Re: The Official Book Thread

[elm_baraja_shaman]

Lord of the Rings for me.

Tolkein is just a master of storytelling.

[Twoism]

Yuri, of all the books that I listed, I'd recommend "Rendezvous with Rama" and "His Dark Materials" the most.

Rama has everything a science fiction novel could ask for, and more. The pure amount of intrigue and curiosity that it generates, completely transports and immerses you in another dimension. If you're not really into sci-fi, this book will change that view.

His Dark Materials is underrated because it is deemed as a children series. Very wrongfully so. It is one of the pinnacles of story telling, with a conclusion of such unintentional romantic magnitude that it almost brought tears to my eyes. I sincerely wish they had made a tv show about it, rather than try to sum it up in an hour and a half of a miserable movie. And I wish more people, that I know, had read it. But I have like one friend who shares a similar passion for reading.

Would anyone care to recommend any comics/ graphic novels ?

For comic books and graphic novels, I recommend

"The Walking Dead". Imagine the comic book version of Cormac McCarthy "The Road" but much more depth and intense.

"Preachers" is another good one, the modernized "The holy blood and the holy grail". Although it might be considered dated.

"Maus" by Art Spiegelman, memoir of Holocaust survivor.

"Phoenix" and "Black Jack" by Osamu Tezuka, reading those was life changing experience for me though I was 16.

[everest1]

6. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Weird, but great. Same goes for:

I read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by him and was thrilled the entire way. Wouldn't make any 'best' book list but I recommend it nevertheless. Nice read everyone can relate to, even non-runners like me.

Missing from the previously mentioned titles is my very favorite Catch 22 which is one of the most hilarious books out there. Seriously, read this if you haven't done so yet. You won't regret it.

ha, i just got this book yesterday! So far I love it, but I'm also a runner so it speaks to me in a funny way I'm not sure non-runners would find as interesting.

I'll add The Satanic Verses and Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie to the list--both are beautifully written and combine history and fiction in a very exciting way. Something about the way Rushdie writes is just really captivating. I've just started reading the Moor's Last Sigh today, also by Rushdie, hopefully it is as good as the others I've read!

[IzzyC08]

I'll be reading all these books now.....be back in a few weeks :study:

[Babun]

If you're talking about serious books I enjoyed 'Critique of Practical Reason' by Emmanuel Kant a lot.
If you're talking about books to pass time then I recommend 'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov or 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The later book is more enjoyable when read in Russian

[dostoevsky]

The Master and Margarita is brilliant and absolutely hilarious, though the ending disappointed me. The scenes set in Moscow are marvellous, though perhaps I'm being critical of the parallel story.

For anyone wishing to start venturing into the world of Kafka, Metamorphosis is a great tale.

[VivaStPauli]

Kafka is always great, but also always disturbing.

Der Prozess and In der Strafkolonie are just totally bumming me out every time I read them. :p

[fatman123]

not quite as sophisticated as the other books mentioned here but i would recommend the books "Why England Always Loose and Other Curious Football Phenomena"
the book (theres a few of them now but ive only read one) present reasons why certain trends/events appear in football using facts, stats and figures that ALL occur OFF field, eg why world cups dont make you rich, why the FA cup has lost popularity, why a more balanced league would be LESS popular then the current league and which national team plays the best given its availability of resources

the books arent that long and theyre really interesting as they present a different view of the game then the run-of-the-mil media stuff you hear every day

[Grande_Milano]

Can anybody recommend good today's time authors (any genre). Dont give me Dan Brown or Paolo Coelho BS

[VivaStPauli]

John Irving, Matt Ruff, Haruki Murakami, T.C. Boyle and Sven Regener are all still alive and kicking, as well as very, very good.
Maybe throw in some Patrick Süßkind and Hakan Nesser.

Oh and Gibson! William Gibson! FTW!

