Books

I also read a meep load of books of every type (almost ) I found that after the first half dozen Koontz books all seemed the same. If you are interested in broadening your horizons, try Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series or Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. (These are the ones I have read, the other series are probably just as good ).If you don't mind your novels a little dated, Hammond Innes, Alistair MacLean, and Desmond Bagley are well worth a read, but you may have to hit the second hand shops or yard sales to get a lot of them. For a diversion into sci-fi , Robert Heinlein is the go, even his books aimed at teenage boys in the late '50s- early'60s are worth a read for fun of good ,clean type. The" future history" set is aimed more at the adult reader and it shows.

David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day is the only written work that I have read and actually laughed out loud. Lolita I just read during the summer, and even though it is ostensibly about pedophilia, it is the most amazingly written love story I could imagine. Palahniuk's Lullaby is pretty much overlooked in favor of Fight Club, but it's a cool story: a "culling song," sung to wounded warriors and sick babies, will kill them painlessly--what happens if people re-discover a culling song? Zadie Smith's White Teeth was good, if memory serves. I've become kind of a literature snob, to the point where reading The DaVinvi Code pissed me right the meep off, so I would recommend all these books as relatively light reading (except for Lolita) but intellectually stimulating. Not like Koontz.

Where's Waldo

Celestine Prophecy ..just fukin kidding I can't get enough of Umberto Eco

For my money, a better writer than David Foster Wallace is hard to come by. His Infinite Jest is ridiculously dense -- it'll keep you occupied for a lot longer than a few days. I think I pored over it for 8 or 9 months, and kept notes on the back cover. It sounds like homework, but eventually everyone who reads that book starts keeping notes on it.

There's a much briefer book, a collection of his essays, called "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again." Also the cat's meep, and might be a smaller commitment for you to make.

dragonstaff: I also read a meep load of books of every type (almost ) I found that after the first half dozen Koontz books all seemed the same. If you are interested in broadening your horizons, try Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series or Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels

Some Grisham are quite interesting, a lot of the good ones have been adapted to movies, but they're good reads. Clive Cusslers alright. Last summer I took it upon myself to read all of Clancy's meep. Be careful. He's very good with action and suspense but everynow and then he has political remarks that will get under a lot of people's skin. I think King is highly undervalued. Excellent writing.

The background information from the Da Vinci code is what makes it semi-worth reading, Angels and Demons (also by Dan Brown) is along the same lines. Both are pretty ridiculous in lot of respects though, not great literature, but still entertaining.

I used to be hard in Sci-fi and fantasy and was, and is, all about the Dune series and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

I'd recommend Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel to anyone. I've just finished it - a brilliant book about alternate English history with magicians. A cut above the usual fantasy stuff...

Raymond Chandler: I always re-read one or two of those a year.

Only ever read Name of the Rose (a couple of times) by Eco, couldn't really get into the others I've picked up.

Otherwise, I've got a large set of Fantasy and Sci-fi, most of which I'll never read again.

Oh, yeah, anything by Jack Vance especially the Lyonesse or Star Kings series.

Gave up on Wheel of Time when I realised he was just gonna drag it out for as many books as possible. meep...

AcheronDCS: Some Grisham are quite interesting, a lot of the good ones have been adapted to movies, but they're good reads. Clive Cusslers alright. Last summer I took it upon myself to read all of Clancy's meep. Be careful. He's very good with action and suspense but everynow and then he has political remarks that will get under a lot of people's skin. I think King is highly undervalued. Excellent writing. The background information from the Da Vinci code is what makes it semi-worth reading, Angels and Demons (also by Dan Brown) is along the same lines. Both are pretty ridiculous in lot of respects though, not great literature, but still entertaining. I used to be hard in Sci-fi and fantasy and was, and is, all about the Dune series and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Agree++

Dune is untouchable.

It's very fashionable nowadays to hate Robert Jordan, and he certainly has his style quirks, but whenever he gets around to writing the next parts, I'll read them.

EDIT: Moved this thread to Serious meep forum.

[Edited on 12/7/2004 by vasudeva]

Gave up on Wheel of Time when I realised he was just gonna drag it out for as many books as possible. meep...

Yeah its like being dragged over broken glass. He has slowed up the new ones so much. The first 5 though (Eye of the world, great hunt, dragon reborn, shadow rising, and fires of heaven) still stand out as wonderful fantasy books. By now its basically like crack. I don't neccesarily want to keep on reading the last bits, but I'm curious and don't have a choice. Hopefully he'll pull off something good.

Wheel of Time: I got up to the first time Ashaman (or whatever they're called) blokes turning up in some battle or other - to the horror of the female magicians - and saving Rand from a box. 'Great,' I thought, 'now it's all gonna kick off'. But then it kind of faded for me. I was ready for all out warfare and a brilliant resolution, not 2 or 3 more books with no end in sight.

