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General forums => Media and Technology => Media => Topic started by: deadman1 on October 08, 2009, 12:26:22 PM

Title: Books discussion
Post by: deadman1 on October 08, 2009, 12:26:22 PM
Fiach had a good idea about a book discussion in the TV showthread so here it is  ;D

I am an avid bookreader and have benn ever since I learned to read, these days my favorites are sci-fi and fantasy but I also enjoy a good thriller story. Here´s a few recommendations:

Arthur C Clarke:
Rendevouz with RAMA
The hammer of god
2001
2010
2061
3001

Iain M Banks:
Feersum Endjinn (yes that´s how it´s spelled)
Excession
Consider Phlebas
Look to windward

David Eddings:
The Elenium (trilogy)
The Tamuli (trilogy)
The Belgariad (five books)
The Malloreon (five books)
The redemption of Althalus
The dreamers (four books)

Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on October 08, 2009, 01:48:17 PM
great :) I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

here's some of my recently read authors:

Orson Scott Card
-Ender's Game
-(and all and every sequel around that)

Brandon Sanderson
-Elantris
-Mistborn
-Well of Ascension

Joe Abercrombie
-The trilogy of the Blade
-Best Served Cold (kind of a sequel)

Arthur C. Clarke (hehe)
-Firstborn

Charles Stross
-Halting State

Jim Butcher
-all 13 (I believe) sequels of the "Dresden Files"

Poul Anderson
-The broken Sword

Hugh Laurie
-The Gun Seller (not Sci-Fi or Fantasy, a funny thriller)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: RedRaven on October 08, 2009, 02:06:56 PM
 Had a year away from Books (since my mid-teens would read about an hour before sleep almost every night) Ranging from Dr Zuess to Shakespear, Nietzsche to X-men. Never read any of David Eddings w@&k but a friend was a big fan, just found out that he died in June this year too...
The fantasy books that i found compulsive reading was "The Riftwar Saga" and the the books that followed. Raymond E Feist has written 25 books so far with another 4 on the way (check Wikipedia for listing). And its not just the same few stories re-hashed and re-packedged, it kept a good pace and was almost Science Fiction in some of the ideas, worth reading if Fantasy is your escape. All that aside really at the end of the day near enough every bit of Fantasy Fiction draws on Tolkiens Middle Earth works, he having used various folk-lore & fairy-tales from Northern European cultures.

The one thing i "imposed" on my son from a very early age is to read and get a decent comprehension of the English language, and it worked, he is a keen reader. My reasons are that your can begin to learn almost anything & everything from books. Its good that even though more and more households and families have PC's the Public Libraries here are still open.

Think thats all.....

(want to go buy new books now   :-X )
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on October 09, 2009, 06:19:50 AM
Text junkies of the world unite! ;D

I highly recommend a 4-part saga by Julian May, respectively titled "The Many-Coloured Land", "The Golden Torc", "The Non-Born King" and "The Adversary". Time-travelling misfits from the 22nd century find themselves in Earth's Pliocene Epoch 6 million years in the past, caught up in an age-old war between two alien humanoid races from a distant galaxy. Sounds "out there", but it's similar to Tolkein's w@&k, in that it's based on European mythology, but with a hard scientific bent. Mind-expanding story!

Also love (sci-fi):
Dune (only the original novel, the sequels are lame)
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Purnell (best alien race ever conceived - planet, society, the works. Persevere through the first few chapters, then it becomes a page-turner)
The Lost Regiment series by William Forstchen (9 books in the series - an American Civil War regiment finds itself transplanted to a distant, war-torn alien world, brilliant story for both sci-fi and military buffs. This guy knows his Civil War history and his astronomy)
The "Riverworld" series by Phillip Jose Farmer, most audacious story I've ever read.

I enjoy a wide range of literature, also love classic novels by John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath, most moving story ever), James A. Michener (recommend "Centennial" - the American West as it really was, and "Space" - great account of the development of the US space program). Michener specializes in combining ficticious characters and places with real historical ones, does it brilliantly.

Too many to go into in one hit. I guess I'll read anything if it's well-written and engrossing.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: JRD on October 09, 2009, 08:08:12 AM
Wow... books...
They are a true passion... spend good ammount of time with my face buried on those and am always with a title with me.
Last one was an adventure book named "A voyage for madmen" by Peter Nichols. A true story about 9 men who set out at sea for the first single-handed, non-stop sail around the world in the late 60's... long story short is: only one made it back... outstanding book
I love books about the sea... Anyone about the adventures of Ernest Shackleton in Antarctica... amazing tale that could be a great movie.
- 20.000 leagues under the sea
- Moby Dick
- The perfect storm
- 1421

But also heavy core books like "The Stranger" by Camus, 1984 by George Orwell (and Animal Farm too)...
A great sci-fi I read was Aldous Huxley's  Admirable New World... excellent read... The Island sucks, very predictible.
A few Isaac Asimov's... can't remember which...

