Since a lot of my posts in the 'Movie Sequels' thread seemed to be about the books, just thought i'd use my first thread to bring a bit of literature to youse bums.
So, read any good books lately? Me, I've just started my 9,999th re-read of the Hitchhikers trilogy
haha!Ã, Conincedence?
I just started reading "The Restauraunt at the End of the Galaxy"Ã, :)
Or universe,Ã, wherever.Ã, The main thing is- I like it. :)
'Universe', but still well worth a read. Enjoying it?
Also, thank you for being my first reply. I was beginning to think no-one cared :'(
Couple books I've read recently..
Zecharia Sitchin - The 12th Planet.. New Age esque mumbo jumbo with an educated edge.
William Golding - Lord of the Flies.. Still good.
Piers Anthony - The Source of Magic.. So I'm a bit behind in the Xanth novels.
w00t! A second reply. Haven't read Lord of the Flies, though I keep meaning to. Never heard of the others, however.
I reread the Hitchhiker's Guide again and man, it's not what it used to be when I was younger.
But anyway, best discworld book ever? Nightwatch.
Best book ever? The House of Leaves
Best book ever again? Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.
(I have to second House of the Leaves even though I haven't finished it. Didn't want to mention cause I KNEW!!! eric would be coming along to drop the nuke on your unready conscious's)
How can you say that, man? I read HHGTTG about every other month and they still rock! ;D
Never really got into Discworld, but of the ones I've read I prefer the Granny Weatherwax/Nanny Ogg ones. Cowgirls is another one of those I've alway wanted to read, but I've never actually seen it for sale anywhere, and can't arsed to spring for it on Amazon.
EDIT:
Hadn't heard of House of Leaves, but, see, this is half the reason I posted this thread. I'm a voracious reader, and I've pretty much read everything I own two or more times, so I'm after recommendations from the (mostly) intelligent AGS people.
I haven't finished the Galaxy series, but that's one of the best books I've read..
books I'm reading or have read as of the late:
Books I've read:
Lord of the Flies - This was a pretty good read, but as I read it for class, the constant discussions kinda made me bored of it..
The Scarlet Letter - I thought this book was boring as hell near the beginning, but then it started to get really good and interesting and emotional and neato.
Midsummer Night's Dream - Not really a book, but it was teh great!
Books I'm reading or want to read:
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series (Reading, on hold till I finish BoB)
Bag of Bones(Reading)
2001: A Space Odyssey(Reading, on hold till I finish BoB)
Dark Tower Series (Need to read, only have read Gunslinger)
LOTR Series (Started the first, but got sidetracked)
HP Series (Yes, I've read the first and third and none of the others.. But I want to.)
Many many more I need to read (I have a list)
Bag of Bones
I think I've said elsewhere that it takes a lot to turn me totally off a book. One series managed it easily, however - the Left Behind books. Has anyone else read them?
They don't really interest me.. Even though I'm christian.. they just look really long and drawn out..
I read the first two and half of the third Left Behind books..
Meh.
LGM.. HP Series? As in Harry Potter?
(As to not turn this into a back and forth convo better for chatting and let other people a chance to contribute I'll just edit)
I've read all five harry potter's. The 4th (Goblet of Fire) being my favorite. I think Las put it best calling them fast food books. They are extremely enjoyable but don't let them be the only thing in your literary diet.
LGM:
Interesting. The only reason I even looked at them was that a very Christian mate of mine hyped them at me. I think he thinks they'll convert me. But, it's not so much that they're drawn out, as they're very badly written, and very 'preachy'. I could forgive one, or the other, but not both.
Slypher:
'Meh.' is exactly right.
The Harry Potter books, despite what I may've said in another thread, are worth reading, if you've got nothing better to do. And HHGTTG counts as something better. How far are you?
if you're going to read the house of leaves DON'T read anything else about it online
DO NOT let reviews ruin the book for you!
this is all I ask...
I'll add it to my list ;)
Yes, i do mean Harry Potter.. And no, they will not be the only books I read..
I'm in the middle of the third book on HHGTTG
Just finished re-reading the Hitchhiker's series. Still as awesome as when I read them all a few years ago. Some more books I just finished reading...
Of Mice and Men - John Steinway.
-Excellent book, definatley worth the hour and a half needed to read it.
L'étranger - Albert Camus
-Very good book. Best to read it in French (If you can), but if not, it's known as The Outsider in English. I've heard the English translation is quite good.
