Re: The Official Book Thread

[zizzle]

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

[beatrixasdfghjk.]

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

The only thing I've read from him is Invisible Monsters, and that's .

I've tried reading a bit of Dawkins before, but I get bored, and I tried reading some Einstein, and ... . The differentiation got too complex for me before I finished the first dissertation .

[Rebaño Sagrado]

is it true that reading from an ipod hurts your eyes?

[BarrileteCosmico]

Not any more than reading from a computer screen, provided the font are the same size (which it probably isn't)

[Rebaño Sagrado]

I heard it had something to do with the light, but i dont know

[Le Samourai]

I heard it had something to do with the light, but i dont know

Na.

I read almost all my books from my ipod, and even if not I'm still browsing and reading stuff. It doesn't hurt at all...in fact..much less than a computer screen.

[BarrileteCosmico]

Well it's better to read from paper than from a screen, because a screen emits light which dries your eyes, whereas paper relies on natural light. It's why a Kindle is a superior reading device than an ipod.

[Lord Hades]

reading Alex Rutherfords' empire of the moghul basically a set of 4 novels( maybe more) about the life of each mughal emperor.. and my those guys were really barbaric though i suppose it was the done thing then

[dostoevsky]

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've read Xenocide, I believe that it's worth persevering with, I enjoyed it a lot however it's quite different to Ender's game. I've found the entire series to be engrossing however it's very, very different to the original, though in a way it should be expected. It reflects Ender's development very well from his youth to maturity and the effects of seeing so much time pass him by.

Both Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide take far longer than Ender's Game to warm up, however once you adjust yourself and get into it they're just as rewarding, though Ender's Game is simply such a marvellously open tale that it deserves its reputation. Pretty much anyone can pick it up and want to finish it that very day. I haven't read Children of the Mind to finish off the series yet, however hopefully I'll manage to get a copy of it during the holidays and finish it off.

Also I might merge this with the 'Best Books' thread from the Entertainment and Humour section because it had some very good recommendations in it before it died.

[bazinga]

Ready Player One is an EXCELLENT read for anyone who enjoyed playing old console games.

[Lord Hades]

Rohinton Mistry- A Fine Balance

One of the most vivid and best written pieces of literature I've read. My favourite book for sure, no other book I've read leaves you with such emotion- very, very powerful. Its set in India during Indira Ghandi's years, about a group of simple people brought together through various events. Very authentic, very encapsulating, very powerful.

If you're more of a pulp fiction type...

The White Tiger is excellent.

...non fiction...

Between a Rock and a Hard Place ( The Book upon which 127 Hours is based).

i loved the white tiger too , adhiga has really got a hang on true india

those books are available in australia? WOW

[Le Samourai]

Was conned into reading The perks of being a wallflower and The outsiders, both of which were severely underwhelming based on my The catcher in the rye expectations.

[McAgger]

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho I read this about six months ago and I have to say this book just hit the soft spot in me and completely changed my outlook. I read it when I was going through a rough time and if anyone is having trouble figuring themselves out in this world, then I cannot recommend a better book.

Also Will Smith agrees with me

[The Lizard King]

Just finished "City and the stars" by AC Clarke. ( Wasn't bad, but definitely an underwhelming ending that's fairly divergent from his norm ) Moving onto "Gateway" by Ferderik Pohl, and I have "Ringworld" by Larry Niven lined up after that.

Besides that, I've just ordered 17 books ( all sci-fi ) from Amazon for about 90 pounds. And most of em are new Good summer ahead

[Die Borussen]

edit: sorry for the new topic, i seached with keyword "book" but didnt find anything, although now i do

btw im about to start mortimer adler's collection which is related with science, art, revolution, religion etc as a general and the way we understand should understand and read them

[McLewis]

Finished A Dance with Dragons. All of the Song of Ice and Fire books were freaking addictive. Far too long a wait for the next one.

I'm currently re-reading the Illiad at the moment, but will re-start Stephen King's Dark Tower series over again, including the novella Wind Through the Keyhole into the chronology this time around.

[CBarca]

Was conned into reading The perks of being a wallflower and The outsiders, both of which were severely underwhelming based on my The catcher in the rye expectations.

Well that's just being unfair then. Catcher in the Rye makes any similar book look like it was written by a 5 year old

Although I enjoyed The Outsiders overall.

Reading Crime and Punishment at the moment... I like the book but it's summertime and it's very hard to motivate myself to read

[McAgger]

I ordered House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. It's supposed to be a one of the best/scariest horror books. Has anyone heard of it or read it here?

[Kaladin]

Im 200 pages away from the end of "Wizard and Glass" of the Dark Tower series, and i cannot put down these books

Thinking of reading "Under The Dome" after the Dark Tower series, thoughts?

[Bellabong]

[quote]TThe Malazan Book of the Fallen

It's a ten book series of high fantasy that I rate higher than LotR and Song of Fire and Ice.


Prologue, Gardens of the Moon

The first book, Gardens of the Moon, starts quite slow (despite dropping you in the middle of things with just a short prologue involving one of a huge and varied cast) and forces you to actually pay attention to every detail but the final act is worth every word of the 120,000 word buildup. (Book started as a movie script of the final act, which is why it's slightly harder to read than the other books but DG more than makes up for it - Erikson improved a lot in the ten years since the original film script of the explosive third act was written.