- Alice in Wonderland and Through the Mirror

- Read all Harry Potter books... yes, I admit it... I did it  ;D ;D

All I can think of for now... more to come
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on October 09, 2009, 08:44:56 AM
I was reading about Shackleton's voyage in a National Geographic a while back. You're right, JRD, it's an incredible story, I'm surprised nobody's made a film of it. Would make riveting viewing, and would need no embellishment to make it so.
"Admirable New World". Is that the same story as "Brave New World" (difference in translation?) That is a tremendous tale, and no less valid today as it was when it was written.
Speaking of older stories and films, "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells has been filmed twice now, to my knowledge, once in the 50's, and more recently with Tom Cruise (gag). Neither film is anything like the original novel, although the later one is closer. It's one of the best treatises on cultural shock and panic ever penned. Stunning, chilling book, far and away his best. If it was filmed verbatim from the novel, and handled properly, it would scare people silly. Hey, look what happened when they broadcast it on American radio in 1938!
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: PZ on October 09, 2009, 09:10:24 AM
I'm kind of a boring guy - I read history mostly.  A favorite topic when I was younger was the American Civil War - specifically a trilogy of titles by Bruce Catton - I avidly read these several times each and then branched out into titles by other authors.  It's funny how I became interested - was a junior in high school in a forced study period.  Because I typically completed my w@&k before coming into study hall as it was called, I was bored and looked around the room (it was either that or sleep, and I'd be in trouble for the latter).  The only things available were literature textbooks and a lone title that caught my eye: "A Stillness at Appomattox" by Bruce Catton.  Well, first I read a short story in the literature book called "The Grains of Paradise" (still my favorite short story) and then started on the Civil War book, became interested, and the rest is history as they say.

WWI and WWII are other military history time periods I enjoy reading about.  I also subscribe to Archaeology, which contains fascinating stories of the latest discoveries in the field.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: DKM2 on October 09, 2009, 10:23:49 AM
I'm reading my way through the "People" books,
People of the Wolf, etc, by Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
There are current 16 of them, I'm working on #11, People of the Owl.

Basically historical fiction of pre-historic North America.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on October 09, 2009, 10:41:56 AM
There is a movie about Shackleton starring Kenneth Branagh.

I would be quite an avid reader, I think I got it from my dad, who was also an avid reader, He loved cowboy books, written by guys like Louis L'Amour and JT Edson, so I started off reading those at a pretty early age.

As I progressed, I came across the likes of The Lord of the Rings (or in FPS parlance Teh 1337 of TEH RINGZORZ :)) and The Gormenghast Trilogy. Mervyn Peake was the author.

I have also read the Julian May books, the saga continues after the ones mentioned, in Diamond Mask and some others, they were an awesome read for me, because alot of the characters were based on irish mythology.

Another favourite author would be Stephen Donaldson. Most famous I guess for his two trilogies, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (a third trilogy in this series is nearing fruition, with two of the three published so far and the third is imminent). He also wrote a series of 6 (I think) books that are called The Gap series, which is a space opera and is a very good read, with great characters, he has also written some shorter series and some short stories, all of which are excellent.

RA Salvatore has written some really cool fantasy novels based on the adventures of an elf called Drizzt Do'urdan, there maybe about 4/5 trilogies, which are all very good, with some great and memorable characters.

I have read and enjoyed almost all of Stephen Kings books. I have read and enjoyed the first three books of the Dune series.

Outside of the horror/sci-fi genres, I like Wilbur Smith (some stunning books about Africa) and Robert Ludlum to name a couple. There are a fine set of books by James Clavell, Shogun would be the most famous, but the saga continues with the decendants of Shogun, in Tai-Pan, King Rat (prisoner of war book) and Noble House (a more direct sequel of Tai-Pan).
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Dweller_Benthos on October 09, 2009, 10:42:56 AM
Used to read a lot, before computers :-) took all my time away, lol. Mostly now I read magazines, photo, technical, things like that. Back in the day I read all the scifi classics, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, even good ol' L. Ron Hubbard. Let's see, Larry Niven, David Gerrold, Roger Zelazny, Piers Anthony, bunch of others.

Right now, I'm getting back into reading books again, finished "The Man Who Never Was" the historical account of Operation Mincemeat during WWII, and right now I'm in the middle (well, just about ready to start the second book) of the Thunder & Lightning trilogy by John Varley, about the first trip to Mars and it's eventual colonization.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: JRD on October 09, 2009, 01:18:23 PM
@Fiach... thanks for the tip about the movie with Kenneth Branagh, I'll try to findo the name of it.
The story is so amazing that I really want to check a movie about it.
@fragger... yes, Brave New World instead of Admirable New World. I was thinking about the title in portuguese and translating into english instead of thinking in english  :-[

Great tips about books here in this post.  :-X
As usual, will make sure I come back here and check some suggestions of our members... great bunch of guys  8)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on October 09, 2009, 01:26:33 PM
Indeed great bunch of guys :)  :-X

The books I mentioned above were also educational for me since I read all of them in English. Thanks guys, for the great amount of authors and titles. Now I know where to look, and I'll definitely try some of your recommendations :)

Some of you mentioned non-fictional literature. Reminded me. I read quite a number of (translated) books regarding Japanese and Chinese ancient culture, especially regarding martial arts and warfare but also a few about their many religions. One of those titles you may have heard of: "Sūn Zǐ Bīng Fǎ" (Sun Tzu's The Art of War, composed during the 6th century BC) :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: mandru on November 19, 2009, 06:23:39 AM
Just thought I'd toss this personal favorite out in the mix.

Silverlock by John Myers Myers was a book that for me that was about 3000 pages too short.

Except for possibly the main character whom we identify with as he journeys through the hidden realm of the Commonwealth and live the story vicariously through him while reading, I suspect everyone in the book is a literary reference to a character borrowed from elsewhere in a wide sampling of literature and mythology.

Just in case someone decides to read this book I'm not going to steal even single flash of delight that will come from recognizing Who someone you've met in the book is and Where they've been borrowed from. I'm not going to spoil that with a list of characters.  ;)

I've only been able to identify about half of them with a fair level of confidence but every time I go through I get a little better handle on some of the missing puzzle pieces. Great fun.

