NationStates Jolt Archive

What's your favourite book?Mine would be scifi,probably Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov,one of Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space novels or Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy.I read a lot of books.This week i read Absolution Gap in two days(830 pages,100 on the first day and 700 on the second day-finished it about 2 AM.(Note:Reelation Space is hard science fiction,that is following modern scientific principles and has no FTL travel.)Asimov's Robots of Dawn is at the same time detective fiction and a scifi novel.but what's your favourite book?

Fast Cakes, by Mary Berry.

Fast Cakes, by Mary Berry.

what the hell is that?

1984 by George Orwell
Lord of the rings series by JRR Tolkien

what the hell is that?
A very fine cookbook ^__^

1984 by George Orwell
Aye, good book, shame about the whole "EVERYTHING IS BIG BROTHER!" thing that particular work unleashed, mind.
Lord of the rings series by JRR Tolkien
EUGH.

1984 by George Orwell


i've been wanting to read that,oh well gotta look from the library

Aye, good book, shame about the whole "EVERYTHING IS BIG BROTHER!" thing that particular work unleashed, mind.

Orwell can hardly be held accountable for people misinterpreting his works, though.

My favorite is Dune by Frank Herbert

I usually say From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell...

...but if sticklers want to point out that it's a graphic novel, not a book, I say Lanark by Alasdair Gray, The Dispossesed by Ursula le Guin, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Dune by Frank Herbert, or Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, depending on what mood I'm in.

*Waits for somebody to post, Jennifer Government*

There are so many books I have read over the years I can't really pick a favourite, I enjoy Sci-fi in fact a few years ago I got into books by Robert Heinliem (I hope I spelt that right) and many of the classics I have read from Verne to Swift, Homer to Wu Cheng-en, and everything in between. I also enjoy some more books written recently, I recently read The First Casualty by Ben Elton quite good and The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie and I also enjoyed reading Company by Max Barry.

I enjoy Sci-fi in fact a few years ago I got into books by Robert Heinliem (I hope I spelt that right)
Heinlien ;)

Wu Cheng-en...
Journey to the West/Monkey is awesome!

Buddenbrooks.

A Piece of Blue Sky by Jon Atack

So many to choose from....

I suppose the ones I can read again and again without them becoming boring would be the best:

Michael Moorcock : The Warhound and the World's Pain

Frank Herbert: Dune

Dan Simmons: Hyperion & Endymion series

R Scott Bakker: The Darkness that comes Before

The Giver is probably my favorite.

*Waits for somebody to post, Jennifer Government*It's one of my favorites, but I think I'd put Ender's Game at the top of my favorites list.
On the other hands there's classics like Alice in Wonderland which rank pretty highly. It's just that I haven't read them recently (and so they automatically descent in the ranks as their memory fades).

I also enjoyed reading Company by Max Barry.I liked it less than Syrup and Jennifer Government. It disappointed me a bit to be honest.

Heinlien ;)

K cheers. Yeah I enjoyed reading them a few years ago I think I read about 15 of his books (Farmer in the Sky and Tunnel in the Sky were personal favourites amongst others) before I ran out of the ones my dad had in his bookshelf, then I moved on to Issac Asimov.

Journey to the West/Monkey is awesome!

Yes I know excellent story filled with humour mysticism, and drama, it is one book I have read over and over again.

Eh, no idea.

Ones that stick out though are I Am Legend (Richard Matheson), Evolution (Stephen Baxter), House of Leaves Mark Danielewski and American Gods (Neil Gaiman).

It's one of my favorites, but I think I'd put Ender's Game at the top of my favorites list.
On the other hands there's classics like Alice in Wonderland which rank pretty highly. It's just that I haven't read them recently (and so they automatically descent in the ranks as their memory fades).

Oh yes a lot of stories like Alice in Wonderland I have to agree I thoroughly enjoy but I haven't read many of them since I was about 8 or 9, I have just gotten my son into reading these books but he is currently reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia series since Prince Caspian came out recently, but he will learn to love even more classics, I was reading the children's version of The Arabian Nights to him before he started reading these books but maybe when he is older he will read a better version of this.

