THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: onewheelwizzard on 22 Jul 2005, 10:04
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It surprises me that there appears to be no thread in which forums members can talk about books and literature. I was so surprised, in fact, that I involuntarily reached for the mouse and before I knew it I was typing this. Well, I've gotten this far, I might as well actually start a discussion.
I don't pretend to be the biggest or most avid reader in the world, but I sure as hell do like me some good books. Here's my current list of authors to be all up ons:
Tom Robbins. OK, I promise not to write a whole long drawn-out blurb abour EVERY author or book I put up here, but Tom Robbins is special. Tom Robbins is special because he is simply the best writer currently operating in the English language. You should go out and buy a Tom Robbins book tomorrow (today if you've got time) and read it immediately. Yes, I mean every one of you. He is that good. I can guarantee with at least 94% certainty that you will like him a whole lot, and about 60% of you that actually do read his books will call him your favorite author after getting halfway through the second one you read. I'd start a sentence with "For a good idea of what to expect, imagine ... " but I would be unable to end it satisfactorily because his writing is so far ahead of just about anyone ever that there's simply no comparison to be made.
Now that I've got that out of the way, here are some other authors you should try out.
Neal Stephenson
Khalil GIbran
Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman
Angela Carter
C. D. Payne
That's an incomplete list but you should only need to look at it after you've read a Tom Robbins book or three. Oh man.
Discuss!
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I read all the bloody time, but you have to LIKE the books that I do to have to want to read any of them...I read those romantic comedies, fluffy books that don't require too much intensive thinking. Jennifer Crusie has to be my favorite fluffy author. Other than her, I read Janet Evanovich (the Stephanie Plum series) and just love her.. When you can get hooked on a series of books, you know the writer has at least a smidgen of talent. I used to be hooked on Chuck Palahnuik, Aldius Huxley (sp?) and stuff like that, but I don't read them much anymore.
I really don't have a lot of favorite authors recently because I have a library in my house and I just find a title that looks good. It's been working, so I'm sticking with that way of picking them out.
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as i've said before; if you like pratchett, check out piers anthony. he is the man. much better writer than pratchett, but the humor isn't as prevalent
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Tom Robbins...I'll check him out. C.D. Payne. Is that the Youth in Revolt/Revolting Youth guy?
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I have to second that, Piers Anthony has some good stuff.
One of my favorite books is:
With A Single Spell
by Watt-Evans, Lawrence
I read it when young though so I'm probably prejudice.
I enjoy Neal Stephenson also.
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a couple of my fav books
grapes of wrath
cather in the rye
brave new world (it's Aldous Huxley, not pronounced Aldius and how, it's pronounced Aldoo, but not blatently americanized)
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i just reread the Golden compass series, by Phillip Pullman. Definitely a good read if you like fantasy/adventure type. it keeps you page turning.
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I really enjoy Janet Evanovich books. I don't know why, but I do. They're fun.
I read a lot more fluffy stuff that I'm willing to admit. Most of it is pretty standard fantasy/sci-fi stuff. Right now my favorite throwaway fantasy writer is Carol Berg. Her plots and characters are really extremely engaging. There's little to say beyond that, but if you want a book that'll make sure you keep reading it until it's over, get one of hers. Elizabeth Haydon is similar in that regard, she's also a high quality fantasy writer.
C. D. Payne ... yes, he wrote Youth In Revolt, and that is one of the funniest books EVER written. He also wrote Frisco Pigeon Mambo. It's about talking pigeons who think they're human and rob liquor stores. It's amazing.
I almost got into Piers Anthony, and what I have read of his is really quite enjoyable. But I find that Pratchett's work, particularly the more recent stuff, trumps it in just about every category. "Thief of Time," "The Truth," and "Jingo" are good examples of Pratchett at his prime.
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I mostly read speculative fiction. My favourite authors are Iain Banks, Philip K. Dick, J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, Adam Roberts, Urusula K. LeGuin, Peter F. Hamilton, Dorothy L. Sayers, Umberto Eco, Anne Rice, Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, William Gibson, Harry Harrison (His old material especially), the sci-fi big three (Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein), Philip Jose Farmer...etc.
Out of all those, if I was to pick five books you MUST read before death:
Ursula K LeGuin - The Left Hand of Darkness
Iain Banks - The Bridge
Harry Harrison - Bill, The Galactic Hero
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of The Rings (The films are NOT a substitute. Force yourself through the dull bits)
Kim Stanley Robinson - The Years of Rice and Salt
Get crackin'
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J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of The Rings (The films are NOT a substitute. Force yourself through the dull bits)
Why would you think that everyone should read before death a series which you admit has "dull bits" through which a reader must "force" her/himself?
(I say this having read the series and forced myself through the dull bits. It was good, just not requisite.)
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Because The Lord of the Rings is a landmark work of unbelievable importance in English language fiction, single-handedly inventing an entire genre and reconstructing an entire anglo-saxon mythology from years of painstaking research and work. It is also a joy to read, and one of the most meticulously constructed works in any genre ever. I just appreciate some people might not 'get it'.*
I first read it when I was 10.
*That said, I don't think I've got through all the ringbearers quest more than twice in the five or six times I've read it.
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that out of the way, here are some other authors you should try out.
Neal Stephenson
Khalil GIbran
Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman
Angela Carter
C. D. Payne
That list with no William Gibson? For shame!
Anyways, other authors:
J.D. Salinger
Really, Catcher in the Rye is awesome, but so is just about everything else by Salinger. He's pretty much an angsty Kerouac. Which is not a bad thing.
Shirley Jackson
Oh! More angst! She wrote horror, sort of, and just simple stories about alienation and going crazy. Her short story "The Lottery" is a classic among classics, and most of her fiction is damned good. She can't write an ending worth a damn, but that's okay by me, because endings are overrated anyways. Hangsaman is worth reading, as is The Haunting of Hill House and The Road through the Wall. And of course "The Lottery."
Jack Kerouac
Just read him. For your own good. Seriously. On the Road is the obvious choice.
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I first read Lord of the Rings when I was 10 or so too. It might just be the greatest literary work in the history of English.
Before I get flamed for saying that, let me just present my reasoning ... Lord of the Rings is not particularly exceptional when it comes to prose. Tolkien's writing can be dense and unnecessarily obscure (not to any severe degree, but still), and his plot might look a little hackneyed if you look at it from the perspective of someone who read his followers' works with the same eye. But in terms of scope and vision, Tolkien was completely unparalleled. His creative output trumps that of just about every author I've ever read. He created entire languages and cultures, formed a complex and intersting mythology for his world, and, effectively, created a universe every bit as full and complete as our own, all in his head. It wasn't just the books, it was the entire universe that they represented. Middle-Earth goes a long way beyond the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. In order to fully appreciate it you have to look into The Silmarillion and the many other works associated with its mythology and backstory. The complexity of Tolkien's vision just couldn't be communicated in one series.
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a couple of my fav books
grapes of wrath
cather in the rye
brave new world (it's Aldous Huxley, not pronounced Aldius and how, it's pronounced Aldoo, but not blatently americanized)
If you're a fan of Catcher, you should read the underappreciated Franny and Zooey by Salinger. Personally, I like it better.
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Because The Lord of the Rings is a landmark work of unbelievable importance in English language fiction, single-handedly inventing an entire genre and reconstructing an entire anglo-saxon mythology from years of painstaking research and work. It is also a joy to read, and one of the most meticulously constructed works in any genre ever. I just appreciate some people might not 'get it'.*
To be fair, there was indeed fantasy (even quest fantasy) before Tolkein. Lovecraft wrote it (Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, for example) as did many other authors. Tolkein definitely put in nods to Beowulf, Norse mythology (most of the characters' names were stolen directly), the King Arthur legend, and even Lovecraft (the watcher in the lake outside Moria, yeah, if that's not Lovecraftian....). He knew pretty well that he was walking in the footsteps of other people instead of treading new grounds. This has just been forgotten to large extents.
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@onewheel: Precisely. The only reason I've been able to re-read it so many times is the amazing depth. There's all the things you miss the first time (when the only other Tolkien works I'd read were The Hobbit and Farmer Giles of Ham, which is completely unrelated) that leap out once you've read the Silmarillion, or the history of Middle Earth...But the scope is, indeed, unparalleled. Think that tolkien invented every cliche. Almost every fantasy book after him has to some degree been based on his work, the breadth of his vision is IMPOSSIBLE to escape. Every stock cliche of the fantasy world: Elves, Orcs and everything else, all his. Also, Sindarin is almost certainly the greatest artificial language ever constructed. I've got to say my copy of Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite possessions: single volume, hardbacked, illustrated, beautiful dust-jacket and my poncy private school creative writing prize firmly stuck in the front.
@sp2: Yes, but all that came before was basically 'Tales of Mystery and the Imagination' type material. Tolkiens use of Arthur and Beowulf (as well as countless lesser known works) was of course deliberate: Tolkien was one of the greatest Beowulf scholars of his generation. The Lord of the Rings is, in his own words 'a reconstructed anglo-saxon mythology'.
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the lord of the rings DOES NOT have any "dull bits".
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Fan as I am, most of Book IV is pretty tedious on the second reading.