Do a search quick search for it in Wikipedia, see if there's a hook there, something that sparks an interest that can only be quenched by a pilgrimage for three draughts from Hippocrene and your passport to the Commonwealth.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on November 19, 2009, 07:48:34 AM
Hi Mandru, are they fantasy novels or just ordinary novels?
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: mandru on November 19, 2009, 05:11:39 PM
If you consider Treasure Island, The Hunchback of Notre Dame or the Count of Monte Cristo as ordinary novels (while I'm not saying any of those were borrowed from) then OK ordinary novels but the characters are largely well known within the context of book they were borrowed from. 

The main character's rescuer, friend and guide to the Commonwealth, Golias, is a bard and adventurer who answers to many names.

I think it would be best to describe the characters in Silverlock as being borrowed from Classical Literature such as Shakespearean characters or fictional novels but some are drawn from folk lore and mythology.

I promise it's a lively mix.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on November 20, 2009, 12:53:33 AM
So more historical than fantastical then?
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: mandru on November 20, 2009, 06:48:37 AM
If you consider the characters involved as being from several cultures and civilizations dating back into early antiquity then yes, you could say that they are drawn from historical period pieces but the island of the Commonwealth is a large place and continuing to grow and there is plenty of room for the fantastical as well.

You gotta remember that somewhere around 300 A.D. Saint George was charging around England Killing Dragons and 400 A.D. Saint Patrick cleared all the snakes out of Ireland.

So who's to say just where the line between historical and fantastical should be scratched in the sands of time?

Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on November 20, 2009, 09:32:04 AM
Well, I guess I meant earth based as opposed to say middle earth :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: JRD on November 20, 2009, 09:45:36 AM
Quote from: mandru on November 20, 2009, 06:48:37 AM

So who's to say just where the line between historical and fantastical should be scratched in the sands of time?

I have to applaud that one....  :-X
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: mandru on November 20, 2009, 12:27:39 PM
OK Fiach, you got me with that one.  ::)

You went a different direction than I was expecting. Middle earth is largely based in Tolkien's learned understanding of folk lore and mythology. He (Tolkien) structured a story line around an archetypical hero and supporting cast undergoing trials and suffering through test and quest. In literature that's a common theme, I'm having trouble thinking of a storyline from that type of book that doesn't fall into that mold because I really haven't spent much effort reading novels of that sort (translate to: sci-fi nerd  ;D).

Think Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus returning home from 10 years fighting the Trojan Wars spends another ten years due to mishaps and hardships trying to get there. Once he's arrived there were still a couple tests he had to over come to regain his throne and wife.

The main character of Silverlock also follows the path of the archetypical hero, though he doesn't start out being much of a  hero, his path keeps placing him in with true heroes and I guess you could say it kind of rubs off on him.

None of Tolkien's characters appear in Silverlock but the folk lore and mythology Tolkien borrowed from is fair game.

For accuracy sake, Silverlock was published in 1949 while Tolkien was still involved in writing The Lord of the Rings from 1937 into 1949 and after that it wasn't published until 1954-55 in three volumes. Middle earth just wasn't around yet and if it had been it may not have been considered Classical enough to be considered by John Myers Myers for inclusion in Silverlock.

I hope that sorts it out for you Fiach, I love questions and inventing answers too.  :P
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on November 20, 2009, 01:49:31 PM
was interesting for me to read your posts, mandru :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on November 20, 2009, 02:52:11 PM
Thanks for the clarification mate :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on November 20, 2009, 04:26:55 PM
Quote from: mandru on November 20, 2009, 06:48:37 AM
Saint Patrick cleared all the snakes out of Ireland.

I once read an interesting take on that. It goes: St. Patrick was the bringer of Christianity to the British Isles, and was obsessed with stamping out pagan religions. In Ireland, it was the custom of high priests of some pagan religions, particularly Druidism, to have snakes tattoed on their arms, so when history or myth claims that St. Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland, it meant that he crushed paganism there.

Makes more sense than having him physically removing all snakes from the land.

As for St. George and the dragon, I don't know much about the story, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was something similar to the St. Patrick account, Christianity v Paganism.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on November 20, 2009, 04:33:33 PM
cool story  :-X :)
Title: BOOK : The Passage by Justin Cronin
Post by: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 02:42:56 AM
I'm not sure if there is a "books" section, but I just finished this book and its awesomeness compelled me to post about it.

I picked it up because it was so thick, I knew it would get me over the xmas and the blurb on the back looked like it would be an interesting "thriller", which it was for about a quarter of the way through, then the book started throwing curveballs .....

I have since found out that this book is to be made into a movie or a series of movies and the book itself is part of a trilogy, but the book is totally self-contained and the ending is perfect, so you dont need to worry about the author dying and the series being unfinished.

The game starts in the South American jungle, glimpses of which are shown between narrative and a succession of emails between two scientists, this section would be comparable to maybe the Predator movies, the first curveball then throws the book into thriller territory as the story continues and follows two FBI agents, securing the release of death row inmates from various prisons.

The next curveball gets the FBI agents involved in a weird prolonged chase across a number of state lines, with the abduction of a young girl, this achieves a kind of resolution with the advent of the next and rather huge curveball the book throws at you, on which the rest of the narrative is based.

I am of necessity leaving out alot of the story, because the twists are many and will be enjoyed alot more if they are total surprises. If you look up any reviews, they are quite spoilerific.


