Who reads books?........*warning for the faint hearted*

[Darkman]

Im not a big fan of literature personally, but i do however on occasion read 'true crime' books. These are books written by criminals themselves detailing their lives of crime or books about ppl that have been involved in crime and are writing the experiences they had from crime.

As we speak im reading this book that was written by a man called 'Warren Fellows'. He was an Australian man who spent 12 years in a prison in Bangkok, Thailand for drug trafficking. Ive heard that Thai prisons are the worst in the world, but what this guy has written in this book is absolutely terrifying and horrific in a way i cant explain. Below is the introduction word for word to the book, dont forget this is all true and written by the man himself. It will disgust, terrify and horrify you:

"PROLOGUE

I AM GOING to tell you about the worst thing that ever happened to me.
I don't really want to tell you, because it's too terrible for me to recall, but i have to tell you. It's important that you know, and i have to get it out of my heart.
This thing went on for eleven and half years. Think about that. Think of the most wretched day of your life - maybe it's when somebody you loved died, or when you were badly hurt in an accident, or a day when you were so terrified you could scarcely bare it. Imagine 4000 of those days, together in one big chunk, and you're getting close.
I do not tell this story to bring pity on myself. I know that many people hate me for what i did and would believe that i deserved whatever i got. I can only ask those people to keep reading. If, at the end of my story, you still believe that anyone could deserve the horrors that i saw, then you, too, are a criminal. A vengeful and sadistic one. Maybe you just haven't been caught yet.
I'll tell you something i saw in a prison called Bang Kwang, nine years into my imprisonment in Thailand. This isnt an isolated incident - it's one of many - but it is one that stay's in my head and plays like a short horror movie, over and over.
I was awakened late one night by the screaming of a young French prisoner in the cell next door. The sound of his screams was excruciating. It wasn't just a scream of pain, but of madness too. It was the sort of sound you would never want to hear coming from a human being. I'll never forget it. For hours and hours he screamed, until i and a friend called David, who was in a cell opposite, began screaming back, begging him to tell us what was wrong. It became obvious that whatever was torturing him was so overwhelming that he couldn't hear us at all. He was lost in his own pain.
Eventually, David and i began shouting for the guard. We knew that the hospital staff, who didn't care too much at the best of times, wouldn't be interested at this hour. So we pleaded with the guard to let us into the Frenchman's cell to see what was wrong. David had served in the US Army, knew a fair amount of first aid and thought he might be able to help. Luckily, we had a good guard this night, and he agreed.
When we entered the Frenchman's cell he was alone, curled into a ball, facing the corner. His screams didnt stop for the whole time we was there - he seemed totally oblivious to our presence. As soon as we turned him over, we saw what was wrong. On his neck, just below the ear, was an enormous lump, about the size of an avocado. As we looked at this lump, it appeared to be moving.
David seemed to know what was going on and dashed back to his cell to get a razor blade (keeping razors was illegal in Bang Kwang, but the guard, who was now as concerned as we were, turned a blind eye this time). David told us to hold the Frenchman down, as he was going to lance the lump with the razor. As soon as the blade sliced the skin, the wound opened up like a new flower. And out of the gash in the Frenchman's neck spilled hundreds of tiny, worm-like creatures, wriggling and oozing out like spaghetti. It was appaling, a dreadful dream, only real and right before my eyes, happening to a human being. According to hospital staff who examined him later, a cockroach had crawled into his ear, burrowed through to his neck and laid its eggs. A man who, somewhere, had a mother and a father, family and friends, had been left to become a living nest for maggots. And when i remember the grotesque sound of his screams, I'm certain he knew what was happening to him."

As you can tell this is a very powerful and shocking read, but its the stuff i enjoy reading as its the only sort of mateiral that keeps wanting to read more (i know that sounds crazy).

What type of books do you guys read?

[RoboFlonne]

I like to read manga!

p.s. It's not a very good idea to sell drugs in an asian country.

[JWR]

What type of books do you guys read?

I have certain authors whose writing I quite enjoy.

Early on I became enamoured with the works of Poe and then H. P. Lovecraft of whom I have all of his stories and have for the last few years been collecting the original Weird Tales & other pulp's where Lovecrafts stories were first printed in the 1920's & 30's.

Sci-Fi writers such as Ray Bradbury & Theodore Sturgeon also fill my bookcase. Another I have quite enjoyed is Harlan Ellison and have most of his books.

