Favorite books?

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 23 Jan 2006 13:31

Regarding Dan's last comment - You gave the impression to begin with that you haven't actually read the book? If you have read it why did you ask what the book was about? If you haven't why do you think it's garbage?

I hadn't originally read it when I made my first post. Go back and read what I said. I picked it up and read 4 chapters of it after making my first post.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 24 Jan 2006 00:16

tuomoruutufan wrote:jeremy did you read haunted yet

This book really had some amazing short stories.

And what other Bret E. Ellis books would you recomend beside the odvious american psycho.

Yeah I read Huanted a few months ago now. Having read all of Palahnuiks other books I found it a little boring. - Basically I think CP has the same message about humanity in all his books and once you've read a couple they're all the same - it's especially a problem with a series of short stories because you have the same twist and climax at the end of story. I think he needs to diversify a lot to remain interesting.

Of Bret E. Ellis - I'd recommend all his work

. In particular I'd recommend "Glamorama" - especially seeing as you're a fan of Robert Ludlum as well (who I intensly dislike for the politics in his books). Also "The Informers" is really great (I just read it a month or two ago). I think Lunar Park may well be his best book although probably it's best to read it after you've read his other books (it's a fictional autobiography - just like A Million Little pieces

).

Dan - A Million Little Pieces doesn't really have chapters - it has parts but I think there are only 4 or 5 of them. That was a definite criticism of mine actually - it's very hard to find places to stop reading - I'm not a big fan of putting books down mid paragraph but AMLP is in very big chunks so I found this a little frustrating. Considering I read the book in a day and a half I don't think this was a very big issue though.

tuomoruutufan · Post by **tuomoruutufan** » 24 Jan 2006 05:52

I agree jeremy, I love CP and his books have changed the way i look at life but its basically a different version of tyler durden in a different setting with a different problem.

Even with that being said and known reading choke survivor and fight club is still so very enjoyable and entertaining, if those 3 dont satisfy you enough check out invisible monsters (especially the ladies) and or haunted. But in my opinion reading anything more than his best 3 gets to a little redundant.

robert ludlum novels i have really only the bourne identity. and did not see much in politics ivolved so not sure where your coming from with that statement.

i will be checking out a million little pieces thanks for the reference.

Have your read either of the cleavenger novels? a very popular shock novelist.

carl winslow · Post by **carl winslow** » 26 Jan 2006 22:56

Wow, Frey got killed on Oprah today.
I kinda feel bad for him now.
Even though he will probably wind up making even more money on the lie book after this.

tuomoruutufan · Post by **tuomoruutufan** » 28 Jan 2006 09:59

Negative publicity is the best publicity

LittleBoy footbag · Post by **LittleBoy footbag** » 30 Jan 2006 19:08

catcher in the rye
catch 22
way of the peaceful warrior

tuomoruutufan · Post by **tuomoruutufan** » 30 Jan 2006 22:07

way of the peacfull warrior?

can you explain, im a big fan of books about war especially war involving indians and/or samurai.

LittleBoy footbag · Post by **LittleBoy footbag** » 31 Jan 2006 13:00

mmkay. it's just really about how to live life...some dude meets a strange guy, they become friends, and the strange guy turns out to be awesome...like sensei-wise.

there's also art of war by sun tzu or something. I have yet to read that.

tuomoruutufan · Post by **tuomoruutufan** » 31 Jan 2006 20:24

i have already read the art of war

entertainment value 0

but the value and influence on the way you handle your career and goals very high , alot of it is common sense but non the less very inspirational

Shredder- · Post by **Shredder-** » 06 Feb 2006 15:00

Whoooo man,

I just read these books and i freaking love them! started them 10 days ago and just finished all 3 now..

The Catcher in the rye (man I LOVE this book! So awesome

)
Dune Messiah (pretty good but short..)
Touching the Void (awesome but short too..true story..made into a movie..must... rent..)

I like this topic! A few books that I've been reading have been from here and they are really good!
The book I'm going to start when i get home (im at school..) is "The grapes of wrath", I heard thats pretty good so I can't wait...!

And The book after that is maybe gonna be "Lord of the flies", also from this topic..

Roy · Post by **Roy** » 10 Feb 2006 19:52

I read the Ender saga books by Orson Scott Card it was like
Enders game
Enders shadow
Speaker for the dead
xenocide
shadow of the children
They were real good if i remember right, its been a while though

EDIT: i need somewhere to post something for school. Since all free upload sites are blocked in school i will copy and paste it from here. EDIT2: I just keep posting stuff here. Robert Morris is a faggot.
EDIT3: on to some nuclear stuff nunuclear!
edit 4: jungle

Jurgis
â€¢ Large, strong man
â€¢ Does anything for his family
â€¢ Compassionate and caring
â€¢ Determined
â€œJurgis had great black eyes with beetling brows, and thick black hair that curled in waves about his ears. Jurgis could take up a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound quarter of beef and carry it into a car without a stagger, or even a thought.â€

dp · Post by dp » 10 Feb 2006 20:21

KURT VONNEGUT!!! He's sweet. 3/4 of his stuff is amazing, the other 1/4 is so-so. Cat's Cradle and Welcome ot the Monkey House, are his best books though, by far, out of the ones I've read. I've read about a half of his stuff so far... Definitly read at least Cat's Cradle and Welcome to the Monkey House.

full nelson · Post by **full nelson** » 10 Feb 2006 20:25

Kurt Vonnegut is really good. I like Slapstick and Galapagos.

dp · Post by dp » 11 Feb 2006 15:38

Brad, personally, I didn't like Galapagos very much. The whole book kinda felt like he was repeating himself all the time.

