Book thread

[Joe]

In before Dark Tower.

Now for my suggestions:

Read the Dark Tower. I'm reading Song of Ice and Fire, and it's not grabbing me like DT did. Of course, I"m just into book six on the Dark Tower series, so hey.

Second to Hyperion.

If you haven't, read Thomas Harris.

Bret Ellis is also great, if incredibly insane.

Classics I can recommend out the wazoo.

It's cliche now, but read anything by Hunter S. Thompson. Don't start with Fear and Loathing, or you'll be That Guy.

Lovecraft is also the shit. I'd recommend Lurker at the Threshold as a good starter. The man's gift for mood is uncanny.

[Strazos]

Black Athena.  Martin Bernal (Volume 1).    This is the first in a 4 volume series that is a serious scholarly work.  I read the first volume.  It is a fascinating argument, espoused by the leading proponent of this view, that much of what we ascribe to classical Greece was taken from Egypt (gods, belief systems etc.).

This is so true, it's kinda scarey. Pre-Homeric Greece was really pretty primitive until they came into contact with Egypt. Probably about half of what we know as "Ancient Greece" or "Classical Greek Culture" etc, has its roots deep within Egypt ( I want to say 19th Dynasty Egypt). It's pretty interesting if you think about it...the  Greeks (or more correctly, the Hellenes [spelling]) borrow cultural traits from Egypt, Hellenize them....and then have them borrowed by the Romans, who had an obsession with the Hellenic world.

[Ardent]

The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russel. A must for any dark fantasy lover.

[ClydeJr]

The Anita Blake series by Laurel Hamilton is pretty good. All kinds of supernatural beasties exist, and vampires have recently gained rights as citizens in the U.S. Blake is a reanimator (she can raise the dead so they can testify in court cases, clarify something in their will, or even so someone can say goodbye) by day, a licensed vampire hunter by night, and moonlights as a supernatural consultant for the St. Louis Police. They're mystery/thriller books with lots of gore, sex, and obnoxious vampire posing. The first books are good, the later ones seem more concerned with which supernatural creature she going to have sex with.

Tad William's Otherland series is all about virtual worlds. Something in the net is causing kids to fall into comas. A bunch of people log in trying to find our what is causing it, but end up getting trapped online.

Right now I'm reading Robert Ludlum's Bourne Supremacy. How close was the movie to the book? Well, they both have a character named Jason Bourne...

[Edit: Forgot the word "close" in the last paragraph]

[Ardent]

Right now I'm reading Robert Ludlum's Bourne Supremacy. How was the movie to the book?

To simulate the nausea-inducing camerawork in TBS, read the book while sitting inside a cement mixer.

[WayAbvPar]

I got a couple of BN gift certs for my birthday, so I just ordered-

Sethra Lavode- Stephen Brust
Lord of Castle Black- Stephen Brust
Open: Inside the ropes at Bethpage Black- John Feinstein
Black Company (everyone keeps talking about it)-Glen Cook
Post Captain- Patrick O'Brian

Plus 1 companion book for the Patrick O'Brian series so I can understand wtf they are on about when they are describing the rigging.

[Johny Cee]

My favorite fantasy series is probably the Black Company by Glen Cook. Epic global war between undead wizards told from the point of view of a medic in a mercenary company. Goblin, One-Eye and Silent - some of the best wizards ever. I gotta go back and read these again, I've heard he's been writing some new ones.

I am currently in a Lovecraft phase with my fiction,

Lovecraft pwns me, my favorite overall author. One thing I really miss is my rare full set of thin hardcovers with painted covers, had all his printed works at the time, I think it was done in the early 60s.

I wasn't going to say Cook's name, cause I think I've been guilty of plugging him enough already.  He has two books due this spring/summer:  A new Garret novel,  and a brand new hardcover (no relation to any of his previous books, I think.  Brand new trilogy of something).  He was rumored to have a 1000 page plus manuscript for a crime novel lying around that wasn't getting published. 

Lovecraft:  Yah.  Great, great stuff.

Just read Chabon's "The Final Solution".  Meh.  Set around WW2,  with a now 90ish year old Sherlock Holmes gets dragged into a murder investigation revolving around a young Jewish boy from Germany.  Expected surprises and plot developments follow.  It's too bad,  because I really wanted to enjoy the book after "The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay".

