During the past couple of weeks we've had threads about movies, comedy series and even comic books (sorry, graphic novels :)), so I thought it was time for a discussion about books. This has probably been discussed before, but I didn't find any old threads on the subject, so I thought I'd start a new one. I hope that's alright.

Well, I just finished Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown (the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, which I read a couple of months ago). It's alright, definitely entertaining, but a little farfetched.

I'm now in the process of trying to read The Illuminatus Trilogy for the third time. It's a pretty entertaining book, but the other times I tried reading it, I lost interest about halfway through, and so I never finished it.

The book I'm really looking forward to reading, and have for some time, is A Feast For Crows, which will hopefully be out sometime during the summer. It's the fourth book in a series of seven, called A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin. I definitely recommend the other books to anybody with an interest in fantasy. When I picked up the first book, last summer, I hadn't really been reading books for about a year, but these books really resparked my interest in reading. I finished the first three in about two weeks, which is probably the fastest I've ever read anything (they're over 3000 pages, combined). I simply couldn't put them down. If any of you guys ever read any DragonLance or Forgotten Realms books, and wondered why modern fantasy books are so crappy, you should definitely look at these. Highly recommended.

But anyway, what good books have you read lately? What genre of books do you prefer? What great classics would you recommend? Just put anything book related in here, and let's have a good discussion.

Favorite book is The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. McCammon. Its about a werewolf British Secret agent that fights nazis. Its MUCH better than it sounds. trust me.

Currently I'm reading Boy's Life by Robert McCammon. Its about, well, a boy's summer and has a little murder mystery thrown, mostly for some flavor.

Recently finished, I Robot, by Isaac Asimov. Haven't seen the movie, don't want too.

Next book, probably going to be 1984 or maybe Robert McCammon's Myster Walk.

Its obvoius I really like McCammon's work. He's a bettter version of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Too bad he's not as well known.

I do keep meaning to borrow the Forgetton Realms Dr'zzt books from afriend, they are insanely recommended.

As for great Classics, i'd recommend I Robot. It's good.


bed time

aaagh!

Angels and Demons! I've been reading that book for months, and I hate it! But I refuse to give up, so I read about a paragraph once a week. :D

It's so lame! :tai:

I'm rather preferential to Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age. Let's see... fantasy-wise, Meredith Anne Pierce's Darkangel trilogy is excellent...

I started reading Fox Evil, but for some reason I just stopped and can't remember the last thing I read in it so I'm not going to bother trying again.

Next book to read will be out of:

The Fifth Hostage by Terence Strong
Masquerade by Gayle Lynds
One Man Running by Clive Egleton


I'm never going to bother reading Angels and Demons cause I didn't much care for The Da Vinci Code, mainly cause it was given so much hype and priase that when I went to read it I was expecting a masterpiece and was very disapointed. I probably wont bother readin any other book by Dan Brown either.


I really enjoyed that movie, it's one of Will Smiths best performances, it's a nice break from all his homie talk and such.

What about the more classic novels like "Dracula"? Anybody except me who has read those? I thought "Dracula" dragged a lot at times, where nothing happened. Bah. Hated those parts...

While we're on vampires, has anyone read Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend"? It's really, really good :D.

If you're talking Vampires the best books have to be the "Necroscope" series by Robert Ludlum.... Think the x-files meets dracula.


Fantastic!!!1 :ok:

Edit: Sorry - Theat's Brian Lumley not Robert Ludlum

Since the previous book thread I have discovered that Flann O'Brien, the eternal wonderboy of the Irish literature, has excelled not only in The Poor Mouth, but also in The Third Policeman. Awesome books, definitely recommended.

And of course everyone has read Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita?

Here are the books that I had already read:

20 Goosebumps books- when I was a kid

10 Nancy Drew books- when I was a kid

Sherlock Holmes- I could use a good mystery every once in a while

Shattering Glass- teen angst and teen problems

Cirque du Freak- a very disturbing story

All Harry Potter books- Need I say more?

Artemis Fowl- never got to finish it. It's boring!!!!!!!!!

The Thief Lord- yeah, it's childish, but I like it

I have to agree with Taikara's post about the magnificent Dark Angel novel by Meredith Ann Pierce. However, now I can't find your post, my love. I hope I haven't deleted it by mistake. I meant to hit the quote button. :blink:

I'm doing a degree in English Lit, so quite a lot of the stuff I read is for my courses (I couldn't possibly get through the reading lists otherwise). I just finished Astrophil and Stella and am currently reading A Tale of Two Cities. After that it'll be Pilgrim's Progress and Paradise Lost for me. But it isn't quite as bad as it sounds. Most classics aren't half bad once you get used to them.:)
I like reading thrillers as well, though. Matthew Reilly is one of my favourites. And occasionally children's books - the first three volumes of The Edge Chronicles were brilliant, and so was the His Dark Materials trilogy. Great stuff.

I'll elaborate a bit, so maybe someone will actually go and read the books I mentioned.

- The Poor Mouth is Flann O'Brian's answer to the typical "romantic misery" that Irish literature is quite well-known for. A pretty descriptive quote from here: "The Poor Mouth relates the story of one Bonaparte O'Coonassa, born in a cabin in a fictitious village called Corkadoragha in western Ireland equally renowned for its beauty and the abject poverty of its residents. Potatoes constitute the basis of his family's daily fare, and they share both bed and board with the sheep and pigs. A scathing satire on the Irish, this work brought down on the author's head the full wrath of those who saw themselves as the custodians of Irish language and tradition when it was first published in Gaelic in 1941."

I was laughing aloud while reading it. :)

- The Third Policeman is a strange, existential book. There's a story of the narrator meeting people like two policemen, of whom the first one has his own atomic theory (that involves bicycles), and the other is making chests that go inside each other, and of which the smallest ones are so small that you can't even see them. Simultaneously there are exceprts and explanations of the philosophy and research of "de Selby", the most insane scientist/philosopher the world has ever known (more info about him can be found for example here).

- Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a true Russian classic, but not in the heavy "War and Peace" style. The Master and Margarita is a story of Satan and his henchmen coming to Moscow and causing quite a bit of confusion among the people. Simultaneously an account of things leading to Jesus' crusifixion is related. All the characters are described extremely well, and the humour is just splendid.

This is one of the best books I've ever read, and I find it a shame that it isn't known very well. There's a free eBook over here.

Is "A Tale of Two Cities" good? I've heard a lot about it. I have a lot of books I'm planning to read, but I wouldn't mind a few more :D.

- Vernon God Little
- Sculpting in Time
- 1984
- Brave New World
- Frankenstein
- War of the Worlds

Right now I'm reading "Bolivian Diaries" by Che Guevara. It's pretty exciting even though it's written very, very straight-forward.

Well, I haven't finished it yet, but I can already say it's not my favourite Dickens novel (that would be Our Mutual Friend or Bleak House). However, it has at least one great character: Madame Defarge who's always observing others while ostensively knitting and "seeing nothing".

Vernon God Little was a very odd book, but I enjoyed reading it anyway. Nineteen Eighty-Four is disturbing but brilliant. Much better than the film.

Hhhhmmmm,
Where to begin?

These are my classic favorites:

Sherlock Holms (Read most of them but it was a tall order)
MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, (I oborrowed the complete works of Shakespeare, but had to return it :cry: )
Treasure Island,
LOTR,
Hobbit

Fantasy Fav's by author:
Margret Weiss & Tracey Hickman (Dragon Lance)
David Gemmel, :kosta:
David Eddings,

Sci-Fi Fav's by author:
Anything, and I mean anything, by Asimov(The mans a muse!!!)
Margret Weiss & Tracey Hickman (Star of the Guardians Series)
L.Ron Hubbard (No Not Dianetics!!!)

Non-Fiction by Author:
Graham Hancock :kosta:

I could go for pages but I'll leave it there... :ok:

Well, I haven't finished it yet, but I can already say it's not my favourite Dickens novel (that would be Our Mutual Friend or Bleak House). However, it has at least one great character: Madame Defarge who's always observing others while ostensively knitting and "seeing nothing".

Vernon God Little was a very odd book, but I enjoyed reading it anyway. Nineteen-Eighty-Four is disturbing but brilliant. Much better than the film. [/b][/quote]
Yes she was very cool,

She would watch them and if they acted against the people in any way, then she would knit the offending person's name in code into her scarf or blanket or whatever it was she was knitting.

Then when tehy started Guillotining people she would read out the names from her scarf.

Very sinister character...
Very cool

For children's books it's hard to do better than Terry Pratchett or Lemony Snicket (knocks Harry Potter into a cocked hat). I'm quite a fan of Iain Banks, both his sci-fi and "straight" novels - The Bridge is an excellent novel. Quite similar to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere in some ways (Good Omes, which Gaiman wrote with Terry Pratchett, is one of few good examples where co-authoring works out. c.f Ann McCaffrey, whose sci-fi series were great, but whose (mainly later) collaborations were pretty naff on the whole).

I love Terry Pratchett, but I wouldn't say they were ideal for kids.
Some of them are... Diggers... Only YOU Can Save Makind etc...
But alot of the discworld novels are aimed at adults.
Even though their isn't really much swearing / sex etc.. in the books the stuff alot of the books are about probably wouldn't be as funny to some younger people.

Mainly becaus ethey don't know what it is he's taking the P**s out of.
Alot more grown-up humor than Harry Potter.

Sorry, wasn't clear there - I meant his children's books, particularly the Discworld ones (Maurice, The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky). The other ones are good for adults.

Terry Pratchett has written books for children??? OMG

Anyway I am currently reading a lot of religious and historic books and do resreaches for my project, so I can hardly find time to read something else(actually I am quite enjoying it :D )
But I have made some time to read Angels and Devils, and Da Vinci Code, but I didnt liked it very much...

Ah yes, and some of my favorite writers:
D. Gemmel, Terry Pratchett, A Sapkowzski, Robert A. Henlein, Issac Asimov(but if I would met him in person, I would probably HATE him....), Däniken, D. Farland... and that is all names, of which I can remember,for now...

As far as I know he died in 1992, so your chances of meeting him in person should be rather slim. :D

As far as I know he died in 1992, so your chances of meeting him in person should be rather slim. :D [/b][/quote]
I know... :)
From what I read from his biographies I would probavly :rifle: and :boxing: him,when we would met...
But he wrote quite good :whistle:

I would say he's more of a young adult author.

Some of Terry Pratchetts books are definitely for younger kids.

e.g. *Bromeliad Trilogy (*think that's how you spell it)

I know... :)
From what I read from his biographies I would probavly :rifle: and :boxing: him,when we would met...
But he wrote quite good :whistle: [/b][/quote]
As I have no relationship to neither his books or his personal self, may I inquire why :whistle:?

Some of my favourite authors / books:

Frank Herbert: Dune Series
Brian Lumley: Necroscope / Vampire World Series (But didn't really like the Psychomech trilogy)
Terry Pratchett: Discworld Series (Especially the night-watch episodes)
Michael Crichton: (even though most of his books are the same)
Tolkien.

Finally someone mentions Tolkien. He is, of course, the greatest fantasy writer ever. I also have to agree with all the people mentioning Sherlock Holmes. I actually have all the books (I was a member of aome club when I was a kid, and they sent me one each month), and they're great if you want a good oldfashioned crime mystery.

Did anybody read the Templar Trilogy by Jan Guillou? It's definitely recommended, if you like historical fiction. I haven't read much historical fiction, set during the crusades, so this was a real treat for me.