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um... what exactly is book IV about? i always confuse them...
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IV is the portion of the ringbearers quest in the Two towers. From round-about when they meet Smeagol to just after Shelobs cave. It livens up nicely at each end but it's rather drawn out in the middle.
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hm i didn't find that part *that* boring...
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It's not really the first time round.
As I said, it's when you know exactly what's going to happen that interest starts to wane.
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well... i enjoyed it every time i read it,... which is about 5 times in german and twice in english.
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What's Der Herr De Ringe (did I get that right?) like anyway? Translation wise and such. I've had thoughts about reading it in Icelandic, but have no idea where you'd get such a thing.
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welll der herr der ringe is really good, the translation is a bit old fashioned maybe, but still really nice to read, in my opinion. in german i especially liked the hobbit, the translation is really nice.
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The Hobbits closer to my German reading level, certainly.
Reading proper literature in foreign languages is something I always mean to get around to. I expect a German copy of the Hobbit with dictionary on stand-by would do more for my Grammar than a year or so of German lessons.
Anyway, back to other things, I mentioned The Left Hand of Darkness...anyone read it? Indeed, anyone read any Ursula K LeGuin at all apart from The Wizard of Earthsea etc. (Which are great books, don't get me wrong, but don't represent the best of her work imo) I think she rocked at your subtle, thought provoking 'Protest books': The Left Hand of Darkness and The Word For World is Forest particularly. Same with Anne McCafferey. She should have stuck to things like The Ship Who Sang rather than those endless Chronicles of Pern sequels. There are literally only four or five decent Pern Books before the whole thing gets over the top: The original trilogy, The White Dragon, and Dragonsdawn. Maybe Dragondrums as well...actually no.
Also, did she ever finish The Survivors? I only ever remember reading two of those. FINALLY, who here likes schlock pulp sci-fi? I love the stuff. Anyone who does should check out Edmund Cooper. He was one of my dads favourites for the same reasons, and I have almost his complete works, he's mostly out of print now though. In particular, Pratchett fans should get hold of Coopers 'The Last Continent', which Pratchett actually makes tributes/parodies/references to in the discworld book of the same title.
ALSO, anyone else love Pratchett's sci-fi stuff?
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I've read a lot of piers anthony, but I've felt I've grown out of it. I've been reading a lot of comics recently. Only book I've been reading I've been working on for two years now, the collected Justine by the Marquis De Sade.
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4 books you must read before you die:
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
1984 by George Orwell
Life of Pi (its by Yann Martel fyi)
To Kill A Mockingbird
Theres a lot more really, but these four are probably my favorites. I mean, stuff like harry potter rocks too though, like i said, this is just 4.
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the collected Justine by the Marquis De Sade.
Oh man, that was a sick sick sick book, albeit not as sick as Juliette.
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What's Der Herr De Ringe (did I get that right?) like anyway? Translation wise and such. I've had thoughts about reading it in Icelandic, but have no idea where you'd get such a thing.
Don't. The Icelandic version isn't as good, we don't have the words for many things Tolkien talks about, so the translation sounds rather silly. Also I believe that the original version of books are always better, exactly as the writer intended them.
That said we should all read as much H. P. Lovecraft as possible.
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1984 is genius, pure and simple. It's not for everyone, but it's airtight ... there's really nothing you can legitimately say against it as a work of literature.
Catcher in the Rye is a weird quandary ... it's so perfectly written that you realize how little it's actually saying (it is, after all, written from the point of view of an angsty adolescent, and therefore not particularly meaningful, all things considered). It doesn't present any new ideas, what little social commentary it contains is hardly groundbreaking or particularly perceptive, and I didn't see any valuable lessons to be learned in it. But it's such a 100% perfect rendition of what it's presenting that it's impossible to shrug at. Salinger's a great writer, but I can't say his work interests me to any great extent ... I'm long past the stage in my life when Catcher in the Rye was anything approaching relevant.
To Kill A Mockingbird is excellent, but it's excellent in low-key conventional ways. It's not something that will rework the way we think and act, but it is something that should be appreciated as a work of art. It's sort of like the literary equivalent of a still-life done by an undisputed master painter. Its quality is irrefutable, but it won't change any lives.
Life of Pi is the only one of those four I haven't read. From what I've heard about it, it's like The DaVinci Code for people who like philosophy. I'll get to it eventually, I hope.
If I could force everyone in the world to read one book, it would be Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins. That book says more about life in 7 pages than 90% of literature could come close to saying in its entirety.
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I've been working my way through both the Bourne and Discworld series. Tis an odd combination.
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the collected Justine by the Marquis De Sade.
Oh man, that was a sick sick sick book, albeit not as sick as Juliette.
People, people. 200 days of Sodom. Even though the last two sections are just outlines...the man deserves some sort of prize for evil.
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(Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, for example)
One of my favourite Lovecraft stories and one of my favourite fantasy quest type stories.
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I LOVE NEIL GAIMAN, hence I love you.
I read all the time as well, which I pride myself in.
Since january I've prolly read over 30 books, which I think is pretty good.
Some of MY favorite authors are:
Neil Gaiman
Lesley Choyce
Arthur Nersesian
Kafka
Vonnegut
Yann Martel
Zadie Smith
Mark Haddon
Chuck Palahniuk
and more or less, much more.
Im actually reading a pretty interesting book called STEAL THIS BOOK by Abbie Hoffman, which is just full of ways to steal food from restaurants and how to be a young activist, more or less.
The only problem I have with it is that the bastard is bloody confident in their methods, even when it comes to gun use :/
They talk about lifting from super markers and they're like 'and dont worry about those convex mirrors, cashiers never look at them'
Then again, the books been around for a looooong time, so unfortunetaly things have changed since then.
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Talking about the above post...
Everyone has read the anarchists cook-book, right? I mean, I want to be sure and certain that in the event of some massive global take-over by an evil secret society, everyone is totally aware how to make pipe-bombs and distill impossibly deadly poison from cigarettes.
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Boeuf, I love you even more. Gaiman is a god, Palahniuk is my fucking hero, Life of Pi was brilliant and the fact that you are reading steal this book is basically the coolest thing ever.
However, do not do ANY of his bomb ideas, as they do not work. At all.
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Tbh, all you need for a decent bit of anarchy is Molotov cocktails, and maybe some pipe bombs. Anything more complex and you're going to fuck up. Columbine, for example, was meant to murder 600, but Klebold and Harris didn't put together the igniter on their fuel bomb correctly.
Although, if you're out for some fun, and have a good place to test them where you're not likely to accidentally kill people, fertiliser bombs offer an excellent bang to buck ratio.
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I read just about everything pratchett writes, and a lot of doug adams too.
The humour just matches my own precisely, and i must admit, pratchett has had a huge influence on my own writing style.
For science fiction, its got to be asimov, or ray bradbury.
I love books, i wish i had more time for fiction though. When you consider a paperback costs less than a movie ticket and popcorn, its great value entertainment.
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douglas adams is very good stuff. too bad the movie rendition of Hitchhikers guide was uterly terrible. didnt give the book justice at all.
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I'm currently reading This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
That's right, I like F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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I like fucked up books. If they have sex, drugs and violence (and zombies) in them, I should theoretically like it. Some of my favourite books are
Kiss Me, Judas - Will Christopher Baer
Glamorama -Brett Easton Ellis
Invisible Monsters -Chuck Palahniuk
The Wooden Bird - Jerzy Kosinski
Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut
Catcher In The Rye
Hearts In Atlantis/Rose Madder - Stephan King
Black Hawk Down - Mark Bowden
Menstruating Mall - Carlton Mellick III
ETC.
I'm currently reading Sarah by JT LeRoy, its a fucking halarious book about truck stop hookers and such. NOTE: I fucking hated Life of Pi.
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The only books I consider a must are Dune and Lord of the Rings, but I think Lotr is pretty tedious in passages hence why I have only read them once. It's been so long since a book really grabbed me, I just ordered(library) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I hope it will break the curse. Since I am reading The Da Vinci Code now, and while it's fun and all, it's not that good.
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You know what? maybe the new TV and movies section should include books too? Just a thought.
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The Wooden Bird - Jerzy Kosinski
I agree with most of the things you said in that post, specially Ellis. But do you perchance mean the painted bird? Because that was a fucking brilliant, although slightly shattering, book. If the wooden bird is something else, tell me what it's about, I am a big fan of kosinski.
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Right now, I'm on the 3rd book of "Of Fire and Ice" series by George R. R. Martin. It's pretty entertaining and unlike many authors who will let you pick favorite characters, this one always has a twist you did not expect.. It's more fantasy, but it's politics and such really keep you entertained.
Another book I just read was "Paranoia". Unfortunately, I can not remember the author, but it's something to check out if you're in to a techno thriller/drama type thing. It's a quick weekend read, maybe a week tops, but it's really really good. Again, it doesn't turn out like you'd think.
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i'm an avid reader of anything put in front of me that has words on it.. which means i'm caught reading the ingredients in a chocolate bar when there's nothing better around.
when i need to relax i pull out the romance novels (Nora Robers, Elizabeth Lowell, Johanna Lindsey) because they don't require too much from me.
i finished the Dune series a couple weeks ago and have been in a reading draught since then, i might go to the library soon and pick up some of my favorite Margaret Atwood novels.. i believe i was the only person in my 12U english class who enjoyed 'Alias Grace' though
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I read too much...
