Books!

[Auberean]

No heavy debating here, just...books! I couldn't find a book thread, and this seemed like the right place. We'll see. What are you currently reading, and what would you recommend to other people? I'll put up some of my own suggestions in a bit.

[Viktorkrum77]

I recommend highly all of Dan Brown's books.

[Auberean]

I recommend highly all of Dan Brown's books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His stuff can be entertaining, but I wouldn't recommend the movies.

[indy500fan]

We just had a book thread not to long ago. I'll see if I can find it.

[Necromagus]

I recommend highly all of Dan Brown's books.

They make excelent toiletpaper indeed, although the glossy pages of the illustrated editions do carry an increased risk of paper cut, which really isn't something you want down there :-w

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My recommendation: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

[Auberean]

We just had a book thread not to long ago. I'll see if I can find it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really? The search is so convoluted, I couldn't find anything. If it's too old don't bother bumping it up.

[Auberean]

 

I recommend highly all of Dan Brown's books.

They make excelent toiletpaper indeed, although the glossy pages of the illustrated editions do carry an increased risk of paper cut, which really isn't something you want down there :-w

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My recommendation: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not recommending Dan Brown for his accuracy and writing style, I just wanted to make the point that his books can entertain to a pretty good degree.

[indy500fan]

 

We just had a book thread not to long ago. I'll see if I can find it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really? The search is so convoluted, I couldn't find anything. If it's too old don't bother bumping it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=452249&highlight=favorite+favourite+novel

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=539332&highlight=favorite+favourite+novel

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=487360&highlight=favorite+favourite+novel

[Viktorkrum77]

^Those are too many months old.

[Auberean]

 

 

We just had a book thread not to long ago. I'll see if I can find it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really? The search is so convoluted, I couldn't find anything. If it's too old don't bother bumping it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=452249&highlight=favorite+favourite+novel

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=539332&highlight=favorite+favourite+novel

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=487360&highlight=favorite+favourite+novel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hm. Well, those are all at the least two months old. I think we're safe in here.

[cardovilian]

I recently read "Empire of the Dragon" by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. Its about a group of Roman soldiers who are captured and enslaved by Persians and end up in China. That's the briefest of brief synopses, but if you like a bit of history in your fiction, along with gripping narrative, read this book. Its a real 'un-put-downable'.

[rocketman089]

My favorite book: 1984 by George Orwell.

[Auberean]

I'll add my own, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It is about a group of airmen staged on a fictional island during WWII. It is a dark satire, and one of it's main themes is the absurdity of bureaucracy, and human beings in general. Another short summary, but I don't want to give away any of it's better points.

[indy500fan]