[JAY-Z]

At the moment reading, The woman of the master - Guillermo Martinez.Short roman.It gives me an impression that the author has great knowledge on psychology that he implements in the book, in a good way, through good communication.One of the best books i've ever read

[Ali]

I'm surprised no one mentioned The Great Gatsby, that book is just...magnificent. I'm reading Hannibal for Ross Leckie now

[Lord Hades]

thought this thread was due

[Raptorgunner]

I am reading the Black Hawk down, I recommend this book, great book so far .

[Le Samourai]

Cronica de una muerte Anunciada by Marquez is the one I most recently read.It was brilliant very intriguing structure and style.

[Lord Hades]

by marquez you mean ggm>?

i have had his love in the time for cholera since ages.. should really get down to finishing it now

was reading david baldacci recently

[Le Samourai]

Yea GGM.....never read Love in the time of Cholera though, took me about 3x longer than normal trying to get through Cronica in Spanish.

Never read a David Baldacci book lol.

[Lord Hades]

spanish aint your first language?


i just read my first baldacci book, was bored / had nothing to do.. is fun ..

do you read matthew reilly?

[CBarca]

I am reading the book Sick Puppy at the moment. I like it.

[Le Samourai]

Kinda...I started learning it early but when I moved away from Spain I didn't really follow it up as much as possible.I'm decent...but nowhere near as god as English.

Marquez also uses a very unusual indirect style and alot of colloquial spanish so It's tough.

Nah haven't read him either.I don't really read that much spy fiction thriller stuff ....although I do love Chuck Palahniuk

[BarrileteCosmico]

So I read Ender's Game last week. I don't usually read Sci-Fi but it completely fascinated me, so I moved on to Speaker for the Dead and I loved it too. Apparantly, Xenocide, the next book on the saga is not really worth readying so I've stopped here. But, for anyone who has read either book, can I get any recommendations about similar books? I particularly want something that is thought-provoking. Once I finished both of these I still thought for a long time about the various moral implications they brought up.

[CBarca]

So I read Ender's Game last week. I don't usually read Sci-Fi but it completely fascinated me, so I moved on to Speaker for the Dead and I loved it too. Apparantly, Xenocide, the next book on the saga is not really worth readying so I've stopped here. But, for anyone who has read either book, can I get any recommendations about similar books? I particularly want something that is thought-provoking. Once I finished both of these I still thought for a long time about the various moral implications they brought up.

I did not read those books- do you recommend them? I went through a sci-fi phase 3 years ago. But I always love a good Sci-fi book. I've heard Enders Game was good and was going to pick it up until I picked up my current book.

Couldn't help but respond though so I could link this...

Parent files pollice complaint after teacher reads Enders Game to pupils

Top 100 books for young adults- I've heard it's taught somewhat widely in the US...and this happens. Some parents.. Apparently it's because of curse words and a scene where there were a couple kids naked or something.

What I'm reading is Dreaming in Code right now- a nonfiction book that goes completely into detail about this software group OSAF that is trying to build a new PIM software to challenge Microsoft Outlook/Exchange.

Really interesting for people interested in technology/software and those that aren't- it goes into detail about the software revolution and the struggles behind engineering software as opposed to civil engineering like bridges or buildings. Really interesting stuff.

Interesting enough to swing me from Plato's Republic to it...although I will come back to that book after.

[Lord Hades]

reading my land , my people

[CBarca]

As said, I have returned to Plato's Republic

Damn Aristotle and Plato are way over my head though. I can pretend to understand everything, but I really can't.

I've moved onto Into the Wild now, having seen the movie years ago- I saw it and decided to take a look. Gonna read this now.

Still need to return to Between a Rock and a Hard Place, I never finished that book.

[che]

As said, I have returned to Plato's Republic

i literally finished that two days ago lmao, gotta say it was pretty weird

some of his allegories are waaay over the top, unnecessarily complicated... then he occasionally flips over to extreme simplifications in the dialogue portions, which are very disagreeable as well

next up - darwin's origin of the species

[zizzle]

as i remember we had a book thread back in the day
it's obvious what happened to it and why

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