I liked it less than Syrup and Jennifer Government. It disappointed me a bit to be honest.

I can't say I have read Syrup as the book has been out of print in Australia for awhile and according to my friendly bookstore owner he said it may be coming back out later in the year so I will be hanging out for it.

Jennifer Government was good and I enjoyed it, the thing I liked about Company was a lot of it rang true to me (the way office politics and management works rather than the underlying plot) maybe it was because when I was reading it I was working in an office at the time and could see many similarities between what was in the book and what happened at work.

i wonder,what andaras would have said,as his favourite book?but,as he is banned he can't tell us.

Notes from Underground - Dostoyevski
Till We Have Faces - CS Lewis
Metamorphosis - Kafka
Sabriel - Garth Nix
The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
The Disposessed - Ursula K Leguin
Earth - David Brin
Soul Catcher - Frank Herbert
Narcissus and Goldmund - Herman Hesse
Ender's Game - Card
Philosophical Investigations - Wittgenstein
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" - Richard Feynman
Faith of the Fallen - Terry Goodkind
Cosmos - Carl Sagan
War of the Gods - Poul Anderson
A Planet Called Treason - Card
The Road to Reality - Roger Penrose
King Lear - Shakespeare (It's long enough for a small book, anyway!)
The Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass - Carroll



I'm sure there are plenty more but that's all I can think of at the moment! :D

Heinlien ;)

Heinlein :P

Anyway, I'm not sure that I can think of a overall favourite. Good books that I've read recently include:

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig

It's one of my favorites, but I think I'd put Ender's Game at the top of my favorites list.


Ender's game is a great book, although I try and avoid any of Orson Scott Card's non-fiction work like the plague.

I love pretty much anything by Terry Pratchett, but my particular favorite has to be Good Omens. I have a bit soft spot for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Otherwise I tend to find myself reading a lot of Bernard Cornwall, though I do believe his best has to be his Arthurian Trilogy (Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur). David Gemmel's Troy series is also superb.

I really enjoyed a Clockwork Orange [insert rant about how Stanley Kubrick should of never been allowed to work in film]

though to avoid repeating myself every thread I suggest The Catcher in the Rye

Ordinary People
Catcher in the Rye
Scarlet Letter
White Noise
Requiem For A Dream

My two favourites have to be Good Omens (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman) and Night Watch (Terry Pratchett).

Out of novels I've read recently, my favourite is Tepper Isn't Going Out (Calvin Trillin).

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

I can't pick one.

Anglophone? Goodnight Mister Tom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Mr_Tom), by Michelle Magorian.

It's hard to pick a single title so ... here you go:
"Sputnik Sweetheart" by Haruki Murakami
"Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
"The Old Man Who Read Love Stories" by Luis Sepulveda
"Balthasar's Odyssey" by Amin Maalouf
"The Club Dumas" by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Catch 22. It's still my favourite book.

Lord Of The Rings.

The Liberation Series: Part I An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson

Lord Of The Rings.

i could go bashing but i won't

i could go bashing but i won't

Go ahead. Try it.:D

I've always liked The praise of folly by Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Catch 22. It's still my favourite book.

I recently finished reading this, actually. I'm still in shock that in none of my schooling, even at university taking an American Classics class, did I ever have to read this book. It's literally, in my opinion, the best piece of work ever to have come out of American literature. The sequel, Closing Time, was alright, too, but I disliked the end. =\

My list goes:

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Dune (and its sequels...though Heretics kinda falls flat, imo) by Frank Herbert
Rant and Fight Club and Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin (though, this series is still unfinished and he takes an insane amount of time between books, it's still one of the few "fantasy" novels I can actually tolerate...none of that elves and goblins and morally dichotomous garbage that seems to define the rest of the genre...freaking Tolkien, damn him)
I Am Legend by...the author's name escapes me, atm....short novella (usually part of an anthology) and very much better than the movie, which seemed to entirely miss the point, which makes me sad...because it ruins the fucking title of the story.

I recently finished reading this, actually. I'm still in shock that in none of my schooling, even at university taking an American Classics class, did I ever have to read this book. It's literally, in my opinion, the best piece of work ever to have come out of American literature.

