Ok This is for you avid *Readers*

[CloudFuel]

What are some of your favorite books and authors...and why...I'll post mine a lil later, cuz my list will be quite extensive...

[g-boy]

I probably couldn't tell you my absolute favorite book, don't think one exists. But I'll give my little list.

Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - trilogy of 600-800 page books about the colonization and terraforming of Mars. Takes place over a period between 150-200 years, lots of stuff happens, even an Earth-Mars war of sorts. Most of the main characters stay throughout all three books because they have created technology to lengthen lifespans... which has problems on its own. Very hard to read, lots of science stuff, also very uniquely written. It's the not-too-distant future, so don't expect Star Trek type stuff... and no, there are no aliens.

The Stranger (L'etranger) by Albert Camus - everyone should read this book, it's the best existentialist book ever written. And no, Meursault is not a monster, he is misunderstood....

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - ultimate in absurdity... love it.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - who hasn't heard of it? Most famous work of American literature.


I may edit to add on... to be honest, I don't do very much reading outside of school stuff. The main reason is usually I would always have something to read for school, hard to read other things at the same time, no real time. I'll try reading some stuff this summer, though. Tried reading Tropic of Cancer... didn't get past 60 pages, it truly sucks.

As for my favorite authors. I'll say I guess my favorite literary author is Albert Camus (al-bare kah-moo... none of this "kay-muss" stuff). I consider many of my philosophies and my writing as existentialist, and The Stranger is an unbelievable book. Camus never admitted to being existentialist... but he is. He is also a good writer of just about everything else, not just books... he did plays, short stories, and even some poetry I believe.
I also enjoy Michael Crichton. Awesome author. Of course, Stephen King. Kim Stanley Robinson just for the Mars trilogy. The one writer that everyone should like, unless you are braindead, is William Shakespeare. Same as with the books, I'll add-on more later.

[CloudFuel]

OK that's an awesome list...I'm gonna go for the more sci-fi fantasy fav's of mine on this.

- Anne McCaffrey - All of the books of Pern and such. They're about a world that people have come to thru space travel and this little world has a rain unlike ours...these little silvery things fall down and incinerate anything and everything in their paths. There are also little and big dragons and it's really good...get some.

- George Orwell - 1984 Awesome Awesome book...one of my favorites that is on the AP list.

- John Grisham - any of his books. These are phenomenal. A must have for any reader of any kind. These are all about lawyers and things of that nature but god they are SOOO good!

- Terry Brooks - The Shannara books. Omg...books to orgasm to...These are phenomenal definitely read them if you like sci-fi...they're just omg good!

- Madeliene L'Engle - author of the Wrinkle in Time books. These are just freaking awesome, very unique and very sweet. They're definitely worth reading.

- Philip Pullman - (Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass) Wow I love these. There are only three, but they are pimptastic. So many cool ideas and of course the ideas are very unique and unequivocally badass. Check these out anytime you can

- Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind - I've heard MANY MANY MANY good things about both of these authors. They are extroardinary, but I haven't read them just yet...so we'll see....

- Tolkien....duh!


ok so all of these I have on ebook and also in my personal collection. I have the Harry Potters and Chronicles of Narnia as well. Both are great series' and I would highly suggest getting the new Harry Potter which is a mere 4 pages shy of being 1000 pages...and this is in some ways a childrens book...jeez them kids are getting smarter and smarter....ok back to the b-ball game... GO SPURS!

[g-boy]

OMG, completely forgot about this one.

Dune by Frank Herbert - one of the best sci-fi novels of all time. Basically combines sci-fi with fantasy, and is incredibly well written. Loved this book.

[CloudFuel]

yes that series rocks!

[[CAKE]rUsh]

guess i'll give some of my favourite books/authors.


Piers Anthony - some good books to note are: bio of a space tyrant series and the Incarnations of Imortality

Tad Williams - memory sorrow and thorn series is by far one of the best fantasy series i've ever read. very long though 4 books between 600-1000 pages.

Douglas Adams - what needs to be said?

Margeret Weis and Tracy Hickman - Deathgate Cycle

R A Salvator - i've heard good things about this work but i've yet to really read it.


All i can think of for now maybe i'll post some more later.