Siege of Pale, Gardens of the }Moon Book 1

If the climax of the first book hadn't turned me into a fanboy then the 2nd book was the point of no return - specifically the "Chain of Dogs" is one of the best story arc in a book I have ever read, and I've read a lot of books.

The series is dark, gritty, and utterly brutal, but they're also pretty funny, and have a huge cast of really lovable characters.

This is a great post introducing the series:

The Malazan Empire is basically an overstretched Roman Empire with wizards and explosives. Its emperor has been killed and usurped, its armies are scattered over too large an area, and both its conquered peoples and its armies are a hair away from open revolt. The first book focuses on a city besieged by a Malazan army, following characters both inside the city and out. On the inside it follows bickering nobles and their political intrigues, a drunken dandy, a thief having a moral crisis, and a fat, probably-retarded wizard who can see the future through his dreams. On the outside it follows an army company seemingly sentenced to death, who have become a political inconvenience to their empress, repeatedly sent on whatever mission is most likely to kill them. Also in the mix are an ambitious young noble attempting to quell dissent in the army, a zombie made of dust, and a giant floating mountain that shoots lasers (it can't actually shoot lasers, shut up).

The second book is set on the continent of Seven Cities, where a religious uprising called The Whirlwind overthrows Malazan rule and takes power. The book follows the uprising itself, and a desperate general trying to lead a train of refugees across the continent to safety while the rebelling armies hunt them down. A few characters from the first book are also intertwined.

From there the plot branches out, forwards and backwards and every which way. You're really starting in the middle of an enormous story, not the start, and you're dropped in headfirst. They don't spend the first book setting the scene and introducing you to characters with long winded exposition to ease you into the world and whatever, the plot just loving starts and you're in it now. This makes the books extremely rereadable, because each time you go through your understanding of the world and the characters is deeper than it was before, and you don't have to trek through the boring explanatory half of the first book each time that's so common with fantasy series.

Erikson has trained as both an anthropologist and archaeologist and approaches his story as a history. Ancient cultures and dead races everywhere. Not everyone has the same idea of how a historical event turned out, and you’ll read theories from different points of view and form your own ideas of the what’s what.

The magic system in the books is based around "Warrens", which are other dimensions that mages draw their power from. The type of magic will be influenced by the type of place the power is coming from, but these worlds are themselves fleshed out places, which can be travelled to and through, each with their own geography and history. So in addition to following the main world, you're learning about the histories and cultures of the warrens and the relationships between them. The magic isn't an unexplained force of nature, it's a fluid thing that exists in certain ways for certain reasons at certain times, which is a mystery that you'll learn more about as the series goes on. The series is also full of gods and goddesses and ascendants and all sorts of powerful whatsits, each of which are interesting characters in their own right, not just plot devices to drive the stories of the protagonists. Also, you’d better watch out, because this series has UNDEAD SPACE-VELOCIRAPTORS WITH SWORDS FOR ARMS in it. Seriously.

If you like fantasy, whether it be High Fantasy or Sword & Sorcery you have to check out this series. It's so epic it is the definition of epic and really is impossible to film.

DISCLAIMER: This series is not "light reading". When you read you have to pay attention to every single detail. And its worth it. With all 3,300,000 words Erikson sets up and creates climaxes like no one I'd ever read. And each of the huge cast of characters is pretty unique


Other favorite books of mine:

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
His Majesty's Starship (great little comedy)
The Last Vampire series (All I can say is Hindu Gods, the blood of Jesus, ray guns, lepers and time travel)
Red Dwarf (the best comedy I've read and considering this list that's saying something)
Earthsea series
Thank You for Smoking
Black Company
A Song of Fire and Ice

(ill finish this post later)

[RedOranje]

Anthony Everitt's Cicero

Camus

[CBarca]

Has anyone read the classic Atlas Shrugged?

Was thinking about picking it up. I love dystopian novels.

[Le Samourai]

There is a course on Greek and Roman mythology I'm doing at the moment it's free on Coursera.

It's quite a bit of reading.

Started with The Odyssey Books 1-8 and though worthy, it's exhausting as hell.

[BarrileteCosmico]

Currently reading 3 books at the same time:

The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (includes the first 4 books, currently on the last). This might be the funniest book I've ever read. Highly recommended.

1453, which is about how the world changed after Columbus is another highly recommended read. It's written by a journalist so it's very accessible and about a period of time I'm not too familiar with. Also interesting if you're into biology and ecology since he spends a significant amount of time describing how the different continents changed as a result of the Columbian exchange.

You can be a stock market genius too by Joel Greenblatt is, despite it's awful name, a very interesting read into the world of value investing. If you're into that sort of thing, it's a must read.

[RedOranje]

Has anyone read the classic Atlas Shrugged?

Was thinking about picking it up. I love dystopian novels.

I cannot read Ayn Rand... just can't do it. I've tried a few times but couldn't.

[CBarca]

Has anyone read the classic Atlas Shrugged?

Was thinking about picking it up. I love dystopian novels.

I cannot read Ayn Rand... just can't do it. I've tried a few times but couldn't.

May I ask why? Was it her style, difficulty of her novels, or just a dislike for her books...?

Por que, Red?

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