Boo-yah!

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. This is my number one favourite book. I read it about once or twice a year.

Some other favourites...

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings. Yeah yeah, bitch all you want, I still like it.
Alistair MacLean's H.M.S. Ulysses
Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

There's a bunch of other books that I like, but don't really deserve the "favourite" status...
Max Barry's Jennifer Government and Company, Robert Ludlum's books, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series :$, Max Brooks' zombie books...

Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham and Men Like Gods by HG Wells.

Boo-yah!

Uh...what?

The Catcher in the Rye.

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

Kushiel's Dart (and the rest of that series) by Jacqueline Carey

Thud! by Terry Pratchett.

Uh...what?

I believe it translates to

'I enthusiastically concur with your well-stated position'.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
been down so long it looks like up to me by Richard Fariña

Although I'm fond of most anything Asimov or Sagan wrote.

I believe it translates to

'I enthusiastically concur with your well-stated position'.

What an elegant way of putting it. We should be saying this instead of Boo-yah!

1984 by George Orwell

I just finished reading that for the first time in several years, and was a little disappointed. It didn't seem as true as it did when I first read it. (In the way a work of fiction can be true. It didn't seem as relevant to reality, I guess is a better way of putting it.)

Although it will make Yootopia gag, I do enjoy Lord of the Rings very much, all the while realizing, though, that it is not great literature. I also really like Lord of the Flies, maybe I have an obsession with feudal authority.

I just finished reading that for the first time in several years, and was a little disappointed. It didn't seem as true as it did when I first read it. (In the way a work of fiction can be true. It didn't seem as relevant to reality, I guess is a better way of putting it.)

Although it will make Yootopia gag, I do enjoy Lord of the Rings very much, all the while realizing, though, that it is not great literature. I also really like Lord of the Flies, maybe I have an obsession with feudal authority.

Read The Things They Carried for a good analysis about "reality", "truth" and "fiction"

Read The Things They Carried for a good analysis about "reality", "truth" and "fiction"

I'll look into that, thanks for the suggestion. Is this The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? It's the first one that comes up on Google.

I just finished reading that for the first time in several years, and was a little disappointed. It didn't seem as true as it did when I first read it. (In the way a work of fiction can be true. It didn't seem as relevant to reality, I guess is a better way of putting it.)

Although it will make Yootopia gag, I do enjoy Lord of the Rings very much, all the while realizing, though, that it is not great literature. I also really like Lord of the Flies, maybe I have an obsession with feudal authority.
*Sputters, chokes on coke* HERETIC!

*Sputters, chokes on coke* HERETIC!
Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing epic, and I think Tolkien is a great storyteller. I like them enough to be one of those repulsive people who reads them annually. But the characters, plot, and scenarios are just archetypes that have been around for millenia, as I think they are meant to be. The books were an effort to make a modern equivalent of the Illiad or Beowulf, not Crime and Punishment, and I think he was near successful.

EDIT: And eh, as your elder CM I feel some responsibility for you so I'll ask bluntly: this is Coca-Cola your choking on now, right? Not...something else?

I'll look into that, thanks for the suggestion. Is this The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? It's the first one that comes up on Google.
If it is, I'll second that suggestion. It's a very good book, to say the least.

Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing epic, and I think Tolkien is a great storyteller. I like them enough to be one of those repulsive people who reads them annually. But the characters, plot, and scenarios are just archetypes that have been around for millenia, as I think they are meant to be. The books were an effort to make a modern equivalent of the Illiad or Beowulf, not Crime and Punishment, and I think he was near successful.

EDIT: And eh, as your elder CM I feel some responsibility for you so I'll ask bluntly: this is Coca-Cola your choking on now, right? Not...something else?
Erm...Uh.... No comment.
<.<

>.>

:wink:

And I disagree with you. If you look deep enough, almost every famous character has been around for at least a millennium, whether the medium be book, movie, or game. The only possible thing to do is to make them likable, and make the reader/viewer/gamer feel attached to the characters, rather than merely viewing them as cardboard cutouts.