[kermit]

you know, i hardly read (outside of my college texts) and i'm finding it detrimental to my intellectual well-being....so good for you guys.

i've been trying to change recently and aquired some books that are on my "to-do" list:

the art of war - sun tsu

heart of darkness - joseph conrad

neuromancer - william gibson

the prince - machiavelli

a few of my favorite books (that i have actually read) are:

sirens of titan - kurt vonnegut
slaughterhouse V - kurt vonnegut (lol...i had slaughter house IV earlier...and IV is the roman numeral for four and that's...not...that funny so nevermind...it's late...cya...lol)
(well i like many vonnegut novels but i will stop here...^_^)
the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - douglas adams
ocean of sound - david toop
mysterious skin - scott heim
1984 - george orwell

[g-boy]

I wanna read slaughterhouse five... but lemme make some recommendations. One, Heart of Darkness sucks, trust me, don't bother. And so does The Prince, but you should still read it just so you understand the Machiavelli experience.

[RuNnInG_wIth_ScISsOrS]

Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind are great authors if you're into fantasy. I'd never thought(Wasn't into fantasy) of their books untill I met Robert Jordan on the Morrowind boards. Yes, authors play video games, but I just finished the latest books of both series and they make for excellent reading. Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 are awesome books, too. The Left Behind series, The Da Vinci Code, Silmarillion, Running With Scissors(Haven't read it, but love the name), Tom Clancy, and Dick Francis are also worth the read.

[evil_admin]

I'm leaving out books already mentioned...here some books
that may not be as well known:

Penal Colony - Franz Kafka
-Anything by Kafka is great like Metamorphsis, Castle, etc. but I
especially like his shorter stories.

Salome - Oscar Wilde
-Play about John the Baptist and how he lost his head from a
decadent point of view.

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace from the Sea - Yukio Mishima
-Made into a film years ago, the book paints a more vivid and
emotional picture.

Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
-Story of lust, love and how food can be sensual

Trial - Tom Hayden
-After reading this book, you will never look at the bumper
sticker, "America, Love It or Leave It" the same.

Against The Grain (A Rebours) - J. K. Huysmans
-A novel written in the 19th century about decadence, excess
and new sensations. Became the bible for the decadence.

[SoulEvan]

I kinda liked Metamorphosis. I'm more into fantasy adventure like the TSR books. =O Especially the Dragonlance chronicles. Definitely fantasmigo books(Dragons of Summer Flame was kind of blah compared to the rest though). Forgotten Realms is good stuff, but I've only read one.

I loved Fahrenheit 451. Haven't read 1984.

I liked Color of Water and the above book for school reading, but that's it. Except for one chapter out of A Tale of Two Cities. =\

[jabbahunt]

what about fantasy adventure playboy, penthouse, gritsunderground?

[SoulEvan]

Damn I don't know what I was thinking! How could I possibly forget??? :wacko:

Actually Maxim is really funny stuff. ^_^

[kermit]

sorry for refreshing this dusty thread but i just finished conrad's 'heart of darkness'. it was dense reading for me because i had to consult a dictionary roughly three times a page due to my atrocious vocabulary...lol.

i actually really liked it. i loved when mr. kurtz dies right after saying "the horror! the horror!". brilliant because i felt that he was finally showing remorse for his actions...almost like this luminous light that finally shines on him right before death takes him away from the hell he helped create in the name of ivory. i could really relate to the russian dude with the patchwork outfit because he fell for kurtz's charisma. and he too, like kurtz, got swindled by the dark side of african colonialism. i've always considered myself reasonably intelligent, but i must admit that i have felt for the virulent deception of a narcissistic; a man who injected desultory dreams into my vein like an addictive narcotic.

i must admit i wasn't fond of the narrative-inside-a-narrative approach at first, but i got used to it as the story developed. this book is certaintly worthy of being a classic.

right now, i'm trying to read herman melville's 'the confidence man' and i'm not sure i like his style of writing. although it's a story based along the mississippi river, his dialogue is so...well...british...lol. there's this haughtiness to it that seems rather unfitting.

[jabbahunt]

didn't I see that in "Apocolypse now" the old fat man saying "the horror, the horror" I always wondered where he stole the from.

[g-boy]

It wasn't "stolen"... Apocalypse Now is the adapted film version of Heart of Darkness.

And personally I didn't like the book or the movie.