Suffice to say, the world faces a doomsday scenario spanning several generations, before there is any resolution to the problem

This is a very well written book, its about 1000 pages long, depending of course on the format, but there is not one page of useless filler, the characters are well crafted, their stories are well told and the many harrowing subjects are dealt with in a compelling way, with a great sensitivity to the characters and the narrative.

Warfare, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Wasteland, all these subjects raise their heads in what could be a complete mess of ideas, but is honed into a rollicking good adventure yarn
Title: Re: BOOK : The Passage by Justin Cronin
Post by: fragger on December 30, 2010, 04:39:52 AM
Thanks muchly Fiach, sounds like a cool read :) :-X I love a twisting, turning book trip, especially when it's clad in a thick hefty tome that I can get my metaphorical teeth into. Would you classify the story as sci-fi, thriller, or something else altogether? Not that it matters much to me, I'll read anything if it's engrossing and original. Hell, I'll read all six sides of a cereal box if I'm in the mood for a read and nothing else presents itself.

And thanks for the warning about the killjoy reviews, I'll remember not to look :-()

Btw, there is a book thread, it's here (it hasn't been accessed for a while - too much gaming going on, apparently ;D):

http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1081.0 (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1081.0)

You'll be interested to note that this book thread was your idea originally ;)
Title: Re: BOOK : The Passage by Justin Cronin
Post by: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 10:12:58 AM
Personally I tend to favour the Kellogg's cereals circa 1972   >:D

Well, tbh mate it runs the gamut of many genres, lets put it like this, imagine a book written by Robert Ludlum, Stephen King and Michael Crichton, with Fallout 3 as a backdrop and you wouldnt go far wrong.

But yeah, stay away from the reviews, they are all very good, so you would only get an endorsement of what I have said, plus spoilers  :D

Title: Re: BOOK : The Passage by Justin Cronin
Post by: Art Blade on December 30, 2010, 10:40:25 AM
Quote from: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 02:42:56 AMthe ending is perfect, so you dont need to worry about the author dying and the series being unfinished.

Let's see if I picked that one up correctly by replying "well, there is still Brandon Sanderson who might finish it"  ;D
Title: Re: BOOK : The Passage by Justin Cronin
Post by: Art Blade on December 30, 2010, 10:46:20 AM
Quote from: fragger on December 30, 2010, 04:39:52 AMBtw, there is a book thread

merged  :) :-X
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 10:49:19 AM
LOL wondered why I couldn't post a reply there, so here it is :

Quote from: Art Blade on December 30, 2010, 10:40:25 AM
Quote from: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 02:42:56 AMthe ending is perfect, so you dont need to worry about the author dying and the series being unfinished.

Let's see if I picked that one up correctly by replying "well, there is still Brandon Sanderson who might finish it"  ;D

LOL :)

The biggest travesty so far is that a bunch of hacks are writing (the deceased) Robert Ludlum novels sequels, they are CRAP!!!!  :D

I used to read a series of books by a fantasy author called Stephen Donaldson (kind of lord of the rings books), I remember waiting years between the 5th and 6th books, it was excruciating!

He since wrote another trilogy, which turned into a quadrilogy at about 1 book per 2 years, so although I have the books all except the last one, I'm afraid to start reading them, in case the fecker pops his clogs and doesnt finish them  >:D
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on December 30, 2010, 10:57:45 AM
I thought you were referring to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time) :)

QuoteThe author died in 2007 while working on what was planned to be the final volume in the series, although he had prepared extensive notes so another author could complete the book according to his wishes. Fellow fantasy author and long-time Wheel of Time fan Brandon Sanderson was brought in to complete the final book, but during the writing process it was decided that book would be far too large to be published in one volume, and would instead be published as three volumes as large as, or larger than, any previous book in the series. The first volume was published in 2009 under the title The Gathering Storm.[2] The final two books are called Towers of Midnight (released November 2, 2010) and A Memory of Light (slated for a March 2012 release).
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 11:44:49 AM
Ah, the name threw me, I never heard of that guy, where I have heard of Robert Jordan, actually The Wheel of Time is also a PC game, its a FPS, but with spells, a very good game too, especially if you are a fan of his books :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on December 30, 2010, 01:19:37 PM
A trilogy of my favourite (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1081.msg15593#msg15593) fantasy books are by Brandon Sanderson. The books are connected but you don't have to read them in a row. However, if you think you'd like to read a really nice fantasy story, go from 1 to 3.

1) Elantris
2) Mistborn <-- I like this one best, most excellent. You don't need to read 1 or 3 for that.
3) Well of Ascension

If you're more into bloody medieval battle fantasy, read Joe Abercrombie or Poul Anderson. :)
If you're more into space sci-fi, read Orson Scott Card :)
If you're more into witchcraft + detective/thriller fantasy, read Jim Butcher :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: deadman1 on December 30, 2010, 01:33:59 PM
I just finished Isaac Azimov´s "Foundation" series, and I must say they were as good as I´ve heard. There´s five books in total and they can, and probably should, be read as as two part parts. The first three books would be part one, with four and five making up part two. The reason for this is that Azimov originally wrote books 1-3 as a trilogy and it was some years after the publication of them that he wrote books 4 and 5. Now I´m back reading one of my favorite books " The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, I was lucky enough to find it in english and not translated to swedish so now I can enjoy all of Adams absurdities as they were meant to enjoyed.  :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 01:44:49 PM
I havent heard of any of those Art, I'll keep an eye out for them, cheers :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: JRD on December 30, 2010, 02:51:04 PM
Quote from: deadman on December 30, 2010, 01:33:59 PM
Now I´m back reading one of my favorite books " The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

I love that book... have you read the other three adventures of the same chaps?
The restaurant at the end of the universe is the second book, Life, the universe and eveything else the third and So long and thanks for all the fish the fourth and last!