Slapstick though was an interesting read.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 22 Feb 2006 17:14

1. Finnegan's Wake - James Joyce
2. Ulysses - James Joyce
3. Paradise Lost - Milton (It's a poem, but its epic so it counts)
Actually most of the other stuff I really enjoy reading and re-reading is poetry or theory, but if i had to stick with 2 more it'd be
4. Howl - Allen Ginsberg
5. Under Milk Wood - Dylan Thomas (It's a radio play, and you can get a really good version of it read by Sir Richard Burton)

smokefree · Post by **smokefree** » 25 Feb 2006 20:06

Arrr, I've only seen one other person in here who likes Terry Goodkind. Anyway, im into
Terry Goodking - Sword of Truth Series
David Gemmell - Rigante Series
Orson Scott Card - Enders series

Those are my 3 favorite series evar. so far anyway.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 25 Feb 2006 23:57

I'm reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein right now. It is SOOOOOOO good!! It's nothing like what I have always pictured the story of Frankenstein's monster to be about. The descriptions of the mountains and snow and the creature bounding over the lake really make me want to make a movie or a comic. And I can totally picture the creature's voice all super deep like the big actor from Green Mile, and it's really great because he speaks so eloquently. I think it's definately one of my favourites. There's something about Victorian English (is that what this kind of writing is called?) that is so rich, yet so minimalist -- I can't get enough of it! (though it takes me a lot longer to read this kind of book).

Other books I've recently read, which were REALLY good, are The Monk, by Matthew Lewis, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Coleridge (though, it's a poem, it's pretty long and basically a short story...)

I've also read lots of REALLY BAD books recently. As I Lay Dying, Invisible Man, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and I'm also reading The Crying of Lot 49 right now, which I anticipate to be really bad. (The first chapter is so confusing, and at one point there is a sentence that is an entire page long and is really made up of 10 different sentences all broken up by each other...) I strongly suggest NOT reading any of these books :p

Some books I look forward to reading when I'm finally done these school readings are The DaVinci Code, The Pendragon Saga (or something), and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever series. (And Harry Potter 7, whenever that comes out.)

Has anyone read the Anne of Green Gables books? They seem to be really popular. My girlfriend made me read a few chapters one night, and it was pretty good.

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 26 Feb 2006 01:02

and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever series.

Hmm, I don't know... I've read them all, and there are some VERY cool parts in the books, but on the whole I thought that they were just a second-rate Lord of the Rings. Maybe I'm being too unkind. The cool bits were very cool, but they were just small bits in a relatively long series. Oh, I don't know, got ahead and read them, and then tell me what you think.

On the other hand, no, never mind. I've become very critical of sci-fi and fantasy novels. Hardly anything seems really first-rate anymore. I don't feel like making any recommendations anymore...

And now to directly contradict the above statement...

As for Coleridge, well, I'm not an expert on him, but I happen to think that "Kubla Khan" is his real masterpiece. Not nearly as long as Ancient Mariner, only a page or two in length. Read it. You can probably find it immediately by doing an internet search. "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure dome decree / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea..."

Later.

Edit: oops, that was intended to be a PM to Chan, but I hit the wrong button. How embarrassing...

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 26 Feb 2006 22:22

I've always dug "Frost at Midnight" most.
Man, I dug Crying of Lot 49. Pynchon Rocks. Gravity's Rainbow almost made my top 5. You've got to let go of you're preconceived notions of punctuation and let them be redifined by the text.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 27 Feb 2006 15:24

Hey Jon,
I dunno -- my brother and mom told me the series is super good, and they're both really serious readers. We also know the author through association, but I don't think that really biased the opinions they gave me.
I've also read Kubla Khan, but I probably just didn't have the time to put into understanding it. I don't think I read the whole thing actually. I just really like the gothic-esque nature of Ancient Mariner.

I'll give The Crying of Lot 49 a chance. I only read the first chapter (too busy with a million papers to have even finished Frankenstein yet), but it was just really hard to get into and it was frustrating, because I have so much work to do and that one chapter took me so long to try to understand, and I still don't. I guess I will get it if I start over when I have time. I heard its supposed to be funny. That will be a nice change from absolute boredom.

I've added Paradise Lost and some particular translation of the Odyssey to my list (EDIT: Robert Fagles?). I was just studying some poem that was saying how bad so many translations are (EDIT: John Keats' "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer"). My brother said he's read like three different, though, and this one was really hard to find but that it's the best of what he's read. Has anyone read Paradise Found?