If historical fiction is your bag,  try Forester's "Hornblower" books or O'Brian's Aubrey & Marturin books.  Both naval, set around the Napoleaonic wars.  I've read most fo O'Brian's 20 plus books in the last month,  and all are fairly decent.  Some slow spots.  Personally, I prefer Forester.

[Polysorbate80]

I started the Black Company series with "Bleak Season" (the most recent one out at the time) and worked back through the series as I could locate the older volumes.  I prefer the later volumes, although I believe a lot of people don't care for them as much.  Maybe it's because I started reading out of order, or maybe I just like the milieu better--more of an Indian/South-east Asian feel than the standard medieval European backdrop.

The Garrett novels are great fun as well.

Mostly been reading random junk novels lately, nothing worth recommending.  David Drake's "Goddess of the Ice Realm" (part of the "Lord of the Isles" series) was entertaining enough, although it follows more or less the same formula as the rest of the "Isles" series and it's wearing a bit thin by now.

[SurfD]

Watership Down, by Richard Adams
This book might not be for everyone, but I love it.  Every time I read it I get more out of it.  Rabbits going on a grand adventure to find a new home is not what the story is really about.  It's an allegory for mankind's relationship with nature, something I didn't appreciate when I first read this book at 8 years old.  If you're a treehugging naturelover like me and haven't read this book, I'd recommend it.

If you ever get a chance, grab the Animated Movie.  I tell you, absolutely nothing as mind twisting as watching THAT at the age of 8 or 9 when expecting something TOTALLY different (say about fluffy bunnies off on a grand adventure)

[Soukyan]

The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russel. A must for any dark fantasy lover.

I second these. The Sparrow is an excellent book. Dark fantasy isn't quite the word I would use to describe them. They are science fiction in setting and highly anthropological in context. Very interesting books to read. They will make you think and cringe and think and cringe and think some more.

[Murgos]

If historical fiction is your bag,  try Forester's "Hornblower" books or O'Brian's Aubrey & Marturin books.  Both naval, set around the Napoleaonic wars.  I've read most fo O'Brian's 20 plus books in the last month,  and all are fairly decent.  Some slow spots.  Personally, I prefer Forester.

I've read most of these, Forester and O'Brian both, over the last year to year and a half or so and I gotta say that if you haven't taken the trip into Napoleanic Naval Historical Fiction you really should give it a whril.  There is some OUTSTANDING stuff in there.

Taken as a series I would have to give the nod to Forester as being a more complete and smoother experience but there are some indivdual books by O'Brian that I think really make the Hornblower stuff look second rate.  As an added bonus many of the exploits of the main characters are based on the exploits of real people during the Napoleanic Wars, if you find these stories as interesting as I did you should really do yourself and look some of them up (ex. Admiral Lord Cochrane - the nominal basis for Aubery). 

[UD_Delt]

In before Dark Tower.

Now for my suggestions:

Read the Dark Tower. I'm reading Song of Ice and Fire, and it's not grabbing me like DT did. Of course, I"m just into book six on the Dark Tower series, so hey.

I'll second that... Wolves of the Calla (book 5) wasn't very good but I'm about halfway through Song of Susannah (6) and things are starting to pick up again. The first 4 books were all very good with only a few slow back-story parts.

I've also recently reread Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for obvious reasons. A very good read.

If you enjoy Fear and Loathing check out Hells Angels also by Thompson or Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Wolfe. Those are both good "Gonzo" journalism books. I still think Electric Kool-Aid is the best one I've read but then again that was the one I read during my heavier drug days...

I've also read the Sword of Truth series up to book seven recently. Much better than the Wheel of Time series I think. I couldn't get past WoT book 8. All the female characters just got way too annoying.

[Polysorbate80]

I've also read the Sword of Truth series up to book seven recently. Much better than the Wheel of Time series I think. I couldn't get past WoT book 8. All the female characters just got way too annoying.

I think he only really *has* one female character that he's photocopied and given different names to.  Seriously, if they didn't have different hair colors or styles (like that goddamn braid the one keeps pulling) you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

I refuse to ever finish reading the series and that's a first for me.  I'll read some seriously bad crap just because I can't stand not knowing how said crap turned out--but not the "Wheel."