@Marek: Is L. Ron Hubbard seriously one of your favourite sci-fi authors? I thought he only made one book, namely Battlefield Earth, which sucks so badly, it made me want to kill myself. I might be wrong , though, maybe he's made other books, some of which are better than BE.

I'll just rate my favourite scifi and fantasy authors, like some of you have done:

Scifi:

Frank Herbert
Isaac Asimov
Larry Niven

Fantasy:

Tolkien
George RR Martin
Robin Hobb

I just finished Angels and Demons. I liked it!
Also love the DaVincy code.

I just started the Belladonna Document (I think that's what it's called in engilsh...). I like it so far!

I recently finished A Passage To India, by E.M. Forster. It was quite good, nothing spectacular, though...

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. Again, quite good.

Babettes G?stebud, by Karen Blixen. Danish novel, set in Norway. I liked it! Don't really know why, though. Nothing that special about it.. Still, me likey :bleh:

I always hear about this Da Vici Code book and it sounds interesting....
I may be missing a lot...

Oh, and anyone here read The Five People you Meet in Heaven?
I want to read it, but I couldn't find a book in my local bookstore.....

So you did like at least one Danish novel. :) Btw, I think the movie won an oscar, when it came out. Did you watch that?

Another suggestion for your class would be Frydenholm, by Hans Scherfig. It's set in Denmark during the occupation. It's not as famous as some of his other books, but it is definitely good. One of his best, if not the best.

I quite liked that one, actually. It's my favourite Forster by far.

Wow, sounds like I missed a lot when I was in my romantic novel phase :P. Yeah, I used to read those all of the time. They were good though. Especially Bertrice Small, who's historical romance novels included a lot of historic information.
Anywho, the last book I read was Robinson Crusoe. I was surprised at how much I liked it, quite good. My brother has taken a lot of literary classes and had kept a lot of the books he read, so, I have recently been raiding his stash.
Other than that, I don't really have time to read anything but my texts for class. Since I'm going into nursing, this includes a lot of psychology books right now. It's pretty interesting, though. I'd love to take a class in literature to read more classics (and get credit for it :D) but my nursing program doesn't allow me to :(.
"Necroscope"...hm, that sounds good *writing that one down along with a list of others*. I also wanted to read "Dracula" and I downloaded it from some site a while ago but I never got to it. Plus, don't you just hate reading a long story on the computer? Either you print it out and it would take up a whole lot of ink and paper, or you sit in front of the computer to read it and your neck becomes paralyzed in that position for the next few weeks :P.
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is also on my list. A friend of mine is supposed to lend it to me once she's done with it for a class she's taking. Grr, she didn't even read it. Since they were going to discuss it in class, she watched the movie because it took less time. I would love to see her grade, hehe.

Read Dracula!!!
Also the last albatros by Ian Irvine.
Good stuff.

After being confronted with yet another Robert Jordan book that succeeds in not bringing the conclusion of Wheel of Time any nearer, I've decided to leave fantasy for what it is for a while and focus on other genres :tai: (Tai, I love your smilie!)

Last read: "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. This I'd recommend to anyone. It's a great read, funny and believable and I'm still doubting wether or not the story is true :ok:

The prequel one about Moiraine meeting Lan? That was really naff. Made me just want to go GET ON WITH IT!! The last one in the main series was nearly as bad.

I saw the movie, but I haven't heard about that Oscar!! Interesting!

I'll check that Scherfig book out! The only one I've read by him is Det Forsömte For?r. I didn't really like it when reading it, but afterwards it is actually good!!
I have an exam on it next Thursday :tomato:

I don't have time to read books, that's why I listen them. LOL

Almost done with Swords of the Truth - Stone of the Tears by Terry Goodkind. I've already read the book, but it's still very interesting and entertaining.

24 tapes :blink: are great to listen while driving to school or to work. ;)

I totally agree! I love Robert Jordan, but I think he's taking the bounds of consumerism a bit too far! He should just FINISH the series already, instead of trying to stretch it out as long as possible without ending it!!! :tai:

I love it too, thanks :D

As for Tolkien... I'm sure this is going to be a rather unpopular opinion, but I'll throw it out anyway...

I think one of the only reasons Tolkien is revered is because he was the first real fantasy author, imho. He's primarily an historian and a linguist, and it really shows in his writing. It's so dry, and well, in many cases, boring. Many of the characters are flat, they don't really develop as characters at all, and are seen from the perspective of a person who studies history... in the sense that all you really see is their actions as one piece of a whole, which is cool and all, but they're still really boring. In the case of some characters, he shows growth, but in comparison to what could have been possible, I just find myself somewhat unimpressed.

To his credit, the depth of the world he created is what really makes him stand out as an author. But really, I just don't feel he's "all that." LOTR was awesome, but... I've just read a whole lot better.

For me books on tapes are very stupid idea. It takes much more time to read (listen to it), it's harder for me to imagine when someone is reading tahn i read by myself, and i get bored with that listening thing very fast. Not for me!

Plus you don't get to imagine characters' voices yourself - witness Tony Robinson reading the Discworld books.

I agree with Tai on Tolkien too - very overrated as a writer, but interesting as an historian and a linguist, and as the father of modern fantasy writing.

I'll have to jump in on Tai's little train of opinions. Tolkien IS overrated. If there's one thing he did well, it was setting, but his setting becomes too much with too many words... And whenever a character is introduced, we get to hear of the rest of their family as well. As for his fight-scenes; :yawn:.

But, no Tolkien, no fantasy, and I have to admit that his imagination and love for his world was great. He wanted to make a mythology for Britian, and it really shows in the first 100 pages of Silmarillion. Jeez. So many names :blink:.

I agree with you totally tai.I even think I post something simmiliar waaay back in some other book discussion thread.
LOTR saga was quite boring and dry and more or less unimpressive.(I just repeated your words :tai: ...)
Anyway he was first,and this credit cant be taken, but I wonder how would fantasy genre evolve if there wasnt Tolkien....