The Real Frank Zappa - Frank Zappa
-I'm a sucker for biographies (My favorite being Bruce Campbell's), and this one doesn't fail to please! Though by the end of the book, it's turned into FZ's view of politics.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkien
-Still amazing, after all these readings.
"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. Very awesome, I definitely recommend it to everyone. Unless you're under 16 and/or easily offended by sex, language and gore.
Love the Left Behind series. Totally brilliant!
Hugest fan of Discworld ever!
Also the Earthsea Quartet by Ursula le Guinn. She's a fantastic writer.
The Myst books aren't bad, though I've read better.
Lord of the Rings, as always.
Lord of the Flies, too.
One flew over the Cuckoo's nest - brilliant work
How to kill a mockingbird - for the millionth time :)
They're the most recent one's I've read...
If by lately, you mean 'at least in the past 10 years', then here's a list:
The 'His Dark Materials' Trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) by Phillip Pullman. A great trilogy I suggest to anyone who liked Harry Potter, but wanted a little more substance.
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews (yes, that Julie Andrews). I had been searching for this book for over a decade, having had it read to me when I was in elementary school. I'm re-reading it now and it's just as great as it was when I first heard it.
Any book by Piers Anthony. I have every single Xanth book, as well as all the books in his Mode series and his Adept series. He's such a great writer.
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series by Spider Robinson. You might've played the game based on this series, and if you liked that, you'll love the books.
Anything by Tom Holt. Most of his books are out of print, but if you're lucky, you might be able to find some of them. I have yet to find a bad book by him.
If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell. Best autobiography ever.
The Myth series by Robert Aspirin. I enjoyed the ones I've read a lot. Kind of a mix of sci fi and fantasy. It's cool.
That's all I can think of right now. I insist that everyone read them all.
The Golden Compass!? Is that the Americanised version of the Title of that book? Though, I suppose it's keeping in line with the titles of all the books in the series... but The Golden Compass just sounds a little silly to me... :P (It's called, 'Northern Lights' here, by the way).
Last book I read, and I've been slack, but I just read Fahrenheit 451.
Quote from: Toefur on Wed 05/05/2004 06:37:41
The Golden Compass!? Is that the Americanised version of the Title of that book? Though, I suppose it's keeping in line with the titles of all the books in the series... but The Golden Compass just sounds a little silly to me...Ã, :P (It's called, 'Northern Lights' here, by the way).
Last book I read, and I've been slack,Ã, but I just read Fahrenheit 451.
Yes, 'Northern Lights' makes more sense, story wise. But the title goes along with the other titles, so I never questioned it.
I was reading Hitchhiker not too long ago. The humor in that book will be hard to replicate in a movie script.
Speaking of scripts, I read Mike Judge's new script which they are about to start filming here. I got called in to read for a part.
I've been turned off from reading books lately. But I bought Shopgirl, that Franken Book, and this awesome thing with Hitchcock's old production notes, storyboards etc.
I read 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' by Stevenson lately. Before that, I read everything I could find by Steinbeck - and it's wonderful.
I'm reading a book about creative writing called 'Sometimes You Just Have to Stand Naked' by David Bartholomy.
At the moment I'm reading Orson Scott Card's 'Seventh son' which is really good. Before that it's a long while when I last time read any books.
I haven't actually read the whole thing yet , but my last book purchase is called something like "Carravagio...the man who became M" . I researched a bit at some point because the name was unfamiliar to me and it turns out he's an artist.
I have at least two other books , probably packed away right now , that I haven't read yet , one is called "The Jester" and the other is about Shakespeare. ( which is funny because I still don't have any of his plays yet...I love his works but don't even have "Much Ado About Nothing" which is one of my favorite stories )
Oh , and I haven't read all of the mythology book I got as a Christmas present and I haven't read much in the horse book either. ( It lists all the horse breeds and such )
I love to read the Catfantastic series over and over , same goes for "The Ragwitch" , even though it's a "kid's" book it's very nice. Books like "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" are very nice too. Oh , and horror books ( mainly Stephen King ) are fun.
I've not read any LOTR or Harry Potter , ect. yet but plan on doing that someday. I love to just sit and read through dictionaries sometimes. A good adult fantasy book is the first Keepers of the Flame ( I haven't been able to find the rest of the series yet ) ....it's about a bunch of dnd players who suddenly find themselves in the world that they were playing in ...I know my little summary probably made it sound geeky but please give it a chance because I think it's one of the best books I've ever read. I also love Net of Dreams and Wizard War. Some of the stories in Catfantastic are a bit adult.