General Fiction:
Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow (I can't recommend this highly enough, it's easily one of the best books I've ever read).
Pat Barker - The Regeneration Trilogy.
Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises.
John Fowles - The Magus.
Tim Winton - Cloudstreet.
Robert M. Pirsig - Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Fantasy:
George R.R. Martin - A Song Of Ice And Fire (series).
Anything ever written by Robin Hobb.
Mervyn Peake - The Gormenghast Trilogy.
Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides.
Allan Dean Foster - Spellsinger. (Pure 80s acid fantasy!)
Sci-Fi:
Dan Simmons - Ilium, the Hyperion Cantos, and The Hollow Man.
Frederik Pohl - Gateway (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Heechee Saga).
William Gibson - Neuromancer (of course), Pattern Recognition, and The Difference Engine (with Bruce Sterling).
Philip K. Dick - The Man In The High Castle.
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i'm caught reading the ingredients in a chocolate bar when there's nothing better around.
You do this too?
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sadly enough, i do.. BUT! it's only when i'm at work, in the lounge and there's nothing but insufferable people around me
maybe i've justified it ?
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Catcher in the Rye is a weird quandary ... it's so perfectly written that you realize how little it's actually saying (it is, after all, written from the point of view of an angsty adolescent, and therefore not particularly meaningful, all things considered). It doesn't present any new ideas, what little social commentary it contains is hardly groundbreaking or particularly perceptive, and I didn't see any valuable lessons to be learned in it. But it's such a 100% perfect rendition of what it's presenting that it's impossible to shrug at. Salinger's a great writer, but I can't say his work interests me to any great extent ... I'm long past the stage in my life when Catcher in the Rye was anything approaching relevant.
I recently reread Catcher in the Rye. The last time I read it, I was in junior high, and the angst really resonated. When I reread it, I noticed that No one was more a phony than Holden Caulfield. In this light, the book took a completely different tone, that of a kid railing against the world because in all actuality he was railing against all the parts of himself he hated. It became a totally different book, and meant something completely different to me.
This was, of course, because I was going through different parts of life at each of these times, so the book read completely differently. I consider THAT to be the mark of a truly relevant book...that it has different meanings at different times.
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I feel a bit ashamed to admit that I've never read Catcher in the Rye. All the hype about it... I dunno.
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You loved me before, Bateman?
Aw shucks.
Another good author I forgot to mention is Dave Eggers, wonderful man.
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to the people who read stuff on chocolate bars when there's nothing else around: yeah, i do that too. i read constantly. CONSTANTLY, i say. eat, slee..okay, mebbe not sleep. but almost constantly, then.
i admit i didnt read the whole thread...but even if it's been posted before, i say read:
the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. and...lesse.
the Malazan Book of the Fallen series (first book: Gardens of the Moon, because the series name is in really small type on the books), by Steven Erikson (sp)?
both of those are very good high fantasy-ish series. should keep you going for a while.
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the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. and...lesse.
Cough hack sputter.
I'm not going to say anything. Really, I'm not. Really really.
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I've just finished American Gods, and was very impressed. Neil Gaiman is now on my list of favorite authors.
That list also includes:
Robert A. Heinlein (almost anything he writes is gold, but Starship Troopers is certainly one of my favorites)
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance was good, but The Deathgate Cycle was better)
Stephen R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever are awesome)
Robert R. McCammon (Swan Song and Boy's Life specifically)
J.R.R. Tolkien
Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising series rivals Tolkien's work in its use of mythology and legend)
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The Wooden Bird - Jerzy Kosinski
I agree with most of the things you said in that post, specially Ellis. But do you perchance mean the painted bird? Because that was a fucking brilliant, although slightly shattering, book. If the wooden bird is something else, tell me what it's about, I am a big fan of kosinski.
Yup, I feel a tad silly now, I meant the Painted Bird. I get them mixed up *blushes in embarassment*. I read it a good three or four years ago, so I can never remember the actual name of the book. The only thing that is really clear about it is the fact that said book scarred me for life.
I knew you like Ellis right when I saw your name, haha! And the line from Rules Of Attraction at the bottom of your posts helps too ;)
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William Gibson - Neuromancer
He writes some good stuff besides Neuromancer, but thats his most popular book. (some people think he's crap, but programs that hack people are AWESOME)
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anything by raymond e. feist.
and the book "the perks of being a wallflower"
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wow sp2, i actually agree with you for once. Miracles do happen ;-). I totally agree with Catcher meaning different things at different points in your life.
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American Gods is so so so so so good.
Man, Steal This Book is more or less getting ridiculous.
Im still enjoying reading it, but it makes me feel like a criminal.
Like, the adive he gives about free transporation, most of it makes sense, trainhopping, hitch hiking etc. but then he talks about free travel via airplane...
his last method is apparently the easiest way to travel...
skyjacking!!!
Apparently all you have to do is smuggle a knife or a bomb, and you can go anywhere!
On another note, who here has read The Lovely Bones?
yummy yummy
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ooh ooh, i have, i have!! haha, great book, twists and turns and what not. Very Good.
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i have i think
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I suggest Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.
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Cough hack sputter.
yeah, I knew someone was gonna say that. some people hate them, personally i like them. there's never gonna be agreement on it, there never is.
so...meh. but don't get put off the Malazan Book of the Fallen series just because you don't like RJ...they are completely different, and personally i like Erikson's work a lot better, too.
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Another great series with lots of twists is George R R Martin's fantasy novels.
I used to be all about the fantasy, and these things were just phenomenominal (teehee). I believe the series is called Song of Ice and Fire, but it's not commonly known as that. The first book is called Game of Thrones, then comes Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords and the one in the making is called the Feast Of Crows.
The books are nice and think, usually just shy of 1000 pages, and they have lots of characters, and whats cool is that main characters can die...
thats right!
I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys fantasy.
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The last good, thick, pulpy quest fantasy I read and enjoyed was 'Orcs' by Stan Nichols. Which is cool because it's basically written from what would be 'the baddies' side in most fantasies, and does a pretty neat job of putting their thoughts and feelings across. Once you get past that though, it's pretty standard fare.
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Thats like GRRM's books, each chapter is through a different characters perspective so one chapter will be going on with the 'hero' the next will be through the perspective of their 'mortal enemy'
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Seriously though, the king of 'comfort Fantasy?' David Eddings.
Yes, David Eddings is not a good writer. He only has one plot and a stack of cliches he recombines into a very limited palette of characters. BUT, he is immensely readable, and great fun, though his nagging female characters can get pretty damn irksome at times.
I mean, seriously, it's worth reading each of the series for the inevitable bit at the end where the main character assumes Godlike power, and promptly uses it to kill some sort of dark God. Because those bits rock.
Oh man, and those insect thingies in the Elenium? SO FUCKING SCARY.
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one book in which I am currently engrossed is Crash by J.G. Ballard, an incredibly original piece of work that I found in a used bookstore that is an examination of human sexuality and desire illustrated through crashing cars. I was amazed to find that it was centered around such a topic, as I was in a car accident a few years back and realized in the expience a strange sort of eroticism. It has very vivid imagery, to say the least, with long sequences about the ebrace of the two twisted pieces of machinery and the almost spiritual calm after the climax of the accident. I reccomend it to anyone who's simply looking for an experience or a journey into a part of the human psyche that is usually left in the dark.
and by the way, i've never found anyone else who shares my love for Kiss Me Judas. a truly amazing piece of literature in the vein of Palahniuk.
I also reccomend to anyone that they read something by Charles Bukowski. those who love him love him dearly (myself included), but its also possible that you will find his style and content utterly abhorrent.
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one book in which I am currently engrossed is Crash by J.G. Ballard, an incredibly original piece of work that I found in a used bookstore that is an examination of human sexuality and desire illustrated through crashing cars. I was amazed to find that it was centered around such a topic, as I was in a car accident a few years back and realized in the expience a strange sort of eroticism. It has very vivid imagery, to say the least, with long sequences about the ebrace of the two twisted pieces of machinery and the almost spiritual calm after the climax of the accident. I reccomend it to anyone who's simply looking for an experience or a journey into a part of the human psyche that is usually left in the dark.
There was actually a David Lynch movie based on this book. And then just this year, David Lynch remade the film.
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actually, the new "Crash" is not based on J.G. Ballard's novel. Its focus is on race relation and such. I've seen the original, and I thought that it was good, but not as good as the book, to revisit an old cliche. I've always liked David Lynch's films, but they arent without their flaws.
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the collected Justine by the Marquis De Sade.
Oh man, that was a sick sick sick book, albeit not as sick as Juliette.
excuse me, I'm mistaken. I have Juliette, my father has Justine. Juliette is much, much larger than Justine, s'why I've been working on it for so long.
anyone else really, really dig Chuck Palahniuk's work? e.g. Fight Club, and his newest book Haunted?
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I got an advanced release paperback version for free that's been thumbed through a lot of times. It probably won't last the round-about each of palahniuk's books goes through with my friends. it's very good, by the way.