And yes, I still feel sorry for Frodo.:(

Too hard to say. I don't tend to "agree" with the sentiment behind much of what is considered great literature, and much of what resonates with me philosophically and aesthetically is flawed as literature or obscure.

So, I'll instead credit Don Quixote with sparking my interest in reading as a child, and blame Whitehead's Process and Reality for sparking the addiction to philosophy that consumed my highschool years (I have it under control now). :tongue:

I'll look into that, thanks for the suggestion. Is this The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? It's the first one that comes up on Google.

That's the one. It's okay. It won't bore you.

It's gotta be Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail. Shows you a side of politics that you wouldn't normally see.

And I disagree with you. If you look deep enough, almost every famous character has been around for at least a millennium, whether the medium be book, movie, or game. The only possible thing to do is to make them likable, and make the reader/viewer/gamer feel attached to the characters, rather than merely viewing them as cardboard cutouts.
There's probably some truth to that, but it's more than just the characters. Lord of the Flies, for instance, is a book where the characters are mostly symbolic. I was fascinated, in a horrible sort of way, when Piggy died, but I didn't really feel empathy for him. I certainly liked Frodo and Sam more. But the book as a whole made presented something I hadn't thought about before, how society is limited by the innate good and innate evil of individual people. Same with 1984. While it didn't have as great an impact as it used to, it still made me say, "Hmm, it makes since that the Party would secure power by doing x, y, and z." The Return of the King made me want to live in the Shire, but it wasn't exactly thought-provoking.
And yes, I still feel sorry for Frodo.:(
But didn't he get to go to Paradise? Wasn't that how the story ended?

The Cyberiad (Stanisław Lem)
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams).

Catch-22 was my favorite book for a long time (a lot of people on NS, at least NSG, seem to like it), til my friend introduced me to the greatness that is science fiction...

:eek: OMG!, where do I start?! :eek:

O.K., say... anything by Asimov, Bradbury, S. King, A. Rice, Tolkien, Lewis, H. Harrison, Chrichton, G.Maguire, & D. Adams.
I also loved The Harry Potter series, Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion by D.Simmons, Fun Home by A.Bechdel, Watchmen, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Blankets by C.Thompson, War & Peace by Tolstoy, Mouse Guard by D.Petersen, The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, Company by You-Know-Who:wink:,...
O.K., this is getting long-winded, I'll shut-up now. :tongue:

The Cyberiad (Stanisław Lem)
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams).

Catch-22 was my favorite book for a long time (a lot of people on NS, at least NSG, seem to like it), til my friend introduced me to the greatness that is science fiction...

I'm not a sci-fi nut, but Lem = :hail:

(Had to use that new smilie). :p

That reminds me....I've tried to read War and Peace. I've tried many times and wanted to finish more than a couple hundred pages so very, very badly but I just fucking can't. I realize it's a world classic but, god damn, that book just bores. Once every hundred pages or so there might be a couple of pages where I'm interested, but otherwise, it's as good as taking a sleeping pill.

That reminds me....I've tried to read War and Peace. I've tried many times and wanted to finish more than a couple hundred pages so very, very badly but I just fucking can't. I realize it's a world classic but, god damn, that book just bores. Once every hundred pages or so there might be a couple of pages where I'm interested, but otherwise, it's as good as taking a sleeping pill.
Have you tried anything shorter by Tolstoy? The Death of Ivan Illych (sp?) was pretty good, although like you I don't know if I could go through more than several hundred pages of him.

Have you tried anything shorter by Tolstoy? The Death of Ivan Illych (sp?) was pretty good, although like you I don't know if I could go through more than several hundred pages of him.

I've been meaning to, just keep forgetting. However, now is probably a good time to try some of other stuff as I'm at a loss for new books to read. On my new "to read" list is only Notes from the Underground, maybe I'll just do a Russian literature series, or something. So The Death of Ivan Illych, any other suggestions (just Russian authors in general, not specifically Tolstoy)?

I've been meaning to, just keep forgetting. However, now is probably a good time to try some of other stuff as I'm at a loss for new books to read. On my new "to read" list is only Notes from the Underground, maybe I'll just do a Russian literature series, or something. So The Death of Ivan Illych, any other suggestions (just Russian authors in general, not specifically Tolstoy)?
Crime and Punishment was very good, and based on the number of people who say they've enjoyed reading it, I'd wager it's not as tedious as War and Peace.