Cat on the edge is good. Back to "kid" stuff - Alice In Wonderland , Alice Through The Looking Glass , Z is for Zachariah , Wizard of Oz ( and nearly any other Oz related books you can find ) , the Narnia series , and Girl With Silver eyes. There's a book called "Mask" that is pretty good which should be in "kid" / "teen" section. Unfortunately, I haven't found that one again either. I haven't read them yet but I hear the Neverending story books are better than the movies and the Gormenghast series might be good reading too.
For a good vampire book , "The Night Inside".
Even though it's been a long time , I once read The Count of Monte Cristo and I recently saw the movie.
Turns out my dad had read the book too so we were discussing wether or not the movie followed the book / if his motives were more about showing off his new wealth or revenge. I also had read Don Quixote when I was younger.
"Cruel Sister" or whatever the title you might find it under nowadays is a good read too. If you can't find the book , buy the Loreena McKennit CD that has the song "The Bonny Swans" in it and the lyrics match the story nearly word for word.
Having read too many books that are considered "classics" for my English lit class lately, I wanted to read something more contemporary in my spare time, so I went for "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown. And I find it to be really damn good.
I don't really care much about his style of writing, to be honest, and his characters aren't that great, but the guy knows how to weave a story. I haven't been this hooked with a book in years. I always want to read "just one more chapter". Plus, it's filled with puzzles and riddles, I'm thinking that people who like adventure games would probably find this book amusing. :D
I still enjoy HitchHikers too.
As for the movie script, I don't think it'll be too difficult, since it started out acted, as a radio series. I love the TV series the BBC did, though partially because of its low budget. All the guide's "computer" animations were great.
I have to agree that the Pullman books are great. I think I prefer the Sally Lockhart books to the Dark Materials. That's probably because I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan.
Hmm, recent books:
"Galactic Odyssey" by Keith Laumer is a terrific old-school sci-fi adventure.
"Masters of Doom" is a great book about the history of iD software.
"Quicksilver" by Neal Stephenson was entertaining. I'm looking forward to "Confusion".
I'm currently reading "Maya Cosmos" as research for my game.
I just finished "The DaVinci Code" and your absolutely right. I started reading it, and then I just could not stop. I read right through the night and finished sometime in the morning. I guess I need to learn self controlÃ, ;D. I have read 3 or 4 of the Xanth books, and wish to get some more. I LOVE the hitchhiker books, and read them all 5 or 6 times. Of course, I cannot compete with my peers here, as I just got them about 2 years ago. Another book I read from Douglas Adam was Long Dark Teatime of the soul. Although it was slightly confusing, I still found it a great read and really funny. I also read a few books by Dave Barry, which I also found really funny.
I had started the LOTR series when I was 12 (courtesy of my father, who read it about the same age, and read it 12 times since(really)), but HAD to stop in the 2nd book. I hate stopping reading books that I have started, so I started again two or three years ago, and enjoyed it much more. I was wanting to read the "Wheel of time" books, but I saw one of the books from later in the series at an old bookshop, and could not resist the price so I got it. A big mistake, that. I read the Harry Potter books too, and I liked them too. Three others that might be considered "kiddish" but I still enjoyed are "Chronicles of Chrestomanci", "Redwall" and "Morrigan"
I am now reading into war stories (also courtesy of my father). I read "Goodbye to all that" by Robert Graves, and now am reading "Emden" about the ship. I even read a lot of "Flashman" booksÃ, :P, which give a hugely distorted, but amusing version of many historical events.
Of course, my most read book, and still one of my favourites is....."Dotty Dolphin". I mean who can resist the incredible allure of the book, the fat, plastic coated, drool proof, flexible, illustrated pages, and the short, though incredibely deep text:
....................
Dotty Dolphin likes to be
besides the ships upon the sea
The sailors all look out and hope
to see her in their telescope...
For if a ship should go astray
Dotty helps them find the way.
Dotty dolphin loves to care
for ships and sailors everywhere
.....................
Just wow ;D
Well, lately I haven't been reading quite a lot, but here's a rundown of what I can remember reading (and liked) in the past seven years:
- Discworld Series
- Banned and the Banished series (Wit'ch Fire, Wit'ch Star, etc)
- All of the old classics like Oliver Twist, Tale of Two Cities
- Anything about Robin Hood, even those children books with the cartoon illustrations
Also, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and Lord of the Flies. I've tried reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I just can't get into them. I hope I'm not missing out on much...
