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Geek Culture / Favorite Books #2

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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 02:13
Not sure if this'll get locked because there are already two threads about it but theyre autolocked.

Post at least five of your favorite books/series with the author(s), and why they are on your list. Don't have to be in order though.

NO flaming, argument, etc - just post a list.

1) Rama series by Arthur C. Clarke - An interesting take on an encounter with an alien ship.

2) 1985 by George Orwell - Good read if you take a look around at what's going on these days.

3) Intel & Zilog Reference Manual(s) by Intel & Zilog - Use them tons for my projects.

4) Federalist\Anti-Federalist Papers by various - Insight into the thoughts for and against a federal constitution at the time the document was written.

5) The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - Can't fight or be vigilant against something if you don't know what it's goals are.

Unfortunately there's many more than five.

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AndrewT
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 02:15
I haven't read much in the past, but I'm in the middle of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (all five books in one) as well as A Clockwork Orange and they're two of my favorite books of all time.

i like orange
Preston C
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 02:33 Edited at: 17th Nov 2009 02:34
If you're interested in fantasy novels and don't mind the setting (Forgotten Realms), I quite liked The Erevis Cale trilogy by Paul S. Kemp, and the early novels in the setting by R. A. Salvatore: The Icewind Dale Trilogy, The Dark Elf Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet. I can recommend them to any fantasy fans.

Past that, the Pendragon books aren't bad, and if you're up for a vicious, yet awesome, slap to the brain, pick up Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.

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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 02:34 Edited at: 17th Nov 2009 02:35
Speaking or Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged is interesting too.

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Grog Grueslayer
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 03:05
I only have one favorite book. I, Robot. The movie made me annoyed since it was more like the old comic book Magnus Robot Fighter than I, Robot.



General Jackson
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 03:28
1. The Bible
2. The Chronicles of Narnia
3. The Lord of the Rings
4. The crown and covenant trilogy
5. Kilkenny (louis lamour book)

I love reading so the list could go on, and on, and on...

zeroSlave
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 03:29
The Discworld series - Pratchett
Wheel of time series - Robert Jordan
Retrieval Artist series - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Dragonlance series - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Aliens series - mostly from Steve & S.D.Perry

I also dig me some Vonnegut, Hunter S Thompson, Noam Chomsky, Orwell ("Four legs good, two legs bad!"),and etc. - but I prefer to spend my time reading sci-fi and fantasy.

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Jeku
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 03:46
Quote: "I only have one favorite book. I, Robot."


Ooh, that's my favourite book too

Others:

- The Shining (Stephen King)
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)

The rest are non-fiction books about North Koreans (American defectors, escaping brutal gulags and prison camps, fighting mass famine, overall depressing topics)

- The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea (Charles Robert Jenkins)
- Jia: A Novel of North Korea (Hyejin Kim)
- Axis of Evil: World Tour (Scott Fisher)
- The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Don Oberdorfer)
- Long Road Home: Testimony of a North Korean Camp Survivor (Mr. Yong Kim)
- This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood (Hyok Kang)
- Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea (Jasper Becker)
- Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (Guy Delisle)
- The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag (Kang Chol-Hwan)

Yah I'm a DPRK geek.


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General Jackson
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 03:54
Quote: "The Reluctant Communist"

That sounds interesting, I'll have to look it up

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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 04:04
I didn't realize there were so many books about life in North Korea. Isn't your wife/girlfriend/? South Korean? I've always wanted to know more about the situation over there, growing up in Arizona and watching Team America gave me a very poor perspective on the subject.

As for me:

1. The Fat Man on Game Audio

2. Fahrenheit 451

3. 1984 (Or maybe I should just lump all the dystopian novels together . . .)

4. Stranger in a Strange Land

5. And for the sake of nostalgia: the Redwall series

I'm also reading A Confederacy of Dunces right now, which is turning out to be a fairly interesting and amusing read.

Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 04:14 Edited at: 17th Nov 2009 04:15
Douglas Adams:
Quote: "
1: "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"
2: "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe"
3: "Life, The Universe And Everything"
4: "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish"
5: "Mostly Harmless"
"


All of the Harry Potter's, and some sci-fi as well (Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke). I'm pretty eclectic.

Oh, and also The Bible.


