Hunter S Thompson

Serpentine

Yep I know hes a cult figure & all now, but has anyone read any of his books other than the drug-addled Fear & Loathing? I'm currently reading The Rum Diary & thinks it's a far better with an actual plot,Thompson rocks and has definitely influenced my own style

Dagnir Glaurung

I've only ever read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail which I loved. Gave a really good insiht into a political campaign and was a blast to read.

Tusky

Despire rave reviews I wasnt mad about Hells Angels, it was good, but not fantastic. Loved fear & Loathing though.

p.pete

Interesting, I was thinking of looking for a copy of Hells Angels to read - I'll have to make my own mind up I've read the two mentioned above by OP, two completly different books but I enjoyed both. Rum Diary really gives a great description of the craziness of being a struggling reporter living somewhere completly wild. The scenes where they go to the Mardi Gras (or whatever the event was) celebrations were fantastic.

crybaby

go find yourself a copy of The Great Shark Hunt tis a huge collection of all of his best articles, very funny and insightful and hits on all sorts of topics from Marlon Brandon campaigning for Native-Americans to him running to be sheriff for Aspen County

Hells Angels is probably the weakest of the books that he wrote, the best part of is in The Great Shark Hunt as far as I can remember.

Serpentine

I'm putting that on my "must read" list as we speak, sounds like my kinda book of ramblings!

TheFredJ

hst is mostly reputation, and his writing never seems to live up to the hype. the early stuff is when he was at his best - a lot of the sports stuff found in shark hunt (the ali stories are great), all the nixon stuff (in shark hunt and campaign trail). the later stuff gets very dull, as the myth takes over. stay away from the volumes of letters (unless you need an insomnia cure) and stay away from the late stuff (anything, i think, after swine was just a waste of paper).

there's a beautiful edition of lono put out by taschen (check the book's dimensions - it's BIG). i picked it up in chapters last year for 30 or 40 quid, but it's well worth the money, it has full colour, full page steadman illustrations

BossArky

I just started Fear & Loathing in LV. So far its hilarious - 3 chapters in and loving it.

Dr.Gonzo

Read Hells Angels.
Fantastic insight into Thompson before F&L.
Really funny anecdote about how he bumped into one of the Honda brothers (yeah the motor company). He was broke and needed money home.
He offered Thompson his shares in his brothers company for a ticket home.
Thompson declined and he kicked himself years later.

brianthebard

Read Rum Diaries, don't know what all the fuss was about.

AJG

Read 'Fear and Loathing...' recently. I have to say that it was pretty good but not as great as it was made out to be. It was a pretty manic read from start to finish and I would assume this was the point. He makes some pretty interesting points in the more lucid parts but I won't be rushing out to read the rest of his works. Although at some point I would like to read the 'Hell's Angels' book.

okmqaz42

I started with Fear & Loathing in LV and I think I have read just about eveything of his I could get my hands on. I think you need to look at his early stuff in turms of the era in which they were wrote, it was ground breaking!
The proud highway is a fantastic collection of HST personal letters written with charm, wit and sometimes venom. it is wounderful to see the buds of the ideas that would later become "Gonzo"
If you would like his insight into the more modern political world, "Better than Sex" is a glimps into the Clinton election.