Was that Crown of Swords or something like that? Let me know if he gets round to finishing it. I don't hate it, I thought it was brilliant: I just wanted it to end...

Dune is classic. But I prefer the first book - maybe I've no patience.

Alternatively - the entire Hornblower series. The TV series didn't do it justice. The only sailing ship I've been on was the Victory, and that stopped sailing a while ago, but they're a real insight into the conditions of the time as well as being 'ripping yarns'.

And any of the Flashman books.Take a look at this seriously meeped up website

Nicklouse: Wheel of Time: I got up to the first time Ashaman (or whatever they're called) blokes turning up in some battle or other - to the horror of the female magicians - and saving Rand from a box. 'Great,' I thought, 'now it's all gonna kick off'. But then it kind of faded for me. I was ready for all out warfare and a brilliant resolution, not 2 or 3 more books with no end in sight.

Yeah that was Lord of Chaos, which had a badass battle scene. The problem is he does great warfare and drama when he gets around to it but he spaces it out so much that its unberable. there's something like 25 minor characters and you can't keep track of them. If you gave up then you probably made the right call.

Infinite Jest RULES..that and Dune are the only books that ever took more than one day to read, Well, The Name Of The Rose took a couple of days also, like Dune, I had to stop reading and absorb the philosophy

The last Jordan book pissed me off. He took a short story he wrote for Legends (a regular collection of sci-fi/fantasy stories) and stretched it out to almost a novel. I'm still waiting for the next one though, March I think it is.

I, like most of you read a lot, and quickly; most books don't last over three days for me. I like Koontz, have read all of Clancy, almost all of King, all of Terry Prachett as far as I can tell - highly recommended for laughs, and RIP all of Douglas Adams stuff several times. Mystery/suspense wise I'd reccomend John D. McDonald's Travis McGee series, anything by James T. Hall, some of Patterson is pretty good as is some Tess Gerritson. Bill Brysons's "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" was entertaining and enlightining, as is Piers Anthony's "Of" series (Isle of Woman, Hope of Earth...) You can't go wrong with Twain, Johnathon Swift, Plato, Socrates or Aristotle. Expand your horizons some because as a Koontz liker also I'll warn you his last two or three didn't start moving until almost 1/3 through. Try some Clive Barker first, then branch out from there.

Clive Barker rocks. I can't name many authors who I consistently enjoy a lot, but Barker is one of them. I just picked up the Thief of Always.

Weaveworld sticks out in my mind as one of his best, along with Imajica.

Only read Weaveworld once and that copy was falling apart. I've had a hard time finding another. If you can find it get the original version of Imajica, it was massive - not broken into two volumes like the re-print was. My girl is making fun of me because I picked up his new one Abarata a few months ago and the lady at checkout gave me punch card fro children's books. Don't really care though since his kids stuff is as good as most adult reading.

Amazing thing about Barker is he can write meep like The Damnation Game or Nightbreed, and still turn out stuff like Imajica, Sacrament or kids stories.

I liked the movie Nightbreed. Never read the book, though.

I hate Sci-Fi/Fantasy with a passion, but I did read the Elric sagas(and Dune). And, oddly enough, Louis Lamour, his books are pure hack, just change the names, the stories are the same: Cowboy rides into town, battles villians, wins girl, rides off into sunset, love 'em though. Ayn Rand is good for that icky inside feeling(don't know why). On the poetry side of things, Nikki Giovanni and Richard Brautigan rule. Anthony Burgess is supreme, all his books are as good as A Clockwork Orange.

From what I remember, Name of the Rose was all about interpretation and meaning, the title being (I suppose) a play on 'A rose by any other name'. Cardinals and Monks arguing about the meaning of the bible; the hero-monk-bloke and his deductions; the abbot trying to suppress a book that shows Aristotle's philosophy in a different light; etc. Thought provoking stuff.

I can't really recall much more about it (other than the basic story), though. Sometimes, my brain seems like a flat pan - I pour books into it, but most of the subject matter just runs right off, leaving a vague residue. I recommend books to a friend of mine: But often when he talks about something in them, I just listen in embarassment, 'cos I can't remember the bit he's on about.

Anyway, Eco's good - I read 'Travels in Hyper-Reality' once, but that was years ago and I can't remember any of that.

Clive Barker's Cabal was OK. I prefer James Herbert (especially Magic Cottage/Moon) for my horror trip, though. You're always guaranteed a graphic meep-scene with Herbert. It's especially good in Lair, where you get graphic meep immediately followed by the shaggers being eaten by mutant rats. What would Eco make of the meaning in that?

yeah dude, Monks were 'dying' to read comedy, and there were arguments against laughter, as Jesus never laughed in the bible, so it was a sin. Good stuff.