That reminds me....I've tried to read War and Peace. I've tried many times and wanted to finish more than a couple hundred pages so very, very badly but I just fucking can't. I realize it's a world classic but, god damn, that book just bores. Once every hundred pages or so there might be a couple of pages where I'm interested, but otherwise, it's as good as taking a sleeping pill.

The hard part was going "WAIT... WHO was that again?...", and having to backtrack and pick up a thread that had lapsed for too long.
Other than that, once you look beneath the history, it's just one BIG damn soap opera. *ooh.. other peoples' smut...*

Its hard to pick one, Custer's Last Stand. What can I say, I read it and liked it.

Of course their are many good books.

The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga, by Jack Vance, are my all-time favorite books (if I must favor one, let it be Cugel's Saga).

My list also includes Fantastic Fables and The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce (I also love most of his short stories); Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy, by Niccolò Machiavelli; Jennifer Government, by Max Barry; Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift; Animal Farm, by George Orwell (I am still reading 1984); The Duel, by Joseph Conrad; Bibliotheca, by Apollodorus; any of the installments of The Story of Civilization, by Will and Ariel Durant; The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

There are many excellent books out there, I cannot possibly name them all.

Parkus Empire, who is your avatar? He looks a little like Mark Twain, but I can't tell.

Parkus Empire, who is your avatar? He looks a little like Mark Twain, but I can't tell.

Ambrose Bierce, a contemporary of Mark Twain. A extremely bitter, cynical, and humorous fellow. Probably a tad a racist (and sexist), but much less so than most of his time. He kept a human skull on his desk (he said, without a smile, that it was all that remained of a rival critic).






http://ts2.images.live.com/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=2150769820633&id=2f6ddae82d95fc66a5cd96fed5a53679

Ambrose Bierce, a contemporary of Mark Twain. A extremely bitter, cynical, and humorous fellow. Probably a tad a racist (and sexist), but much less so than most of his time. He kept a human skull on his desk (he said, without a smile, that it was all that remained of a rival critic).
Lovely. I haven't read any of his fiction, but The Devil's Dictionary was delightfully...what's the word? Angellic? No. Demonic? No, that's not it. I'll get back to you when I remember.

The Cheese Monkeys, Chip Kidd
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

EDIT: Okay, I tried to keep the list short, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a few more. Like...
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein
The Savage Girl, Alex Shakar
The Yiddish Policeman's Union, Michael Chabon
The Cage, S.M. Stirling and Shirley Meier

I've been meaning to, just keep forgetting. However, now is probably a good time to try some of other stuff as I'm at a loss for new books to read. On my new "to read" list is only Notes from the Underground, maybe I'll just do a Russian literature series, or something. So The Death of Ivan Illych, any other suggestions (just Russian authors in general, not specifically Tolstoy)?

Nikolai Gogol is my favorite Russian author. "The Nose", "The Overcoat", "Diary of a Madman", etc. I also enjoyed Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time.

House of Leaves Mark Danielewski
Poe rocks.
*bows*

Ambrose Bierce, a contemporary of Mark Twain. A extremely bitter, cynical, and humorous fellow. Probably a tad a racist (and sexist), but much less so than most of his time. He kept a human skull on his desk (he said, without a smile, that it was all that remained of a rival critic).






http://ts2.images.live.com/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=2150769820633&id=2f6ddae82d95fc66a5cd96fed5a53679
Indeed, awesome lit. *bows*
Of course, i said that last time you brought it up. As good now as it were then. :)

Its hard to pick one, Custer's Last Stand. What can I say, I read it and liked it.Oooh, oooh! *waves hand frantically*
Does it mention him graduating last in his class at West Point, with 726 demerits? Or does it just talk about his fashion sense? Curious.

The Cheese Monkeys, Chip Kidd
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

Hmm, I have selected your next book, The Magus by John Fowles, you'll love it if you haven't read it already.

I'll look into that, thanks for the suggestion. Is this The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? It's the first one that comes up on Google.

