What do Browncoats/Flans enjoy reading?
POSTED BY: StrangeBird
UPDATED: Sunday, April 6, 2008 21:46
VIEWED: 10558
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Unfortuneately, I've been writin' my own as of late, rather then reading as I'm aught. Still...
I simply adore the Redwall series, by Brian Jacques. Talking, fighting animals? Sign me up. Tolkien is also beyond awesome, and the Kevin J. Anderson Saga of the Seven Suns.
And suchlike. Good call on the Temeraire series, though!
-Danny
Dead I am the one, Exterminating son
Slipping through the trees, strangling the breeze
Dead I am the sky, watching angels cry
While they slowly turn, conquering the worm
Dig through the ditches,
And burn through the witches
I slam in the back of my
Dragula
Dig through the ditches,
Burn through the witches
I slam in the back of my
Dragula
The Band of the week is... Rob Zombie
Gott weiß ich will kein Engel sein.
http://www.myspace.com/otherrandomdude
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Originally posted by StrangeBird:
Quote:
]Howdy folks,
I've just been wondering what books/book series you all like to read.
Hey StrangeBird.
Always nice to pass books around. I see you read the "Life of Pi" I tried that about two years ago and just couldn't get on with it. I have been meaning to give it another go though. We'll see.
I tend to favour south american writers. I'm sort of partial to magical realism so for me it's most of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's works:
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love and Other Demons
In Evil Hour
Chronicle of a death Foretold
No One writes to the Colonel
Edwardo Galliano's Genesis is also a favourite.
Jorge Amado's War of the Saints
Otherwise I tend to emerse myself in the classics:
Notre Dame by Victor Hugo is a big favourite of mine, same goes for Cervantes' Don Quixote, Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities and the Pickwick Papers - absolutely love those. Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd amoung a few.
Also Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Albert Camus, Annie Proulx and Spike Milligan.
Nice thread :D
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I read almost exclusively science fiction, but unfortunately I don't have the time as I once did. My current book is John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades, which is a sequel to Old Man's War, then if I still want to continue he has two more in the sequence (so far).
My main interest is in the classic SF authors; Heinlein, Clarke, Bester, Asimov, P.K. Dick, Aldiss, Farmer, Herbert, Haldeman, etc. Heinlein is my favorite, and his best novel is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, followed by Starship Troopers, Friday and Glory Road. However, the best classic SF novel is probably Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination.
Probably the best (in the literary sense) is Gene Wolfe, and his Book of the New Sun saga is awesome, along with the Book of the Long Sun, Book of the Short Sun, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, plus some great story collections.
But the best book I have ever read is Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. There are enough ideas on every page of that book to keep hundreds of writers busy spinning off tales for years to come.
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Originally posted by StrangeBird:Quote:
]Howdy folks,
I've just been wondering what books/book series you all like to read.
Hey StrangeBird.
Always nice to pass books around. I see you read the "Life of Pi" I tried that about two years ago and just couldn't get on with it. I have been meaning to give it another go though. We'll see.
Nice thread :D
Yeah. It's definitely an odd book. I wouldn't call it one of my favorites just one that stands out in my memory. I by no means did not like it. It was good, just difficult to immerse into. Took me a week and a half to read it. Ofcourse I was going through one of my "gamer" months where I read less and play games or do puzzles more in my free time. It'd be interesting if they did go forward with a movie version. M. Night Shyamalan has been interested for years but feels he's too close to the subject matter as he comes from a similar background as the protagonist. He tends to make movies only he really gets as it is...
Anyway I would however like to mention that on the topic of the Temeraire series. It is like Patrick O'brian but somewhat lighter on ship-warfare and heavier on fantasy. No actual magic or totally skewed science and of course the battles do not follow the same course as in reality but that's also the point of the alternate history epic. It's a great series and my most favorite recently and among the greats as far as I'm concerned. Let's hope it ends well. And I do agree this last one doesn't flow quite as well as the last three but I'm only three quarters of the way through so far. I'll finish it later this evening. If Peter Jackson does finally get around to making them let's hope he does at least as good a job as he did with Tolkien's work. Adapting book to film is difficult seeing as the two are such different forms of media and flow is so much more important for a movie.
I've gotta get me more books now. I've added Patrick O'brian and Douglas Adams to my list of series I really have to read. I'll be broke again before the end of the month.
Has anyone read the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer? It's great. In my opinion it's far better than Harry Potter. Which I also agree is very much so overrated. I just realized that Colfer's books as well will be adapted to film... will there be any stories left one has to read to experience?
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"When you can't do something smart, do something right." -
quoting Book<------<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(*)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>>------>
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Glad you asked.
Science Fiction first:
J.R.R. Tolkien: Thehe Hobbit and Lord of the Rings
Felitcity Savage: Humiltiy Garden and Delta City --> this a two volume story
Andre Norton: The Zero Stone, Uncharted Stars, Postmarked the Stars, and several others
Melissa Scott: Dreamships and Burning Bright
Douglas Adams:The entire series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe and the Dirk Gently's books
Other fiction:
Shakespeare: Much Ado about Nothing, Richard III, Henry V, and King Lear
Jan de Hartog: The Captain and The Spiral Road->
I highly recommend this author. Found him quit excellent.
