Book: What Book Are You Reading?

[InnerSakuraChan]

Horray! a thread about books!!!

anyway, some of my favorites:

the Tales of the Otori series -Lian Hearn
an excellent fantasy/samurai trilogy, that takes place in feudal japan.

Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
or anything by Tom Robbins, really. I love reading his books - the plots are always outlandish, and hilarious, and his language is incredibly descriptive. One particular metaphor sticks out in my mind: "her panties were so wet, children could of sailed boats in them". but don't get the wrong idea - sex is only a small part of his books.

The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russel
scifi book abut a Jesuit mission to the alien planet rakhat. the scifi aspect of the novel itself is not all that impressive -The story, though is pretty enthralling. it reminded me a lot of the later books of the Ender's Game series - i.e. Speaker for the Dead.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
I can't believe no one has mentioned this one yet! I read first when I was 11 - and iIstill love it. a scifi novel about ender, a boy sent to a children's military school for geniuses.

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
as mentioned by mae in some other thread -
About data encryption, spanning from WWII to the present. funny too. one of my favorite scenes is of a uber-geeky family trying to distribute their dead grandmothers things equally - and set up a giant cartesian plane in a parking lot, x being monetary value of an item, y being the sentimental value.

and of course, LOTR and Hitchikers's guide to the galaxy.

has anyone read the Silmarillion? i couldn't get into it.

[Danad_corps]

Horray! a thread about books!!!

has anyone read the Silmarillion? i couldn't get into it.

I read it Since it was never completed, its quite different in its presentation from the Lord of the Rings (The Hobbit is part of the Lord of the Rings). The Silmarillion is quite amazing if you like reading about different types of mythos. This is Tolkien's version of the creation of his world. There is a lot of name-dropping and if you read it, you get to know some of the characters from The Lord of the Rings and how they have interacted with the world. If you have prior knowledge of other creation stories (The ancient Greek's and the Enuma Elish just to name a few) its great to compare and contrast. Its cool seeing how creative genius' of an age relate to that of another.
By the way, if you are to read this book, then you might as well read the rest of the Series made by Tolkien. History of Middle-Earth. The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion is included in this series.

As for the Ender Series: it was one of my favourites growing up (in fact its one of the books that made me into the avid reader that I am). I don't remember much from them though (it has been quite a while) so i'll probably end up re-reading them.

If you read 1984, you have to read Brave New World. Those two books almost always go hand in hand in a conversation. (DO NOT SEE THE MOVIES)

@ samsonlonghair Fahrenheit-451 was awesome My best Lit professor had us read that along with a whole slew of other amazingly good books (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the best out of those)

@ masamuneehs Catch-22 is a hit or miss book. I know quite a few people who've read that book and they've either hated it or found it to be one of their favs (its def. one of my favs). The book is definitely funny as hell IMO (i love hupples cat). If you've ever seen Meerkat Manor, they name one of the Meerkats Yosarian after the main character in this book

Pride and Prejudice was a good Classic book.

the Satanic Verses : Only read this is you are willing to dissect the hell out of the book. It is interpreted by A LOT of people and is known primarily for that.

Life According to Garp One of my favourite books of all time. It was hilarious

Breakfast for Champions A really funny book. Written by the same guy who wrote Slaughterhouse-Five which was also very funny

Song of Solomon had a really funny quote in it "smells like the ocean, tastes like the sea" (it should be obvious what its about). Other than that, it wasn't very humorous. It was a required read and it was...well something for me to read at the time.

The Wheel of Time Series is what i'm currently into. I hate ending books, so i get myself into series so that i wont have to end anytime soon. Each book is around 1000 pages (paperback) (there are 11 books in circulation. The author is terminally ill but will release the last one (if he doesn't die) by 2010 i think) and its great for entertainment. Its universe sort of parallels Tolkiens (very loosely). If you like fantasy, check it out.

umm... all the other books that come to mind are from my classes last year(Greek and Romany Mythology and 2 lit classes) so if you really want to know some of the authors i can tell you but from what i see, this doesn't seem to interest you. If i am mistaken just pm me and i'll be more than happy to give you some names I didn't like some of the books from one of my Lit class because the prof. only had us reading depressing books about African women's struggles. She was, by far, the ugliest looking person i've ever seen...<shudders> just thinking about the class makes me queasy.

btw people, please bold-face your titles. It makes looking for a book THAT much easier and its grammatically correct.

[KitKat]

Since we were talking about this thread in the introductions section, I thought I'd bring it back.

I'm currently reading Harrowing the Dragon, a collection of short stories by Patricia McKillip. She's one of my favourite authors, and this book doesn't disappoint. As much as I love long epic sagas, I'm a compulsive reader, and tend to read for hours (I will read through a book in a day or too, so I'm careful about when I start books), so short stories are nice mid-week reading for me. I can read one or two without missing a night of sleep. Short stories are also more difficult to write I think, because everything that the author wants to convey must be fit within a limited number of pages, and they must also use these meager pages to create an absorbing and detailed world that will draw the reader in. When a short story is done right though, it's so worthwhile.