I didn't give you enough time to reply with what genre you would prefer, but I really just felt like posting anyways :P .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All these links are to the Internet Book List which is supposed to be like an imdb for books. I just found it, and have no idea how good it is. It didn't list any non-fiction books for my first author, so we shall see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged - This is my favourite book. The people who read it either love it, hate it, or love/hate it. The love it or hate it because of the morals and political views that it is preaching. The people who love/hate it like the views but find the book to be very repetitive and boring. Definently a must read for everyone. It is kind of lengthy and can take some people a while to read. The first time I read it took eight days. The second time took four days. That is longer than all of the other books I read. For simplicity's sake (second time I said that today :D ) I will just link to Ayn Rand. Like I said above, no links for her non-fiction. It does link to the Ayn Rand Institute and you can get them off of there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From now on I will do it by author, since almost every author has more than one book I enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kurt Vonnegut - He is an awesome author. Best described as a satirical humoured science fiction author. Although most of the time I don't agree with the "moral" of the story because of his political or philisophical views, it doesn't affect my judgment of his books. I still love them. Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five are probably his two most famous books. Both are excellent. Player Piano is his first novel, and is pretty good. This is probably his most political one also. Mother Night is about an American in Nazi Germany during WWII. This one is one of the less popular ones, but according to this website it is rated pretty well by the few who rated it. Slapstick I thought was one of the best ones, but apperantly not to many agree. Including Kurt Vonnegut himself. While reading one of his non-fiction psuedo auto-biographies he rated the books he had written so far. He is not a modest man, gave him self A+'s for a few. However he gave himself a D- for Slapstick. Oh well, I enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've typed a lot so far, and it has taken a while. I don't want to lose it, and I don't feel like doing anymore right now, so I will just edit it in later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT 1: OK, it took a little longer for me to update it than I originally thought. Here are a few more, probably have to do a few more edits. This edit will be mostly Science Fiction authors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orson Scott Card - As already mentioned (a few times) his novel Ender's Game is awesome. The whole series following it is also awesome. The parrallel to it is Ender's Shadow, which is equally as awesome. I actually read Ender's Shadow first, and I really had no idea what to expect. I can't even remember why I chose to read it, but I am glad I did. Most people read Ender's Game first, and I think most people like it more. I think if you read it first you probably will. Since i did it backwards I like them equally. Both are spectacular. As for the sequels to the books I enjoyed the ones following Ender's Game a lot more. When reading those books I wanted Science Fiction. When you read the Shadow storyline it is more about politics. I love political books, but for some reason these just didn't seem as good. I haven't read any other Orson Scott Card, so I can't comment on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arthur C. Clarke - All I really need to say is 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is in my opinion the absolute best Science Fiction novel, and also it is my favourite. You could argue it is not the best, but not to me because I will simply ignore anything not saying this is the best. :D . It was actually the screenplay first, written by Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, and then Clarke made a novel out of it. If you plan on seeing the movie I actually suggest reading the novel first, makes certain parts less confusing. There are actually three sequals, which are pretty good. For some reason I read them expecting them to be pretty lame compared to the first one, but they are decent. Clarke didn't just write those books though, he has some other good ones. Rendezvous with Rama is really good too, and actually according to iblist it is rated better than 2001. I thought it was pretty good, and apperantly there is also a series continuing after it too. I might try and pick those up sometime, definently would continue reading it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H. G. Wells - Like Clarke, can be best described by naming his best book: War of the Worlds. For a Science Fiction novel wrote in 1898 this is better than awesome. Well, I can't really think of much to say except its great, even though it is kind of slow. All of Wells other novels are great too. These are probably the first science fiction novels I ever read, and after re-reading them all last summer I am suprised I liked them so much as a kid. They aren't too difficult to read, but more-so than most books. They all are a little slow like War of the Worlds, so it astonishes me that I liked them so much. Now they all seem really good, just not the style for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray Bradbury - You all know about Fahrenheit 451, right? Well, it is required reading in high school around here, not sure about other places. It is a great book, the only one Bradbury is really known for. It is a Dystopia/Utopia genre of book according to iblist, which is under the Science Fiction genre. I guess it does have some sci-fi in it, I find it to be more of just a political book though. Definently a must read for everyone. The only other Bradbury I have read was The Martian Chronicles, which is really science fictiony, for lack of a better explanation. It was pretty good too, but I probably wouldn't list it in a top 20 list. Just thought I would mention it here to point out that Bradbury does have other books. Apperantly a lot of them...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Orwell - I said I was just doing sci-fi, but apperantly the dystopian books are considered sci-fi, so I guess I will do it now. Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. I'm not going to write anything about these since you can find other reviews in this topic and if it continues for a while you will most likely see more. Quick review: Awesome, and both are a must read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brave New World - This is a book, obviously not an author :P . This is the only book by the author, Aldous Huxley, that I have read. This is another dystopian society political book, with some sci-fi elements to it. Written in 1931 so it was right at the beginning of the Great Depression. Since that was blamed on the capitalist economic system (no comment on that so I don't go off topic) it was a perfect time to write a book about the "tyranny" of capitalism. I can't say I didn't like that it was anti-capitalist because I just now found out. I didn't think it had anything to do with it at all, it seemed like it was all about class struggles, or more correctly the lack of them even though there were classes. I will read it again soon and see how much of the point of the book I actually missed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alas, Babylon - This time I had to post the book, seeing as how Pat Frank only has one book. Anyways, this book is great. Like a lot of the ones above it was required reading in highschool. Unlike the other ones above, I did not actually read this one until it was assigned. All the other ones I had already read once when they were assigned. After school on the first day that I was assigned it I started, and finished it. One reading session. I couldn't put the book down. I'm sure you've heard that phrase before, but it was literal this time. I sat down and read the entire book before getting back up. I have mentioned it before in the movie threads that the post-apocalyptic scenerio was one of my favourites. This book is probably the biggest reason for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that is all for tonight. I don't include fantasy fiction under sci-fi even though it normally is included there. I'll do fantasy fiction next, which will pretty much cover most of my favourites. Last will probably be just general fiction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

 

 

I never did finish that, maybe I will tommorow.