John Irving: A Pray for Owen Meany->He can get very grafic at times, but an excellent writer.
Herman Hesse: Narcissus and Goldmann, Siddhartha-> Got to be awake when you read this guy.
John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men
Ellen Hart: Her entire series of Jane Lawless mysteries
Nonfiction:
I read a lot of military history. So I will just give you the books I have on World War II. If I gave you the entire list my keyboard would rebel.
Hampton Sides: Ghost Soldiers
Richard Tregaskis: Guadalcanal Diary
Charles Whiting: Bloody Aachen
Lida Mayo: Bloody Buna
Bliss K. Thorne: The Hump
Rick Atkinson: An Army at Dawn
Major General J.L. Moulton: Battle of Antwerp
David Rame: Road to Tunis
Ralph Ingersoll: The Battle is the Pay-off
Malcolm James: Born of the Desert-> Semibiographical account of a Doctor James service with the British Forces Special Air Service
Des Hicket and Gus Smith: Operation Avalanche
Be happy I did not list the books, from the other wars, I own.
Other Nonfiction:
Herbert Friedman: The Astronomers Universe
Translated from Hebrew by David Rosenberg and Interpreted by Harold Bloom: The Book of J
To many authors to name here: Alcoholics Anonymous
To many books and not enough time;
Traveler
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler
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Quote:
To many books and not enough time;
Traveler
Sadly. If I could only live forever I'd try but most likely fail.
<------<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(*)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>>------>
"When you can't do something smart, do something right." -
quoting Book<------<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(*)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>>------>
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Let's see. from what's been already mentioned:
Jimmy Buffet- he's on my list of "gotta get the library to order."
Robert B Parker-- last week read the latest Spenser novel.
Terry Pratchett- I keep reading his stuff. He's marketed as a comic writer, but his stuff doesn't make me laugh. But a lot of it is thought provoking satire, and a lot has good themes.
Robert Heinlein-- I'm a giant fan.
John Steinbeck- I love Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday and Tortilla Flat.
What else?
I just finished re-reading one of John D MacDonald's Travis Magee novels.
I read a lot of play scripts, musical librettos, and Shakespeare. Last month: Furth/Sondheim's Company.
Also gonna get my library to order Tom Bodett's The End of the Road.
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This last year some of the books I’ve read are (These are just the ones off the top of my head that I remember.)
The Fall of the Roman Empire, by Dr. Peter Heather
The NeoCon Reader, edited by Irwin Stelzer
The Skeptical Environmentalist, by Dr. Lomborg
Rome and Her Empire, by Dr. David Shotter
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
Several books by Terry Brooks, including: Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, Straken and Armageddon’s Children
In general:
I love Terry Brooks and David Eddings. Their books are fun and interesting and don’t take a year to read. I tried reading Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin, but their books are just too long. I don’t have that kind of time, anymore. I loved the Lord of the Rings, and the Hobbit.
I read a lot of history, particularly Roman history. And those kinds of books occupy a lot of time. It takes a while to get through a history. I spent three months reading Rome and Her Empire. I spent a year reading a book called Roman Britain and Early England, and that was only about 120 pages long, but it was very technical.
A lot of my reading time is spent doing reading for work, about 35% of my work is reading. Mostly scientific papers or briefings. In turn this tends to pique my interest in other areas of science. I’ve developed some interest in global climate change, so I tend to read a lot on that.
I read a lot of manuals. Those “For Dummies” or “Idiot Guides” are a stroke a genius. Anything you want to learn, you can just get a introductory manual on the topic - it’s great. I have a shelf full of these books. Anytime something piques my interest, I go find a Dummies or Idiots guide.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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StrangeBird Wrote:
Quote:
will there be any stories left one has to read to experience?
Well so far every attempt at filming Don Quixote has failed. So I suggest reading that one as it looks like it really could be an unfilmable book. :D
That said I agree with your sentiments. I find it a shame with certain books that flm adaptations are undertaken and worse that the refinement of that book in the making of a film is accepted as part of the process. I often dislike films where they 'modernize' a books structure to make the appeal to audiences easier. Dickens seems to suffer this indignity.
When I read 'The Shippings News' it actuallly read like a script so I don't think in that case it made much difference, but with some of the classics it just doesn't flow..
Anyway. Grumble over.
:D
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I love books.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Dresden Files series (new one - Small Favor, was released two days ago!)
William Gibson - I'm a huge fan of Neuromancer, Count Zero & Burning Chrome (collection of short stories).
Neil Stephenson - Cryptonomicon & Snow Crash
Dune The rest of the series is just there to milk this one.
Black Holes & Time Warps interesting overview of well, Black Holes, Time Warps, Worm Holes & other space/time distorting phenomena.
So many others, so little time.
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