Exactly my opinion. I have to drive between 100 and 400 km per day. Sometimes you'll reach the point when listening to music or radio gets just too boring. Audiobooks are a fine solution then. :ok: I have bought most of my audiobooks after reading the "hardcopy", however. Therefore it's more of a re-listening, and I can easily miss some parts without loosing the storyline and having to rewind the tape.

Wow, and I thought I was really going to get it for saying that, hehe. :D

I don't read books very often, if I do, I prefer fantasy and political ones...
"Animal Farm" would be my favourite book, that's for sure...

Orwell was a genius, and scarily prescient. Nineteen Eighty-Four is excellent, Animal Farm was interesting but I found the allegory a little transparent.

I wasn't able to read the whole version of 1984 (my sister borrowed it to someone), only a shortened English version(40 pages), so I can't really make a real judgement on that book, I am sure it is great, but how much I'll have to read it... (I'm to lazy to go to the library somehow)

I think it's pretty short, actually. Only something between 250 and 350 pages (depending on the edition). And it's definitely worth reading, Tulac. If you don't want to go to the library to get it, you can try the Project Gutenberg e-text or a slightly more legible e-text. :D

Whoa! Thanks :kosta:
(I am not Tulac, but I wanted to read 1984 pretty long time) :tai:

Ive never read 1984 but ive heard its really interesting
but i have read a book of the same genre i found interesting:
The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy! it was a cool book :D

David Eddings Belgariad and Mallorean series are some of the best books I have ever read, the two that followed weren't all that great as you know pretty much everything in them from reading the first 10 books.

@Iron Scarecrow:

I totally concur. David Eddings freaking rocks.

About 1984, it really is a great novel, and so originally presented. Orwell is a master of political commentary, imho. If you haven't read it, you definitely should.

Catcher in the Rye is another of my "classical" favorites.

L. Ron Hubbard also wrote a decology called Mission Earth.
Brilliantly funny and a great sci-fi adventure.

I bought and read the first 9 books, but could never manage to find the tenth one so I never read the last one...

I thought Battlefield Earth was Excellent, I thought the movie was a washout...
I found the second half of the book more mesmerising than the first half. and the second half of the book is what they left out of the movie.

I am not so sure if it was the writing style of the book so much as the setting, I love any story that deals with a sort of post apocolyptic world and how the survivors put back together the pieces.

The Sci Fi factor puts an interesting twist and makes a change from the Stand or somesuch... :max:

Has anyone read any Terry Pratchett? They (also)RRRROCK!!

I saw the movie, but I haven't heard about that Oscar!! Interesting!

I'll check that Scherfig book out! The only one I've read by him is Det Forsömte For?r. I didn't really like it when reading it, but afterwards it is actually good!!
I have an exam on it next Thursday :tomato: [/b][/quote]
Holy crap! Exam next week! Just remember that the cronic innocence is, in fact the main character (not Janus, but his friend, whatever his name is). As long as you say that you're guaranteed a passing grade. And, yeah, check out Frydendal, it really is a good book.

Edvard Elleström?
The mama's boy?

erm, not even remotely the same genre there - Nineteen Eighty-Four is about trying to live in a nightmarish futuristic police state (and is where the terms Room 101 and Big Brother come from) whereas H2G2 is a series of comedy books of very British humour by the late Douglas Adams, based on the original radio series. There's a new film version of it out soon, too.

Well we did have at least one similar discusion in the past HERE, but that was about writers. So here's about books:

The End of Childhood, 2001, 2010, 2061, 3001, The planet of seven suns, Meeting with Rama, Songs of distant earth,... (Arthur Charles Clarke).

The Fundation (the whole triple trilogy - 9 books by Isac Assimov).

The jurney to the middle of the earth, 20.000 leagues under the sea, The Fifteen year old captain (not sure about the english title), The voyage to the moon,... (by Julius Verne).

The Essey on Blindnes, The Notes from a Monastery,... (by nobel prize winner Jose Saramago).

Process - by Robert London (biography of a communist who got arrested during the party cleansing in Checkoslovakia).

Paleandra, The letters of experianced devil,... (by C. J. Lewis).

On the Road - Jack Karuac

The name of the Rose - Umberto Eco

Jurasic Park (trilogy), Time Trap, The Rising Sun,... (by Michael Crichton).

Most of the murder mysteries by Agatha Christie.

The Lost World, The adventures of Speckled band, The Hound of Baskervilles,... (by Arthur Charles Dyle).

The adventures of the three musketeers, Twenty years later, The Black Tulip,... (by Alexander Dumas).

TRUST ME... this list could go on and on and on and on...

EDIT - see, just can't stop adding:
Huxley - A brave new world
Orwel - Animal Farm, 1984
Duglas - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Burges - A Clockwork Orange
??? - Budha of the Suburbs
Hesse - Sidharta

Finally someone mentions Anthony Burgess :D! A Clockwork Orange was brilliant, as was the movie. Too bad Kubrick ditched the last chapter for his screenplay, but it works as it is in my opinion.

Stephen King is also pretty good. A tad surprised I'm the first to mention him though :ph34r:.

I'm a big fan of stephen kings movies, but not really his books. I find he drags things out too much, and I find it easy to get bored when the story just seems to be filling in the gaps between the good bits.

For Horror / Thriller the best writers have to be Brian Lumley and Clive Barker, IMHO. :twisted:

As I already said, I am listening while driving, and books I listen are one that I already have read.


@Bobbin - same here.


@flop - Battlefield Earth is one of the books that I could not stop reading, after I started. In my country book was separated in to two books, battlefield and earth, and as Marek already said, second is much more intense then first. I was very disappointed with the movie, as it did not even scratch the book. (If made properly, should be long at least 6-8 hours IMHO)


@everyone - Terry Goodkind anyone?

I think it depends on what book you're reading by him. I find Dreamcatcher, The Shining, and Carrie to be his best. Insomnia dragged too much; it was a pain to read it.