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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 11:19 Edited at: 17th Nov 2009 11:28
In no particular order

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Set in England, about the life story of a group of friends with something special and odd about them (revealed in one of the opening chapters) and there's something dark behind all of their lives, which pushes their friendship together...but also in some ways tears them apart. It's a very good book, I couldn't put it down)
Artist above a Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (A great story to do with the decline of Japan around the second world war and its recovery. Told from the perspective of an artist. He has some terrible history, but he sees hope in the youth of Japan)
The Eddas by Snorri Sturluson (The great Viking stories...as a big fan of Odin, The Eddas have to be on my list)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson (this will probably make you mind mush and what makes it worse is that it's a true story. Hunter S Thompson did a bit of Gonzo Journalism in exploring the effects of drugs...by taken a lot of them. What he's produced is quite amusing)
Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (Very gripping...totally recommend it)
Metamorphoses by Ovid (A great collection of stories...my essay on it got me an A-, so I'm pleased)
1984 by George Orwell
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut (currently reading)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Not seen the film, nor do I intend to as it might ruin the book. Sure it's a romance...but a very, very good book...it's not mushy, don't worry. It's essentially a love story with its own original twist. Henry has a condition called Chronological Impairment, meaning at any one time he can just randomly appear in a different place and a different year)
The Delusion Wing by Bryn Price (kidding...it's only first draft and I really need to get back to editing it. )

Phaelax
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 11:37
Quote: "2) 1985 by George Orwell - Good read if you take a look around at what's going on these days."


You mean 1984?

I don't read very many books, actually none since I've been out of school. But, I liked Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

I've been wanting to check out Bruce Campbell's book.

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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 14:17
Quote: "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (all five books in one)"
There is six now... But yes, great series. Chuck in Dirk Gently novels too (his more unheard of stuff)

Too many books to think of in my 2 mins of free time, so I will say anything by Richard Laymon. Brilliant horror and the guy is a complete perv it seems. Brilliant. Best last line *ever* in a book too (see Island - not the not-so-great film with the bloke from Trainspotting).

Cheers

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Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 18:54
my favs is:

1: Twilight
2: The way of shadows (reading it naow.. so, might change my mind but atm its great so it will have to be here)
3:Eragon
4:With 9 lives (thats what i BELIEVE the english name is)
5:Signal (from stephen king)


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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 19:03
The Artemis Fowl Series By Eoin Colfer
The Wolf Brother Series By Michelle Paver
The His Dark Materials Trilogy By Philip Pullman
Just about anything by James Rollins
I'm currently reading The HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy, but I'm also reading through about 8 other books =P

I'm not a very wide reader

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Posted: 17th Nov 2009 22:38
Quote: "
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Not seen the film, nor do I intend to as it might ruin the book. Sure it's a romance...but a very, very good book...it's not mushy, don't worry. It's essentially a love story with its own original twist. Henry has a condition called Chronological Impairment, meaning at any one time he can just randomly appear in a different place and a different year)"


That's my favourite book

The rest, in no particular order:

Beaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
The Meg - Steve Alten
A child called it - Dave Pelzer
The Twits - Roald Dahl

Books are awesome

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 00:18
Quote: "You mean 1984?

I don't read very many books, actually none since I've been out of school. But, I liked Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger."


Whoops, I did indeed mean 1984. Catcher in the Rye is great too. My younger brother who doesn't read much at all loves it.

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 00:39 Edited at: 18th Nov 2009 00:41
Not necessarily in order

1) Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
2) 1984 - George Orwell
3) A Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
4) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
5) The Brentford Trilogy - Robert Ranking (especially the first few)

Reading Johnny Got His Gun at the moment it's amazing

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:14
Hmm, well this list will probably be completely different in a month's time but I'll put some down:

- Beowulf. There's something compelling about reading a fantasy story which was written over 1000 years ago and was only partly considered a fantasy.

- House of Leaves by Mark z. Danielevski. Very postmodern, but manages to pull it off and create an incredible atmosphere too. This is a book in which you have to be careful not to drown in the footnotes (some of which are quite literally insane).

- VALIS by Philip K. Dick. Completely ridiculous, but one of very few books which manages to capture that feeling of artificiality which lingers around the edge of modern civilisation, in my view.

- Piers Plowman, by William Langland. This is a medieval dream vision written in about 1370, with some completely zany sections. The retelling of the crucifiction of Christ is particularly compelling, as is the retelling of the Garden of Eden scene - particularly as the Eden scene is not *really* the Eden scene, but is also a metaphor for faith, conscience and the importance of not being too curious, even though the curiosity was spurred on my noble motives. It's a right pain to read sometimes, though.

