sep 25, 2018 - 05:20pm PT
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Paul Theroux
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 25, 2018 - 06:09pm PT
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Nobody thinks Papa told a good story or three? Really?
Other than him Faulkner and Steinbeck.
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B,Mark
Social climber
NorthernNY
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Sep 25, 2018 - 06:14pm PT
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Alistair Macleod
And yea, Hemingway
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