[Auberean]

Most of those are excellent. Kurt Vonnegut would probably have to be one of my favorite authors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I could create an entire thread on the discussion of Ayn Rand. And maybe in the future I will, haha.

[deloriagod]

The last book I read was for my freshman English class. It was called 'Breathing Underwater'. It was pretty good but I don't remember who it was by. Also, Romeo & Juliet was a good read in that class (I got to be Romeo for a while :)

[Auberean]

The last book I read was for my freshman English class. It was called 'Breathing Underwater'. It was pretty good but I don't remember who it was by. Also, Romeo & Juliet was a good read in that class (I got to be Romeo for a while :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait until you get to...12th I think? I'd call Hamlet Shakespeare's best work, by far.

[deloriagod]

 

The last book I read was for my freshman English class. It was called 'Breathing Underwater'. It was pretty good but I don't remember who it was by. Also, Romeo & Juliet was a good read in that class (I got to be Romeo for a while :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait until you get to...12th I think? I'd call Hamlet Shakespeare's best work, by far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, my freshman year sucked, my sophomore year is going great so I can't wait to be a senior if this keeps up : And I've heard that's really good.

[Auberean]

 

 

The last book I read was for my freshman English class. It was called 'Breathing Underwater'. It was pretty good but I don't remember who it was by. Also, Romeo & Juliet was a good read in that class (I got to be Romeo for a while :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait until you get to...12th I think? I'd call Hamlet Shakespeare's best work, by far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, my freshman year sucked, my sophomore year is going great so I can't wait to be a senior if this keeps up : And I've heard that's really good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anything, you should check out Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet that was released in the mid-nineties. I'm kind of ashamed to say that I've never seen Laurence Olivier's version.

[Astralinre]

 

The last book I read was for my freshman English class. It was called 'Breathing Underwater'. It was pretty good but I don't remember who it was by. Also, Romeo & Juliet was a good read in that class (I got to be Romeo for a while :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait until you get to...12th I think? I'd call Hamlet Shakespeare's best work, by far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read Hamlet, Henry V, and Much Ado About Nothing for my sophomore English class, and loved all three. I really can't choose between them, since they're all so good. I've also seen Kenneth Branagh's versions of all three - he's the man. :P

[The_Dragon_Reborn]

I would suggest the Wheel Of Time series. There are several people on the forums here who read them (including me).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't reccomend them if you don't wanna stay with them for about a year though, lol. 11 Books, all over 700 pages = Lotsa reading!

[PumpkinPete112]

The Best Books I ever read (In Order)

 

 

 

1. Digital Fortress (Dan Brown)

 

 

 

2. The Shadow Box (John R. Maxim)

 

 

 

3. Deception Point (Dan Brown)

 

 

 

4. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

 

 

 

5. Angels and Demon (Dan Brown)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recommend them all highly.

[indy500fan]

I would suggest the Wheel Of Time series. There are several people on the forums here who read them (including me).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't reccomend them if you don't wanna stay with them for about a year though, lol. 11 Books, all over 700 pages = Lotsa reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went through them in 3 weeks the last time I read the entire series (for the third time).

[Auberean]

The Best Books I ever read (In Order)

 

 

 

1. Digital Fortress (Dan Brown)

 

 

 

2. The Shadow Box (John R. Maxim)

 

 

 

3. Deception Point (Dan Brown)

 

 

 

4. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

 

 

 

5. Angels and Demon (Dan Brown)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recommend them all highly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hm, more Dan Brown fans. After reading The Da Vinci code, it seemed to me like all of his other books were the same, just with different nouns.

[stan18]

I haven't read a book on my own free time in years :o The last book i read (for school) was The pioneers, by James Fenimore Cooper. I would not recommend it. At all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before i read that, however, i read The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthore. That was a good book. The crucible, by arthur miller, was also good (although its a play)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year's les mis and The grapes of wrath were my favorites