- Fahrenheit 451. It's a book by a book-lover about book-lovers. Being a book-lover, I cannot resist.

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:19
Can we just all take a moment to appreciate the brilliance of Fahrenheit 451?

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:20 Edited at: 18th Nov 2009 01:36
Quote: "The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath"


I've been meaning to read that, what do you think of it? I hear it pretty much seems like the foreshadowing to her suicide. I've read stuff from Ted Hughes, but not really anything from her.



Also...I've got to read American Psycho soon for my course...I'm grudging it after hearing people reading from it aloud on our way to our University trip at the British Museum...it sounds somewhat disgusting, but it seems the girls of the class got a giggle out of it. I can swear women are more depraved about sex than we are.

[edit]

People keep mentioning Fahrenheit 451 - I've heard of it, but I've not looked it up. What's it about and what's it like?

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:22
Yeah, I meant 1984. It's only one off, what's one amongst programmers?

Quote: "Beowulf."


Another great book

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:28
Quote: "what's one amongst programmers?"


Usually a number - like it is amongst mathematicians and the sane people of the world...insane people on the other hand might suggest that one is actually two in disguise or that there's a conspiracy theory to change all of the values of the numbers.

Though in advanced forms of mathematics one is actually considered 0.999(recurring)

For programmers though, one remains as one as life remains simple that way.




Not sure why I made that response...yet here we are.

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:34 Edited at: 18th Nov 2009 01:37
Haven't got round to American Psycho yet - need to read that. Liked the film, and the books are usually better (notable exception - A Clockwork Orange. I couldn't get into it, the whole slang thing being used throughout... Didn't get particularly far in fact)

The Bell Jar's just amazing. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. Except possibly the suicidal. It could have a cheerier outlook on life...

And to be fair all her poetry was similarly depressing, and she'd "tried" to kill herself loads of times (still not convinced about that to be honest).

Fahrenheit 451 is dystopian fiction, much like A Handmaid's Tale, 1984, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, all that sort of thing. Like them, it follows the same conventions and basic storyline. In this one (as far as I can recall, haven't actually read it in a while), reading is banned, and books are incinerated en masse. It's about the defection of a "fireman" - they are the people who burn the books.

I'll add some of these to my "to read" list.

On the other hand, I brought some of the books I've been intending to read up to uni with me, and I have For Whom The Bell Tolls, Crime And Punishment, The Metamorphosis, The Bluest Eye, The Prince by Machiavelli, The Royal Hunt Of The Sun playscript by Peter Shaffer, Of Human Bondage and probably a few others kicking around which I've never got beyond half way through...

Quote: "Though in advanced forms of mathematics one is actually considered 0.999(recurring)"

God I hate maths above a certain level. Pointless, stupid, airy-fairy nonsense. I kind of wish I was doing a different degree, really Maybe not the best choice...

"The fools may crash down upon us in thunderous waves, but we shall Jeku slap them back from whence they came"
-BiggAdd Oct 28th 2009
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:38
1. The Road

2. A clockwork orange

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 01:48 Edited at: 18th Nov 2009 01:52
Ah yes, I remember my lecturer going on about it actually in my first year - hearing 'books banned' immediately struck a chord, it was one that I was actually meaning to read - I'll probably pick it up after finishing Slaughterhouse 5. I quite like dystopia and have written a few dystopian stories before - my NaNoWriMo last year was a dystopian piece...though it really needs polishing.

The Metamorphosis (I assume you're referring to Franz Kafka) - it's a good book I think - it's a modernist piece, so it's very internally focused - there is barely a plot-line, but I enjoyed it. It was inspiration for the film The Fly of course. I know people that have read it and thought it was incredibly boring, so I think it's like Bruno Schulz, you either love it or you hate it.

On which note, I started reading some of his short stories for Uni and they're really good and I think he writes in quite an interesting way. It was all written before the holocaust - though it doesn't carry any foreshadowing themes, it's possible that you might think of the holocaust when reading it, particularly as Bruno Schulz was killed as part of it. I'd perhaps suggest The Street of Crocodiles as a recommendation...also to catch the Quay Brothers' film interpretation of it...it is quite bizarre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gIb0bTWj6w&feature=related

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 02:09
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago

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-Gulag Archipelago

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 03:18
Peter H - I thought that wikipedia page itself was your choice for a second - was getting all geared up to explain about the difference between webpages and books, (I know this is the internet generation and all, but really...)