Delores Clairborne was a good Movie-From-A-Book

I haven't read many Stephen King's books, but all of them were fine, except one. Firestarter. It was so boring that I stopped reading after about 200 pages. I always finish the book, even if I don't like it so nuch, but this one I couldn't :sick:

I've only watched only few movies made from King's books and Christine was the best for me. The worst movie was Dreamcatcher - extremly boring (I haven't read the book yet)

I thought the movie was just trash entertainment. It was worth it just to see the sick look in the eyes of that guy who is controlled by Mister Gray. I don't really remember much from Dreamcatcher, other than that I wished it was longer... But hey, that's the ninth grade for you :D. Haven't read Firestarter though.

I think it depends on what book you're reading by him. I find Dreamcatcher, The Shining, and Carrie to be his best. Insomnia dragged too much; it was a pain to read it. [/b][/quote]
what about the bachman books? they were mostly snappy short and to the point especially the amazing running mAn. cmon the movie was a huge steaming pile of poo compared to the book, ie: they were nothing like each other, i think they musta driven a huge lorry full of money to his house for him to allow them to turn his book into that abortion of a movie. and people who love the running man movie before you flame me read the book, it is probably my fave book of all time and evry time i see governer arnold gurning his way thru it it makes me wanna throw things at the tv, :ranting: generally i jus change the channel tho.
seriosly if u havnt read running man, get the bachman books and check it out.
unlike a lot of his writing it actually has a message.
o and robert rankin ruuules check out armegeddon the musicall, if there was no robert rankin there would be no pratchett! :ok:

Stephen King wasn't actually involved with the production of the Running Man films though was he?
The ones where he's assistant producer or whatever are usually quite good.

And I've just looked up Robert Rankin.. think I'll give him a try. (By the look of things he's been writing for longer than Pratchett - but his newer book covers seem to be more a copy of Pratchetts).

book covers maybe but thats jus cuz they hoping to catch the pratchett markett, rankin always been a bit more underground. and he writes a lot so unfortunatly the quality varies, to dig his style i recomend u start with the brentford trilogy or armegeddon the musicall.

back to king ....
why god did he sell the running man, a movie based more on the book would have ruuuuled

Well the reason for that is acutally quite funny!
Kubrick didn't know how the book ends! REALLY!!!
The US edition of the book lacked the last chapter - it was purpously omited. Kubrick didn't know that and it was only half a year after the movie premiere that he met with Anthony Burges and he was wondering why Stanly left the ending out.

:ok: The comparison of both (book vs. movie) was my diploma thesis!

I too have to agree with A Clockwork Orange, I haven't seen much of the flim yet (up until he gets caught by the police) but I've read the entire book and I enjoyed all of it, it's in the same mould as 1984 (rebelious person living under an oppressive government get caught and brainwashed). As my mum once said "Burgess is a master."

EDIT: Why did the US version leave out the last chapter? It's the one that puts the entire book in context, taking out that chapter changes the whole message of the book.

Probably someone didn't like it that Alex doesn't really get "cured" for good. I think a friend once told me it's still missing from some editions, but I haven't checked.

Hey, does anybody like Greg Bear's books? I think they're awesome. My favorite at the moment is a close scrape between Dead Lines, EON and The Forge of God.
I heard that The Forge of God and The Anvil of Stars are being made into a Hollywood blockbuster sometime soon. Cool, eh?

(sorry to change the subject, the closest I've seen to "A Clockwork Orange" is "Blow Up" ;) )

Hold on, just to check that I haven't got a chopped down edition, the last chapter is the one where he imagines having a son and ends up walking off to start a new life, right?

||| SPOILERS :Brain: |||








Yes.







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That's right Havell.
It's that chapter that shows all the ultra-volence of Alex only as a phase of puberty really. Something he'd grow out off - just like everybody else (George did too - from his old gang).
The movie ending is :sneaky: because the movie ends with Alex and the PM being the best of friends and Alex getting a nice well paid job as a compensation for what has been done to him. There's no talk about a new gang and Alex' changed state of mind... You know, when he realises that he SPOILS THE END OF THE BOOK!

Actually, it was Pete who got married, George got killed while Alex was in prison :tomato:

*blushes really hard*
Sorry... you're right.

I like the Redwall series, the discworld series, a series of unfortunate events, the books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and the books by H.P. Lovecraft.

Series of Unfortunate events was all right....
i didnt like the mivie though.... :not_ok:

It's fun to respond to the third post of a six-page thread! I'm a huge Neal Stephenson fan. I remember liking The Diamond Age, but not nearly as much as Snow Crash, which is quite possibly still my favorite novel of all time. His Cryptonomicon is also quite good (and quite long). I haven't read any of the Baroque Cycle yet, though I plan to eventually.

How has this thread progressed this far with no mention of Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Seriously.

:D

I like Snow Crash a lot, but it's the fantasy undertones (and nanotechnology - which is just freaking COOL, man) that gets me about Diamond Age.

Neal Stephenson really is the man.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is actually incredible, too.

woooo a book thread! My recent reading conquests:
Icefire by Chris d'Lacey
Fire Ice by Clive Cussler (hehe)
Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon(second time for all), all by R.E. Fiest
The Supernaturalist by the guy who did Artemis Fowl...
Reading Prince of the Blood by R.E. Fiest at school, so I never get more than 6 pages a week done in that.
Haven't chosen my other new book since I finished Icefire last night

some others I've read before...
Magician, Silverthorn, A Darkness at Sethanon, Prince of the Blood and The King's Buccaneer all by R.E. Fiest
Raise the Titanic and various other books by Clive Cussler
Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident (?) and Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by whatshisname
The Hobbit
LOTR 1 and about 2/3 of the way through LOTR 2 (must re-read)

Thats all that comes to mind right now.. so thats my list ^^

I read Silverfin too, it's really quite good. The Artemis Fowl books are also great.