I recently read Coetzee's (the nobel prize winner) novels "Waiting for the barbarians" and one called something like "Years of youth"....with a big reservation for the proper english titles.
Especially the barbarian book was really good.
It seems most people enjoy rereading the hitchhiker's guide on regular basis...and I'm no exception, I read it last autumn, and it's amazing to see how many details you forget, after each time you read it.
The DaVinci Code is great, yes! It's the sort of book that had the potential to be really REALLY crappy and fake and unbelievable, but it was pulled of well!
For one of my Eng Lit courses at uni I had to read "I'm not scared" by Niccolo Ammaniti. It's not the sort of book I'd choose to read of my own accord, but I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
As sad as this sounds, I'm about halfway through the Encyclopedia Britannica Series, as well. Volume 14: Arctic - Biosphere. It's not INTERESTING, but I promised myself I would do this. I don't know why. Maybe I just don't have a life....
I like how you say 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is one of your favourite books, Peter, when you don't even know its name properly :P But yes, it is a brilliant novel.
My favourites include:
Anything by Terry Pratchett
Anything by Joseph Heller ('Catch 22' foremost)
Anything by Louis de Beniers (don't let the appalling film adaptation of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' put you off...)
'Fast Food Nation' and 'Reefer Madness' by Eric Schlosser. Two books that really expose what's bad about America (apart from the obvious...)
I also read a whole assortment of fantasy authors, that I'm not gonna mention for fear of starting LasNaranjas off on a rant.
Pesty:
QuoteAnything by Tom Holt. Most of his books are out of print,
Oddly, I've just finished reading 'The First Tom Holt Omnibus' No problem getting hold of his stuff here.
Am reading:
Gormenghast (the one actually called that, i.e. the middle book), by Mervyn Peake. Very much recommended, though the edition I have is filled with printer's errors (edit: such as bad bbcode). I've never seen so many of them in one book before.
Control Theory And Its Applications, by E. O. Roxin. As is obvious from the title, this is a charming fairy tale about a village of gnomes, deep in a magical forest.
Read recently:
Monstrous Regiment, which I think is still the newest Pratchett.
Various other Discworld books I have lying around.
Volume 8 of History of Middle-Earth, "The War of the Ring".
Der Wettlauf zum Jahre 2000 ("The race to the year 2000"), by Fritz Baade. Hilarious futurology thing from 1960.
Various stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, from a ~1910 complete edition we have at home.
Terry Pratchetts Wee Free men was the last good book i read. Was probably the last book i read come to think of it.
I've just finished ready Small Gods - Terry Pratchett" that was a good read, but I finished it way too quickly. I'm moving onto my re-read of colour of magic unless anything else interesting comes up...
I wholeheartedly reccomend the following if you havent already read them -
- Discworld, all of them are good i spose, cept equal rites, what the hell was that about. Colour of magic, light fantastic and mort are always a good read.
- Lord of the rings is good, but i could never finish reading it, I found it good, but too serioous and slow and dull to read until you get to the good bits.
- Lord of the flies was a good interesting book, but I studied it for school so it put me off reading it EVER again.
Looking for something discworld like to read at the moment...
I too enjoy the Titus Groan [Gormenghast books], but I like humanistically miserable books.
Oh yes, allow me to also recommend Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris... Hilarious
I've seen that at Borders.. I couldn't tell if it was a serious book or not.
I recently read Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, which I enjoyed a great deal.Ã, Then I read After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley, which I felt was a short story padded with philosophical banter to make it a novel.Ã, Not to say it wasn't a good book, but perhaps having just come off of Steppenwolf, my mind was saturated with philosophy and couldn't get the most out of it.
Well I just finished romeo and juliet, great expectations, and illiad/oddessy for the 272723727 time
Big Trouble by Dave Barry. Great book.
Good books? Hmmmm...
-Anything by David Eddings. There's only two books by him that I haven't read, because they are not at my friendly neighbourhood library. I read his "Belgariad" and "Mallorean" series at least once a year. I just finished reading his newest book "The Elder Gods" last night. They aren't life changing books, but they're great fun. Bonus points if you can pick out the Medieval English styles he copies!
-Millenium Rising by Jane Jensen (yes, the GK Jane Jensen). This book made my head hurt in the fun way.