[HaemishM]

After finishing Raph's book, I'm back into reading Moby Dick. Yes, Moby Motherfucknig Dick. Because I never have and I don't feel complete. It's actually a lot better than I ever would have given it credit for. It's a shame I got rebellious about "literature" back in my high school days, as I missed some good stuff like this and Anna Karenina.

[Sky]

I got rebellious with litrachure when I was forced to read three Dickens novels in a single year, for a single class. In addition to the regular 9th grade curriculum, like Outsiders and light garbage like that. The only upside to that hellish year (we renamed our teacher Ms Havisham) was another required read: Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Same year Iron Maiden's Powerslave came out, so I totally 'got' the story and loved the original Coleridge work. Bonus: the bits we had to memorize were in the song and the teacher allowed me to play it for the class. A small victory for metal, being played in a scholars english room, heard all down the hall...back when there were 3 'metalheads' in our school...

[HaemishM]

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the shiznit.

Fucking Dickens should be relegated to hell where he belongs.

[Triforcer]

George R.R. Martin is still my favorite fantasy author behind Tolkien (Pratchett a close third).  I just wish he would write the fourth damn book.  His website, updated in January, says something like "I have 1300 pages completed and am working on the last five chapters in fragment form".  I reread all three books this past week and every time I read I pick up on stuff I hadn't seen before (like the rampant Renly/Loras homoeroticism).  Given that he's said there are at LEAST two books after this, I'm worried about him dying of old age before the series is finished more than anything else.

[Paelos]

Dickens, while a classic author on many levels, writes characters I repeatedly want to kick in the crotch. See: Great Expectations, a book where I would light every character on fire and dance on their ashes.

[MaceVanHoffen]

Dickens, while a classic author on many levels, writes characters I repeatedly want to kick in the crotch. See: Great Expectations, a book where I would light every character on fire and dance on their ashes.

Totally agree on Dickens.  I love his style of writing and turn of phrase.  But the characters he comes up with are often so frustrating to read about that I want to gouge my eyes out.  I chalk it up to a different historical time, when people held themselves as prisoners of societal rules more than now and as such behaved in ways that confound Dickens' modern readers.  At least that's my current theory.

Moby Dick is one damn fine piece of fiction.  I've never figured out why, but I love that story.  It's rare to find anyone else who does though.  Most people I talk to use colorful metaphors involving body excreta when describing it.

[Soukyan]

Dickens, while a classic author on many levels, writes characters I repeatedly want to kick in the crotch. See: Great Expectations, a book where I would light every character on fire and dance on their ashes.

Totally agree on Dickens.  I love his style of writing and turn of phrase.  But the characters he comes up with are often so frustrating to read about that I want to gouge my eyes out.  I chalk it up to a different historical time, when people held themselves as prisoners of societal rules more than now and as such behaved in ways that confound Dickens' modern readers.  At least that's my current theory.

Moby Dick is one damn fine piece of fiction.  I've never figured out why, but I love that story.  It's rare to find anyone else who does though.  Most people I talk to use colorful metaphors involving body excreta when describing it.

/agree on Moby Dick. Damn fine work.

As for Dickens, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe at the time he wrote authors were paid by the word. Many of his works were originally published in a serial format (i.e. a chapter per month in a periodical). This is not to say that his work is diminished in any way, just that he may have been overly "wordy" in the interest of sapping a bit more cash. Not that his words were a waste in any way, shape or form. And this still does not make up for annoying characters (not all, but some). Yada, yada, yada...

[Paelos]

I often think Tom Wolfe studied at the school of Dickens. While writing believable characters, he too cannot seem to write any that I like.

[Ardent]

I reread all three books this past week and every time I read I pick up on stuff I hadn't seen before (like the rampant Renly/Loras homoeroticism).

How did you read 3000 pages in a week?

[HaemishM]

I often think Tom Wolfe studied at the school of Dickens. While writing believable characters, he too cannot seem to write any that I like.

Yeah, Tom Wolfe need a fucking editor like a Hunter S. Thompson needed a fix.

[Triforcer]

I reread all three books this past week and every time I read I pick up on stuff I hadn't seen before (like the rampant Renly/Loras homoeroticism).

How did you read 3000 pages in a week?

Speedreading is probably my greatest academic talent.  I read 2-3 times faster than even most of my fellow law students, judging from when 2-3 of us are reading off same computer screen and they tell me to stop scrolling so fast.

