I just read my first Hunter S. Thompson book.

[pellertpale]

I finished it last night, "Songs of the Doomed". It's a complitation of sorts. There are letters from his friends, and a lot of journal style writing. I want to read more HST. Hopefully my local bookstore has a couple of good books. I was thinking "Shark Hunter", or "Fear and Loathing..."

My favorite part was probably the stuff from the Pulitzer v. Pulitzer section.

[PMY]

Any Hunter S. Thompson is going to be a pretty good read. "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" is an absolute classic! I think its "The Great Shark Hunt" that has a couple of great articles, one on the Superbowl and another on the Kentucky Derby. If you like Thompson you should also like P.J. O'Rourke, more Republican, definitely tamer, slightly more sober but quite funny!

[seamus]

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is his all time classic and a must read for anyone interested in Thompson's rantings. I think it's curious that his alter ego "Duke" in Doonesbury is still alive, maybe his demise is forthcoming?

[sts47]

he will always be alive in the minds of his fans.

he was a wild dude. all of his life.

he lived free like some of us could only wish

in his own words "He was one of god's prototypes, not slated for mass production"

[pellertpale]

I'll probably read most of them. I've seen FLLV and "Where the Buffalo Roam" so the Fear and Loathing Books will be later. The Rum Diary, The Great Shark Hunt, and Songs Vol.1 are one I look forward to the most. There's a mom & pops bookstore down the way from my house I going to check out. I don't feel right buying them from BN or Borders and the like. Kind of anti-establishmentism. Is the Muppet/babies character Gonzo inspired by HST? Gonzo was always my favorite.

[joebalama]

Originally posted by pellertpale
I'll probably read most of them. I've seen FLLV and "Where the Buffalo Roam" so the Fear and Loathing Books will be later. The Rum Diary, The Great Shark Hunt, and Songs Vol.1 are one I look forward to the most. There's a mom & pops bookstore down the way from my house I going to check out. I don't feel right buying them from BN or Borders and the like. Kind of anti-establishmentism. Is the Muppet/babies character Gonzo inspired by HST? Gonzo was always my favorite.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is THE funniest book I've ever read. Don't hold off on reading it just because you've seen the movie. In my opinion, and I gotta believe I'm not alone, the movie sucked! I don't know who's idea it was to cast Depp as Thompson, but that was bad.

The book makes the movie look like a booger.

[pellertpale]

Originally posted by joebalama
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is THE funniest book I've ever read. Don't hold off on reading it just because you've seen the movie. In my opinion, and I gotta believe I'm not alone, the movie sucked! I don't know who's idea it was to cast Depp as Thompson, but that was bad.

The book makes the movie look like a booger.

GOOD NEWS! I got Gonzo Papers Vol 1 & 2 for Xmas. About sixty pages into The Great Shark Hunt I realized Depp is not very good in his role. I read the Rolling Stone commemorative issue that had a letter from Depp in it, and many others. It sounded like Hunter liked him/wasn't bothered by him.

[The Habit]

You've got to pick up "Hell's Angels". That and "Fear and Loating in Las Vegas" are my two favorite Hunter S. Thompson books.

Too bad he decided to eat a bullet.

[nicfit212]

I just read Hell's Angels last year, it's fantastic. Sort of gets below the chrome ;)

Another journalist who's been favorably compared to him is Matt Taibbi; I think he writes for Rolling Stone now, but he used to write for a crappy weekly in NYC (and before that, in Buffalo). One of his earlier adventures: http://sibiryak.org/beast/article.php?path=2002/11/&article=01_0

"So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark---the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

[rangerruck]

i personally think he was a piece of c--p. he loved talking about everthing liberal, demcratic, socialist, etc, but he smoked drank, loved cigars, love to hunt loved guns, was a gun nut, had a wife who he treated as a 1950's woman, loved sitting on his a== to watch football, and supposedly blew his brains out after the football season was over, and said well the season is over im too bored and bitter to do anything else, and blam , did it while his wife was on the phone with him, if i remember right. just another guilty white liberal, like Kurt kaboom of nervana , who felt bad for his riches and fame, even though kurt new he was a drug addicted bum , he and his band just happened to put toghether a sound to go with that cat scratch voice of his. he could barely play guitar, his lyrics were all self loathing and worshipping at the same time. Much like Hunter, totally self-absorbed. thinking of me first second and last, and whoa is me! His writing was different is all, i would not put him in the same class as any of the great writers of America, england, japan, or other countries great writers of the past. I say we barely knew ye, just as well. this is my opinion, if you dissagree that is cool, remember im attacking the man and his revised history, not any of you , his fans.

[UtahIrishman]

Originally posted by seamus
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is his all time classic and a must read for anyone interested in Thompson's rantings. I think it's curious that his alter ego "Duke" in Doonesbury is still alive, maybe his demise is forthcoming?

If I remember correctly Duke in Doonesbury bit the dust a couple years ago and then got 'revived' mysteriously. The details are a bit fuzzy but so was/is Hunter and Duke. So I think he'll probably carry on.

I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the first time probably close to 25 years ago. A very funny book... It fit those times very well.