-The Concubine's Daughter by Denise Chong. It's a history of the women in the author's family. It's a really interesting look at race relations and the role of women in Canada over the past seventy years or so.
the beach. awesome book. much better than the crappy movie.
I'm going through Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". I can't decide whether watching the movie three or four times before reading the book helps or not.
I've recently read Stanislaw Lem's "The Cyberiad", a collection of futuristic fables. It has its ups and downs, but it is mostly a very interesting piece.
oh yeah, I almost forgot, another good book I read recently was "Life of Pi" by Yan Martel. Also another good book I recently read, not so much for entertainment as for curiosity, was "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong. I borrowed a book about Salladin by Tariq Ali, and although I can't remember its name, it was a very enjoyable book. I enjoyed Roald Dahl's books alot when I was younger (and still do), so I read some of his "Adult" books, and though they were enjoyable to read, they seemed too disturbing. I was also recently reading one of Paul Theoraux's (correct spelling?) books "Ride on the Iron Rooster", and though it is slightly old, I still found it great.
*EDIT*
Remixor, I read one of those graphic novels, and I have a strong feeling it is by one of the authors you mentioned. It was called something like "The greatest kid in the universe" and the story kept switching back and forth between 2 people 2 generations apart (grandfather and grandson I think). It was really warped, and in some places even depressing, but it was a great read.
The most recent good books I read were the six
Dune novels.Ã, I took a class on the series this semester because I'd never read
Dune but had heard good things.Ã, I also figured I needed to try and salvage my opinion of sci-fi/fantasy, so it worked out well.Ã, Herbert's pacing and method of exposition is pretty incredible.Ã, He's not the best author I've ever read or anything, but he's definitely up there, and stylistically he's incredibly unique.Ã, I'm curious about his other novels.Ã, At this point I've only read the
Dune books and some of his philosophical essays, which are also pretty fascinating.
I read Neil Gaiman's
American Gods a while ago, based on the quality of
Sandman, and I thought it was excellent.Ã, Encouraged, I picked up
Neverwhere and found it to be craptastic.Ã, Since I've only read two of Gaiman's true novels (not including
Good Omens), I don't know if he got lucky with
American Gods or just slipped with
Neverwhere; I'm going to assume and hope the latter.
I don't know if people here are into graphic novels, but I recently picked up a copy of Seth's
It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken (signed, no less).Ã, Like most of his work, it's pretty much entirely autobiographical and despite the fact that his life actually isn't very interesting from an objective standpoint, the way he paints the characters, situations, and dialogue just sucks you in (run on sentence to the max!).Ã, Holy shit, it's good.Ã,Â
In the same vein of autobiographical underground comics, I also recently read
The Poor Bastard by Joe Matt.Ã, It's hilarious and pathetic and fucked up all at the same time.Ã, Why anybody with such a sleazy life would actually choose to be this brutally honest about it is beyond me, but it makes for good (/weird) reading.
I've also been continuing my steady progress through the complete works of Kurt Vonnegut, an author I can wholeheartedly recommend.Ã, This guy friggin knows what's going on when it comes to writing.Ã, That sounds like an idiotic thing to say, but every time I read one of his books it really hits me that some good authors are good, and some really do deserve to be called
great.Ã, His style is totally disarming and irreverent at the same time, while always,
always operating on multiple levels.Ã, It blows me away.Ã, For those who aren't familiar with his work, I personally think
Slaughterhouse-Five easily ranks among his best.Ã, It's certainly the best of the considerable number of his novels I've read.
Quote from: MrColossal on Wed 05/05/2004 03:37:25But anyway, best discworld book ever? Nightwatch.
It's probably not my favorite, but it's fucking great.Ã, Vimes is among my favorite literary characters.Ã, I'm actually teaching a class on
Discworld next semester, focusing on the Watch books.Ã, It should be fun.
Anyway, time to end this post.Ã, It's too long already.
I'm reading the Dune series, currenntly in the 6th and final of the first series, Chapterhouse Dune. It is THE best sci-fi series ever. Amazing. If you hadn't read it it's a must.
Nostradamus:
Yeah, but I think it loses something after God Emperor. Also, I wouldn't recommend the 'Prelude To' series.
Does anyone here like Dumas?
The problem with Dumas is that his works, or at least his famous ones, feel old and dated. They have been a source of inspiration for so long, that each and every element from his writing has been ripped off. At least that is how I remember it, as I read it quite a while ago. Maybe I should re-read The Three Musketeers with my newly adult mind.