[brokend]

Apocalypse Now is film at its best. just...just don't argue.

btw, (now that i've found this thread) Camus is amazing.

my list (in no particular order):

Ayn Rand - Anthem and Atlas Shrugged
Franz Kafka - In the Penal Colony, the Metamorphosis, and the unfinished Description of a Struggle
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World, and The Doors of Perception
Oscar Wilde - any of his short stories; they all make me want to cry, but they all tap into humanity so damn well
Tom Robbins - Another Roadside Attraction
William Peter Blatty - Legion
Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Lois Lowry - The Giver
Edward Gorey - the Gashleycrumb Tinies
Robert Irwin - Exquisite Corpse (omfg, such an amazing piece of unrecognized literature)
Chuck Paulaniuk - Survivor (and possibly Fight Club, i haven't decided yet)
anything by Bill Waterson or Berke Breathed
Gabriela Garcia Marquez - 100 Years of Solitude
F. Scott Fitzgerald - the Great Gatsby
Stephen King - the Shining

mygod; i only intended to ramble off a couple, but it seems as if i've overdrawn my account of what should and shouldn't be.

also: if you really want hilarious periodicals, consult:

Stuff, for Men

the sarcastic pineapple will make you wet yourself.

[g-boy]

The Great Gatsby was worthless.

[FreeFall]

Ayn Rand - Anthem and Atlas Shrugged
Franz Kafka - In the Penal Colony, the Metamorphosis, and the unfinished Description of a Struggle
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World, and The Doors of Perception
Oscar Wilde - any of his short stories; they all make me want to cry, but they all tap into humanity so damn well
Tom Robbins - Another Roadside Attraction
William Peter Blatty - Legion
Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Lois Lowry - The Giver
Edward Gorey - the Gashleycrumb Tinies
Robert Irwin - Exquisite Corpse (omfg, such an amazing piece of unrecognized literature)
Chuck Paulaniuk - Survivor (and possibly Fight Club, i haven't decided yet)
anything by Bill Waterson or Berke Breathed
Gabriela Garcia Marquez - 100 Years of Solitude
F. Scott Fitzgerald - the Great Gatsby
Stephen King - the Shining

you forgot Hunter S. Thompson and Timothy Leary

[Wanksta]

I liked :
The Giver
Soldier X
Silent Spring
The Shining
(Read in the past year)
Right now im reading Prey by:Michael Crichton, damn its such a good book that when i start reading i cant stop.

[brokend]

The Great Gatsby was worthless.

jebus...that is what everyone thinks.
i saw the movie, but disliked it. robert redford is a great actor, but it just didn't do justice to the book.
i think that fitzgerald saw a new kind of corruption blooming in human nature, and in the 20s, it just kept getting more and more obvious. that kind of sick,sad,grotesque feeling you get from it...or rather, that i get from it....

well, here is what i suggest:
read the book again, and this time, assume that Fitzgerald is an existentialist, even if you never could see him like that. ponder the "whys" and "hows" of the novel, and notice how they relate to humans in general, not just the characters. also take note of the cover, which was produced speciffically for this novel. those eyes, i just want to ... jebus, i don't know how describe it. i spose it's just an acquired taste, but one such that i pity all who can't feel it.

or won't.

[Annatar]

brokend.... you legend. Brave New World is an excellent book nd ive read it 5 times.

Also has anyone heard of an author called Ian Irving???? He's done one trilogy called the view from the mirror, which was great, nd im waiting for him to release the 2nd in his next series (damn authors cant type fast enough for me.)

also.........ARRRGH whatshisname.... erm..... somebody help me out

The author who released two trilogies about a man sucked into another world because he had a white gold ring, which made him powerful. the man was a leper whos wife left him, and practically the first thing he did in this next world was rape somebody. yes i know its sick, but then the whole of the first trilogy explored this and the repercussions it caused. The books are to LOTR what 1984 is the the jetsons.

I would recommend him to everyone, if only i could remember who he was.....

[kermit]

what did the leper say to the prostitute?

"keep the tip."

:lol:

[Annatar]

Ive remembered who that author was....... Stephen donaldson.


anyone heard of him???

[Quickening]

Terry Brooks-Shannara Series..I love them they are fantasy and the series is now like 10 books :D

[sage_4]

hmmmm

Chuck Palahniuk - fight club + all his other books because he says all the sick and twisted things that we all want to.
Mark Laidlaw - The 37th mandala (he wrote halflife btw)
Borges - Ficciones just for starters. the man is brilliant.
Gabriel Marquez - 100 years of solitude, chronicles of a death foretold
Oscar Wilde - any of his plays, but the important of being earnest was hilarious
Juan Rulfo - Pedro Paramo
Joseph Heller - Catch 22 (classic)
Captain Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and loathing in las vegas as well as Fear and loathing in America
Jonathan Nolan - He wrote the short story that inspired the movie memento. it says in 10 pages just as much as the movie does in 2 hours. both are great though.
CS Lewis - Narnia series, as well as his crazy poetry that he wrote in the early days.

there's more. i swear to god there's more