I just read the funniest book. It's called "I hope they serve beer in hell.", by Tucker Max. I know, it's not about surfing, but seriously, this $hit was absolutely hilarious, just wanted to turn you guys onto it. If you're interested he has another one about to come out in September I think. For a good book written by a surfer check out "Cosmic Banditos" by Alan Weisenbacker, also a funny book w/ some surfing refrences. Anyone get into this guy yet? It's well worth the time, he will have you rolling.
I'm currently reading "In Search of Captain Zero" also written by Alan Weisenbacker. Very good book so far. About surfing, drug running and disappearing to "el sur" in search of "Captain Zero". I know it's been mentioned here before, but again, very good.
man i wanted to read captain zero but i got to read these awful books for summer reading for school, if they make us read in the summer they should let us choose what to read or give us books that aren't so freaking sh*tty
Dude, I just watched the movie "I hope they serve beer in hell" 2 nights ago.... (It is on Demand out here for free) I was laughing outloud the whole time!@ My fiance kept waking up and being like "WTF are you watching"... Oh my god. If you havent seen the movie, it is money. Very dry humor, but when Tucker Sh**s himself at the end, that may have been the funniest thing ive ever seen. Cause they actually show it spraying out of his boxers!!!! I mean, I had never heard of it. I just put it on at like 1am the other night and by the end, I was like that the funniest sh** ive seen in a while... When the dorky friend tells the black girll that he is going to "cut a fu** hole in her torso!"... I mean, that dude lays down like 100 money quotes... Good sh**. Im sure the book is much better.
yeah- read the book- the movie is TERRIBLE in comparison. And read it in public...like on a plane ride or something
just out of curiosity (i'm a teacher), what do you have to read? i've never read cosmic banditos, but i have read weisbecker's other 2 books, in search of captain zero & can't you get along w/ anyone? & have to say that in search of captain zero is his best book by far. another good surf-related book is caught inside: a surfer's year on the california coast by dan duane. i highly recommend that one!
That sucks for you dude. They give us a list of about 30 books from which we can choose one or two. I chose Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It's a great read if that's one of your summer reading choices. Also his other book Into the Wild was a lot of fun for me to read. It makes you feel very insignificant and not the naturalist you thought you were. Almost like you don't even respect nature at all compared to the way the main character lives. It's unbelievable
Krakauer is a good writer. He wrote quite a bit for Outside back in the 80s that was in the same naturalist vein if you can find any of it - a lot on alpine climbing. Two other guys who are similar are David Quammen and Barry Lopez. I know they have written longer books, but I've only read their essays. Like Krakauer, reading them makes you feel humble about how well you know nature. If they're not on your list you could always ask if you could read them anyway. The eng. dept where I teach is pretty cool if you can defend your off-list choice.
yeah, I just talked to my buddy who read the book. he said the book was really good, but it was more just a compilation of all kinds of crazy stories about the tucker guy, rather than the whole bachelor party incident from the movie. He said its completely different. But when you have the main character banging a hot married chick, then they both simulteniously sh** themselves... I mean, I was speechless. SPEECHLESS! Hard to top that!
some good books: Tapping the Source by Kem Nunn - great crime novel that centers around Huntington Beach surfing scene in the 80s The Perfect Day by Sam George and Matt Warshaw collection of the best articles and pics from Surfer Magazine over past 40 years
it sucks we have to read the 2 books they told us to, no exceptions, cus we have to go more in depth in them during the school year, and the books are "Long Days Journey Into Night" don't remember who it is by, but it is one of the most boring books, i have ever read literally the story plot is a family that just stay in their house and complain and fight about everything, and then "The mayor of Casterbridge", which i have not started, but is really long and is supposed to be super deppresing about some drunk guy who kills his whole family, i don't want to read that while i am trying to have a nice summer
GO READ I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL! I will never look at women the same way again. Also, it may inspire you to do great things... or bad things to great people. Really, this book is the only one i have read where i had to stop reading because i was laughin so goddamn hard.
See they have to be bad if a teacher has never read them, they are literally 2 of the worst books i have ever read, i think im going to stop and just use cliffnotes, it's just not worth it
I don't know how summer reading books get picked, but they always suck. Thankfully, we have a whole week of no waves spread out before us. Go run, lift some weights, and read for hours on end. Then you can blaze through the trash you have to read so that you can enjoy the stuff you WANT to read.
speaking of good books... speaking of good books...anyone else here a Hemingway fan? "To Have and Have Not" is simply amazing, "The Old Man and the Sea" as well. I'd also recommend Jack London. "The Call of the Wild", which most of us probably read (and hated) in middle school is worth a second look. One more: "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson. As surfers, we're all still little kids at heart, and I think anyone here would enjoy Jim's adventures with Long John Silver. Perfect read before a surf trip to somewhere really sketchy.
i absolutely LOVE hemingway!! the 2 you mentioned are prob. my favorite 2 of his books, & def. rank high among my all-time favorites. stevenson is a great author as well...i particularly like kidnapped, which is a bit darker than treasure island, but still a really good adventure story. as for summer reading books, i try to tie them in to whatever the over-arching message of the course is going to be. ex: my incoming frosh are reading watership down by richard adams, which features talking rabbits undertaking an epic journey. mythology & the epic are featured in freshman english at the school at which i teach. the incoming sophs are reading huckleberry finn by mark twain, one of the greatest american novels. early american literature is the basis for soph. english. so there is (at least in the way i do it) a method to the madness.
Dude, this sounds strange, but Watership Down was my favorite school assigned book that I ever read. It was such a shock to read a story about rabbits, which you would assume was ridiculous and it turns out to be a really epic story, that is more about humanity than rabbits.
Islands in the Stream is another good one. By-line: Ernest Hemingway has some of his articles about marlin fishing off Cuba and other stuff he covered like the Spanish Civil War. Jim Harrison and Tom McGuane are two writers I would recommend. And I think Hunter Thompson is under appreciated as a humorist. The Curse of Lono is a great Hawaii story.