Yay for Dumas! I'm a big Count of Monte Cristo fan.
Most remakes of it (movies, comics, TV shows and what not) changed the story a great deal from the original text. There were subplots about drug use and sex that wouldn't go well with censors. So the book doesn't seem as "old and dated" as, say, The Three Musketeers.
As far as trash goes, Dumas is fun, but he was pulp when he was writing, and he is still pulp.
And now that Vonnegut has been brought up, I'll espouse the virtues of Mother Night, which was so engaging and beautiful as to be read in one sitting.
I do like the Vonnegut I've read, which was based on your recommendation.
I'm now reading a book about rock & roll history called Night Beat by Rolling Stone writer Mikal Gilmore.
He is a great writer and captures the essence of what made people like Elvis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, etc so great.
The problem is, that most people stop with "the three musketeers", without reading the rest of the saga. I like "Twenty years after" and "The man in the iron mask" much more to be honest.
By the way, is Updike any good? I'm thinking of reading 'The centaur'.
I read in a weird way. I find an author I like, and then I become obsessive and read everything by the author I can find.
I'm currently into Lawrence Block - a fantastic, very avante garde, mystery writer.
I like Updike, but he's only good if you like heavy description -- I've found he focuses more on that than the momentum of the story.
I read the ssame way, Dave!
Just finished library raid, which was about to read all Tom Clancy's books there. Succeeded. Though getting tooÃ, repetitive, this guy still knows how to write a believeable story.
Dune books are again something wonderful. It's really amazing how someone could make up a BELIEVEABLE story on far future, and in 60's, where technology and science was not something it is in present day. Many other books, written in 70' and 80's fail miserably there. And movies too. Like movie starts with sentence "in 2010" and shows some crappy room-wide boxes with little lights, which are spposed to be computers of this age...
Sherlock Holmes' books by A.C.Doyle are highly recommended literature for every adventure gamerist too.
I've been reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? again. I've also been meaning to get Shibumi, Snow Crash and Battle Royale (my friend says the movie of this is crazy with all these kids killing each other). Hopefully i'll get down to buying them soon!
Recently Read Stormbreaker and am nw reading Point Blanc... I've read HP 1-4 bout 5 bleedin times and book 5 only once (in 3 days i mite add :O) But its so bliddy long...
HP5 is the worst of the series and gives away that the series will fade into obscurity in 50 years, unlike LOTR. Why? Becuase in books 1-4 JKR had a slow (sometime too slow, especially during Quidditch matches) build up to a cracking twisty ending. In book 5 it was like "Voldemort and Harry were so deperate to get the McGuffin, but WHY? We knew all of it already" . Although I must say that the rest of the book was better paced than usual. SO, the whole premise of HP is that book 7 will have a really cracking ending. Book 5 undermined my confidence in JKR to produce that. I also thought that it would be a complete closure of the series as JKR used to say there would only ever be 7 books. Now, she said that Harry doesn't die so the only other closure I could think of would be that Harry has to cause the magical world to stop existing or become entierly separate from the normal world, in order to save all the Muggles. She has also said thatther emight be an epilogue book of what happend in Harry's adulthood. Which throws out the whole closure thing. In fact it turns the series from a potential LOTR to a potential Star Wars... good at the start but ruined by stretching the franchise too far.
Anyway, recently read Dreamcaather by Stephen King: OK, I suppose. And now on Ludlum's Scorpion Deception. Also OK, but remarkably predicting some 9/11-type things back in 1993...
Im into books by Stephen E. Ambrose - Band of Brothers etc (the book is better than the TV series, although that was still good). Im a World War 2 fanatic you see.
I also enjoy Lord of the Rings (which also are better than the films if you have patience), HGTTG I shall read again sometime.
Lord of the flies was an interesting read, initially, but it just got tedious and crazy. I had to study it for an exam (like magintz) so I now vomit at the sight of it :)
QuoteShe has also said thatther emight be an epilogue book of what happend in Harry's adulthood
Actually she has never said that. She said there will only ever be 7 books and the last chapter of the 7th will be an epilogue. Ooohh.. And the Last word of the last chapter is
Scar MWahahahah :)
"Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates" by Tom Robbins.
Switters is the MAN.
Bt
Blackthorne, as i wrote before i LOVED THE ASS off Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and that makes me ascared to read anything else he's done, is Fierce Invalids any good and will it not make me go "Puh, Cowgirls was better..."
