NationStates Jolt Archive

Whats the last really good book you read? I need something to read...

Whats the last really good book you read? I need something to read...

I re-read the Martian Chronicles. Last time I read it was in grade school. Was almost as good as I remembered it.

Whats the last really good book you read? I need something to read...

Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies. That just about it I don't get out much 8-| I mainly read news articles and scientific, philosophical and inmorfative documents I find.

I re-read the Martian Chronicles. Last time I read it was in grade school. Was almost as good as I remembered it.

Are those the Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars books?

I'm re-reading 100 Years of Solitude for the fifth time atm...

The Silmarrillion is my favourite novel. I am also partial to many Lovecraft works, my favourite of them being the Shadow out of Time. The Wheel of Time series is quite good also, but you really have to devote yourself fully to reading them if you do.

What genre of the like of novel are you interested in?

The Silmarrillion is my favourite novel. I am also partial to many Lovecraft works, my favourite of them being the Shadow out of Time. The Wheel of Time series is quite good also, but you really have to devote yourself fully to reading them if you do.

What genre of the like of novel are you interested in?

I like alot of "weird fiction" (Mieville, Gaiman, Murakami, Lovecraft), Cyberpunk, Steampunk, Historical Fiction, Commedy and just literature in general. I don't like alot of fantasy, and I don't like romances.

Are those the Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars books?

I'm re-reading 100 Years of Solitude for the fifth time atm...


Here:

http://www.raybradbury.com/books/martianchronicles-hc.html

I'm reading Cyrano de Bergerac right now (okay, a play, not a book, but even so...), and it's absolutely brilliant.

History of the New Zealand Division in World War Two, 'Italy Book 2 Cassino to Trieste'.
Awesome book.

As a person, I feel qualified in saying that you need to read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Plato's the Republic too. Though in truth I'm still working on that particular opus.

Hornblower and Sharpe are good series if you like action
Swallows and Amazons is good (its a series for children but its nice and relaxing and also there is enough going on and its really well written so its not boring if your older)
Shamus Heany's translation of Beowolf is good if you want to be cultured but want adventure as well
remember you can read plays as well and often it can be very intersting to do so, i'd recomend Death of a salesman, and Inspector calls or some shakespere (go for one of the plays you like from him as personally I love his comedy's but the tragidies can bore me ridged sometimes)
If your a biologist go see if you can find some work by Trofim Desenovich Lysenko look in the mid 30's accadimian reports from the soviet union some of what he said was hillarious.
Vive la Revolution by mark steel is great he's a comedian who looks at the French revolution and talks about all the really good bits that we never get taught (like the fact that jean paul marrat who at the time was pretty much the leader of france went missing for a week and they were all worried but he turned up and it turned out that he'd been out drinking and so hadden't come back....)

"Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson ?? Not sure of the author but think thats correct. It's about a man who has spent years building schools in Pakistan and Afganistan. It is really educational about the culture of that region of the world.

I just read a Richard Russo book today. It was nice, but I forgot the name, and it's all the way downstairs....

I like alot of "weird fiction" (Mieville, Gaiman, Murakami, Lovecraft), Cyberpunk, Steampunk, Historical Fiction, Commedy and just literature in general. I don't like alot of fantasy, and I don't like romances.

Well it seems your on track with that genre, I absolutely love the Lovecraftian ideas and alternate universe type of way he does things.

If you find historical literature to be interesting, I highly recommend the big classical Greek historians, Thucydides and Herodotus, their histories are both exciting and informative, though Thucydides is more for history and Herodotus a bit of a romaticist.

The Simarrillion is worth it to read just because of the immense worth and wealth of detail within, I mean the thing feels more important than the Bible reading it, and has excellent storytelling also by Tolkien.

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher. Wizards, necromancers, Chicago, and a fallen angel that you actually want the protagonist to cave into.

I haven't read much in a long tiime.:(

Looking at my bookcase, I can say the last good books I read were, "Wee Free Men", by Terry Pratchet (not as good as his earlier work) and Isamovs Foundation series.

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher. Wizards, necromancers, Chicago, and a fallen angel that you actually want the protagonist to cave into.

I tried to read that. Didn't like it much.

McTeague by Frank Norris
Europe Central by William Vollman
Lamb by Christopher Moore
A Modern Instance by William Dean Howells

The last incredible book I read was Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan safran Foer.

At the moment I'm reading Mordechai Richler's Joshua Then and Now as well as a collection of Carol Sheilds' short stories. All very good.

I like Sabriel by Garth Nix. It's my favorite fantasy book ever.

I've also been reading the Xanth series by Piers Anthony lately. It's pretty punny.

:p

I'm reading Cyrano de Bergerac right now (okay, a play, not a book, but even so...), and it's absolutely brilliant.

I would have to agree with this one. Absolutely charming.
Good show.

As for my personal tastes, the last couple of books that I read were

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (a collection of modernist short stories)
White Noise by Don DeLilo
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

I like to read Post-Modernist literature, so a lot of these books deal with the gradual falling apart of relationships and a critical look at the consumerist culture we live in today (WN, and TCL49).

Labyrinths deals with the nature of infinity and the problem of getting words to say exactly what we try to get them to say. Trying to use blunt tools to make fine work as Tim Eschells would say.

A Painted House - John Grisham

That was the last book I read that really knocked my socks off.

I like Sabriel by Garth Nix. It's my favorite fantasy book ever.

I've also been reading the Xanth series by Piers Anthony lately. It's pretty punny.

:p

Xanth rules.