Korean Job Discussion Forums

newintown · Joined: 01 Jan 2007

[/quote]Right now I'm reading "The Elephant Vanishes" by Haruki Murakami, which is a bizarre collection of short stories. Highly recommended.[/quote]

i'm obsessed with this author.

Xian · Joined: 08 Jan 2006

For an exciting read, I recommend one of Australias most popular book series ever,
'The Tomorrow Series' by John Marsden.

It is a seven book series about an invasion of Australia and shows a group of young people and their attempts to evade capture.
It is very exciting.
The book titles are:

Tomorrow, When the War Began (1994)
The Dead Of The Night (1994)
The Third Day, The Frost (1995)
Darkness, Be My Friend (1996)
Burning For Revenge' (1997)
The Night Is For Hunting (1998)
The Other Side Of Dawn (1999)

swetepete · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Location: a limp little burg

Cormac McCarthy, "the Road." 2007. Won the Pullitzer.

bourbon street · Joined: 25 Apr 2007

Killing Plato by Jake Needham

If you're the least bit into Thailand and action then you'll dig this read.

Anyong Bluth · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Location: Robbers' Roost

moredhel_1 · Joined: 20 Feb 2006

--"Freakonomics" Steven Levy (and a co-author)
--"Don't Get Too Comfortable", David Rakoff
--"The Planets", Dava Sobel
--"I, Jedi" Michael Stackpole (yes, it's a Star Wars novel - what can I say, I'm a geek)

Kilgore Trout · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Location: Bucheon, Korea

* The Roads to Sata (Alan Booth)
* River Town (Peter Hessler)
* Spin (Robert Charles Wilson)
* Under the Banner of Heaven (Jon Krakauer)

SeoulFinn · Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Location: 1h from Seoul

Justin Marozzi

TAMERLANE: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World

VirginIslander · Joined: 24 May 2006 Location: Busan

The Poisonwood Bible.

Lao Wai · Joined: 01 Aug 2005 Location: East Coast Canada

VanIslander · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 4:05 am Post subject:

Kilgore Trout · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Location: Bucheon, Korea

Many of the books listed so far in this thread can't rightly be considered 'great books' (whatever that means). People are listing books they've read recently which affected them in some way. I've enjoyed all of Krakauer's books and find him a pretty level-headed guy, not given to flights of fancy; he's a solid reporter and did a solid job of reportage in Under the Banner of Heaven. I don't think it's Mormon-bashing at all. He told the truth. The heart of the story concerns rogue elements in the Mormon church, people who consider themselves Mormons but have been excommunicated by the mainstream church for the severity of their beliefs, in the same way Islam has distanced itself from the soliders of the jihad. So, Krakauer is not presenting Mormonism=Murder as a cause and effect scenario as you suggested.

If the book offended your sensibilities, well you don't have to like it or recommend it to others to read, but it didn't offend me and I commend it to anybody who has read Krakauer's previous stuff or who is interested in...hmmm...I can't peg what genre of book this would be: religion, history, crime.

It's a good read. That's all I ask of a book.

VanIslander · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 3:26 pm Post subject:

faster · Joined: 03 Sep 2006

That reminds me, there's an amazing section in Mark Twain's Roughing It in which he visits Utah and describes the Mormons and Brigham Young to hilarious effect. It's not all comedy, though - it's a pretty early assessment of the Mormons, and Twain was a very perceptive dude.