Quote from: MrColossal on Sat 08/05/2004 22:20:55
Blackthorne, as i wrote before i LOVED THE ASS off Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and that makes me ascared to read anything else he's done, is Fierce Invalids any good and will it not make me go "Puh, Cowgirls was better..."
Eric,
Read Fierce Invalids. I guarentee you will love it as much as you love Cowgirls, albiet in a different way. It will hold an affection different than Cowgirls, but potent nonetheless!
Preacher (http://www.neonwheels.com/preacher/index.shtml)
It's a comic, but in 9 huge parts.
"Masters Of Doom" was a gooden.
"The Dig" by Alan Dean Foster (he maybe a whore, but it's enjoyable nonetheless)
Some books I wouldn't want to read:
"Plan Your Life With Pascal"
"Picture Captions without the Pictures"
"Shoot Yourself In The Foot with C++"
"Castration, the George W. Bush Story"
Alan Dean Foster is the greatest literary whore of the post war era.
"The Acid House" and "Trainspotting" by Irvene Welsh
"Mindhunter" by John Douglas also reading "Obsession" and "journey into darkness" also by him.
"Hacker Diaries: Confessions of a teeenage hacker" by Dan Verton. Im trying to find a copy of "A clockwork orange" by Andrew Burgess and Hitchikers is the best five book trilogy ever.
Just finished the excellent "Round Ireland with a Fridge" by Tony Hawks (the comedian, not the skateboarder)
The Tony Hawk version would be more: "Grind round Ireland then ollie the North/South divide".
And I'm reading Chapman's translation of the Odyssey. It's slow going, but I'm enjoying it.
Not sure if comic books are allowed, but I just read 'Watchmen', which is a really good story by Alan Moore, with art by Dave Gibbons (who I think was behind the 'Beneath A Steel Sky' comic). It's set in a kind of alternate history of the late 20th century, where Nixon is still President in the 80s, the Russians are still an enemy and nuclear threat. We're find out that there have been teams of masked vigilante 'superhero'-types (but mostly without superpowers, just the occasional flash gadget) in the past, but these have now been outlawed. When one of these, 'The Comedian', is hurled from the top of a block of flats, another masked hero, 'Rorscach', starts investigating, and gets some other ex-vigilantes involved. Everything kind of builds from there into something very big.
It's a great story and really well-plotted. Personally, my taste in comic books has always been more light-hearted (my favourites are the Tintin stories by Hergé), and I steer clear of superhero or gritty 'graphic novel' stuff. However, I really enjoyed this one and hope to get more Alan Moore-penned comic books.
As for REAL books, I study literature, and after a whole year of 2 or more books per week, I'm sort of taking a break now that the courses are finished and its just exams to go. But I am getting through Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History Of Time'. Just started it, but it's good so far.
This Summer, I might read some more crime thriller type stuff (Elmore Leonard) and get round to a few things like Crime And Punishment hopefully.
I've been reading the Dune series for a while... finished all original 6 and am now in Dune: House Atreides, the first of 6 prequels by Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert (There are currently 5 and the sixth is being written and after that a sequel to the original series will be made).
It's the best sci-fi series ever. Everyone should read it.
The best book I have ever read, and recommend, is "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand. I have read alot of books but never have I ever had to, halfway through a passage, put the book down to regather my thoughts. Yes, I am talking about a braingasm. The book was written in the 1940's but still has relevance for today. If you ever venture into reading this book, as it is quite involved, let me know how you go.
I am on the last leg of Graham Greene's 'Our man in Havana' after that I am either gonna finish up 'Mars' by Ben Bova or I am gonna read some short stories by Arthur C Clarke..
What I have been looking for is any books (Hopefully good but at this point I will take even badly written books) based in post nuclear/apocalypse settings. Something like the game fallout. There are a couple I have found that revert the earth back to dark ages setting type of thing but I want something more along the lines of Fallout with a huge destructured crumbling land with faltering technology and people on the brink of total extinction. If any of you know of any such a book or books please point me in their direction.
Quote from: Annean on Sat 24/07/2004 18:06:40
The best book I have ever read, and recommend, is "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand. I have read alot of books but never have I ever had to, halfway through a passage, put the book down to regather my thoughts. Yes, I am talking about a braingasm. The book was written in the 1940's but still has relevance for today. If you ever venture into reading this book, as it is quite involved, let me know how you go.
I recently finished "Atlas Shrugged," Ayn Rand is awesome. It gives you a whole new view on free trade and the true fairness of taxing the rich and giving to the poor.