Books two and four are great, but not as great as the original, book three is crap, but still worth reading!

If Monty Python were to write a sci-fi book it would be much like those!  ;D

Right now I'm reading Umberto Eco's Baudolino that takes place in medieval times, around Constantinopla, the Byzantine Empire and all Italian city states from the XIII century.

Next in line is Alexandre Duma's The three mosqueteers!!!

I love reading the classics!  :-D
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 06:23:14 PM
So many people have recommended the HH Guide, but I have never read any of his books.

I just dont get alot of the british humour, especially the quirky stuff like Red Dwarf or The league of gentlemen (even though my dad was english), I find alot of it purile and quite frankly crap. I know its just personal taste and yes I do have quite a (ascerbic) sense of humour, but my dislike of some of the above named stuff has put me off trying the likes of Douglas Adams.

I loved Fawlty Towers and only some of Python stuff, I hated the films for example, but love the parott sketch and the cheese shop sketch.

I think I should bite the bullet and get some DA reading material lol :)

The only Eco book I have read is The Name of the Rose (kinda predictible really lol :)), but it was great even though it was translated (iirc) into english.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on December 31, 2010, 02:13:01 PM
Quote from: JRD on December 30, 2010, 02:51:04 PM
I love reading the classics!  :-D

Speaking of which, I recently read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. As expected, the departure between the original novel and the movies based on it was enormous. Far from being a shambling, bolt-necked hulk with a childlike awareness inside a flat head, the "monster" in the book is highly intelligent and possessed of superhuman physical ability, though still hideous to look at, as you would expect a walking conglomerate of dead peoples' body parts to be. Therein lies the irony - the creature is in effect a perfect being, internally at least, but his hideous physicality causes him to be an outcast. He's actually the most human character in the story, as opposed to his creator who is the real monster of the piece.

Many consider Frankenstein to be the first sci-fi novel (written in 1818) since the events in the story result from misuse of science. Shelly doesn't go into specifics about how Victor Frankenstein actually fashions his creation as the story is about the dangers of perverted science, not the science itself. But mostly the story is about how we define "humanity".

The most impressive thing of all is that Shelly was only eighteen when she wrote this - eighteen going on fifty, apparently.

There is one exception to what I said before about the movies. There's a made-for-television one called "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" with Robert De Niro as the creature and Kenneth Branagh as Frankenstein. This film is not half bad and is thus far the most faithful adaptation of the book.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: deadman1 on January 01, 2011, 01:26:59 AM
Quote from: JRD on December 30, 2010, 02:51:04 PM
Quote from: deadman on December 30, 2010, 01:33:59 PM
Now I´m back reading one of my favorite books " The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

I love that book... have you read the other three adventures of the same chaps?
The restaurant at the end of the universe is the second book, Life, the universe and eveything else the third and So long and thanks for all the fish the fourth and last!

Books two and four are great, but not as great as the original, book three is crap, but still worth reading!

Actually there´s five books in the series, the last one is called "Mostly harmless" and I have all of them in one volume for easy reading. If you like HH you might be interested in checking out the books about Dirk Gently also written by Douglas Adams. The have the same absurd style as HH and they are a good read if you like that sort of stuff.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on January 01, 2011, 03:11:13 AM
fragger, thanks for that post of yours regarding Frankenstein :) :-X

As to reading classics.. nah.. not any more. Did that when I was younger.. Now I like the idea of reading stuff that has been released recently and the authors being still alive and writing :) Actually, some of them publish parts on the net and respond to reactions from their readers, sometimes it makes them change parts if they receive useful suggestions.. interesting :)

Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on January 02, 2011, 04:53:35 PM
Back when the Firaxis game company was developing Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri a similar process took place. A professional writer was hired to concoct a background story for the game, which was posted chapter by chapter on the Firaxis website, and viewers were encouraged to give feedback and advice which would sometimes result in chapters being re-written or retroactive changes being made to the story or characters. This cooperative effort between writer and readers was an intriguing process and resulted in a surprisingly solid sci-fi story.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on January 02, 2011, 05:38:12 PM
indeed, that's exactly what those authors did :) It must have been cool back in the day to read great authors when they were still alive, now some of their works have become "classics" -- I like the idea that someone who wrote a book which I enjoyed is still active and publishing. Joe Abercrombie from the UK, Brandon Sanderson and Jim Butcher from the USA are still publishing, to name a few, and I had been waiting for some of their books to be released which happened in the meantime and I read those books when they were still warm  ;D
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on January 04, 2011, 12:10:31 PM
Quote from: Art Blade on January 02, 2011, 05:38:12 PM
...It must have been cool back in the day to read great authors when they were still alive, now some of their works have become "classics"

In a bookstore in 1869:

"What? You're still out of stock of War and Peace? Forget it - I'll get it via telegraph from Amazon!"
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on January 04, 2011, 04:22:34 PM
 :-D
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on April 23, 2011, 04:12:16 PM
Quote from: Art Blade on October 08, 2009, 01:48:17 PM
Joe Abercrombie
-The trilogy of the Blade
-Best Served Cold (kind of a sequel)

By the way, the Fantasy trilogy is comprised of
- The Blade itself
- Before They Are Hanged
- Last Argument Of Kings

and Best Served Cold is like a spin-off, characters and places already known make the story feel as if returning to a familiar time and place.

