The good book thread

DrunkenPrayer · Post by **DrunkenPrayer** » Wed May 02, 2007 1:34 pm

Because every forum needs one.
I'll assume everyone knows the drill, reccomend any good books, mention what you're currently reading or any tips on good releases upcoming etc.

Currently I'm re-reading Yes Man by Danny Wallace. I'd reccomend anyone to read this, Join Me and Are You Dave Gorman which he co wrote. They're all funny true life stories about him and the case of AYDG? him and his flat mate.

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Thu May 03, 2007 1:20 am

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
The movie is a summary of the first three books. There are 13 books in the Series, an Unauthorized Autobiography and some supplemental reading.
So. Damn. Good.
Seriously.
I actually a little bitter that I'm done reading them because it means there is no more to read.

Tom the Fanboy · Post by **Tom the Fanboy** » Thu May 03, 2007 12:52 pm

Thunderhowl wrote:Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Oh yeah, great series. I suggest picking it up if you're a fan of the show LOST. You'll have the proper sensibilities.

I've gotta promote one that I don't getto talk about often.
The Dragon and the Unicorn series by AA Attanasio. Arthurian legend with all sorts of different kinds of mythology in it.

I wish I got to read more but anytime there's a book in my hand these days it's an RPG supplement or a comic.

I'm planning on making time for House of Leaves soon though, I'm told its a good mindbender.

SickandCute · Post by **SickandCute** » Thu May 03, 2007 1:47 pm

I'm a BiIG fan of Tom Holt and Robert Rankin. Both quite surreal and funny fantasy stories.
And every time I meet Robert he gets drunk and propositions me

Xaq · Post by **Xaq** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:04 pm

Just finished re-reading the Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brien. Best historical fiction EVER.

I'm going to be jumping back into the Harry Potter series again soon, to prepare for the next book. But July is still a long way off... I might have to find something else to read in the meantime.

Alina P · Post by **Alina P** » Fri May 04, 2007 2:16 pm

I am just finishing up the Master and Commander series. (xaq got me hooked on it, but darn if there's not twenty books...) I'm currently reading A Wine Dark Sea, which means that I only have four books left after this one.

I'm also listening to Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness on audio book. I like to listen to stories while I color comics, and Ursula LeGuin's writing is so fascinating that it makes me forget that I'm coloring the same couch yet again.

Khayankh · Post by **Khayankh** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:38 pm

Blech...I read the first Unfortunate Events book and was revolted, personally I found the author too condescending and I thought he was trying way too hard.
I'm currently reading The Last Days by Scott Westerfield, which is awesome. If you're interested in weird-but-fascinating teen books I'd recommend Westerfield's Peeps - The Last Days is the sequal to Peeps, reading it first would only confuse you. Hint: Peeps has absolutely nothing to do with marshmallow ducks. Marshmallow ducks are nasty. Peeps has quite a bit of nastiness too, but it's nasty in the way medical textbooks are nasty, not nauseatingly sweet.
Oh, and for favorite authors of all time: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, hands down. They co-wrote Good Omens, which wasn't the best I've seen from either of them but was pretty cool. My favorite Gaiman books are Anansi Boys (don't bother slogging through the prequel, American Gods, you won't miss much) and Neverwhere. Pratchett's early Discworld books are kind of mediocre but he hits his stride somewhere in Equal Rites and from there everything is brilliant, particularly Hogfather, Thief of Time, Soul Music, Night Watch, Monstrous Regiment, Thud!, Reaper Man, Fifth Elephant, and Going Postal. I haven't read all the Discworld books yet, and keep forgetting to order Small Gods on Amazon. I also like Seuss, Tolkien, Asimov, and Rowling, but everyone's heard of them already.
edit: I have not listed Discworld books in chronological order, I listed them in the order I read them. there are spoilers for Fifth Elephant in Thud!, but many of the books deal with unrelated topics and don't really need to be read in order.

JmcV · Post by **JmcV** » Sat May 05, 2007 3:26 pm

Currently reading "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy", by Laurence Sterne. The premise of the novel is Tristram Shandy, esq., is trying to write an account of his life. The novel is one of the most experimental novels in british history. The main storytelling method is digression - one thread of the novel digresses to another, to another, to another, and so on, until you completely lose yourself in the digression and find yourself forgetting what the original story was even supposed to be. It's probably the sort of novel that you will totally love, or totally hate. I must admit that I wouldn't have heard of the novel (and therefore obviously wouldn't have read it) were it not for the fact that I'm doing a grad seminar on it, but like a lot of other assigned reading, I am glad that it was assigned and am enjoying reading it, so it feels less like homework.