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I suggest Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.
SECOND'D. Quite a funny book. I love his writing stye, one of the reasons I like Spin magazine, even if their sources/reviews are sometimes unreliable!
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Troll, I am a huge palahniuk fan, and I read haunted. It was absoloutely the only book I have ever read that I had to put down and walk away from at moments because it was just too fucked up. And no, not from guts. Just the overall idea of the story was terrifying.
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Oh yeah, and like The Countess Frostbite's backstory? holy jesus fucking metal-raping christ
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lets see...
Im halfway through the Dark Tower series.... Steven King.... never read any of his stuff before this, but I enjoy it so far.
what else....
Stephenson <sp?>
GRRM
Terry Goodkind
Piers Anthony
RA Salvatore
Tom Clancy <schlock-techno thrillers, but fun to read>
the list goes on....
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lets see...
Im halfway through the Dark Tower series.... Steven King.... never read any of his stuff before this, but I enjoy it so far.
what else....
Stephenson <sp?>
GRRM
Terry Goodkind
Piers Anthony
RA Salvatore
Tom Clancy <schlock-techno thrillers, but fun to read>
the list goes on....
Salvatore is overrated, I think. I've read a lot of his work, but beyond the first couple of books (especially the dark elf stuff) it kind of loses something.
And while King is damned good in many areas, I've never really liked the Dark Tower series.
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Thats like GRRM's books, each chapter is through a different characters perspective so one chapter will be going on with the 'hero' the next will be through the perspective of their 'mortal enemy'
And that's what I like about it. It's a different twist. The story never goes back in time.. It's always moving forward, but it's a different character starting just where the last one ended.
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hm,
- cut my teeth on C.S. lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia
- i am William Gibson's bitch
- David Eddings was fun
- as were Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (dragonlance and deathgate)
- currently on the third book of the Dark Tower
- read all of The Wheel Time except the prequel (it had so much potential to start, but he has invented too many plotlines with all of the characters. probably because this series is his cash cow.)
- liked Palahniuk's work so far with Fight Club and Invisible Monsters
- Orson Scott Card's crap is made of pure gold
- loved Starship Troopers, got pissed at the movie
and that's all i can think of off the top of my head
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The only thing that is really clear about it is the fact that said book scarred me for life.
Painted Bird was eye-opening. Heavily influenced by Voltaire's "Candide", which, by the way, is probably the most accessible and enjoyable "serious" philosophical novel in existence. I anticipate angry posts referring to Herman Hesse and Ayn Rand, but I don't care.
Apart from Catcher in the Rye being the prototypical adolescent angst book, I've always been confused as to its presence at the top of best-of lists. Franny & Zooey, I've always found it over-appreciated. Narcissistic prodigies who drive themselves half-mad questing for spiritual development? I want something I can relate to, like God allegories involving orphans and zoo-animals. :-).
My read-before-you-die list includes these, in random order:
-- Ann Patchett - Bel Canto
Despite the opera theme (the author was apparently inspired by Renee Fleming's performance in Rusalka), the idea of a voice so beautiful it changes lives will probably appeal to some forum-goers;
-- Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint
It's angsty like Catcher in the Rye, but Jewish, and less pretentious. Might put you off liver though.
-- Vladimir Nabakov - Lolita
Even if you despise Humbert Humbert, perhaps almost as much as he despises himself, he is a cultural icon that noone talks about. Kind of interesting.
-- Vladimir Nabakov - Pale Fire
You're unlikely to ever read this book. If you do, it will probably change your life. The first part of the book is a poem written by a fictitious poet named John Shade; the second is a (supposed) commentary written by his neighbour, fan, and unauthorized biographer Charles Kinbote. Kinbote perverts the commentary into a personal vindication, and a history of a fantastic kingdom that he claims to be the exiled king of, Zembla.
-- Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
The best thing a genius ever wrote. Keep in mind, this was the guy who said to his friend Andree Gide as he lay dying, "I have put my genius into my life; all I've put into my works is my talent."
-- Italo Calvino -- If on a winter's night a traveler
Ten incomplete stories by ten fictitious authors interlaced with a completed narrative, narrarated by you, The Reader. You uncover a plot against the world of literature, and fall in love. Wish fulfillment? Why I never . . . .
-- Emily Bronte -- Wuthering Heights
Heathcliff is creepy. Really, really, really creepy.
. . . . and onward. Sorry for the long post. I'm enthusiastic about books.
--Moiche
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I'm kind of a close-minded reader...I won't read anything unless I've been told by someone over and over what the book is about and what their favorites parts are, etc. Right now I'm kinda just stuck on Stephen King because my dad's a huge fan...I'm currently reading The Dead Zone, in fact.
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-- Vladimir Nabakov - Lolita
Even if you despise Humbert Humbert, perhaps almost as much as he despises himself, he is a cultural icon that noone talks about. Kind of interesting.
-- Vladimir Nabakov - Pale Fire
You're unlikely to ever read this book. If you do, it will probably change your life. The first part of the book is a poem written by a fictitious poet named John Shade; the second is a (supposed) commentary written by his neighbour, fan, and unauthorized biographer Charles Kinbote. Kinbote perverts the commentary into a personal vindication, and a history of a fantastic kingdom that he claims to be the exiled king of, Zembla.
--Moiche
I'm also a big Nabokov fan. I had to read Pale Fire twice to really appreciate it. If you're interested, or maybe you already know, he wrote in Russian under the penname V. Sirin and at least two (Mary and Invitation to a Beheading) have been translated. And if you're interested in Russian Lit in general, he wrote a lot of critical essays (especially on Gogol) and a lot of stuff on what he thinks makes good translation, all pretty interesting stuff.
And I haven't seen anybody mention these two books yet, they're a few years old by now but both very, very good (and funny!):
The Corrections - Johnathan Franzen
The Russian Debutante's Handbook - Gary Shteyngart
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Right now I'm reading 'Even Cowirls get the blues' by Tom Robbins. It's fairly sweet.
My favourite author is David Mitchell.
Books, eh?
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Robbins is my all time favorite author. He has a book of short stories coming out very soon and I hope he does a book tour. I love him like most people love their mothers.
I'll admit that I am in to Harry Potter Mania and just finished the Half-Blood Prince. Now, I get to start on Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell. He autographed when I went to Comic Con!
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i started the HBP then i realized i hadn't read the last one, so now i'm reading that
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i started the HBP then i realized i hadn't read the last one, so now i'm reading that
When I first read that, I could have sworn it said "HBK." I wondered when Shawn Michaels wrote a book, and why on earth anyone would read it.
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I'm about halfway through with Anna Karenina; I read War & Peace a few years back and I wanted to read Tolstoy's other masterpiece. I did stop stop reading so I could take hit up the new Harry Potter book though. Yes, I am a Potter nerd.
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Karenina is totally worth it -- it's a lot more readable than W&P, especially if you're the kind of person who compels yourself to read through the historical theory parts rather than just skipping over them. The part where Levin is living in the country and lusting after Kitty is one of my favorite literary scenes.
Potter nerd here also. No spoilers, but make sure you have a friend availablef or the end of HBP. You're going to want to talk to someone about it.
My favourite author is David Mitchell.
Dude, you've got impeccable taste. Cloud Atlas was awe-inspiring. Didn't see the ending coming at all. That made it even better. numberninedream is on my reading list.
Other book recommendations:
-- Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay
Best fantasy I've ever read. Very pseudo-historical, if you are into that sort of thing.
-- Dan Simmons - The Hyperion & Endymion Series
Four books in all that Simmons wrote over the span of about 15 years. Science fiction in the far future that involves Zen koans, reincarnated romantic poets, and an 8 foot tell animate sword faster than light semi-robotic killing machine.
-- David Sedaris - Virtually anything he's ever written
Probably a bad recommendation since, by this point, if you haven't heard of him by way of NPR, the New Yorker, or his books, you probably aren't going to like him.
-- Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
Typical story: girl meets girl, girl becomes boy, boy meets girl, boy narrates book about romance and hermaphrodites.
etc.
--Moiche
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I felt like Anna Karenina was overall very good, but sometimes I felt like I was literally reading a minute-by-minute account of the characters' lives.
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Our aspirations are wrapped up in books.
Ok, couldn't resist that one. Those of you who do not get it, that was a Bell and Sebastian song - I think it's off of Dear Catastrophe Waitress.
Anywho, I was an english lit major, so........I will have LOTS to say in this thread.
For now, all I will say is that I relate waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much to the book "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby. In fact, I wrote a short story orbiting around the line "Is it really so wrong to want to stay at home on a Saturday night with one's music collection?"
Don't ask me about the movie though, I never saw it.
Oh, and what word in this post should have been capitalized, but wasn't?
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I'm reading the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales at the moment by Chaucer.
Crazy stuff.
Reading stuff in an Old English accent, makes it extra enjoyable I think.
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- Orson Scott Card's crap is made of pure gold
I wondered if anyone would mention Card, my current favorite author. I'm just finishing up Xenocide and a book hasn't made me think like this in a while. Fucking Brilliant.
I'll make a list now of my favorite authors.
Brian Jaques- Redwall, read one you've read them all but a decent way to cut ones teeth on fantasy. A favorite from my past.