I see there are a lot of fantasy fans here, but am I really the only one who has read A Song of Ice and Fire? If so, you guys are really missing out. Those are the best books I've read in years, and they easily constitute the best fantasy I've ever read (beside Tolkien, of course).

Eoin Colfer. :D

I always add to some parts late but on horror/thriller, the worst book I have ever read is Welcome Back to the Night by Elizabeth Massie, this book really freaked me out, after reading the part where Rex told some guy to cut off his own penis or he would kill him well the guy got halfway through cutting it off then he freaked out so Rex cut his throat then cut off some chicks breast, anyway after reading this part I had to put the book down and go do something else for a while.

Here's a list of some of the books I've read, and would recommend to others:

Witchcraft: A History - P.G. Maxwell Stuart 2000

Techniques of High Magic - Francis King / Stephen Skinner 1976

The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Magic - Venetia Newall 1974

How To uncover Your Past Lives - Ted Andrews 1998

Everyday Magic - Marian Green 1995

The Golden Dawn: Twilight of the Magicians - R.A. Gilbert 1983

Your Psychic Power: A Beginners Guide - Craig Hamilton-Parker 1996

Magic: An Occult Primer - David Conway 1988

Life Magic: The Power of Positive Witchcraft - Susan Bowes 1999

The Complete Book of Spells, Ceremonies and Magic - Migene Gonzalez-Whippler 1978

Crones Book of Magical Words - Valerie Worth 1971

The History and Practice of Magic - Paul Christian1972

How To Be a Real Witch - Deborah Gray

7 Days to a Magickal new You - Fiona Horne

Al Azif Ye Book of Ye Arab - Abdul Alhazred (translated by Ken Ottinger) - etext

Meditation - Aleister Crowley

Guide for the Solitary Practioner - Scott Cunningham

Bucklands Complete book of Witchcraft - Raymond Buckland

The Celestine Prophecy

The Mists of Avalon - Marion Bradley

Terry Goodkind:

Wizard’s first rule

Stone of tears

Blood of the fold

Temple of the winds

Soul of the fire

Faith of the fallen

Stephen King:

Carrie

'Salems Lot

The Shining

Night Shift

The Stand

Christine

The Talisman

Pet Semetary

It

Misery

The Tommy Knockers

The Dark Half

Four Past Midnight

Needful Things

Gerald's Game

Dolores Claiborne

Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Insomnia

Rose Madder

Desperation

The Dark Tower: I The Gunslinger

The Dark Tower: II the Drawing of the Three

The Dark Tower: III The Waste Lands

The Dark Tower: IV Wizard and Glass

The Dark Tower: V Wolves of the Calla

The Dark Tower: VI Song of Susannah

The Dark Tower VII The Dark Tower

Thinner

The Bachman Books

The Regualtors

Raymond E. Feist:

Magician

Silverthorn

A Darkness at Sethanon

Faerie Tale

Prince of the Blood

The King's Buccaneer

Shawdow of a Dark Queen

Rise of a Merchant Prince

Rage of a Demon King

Shards of a Broken Crown

Daughter of the Empire

Servant of the Empire

Mistress of the Empire

Tear of the Gods

Betrayal at Krondor

Murder in LaMut

Honered Enemy

Talon of the Silver Hawk

King of the Foxes

Exiles Return

David Eddings:

Pawn of the Prophecy

Queen of Sorcery

Magician's Gambit

Castle of Wizardry

Enchanters End Game

Guardians of the West

King of the Murgos

Demon King of Karanda

Sorceress of Darshiva

The Seeress of Kell

The Diamond Throne

The Ruby Knight

The Sapphire Rose

Domes of Fire

The Shining Ones

The Hidden City

Belgareth the Sorcerer

Polgara the Sorceress

The Riven Codex

The Redemtion of Althalus

The Elder Gods

Dean Koontz:

Dragon Tears

Hideaway

Cold Fire

The Bad Place

Midnight

Lightning

Watchers

The Servants of Twilight

Shadowfires

The Eyes of Darkness

The Door to December

The House of Thunder

The Key to Midnight

The Mask

The Face of Fear

Strangers

Darkness Comes

Chase

Whispers

Twilight Eyes

Shattered

Night Chills

Phantoms

Mr Murder

Intensity

Anne Rice:

Interview with the Vampire

The Vampire Lestat

The Queen of the Damned

The Tale of the Body Theif

Memnoch the Devil

Vittorio, The Vampire

Merrick

Blood and Gold

Blackwood Farm

Blood Canticle

The Witching Hour

Lasher

Taltos

The Mummy

Pandora

The Di Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Bram Stoker - Dracula

Mary Stewart - The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, Wildfire at Midnight

The Hobbit - J.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - J.R. Tolkien

Unfinished Tales - J.R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion - J.R. Tolkien

Harry Potter Series

The Fifth Sorceress - Robert Newcomb

Anne of Green Gables Series

Numerous Sydney Sheldon

Numerous Danille Steel

Numerous Virginia Andrews

So.....Troubled

Wow!! Thats alotta books...ive probably read that many but culdnt remember!! LOL
I really like the Stephen King books, though! :D

hey troubled, really odd to see amongst some very hardcore occultist texts, (especially the golden dawn system, ouch that dope feind came out with some effective spells) you list ..... harry potter!! agggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

my fav book has to be eragon its such a nice fantasy book and i cant wait for the sequals

Looks like an amazon search for "fantasy" and "magic" as keywords to me.

actually i think you are right, no one in there right minds is gonna type for that long, let alone read all dat stuff, an i cannot, jus cannot imagine a crowley fanatic liking harry potter, it just seems wrong somehow.

Harry Potter is actually quite good *hides from lynch mob*. I started reading Harry Potter before it became famous (and literally NOBODY in my school had heard of him) I just carried on reading it as it became famous.