Now, finally, Joe Abercrombie has just released his new Fantasy book "The Heroes" in the UK and I have received my copy today (YAY!) -- already into it, 37 pages so far, and oh boy what a pleasure it is again. Although it is a stand-alone story, it does again make use of characters and mentions events known from those previous books, you feel immediately at home.. immersive :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on April 24, 2011, 05:21:02 AM
It's the Blade himself! :-D

Enjoy the new installment, Art. There's nothing like a good book that really hooks you in :-X
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on April 24, 2011, 05:53:59 AM
I had picked my name before I found out about his books :-D

And yes, it feels great. I really enjoy reading his stuff, I like his sense of humour a lot  :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on October 23, 2011, 02:26:24 AM
Game of Thrones.

A recent TV series, I had not seen it until after I read the book, while the TV series is quite faithful to the book, the actors were quite wooden.

The book is the first in a series of (probably) six in total, I have read the first and most of the second and cant wait to get stuck into the rest.

The story charts the history of The Seven Kingdoms, told through the eyes of the main families. Chiefly among these would be The Starks (the good guys) and The Lannisters (the bad guys). The author George RR Martin has woven a rich tapestry of action packed stories, Chivalry, politics, love and honour into a series of books describes as a cross between Ivanhoe and The War of the Roses (not the Danny Devito film :)).

Populated by great characters (sometimes it can get a bit confusing as there are so many), each chapter is dedicated to one character as they deal with the trials and tribulations the story presents them with. As the seven kingdoms go to war with each other, in the extreme north, The Nightwatch are battling against a supernatural foe, while across the sea a deposed princess and her brother are seeking alliances to help their return to the Seven Kingdoms to reclaim their throne.

A great story well told :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on October 23, 2011, 03:55:10 AM
That sounds interesting.. Reminds me a little of Joe Abercrombie (http://www.joeabercrombie.com/)'s trilogy and additional books (I read them all, loved them). Only that he writes in a way that makes me think, finally someone who packs some gore and blood in a very, very dark way (including sense of humour) suitable for grown-ups.  :-() "If you're fond of bloodless, turgid fantasy with characters as thin as newspaper and as boring as plaster saints, Joe Abercrombie is really going to ruin your day. A long career for this guy would be a gift to our genre." -- Scott Lynch

I'll keep your recommendation in mind, Fiach, cheers  :-X
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on October 23, 2011, 03:58:07 AM
I never heard of Joe Abercrombie, I wiki'd him, looks interesting, I'll keep an eye out for his books, thanks :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on October 23, 2011, 04:00:08 AM
very massive books, will take you a few days even if you're an avid reader. He's new and good  :-() Enjoy  :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on October 23, 2011, 05:56:11 AM
Looking forward to it, I have all the Thrones books except the most recent, so its going to take awhile :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: JRD on October 23, 2011, 07:48:24 AM
There's a game called "A game of thrones - Genesis" also based in the w@&k of George R. R. Martin... are you familiar with that, Fiach? Is it good?
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on October 23, 2011, 09:36:04 AM
Yes mate, but I think its a RTS (strategy) game and I dont play them, Think I've played maybe 3 in my life.

Its a rather unusual format to choose, But I can understand the reason, because its about a series of battles to wrest control of the seven kingdoms and the books chapters each deal with one characters viewpoint, so if it was a FPS, you would never have time to identify with your character as you are contstantly changing personas. It has different factions too, so it would be pretty confusing to play any other way.

There are three main factions, so like most RTS games, you probably have a Rock/Paper/Scissors mechanic.

I would like to play it as a RPG, there is one particular character (Jon Snow), he is the ba$t@rd son of the leader of House Stark and he is sent to join The Nightwatch, they are like a border patrol guard far in the north where it constantly snows, they are an elite fighting force (or were), but they are not allowed to get involved in the politics of the seven kingdoms.

Jon and his pet direwolf (Ghost) tend to have the more adventurey kind of storyline, dealing with the denizens from outside the wall as opposed to the more political aspect of the other characters.

Hope that is clear enough, I kind of went off on a tangent there :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: JRD on October 23, 2011, 09:57:40 AM
You were very clear, thanks for the crash course, mate!  :-X

I didn't watch, play or read any Game of Thrones but been stumbling on that name here and there so I was pretty curious about it. Didn't now it was a book though, I thought it was just a TV show and evidently a game emerged from that. Good to know all that you mentioned. I might check one book to see how it feels. Too bad I have a long list of books but not enough time to read as much as I'd like to.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on October 23, 2011, 10:15:47 AM
Hopefully you will enjoy it mate, as I said earlier, my main gripe is that there are too many characters (imo), making it hard to get into the story, but once you come to grips with the names, its a cracking read.

There is a list at the back, divided into the different houses and the main members of each house. So I do tend to refer to it periodically, when I have a brain fart and dont remember a name of someone being discussed.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Jim di Griz on November 04, 2012, 06:56:32 AM
After decades of reading a lot of books (like most of you fine folks, all pretty much SF and some Fantasy) I have unfortunately lapsed and not read so much during the past ten years.

I have recently started back into the habit of more regular reading.

I can agree with a lot of the names already mentioned, though I haven't hear anyone mention Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword ever before - nice one Art  :-X You said Charlie Stoss too. It probably wasn't out back then but The Atrocity Archives is a great 'recent' book which leads me to my favourite author of the 'new crowd': Anything by Tim Powers will assuage anyones needs for the semi-occult/mythological historic style novel. I'd suggest Earthquake Weather or The Anubis Gates.