I read a bit, and it's hard to recommend authors cause I like so many books for various reasons. But here goes. "Out of the ruins of worldwide nuclear devastation emerged Deathlands, a world that conspired against survival. Ryan Cawdor and his roving band of post-holocaust survivors begin their quest for survival in a world gone mad." I love Deathlands series, cause it's cheesy fun, chock full 'o' meep and violence, and neverfukingending (like 100 books and counting).

Pulp Sci-fi at it's best, monsters, rockets, blasters and all.

For anyone familiar with the golden age of the pulps, the magazine thrillers with prose matching the lurid covers, there's a certain response to the name of L. Ron Hubbard before he got deeply into cultic meepery, he was - simply - one of the best in the science-fiction field. And this is probably my favorite Sci-fi story EVAR! ALERT Don't judge this book by the meepmovie that bears the same moniker.

Lost Regiment series: 1. Rally Cry (1992) 2. The Union Forever (1991) 3. Terrible Swift Sword (1992) 4. Fateful Lightning (1993) 5. Battle Hymn (1997) 6. Never Sound Retreat (1998) 7. A Band of Brothers (1999) 8. Men of War (1999) 9. Down to the Sea: A Novel of Lost Regiment (2000)

This series is along the lines of de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall" and Stirling's "Nantucket" trilogy. In 1865, a regiment of Civil War soldiers is accidentally teleported to a far-off planet, where low-tech, Mongol-like aliens lord it over medieval human peasants. The newcomers, unwilling to take any bullmeep from the meep man-eating ETs, set out to modernize the world by introducing industry, gunpowder, and the American way (woohoo!). It is filled with cannonbally violence (could almost be steampunk), but it does nothing to detract from the great story.

Early Dan Brown stuff prior to DaVinci Code is also pretty decent, along with all of Thomas Harris' works ( he takes forever to polish/release a novel, but it's worth it).

Also read Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and Neverwhere (to you barbarians out there, he created the Sandman comic series) excellent fiction.

Oh meep, almost forgot!
Beg, borow, steal anything from David Gemmell, in my opinion he's the greatest fantasy writer out there.

Don't judge Barker on just his horror stuff, he does variety. Forgot about Harris, Hannibal is one of the few books that actually left me unable to sleep because of it.

Who is this Brautigan? King uses that name for a character in at least two of his books. Maybe it's another psuedonym of his like Bachman was?

Barker's OK with me - I've only read Cabal, though. I did like the Hellraiser films, and that Undying game meep me right up.

I thought Harris went for broke in Hannibal - Lecter was almost supernatural in that one. Wish they'd finished the film the same way. Red Dragon and Silence O' Teh Lambs also good.

Legend - somewhere in my list of favourite fantasy books, definitely. Lion of Macedon also very good.

Lion of Macedon also very good.

Reading it now, very good.

i used to read a lot. now i read sporadically (and much more rarely than i'd like). maybe it's magazines that end up taking my quality book time away...

anyway, here's what i read in the past while:

a fire upon the deep - vernor vinge

fairly awesome space opera. very interesting ideas. just about finished with it.

ender's game, speaker for the dead, xenocide - orson scott card

again with the space opera/saga. i'll probably stop reading the series with these three. i wasn't nearly as impressed with the third as i was with the first two.

hyperion, the fall of hyperion - dan simmons

sci-fi in a sort of canterbury tales wrapper. kinda.

neuromancer - william gibson vurt - jeff vurt

despite the distinct feeling that these would've been perfect to read in junior high, i enjoyed them nonetheless. cyberpunk whut. i've also had a copy of snow crash by neil stephenson for a while now but have never gotten around to reading it...

brave new world - aldous huxley

werd.

lord of the flies - william golding

double-werd.

siddhartha - hermann hesse

triple-werd-score.

re-read the man in the high castle and the penultimate truth - philip k meep

PKD LIKE WHUT, meepES.

i guess i also re-read foundation by asimov in the past few months, too.

false starts include beyond good and evil by nietzsche and steppenwolf by herman hesse. i couldn't really spend the time they warranted so i switched to other books.

AGREE+++

PKD is good, though perhaps a little repetitive around the edges.

Hyperion ruled.

I had Vurt recommended to me, and it was fun, but, yeah, kinda more like a smart children's book with meep and drugs added in.

My copy of Beyond Good and Evil has a collection of aphorisms that are about the only Nietzsche I can take for very long. (I'm not sure if you have the same thing. My copy is one of those shiity-paper bookclub deals where they jam multiple books by one author into one binding and then get creative with what they call it.)

I'm reading RuneLords by David Farland. Good stuff. Unusual fantasy -- the author is all about moral choices, so even the bad guys aren't necessarily bad guys, just different guys. It's a neat switch from the usual white/black mentality of fantasy/scifi.

Some more to consider.

Orson Scott Card: The Seventh Son series ( Tales of Alvin Maker) is an alternate American Frontier history.

Phillipe Jose Farmer : The Riverworld series.

David Eddings:Belgariad and Mallorean are good for pure medieval fantasy.

There are just too many to list in a place like this but I have picked up a few names to try as well.

[Edited on 7/12/2004 by dragonstaff]

Yes, i have read Clive books. Very kick-meep.

I read Odd Thomas, The Face (which I HATED) and False Memory recently. Odd Thomas I read in literally one day, it was that good. False Memory took me a week or two, because it took so meep long to get interesting. The Face blatently sucked.

One Canadian Author I respect very much is Charles de Lint (mythic fiction).

Most of de Lint's novels are contemporary fantasies. They often feature hidden magic, and a Celtic inspired otherworld. Some are set in Ottawa and other places in Ontario, Canada. Many others take place in the imaginary city of Newford, which resembles Ottawa.

De Lint wrote a book set in my home town of Perth Ontario (population 6,000), I was about 11 when I read it and it was really cool to see the local landmarks woven into a really cool fantasy story, it almost made me part of the story.

Grafisk, did you read Fear Nothing and Seize the Night by Koontz? ^KILLAR!

Twilight Eyes<--Also KILLAR!

[Edited on 7/12/2004 by LORDKAHUNA]

I'm reading RuneLords by David Farland. Good stuff. Unusual fantasy -- the author is all about moral choices, so even the bad guys aren't necessarily bad guys, just different guys. It's a neat switch from the usual white/black mentality of fantasy/scifi.

From all the rave I have heard, and the kick-meep website, this will probably be my next purchase. Of course I'm not a huge fan of Sci-Fi, maybe because i am so stuck on true-crime and thriller.

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/[/url]

I avoid the bestseller list it's always the same garbage, May Higgins Clark, Patterson and of course The Da Vinci Code, which I could care less about. So, thanks for the ideas...

Grafisk, did you read Fear Nothing and Seize the Night by Koontz? ^KILLAR!

I went to Barnes and Knobles last night aand walked around for at least a solid hour, contemplating which books to buy. After my kids annoyed the meep out of me, I grabbed both "Christopher Snow's" and started reading Intenity last night (after I beat Ghost Recon 2). So, I will read Seize the Night and Fear Nothing soon, since it's sitting on my nightstand.

My vice is inhaling vacuous page-turners that I promptly forget after a few months. Stressful job and an insane family make for a demanding day. I medicate with horror(ish) paperbacks. And the occasional rock of crack.

Once a year, I'll read something that I'm not ashamed to tell the world. Otherwise, it's gory suspense books.

Want to start a book club? I'm now dying for a copy of this Name of the Rose story you are all raving about.

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker is one of my all time favorite books.

Currently I'm slightly addicted to the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Waiting for my copy of the first one to be returned so I can start the whole series from beginning to end, should keep me happy for a few months.

Anna Karenina pissed me the meep off.

Just finished Odd Thomas and started Digital Fortress by Dan Brown last night. Fun so far.

I went to Barnes and Knobles last night aand walked around for at least a solid hour, contemplating which books to buy.

I get the same way in the music store.

Why I love amazon used books. My last purchase was for $3.75, including shipping and I got 4 books: Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, The Chaplain of Bourbon Street by Bob Harrington, Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz and The True Story of Andersonville Prison by James Madison.

[Edited on 7/12/2004 by Heather]

Hmm, had a chance to review my bookshelves. I'd add:

Any of Philip K meep's short stories if you want to see where a lot of Hollywood's sci-fi output has come from since Bladerunner. According to an essay I read about him, most of his novels were produced under pressure to make money, which is offered as an explanation for the lack of quality.

Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series is twisted and dense, but creative.

But most of all: Iain M Banks' space opera stuff, or just plain Iain Banks' contemporary novels. My favourite author.

And the Shrike rules...

I like The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams.

I just finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It's worth a read.

burn the books. Instead just sit in a dark room chain smoking and thinking about all that is meepty about your miserable life.

Dumbskull: burn the books. Instead just sit in a dark room chain smoking and thinking about all that is meepty about your miserable life.

OMFG, THERE R SOLDIERS IN SOME FOREIGN COUNTRY SOMEWHERE THAT ARE DOWN TO THEIR LAST CIGAR3TT3!!1 ND U R GOIN 2 CHAINSMOKE AND THINK ABOUT ALL DAT IS MISERABLE? OMFG. O.M.F.G.

government_death_robot: I like The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams. I just finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It's worth a read.

I agree.

Nancy Drew and the lilac mystery is highly recommended, too.

This thread Rox:

Anyone read the Fletch series of books, hilarity.

Also Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield, story of the Spartan 300 vs the Persian army.