I also like the Harry Potter books. The fifth chapter was a bit dull, though. My favourites clearly are parts 3 and 4.

When The Order of the Phoenix was released on Halloween last year, we had a special action here in Germany. You could pre-order the book and it was guaranteed that you receive it on the Halloween's eve. Just at 10 o clock, I had a very angry postman ringing my bell and shouting "Here, your Potter!". I asked him, what was the problem, and he showed me the trunk of his car. It was stuffed with packages reading Amazon.de and they all had the same size... quite funny.

I myself don't like Harry Potter, I liked it a few years ago but then I read LOTR, and started reading other fantasy books, and somehow Harry Potter got boring...

*lynch mob brings sniffer dogs*

I love harry potter and lord of the rings :w00t:

u must be well chuffed that you are now a HOBBIT!

I tried Harry Potter once, didn't like it. I always got the feeling she was simply stealing ideas from other authors. LOTR is so-so. Sometimes its like two different people with two different styles are writing it and the transition from one style to the other is often annoying (this is very notable in the second book after the fall of Isengard)
Tolkien is also a terrible poet in my opinion.

Well, that's what teaching Old English poetry does to you, I suppose. There is some great OE poetry, but some of it is pretty lousy.

Excuse me but I do learn old english poetry in school (in fact tolkien's works aren't old enough to be considered old english)
His poetry is dry and flavourless. Poetry is about emotions or anti-emotions (which is eventually the same) , Tolkien writes poetry in order to put someone else's emotions into words, a fictional character's emotions... and this doesn't work (at least not for him)

I think Raffles was saying that Tolkien taught it and that was why his own efforts are so dry and awfully dull.

Harry potter sucks - it's so incredibly mediocre, and the films are even worse - that kid couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. There are many many children's books which are far far better, especially for adults as well as kids (like Pratchett's and A Series of Unfortunate Events).

I also think the Harry POtter books are pretty sweet! :D
my favorite is the third one...Prisoner of Azkaban...
SIRIUS is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! :kosta:

I also start reading HP before it actually became famous...It is more or less mediocore serie and a little too childish for me.And I REALLY dont understand why there is so much fuss around it :blink:
I dont like LOTR either.It is boring and dry, especially thanks to four pages description-one page story style Tolkien wrote it. :yawn:

I am doing a degree in English Lit as well, so the stuff I read is probably quite different from what "normal" people read.

I am big fan of Scottish Lit (I know, they talk funny, but a lot of them can actually write quite well) and would definetely recommend Iain (M.) Banks. He calls himself Iain Banks when writing "regular" fiction, of which I would strongly recommend The Bridge and to a lesser extent The Wasp Factory. For some reason he calls himself Iain M. Banks when writing science fiction, of which I would strongly recommend Consider Phlebas, Feersum Enjin and maybe The Player of Games.
One of my alltime favourites is Alan Warner: Morvern Callar.

Looking at American Lit, I seem to be one of the few people who liked Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club better than the movie version. The short stories of Edgar Allan Poe still rock today.

When it comes to German Lit, I would very strongly recommend anything from Franz Kafka, especially Die Verwandlung/The Metamorphosis and Der Proceß/The Trial.
I'd also strongly recommend Erich Maria Remarque: Im Westen Nichts Neues/All Quite on the Western Front which is just breathtaking.
In both cases, I am not sure how well the English translations are, though.

Anyway, I would strongly recommend to anyone to read at all, what you actually read is secondary in my opinion. ;)

Ive never heard of any of those!! i feel dumb-founded :blink: :blink:
But i have heard of Edgar Allen Poe
HES AWESOME i love Cask of Amontillado, The LAke,and Tell-Tale Heart are sum of my favs!! :D

I fully agree with you.Both Kafka and Remarque are awesome :w00t: :kosta: :kosta: :kosta:
I like Kafka more than Remarque.All Kafkas books/novels are very good(and often weird :blink: ) but the only Remarques books I like are All quite on the Western Front and Three Friends?-dont know exact translation into english/deutsh(I really hope it is from him LOL )

once again.... :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:
LOL

But you have certainly seen the movie version of Fight Club (Brad Pitt, Edward Norton)?

If not [Kiefer Sutherland voice]DO IT! DO IT, NOW!!![/Kiefer Sutherland voice] (Or even better: read the book. ;))

Ohh yeh!
Ive seen that movie!! It was cool! :ok:
kinda weird though... :whistle:

omq and drumminfreek, that's only the books on the bookcases in my computer room. And I agree, golden dawn and harry potter = seriously conflicting systems.

Troubled

Yes, that's what I meant. I think he actually meant to imitate Anglo-Saxon poetry, but maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all. The Lord of the Rings is actually full of Old English. Just look at the Rohirrim: they're basically Tolkien's idea of the Anglo-Saxons. He even nicked some of their names from Old English literature.

About Harry Potter: that hype in connection with it is certainly not justified, but the books aren't THAT bad either. I'd say they're decent children's books, no more no less. Nothing wrong with reading them, but there's better things around. But all the fuss that's made about them is just ridiculous.
Bloomsbury has actually compiled a catalogue of rules for booksellers in connection with the new book: among other things they're supposed to cover the boxes, put them into a locked room which nobody can get into and not only are they not allowed to sell the book before time, they're not even allowed to read it themselves (which is sort of idiotic considering they're supposed to be selling them). And on "Potter Day" they mustn't start selling the books before 0:00 GMT. Booksellers in other time zones are not allowed to sell them any sooner.http://mordor.uni.cc/forum/style_emo...ult/swoon2.gif

Oh yeah, here's some more:
Edgar Alan Poe (both prose and poetry),
Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Grey, De Profundes, His Fairytales for the grownups...
John Steinbeck - East of Eden;
Tennessee Williams: Night of Iguana, A streetcar named desire, Cat on a hot tin roof;
Samuel Backet: Waiting for Godot;
Jaroslav Boček - The Case of Dr. Karpeta;
Stanislav Lem: The adventures of space pilot Pyxs;
Frenk Bükvič - The bus of fools;
Edvin Fliser: Magicians aprentence;
J. R. R. Tolkien: Sillmarilion (other works aren't really that good);
Enid Blyton: The Famous Five :rolleyes: (my childhood memories :whistle: );

I'll keep posting, cos I konw there's plenty more, just can't remeber it right now...