[MaceVanHoffen]

I reread all three books this past week and every time I read I pick up on stuff I hadn't seen before (like the rampant Renly/Loras homoeroticism).

How did you read 3000 pages in a week?

I bet most people could easily finish 3,000 pages in a week.  It really isn't that much, but with modern distractions and timesinks people have forgotten just how much they can read.  Quit watching TV and playing games for a week, and you'd be surprised :)

My copy of Hyperion is 481 pages, and I finished it in a day and a half.  One of my buddies did the first 4 books of Wheel of Time in about a week.  Neither of us are speed readers.

[WayAbvPar]

One of my buddies did the first 4 books of Wheel of Time in about a week. 

Bet he can't do the last 4 anywhere near the quickly, what with all the breaks to pinch yourself awake, beat your head against a wall to relieve the tedium, and whatnot.

[Strazos]

I reread all three books this past week and every time I read I pick up on stuff I hadn't seen before (like the rampant Renly/Loras homoeroticism).

How did you read 3000 pages in a week?

That's only a bit more than 400 pages per day....I can crank out ~1000 on a good day with a damn good book. I easily read Timeline in a single sitting at some point in high school. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679444815/qid=1109721570/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-2515674-9788720

[Ardent]

I bet most people could easily finish 3,000 pages in a week.  It really isn't that much, but with modern distractions and timesinks people have forgotten just how much they can read.  Quit watching TV and playing games for a week, and you'd be surprised :)

Don’t forget a 40 hour a week job. So I can afford to buy these books I don’t have time to read.

[Polysorbate80]

/agree, I can't afford to read books any faster than I do now

[Soukyan]

I bet most people could easily finish 3,000 pages in a week.  It really isn't that much, but with modern distractions and timesinks people have forgotten just how much they can read.  Quit watching TV and playing games for a week, and you'd be surprised :)

Don’t forget a 40 hour a week job. So I can afford to buy these books I don’t have time to read.

I work 40 hours per week, sometimes more and I still manage to pound out several hundred pages per day. Mind you, my girlfriend and I do not keep a television in our house, but between yoga, cleaning and a couple other hobbies, I find the time to read.

[Ironwood]

I don't get the Dickens hate.

He is fantastic.

 

[Sky]

Not in 9th grade when you're forced to read several of his novels. He may be good, but I'll never know because of my earlier scarring.

[Comstar]

Be sure to read all the sequels as well (Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion).  IMO the books just kept getting better and better, and the conclusion to the last one was satisfying enough that I didn't feel gypped that it was over, which is rare.

The Hyperion books were good in a Space Opera format. The Endyminon were the WORST sequels I have ever read. They take the plot of the first 2 books, rip it up, trample it and do ugly things to the remains. It ends in a Deus Ex Machine and featuers a narrator you want to strangle for being so stupid.

I've also been churning through L. E. Modesitt's Saga of Recluce series, which starts with The Magic of Recluce. 

I read a few of hi(9?) books out of order, and didn't seem to miss much, which might be a plus. Note his single story books are based on the same plot everytime, be it SF or fantasy.

To prevent this from being compltly negative, I reccomenad Iain M Banks SF novel's. Very well writtin.

[Paelos]

I don't get the Dickens hate.

He is fantastic.

 

Dickens writes in an era that few Americans can understand due to the ideas that we created of a country without classes. Some of the aspects of that period of British history simply don't translate well into our minds. That is why I find many of the characters frustrating because they are bound by forces that we simply rejected in our culture.

He is also very slow in his prose, although extremely eloquent. Compare him to the style of Alexander Dumas. I can read 1200 pages of Dumas and be flipping away happily. If you made me read 1200 pages of Dickens I'd want to die.

[CmdrSlack]

I'm currently reading No Place To Hide by Robert O'Harrow, Jr.  It's about private and governmental data mining/profiling/etc.  Very interesting if you're into privacy.  Sadly, I'm reading it for a "scholarly review" to be published in my LL.M. program's IT & Computer Law journal, so I find myself being overly snarky about certain aspects of the book. 

It's very informative, but at the same time, I think the author wastes too much time trying to discredit the players in the industry by bringing up allegations of misbehavior in the past.  He also tends to strike a rather "tinfoil hat" tone that annoys me.  Also, please don't use "nascent" 3 times in the first chapter if you expect to appeal to a mass market.