Tolkein- The Hobbit was the first book I ever read. I've read most of his works multiple times.
Douglas Adams- Awesome
Michael Crichton- The books are 18 trillion times better than the movies.
Orson Scott Card- The Ender and Shadow sagas have me hooked, I'll be on to the Maker series in no time.
I've been meaning to read Neil Gaiman, The Sandman series holds particular interest because Yoshitaka Amano did the artwork for The Dream Hunters, I just love Amano's style.
The Catcher in the Rye just didn't do it for me.
I need to actually read the Tales of Canterbury tales and not just the prologue, of which I have the first part memorised...
The spelling is intentional if not accurate, I can say it almost perfectly.
Whan that April with his shoores soote
the droght of March hath pearced to the roote
and bathed every vine in sweech liquor
of which whereto engendered ist the fleur
whan Zephyrus ache with his sweete breath
inspired hath in every holt and heath
the tendre cropes, and the younge sune
hath in the ram his halbe course 'e rune
and smalle fowles machen melodie
that sleepen all the nicht with open eye
sopricketh hem nature in her courages
and longen folks to go on pilgrimages
and palmeres for to seeken strange strondes
to ferne, halwes, couthe, and sundrey londes
and 'specially from every shires ende
of aengoland to Canterbury they wende
the hooly blissful martyr for to seeke
that hem hath holpen whan that they were sike.
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Karenina is totally worth it -- it's a lot more readable than W&P, especially if you're the kind of person who compels yourself to read through the historical theory parts rather than just skipping over them. The part where Levin is living in the country and lusting after Kitty is one of my favorite literary scenes.
I'm at that part right now, and I must say it is intense.
I also just finished Candide and Utopia...and when you take Eldorado (from Candide) into account, it makes reading them back-to-back a little strange in a deja vu way.
As for sci-fi/fantasy, I'm a total freak for that. (Yay for getting new recommendations on here :).) I first started out a few years ago with a bunch of books by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison. I never got ahold of all of them, but I was totally hooked on her Keltiad series of books. (Which basicially had sub-series.) The books are based on futuristic space, Arthurian legend, and Celtic lore.
edwartica- I believe 'english' should have been capitalized?
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Michael Crichton- The books are 18 trillion times better than the movies.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Michael Crichton is to science as Dan Brown is to art history and theology.
That said, I enjoyed Jurassic Park, Sphere, and Timeline. (The books, not the movies.)
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Im a pretty big Chuck Palahniuk fan, though I've only read 2 of his books. I've tried to find others at the library, but all of them were in different libraries, and on top of that, they were either lost, or in transit or already checked out.
I fucking LOVED Lullaby though. That story totally stuck with me, I read it months ago and I still think about it...
I own Diary, though it's not AS fantastic, but still decent.
He always focuses on such disgusting things that are still realistic like in Diary how he's explaining what Peter looks like for being in a coma for so many years....stuff like that.
I do need to read further into his books though, they make me happy.
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I liked Anna Karenina actually. Canterbury Tales is brilliant too.
All you Nabakov fans should track down an Umberto Eco short called 'Granita'. I think it's in his collection 'Misreadings'. Hee-larious. The rest of it is worth a good look as well. Umberto is incredible, if you have patience. I recommend Focault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose.
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Wow an here I thought that I was well read. I am feeling compelled to visit the library now and read some of the authors mentioned. My Favorites are George Orwell, Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells, Tolkien, King... the list goes on. A lot of the authors mentioned above I have heard of just hadn't taken the time to read. Reading has taken a backseat to kids and college at the moment sadly. Now to find my library card...
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everything i've read by king was shite.
though addmittedly, i haven't read a lot of his stuff. cause it was shite so far
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Kings not the best writer out there, but i like alot of his books.
His last book (thankfully, as his recent stuff was shit) was alright, but his best works imo are The Stand and IT
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Honestly I think that King is a bit overrated. I actually have a friend that reads everything by King that she can get her hands on because he is the author. That is her main reason for reading those books. Frustrating to no end. That being said I do enjoy some of his books. Some of his stuff is very interesting. Anyway...
It was good but very disturbing *shudder*
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reading a book because you know and like the author makes perfect sense to me. i read books just cause Anthony wrote them, and they've never disappointed. however, since King sucks (except IT which still scares the bejeezus outa me) i think i understand your point. it's not cause he's good, it's cause he's known
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Robbins is my all time favorite author. He has a book of short stories coming out very soon and I hope he does a book tour. I love him like most people love their mothers.
Finally, a kindred spirit!
I can guarantee that of those of you who decide to read a Tom Robbins book based on a this or my own recommendation, at least half will refer to him as your "favorite author" after a couple of books.
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For everyone who has listed Gaiman, he's got a new book coming out in September, I think. It sounds like it's pretty much rehashing American Gods, though. I really think his books tend to have the same basic theme and plot by the end.
Another thought that is totally unrelated....anyone read anything by William Golding besides Lord of the Flies? I've read a few other things by him, and really, they were brilliant. Pincher Martin comes to mind.
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There is only /one/ name worth remembering in the fantasy genre, and it is neither JK Rowling /nor/ JRR Tolkien.
No, ladies and gentlemen, the best fantasy on the planet would be from the combined efforts of David and Leigh Eddings, author power-couple supreme!
The Belgariad.
YOU MUST READ THE BELGARIAD.
And its sister series, The Malloreon.
Do it now.
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I DID SO
MANY MANY YEARS AGO.
Aphi, those books are terrible.
But I love them sooo.....
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^^
I know.
The writing is not particularly good, but it sucks you in, doesn't it?
If ever there was a good /character/ writer, it's David Eddings.
I would not, however, reccommend that anyone read The Elenium or The Tamuli, as they're both terrible.
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What?
Bigger explosion, more violence, exsessive ladys?
More like AWESOME
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Ah, but the Elenium and the Tamuli didn't have Prince Kheldar, now did they?
Note: Silk/Ambar of Kotu/Radek of Boktor/Prince Kheldar of Drasnia is Aph's favourite fictional character /ever/, so she may be a little biased.
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I'm sorry, but Elenium/Tamuli > Belgariad/Malloreon.
This is because Sparhawk is a proper ass-kicking fantasy protagonist who doesn't spend the first quarter of his run of books blubbling. Also, Polgara was getting on my 'effin nerves by about book 3 of the Malloreon.
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Yeah.
You can take the "Independent wo-man" thing a little to far sometimes....
Silk is by far the greatest character. Followed closely by Sparhawk.
Anyone read Redemption of Althalus?
I love it.
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Iunno, Sparhawk was a little /too/ chivalrous for me.
See, I think we can all tell why I prefer Belgarath/Silk to Sparhawk/Iunno, say..Mandorallen?
Fine.
Belgariad/Malloreon=Elenium/Tamuli
Do you think all our unusual words are weirding out the people who haven't read them?
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pffffft
nah
They're probably jelous of us.
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^^ Absolutely.
Hey, you confused folk. If you /read/
The Belgariad, The Malloreon, the Elenium and the Tamuli(in that order),
/then/ you can make fun of us.
(I'll say one bad thing about the Belgariad-- Mandorallen. All those 'thees' and 'thous' were /really/ getting to me.)
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say..Mandorallen?
My backpack has got jets?
(http://wso.williams.edu/~rfoxwell/starwars/art/FettArt3.jpg)
I like the Dragonlance books that I've read. It's been years though. I am almost done with Wyrrd Sisters by Pratchett and am not sure what I will read next.
Edited for packback, hurr.
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=laughs=
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Xanth! you shall read Xanth! ..if you haven't already...
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I don't know. I like to switch from genre to genre and I've read two Discworld books in a row (as they are engrossingly quick reads.)
Wasn't the Big Labowski losely based off a book?
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for some excellent sci-fi, go for Orson Scott Card's "Ender" series. truely excellent. guy's got quite a brain in him.
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I've read Ender's Game. I'm not sure about continuing with the series though just 'cause it feels like it was going of into some sort of weird direction in a similar fashion as the Dune series.
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i agree with aphi about the belgariad/mallorean over the elenium/tamuli.
i was really really creeped out by sparhawk marrying ehlana and it took me ten years to finally go, "eh. i guess i can read the tamuli, despite the fact that sparhawk's a damn pedophile"
i just finished a nifty book by catherine orenstein called red riding hood uncloaked: sex, morality, and the evolution of a fairy tale
it's kind of a gender studies thing, and i think she probably used two of the chapters as a dissertation, but it's pretty readable for being a gender/women's studies book.
also, when i was in junior high, my favorite fantasy/humor author was robert asprin and his myth series. those kicked seven kinds of ass, and i got to meet him once when he was still living in ann arbor michigan. he looked like he could be awkward silence and omar's dad. and he was trying to quit smoking, so he was sucking down some capris, and he shrugged and said it was like smoking a q-tip.
right now i'm going through a virginia woolf phase. i'm re-reading a room of one's own, and i'm also plowing through common reader and moments of being. her writing makes me hap-hap-happy.
plus i agree with anyone who recommended salinger, especially franny and zooey or his other short stories (like teddy). i used to say catcher in the rye was overrated, but i think it depends on who is reading it. it's like the glass family, except for normal people. each one of the glass children is an extreme of one human characteristic - they're like five fingers on a hand, and holden is those fingers and hand balled up in a fist. he's like the watered down combo version of the glass kids. i prefer the exaggerated personalities of the glass family myself, but i know a lot of people who think catcher is a universal novel, and i can see their point too.
has anyone read any joyce maynard? the only thing of hers i ran across accidentally was that movie to die for, and i haven't ever bothered to read any of her stuff. i'd like to see what kind of expose she wrote about salinger though
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I felt like Anna Karenina was overall very good, but sometimes I felt like I was literally reading a minute-by-minute account of the characters' lives.