I used to devour Enid Blyton when I was small, but they're pretty naff in hindsight. Not quite as unpalatable as Narnia is now though - the outmoded dialogue and unpleasant religious content stopped me from reading them again when I last tried.

I liked all of the LOTR books...
my favorite....The Hobbit :ok:

Who said I was a crowley fanatic?? About 10% of his work has some merit, the rest is as nuts as he was. I read his works on meditation and after you sought through his BS, there's actually some useful information, although I don't think meditating for 11 hours a day productive. You can try it and let us know.

Really? Because from what I've heard, the general opinion is that this book is worse...
It wasn't quite finished, and everything is messed up in the book, that's what others have told me, so I didn't take my time to read it...

Well Sillmarilion was his crown work - but he never published it.
It was the story he started writing still during world war 1. It was a complete story that tried to explain how the world came to be, how creatures were created, why different races behave the way they do...
Actually it was more of a pseudo-religious text then anything else. The other works were simply side-stories to this work.
Of course Silmarillion never got that popular - it's not so much into heroic tales - it's more a history book of the Middle Earth.
After J.R.R. died his son published Silmarillion - but he also had to edit it and make a sort of conclusion. Tolkien himself never felt the book was completely ready for the public!

the silmarillion is liked by a lotta peeps tho, it kinda reads like the bible, i suppose it is the bible for middle earth fans tho. better is to read the bible i guess, i have read it, (along with the koran, the gita, an some tibeten stuff) and before u diss me let me tell u the bible is full of war, incest, rape, murder, famine, love, death, an black magic (i shall harden his heart ...) well the old testement anyway so its got something for evryone :ok:

I haven't read the book myself, but I can tell that I won't like it for three reasons...

:ranting:
1. Paolini (the writer) had to publish it for himself because no publisher would touch his story to begin with.
2. The title is the definition of the word 'lame'. Quiz: what do you get if you swap the D in 'dragon' with an E?
3. Other people who have read the book has told me it was predicable and without charm. And that the ending was a rip-off of Two Towers.

:tomato:

Sorry to go rambling like that, but I can't take bad fantasy. It's always the same; some evil ruler, some magical item, some lost order, some unlikely hero. Hey, it worked in LotR, but don't rip it off all the time just because it sells. Be creative; it's what fiction writing is all about.

If you like fantasy, there's a whole load better books out there for you to read.

Thank you for the chance to express my hate for cheap fantasy.

Ugh... LoTR. Pseudo-religious rubbish if you ask me. Even the last book has a reference to Jesus/God in it. Also the entire plot is not as involving as those who have seen the films only may think.

The films take the best bits of the books and make them larger. Helm's Deep in the books is about 30 pages, 1/16 of it. In the film it's about 1/3.

But there you are. I like the Wheel of Time books. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is a nice book too.

have you read Hat Full of Sky? I thought he really hit on how to do kids' books on the Discworld there, the first 2 were a bit shaky (like the early Discworld novels - good but have shaky moments). Anyone else confused by the way he's started writing in chapters?

nope sorry never read it :D

Hat full of Sky? :blink:
It is his newest one?I have never read this one....
Btw he wrote in chapters or "chapters" before....(Colour of Magic for example)

newest children's one, yeah. it's the sequel to The Wee Free Men (but is much better). Hadn't realised that about CoM.

WHats the name of that author...it sounds pretty interesting and i might start reading them :D :ok: :D

Terry Pratchet
One of the best writers around(by my opinion at least :whistle:)

ill havta look into him....
THANX!! :ok:

Has any of you read Jasper Fforde's books, by the way? He has a sort of Pratchet-ty style (well, sort of). The Eyre Affair in particular is a great book.

nice 1 for the link, will check it out. real shame that this link was on the same page, dam potter. where is there a kill potter flash game? it must exist ...

Probably not. J.K. Rowling would sue its maker in no time. She sues everybody. :ph34r:

Its very well written, I liked it eventhough I'm used to something a bit more... deep.
And I, too, am puzzled by his sudden use of chapters.
I think its because quite a few book reviewers pointed out this is a bad and clumsy way to write and read.

u mean like 2 fingers to the people who have praised him for not using chapters? could be strog. a book of his im amazed to not see here considering this is a retro games forum is only u can save mankind, its definatley had its space combat scenes inspired by elite or frontier, an was one of my faveorate books as a child!

if u aint re4ad it do, its not strictly a kiddie book an it questions the way we always portray alien species, definatly on my list.

Two fingers? I wonder where he got them from... :sneaky:

hahahahahahah. yeah, from his aunt??????
:ot: could u check out my dfend tutorial in troubleshooting, its my first tutorial an i wanna see if it passes the exacting standereds of you guys ... (not fishing, jus wanna makes sure it makes sense)

Just finished reading Kafka's The Judgement... Always a double psychological work to read Kafka, as his books are already filled with ideas, thoughts, and then we get to explore his own life by looking at the outside, the basics of the book it's himself reflected. Simply amazing.

And to think he wanted them all destroyed.

Sometimes pain is unbearable, specially when it's inflicted from those who are close.

Anyone else read William Gibson? I thought Pattern Recognition was his best in a long time, right up there with Neuromancer and its two sequels.

agreed. that man is responsible for so much, he has inspired comics, movies even musicians (and of course countless writers) shame jhonny mneumonic ended the way it did, the first half o the movie was awesome :ok:

Yeah, Gibson rocks. His cyberpunk trilogy is truly excellent.