More recently, if you folks like SF I have a pure left-field choice for you to consider. Remember the Japanese film Ring along with it's sequel and prequel Ring 2 and Birthday Party? Those were written by Koji Suzuki and the books start off as what appears to be a gripping horror tale, but one that morphs into almost SF half way through the second book (Spiral) and into pure SF by the third: Loop.

The main theme is about a virus that kills via videotape - I won't spoil the rest, but consider that virus is the key here and I'll leave it at that. I'd be happier with a more fluid translation than the one I read, but the style doesn't get in the way, it's just a little literal and inelegant at times. Anyway, the books are a surprise.
Title: Re: BOOK : The Passage by Justin Cronin
Post by: Fiach on November 04, 2012, 10:45:15 AM
Quote from: Fiach on December 30, 2010, 02:42:56 AM

THE PASSAGE BY JUSTIN CRONIN
I'm not sure if there is a "books" section, but I just finished this book and its awesomeness compelled me to post about it.

I picked it up because it was so thick, I knew it would get me over the xmas and the blurb on the back looked like it would be an interesting "thriller", which it was for about a quarter of the way through, then the book started throwing curveballs .....

I have since found out that this book is to be made into a movie or a series of movies and the book itself is part of a trilogy, but the book is totally self-contained and the ending is perfect, so you dont need to worry about the author dying and the series being unfinished.

The game starts in the South American jungle, glimpses of which are shown between narrative and a succession of emails between two scientists, this section would be comparable to maybe the Predator movies, the first curveball then throws the book into thriller territory as the story continues and follows two FBI agents, securing the release of death row inmates from various prisons.

The next curveball gets the FBI agents involved in a weird prolonged chase across a number of state lines, with the abduction of a young girl, this achieves a kind of resolution with the advent of the next and rather huge curveball the book throws at you, on which the rest of the narrative is based.

I am of necessity leaving out alot of the story, because the twists are many and will be enjoyed alot more if they are total surprises. If you look up any reviews, they are quite spoilerific.


Suffice to say, the world faces a doomsday scenario spanning several generations, before there is any resolution to the problem

This is a very well written book, its about 1000 pages long, depending of course on the format, but there is not one page of useless filler, the characters are well crafted, their stories are well told and the many harrowing subjects are dealt with in a compelling way, with a great sensitivity to the characters and the narrative.

Warfare, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Wasteland, all these subjects raise their heads in what could be a complete mess of ideas, but is honed into a rollicking good adventure yarn

I'm re-quoting this because the sequel (THE TWELVE) was released last week, for anyone interested.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on November 04, 2012, 10:54:24 AM
I just read these three books by australian author Matthew Reilly.

http://www.matthewreilly.com/jackwest.html (http://www.matthewreilly.com/jackwest.html)

They are very good action packed end of the world adventures, kinda like Tomb Raider or the Uncharted games, the plot revolves around finding ancient monuments, solving their puzzles in a timed countdown to save the world.

The books are very well written and the author just pulls cliffhangers out of his pockets in every chapter that are believeable (mostly), action packed and well described.

The main character Jack West, has a team of helpers, he is an ex aussie SAS guy, his girlfriend is an irish Rangers Commando, the rest of the international team come from different corners of the earth, bringing their own political and personal agendas with them.

Globe trotting in the extreme, the series spins a taut yarn, that takes an interesting look at ancient intelligence.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on November 04, 2012, 03:47:53 PM
That sounds like a really interesting concept, right up my alley as far as ancient civilization-type stuff goes.

Thanks mate, will keep an eye out for those (I should be able to find them locally without too much trouble, I would think :-())
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Fiach on November 04, 2012, 11:54:30 PM
Yes, you should, I found the first one in a bargain book outlet a few years ago and the second one the same way, you woulldnt get them in a regular shop here, I got the third for Kindle, it seems to be the only way I can get books with any consistancy now.

BTW, the second book ends on a cliff hanger, I'm glad I didnt buy it at release, as I would have hated to wait for the sequel to be written/released, so if you like the first enough to get the second, you may as well buy he third at the same time. :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on November 05, 2012, 12:32:53 AM
 :-X :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: fragger on January 21, 2013, 06:53:42 AM
I just finished reading an incredible historical account, one that I had known about only minimally beforehand, from the book Batavia by Aussie journalist and sometime historical writer Peter FitzSimons. This true horror story makes the Bounty mutiny look like a food fight.

The Batavia was the first of the big Dutch East Indiamen, a massive ship for the times when in October 1628 she set off on her maiden voyage from Amsterdam to the Dutch East India Company's (VOC's) centre of operations in Java - the burgeoning city that the ship was named after - Batavia (where the city of Jakarta now stands). The ship was packed full of trading treasure including hundreds of thousands of gilders' worth of money in chests, and had over 300 people on board - sailors, soldiers and passengers, including a couple of high-ranking VOC officials. In the middle of the night in June, 1629, eight months into the voyage, the ship ran aground on coral reefs outlying a small group of tiny desert islands about forty miles off the western coast of Australia. The sequence of events that followed is simply astonishing. It's about as quintessential a tale about good versus evil and the depths that men can descend to once the restraints of civilization and authority are removed as you'll ever find anywhere. There is also a classic example of how the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time can bring a bit of hell into the world. It's not a story for the fainthearted, but on the upside justice does ultimately prevail, harsh and ruthless though it is. And those to whom it's meted out are thoroughly deserving of it.

http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/peter-fitzsimons/batavia-9781864711349.aspx (http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/peter-fitzsimons/batavia-9781864711349.aspx)

If ever there was a ready-made story for a riveting movie, this is it. The screenplay writers would not have to make a single thing up, and if the film was faithful to history, anybody seeing it who wasn't aware of the facts would have to conclude that the writers had made it up.