Sorry...yes...Tim O'Brien is the man. Specific quote:
"The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you...There is the illusion of aliveness"

O'brien also said "Even that story is made up....I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.


Great book, great author.

Hmm, I have selected your next book, The Magus by John Fowles, you'll love it if you haven't read it already.

I'm intrigued. I always forget if John Fowles is the one who wrote A Separate Peace or the one who wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman. I see from wikipedia that it is the latter. Right, it's John Knowles who wrote A Separate Peace.

I shall search out this Magus you speak of, procure it, and issue my verdict.

Sorry...yes...Tim O'Brien is the man. Specific quote:
"The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you...There is the illusion of aliveness"

O'brien also said "Even that story is made up....I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.


Great book, great author.

That book became a phenomenon at uni my second or third year, completely out of the blue it seemed. Good thing, too, or I would never have known about it.

If you liked The Things They Carried and discourse on the Vietnam War, might I suggest the poetry of LeRoy V. Quintana (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/reflect/quintana.html)?

That book became a phenomenon at uni my second or third year, completely out of the blue it seemed. Good thing, too, or I would never have known about it.

If you liked The Things They Carried and discourse on the Vietnam War, might I suggest the poetry of LeRoy V. Quintana (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/reflect/quintana.html)?

That's actually on my list. His book "In The Lake Of The Woods" was what got me into him.

That's actually on my list. His book "In The Lake Of The Woods" was what got me into him.

Oh, you sweet-talker, you. I'm positively melty.

I'd have to say currently...

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Ordinary People
Catcher in the Rye
Scarlet Letter
White Noise
Requiem For A Dream

I love the film version of Ordinary People but I've never read the book. How does it compare?

It's hard to pick a single title so ... here you go:
"Sputnik Sweetheart" by Haruki Murakami
"Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
"The Old Man Who Read Love Stories" by Luis Sepulveda
"Balthasar's Odyssey" by Amin Maalouf
"The Club Dumas" by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Funny, a bar tender recommended Haruki Murakami to me just a couple of days ago.

IFunny, a bar tender recommended Haruki Murakami to me just a couple of days ago.

Start with Norwegian Wood, I think it's the most accessible.

Oh, you sweet-talker, you. I'm positively melty.haha...it is quite the book. I love the set up and style.

I love the film version of Ordinary People but I've never read the book. How does it compare?
This is one time that I can say that the movie is actually very good. The book uses different viewpoints, going back and forth from the son to the father (the mother has no voice, which is similar to the movie, but so much more obvious in the book). I personally love some of the flourishes that literature can provide that film cannot, such as this quote:
"Berger walks him to the car. As he gets in, tears well up again behind his eyelids. For so long he has shielded himself from hurt, not letting it be inflicted upon him. Suddenly he is naked, unprotected, and the air is full of flying glass. All his senses are raw, open to wounding"

Start with Norwegian Wood, I think it's the most accessible.

Norwegian Wood left me depressed for a week v.v

Officially my favorite book is Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite. I've read it so many times the pages are soft and the words are starting to fade.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman is a close second though.

As usual, almost *ALMOST* none of the books i would mention have garnered mention here, 'cept for Bierce.
As in, Coincidance and The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles by Robert Anton Wilson, The Book of Lists 1-3 by Wallace & Wallechinsky, Three-Fisted Tales of Bob, The Big Book of ... series, well, almost no actual "fiction" to mention so much as various other styles. I've mentioned 'em before anywho.

Norwegian Wood left me depressed for a week v.v

It particularly resonated with me at the time I read it, having come out of a relationship with a girl who utterly confused me.

Depressing probably but a lovely read, I actually found it very comforting.

So close between Lord of the Rings and 1984.

In the way a work of fiction can be true. It didn't seem as relevant to reality, I guess is a better way of putting it.

Read The Things They Carried for a good analysis about "reality", "truth" and "fiction"
Is it true that Superman can fly?



So The Death of Ivan Illych, any other suggestions (just Russian authors in general, not specifically Tolstoy)?
Sticking with Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, certainly.

Other Russian classics to read would Crime and Punishment or The Idiot by Dostoevsky, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. Pushkin's poetry definately worth checking out also.