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Sun May 06, 2007 1:24 am

khayankh wrote:Blech...I read the first Unfortunate Events book and was revolted, personally I found the author too condescending and I thought he was trying way too hard.

And now you are dead to me. Heh.
Well, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I assure the rest of you, that if you give them a try, or liked the movie, read the books. You won't be dissapointed.

Anyone who hasn't gotten into Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series needs to. It's excellent. Another excellent series is Glen Cook's Black Company series. So good.

Hmmm...I'll have to check my library when I get home from work to see if I can think of anything else.

OOH! Watchmen, Supreme Power and Kingdom Come. Those three graphic novels are a must read for, well, anyone really. If you haven't read those yet your life is an empty shell of awful. But you can get help. Go to your local comic store or library today and try to get them.

Xaq · Post by **Xaq** » Sun May 06, 2007 9:38 pm

Haven't tried Unfortunate Events yet, but I generally like children's books, so I'm hopeful. Roald Dahl is one of my favourites, for example, along with Micheal Ende, J. K. Rowling, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Caroll, Kenneth Grahame, and so forth.

I was practically weaned on Tolkien. I started with The Hobbit, moved onto the Lord of the Rings, and eventually the Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, Smith of Wooton Major, Farmer Giles of Ham, and Chris Tolkein's History of Middle Earth (although I'm still only up to book 4 of 12).

DrunkenPrayer · Post by **DrunkenPrayer** » Mon May 07, 2007 6:41 am

American Gods wasn't really a prequel to Anansi Boys. I actually preffered American Gods to it as well but different strokes and all that. I'll havr to re-read it right enough to give it another chance.
My cousin just loaned me his novella Stardust as well which is quite interesting.

Lunaroki · Post by **Lunaroki** » Mon May 07, 2007 11:14 am

Has anyone else here read Piers Anthony's Xanth series? It's rather odd. It's based in a magical land called Xanth which for some inexplicable reason looks an awful lot like Florida except that it's full of magic and puns. He often flirts with adult themes, including but not limited to Nymphs, Love Springs, Strip Malls, interspecies mating, Storks, etc. If you love to laugh, giggle, chuckle or groan at puns, might I suggest giving this series a try. I recommend reading it from the beginning, starting with the book "A Spell for Chameleon".

The series currently stands at 30 books, which puts it just barely started into the second "trilogy". "Trilogy" is an inside joke for readers of the Xanth series. Originally it was presumed by critics that the Xanth novels were done once the third novel was published, so they took to calling it the Xanth Trilogy. Considering there was a gap of about 3 years between books 3 and 4 this perhaps wasn't such an absurd assumtion, but it was quite in error. Ever since then Piers and his fans have been calling the series the Xanth Trilogy in mokery of the critics who thought three books was all this series would ever see. In more recent years it was discovered that a Xanthian trilogy actually consists of 3 cubed books, as opposed to the mere 3 books in a normal trilogy, so now with 30 books in print and number 31 due in Octogre the second great Xanthian trilogy is under weigh.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:31 pm

Oh yes, I remember that series. Especially the conclusion of 'No punishment for rape' in one of the books.

Read Piers Anthony with a more critical eye and you'll see some seriously disturbing trends.

Tom the Fanboy · Post by **Tom the Fanboy** » Tue May 08, 2007 6:53 am

Wow, his is seriously nostalgic for me. It's like I've been transported back to the Faans! board back in the day.

Lemony Snicket is only condescending if you're a high school graduate. The whole series is like a vocabulary lesson for interesting 5th graders.

Xanth, I was told that eventually the author just started puting together puns that fans sent in and writing stories to match the puns.

If you're going to start Wheel of Time start now. the books are long and the series has a lot of books. Jordan is working on the final manuscript right now and has stated that due to his health it will be the last book. He's also said that he has to tell four stories in this book so even if it takes a strong friend and a handtruck to get your copy out of the bookstore it'll be the last book in the series. If you start reading the series now you may finish by the time the last book is released.

By some grand confluence of coincidence I have actually begun the Diskworld series in chronological order and am now dedicated to continueing to do so. Seriously, I actually read Strata before I picked up Colour of Magic.

Xaq · Post by **Xaq** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:47 pm

I am SO not a fan of Piers Anthony. He bashes out more than one book a year, especially in his heyday, and it shows in the quality of the end product. The Xanth novels were supposed to be throw-away crap, a silly tongue-in-cheek sendup of fantasy, and the results are about what you would expect... but the books also have this heavy sexual tone, with bizarre matings between different fantasy species, lots of centaur-fetishism, in-depth descriptions of bare-breasted wood nymphs, etc etc etc. Xanth is where the trashy romance novel meets the badly-written pulp fantasy novel. Bleah.

/rant

Lunaroki · Post by **Lunaroki** » Tue May 08, 2007 6:22 pm

Heh. Xaq, you've just described everything I love about the Xanth series. The only thing you missed was the puns, which Tom covered for you.

Yeah, high fantasy it is not, but then not everybody wants high fantasy. Some of us are just looking for a few good laughs and maybe a few frolicking nymphs.

Me personally, I've never been interested enough to pick up any of the books in the Wheel of Time series. Heck, I can't even get up the interest to reread the Lord of the Rings. Someday though I would like to get around to reading Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe series. Sounds like a hoot.

*shrugs* Like someone mentioned earlier, different types of geekdom for different folks. Even comfirmed geeks are gonna have different tastes in their preferred geekeries. Some like Star Wars. Some like Star Trek. Some like both, and some can't stand either. As long as people don't start arguing over it it's all good.

Now if you'd like a recommendation for a series you fellas might like, I highly recommend Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Now there is a fantasy series for the serious fantasy officianado. A simple woods guide meets a beautiful woman on a quest to save the world, finds out that his grandfather is actually a mighty wizard, receives a magic sword and sets out to defeat an evil warlock before the world comes to an end. And that's just the first book. Each novel builds on the foundations laid in the previous works and expands the scope of the world in dramatic fashion. The effects of magic on the lives of the people are believable and oft-times disturbing. The stories are well told and richly detailed.

The best part for me though is the characters. They feel real. They have real problems which generally are not easily solved. You quickly become attached to the main characters, and even the side characters feel like someone you might actually meet in the real world. If you haven't read this series yet, I strongly urge you to do so! It starts with the book Wizard's First Rule. If you're a real fan of fantasy you're gonna want to buy the series so you can read them over and over again.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Tue May 08, 2007 7:39 pm

Yep, real characters all right. At least, the main character is a typical *male - He follows a woman half-way across the world because she smiled at him.

* Snarks at own gender.

Tom the Fanboy · Post by **Tom the Fanboy** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:04 pm

Speaking of great characters. I gotta recommend the excellent (dare I say, realistic?) hard science fiction Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It follows the colonization and gradual terraforming of the red planet by telling the stories of the first colonists, their children, and key members of the later immigrants.

Nearly every chapter shifts to a different person and though it doesn't go through every member of the "First 100" you get a good feel for all of their personalities. Be warned though, linear thinkers might have a bit of trouble as the book's chapters hopscotch decades forward and backward in the timeline to reveal attitudes and secrets of the various characters. I recommend the whole trilogy as well as the two collections of short stories.

Alina P · Post by **Alina P** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:15 pm

Not technically a book book, being a collection of comics, but has anyone seen the latest Flight anthology? (Flight 3, I believe... I think they've got Flight 4 together, but I don't think it's published yet.) I read through a copy the other day while browing at the book store, and almost melted from delight! I certainly have my favorites, but there's not a story in there that I didn't like!

If you have the cash, go get yourself a copy. You definately won't regret it.

Khayankh · Post by **Khayankh** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:53 pm

The Sword of Truth series should have stopped after the first four books: then it just gets badly repetitive and boring. The girl is getting captured, the guy is conquering places, people are <almost> getting raped but not really...'kay, I've heard this story twice alreadys, bored now...
Also, books intended for younger audiences that are cool anyway = Clive Barker's novels. (He wrote Abarat.) Clive Barker writes and draws beautifully - like Neil Gaiman for your child/cousin/niece/nephew/younger sibling. I also heart Dr. Seuss, but then, doesn't everyone?