FitzSimons has a wonderful talent for making history come alive. I've read a few of his historical non-fiction books, and they are never clinical, sterile narratives. He has a way of dropping you into the period and giving you a sense of what life would have been like in those times. By his own admission, he takes liberties with dialogue and what may have been going through characters' minds in order to flesh out his books and make his non-fiction a bit more fiction-like, but it's all in keeping with events and I think he probably is very close to being on the money with it.

A couple of related facts: From 1985 to 1995 a working, sea-worthy replica of the Batavia was built in Holland using traditional tools and materials of the 17th century. When the ship visited Sydney, the main mast was so high that an exceptionally low tide had to be waited for in order for the ship to be able to pass under Sydney Harbour Bridge - about 50 metres (approx. 160 feet) above the water. A large part of the hull of the original Batavia was excavated from the shipwreck site in relatively recent years and is now on display in the Western Australian Maritime Museum's Shipwreck Galleries in Fremantle, just south of Perth. I visited this in 2006 and it was poignant to see a once magnificent ship reduced to a 400-year-old collection of dull grey, half-rotten wood, and more than a tad creepy to know the horrific episode in history it represented - and here it was, almost close enough to touch.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Binnatics on August 19, 2013, 12:58:51 PM
I just finished a wonderful novel called "The Art of Fielding", written by Chad Harbach (2011). It's his debut.
The story is about a guy, Henry Skrimshander, who has a wonderful talent for baseball. The best short stop since the great Aparicio Rodriguez. He gets accidentally discovered by a player of the Westish College Team and that gives him a ticket to start there as a student and develop his talent in favour of the local baseball team called "The Harpooners".
There, everything seems to roll out perfectly for a great career in the Major League, until one ball, thrown by him in a regular match, loses track of it's direction towards the first baseman and hits one of his team mates in the face. From that moment on a very interesting novel unfolds around him and some other Westish members.

I've played baseball myself for 8 years (from my 8th until my 16th) and it was great to catch up with a sport that is so different from most other team sports. I felt that good old feeling when entering the field for another fieldplay, or when entering the strike zone hoping to hit the ball high over all the players into somewhere in the outfield.

What else I like about the book is the American style of writing. I don't know whatever sense that makes to all of you, but to me it means that in the story, the way it's written and the way the personages develop, I feel a spirit that's both powerful and liberate. I like that a lot. I've read a lot of books of Ken Kesey, and also one of Tom Wolffe, and they have that same strong "freedom to act"-feeling in their novels. There's also a Dutch writer called Leon de Winter, that lives in LA for quite some time now, that also managed to write novels with that feeling in it.

I recommend this novel to all who like reading novels every once in a while. (or more often of course :-D) I enjoyed it a lot.  :-X :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on August 19, 2013, 03:22:58 PM
hehe, nice one :)

I finished Joe Abercrombie's latest novel Red Country (fantasy) a few weeks ago. What I like about his style is that he uses two different (British) English language levels. Every time when the story turns to uneducated and savage people such as simple thieves or warriors he uses a very colloquial and crude style with wrong grammar not only in direct speech but also when narrating while when educated people or high society is involved the language switches to a very elaborate style. I like his style and stories very much and own all of his published books.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: mandru on January 04, 2017, 09:49:20 AM
I didn't want to start a new thread for a single post and while I know this thread has been dormant over three years I suspect that some of you are still willing to read if something catches your interest.   :-D

OK, I'll admit up front that the collection of short stories that I'm giving the link to is not a "Book" though many of the pieces that I've read so far (currently on page 6 / 33) outshine many patched together offerings in the numerous Sci-Fi anthologies I've trudged through.  I've been surprised by some of the gems that I've come across so far.

This link is for Page 1 of the collection  http://imgur.com/gallery/w3nA4 (http://imgur.com/gallery/w3nA4)

One of the aspects of this body of works from various authors that really put a hook in me (and set it) is that it's not because it's sci-fi but has the required condition that each submitted story (to be accepted in the collection) has to be written from the perspective of a non-human observer.

Take a glance at the first page and see if you find anything that tickles your interest.  At the bottom of the few short pieces on page 1 there will be a display of links for all pages 1 through 33.

Because these are all screen captures (I believe from Reddit) most of the stories can be clicked to expand their size but some of them render up as eye achingly too small to read comfortably.  When I've encountered that it has been helpful to use the hot key of press and hold "Ctrl" while tapping the "+" key to increase the size of the image to a comfortable level.

Oh yeah, when you've used the screen resize remember to shrink it back down using the reversing "Ctrl" and "-" key combo before moving on.  :-X

Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: Art Blade on January 04, 2017, 09:53:54 AM
 :-X :)
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: mandru on January 05, 2017, 06:38:10 AM
I'm into page 13 of this collection and I've begun to see an occasional story presented in a human's point of view so I have to retract that the people assembling this collection are going to stick to an alien's POV.

That said I'm still enjoying the working my way through them.
Title: Re: Books discussion
Post by: OWGKID on January 20, 2017, 05:00:32 AM
The school got some new part-time studies. One of them is "Book club". Here, we read books and come up with books that's worth a read :) I have been reading about Silicon Valley and how it works inside/out. It's about Jim Clark, a businessman who made himself a billionaire and some other unheard stuff going down back in the 1980's when IT was becoming the next big business. Apparently, the first idea of a pocket sized computer (smart phone) and a smart TV was experimented with in the early 1990's.