book reccomendation thread!

[miss.myra]

there's lots of them out there, but I really need some new books..

what is on everyone's list to reccomend, and why?

[gnosis]

"The Great Book of Amber" by Roger Zelazny.
5 books in one volume.
A total brain-bender!

The story follows a family/bloodline who can shift reality.

"Project Censored"
Just because you should know.

"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"
Douglas Adams
Bloody hilarious!!!

Frosty
(for starters...)

[Draven GD]

oh this is a good one. i just lent it to my roommate yesterday :D
"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"
Douglas Adams

this one is always good too!!
"Starship Titanic"
Douglas Adams

or the next one i am going to read is
"Dune"
Frank Herbert
followed by "Children of Dune"

[LLaaUUrrYYn]

"shes come undone" By Whalley Lamb

Its just a great book. Not much else to say about it!

[~lazee_grrl~]

harry potter!..all of them..6th book out on july 16th!

anything by oscar wilde..i love this guy.

[Varney Rae]

If you read alot you've probably already read it, but I just finished The Da Vinci Code. For anybody who hasnt read it, they should. Its a fantastic read.

[fritz]

blink - malcolm gladwell
a situational book on anti-lateral thinking techniques
take action on your adaptive unconcious to make split second decisions, when needed

[sidekick]

the phantom tollbooth by norton juster

my favourite book of all time. read it first when i was ten years old. the whole book is full of witty wordplay. i think you'd really like it myra.

[lithe]

these are the books i always recommend. :|

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Beautifully written story about life in India in the 70's, under a corrupt government. Pretty heart-wrenching.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo. Tied with AFB(^) and O&C(v) for my fave book of all time. Hilarious but poignant description of blue-collar american life.

Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. Multi-faceted story about the end of the world, and the people who orchestrate it as well as those who survive it. Very reflective of 21st century anxiety about advances in biotechnology... simply a fascinating read.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Sad story about twins in India.. I love Indian lit.

This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski. Heavy read. Collection of short stories by a man who survived Aushwitz, only to kill himself later. One of the most evocative works of survivor lit that i've come across, the parallels he makes between men and animals and the Germans and the Jews who survive are very thought-provoking.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. You either love Rand or hate her... My fave of her books.

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Pretty hard to get into, but a very fun read once you do, and important in that it's the first of its cyber-punk genre, and incredibly perceptive about the evolution of technology.

weee.

[lithe]

ooh, and a recent discovery

Touch the Dragon by Karen Connely. Cute stories about the experiences of a 17 year old Canadian girl who spends a year in a rural community in northern Thailand. Perhaps I only liked it so much because I'm planning a trip to Thailand.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by Dravengd

or the next one i was going to read is
"Dune"
Frank Herbert
followed by "Children of Dune"

That'll be interesting. Planning on reading Dune: Messiah anywhere in there or you just like jumping around the series a bit?

Stop getting your reading tips from the Sci-Fi channel. =p

[ebbomega]

Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea - The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
A tome of every single stoner conspiracy up until the 70s. Learn why the number 23 is so peculiar and why I'm scared that the current pres of the US is known by the 23rd letter of the alphabet. Very ha ha only serious.

Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger In A Strange Land
Ever been in a hotbox where every single person in it is a fantastic person? This book is about that on a very subtle level. It's an interesting book that is hella mad deep. I hope you grok.

Chaddy Padyevski [sic?] - Altered States
Clinical observation becomes outright insanity, leading to complete and total revelation. A spiritual book that looks pretty indepth into the religion of science. Thoroughly fucked up book but by the end of it you'll agree that it's brilliant.

I may have more later.

[Draven GD]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

That'll be interesting. Planning on reading Dune: Messiah anywhere in there or you just like jumping around the series a bit?

Stop getting your reading tips from the Sci-Fi channel. =p

those are the two that i have. but if you will lend me the other one ill be willing to read it in such a way to please you?



PS~ i havent had tv for years.

[cheebus420]

Ishmael , My Ishmael, and The Story Of B

... all some of Daniel Quinn's finest.

[Lady Dame]

Dean Koontz - Intensity.

i have 80pages left and i cant seem to put the thing down. No slow spaces at all.

[wum]

has anyone heard of that book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers? only something that pretentious reminds me of cubed He he he =)

[crookedking]

go and rent a movie instead.

it's alot easier.

[acidic_liquid]

If you liked The Da Vinci Code, "The Rule of Four" by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason is similar. I'm not a fan of how the authors write though. Sometimes they seem to be trying too hard by putting a big word when another normal word would do just as well. Still a good read.

"the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon. Excellent, witty, smart. Kinda "Life of Pi"-ish.

[Draven GD]

never use a big word when a dimminitive one will suffice.

[lithe]

ebbo: i love Stranger, good call. i'm such a fantasy geek, i think i've read most of Heinlein.

ooh, in that vein i'd also recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. rad rad rad. (the rest of the books in the series aren't nearly as good)

[veN]

Originally Posted by acidic_liquid

"the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon. Excellent, witty, smart. Kinda "Life of Pi"-ish.

I second that recommendation! One of my fave books of all time =)

I also liked The Bride Stripped Bare by an annonymous author. It's written journal style, which I personally love. It's supposed to be as if the manuscript submitted was by a mother in the UK that was written by her daughter who disappeared... But I'm still confused about that.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by Dravengd

those are the two that i have. but if you will lend me the other one ill be willing to read it in such a way to please you?



PS~ i havent had tv for years.

Ah. I figured you heard about the Sci-Fi miniseries'... They put Children of Dune right after Dune there, compacting Dune: Messiah to a single episode of the 3-ep Children of Dune miniseries. I'd recommend grabbing Dune: Messiah before reading Children of Dune. They're kind of parts one and two of the same story... I'd loan it to you but I don't live on the mainland until next month at least, and as such getting it to you would be a bit of a hassle. But you can pick it up from any bookstore for well under 10 bucks....

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by lithe

ebbo: i love Stranger, good call. i'm such a fantasy geek, i think i've read most of Heinlein.

ooh, in that vein i'd also recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. rad rad rad. (the rest of the books in the series aren't nearly as good)

I agree, with the exception of Ender's Shadow. It's the same story told by Bean's perspective. Bloody brilliant work that one is.

And I liked Speaker for the Dead a lot, but Xenocide and Children of the Mind are a bit... I dunno... dragging and Mormon. But worth the read.

Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets both kind of read a lot more like a politco-thriller.

But Card in general is a brilliant writer.

[ebbomega]

Nobody's mentioned Snow Crash yet?

Fine, I will.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Post-Cyberpunk. Look at the metaverse. Then come on FNK and look at it. Then look at the CIC Database. Compare/Contrast with Google.

Seriously. For a 1992 book it was fucking prophetic, to say the least.

[sungoo]

Siddhartha by Herman Heese; page for page, it's the best, deepest book I've ever read. It's a book about many things, one of which is the search for the meaning of life. I think everyone should read this book atleast once in their life. It's about 100 pages so it's very easy to get through.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. My favorite book, it's beautifully written, an epic, and many stories have based their framework around this book; such as The Shawshank redemption, Oldboy and many more. It's a little long though.

Striking Thoughts by Bruce Lee. The ultimate renegade Taoist. It's a list of thoughts and ideas Bruce Lee had written down. You can flip to any page of this book and be lost in thought for hours.