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[Timpsi]

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.

[Spookyfish]

Originally posted by A. J. Raffles@Apr 21 2005, 09:45 AM
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.

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 .

- 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.

[A. J. Raffles]

Originally posted by Spookyfish@Apr 21 2005, 10:00 AM
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 .

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.

[Marek]

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 )
Treasure Island,
LOTR,
Hobbit

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

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

[Marek]

Originally posted by A. J. Raffles+Apr 21 2005, 10:20 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (A. J. Raffles @ Apr 21 2005, 10:20 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Spookyfish@Apr 21 2005, 10:00 AM
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 .

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

[BeefontheBone]

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).

[TheSmyth]

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.

[BeefontheBone]

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.

[Lizard]

Originally posted by BeefontheBone@Apr 21 2005, 01:04 PM
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 )
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...

[A. J. Raffles]

Originally posted by Lizard@Apr 21 2005, 12:24 PM
...Issac Asimov(but if I would met him in person, I would probably HATE him....)

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