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Post by N3B on Jun 14, 2007 16:16:40 GMT -5
To-read:
The Forever War
Alien Invasion Survival Handbook
A Clash of Kings - GRR Martin
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Black - Ted Dekker
Nighthingych - Sergei Lukyanenko
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Phlip thingy
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
Comes a Horseman - Robert Liparulo
Along with a few possible manga series
Currently reading:
The Gunslinger - Stephen King
Dies The Fire - SM Stirling
Gunslinger is so-so; the actual writing is nothing to be excited about, and there doesn't seem to be much substance to the book as of the 100th page mark. I rather like atmospheres of degeneration and decay, and I don't have any real complaints with the book so far, so I'll probably continue reading the series unless a book really turns me off.
Dies The Fire had a good concept but the execution was lame and I don't think I'll ever finish it. The concept is a flash of light from Nantucket or somewhere renders all forms of technology useless (namely electricity, gunpowder, and any other resource-powered machine). The story continues as the protagonists try to survive suddenly stript of technology. Problem is the book is eye-rolling to read, because it turns into a D&D setting/atmosphere way too quickly and the characters' professions are all way too unrealistic.
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Post by Razor on Jun 15, 2007 15:33:11 GMT -5
Some good choices there. I very much approve of Nightwatch.
If you're looking for some other good reads, I suggest finding:
Starship Troopers (if you haven't read it already)
Battle Royale (Holy crap...it's the High School Battle Arena!?!)
The Futurological Congress (Fantastic read, hilarious, deep, and trippy all at the same time)
Dracula (this one's a given. If you go through your life without reading Stoker's Dracula, you area heathen)
Sun Tzu's Art of War (you think I'm joking?)
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Post by Altl on Jul 3, 2007 3:32:59 GMT -5
Seconding Bram Stoker's Dracula
Recommending: Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
...not that I've ever read anything; books are for nerds. :crosses arms:
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Post by N3B on Apr 7, 2008 20:38:51 GMT -5
Thus far this semester I've read:
I, Tituba - Maryse Conde
Wieland - Charles Brockden Brown
The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
The Amityville Horror - Jay Anson
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman + Terry Pratchett
Most of those were requirements for my Gothic Horror class (in fact, all except Good Omens). Still need to read I Am Legend for that class, but I'm taking up Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson in-between readings. I started it last summer and didn't finish it, perhaps I can get around to finishing it now++
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Post by Draxas on Apr 8, 2008 17:05:03 GMT -5
I can't recommend Terry Pratchett highly enough. I finally got my hands on a copy of Making Money, so I'm reading that right now, but I've been enjoying the entire Discworld series since I was in high school (15+ years ago already!) and suggest everyone who enjoys humor at least give it a try.
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Post by niff on Apr 9, 2008 7:32:41 GMT -5
had fear and loathing in las vegas sitting by my bed for like a month now, unread. oops.
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Post by N3B on Apr 9, 2008 12:43:40 GMT -5
The Color of Magic's been on mah shelf since last summer along with a ton of other books I purchased planning to read during the semesters. Might probably read it next after I finish Snow Crash. Or Neverwhere. I still need to read the second book in the Gunslinger series, A Song of Ice and Fire, and that damned seventh Potter book. I'm in general trying to up the amount of reading I do, partially due to a lack of good video games coming out these days.
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Post by N3B on Apr 16, 2008 13:48:05 GMT -5
I finished I Am Legend. It was a lot shorter than I thought it would be. My copy apparently is 330 pages, but only 180 pages are the actual book, and the other 150 are compiled short stories/novellas by Matheson. So the ending came up on me pretty quickly as I realized at the 150-page mark that I was almost finished with it.
That said, I prefer how Robert Neville and the vampire-zombies are portrayed in the book better than in the movie, and the ending was definitely a lot better. I felt like the book could've been a little more in-depth, as it basically consists of 4 parts: one showing him "surviving," one showing him trying to befriend a dog, one where he finds another living human, and then the final sequence. There was a lot of time spaced between the four parts (like 6 months to a few years in most cases) that detached the events from one another, with Matheson casually filling in the blanks later.
Still working on Snow Crash, figure I'll finish it in the next two weeks and start up on the Color of Magic.
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Post by N3B on Jun 16, 2009 14:20:18 GMT -5
Well, aside from required school reading I believe I've since read:
Snow Crash, Stardust, Neverwhere, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell, The War of the Worlds, Brave New World. Probably two or three others which I'm overlooking.
Today I bought:
Starship Troopers
Ender's Game
Neuromancer
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Post by Draxas on Jun 16, 2009 16:45:45 GMT -5
Ender's Game is an awesome book. I remember reading that back in Jr. High and being enthralled by it. Unfortunately, the series gets worse as it goes on, but the first is a must-read.
I haven't read a fiction book in a long time... Looking back at my last post in this thread, I think that may actually have been the last one. So I haven't read a good fiction book in over a year. That's kind of depressing, actually.
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Post by N3B on Jun 18, 2009 12:27:51 GMT -5
How's Discworld as a series?
I've got The Color of Magic on my shelf (it's been there for probably almost two years), but I don't want to start up anything that's part of a super comprehensive series. Reason being that I don't want to get sucked into a series where I feel obligated to read the other books in order to find the resolution. Reading an entire series is usually time consuming, and if you don't read them all in relatively quick succession, you forget the small details and the experience isn't as good when you move to the next one. I like my variety.
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Post by Draxas on Jun 19, 2009 9:19:39 GMT -5
How's Discworld as a series? Actually, in terms of continuity, the Color of Magic is a bad example of the series. It has an immediate follow up with The Light Fantastic, and as I recall, you don't really get a resolution until after the end of the second book. However, most of the other Discworld books are more self-contained. The characters carry over from one installment to another, so you miss some background if you read them out of order, but each book catches you up on the important bits from the previous ones. Still, best bet is to read them in order, at least as far as particular character sets go. My favorite happens to be the books about Vimes and The Watch. If you want to know more about how the books are broken down in terms of focal characters, the Wikipedia entry on the series is a good place to look. |
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Post by N3B on Jun 22, 2009 22:31:01 GMT -5
Bought Dune and Job: A Comedy of Justice. Was also going to get Stranger in a Strange Land but the bookstore only had the massively over-sized and over-priced hardback edition.
Finished Starship Troopers. For the most part it was alright -- the movie had almost nothing to do with the actual book, however. The plot didn't drive very much, in fact, in about the middle of the book the pacing dropped to a snail's pace of overly drawn-out monologues and lectures (essentially the voice of Heinlein through his characters) which take you completely out of the immediate action. The actual "action" sections (actually comopsed as scenes) were fairly enjoyable, though I could've used more tactile descriptions of things.
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Post by Draxas on Jun 23, 2009 9:03:53 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the first 3 Dune books. The fourth was OK. The fifth was a struggle to get through. I returned the sixth to the library after the first 2 chapters.
Frank Herbert was a great writer, but he was definitely becoming a very sexually frustrated, horny old man as the years went by.
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Post by niff on Jul 1, 2009 20:07:16 GMT -5
currently on my really must [CENSORED]ing read list:
discworld
the rest of the sprawl trilogy (count zero, mona lisa overdrive)
trainspotting
and currently i have to finish reading the god delusion and re-reading neuromancer because it's simply that awesome. oh and fear and loathing was a masterpiece, i would recommend it to anybody.
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