Brendon: [ 2007-11-26 ]jonathan safran foer is a good author, currently reading extremely loud and incredibly close. love thebook for being more then your average book. you have to read it yourself to find out.

nabbott: [ 2007-11-26 ]go get Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. very entertaining and interesting. (or fiskadoro or jesus son) also read No Country for Old Men on my last trip, now gotta see the movie. reading A Long Way Gone which is a memoir by a teenage "soldier" in Sierra Leone.

Dave: [ 2007-11-26 ]If you're looking for something connected to your thoughts about the potential story project, I would check out Kerouac's "Lonesome Traveler." While he's not new to you, I think it's one of his lesser known works, and it captures the essence of his experiences in an amazing style of writing that I would definitely describe as poetic. As far as a book that will inspire you as your idea incubates and evolves, I would recommend it highly. (I have a copy you're welcome to borrow when you grab the recorder.)

Wiz: [ 2007-11-26 ]Anything by Bret Easton Ellis

Tom: [ 2007-11-27 ]I would strongly recommend reading some of the stuff Kafka wrote. I recently enjoyed Steinbeck`s book "Tortilla Flat"...

hartman: [ 2007-11-27 ]rushdie is the man, if you like a little middle eastern vibe check out edward said and his books on orientalism

puppethead: [ 2007-11-27 ]Anthony... You've been in a buch of ski movies... have you ever given any thought to making one ? I have this really great ( at least I think so ) idea for an intro... It came to me as a dream... on the level. A guy I work with, Schmitty, suffered a catastrophic injury at the onset of the '05-'06 ski season... He shattered his tib / fib down below the boot line... He was jumping off something called the "Waterfall" at A-Basin... We had a ton of early snow that year... not enough I guess, because he punched through to bedrock... Anyway... Schmitty is a charger... I mean he may never ski again if he can't ski at the level he used to... OK... I know you're asking "What does this have to do with a ski movie intro ?"... Well after working at the ski shop for 3 seasons together Schmitty and I have a connection... This past season after he looked into my eyes ( soul ) he must've transferred some energy to me or something... because I had one of the best ski days of my life... and I'm not that good... I'm 40 and out of shape... but I was ON FIRE !... I ski the trees and shit... but I'm a cautious skier... I broke my tibia back in 1990... anyway... I think this dream I had was part of this energy transfer... Fade in... the desert... sand dunes... blowing sand... off in the distance there's a circus tent... a big top... as we approach the big top there's a bunch of side show freaks practicing their acts... In the dream there was a new born baby crow... just hatched from it's shell... I think symbolized my other co-worker Todd... he grew up in Bozeman, MT and skied that little place... shit... I forget the name... not BIG SKY... the little place... anyway... He got baptised last season... "born again" I guess... he's not a zealot or anything... he did it for his wife... anyway... to link this dream to a ski movie intro... All the sideshow freaks are played by pro skiers... jumping on a trampoline... a trapeze inside the tent... You see... I think Schmitty is worried he'll never ski again and transferred this fear to me... I'm worried that with "GLOBAL WARMING" going like it is... eventually none of us will ever ski again... That's the point of the intro... I just read your interview in FREESKIER... about how you're getting into art and are kinda' anti-competition... because it's not the WHOLE picture of what skiing is all about... that's why I'm writing this on yout blog... the Industry is jumping in on the whole "GREEN" bandwagon... but it's all just BULLSHIT... I live in Leadville, CO and VAIL is right down the road... I mean I think what Jiminy Peak did is cool ( they have their own wind turbine ) but the big guys... VAIL and INTRAWEST are all just talk... It's all smoke and mirrors... a bunch of bullshit... I sent this Idea to someone at Matchstick... but who knows... what do you think... I see it kinda' like the dream sequence scene in the "DOORS" movie... Anyway...

Dave: [ 2007-11-27 ]^I think your idea is really cool, and it would have worked well in Plehouse Films' Global Warming themed ski film from this year called "Save." (Which despite being a cool movie, lacked a good intro.) It also would have worked for them because I think it appeals to their quirky french sense of humour. On the other hand it's probably a good idea you sent it to Matchstick because they're the only film company I can think of within skiing that has the budget required to make your dream a reality. They also need all the good ideas they can get as far as intros go.

dblock: [ 2007-11-27 ]puppethead needs to link up with craig faller right quick. in other news, milan kundera. unbearable lightness of being, slowness, immortality....all or any of those will bring you to another level.

