Curse

Bobulation · Aug 13, 2009, 06:14 AM // 06:14

Some of the greatest books that I have ever read were all the books in the Ender's Game series. Both the normal and the shadow series were very good, except I haven't read any past Children of the Minds and Shadow of the Giant. Also, it's not really science fiction but Fight Club is an amazing book as well.

Etta · Aug 13, 2009, 08:48 AM // 08:48

Try Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. You'll love it.

Fey · Aug 13, 2009, 11:36 AM // 11:36

To go against the grain, i actually really loved the forgotten realms series, especially Ice wind Dale and The dark elf trilogy.

Also i rather liked Magician and The Sword of Shannara

DreamRunner · Aug 13, 2009, 11:42 AM // 11:42

Science Fiction and or Fantasy gets dull after a while. Who ever reads Wheel Of Time, must love Matriarchy. I found it to be painfully boring with sub-plot after sub-plot and I would much rather watch grass grow.

Here is my list of what I would recommend, but everyone here seems like a science fiction or fantasy fan.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
The Alchemist
The Way of Zen-Alan Watts
The Book-Alan Watts
His Dark Materials
Siddhartha
Discworld-Terry Pratchett

I would advise that people read Ken Wilbur, but I doubt people would have any interest in him.

Fate Crusher · Aug 13, 2009, 12:19 PM // 12:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fey

To go against the grain, i actually really loved the forgotten realms series, especially Ice wind Dale and The dark elf trilogy.

Also i rather liked Magician and The Sword of Shannara

I second every single book you just mentioned. They're amazing books. Drizzt will always have a special place in my heart :P

I also suggest R.A. Salvatore's latest hardback releases known as the Transitions series, The Orc King (2007), The Pirate King (2008) and the Ghost King which should be releasing in October of this year.

glacialphoenix · Aug 13, 2009, 12:19 PM // 12:19

Quote:

Who ever reads Wheel Of Time, must love Matriarchy. I found it to be painfully boring with sub-plot after sub-plot and I would much rather watch grass grow.

I like SF/F, and Wheel of Time is an epically poor example of it for me. Seriously. It reads more like Jordan was trying to write up a fashion show than a fantasy novel.

Quote:

To go against the grain, i actually really loved the forgotten realms series, especially Ice wind Dale and The dark elf trilogy.

I liked the Dark Elf trilogy too! I think his books kind of went somewhat downhill after that, though. Have they picked up again recently? I got tired of Drizzt angsting. =\

zwei2stein · Aug 13, 2009, 12:42 PM // 12:42

Current:

Books by Steph Swainston
Books by China Miéville
Books by Terry Pratchet
Books by Jiri Kulhanek (iirc, some came out in english translation)

Older:

George Orwell (1984)
Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451)

Even older:

Alexandre Dumas
Edgar Allan Poe

Queenie · Aug 13, 2009, 12:45 PM // 12:45

To Kill A Mockingbird was good.
'Invisible Monsters' by Chuck Palahniuk will make your mind melt.

Shrimz · Aug 13, 2009, 01:13 PM // 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobulation

Some of the greatest books that I have ever read were all the books in the Ender's Game series. Both the normal and the shadow series were very good, except I haven't read any past Children of the Minds and Shadow of the Giant. Also, it's not really science fiction but Fight Club is an amazing book as well.

I agree. In 9th grade they made me read Ender's Game. It was one of the only books I enjoyed reading and actually decided to read the series. So good and fun. Now we read Shakespeare and Dracula lol.

DreamRunner · Aug 13, 2009, 01:57 PM // 13:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by glacialphoenix

I like SF/F, and Wheel of Time is an epically poor example of it for me. Seriously. It reads more like Jordan was trying to write up a fashion show than a fantasy novel.

I actually disliked the series more as I read into it. I didn't mind it at first, but the feminist female power was so over used and in the end got boring. I think he was trying to tap into the feminist market. But they're better more interesting female characters out there.

Kerwyn Nasilan · Aug 13, 2009, 02:15 PM // 14:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamRunner

His Dark Materials

2nded
12chars

around · Aug 13, 2009, 03:11 PM // 15:11

Ludwig Wittgenstein - Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

glacialphoenix · Aug 13, 2009, 11:22 PM // 23:22

Quote:

I actually disliked the series more as I read into it. I didn't mind it at first, but the feminist female power was so over used and in the end got boring. I think he was trying to tap into the feminist market. But they're better more interesting female characters out there.

Yes! (That, and he started getting increasingly more interested in their outfits than their personalities. I do not need to know the exact colours of the stole that Aes Sedai #21890431 is wearing!) After a while, it starts getting trite - and then it starts heading into the realms of 'how blatant can you get?'

Oh, wait, I forgot to add my voice to the chorus of "His Dark Materials", although I think he got a - uh, tad bit preachy in Amber Spyglass.

Honestly, in retrospect, I have no idea how I managed to shorten my list of books down. I have more of a 'books you should not read list' than a 'books you should read', simply because the former is that much easier to maintain for me. Books. <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrimz

Now we read Shakespeare and Dracula lol.

If they make you read Shakespeare without actually watching it, you're losing out.

Dracula's OK, but it's one of those YMMV books, I guess.

DreamRunner · Aug 14, 2009, 07:51 AM // 07:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by glacialphoenix

Yes! (That, and he started getting increasingly more interested in their outfits than their personalities. I do not need to know the exact colours of the stole that Aes Sedai #21890431 is wearing!) After a while, it starts getting trite - and then it starts heading into the realms of 'how blatant can you get?'

Oh, wait, I forgot to add my voice to the chorus of "His Dark Materials", although I think he got a - uh, tad bit preachy in Amber Spyglass.

Honestly, in retrospect, I have no idea how I managed to shorten my list of books down. I have more of a 'books you should not read list' than a 'books you should read', simply because the former is that much easier to maintain for me. Books. <3

I agree that Phillip Pullman did get a bit preachy in the last book. But I both like the main characters Will and Lyra, as they're both very interesting characters. I am actually REALLY picky about what books I get, if I end up hating it, I would burn it on a winters day or simply throw them away. So far, thats only happened with a few books. I actually end up doing research about the book, looking at the author and history. Then I would buy the book after reading a couple of pages. The sad thing here is, so many people have only recommend Fictional Novels.

glacialphoenix · Aug 14, 2009, 02:52 PM // 14:52

Quote:

I am actually REALLY picky about what books I get, if I end up hating it, I would burn it on a winters day or simply throw them away.

*horrified look
*clings very tightly to her books

Um - I hope you were exaggerating, because if I didn't want a book I'd try to donate it. Then again, that's me. I can't bring myself to annotate my books despite the fact that I'm a Lit major, so I end up putting sticky notes on half the pages. My texts look like neon hedgehogs.

EDIT: Also, about recommending non-fiction? I personally find it much, much harder to recommend a non-fiction book. A fiction book recommendation tends to run along the line of "You might like his style." A non-fiction book recommendation, IMO, needs to take into account the person's own interests, or it'll be much harder for him to appreciate it.

DreamRunner · Aug 14, 2009, 03:34 PM // 15:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by glacialphoenix

*horrified look
*clings very tightly to her books

Um - I hope you were exaggerating, because if I didn't want a book I'd try to donate it. Then again, that's me. I can't bring myself to annotate my books despite the fact that I'm a Lit major, so I end up putting sticky notes on half the pages. My texts look like neon hedgehogs.

EDIT: Also, about recommending non-fiction? I personally find it much, much harder to recommend a non-fiction book. A fiction book recommendation tends to run along the line of "You might like his style." A non-fiction book recommendation, IMO, needs to take into account the person's own interests, or it'll be much harder for him to appreciate it.

Well I did donate all my Wheel of Time books. A lot of books I have thrown away are text books from school, oh wait I think I burnt them.

Anyway, I will concur that you need to take into a person interests but I think that applies to fictional as well. But in any-case, I was just amazed that no one recommended ANY non-fiction books at all. I disagree that a person has to take in account another interests for it to be appreciated, but I guess some people don't like to take any chances. I tend to go with finding things our for myself to truly appreciate what it is, in this case, a book. Of course I don't mean that a persons interests don't matter, but I find the attitude that you are speaking of to be... far too cautions. I mean, you might find something new in a field that you never thought you will be a part of.

glacialphoenix · Aug 14, 2009, 03:52 PM // 15:52

^
Well, I don't disagree. I tend to try to tailor books to the person, though, especially non-fiction. Someone randomly going 'have you read any good books?' will get that incredibly long list from me. A friend asking me for a book recommendation, however, gets something else entirely. Something from an entirely different field? Sure - but not everyone is inclined to read something they're not familiar with, so for me it depends on how open the other person is to reading something new.

Quote:

A lot of books I have thrown away are text books from school, oh wait I think I burnt them.

Oh, textbooks? You're forgiven.