[crackpot27]

should not eat and read....
I'm a fantasy fan, though I do love a good mystery. Some of my favorite authors are Terry Brooks, James Patterson, Dean Koontz and Sara Douglas .

[Gonzai]

Argh - wish I hadn't read that.

I actually like different types of books, thogh I tend to
read alot of True Crime as well, though, nothing quite
that horrifying.

I also like Fantasy Fiction such as Terry Brooks
and horror as well. Dean Koontz and Stephen
King are big favorites.

[HotIce]

I don't really have a favorite author or type of story that I like to read. A general list of books I did like...

Christopher Snow books by Dean Koontz
Harry Potter books
Lord of the Rings Series (and The Hobbit)

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams

I bought but haven't started, A Game of Thrones from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I heard so many good things about this series that I figured I should give it a shot.

[blueheaven]

That is certainly a horrible story, but very common in certain books I've read. When a cockroach enters your ear, it secretes a substance in its feces that can cause a form of dementia. Not to mention the fact that it is constantly rubbing and perforating your eardrum. Just one more reason I don't break the law or visit countries with no human rights laws.

As for books, I am a fairly voracious reader. My favorite authors are Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, Chuck Palahniuk, Bret Easton Ellis, Terry Pratchett, Cornel West, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jasper Fforde. My favorite books are...

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
Choke and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
The Hitchhiker's Series by Douglas Adams
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Race Matters by Cornel West
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

[miz ducky]

I only find time to read manga while flying these days. Since they are short I eventually finish them, when I wouldn't have any hope of finishing a novel.

I used to read a lot of fantasy books.
David Eddings, Piers Anthony, and Anne McCaffrey were/are my favorites.

[Baakay]

I read anything I can lay my hands on! Which... is actually quite a lot considering my profession...

History, science, fantasy, manga, mythology, books on archaeology and so forth...

but my favorites, I guess, are fantasy. L.E, Modesitt and Mercedes Lackey are probably my two current favorites.

[klet]

David Eddings, Piers Anthony, and Anne McCaffrey were/are my favorites.

I've never read anything by Anthony, but Eddings and McCaffrey are old time favorites of mine. I also love Terry Brooks, Terry Pratchett, Orsen Scott Card, and I'm currently in the middle of a series by Janny Wurts. I do regular fiction, too. I love Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Oscar Wilde's a hoot. Hmmm . . . I'm sure there's others that I'm forgetting.

Of course, I've got to mention the author that made me such an avid reader to begin with. C.S. Lewis. In fourth grade, my teacher had read us The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and I was hooked.

[Shampoo]

Wow.. that entry makes me wanna read the book! LOL!


I'm w/ Nida-chan all the way! LOVE love love reading the
True Crime books!

If art didnt work out for me I always wanted to be a criminal
profiler. So my side of the bookshelf is littered w/ John Douglas and Mark Olshaker books-- love the way they write!
No b.s. and straight forward!


I also really enjoy Albert Camus' works.
Currently reading The Rebel.

[kymaera]

Growing up, I read just about everything that I could since I read at a fairly brisk pace (usually about 100 pages/hr). That, of course, centered around sci-fi and fantasy (as well as my share of comic books). Some of my favorite authors have been Tolkien, Moorcock, Asimov, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman and David Eddings. Lately, I haven't been reading too many novels...just manga and such. I usually manage to knock out several whenever I travel, so I've got a few queued up for my next trip.

[eddiefb3]

interesting...

I have read the FMA novels, Kino No Tabi book 1, and hopefully the Naruto novel soon.

One book i have read is called The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle.

a great book about a mexican immigrant family coming into the US and looking for a better life to find out it isnt. and a snobby rich-like family having marriage troubles. There stories combine in this book

I had to read it for school, and found out it was a good book!. Thought i didnt acutally read it....i bought the audio book and listened to it hehehehe*hopes teacher doesent read this*

[Makoli]

uhm i read alot when my eyes arent killing me that is. sci-fi,fantasy,horror,mystery,true crime,romance and erotica.

right now im making my way through

brother odd. by dean koontz
monster nation. by david wellington
stone of tears. by terry goodkind

[sugarcels]

I love mystery novels. My favorite series is The Cat Who... I am also a very big fantasy reader - though most of the time the books happen to be for young adults