Then I actually looked at the article and felt somewhat foolish.

I've heard of it before, but it sounds a little heavy to me. Fiction can get as dark as it likes, but I just don't read non-fiction, especially not stuff as grim as that.

"The fools may crash down upon us in thunderous waves, but we shall Jeku slap them back from whence they came"
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 03:25
-Eragon, Brisingr, Eldest
-Harry Potters
-The Horse and his boy and the rest of the narnia books

(they are in order of likeing)

Razerx
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 03:32
The Eragon books are pretty good - you a fan of Sabriel etc.? I liked them'n's better probably, but they've got the same fantasy elements with the whole young person coming to terms with some great power thing going on...

"The fools may crash down upon us in thunderous waves, but we shall Jeku slap them back from whence they came"
-BiggAdd Oct 28th 2009
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 03:39
Quote: "The Horse and his boy and the rest of the narnia books"

Way to go razerx!

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 04:50
Anything that Dan Brown has written (I don't know why. I don't agree with the major plot points of several of his books, but the style in which their written in keeps me reading).

House - Frank Peretti/Ted Dekker.

1984 - George Orwell. It's a classic. It's often used in video games today, actually. Think of City 17 in HL2. It's eerily similar to the dystopian world seen in 1984.

Cell - Stephen King.

There are plenty more, but I think that's good for now.

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 06:07 Edited at: 18th Nov 2009 06:10
Quote: "I've heard of it before, but it sounds a little heavy to me. Fiction can get as dark as it likes, but I just don't read non-fiction, especially not stuff as grim as that."

It's heavy stuff, but the fact that it's all real makes it have a much stronger effect than any fiction could. It's an intense look into the nature of humanity.

For example that quote i gave was from a situation in which there wasn't enough food for all the prisoners in the camp he was in to survive. So you either starved to death (literally) or took food that would have allowed someone else to live. (since the guards didn't dole out the food evenly, if you didn't make an effort to get it you got nothing).

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 08:06
Quote: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago"


Ooh that sounds fascinating


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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 10:41
The Hobbit is probably my all time favorite, but I like Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Thomas Harris etc etc.

These days though I don't really want to read new books, would prefer to read some of the old classics, the more high-brow stuff like 1984.


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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 11:01 Edited at: 18th Nov 2009 11:01
I haven't read any books in a while sadly. I really, really need to get out of my gaming habit.

I won't post a list but I can really recommend Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders. He's a complete BS artist, as in everything is stupidly action packed with unlikely outcomes, but it is really very good.

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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 22:24 Edited at: 18th Nov 2009 22:33
Quote: "The Hobbit is probably my all time favorite"


That's one of my favorites too! I believe it was originally geared toward young readers, but it's too good for that. Now I can't wait for the movies.

Quote: "And for the sake of nostalgia: the Redwall series"


Ah yes...Redwall. I used to read that series as well. Eventually they became repetitive, but the setting was very creative and unique.

My favorite books are:

1. The Bible - All time favorite!
2. The Hobbit - I haven't read it in awhile, but I still love it. The tapes were pretty good too.
3. The Lord of the Rings - Long, but amazing!
4. Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1 - I had never read Sherlock Holmes until just a few months ago, but it's very interesting. At first, the style of writing is a bit difficult to get in to. But after that phase I got hooked. The mysteries are compelling and unique, and I had fun trying to figure them out before the end of the story.
5. Eragon, Brisinger, The Eldest - Too magical for my taste, but still good.

I'm pretty sure those are my top five. I haven't read much for awhile because I seem to have cleared out most of my library's books. I wish I had another series to get into...
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Posted: 18th Nov 2009 22:54
Ive been searching for some new reading material.

In no order;

For eseme with love and squalor /The laughing man specifically/ by Salinger

Gears of war, Aspho fields by Karen traviss

The Eragon series, unfortunatly the golden brick finally won me over. The movie killed what good was in it.

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The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - Can't fight or be vigilant against something if you don't know what it's goals are."


Stuided a little of him during a art project. He started the new age of thinking as far as i remember. -crap memory-

Im reading 'The way of the shadows' by brent weeks, Its been very good so far, ill have to read the rest of the trilogy.