Bob Lilly: [ 2007-11-27 ]Van Gogh!! If you haven't read any of his writing please do yourself a favor and get a book compiled of all of his letters. Any library should do. The best are to Theo. http://www.vggallery.com/letters/main.htm

ant: [ 2007-11-27 ]Guys, thanks for all your responses. Some I haven’t heard of, and some I’ve been reminded to read more of, and some who’s greatness has been re-confirmed. I wanted to add Saramago’s ‘Blindness’. It’s pretty much a banger, ender ender in my books. And yes, puppethead you do need meet Craig Faller. Although your points are a little off topic, I think you have an interesting concept. I’m still trying to compute it…

Trevor: [ 2007-11-27 ]Ha, funniest book I've read in a while: How to be a Canadian by Will and Ian Ferguson. On a more serious note, LIving Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh. Also, I am writing a paper on outsourcing and offshoring and I stumbled upon The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman... if that topic interests you, it's an extremely intersesting book. It's a topic I'm writing my final paper on.

amy: [ 2007-11-27 ]Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. This man led a fascinating life and helped a lot of people. All the pretty horses by Cormac McCarthy, he also wrote No Country for Old Men as someone already mentioned. The Fabric of the Cosmos by Briane Greene explains the physics of the universe, space and time in laymans terms. The Lost Executioner by Nic Dunlop tells the story of Comrade Duch, the man responsible for the mass murder of many Cambodians during the reign of the Khmer Rouge and how the author tracked him down years later... Duch is on trial now with the war crimes tribunal. Finally, I hope you have read the Catcher in the Rye, I think you'd like it.

Rob: [ 2007-11-27 ]Black Skin White Mask - Fanon; The Madman - Dostoevsky; The Myth of Syphihus - Camus; Free Culture - Lessig; Too Close for Comfort - Barlow; A People's History of the United States: 1492 – Present - Howard Zinn - it is by far my all time favorite book. It is not only the other side of American History, it flips the the traditional account of what one deems worth remembering, or making a historical record of, on its head. American History is seen not from the victor, or the writer, but from the people, from the wronged, from the forgotten. This book reads as a collective narrative of the many injustices Americans have done one another, and when reflected upon in terms of traditional historical accounts, one begins to grasp just what American history is.

nabbott: [ 2007-11-28 ]Blindness, I'll second that one. Really damn interesting. And who the f*ck is that Craig Faller dude? he sent me a couple of e-mails that were completely off the deep end.

Jeremy: [ 2007-11-28 ]Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins

Hepp: [ 2007-11-28 ]The World Without Us....By Alan Weisman...

sko: [ 2007-11-29 ]east of eden by john steinbeck...amazing. a confederacy of dunces by john kennedy toole...hilarious and outrageous.

freeheel: [ 2007-11-29 ]Comments: If you enjoy autobiographical...."Scar Tissue" by Anthony Kiedis was fun and interesting.

JD: [ 2007-11-29 ]Gaiman may be hyped, but after reading Fragile Things, and finding it to be almost as good as Smoke and Mirrors, I have to say that the hype is deserved... he might be the best short story writer of the last 20 years. I've been putting off American Gods but I think I'll start reading it now. Agree with the C Faller reference. That sounded like him... I miss Craig's 2 am diatribes.

will: [ 2007-11-29 ]gotta read james salter. best writer ever.

kara: [ 2007-11-29 ]hey anthony, i am borrowing my parents computer and your site was bookmarked and since this is one of my favorite topics here is my list...william t. vollmann, especially his short stories and seven dreams series; the war at the end of the world by mario vargos llosa - the fictional account of a guerrilla war in the backlands of brazil; you can't win by jack black - hobo autobiography plagiarized by burroughs, eduordo galeano; angela carter, short stories; almanac of the dead by leslie marmon silko; the bone people by keri hulme; tracks by louis erdrich; blood merdian by cormac mccarthy - by far the best and most violent of his books; persepolis, a graphic novel by marjane satrapi; invisible man by ralph ellison; jean genet and of course selby is great and i just finished middlesex by eugenides.

ian: [ 2007-11-29 ]Don't know if I'd put it up there with the "literary greats" but Tom Robbins is always interesting, funny, and different... chalked full of little nuggets that make you think. I love Dave Eggers... I loved HBWOASG and You Shall Know our Velocity but you should check out "how we are hungry" I think you'd like it. Check out Ishmael by... I forget the author's name but while it's not amazing writing the ideas are well worth reading.. uh... Camus- The Stranger...Vonnegut, Kerouac,.. some other pretty obvious choices. I also tend to read a ton of non-fiction: physics, Buddhism, philosophy, etc. On another note... Woah puppethead's post feels like I just did 2 hits of acid and didn't take my ritalin. His post began WAY off topic and he didn't even do a good job staying on his OWN topic. Although, after hashing through the spastic non sequiturs it is an interesting idea. Thanks everyone for a million new additions to my already unapproachably long reading list! Jerks!

laura: [ 2007-12-01 ]Pirsig is a must. I'd be very suprised if you haven't already read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence: an Inquiry into Values, but if you haven't, the book probably has some concepts that may apply well to your life. It basically brings up the concept of romance (not love you/love you too sutff) vs. classic viewpoints and how they relate to the idea of "quality"... I dont really know you, but I have a feeling it would be one of those books that you'd read, have sitting on your shelf, then someone would ask about it and you'd be all "yo! read that!" And well, the only reason people buy books is to connect oneself with other people that read similar books, and not to judge you, but it's probably a book that would help on such a conquest...bonus points for a used copy with a torn up cover.