[saman]

i read a couple of her novels some years ago. she's a pretty good writer, but i found that the endings of some of her stories got really...odd sometimes. maybe not so much in her short stories, though.

currently, i'm reading harry potter and the order of the phoenix. for the gajillion-and-one'th time. anyone want to suggest something new to a sci-fi and fantasy reader?

[KitKat]

i read a couple of her novels some years ago. she's a pretty good writer, but i found that the endings of some of her stories got really...odd sometimes. maybe not so much in her short stories, though.

currently, i'm reading harry potter and the order of the phoenix. for the gajillion-and-one'th time. anyone want to suggest something new to a sci-fi and fantasy reader?

Yeah, some of her novels are a bit strange, but the short stories are wonderful.

In terms of fantasy and sci fi, have you ever read anything by Robin McKinley? Her two books The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword are probably the only two books that I read again and again and again. I even have two copies of both in case I ever want to lend out a copy to someone and still have a copy for myself to read

She also has a really sweet new book called Sunshine that's a psuedo-modern vampire story. Edgier than the other two books, with more attitude, but totally awesome.

[Winged Dancer]

I'm at the middle of the semester, so you can guess that most of my stuff is school sent...

But anyway!

Erec and Enid - I'm a big, BIG fan of King Arthur and his knights (Sir Gawain FTW!), and of the many writers that have touched the topic Chretien de Troyes is among the best.
Erec and Enid was written around the 12th Century, so the prose isn't exactly fluid and easy, but it's beautiful and full of detail. It tells the story of a knight (Erec) and his lady (Enid) and basically makes clear that a man must not be loved just because - he must be loved because he is worthy of being loved.

'Till We Have Faces - This one I'm reading on my own, and kinda dissapointed. It was written by C.S. Lewis, of Narnia fame, but this one is for adults - no talking animals here. The narrator/main character, however, is boring and completely emo... always talking about how everybody left her behind and how much everyone hates her, blah blah blah. Wouldn't reccommend it unless you can stand that kind of thing.

Great Expectations - Well, I have yet to start it but probably should, since I have a class on it coming soon. What can I say? You probably know it or have read it. The story of an orphan and how much orphans suffer... as if Dickens wrote anything different!

Galahad: Enough of His Life to Explain His Reputation - I bought this hardback beauty for 4 dollars, which is close to nothing here in my country. By John Erskine, wonderful American essay writer, so I'm expecting good stuff here... besides, it's Britannic Matter. King Arthur. Knights. What more can you ask for?

Finally, assorted poems - anyone heard of The Lady of Shalott, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson? Beautiful poem, and (guess what!) it deals with Arthurian literature!
Also, everything by Browning is great, particularly The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, which had me actually LOLing - a feat no poem since Don Juan had achieved...

Have I ever mentioned how much I love studying English Literature? I guess my lists do look more academic, but God, books are nice.

[SK]

I'm currently reading Candide by Voltaire and also the ongoing study of The Republic by Plato (Bloom translation).

[saman]

Yeah, some of her novels are a bit strange, but the short stories are wonderful.

In terms of fantasy and sci fi, have you ever read anything by Robin McKinley? Her two books The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword are probably the only two books that I read again and again and again. I even have two copies of both in case I ever want to lend out a copy to someone and still have a copy for myself to read

She also has a really sweet new book called Sunshine that's a psuedo-modern vampire story. Edgier than the other two books, with more attitude, but totally awesome.

i have, in fact, not. i've taken tomorrow off for house cleaning, actually, so if i get a break from that, i think i'm going to head down to the library and see if they have the titles you mentioned. thanks!

[gr3atfull]

WD, did you ever read The Mist of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley ? It's really good book. In fact, its the only Arthurian literature that I enjoyed.

For my english class called Genocide in Short Fiction and Film, I read :
1- Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian.
It is based on the Armenian genocide during WW1. Good book.

and

2- Night by Elie Wiesel
It's based on the Jewish Genocide. Excellent book except that I found its a bit too short and time passes really fast.

Finally, I am currently reading A Sunday At The Pool In Kigali by Gil Courtemanche. Its about the Genocide in Rwanda. Until now, its pretty good.

[saman]

Yeah, some of her novels are a bit strange, but the short stories are wonderful.

In terms of fantasy and sci fi, have you ever read anything by Robin McKinley? Her two books The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword are probably the only two books that I read again and again and again. I even have two copies of both in case I ever want to lend out a copy to someone and still have a copy for myself to read

She also has a really sweet new book called Sunshine that's a psuedo-modern vampire story. Edgier than the other two books, with more attitude, but totally awesome.

i just thought you might like to know, kitkat, that i finished reading the blue sword day before yesterday, and i really liked it; i'm a sucker for romantic happy endings i'll check out the hero and the crown next. thanks again for your suggestions!

in a similar vein, has anyone ever read anything by guy gavriel kay? i've read tigana, and i liked it enough to want to check out some of his other stuff, but i don't really know which other books of his to read.

[gr3atfull]

in a similar vein, has anyone ever read anything by guy gavriel kay? i've read tigana, and i liked it enough to want to check out some of his other stuff, but i don't really know which other books of his to read.

The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. One of the best trilogy I ever read!!!! A must read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!