Not many other books really moved me past reading them.

____
-Laz

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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 03:27
I think I've read The Way Of The Shadows and liked it - can't remember for sure though.

Quote: "Ive been searching for some new reading material."

A lot of the suggestions on here are good. Also, old famous books tend to be decent - there's a reason they're so highly acclaimed. There is a danger that if you only read them you will slowly clamber up your own rectum and perceive yourself as intellectually superior (I gave up on reading for about a year and a half because I was reading too much heavy stuff) but in moderation it's good.

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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 03:43 Edited at: 19th Nov 2009 03:45
It's quite terrible actually - the first time I picked up to read in the last 2 months was because my internet wasn't working. Except Slaughterhouse 5 which I've started in relation to the post-modernism part of my module. That was Peter James' Prophesy It looks as though it might be a good book...the prologue, however, is very disturbed - you're not sure whether or not you should cheer or feel repulsed - you'll certainly cringe. Because of it's content, I can't repeat it here, but I'll just say a paedophile gets what's coming to him...almost on a level as disturbing as the rapist in Sarah Kane's Blasted, but not quite.

In fact...despite its depravity, I enjoyed Blasted...call me sick, but there's a lot to do with it that I think makes it good, but then I suppose I kind of appreciated it in more depth as I decided to use it as part of an essay.

Sarah Kane though, she was clearly insane...heavily criticised, somebody only appreciated in death, but a mad woman.

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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 03:45
1. Ender's Game-one of the best science fiction I've ever read.
2. Ender's Shadow-different perspective on Ender's Game.
3. The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes-A classic.
4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas-Another classic.
5. Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix-Very interesting and developed stories.

Honorable Mention: The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan-An excellent collection of science fiction short stories.

2nd Honorable Mention: Hammer's Slammers by David Drake-Collection of interrelated short stories about a future mercenary army. Very good SF.

Can you tell I like Science Fiction?

demons breath
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 03:50
I read some of Keys To The Kingdom - wasn't blown away. Preferred whatever series it was he was doing before that - was it the Abhorsen series? I'd recommend them...

Peter H
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 04:31
Quote: "1. Ender's Game-one of the best science fiction I've ever read.
4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas-Another classic."

I have to second these two, they are awesome books.

As far as classics go... DON'T read Moby Dick... BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME EVER... i read a bunch of classic books (maybe too many) and it was by far the worst i read.


oh, also, Brave New World

One man, one lawnmower, plenty of angry groundhogs.
Mnemonix
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 10:02
Dare I mention neuromancer as a classic sci-fi read?

apart from a few already mentioned I read more non-fiction books, but there are some classics out there. I'm currently reading IT by Stephen King, but its MASSIVE.

Mnemonix
JLMoondog
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 11:07 Edited at: 19th Nov 2009 11:13
I'm weird, so here's my list:

1) Ender's Game (newest addition w/ forward and new ending)
2) King Arthur
3) Beowulf (actual poem, not that hollywood crap)
4) Hagakure (great book on samurai beliefs...Seppuku, your even mention in the book )

Er..not sure about a 5th, really hard to choose one.


Dazzag
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 16:36
Back for 2 secs. Try The Night's Dawn Trilogy for an epic scifi series (massive books and takes ages to get going each time, but worth it). And while we are it try the Hyperion novels (think there is 4). Very good stuff.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 16:56
Quote: "4) Hagakure (great book on samurai beliefs...Seppuku, your even mention in the book )"


I've read it. Good book, I leant it out to a mate...2 years ago and he still hasn't given it back.

zeroSlave
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 17:27 Edited at: 19th Nov 2009 17:27
Slaughter House 5 was a great book. I followed it with Cat's Cradle. I wasn't AS impressed, but it was still a good read.

Quote: "classic sci-fi read"


I am surprised no one mentioned Frank Herbert. Dune was a fantastic read. I didn't get into the rest of the sequels, but one day I will. Also, The Lazarus Effect and The Jesus Incident were pretty good as well.

Also, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series were good reads.
Quote: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed"


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Grog Grueslayer
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Posted: 19th Nov 2009 18:20
Quote: "Ooh, that's my favourite book too "


Sorry I didn't reply right away Jeku. That's cool... are you as annoyed as I was at the movie?

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