Further afield, I'd highly recommend Vaclav Havel and Milan Kundera's stuff. Both have great Soviet occupation-era works, especially Havel's plays The Garden Party and Memorandum, and Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Right now my favourites are:
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, bij Peter F.Hamilton (they're a twopart series)

Although i read a lot of sci fi and fantasy, so it changes a lot.

Man there are too many good books too choose from.

Any Neal Asher, any Joe R Lansdale, most Stephen King. In no particular order.

Duncton Woods -Willam Horwood
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Frankenstien - Marry Shelly
Escape From Kathmandu - Kim Stanley Robinson

Man far to many to list, so I'm gonna stop right there.

Varney the Vampire
Carmilla - Sheriden Le Fanu
Three Men on a Bummel- Jerome K Jerome
any of the William Books - Richmal Crompton
Master and Commander - Patrick O'Brien
Biggles in France - WE Johns
The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal - Adrian Plass

"Armor" & "Vampire$" by John Steakley (as well his two short stories "The Bluenose Limit" & "Flyer")
"The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman
"Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy" by Timothy Zahn
"Starship Troopers" by Robert A. Heinlein
"Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov


There are many other books that I really enjoyed reading, among them some German (science) fiction - but those mentioned above are good reads and I enjoyed them very much.

Is it true that Superman can fly?

Very much so.

There is no way you can only choose one, but if there is only one I would have to pick it would be Tom Sawyer. It is a fun read and is light hearted.

Here is a list of fiction books that would be on my list (in no particular order):

Tom Sawyer
1984
Animal Farm
The Fountainhead
Narnia Chronicles
LOTR
The Count of Monte Crisco
Les Miserables
The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis
Oliver Twist
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Lord of the Flies
The Mouse that Roared


These are just a few.

Indeed, awesome lit. *bows*
Of course, i said that last time you brought it up. As good now as it were then. :)

Then you might enjoy his fables. Here is one called The Life Saver:

An Ancient Maiden, standing on the edge of a wharf near a Modern Swain, was overheard rehearsing the words:

"Noble preserver! The life that you have saved is yours!"

Having repeated them several times with various intonations, she sprang into the water, where she was suffered to drown.

"I am a noble preserver," said the Modern Swain, thoughtfully moving away; "the life that I have saved is indeed mine."

The Count of Monte Cristo is pretty damn good and I like near anything by Wilbur Smith. I used to love Tom Clancy's old stuff (when he actually wrote the books), but now I'm not quite so passionate about them.

EDIT: Robert Ludlum is also awesome.

Then you might enjoy his fables. Here is one called The Life Saver::eek:
Certainly whiffs of him. :)

This is one time that I can say that the movie is actually very good. The book uses different viewpoints, going back and forth from the son to the father (the mother has no voice, which is similar to the movie, but so much more obvious in the book). I personally love some of the flourishes that literature can provide that film cannot, such as this quote:
"Berger walks him to the car. As he gets in, tears well up again behind his eyelids. For so long he has shielded himself from hurt, not letting it be inflicted upon him. Suddenly he is naked, unprotected, and the air is full of flying glass. All his senses are raw, open to wounding"

Okay, must pick that up. Because clearly I don't spend enough of my ever-dwindling financial resources on books. I do love how Mary Tyler Moore plays his mother. She's so goddamn cold.

Pushkin's poetry definately worth checking out also.

I like the revolutionary poets better. Mayakovsky, Blok, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, etc.


The Fountainhead
Les Miserables
Oliver Twist

Masochist.

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. This is my number one favourite book. I read it about once or twice a year.

Some other favourites...

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings. Yeah yeah, bitch all you want, I still like it.
Alistair MacLean's H.M.S. Ulysses
Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

There's a bunch of other books that I like, but don't really deserve the "favourite" status...
Max Barry's Jennifer Government and Company, Robert Ludlum's books, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series :$, Max Brooks' zombie books...

Hitchhiker's!haven't read any max barry's books.BTW that avatar of yours isn't that Kekkonen,the former president of Finland?

Masochist.


Sounds like someone has some explaining to do?:eek: