Books discussion

[deadman1]

Fiach had a good idea about a book discussion in the TV showthread so here it is  ;D

I am an avid bookreader and have benn ever since I learned to read, these days my favorites are sci-fi and fantasy but I also enjoy a good thriller story. Here´s a few recommendations:

Arthur C Clarke:
Rendevouz with RAMA
The hammer of god
2001
2010
2061
3001

Iain M Banks:
Feersum Endjinn (yes that´s how it´s spelled)
Excession
Consider Phlebas
Look to windward

David Eddings:
The Elenium (trilogy)
The Tamuli (trilogy)
The Belgariad (five books)
The Malloreon (five books)
The redemption of Althalus
The dreamers (four books)

[Art Blade]

great :) I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

here's some of my recently read authors:

Orson Scott Card
-Ender's Game
-(and all and every sequel around that)

Brandon Sanderson
-Elantris
-Mistborn
-Well of Ascension

Joe Abercrombie
-The trilogy of the Blade
-Best Served Cold (kind of a sequel)

Arthur C. Clarke (hehe)
-Firstborn

Charles Stross
-Halting State

Jim Butcher
-all 13 (I believe) sequels of the "Dresden Files"

Poul Anderson
-The broken Sword

Hugh Laurie
-The Gun Seller (not Sci-Fi or Fantasy, a funny thriller)

[RedRaven]

 Had a year away from Books (since my mid-teens would read about an hour before sleep almost every night) Ranging from Dr Zuess to Shakespear, Nietzsche to X-men. Never read any of David Eddings w@&k but a friend was a big fan, just found out that he died in June this year too...
The fantasy books that i found compulsive reading was "The Riftwar Saga" and the the books that followed. Raymond E Feist has written 25 books so far with another 4 on the way (check Wikipedia for listing). And its not just the same few stories re-hashed and re-packedged, it kept a good pace and was almost Science Fiction in some of the ideas, worth reading if Fantasy is your escape. All that aside really at the end of the day near enough every bit of Fantasy Fiction draws on Tolkiens Middle Earth works, he having used various folk-lore & fairy-tales from Northern European cultures.

The one thing i "imposed" on my son from a very early age is to read and get a decent comprehension of the English language, and it worked, he is a keen reader. My reasons are that your can begin to learn almost anything & everything from books. Its good that even though more and more households and families have PC's the Public Libraries here are still open.

Think thats all.....

(want to go buy new books now   :-X )

[fragger]

Text junkies of the world unite! ;D

I highly recommend a 4-part saga by Julian May, respectively titled "The Many-Coloured Land", "The Golden Torc", "The Non-Born King" and "The Adversary". Time-travelling misfits from the 22nd century find themselves in Earth's Pliocene Epoch 6 million years in the past, caught up in an age-old war between two alien humanoid races from a distant galaxy. Sounds "out there", but it's similar to Tolkein's w@&k, in that it's based on European mythology, but with a hard scientific bent. Mind-expanding story!

Also love (sci-fi):
Dune (only the original novel, the sequels are lame)
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Purnell (best alien race ever conceived - planet, society, the works. Persevere through the first few chapters, then it becomes a page-turner)
The Lost Regiment series by William Forstchen (9 books in the series - an American Civil War regiment finds itself transplanted to a distant, war-torn alien world, brilliant story for both sci-fi and military buffs. This guy knows his Civil War history and his astronomy)
The "Riverworld" series by Phillip Jose Farmer, most audacious story I've ever read.

I enjoy a wide range of literature, also love classic novels by John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath, most moving story ever), James A. Michener (recommend "Centennial" - the American West as it really was, and "Space" - great account of the development of the US space program). Michener specializes in combining ficticious characters and places with real historical ones, does it brilliantly.

Too many to go into in one hit. I guess I'll read anything if it's well-written and engrossing.

[JRD]

Wow... books...
They are a true passion... spend good ammount of time with my face buried on those and am always with a title with me.
Last one was an adventure book named "A voyage for madmen" by Peter Nichols. A true story about 9 men who set out at sea for the first single-handed, non-stop sail around the world in the late 60's... long story short is: only one made it back... outstanding book
I love books about the sea... Anyone about the adventures of Ernest Shackleton in Antarctica... amazing tale that could be a great movie.
- 20.000 leagues under the sea
- Moby Dick
- The perfect storm
- 1421

But also heavy core books like "The Stranger" by Camus, 1984 by George Orwell (and Animal Farm too)...
A great sci-fi I read was Aldous Huxley's  Admirable New World... excellent read... The Island sucks, very predictible.
A few Isaac Asimov's... can't remember which...

- Alice in Wonderland and Through the Mirror

- Read all Harry Potter books... yes, I admit it... I did it  ;D ;D

All I can think of for now... more to come

[fragger]

I was reading about Shackleton's voyage in a National Geographic a while back. You're right, JRD, it's an incredible story, I'm surprised nobody's made a film of it. Would make riveting viewing, and would need no embellishment to make it so.
"Admirable New World". Is that the same story as "Brave New World" (difference in translation?) That is a tremendous tale, and no less valid today as it was when it was written.
Speaking of older stories and films, "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells has been filmed twice now, to my knowledge, once in the 50's, and more recently with Tom Cruise (gag). Neither film is anything like the original novel, although the later one is closer. It's one of the best treatises on cultural shock and panic ever penned. Stunning, chilling book, far and away his best. If it was filmed verbatim from the novel, and handled properly, it would scare people silly. Hey, look what happened when they broadcast it on American radio in 1938!

[PZ]

I'm kind of a boring guy - I read history mostly.  A favorite topic when I was younger was the American Civil War - specifically a trilogy of titles by Bruce Catton - I avidly read these several times each and then branched out into titles by other authors.  It's funny how I became interested - was a junior in high school in a forced study period.  Because I typically completed my w@&k before coming into study hall as it was called, I was bored and looked around the room (it was either that or sleep, and I'd be in trouble for the latter).  The only things available were literature textbooks and a lone title that caught my eye: "A Stillness at Appomattox" by Bruce Catton.  Well, first I read a short story in the literature book called "The Grains of Paradise" (still my favorite short story) and then started on the Civil War book, became interested, and the rest is history as they say.

WWI and WWII are other military history time periods I enjoy reading about.  I also subscribe to Archaeology, which contains fascinating stories of the latest discoveries in the field.

[DKM2]

I'm reading my way through the "People" books,
People of the Wolf, etc, by Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
There are current 16 of them, I'm working on #11, People of the Owl.

Basically historical fiction of pre-historic North America.

[Fiach]

There is a movie about Shackleton starring Kenneth Branagh.

I would be quite an avid reader, I think I got it from my dad, who was also an avid reader, He loved cowboy books, written by guys like Louis L'Amour and JT Edson, so I started off reading those at a pretty early age.

As I progressed, I came across the likes of The Lord of the Rings (or in FPS parlance Teh 1337 of TEH RINGZORZ :)) and The Gormenghast Trilogy. Mervyn Peake was the author.

I have also read the Julian May books, the saga continues after the ones mentioned, in Diamond Mask and some others, they were an awesome read for me, because alot of the characters were based on irish mythology.

Another favourite author would be Stephen Donaldson. Most famous I guess for his two trilogies, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (a third trilogy in this series is nearing fruition, with two of the three published so far and the third is imminent). He also wrote a series of 6 (I think) books that are called The Gap series, which is a space opera and is a very good read, with great characters, he has also written some shorter series and some short stories, all of which are excellent.

RA Salvatore has written some really cool fantasy novels based on the adventures of an elf called Drizzt Do'urdan, there maybe about 4/5 trilogies, which are all very good, with some great and memorable characters.

I have read and enjoyed almost all of Stephen Kings books. I have read and enjoyed the first three books of the Dune series.

Outside of the horror/sci-fi genres, I like Wilbur Smith (some stunning books about Africa) and Robert Ludlum to name a couple. There are a fine set of books by James Clavell, Shogun would be the most famous, but the saga continues with the decendants of Shogun, in Tai-Pan, King Rat (prisoner of war book) and Noble House (a more direct sequel of Tai-Pan).

[Dweller_Benthos]

Used to read a lot, before computers :-) took all my time away, lol. Mostly now I read magazines, photo, technical, things like that. Back in the day I read all the scifi classics, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, even good ol' L. Ron Hubbard. Let's see, Larry Niven, David Gerrold, Roger Zelazny, Piers Anthony, bunch of others.

Right now, I'm getting back into reading books again, finished "The Man Who Never Was" the historical account of Operation Mincemeat during WWII, and right now I'm in the middle (well, just about ready to start the second book) of the Thunder & Lightning trilogy by John Varley, about the first trip to Mars and it's eventual colonization.

[JRD]

@Fiach... thanks for the tip about the movie with Kenneth Branagh, I'll try to findo the name of it.
The story is so amazing that I really want to check a movie about it.
@fragger... yes, Brave New World instead of Admirable New World. I was thinking about the title in portuguese and translating into english instead of thinking in english  :-[

Great tips about books here in this post.  :-X
As usual, will make sure I come back here and check some suggestions of our members... great bunch of guys  8)

[Art Blade]

Indeed great bunch of guys :)  :-X

The books I mentioned above were also educational for me since I read all of them in English. Thanks guys, for the great amount of authors and titles. Now I know where to look, and I'll definitely try some of your recommendations :)

Some of you mentioned non-fictional literature. Reminded me. I read quite a number of (translated) books regarding Japanese and Chinese ancient culture, especially regarding martial arts and warfare but also a few about their many religions. One of those titles you may have heard of: "Sūn Zǐ Bīng Fǎ" (Sun Tzu's The Art of War, composed during the 6th century BC) :)

[mandru]

Just thought I'd toss this personal favorite out in the mix.

Silverlock by John Myers Myers was a book that for me that was about 3000 pages too short.

Except for possibly the main character whom we identify with as he journeys through the hidden realm of the Commonwealth and live the story vicariously through him while reading, I suspect everyone in the book is a literary reference to a character borrowed from elsewhere in a wide sampling of literature and mythology.

Just in case someone decides to read this book I'm not going to steal even single flash of delight that will come from recognizing Who someone you've met in the book is and Where they've been borrowed from. I'm not going to spoil that with a list of characters.  ;)

I've only been able to identify about half of them with a fair level of confidence but every time I go through I get a little better handle on some of the missing puzzle pieces. Great fun.

Do a search quick search for it in Wikipedia, see if there's a hook there, something that sparks an interest that can only be quenched by a pilgrimage for three draughts from Hippocrene and your passport to the Commonwealth.

[Fiach]

Hi Mandru, are they fantasy novels or just ordinary novels?

[mandru]

If you consider Treasure Island, The Hunchback of Notre Dame or the Count of Monte Cristo as ordinary novels (while I'm not saying any of those were borrowed from) then OK ordinary novels but the characters are largely well known within the context of book they were borrowed from. 

The main character's rescuer, friend and guide to the Commonwealth, Golias, is a bard and adventurer who answers to many names.

I think it would be best to describe the characters in Silverlock as being borrowed from Classical Literature such as Shakespearean characters or fictional novels but some are drawn from folk lore and mythology.

I promise it's a lively mix.

[Fiach]

So more historical than fantastical then?

[mandru]

If you consider the characters involved as being from several cultures and civilizations dating back into early antiquity then yes, you could say that they are drawn from historical period pieces but the island of the Commonwealth is a large place and continuing to grow and there is plenty of room for the fantastical as well.

You gotta remember that somewhere around 300 A.D. Saint George was charging around England Killing Dragons and 400 A.D. Saint Patrick cleared all the snakes out of Ireland.

So who's to say just where the line between historical and fantastical should be scratched in the sands of time?

[Fiach]

Well, I guess I meant earth based as opposed to say middle earth :)

[JRD]

So who's to say just where the line between historical and fantastical should be scratched in the sands of time?

I have to applaud that one....  :-X

[mandru]

OK Fiach, you got me with that one.  ::)

You went a different direction than I was expecting. Middle earth is largely based in Tolkien's learned understanding of folk lore and mythology. He (Tolkien) structured a story line around an archetypical hero and supporting cast undergoing trials and suffering through test and quest. In literature that's a common theme, I'm having trouble thinking of a storyline from that type of book that doesn't fall into that mold because I really haven't spent much effort reading novels of that sort (translate to: sci-fi nerd  ;D).

Think Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus returning home from 10 years fighting the Trojan Wars spends another ten years due to mishaps and hardships trying to get there. Once he's arrived there were still a couple tests he had to over come to regain his throne and wife.

The main character of Silverlock also follows the path of the archetypical hero, though he doesn't start out being much of a  hero, his path keeps placing him in with true heroes and I guess you could say it kind of rubs off on him.

None of Tolkien's characters appear in Silverlock but the folk lore and mythology Tolkien borrowed from is fair game.

For accuracy sake, Silverlock was published in 1949 while Tolkien was still involved in writing The Lord of the Rings from 1937 into 1949 and after that it wasn't published until 1954-55 in three volumes. Middle earth just wasn't around yet and if it had been it may not have been considered Classical enough to be considered by John Myers Myers for inclusion in Silverlock.

I hope that sorts it out for you Fiach, I love questions and inventing answers too.  :P

[Art Blade]

was interesting for me to read your posts, mandru :)

[Fiach]

Thanks for the clarification mate :)

[fragger]

Saint Patrick cleared all the snakes out of Ireland.

I once read an interesting take on that. It goes: St. Patrick was the bringer of Christianity to the British Isles, and was obsessed with stamping out pagan religions. In Ireland, it was the custom of high priests of some pagan religions, particularly Druidism, to have snakes tattoed on their arms, so when history or myth claims that St. Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland, it meant that he crushed paganism there.

Makes more sense than having him physically removing all snakes from the land.

As for St. George and the dragon, I don't know much about the story, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was something similar to the St. Patrick account, Christianity v Paganism.

[Art Blade]

cool story  :-X :)

[Fiach]

I'm not sure if there is a "books" section, but I just finished this book and its awesomeness compelled me to post about it.

I picked it up because it was so thick, I knew it would get me over the xmas and the blurb on the back looked like it would be an interesting "thriller", which it was for about a quarter of the way through, then the book started throwing curveballs .....

I have since found out that this book is to be made into a movie or a series of movies and the book itself is part of a trilogy, but the book is totally self-contained and the ending is perfect, so you dont need to worry about the author dying and the series being unfinished.

The game starts in the South American jungle, glimpses of which are shown between narrative and a succession of emails between two scientists, this section would be comparable to maybe the Predator movies, the first curveball then throws the book into thriller territory as the story continues and follows two FBI agents, securing the release of death row inmates from various prisons.

The next curveball gets the FBI agents involved in a weird prolonged chase across a number of state lines, with the abduction of a young girl, this achieves a kind of resolution with the advent of the next and rather huge curveball the book throws at you, on which the rest of the narrative is based.

I am of necessity leaving out alot of the story, because the twists are many and will be enjoyed alot more if they are total surprises. If you look up any reviews, they are quite spoilerific.


Suffice to say, the world faces a doomsday scenario spanning several generations, before there is any resolution to the problem

This is a very well written book, its about 1000 pages long, depending of course on the format, but there is not one page of useless filler, the characters are well crafted, their stories are well told and the many harrowing subjects are dealt with in a compelling way, with a great sensitivity to the characters and the narrative.

Warfare, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Wasteland, all these subjects raise their heads in what could be a complete mess of ideas, but is honed into a rollicking good adventure yarn