Tolstoy is like that. He is an intensely detailed author who loves to tell you everything about the characters & the back drop right down to the design of the shoe buckles and the texture of the wall paper. I sometimes find it boring but the truth is one could not ask for a more detailed explination of life in Tsarist Russia, how the social caste system worked, how they dressed, how they interacted, etc...
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Oerdin: Funny thing is that Tolstoy was (historically) very heavily criticized among historians for warping historical facts to fit the theory that he champions: that inevitable social forces and not great men shape history. Most famously, he gave a very revisionist portrayal of the Russian general Kutuzov.
Khar: I'm fond of Eco, but I can't say that I'm a fan. Name of the Rose (which I think was his first novel!) was of course incredible. But Foucault's Pendulum, I thought, was unforgivably baroque with an ending that, as ironic as it might have been, was completely unfulfilling. Haven't read the most recent novels nor any of the short stories, I was so peeved. But I will certainly seek out Granita, I'm intrigued.
Aphi: I remember, years ago, going through the Eddings phase, reading all four cycles (the Tamuli as it came out) and then the Belgarath & Polgara prequels. The prequels were unforgivably bad cynical attempts to cash in, and I don't think there's any debate about that. As for Tamuli/Elenium vs. Belgariad/Malloreon -- weren't they all pretty much the same? I mean . . . same plot (large group of heroes have to chase something or someone dies/the earth is destroyed). Same characters (the funny one (Kalten/Silk), the silent & sturdy (Durnik/Kurik); the mother figure (Polgara/Sephrenia) . . . etc. Same godlike powers given to half the party. As into it as I was, in retrospect, the whole series seems like a well-edited fanfic of a better series.
I'm not going to say that Harry Potter is psychologically complex -- but at least there's some uncertainty about what's going to happen. Whereas at the end of the Tamuli you had Sparhawk (god), his daughter Aphrael (god), his animated stone Bhellium (super-god), the Shining Ones (extraordinarily powerful, good friends with a god), Sarabian (emperor) . . . . How many advantages does this guy need? And the ending -- through the god-stone into the mouth of the angry monster?
And it's not as if Belgariad/Mallareon was any better. Ending to Mallereon was hinged on the Seeress picking good over incredible evil. Was there anyone reading that thinking to themselves "Gee I hope she doesn't pick Zandramas because . . . you know . . . she might be into bitch demon-queens allied with hell . . ." I mean, 30 incredibly cool characters with special abilities are neat, and I'm sure that Eddings could make a great FF style video game, but at a certain point don't you start craving -- I don't know -- themes, moral ambiguity, and maybe even a little uncertainty.
Also . . . resurrecting Durnik?? And replacing Kurik with his son who was like him in every way? Gimme a break.
Seriously, put that junk away and read 100 Years of Solitude. It's full of fantasy, and awesome.
Sorry for the rant :).
--Moiche
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If ever there was a good /character/ writer, it's David Eddings.
If ever there was a /wrong/ statement, that was it.
I'm sorry, but Eddings is a mediocre writer (characters or otherwise) when held against, gosh, most of the fantasy that has been published in the last twenty years. His worlds are oversimplistic and lacking any kind of believability, and his characters are wooden, one-dimensional, and cookie-cutter versions of each other to boot. (Zakath vs. the emperor in the Tamuli? Polgara vs. Sephrenia?) Eddings serves as a kind of Dick And Jane primer to real fantasy - he has his place, but that doesn't make him amazing.
If you want a REAL character writer in fantasy, you should read Assassin's Apprentice, by Robin Hobb. That, or A Game Of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin.
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Tolstoy is like that. He is an intensely detailed author who loves to tell you everything about the characters & the back drop right down to the design of the shoe buckles and the texture of the wall paper. I sometimes find it boring but the truth is one could not ask for a more detailed explination of life in Tsarist Russia, how the social caste system worked, how they dressed, how they interacted, etc...
If you value Anna Karenina for it's historical relevance, Father's and Sons by Turgenev, while not providing such detailed descriptions as how many whiskers are on a character's mustache, describes a generational conflict centering on new and radical political philosophies that were becoming popular among youth around the mid-1800s.
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I'm still in the stage in life where I'm /allowed/ to like crappy fiction, am I not?
=pouts sullenly=
And I was not at all bothered by Sparhawk/What EVER the hell her name was, 'cause I didn't bother reading it more than once.
So he's a lot older. So what?
=/Needs/ to read some new books=
I only got my hands on them because they were in a bin of old books my father's read. =is much too young to have read them when they came out=
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The only thing my dad will read is Stephen King, which is really fucking annoying.
My sister and I offered to pay for his coffee for a week if he'd read the Life of Pi, and he still wouldnt.
He'll read King, some Mary Higgins Clarke, and John Grisham...
thats. it.
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I'm still in the stage in life where I'm /allowed/ to like crappy fiction, am I not?
Sure, everyone's always allowed to like anything that's crappy. People just get on your back when you try to evangelize or sing its praises.
My packback has got jets?
I'm Boba... the Fett?
Well I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt to finance my 'Vette
I felt like Anna Karenina was overall very good, but sometimes I felt like I was literally reading a minute-by-minute account of the characters' lives.
I just finished Anna Karenina a couple months ago too, and I totally agree. At some points it just crawled.
Right now I'm reading The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. It's God damned amazing. At this point it's so dated that it's not really relevant to today's problems anymore, but that's just because of how far we've come since the housewife culture of the '50s.
also, when i was in junior high, my favorite fantasy/humor author was robert asprin and his myth series. those kicked seven kinds of ass, and i got to meet him once when he was still living in ann arbor michigan.
That's fucking awesome. I loved those books too when I was in... some school or another. Shame he seemed to have stopped writing them at some random point... I think I saw a book he wrote recently, actually, that looked like it was part of the Myth series again. As I recall, he said in the introduction that it was to try to 'warm up' and get a feel for the characters again before he dived back into the series proper, but I could have just dreamed it.
Four responses in one post. My work here is done.
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i think friedan's seminal book still has relevance in today's society. and i think that women have not come nearly as far as we should have in the forty years since its publication. the ERA failed, thanks to reagan, and we've still got phyllis schlafly acting like a moron in public.
plus today's "equality" isn't that equal - men still expect the womenfolk to do all the women-type things AND hold a 40 hour a week job.
nuts to that.
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I'm Boba... the Fett?
Well I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt to finance my 'Vette
Awesome. Also yeah, nuts to the 40 hour week plus the whole women-folk jobs. I say nuts and dongs to a lot of that crap.
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Finally, a kindred spirit!
I can guarantee that of those of you who decide to read a Tom Robbins book based on a this or my own recommendation, at least half will refer to him as your "favorite author" after a couple of books.
Are you very excited for Aug. 30? I reallhy hope he does a book tour.
On a side note, I am reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail. As someone who is fairly religious, I don't take it too seriously, but it's fun to read all the theories. Fascinating, even.
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I have that entire MC Chris song memorized. I also own all his albums, and a t-shirt.
I'm personally a huge fan of Harry Turtledove. Granted, you just have to read the right books. He writes excellent alternate history books, and he's got his shit down. His big book was Guns of the South, set during the civil war, but somehow the assholes from south africa managed to come back in time, and give the south AK-47s. Aside from the somewhat ridiculous set-up, its an extremely interesting experiment in "what if"s.
Also, you should read The Tesseract by Alex Garland. It's very good, but DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE!!!one!!!eleven!!!!
They pretty much took the book, raped it, took out the compelling characters, and changed the plot entirely, making the main character a shady drug dealer instead of a merchant-type guy. It's a quick read, yet makes you think.
Aside from that, most everything else has been covered. I'm currently on my 5th readthrough of Life of Pi, and I think I'm starting to get it. Has anyone read Yann Martel's other books? and if so, are they as good as Life of Pi?
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He'll read King, some Mary Higgins Clarke, and John Grisham...
thats. it.
What is sad is that you read one Girsham you don't need to read the others to know what the books are about, what will happen, and who the characters are. Only the names have changed.
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Also, you should read The Tesseract by Alex Garland. It's very good, but DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE!!!one!!!eleven!!!!
What? They made a movie of The Tesseract? When the hell?
Great book, actually - Garland came through with the goods. The Beach is great on-the-train reading, but The Tesseract made me think a bit more.
EDIT: And I keep meaning to read more Turtledove. I read World War: In The Balance, enjoyed it, and still haven't gotten around to the rest of the series.