Dave: [ 2007-12-03 ]Ishmael is by Daniel Quinn. Say what you will about the writing in that series of books, the ideas make for a good starting point and I tore through all three. I think what he was going for was accessibility. If the book was nearly half as pompous as its critics wish it was, it would never get read by 3/4 of the people that picked it up. When you're trying to spread powerful ideas on a ground level like he was/is, you have to bring it down to the level of the lowest common denominator. Otherwise you end up turning people off. A perfect example of this of this would be Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. It's an amazing book that everyone should read, but it takes more work to get through than most people are willing to put in. I'll admit I had to come back to it a couple of times.

Dave: [ 2007-12-03 ]A perfect example of the balance between those two extremes of Daniel Quinn and Jared Diamond is Malcolm Gladwell. He is someone I would consider to be brilliant, and he takes complex concepts and turns them into intricate yet workable pieces for a large majority of the population. Both of his books have gained wide acclaim, and while I've only read one of them, his articles in the New Yorker (also on his website) are always a pleasure to read.

Dan: [ 2007-12-03 ]JD, I really didn't like Gaiman. It seemed that his writing style was hacky and just... bad. I only read about 1/2 of American Gods before putting it down for good. My favourite author is definitely Hemingway. He could create realistic characters (most of his characters were based heavily on real people), conversation, and relationships. Most importantly, he seemed to understand human interaction and reaction very well. He could illustrate the problems with decision making and the approaches people take to problems. The Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast are my favourites. You might want to look at A Moveable Feast. It deals with the literary scene in Paris during the 1920s, very cool!

bueno: [ 2007-12-03 ]About Looking, Another Way of Telling, G, Selected Essays~John Berger, Black Coal Horse~Bob Olmstead, Interpreter of Maladies~Jhumpa Lahiri, Letters to a Young Poet~Rainer Maria Rilke, Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns~Khaled Hosseini,100 Years of Solitude~Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Bluesman~Andre Dubus, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century~Greil Marcus

JD: [ 2007-12-06 ]Halfway through American Gods now and the biggest issue I have with it is that his style just isn't suited to longer novels. The best parts of this book are the non-plot flashbacks, some of them are absolutely amazing. Sticking with what I said before, best short story writer of the past 50 years... novels less so. His style just works better in the shorter length medium, where a single fantastic, original concept can be fully developed in a few pages. Thankfully he has two full collections of short stories. Hemingway meanwhile couldn't write a short story to save his life, which is odd since you'd think minimalism and stark imagery would work so nicely for it. Personally though, minimalism isn't among my favourite styles to read... I've been reading for style for quite a while. I find the 19th century the most interesting, what Dickens can do with character archetypes is incredibly interesting. Hard Times (for these times) shows that off quite well. The Woman in White by Collins is a great read even if you're just following the plot, but it's incredible the attention he pays to almost scientific realism in the details despite the fact that the story is completely fantastic, almost to the point of gothicism. Speaking of which that gets me to the Gothic which I spent about 6 months going through a while back, which is worth it if you have the time; reading from Walpole to Lewis to Radcliffe and beyond gives you a great sense of what the Romantic era was born out of. And suddenly Northanger Abbey makes so much more sense. Oh, I'm not a huge Austen buff, but Emma's sort of a necessity for readers in order to understand why the modern novel works the way it does. See this is why I don't recommend books to people, this could be ten pages long.

JD: [ 2007-12-06 ]If you're into reading plays... http://members.tripod.com/afronord/plays/R-G.html

Nils: [ 2007-11-25 ]For the most part I've done many things with my life that I'm happy with, but sometimes I wish I would of taken more risks.

andy: [ 2007-11-25 ]very interesting post, anthony. thank you.

sebastian: [ 2007-12-01 ]try one of funny van dannen`s books, he a dutch author but perhaps you can find an english translation his sotries are insane

sebastian: [ 2007-12-01 ]ohh wrong place!!!!

jay: [ 2007-11-22 ]wow thats creepy but at the same time really cool

fillup: [ 2007-11-29 ]pretty cool conecpt i thought the first one was a p-shop or it was just ripped

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iwade: [ 2007-11-23 ]killer!

Jake: [ 2007-11-19 ]I hate you. You PNW guys got spoiled last season and your already on your way this season. Is Ian's last name Mac or Mc? I've seen it spelled both ways. His segment in Lost and Found was unreal. Waiting for snow in UT, Jake

Simon: [ 2007-11-19 ]Oh man, I'm stuck in New Zealand going into summer, seeing this stuff hurts... I miss Whistler.

Soup: [ 2007-11-25 ]week away and ill be skiing that shit for the whole winter. cant fuckin wait.

micah: [ 2007-12-02 ]ahhh...bless the northwest and our beautiful snow.... now just a little more east...

ele: [ 2007-12-02 ]decent??!! come on you're kiddin' me! in spain we dont have decent snow until mid january!! and it's not even that decent.. you guys are lucky. enjoy. :)