I re-read the Dune Series again, and remembered why I loved them so much. They just captivated me, for sure.
I also read "ANGELS AND DEMONS" the first book by Dan Brown to feature Robert Langdon, the protagonist of The DaVinci Code. It was an interesting read, with some great ambigram symbols and such.
I also have to say that the "Left Behind" series of books are just pure trash; no better than the pulp romance novels on the other end of the scale, these books were written by hacks trying to spread and agenda. Interesting concept, sure, but poorly executed. I have a friend who used to be sensible, then he got married and his heavily Christian wife got him into these. Before he got married, he would have tossed the book to the wayside, but the other day he was just like "No, really, they are good, man. You should just read them." Sadly, I did read the first two, and I felt like my eyes were on fire. I'd rather rub Cayenne peppers in my eyes than read them again!
Bt
I think my latest book was "Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchett - It was definately top-notch, among his very best, I'd say. (Which for me includes basically every single book he's written, but still...) I loved how the tiny twists in the plot was revealed all the time, bit by bit... :)
Currently trying to get through "The Wee Free Men", but I haven't had any time to read at all, sadly...
High Society by Ben Elton. Not enjoyable, as its a depressing portrait of the drugs situation it portrays, but nevertheless a clever satire on the stupidity of prohibition, and on the fickle public and politicians.
Hi guys. I got this "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini for my girlfriend for birthday. Though I haven't given it yet. I was wonder, has anyone read it yet, and, what can you tell me about it, is it any good? I was going to read it myself before giving to her, got some days left, but I should really be studying German instead of going fictional. So, anyone read this book?
(http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n31/n158152.jpg)
Rediscovering Georgette Heyer. She's fantastic!
I'm reading a few things at the moment, as I tend to do. At the moment I'm reading Steinbecks the Grapes of Wrath, it's really a magnetizing read just because of his prose. The writing just has this really good feeling about it, you want to keep reading just to enjoy the words, let alone the story, which is also quite good. I'd suggest you all read it.
Also reading Stephen King's Needful Things, to add to my bookcase alongside the other 10 King books I have. I really love King's writing, even though some stories are kinda overstretched (such as with Bag of Bones) but Needful Things has some really interesting characters and never feels like the story is being taken too far to justify more pages. I'm actually reading....5 other books right now, Clive Barkers The Damnation Game, two awful horror books Crooked House and Spectre, as well as Catch 22 and Burroughs Junky. But I'm reading those a lot slower than King and Steinbeck so I'll write about them in another post.
I've been getting into Agatha Christie's novels lately. She's rated as a literary genius, but I find she can be a bit hit and miss, with some of her books being much better than others.
I didn't think "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" to be the masterpiece that it is often claimed to be (I much preferred "After the Funeral") but "A Murder Is Announced" was a great read, especially as I worked out who the murderer was about halfway through! Currently I'm reading "Ordeal by Innocence", which has a more serious style than the Poirot and Marple novels, which tend to be more light-hearted and unrealistic - everyone in those seems to find having a murder on their doorstep simply super.
I often think her books can be a bit dull for the first 100 pages or so, with lots of dialogue and description of people's thoughts and not much happening, but they are usually worth persisting with as the eye-opening twists tend to come later.
I just came back from the library. The goal was to get some cds and rip them on my computer, but I didn't find any. Instead I found two books that I'm going to read; Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin and Demian by Hermann Hesse, both in their nativa language, just to support my studies, and they were interesting ): I'll report back when I've finished them, or either one!
Whoa, that's almost four years between SSH's and Tuomas' posts...
Anyway, I've been reading Oscar Wilde lately. The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Importance of Being Earnest are classics for a reason...
Oh, I live The Picture of Dorian Grey... Found it on www.gutenberg.org too. Apparently all of Wilde's books are there as well. i just haven't gotten over the boundary of reading an ebook at my computer. There are too many distractions, and a real book at your hands feels a lot better :)
Now that this post has been bumped again, I remember I wanted to post here.
Normally I only read hardcore literature to show off, but some weeks ago I read the sf-novel The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuinn. Highly recommended!
Two planets, one capitalist, one anarchic/communist, are seen through the eyes of the scientist Shevek, a real anarchist, who travels to the capitalist planet Annares. It's an obvious analogy of the US and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, but pretty well executed.
Her novel The Left Hand of Darkness (about gender and feminism) is also recommended for people who like sf that explores social issues rather than technological.
Nope, I haven't.