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I have this quote from Billy Connoly memorised that pretty much sums up my view on feminism and political correctness:
"They're called manholes because they are the holes that a man goes down to work in the Sewerage department of a city. And when women start expressing a burning desire to be up to their knees in shit, then we can start calling them personhole covers"
To elaborate, I certainly believe equality is a good idea, but if feminists want to stop living to the old wife/cook/mother stereotype, that posits that someone else will have to start living it, ie men. And lets face it,that isn't going to happen. Equality, if we can achieve it, would be a complex balanced affair due to the pressures of society. We'd probably need to get to Crowleys 'Age of the Child' first, where we'd all be bisexual communists and gender wouldn't matter. Hell, I'm not really knocking feminism/gender studies, I already mentioned that 'The Left Hand of Darkness', which is a VASTLY thought-provoking novel about gender issues and I suppose feminism, is one of my favourite ever books. What I do knock is the highly reactionary form of feminism, the anti-chauvanism mode. It's like opposing Christianity with theistic Satanism.
Damn, this is one of those posts where I forgot where I was going. I'm sure there's some points up there somewhere though.
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What? They made a movie of The Tesseract? When the hell?
Yeah, that's what I said. It was on some movie channel at a hotel I was staying at, I don't remember which. But it really is terrible, and made me want to find anyone involved with the film and rape them with the VHS version of the movie.
*aherm*
Another good Turtledove series is the Darkness series, which replays the entirety of World War II, but instead of airplanes and submarines, there are dragons and giant sea turtles, and, y'knoiw, magic. It's extremely long, though, he's on something like the 6th or 7th book, and it's looking like he's going to take a couple more to wrap it up. The series starts with Into the Darkness, but I don't remember any of the rest.
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I like awful books ..... there I said it yep amongst my recently read (and you can blame my mother for ALL of these) are
- Stephen king
-Dan Brown
-Clive Cussler
-Barbara Taylor Bradford (ok that one makes me truly shudder)
-VC Andrews (oooh just as bad as the one above)
- John Grisham (yay for law stuent cliches)
but to sort of try and redeem myself (actually i know it wont happen) amongst my fave books/authors are
-Thomas Harris (yay for Hannibal)
- Jostein Gardner
- Shakespeare (yay an oldy but a goody)
- Tess of the D'urbervilles (read it in high school and it stuck for some reason)
- William Gibson (but of course)
- L Ron Hubbard (lol the man who wrote science fiction and then created a religion based oh whimsical thoughts YAY)
-I also like japanese type books like "Memoirs of a Geisha and Autumn Bridge'
So pretty much my bookshelf is the craziest mis-matched floor to cieling thing you have ever seen with Gibson next to Shakespeare and the Book of Budha's next to the holy bible and Law textbooks next to Thomas Harris, Machiavelli and Sun Tsu's The Art of War
and yes I read way to much and devour any book at the speed of light (possibly half the reason i read crappy books is so i at least have something to read)
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I HATED TESS OF THE D'UBERVILLES!!!
god i thought that book sucked. my friend and i spent most of the class discussion having "tess fights" which mainly consisted of throwing the book s at eachother
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But but its a CLASSIC! It had such beautiful sweeping passages and it made me cry dammit! *hides in croner with her books* its ok my pretty he didnt really mean it
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yes i did. it was boring as hell. but i did read it for school so that makes a difference
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Laser eye surgery recently so reading is painful (and yet I'm still posting to the boards . . .go figure). So listening to books on tape. Of Mice & Men, narrated by Gary Sinise . . . . R0X0RS!!
:0
--Moiche
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Laser Eye Surgery!? Traitor! SPEX TIL DEATH!
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But the shot frickin lasers into my frickin eyes! Doing it without valium is neat because nightmares no longer seem scary. Sort of ups the ante as it were.
--Moiche
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I used to read a lot when I was younger, but then around 14 I stopped because I didn't know what I should read anymore. That was tough - I felt too old for most of the stuff written for young adults and when I tried to read 1984, I couldn't get through it. However, I've started reading again recently:
Life of Pi
1984
The Thurber Carnival (a collection of James Thurber's work)
The Umbrella Man (short stories by Roald Dahl)
Siddhartha (school assignment; I'm learning a lot from it)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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My one word reviews:
Life of Pi
Yay!
1984
Yay!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Double-yay!
Soon as I can read again, Jose Saramago's "The Cave" is next.
Who would be into a QC forum bookclub?
Seriously!
--Moiche
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I'm currently enthralled in Mary Stewart's Merlin/Arthur stories. I just finished The Hollow Hills yesterday and once I get to the bookstore, I'll start The Last Enchantment.
Anyone else ever read these? The books are a nice take on the classic King Arthur tale. Stewart, however, takes Merlin as the narrator and central character. The first book, The Crystal Cave focuses on his childhood and how he gets his "powers." It ends with him helping Uther to bed Ygraine, and ultimately conceiving Arthur. The Hollow Hills deals with Arthur's childhood & upbringing and ends with him becoming King after Uther's death. The stories are well told and Stewart does a great job depicting the classic tale from another point of view.
~~Willis
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Siddhartha (school assignment; I'm learning a lot from it)
What a fantastic book! It is one of my all-time favorites. Like you, I had to read it for class (11th grade AP English). It is a nice short read and the story is magnificent. It is one of those books that I could read over and over and not get bored with. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did/do.
~~Willis
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I'm currently nearing the end of Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin - one of my absolute favourite authors. After that I'll probably read Waxwings by Jonathan Raban, a hardcover copy of which I picked up at a local bookstore recently remaindered to A$17.
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I'm reading Arrow from Earth, a sci fi type book. I'm not sure if i like it yet.
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I'm reading Rhapsody, by Elizabeth Haydon. I bought this back in 2003 and didn't get past halfway, but I figured it was probably worth a second chance. So far, it seems ok - nothing special, but readable.
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one-word book reviews
Agreed on all fronts! :)
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did/do.
I did enjoy it, and amazingly enough, I'm actually looking forward to writing essays about it.
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im about to start lord of the flies ...
the last two books i read were the dirt motley crues autobiography and fear & loathing in las vegas by hunter s.thompson
both were really good and come highly recommended!
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream!
I just begun, and it's even better than the movie :)
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I just finished the Zombie Survival Guide and am now re-reading the Tao Te Ching.
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My summer reading:
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss
Rise to Rebellion - Jeffrey Shaara
The first four were/are pretty decent. I haven't started the last one yet.
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I looked through the forum and I didnt think I saw any mention of the book The Crimson Petal and the White. This book acctually just grabbed me from the cover, I had never heard of the author Michel Faber. Now I'm quite a fan. Good read, good read.
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I totally dig Neil Gaiman, both his prose and his comics. I also love Alan Moore. I'm about halfway through Gaiman's "Smoke and Mirrors" collection of short stories. I have also been reading "Rebel Without A Crew" by Robert Rodriguez, about how he made El Mariachi.
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If fantasy is your thing, Hugh Cook (http://zenvirus.com/index.html) is IMHO totally awesome & since a few of his books have gone out of print he has uploaded them in their entirety (http://zenvirus.com/map.html) so you can try them out for free (http://zenvirus.com/military-sf-sci-fi-war/read-free-online-sf-novel.html). "The Wordsmiths and the Warguild" is probably the worst of the three by quite a margin; the other 2 rock.
& @ soap: if you like William Golding, I remember "The Spire" being pretty good, if somewhat metaphor-bludgeonly.
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Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time)
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter)
Michael A. Stackpole (Star Wars)
J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)
Aaron Allston (Star Wars)
.. is this a natural selection, or is my bookshelf just fracked up?
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Lately I just haven't been reading much fiction. I guess it's because I started The Bourne Identity a while back and promptly lost it on page 103. I've vowed to find and finish it before I start another fiction.
So instead, I've been reading the following:
The God Particle - It's 13 years old, so I'm sure it's horribly out of date by now, and fully intend to research everything from it after I'm finished, but particle physics is surprisingly interesting. It's got a humorous tone to it, too, which is refreshing after years of science text books.
Emergency War Surgery - which is exactly what the title says. I picked it up at a thrift store, since I'm obsessed with medical books. I guess it's a bit odd, but I really love that it explains not just treatments, but also why certain projectiles cause certain injuries, and takes human error into account when discussing early treatments.
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a book i read awhile ago but only just got reminded of:
maus by art spiegelman
its about the holocaust, but its in comic book form which somehow makes what it says more powerful than many 'proper' books about the same subject
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I am a huge huge huge gaiman fan. Neverwhere I am reading, been into the sandman series for a while. He is a mad genius. He wrote some comic with like 14th or 16th century superheroes i was reading in B&N the other day. The man is inteligent and I am convinced that everything he writes is gold.
plus, he and tori amos are tight. unfortunately, my music taste differs from anyone else who reads QC somehow. so that may not be that big of a deal. I think its super awesome, though. IMO Tori Amos writes damn interesting lyrics.
sorry didn't mean to get into music in a book thread.
Point being: Gaiman is fantastic. Read his stuff.
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My summer reading:
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss
Rise to Rebellion - Jeffrey Shaara
The first four were/are pretty decent. I haven't started the last one yet.
If I'm not mistaken, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a grammar book, isn't it? Rather funny.
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ON BULLSHIT
by frankfurt.
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I'm currently reading.....
Japanese Law - Hiroshi Oda
Corporate Governance: Theories, Principles and Practice- John Farrar
A History of Political Thought: From the Middle Ages to Renaissance- Janet Coleman
(and those are only 3 of 11 planned so far!)
who can't half tell I'm back at university and have already visited the library for a back breaking load of extra reading :P
and it's ok Ashtoon I think tori amos is awesome and writes some freaky lyrics too *starts singing along to 'cornflake girl'*
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right now reading: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. not a very easy read, i keep falling asleep after a page or two, so i have yet to get into the good part.
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:o HOW can you say that there are no boring bits when william gibson is writing *strokes her copy of Pattern Recognition she has on extended loan from her best mate* It's ok sweetie he didn't really mean it ... who's mummies favourite sci-fi book? you are yes you are shnookums......
hmmm see all those boring dull textbooks do funny things to my mind
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Currently reading Off Season by Jack ketchum and Principles of Wicca Vivanne Crowley. Before that devoured a few other wicca books, Tales from the nightside series. Some Eddings and a bunch of Pratchett, and thats just since school ended, Yey for not having to plan lessons in the evenings! Tomorrow I shall treat myself to a trip to Waterstones to pick up some new books! I hate buying stuff on amazon, its not as nice as spending ages in the nice bookshop and poking at old books!
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Re-reading Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.
Two things; I missed so much the first time through that it's amazing I thought I'd read it. Also, Death dealing with children is priceless.
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I want Neil Gaiman's babies. I read his blog, and that man can't write a word that isn't awesome.
Right now I'm just starting Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov. I love Russian novels. I'm also sort of in the middle of Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, but I probably won't finish it anytime soon. It really drags after awhile. I want to finish it someday, mostly because the ending is apparantly controversial. Victorian scandal makes me happy.
I just finished reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, which is kind of post-apocalyptic but not so much apocalypse as scarily plausible decline. It's a little like The Handmaid's Tale, but with characters that fight back. And when that got me too angry/depressed/cynical, I read bits of Spherical Harmonic by Catherine Asaro, which is part of a series that I can only describe as romantic space opera.
I have read one Terry Pratchett novel, plus Good Omens, and I intend to read more.
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re-reading the Tao Te Ching
Hurray Taoism! I think I'm due for being a hardcore taoist sometime soon. But only for a few weeks before I get bored and start being something else again.
Just finished All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and I was massively impressed. One of the most engaging and powerful classic novels I've ever read.
Now 100 pages into I, Lucifer by Glenn Duncan and it is severely kicking ass and about to start The Seahawk by Rafael Sabatini because I don't read nearly enough books about pirates and because it's the other best book option on the required reading for my AP Euro summer reading (besides All Quiet, which is done.)
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:o HOW can you say that there are no boring bits when william gibson is writing *strokes her copy of Pattern Recognition she has on extended loan from her best mate* It's ok sweetie he didn't really mean it ... who's mummies favourite sci-fi book? you are yes you are shnookums......
See, I didn't think of Pattern Recognition as a sci-fi, for some reason. Kinda modern-day tech thriller, if I had to label it. Neuromancer, now that's sci-fi.
I'm starting Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson, which I'm liking so far - since I'm something of a maths/cryptography/computer geek, it pushes all the buttons marked "Interesting."
I'm also going through Stranger In A Strange Land again - I haven't read it since I was about 12, and I see a lot more in it this time through. (You might even say that I'm grokking it.)
In my spare time, I'm reading through Dan Simmons' Prayers To Broken Stones - I found a copy in a second-hand bookshop, and it's brilliant. Really interesting reading the seeds for Hyperion, The Hollow Man, and Carrion Comfort, among others.
Now 100 pages into I, Lucifer by Glenn Duncan and it is severely kicking ass and about to start The Seahawk by Rafael Sabatini because I don't read nearly enough books about pirates and because it's the other best book option on the required reading for my AP Euro summer reading (besides All Quiet, which is done.)
If you want a book about pirates, track down (Amazon has it, I think) a book called On Stranger Tides. It's by Tim Powers, and I guarantee that if you like pirates and/or voodoo then you'll love it.
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Just finished Demonstorm, by James Barclay. Has anyone else read the Chronicles of the Raven and Legends of the Raven?
If you like your fantasy with mercenaries and codes of honor and magic and sword fights and undead warriors and dragons and great funny scenes then get them, start with Dawnthief. I laughed out loud (woke the fiance a few times) and I cried at the sad bits, Barclay really has a good way of creating empathy and the characters are pretty human (or elf or dragon :) ).
Currently starting to read a Tom Holt Omnibus and then will read Orcs by Stan Nicholls, I love Waterstones :)
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A suggestion for those of you who like insomnia inducing terror:
House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski. If you're into Poe, listen to their album Haunted while you read it. Danielewski is Poe's brother, and she made the album to go along with the book, or so I've heard. This book had me wanting to buy tape measures and buy night lights.
A review of the book:
http://www.themodernword.com/review_house_of_leaves.html
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terry pratchetts discworld series is magnificent, gets better with every book imho but although its my favourite character set, his recent focus on sam vimes and the city watch in most of his work is puzzling. The witches of lancre, rincewind the wizzard (or does he spell it with three z's?), death have all taken a back seat to parodies of modern life through the ankh morpork/city watch character set. Gotta love brave new world and 1984, as cliche' as they are for leftie types like myself they're just great. Animal Farm is better though. Anyone ever read ben eltons eco-warrior type books stark and this other eden? cheesy but very funny. Especially the spray-on condoms...
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I'm re-reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It's regarded as a children's book, but I think it's my favourite. I haven't read it since I was about nine and there are a lot of things that are more relevant to me now than there were then (mostly because now, I'm a word and funky math freak).
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plus, he and tori amos are tight. unfortunately, my music taste differs from anyone else who reads QC somehow. so that may not be that big of a deal. I think its super awesome, though. IMO Tori Amos writes damn interesting lyrics.
(Temporarily continuing the hijack....) I like Tori Amos. I have several of her CDs, some of her bootlegs, and have even attended one of her overpriced stadium shows. I'll also agree that she has interesting lyrics. Some of her turns of phrase are wonderful things to savor. That said, her songs rarely make a lick of sense to me. I explain it as "I understand the words, but I don't speak the language." Maybe if I attempt unpretty line-by-line translation.
Books! Books books books!
My favorite authors include Dr. Seuss, Madeleine l'Engle, Douglas Coupland, Neil Gaiman, Charles deLint, C.S. Lewis, Umberto Eco, and Orson Scott Card, among many others. Those are just the first few who floated to the top of my head.
My favorite Dr. Seuss book is My Many Colored Days, which I honestly enjoy for the pictures above the text. Do look for it. It's fun to read to strangers on the bus.
Madelein l'Engle has also written some fantastic picture books (The Other Dog stands out), but she's also done the Time Quartet (the first three volumes being excellent) and a host of other novels which have enough depth revealed in various places to keep me rereading throughout the years.
Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a tweenager must read. So is The Phantom Tollbooth.
Neil Gaiman... I would sacrifice small defenseless rodents to Cthulhu and the fire if it would grant me the ability to write as he. Stardust, Neverwhere, American Gods... yes.
Douglas Coupland: terribly funny. Really, he's terrible. His humor tends to come from the vacuity of modern culture butting up against those imperfect good things (like familial love) we hope are permanent, but aren't always. Still, his work is evolving, and each novel trips a little closer to finding meaning in a totally fucked-up world. I'm told he coined the term Generation X with his eponymous novel. I just think All Families Are Psychotic was a solid read, and want more.
Charles deLint writes urban fantasy, and it's usually pretty solid. My favorites from his canon are Tapping the Dream Tree (short stories) and The Onion Girl (novel re: the past of a major character). Most of his unrelated novels take place in Newford, with overlapping casts.
I'm falling unconsious, so I'll post and leave and hope I haven't repeated someone else's opinions word-for-word in my exhaustion. Maybe I'll post later.
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Finished The Sea Hawk yesterday. Do not read this book, it was terrible.
Picking up I, Lucifer again. Knowing it's gonna be better than the fucking book I just finished is reassurance enough. BLARRRGHHH.
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currently reading a million little pieces by james frey. a very powerful, heartrending memoir of a 23 year-old trying to kick his addictions to alcohol and crack.
also reading me talk pretty one day by david sedaris for a little levity.
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I have reading ADD and have two or three books on the go at once. At the moment I'm reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods (for about the twentieth time), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099450259/qid=1125864027/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_27_1/202-3003371-4323813l) and Beowulf (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393975800/qid=1125864209/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3_3/202-3003371-4323813)
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House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski is some good shit. Supernatural houses that eat people for fuel and a parallell story about the guy doing the footnotes.
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ON BULLSHIT
by frankfurt.
Good choice.
I just bought Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (which I started reading), White Teeth by Zadie Smith and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. Before I got those three (only for 21 bucks!) I was reading the fifth Harry Potter. Good shit, I don't care what anyone says!
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I own "On Bullshit" and haven't read it, even though it's a 20 minute read. I am buying the Tom Robbins collection Wild Ducks Flying Backwards tonight and I am so excited.