|
Books
Jun 6, 2006 15:16:02 GMT -5
Post by Dashe on Jun 6, 2006 15:16:02 GMT -5
I thought the LoTR books were better than the movies. I can't sit through a movie that long to save my life...but I can finish like any book within a week of getting it, as long as it's fiction and not like the phone book or anything like that.
|
|
|
Books
Jun 7, 2006 18:16:02 GMT -5
Post by Rage on Jun 7, 2006 18:16:02 GMT -5
"Do you smell what The Rock is cooking" by the Rock. I think that was name of his book. I don't remember. It was basicly a bio on himself. I liked the book it was funny. Plus I had to read it for english class too.
|
|
|
Books
Jul 22, 2006 2:48:33 GMT -5
Post by Pitch on Jul 22, 2006 2:48:33 GMT -5
I'm currently really into this Dracula book - The Secret Life of Laszlo, Count Dracula. It's.. purely fictional, from what I can tell, it doesn't have anything at all to do with the person Dracula's legend was based off of. Still it's seeming to be a rather amazing story. I'm pretty sure the guy who wrote this is some sort of psychologist, and the idea here seems to be that it follows Dracula around, before he was the legendary vampire whose name is unknown to none. It does this through a journal, which has an amazing effect on the tense of the story. It's part present tense, part past. It doesn't alternate between tenses, but it has this feeling that it's more of a day-by-day past tense, in a first person perspective. "I" this, 'I" that. He's telling the story in a past tense, he's learning from them in the present tense. You can understand what I mean by that, I hope. I dunno, it progresses like present tense, it's told like past tense.. A... past-progressive tense?
Anyway, I've kinda come to a stop at the book at this point, because I really don't like what happened here. I'm about a quarter of the way through, the story just took a sharp turn in an entirely different direction, stopped immediately, and now it's skipped ahead 20 years. I really hate when that happens, because it's practically like starting the story over. There's an all new cast of characters around Laszlo, different setting, different time, and probably some, at this point, untold historical impact on the setting.
But yeah, so far, I'd definitely say I recommend it. o.o It's just amazing, though, at this point the amazing parts have come undone. It's kinda.. brutally realistic? Pretty brutal at times. I dunno. Read it.
EDIT-O:
Well, I've finished reading it. Must say I'm a bit disappointed, though only a bit. The ending disappointed me, mainly because I came to realize that this story was not one of fantasy - not in the least bit; pure and simple fiction. I, probably, should have realized this sooner, but alas, no. It makes sense in what purpose it serves to fulfil... though, I'm pretty sure there was already a story which was the basis for the legend. It's umm... it's not bad. I dunno. My initial beliefs were right, the first portion of the book was largely irrelevant. That really disappoints me because it was my favorite part, really. Still it was interesting enough.. I suppose.
|
|
|
Books
Aug 1, 2006 19:06:02 GMT -5
Post by UNIT 0918 on Aug 1, 2006 19:06:02 GMT -5
I finished reading "The Book Thief". It's about a girl in Nazi Germany who basically loves books and usually gets them by stealing. It was confusing at first, but then it got interesting a few pages later.
|
|
|
Books
Oct 26, 2006 18:38:23 GMT -5
Post by UNIT 0918 on Oct 26, 2006 18:38:23 GMT -5
New awesome book: Armageddon's Children. The cover looks pretty boring, but after reading a while, you really get into it! It's a fantasy set in the near future when Armageddon has taken place. I suck at describing books... I sadly tell, not show...
|
|
|
Books
Sept 22, 2007 7:48:07 GMT -5
Post by Dragge on Sept 22, 2007 7:48:07 GMT -5
I know it's been a year since a post but I love books too darn much. Here I go.
*Series of Unfortunate Events *The Merlin Series *Chronicles of Narnia *Eragon & Eldest (Only read Earagon so far, actually read it now) *Bionicle Books *Star-Wars *There are probably others that I can't think about. Last school year I read 70 books. Yes, that's how much I like books!
|
|
|
Books
Sept 22, 2007 15:48:41 GMT -5
Post by darfox8 on Sept 22, 2007 15:48:41 GMT -5
I really don't read much. I'm bored by most books so I don't try to read them. I hate people who muscle through a book just to be able to state that they read it. I never finish a book that I can't stay interested in. I give it like three of four chapters(after the point I'm getting bored) and if it doesn't pull back my interest I'll just leave it.
As far as required reading goes: -To kill a Mocking Bird was a pretty good story with a simple enough message but I never finished it. I do still have it(and I know how it ends) so I think I'll pick it up again soon. -Anthem was easy because it was so short. Nothing really speacial but I am glade I read it because most post-apocalyptic stories rip it off. -The Great Gatsby. I was bored reading most of it but I actually did like the story. Hate that Daisy. -Huck Fin, hated it. I went to North Miami Beach Senior High so alot of my friends are black, so you'd think it'd be topical for me but I hated the structure of which the book was written. -Alas Babylon was a really cool story but it bumed me out more than anything. I guess that was the point but the whole book was so bleak it bored me. But whatever, you can't make a story about America getting nuked fun. Oh wait... never mind. You actually can. "Dr. Strangelove".
The only books I like to read are Harlen Coben's mystery novels. I don't know alot about books so maybe there are alot of other writers with a similar style but for now he has a bunch of books I could read. Mostly he has a series a books with the same main characters. Myron Bolitar is this Ex- Basketball star and Ex- FBI Agent, Sport Agent. Every book he's confronted with some mystery and he and his friends try and solve it. The great thing about the books is that every character is a jackass. Including the the narrater. They're always wise cracking and making fun. So even slow chapters are fun to read. And of course there is an actual good story with good characters but the style makes the book really easy to get into. The first one in the series is called Deal Breaker.
|
|
|
Books
Sept 22, 2007 18:36:51 GMT -5
Post by ravenf6 on Sept 22, 2007 18:36:51 GMT -5
Books are one of my favorite things. I love to dive into a story every now and again. I just finished The Color Purple, it's pretty good. Right now though, I'm reading a few odds and and ends Eldest-only got a quarter through before forgetting about it, I did finish Eragon, though. Warcraft series (currently finished Tides of Darkness) Redwall- a good series of novels worth checking out. There are so many books I can list, but that could take forever...
|
|
|
Books
Sept 22, 2007 20:22:31 GMT -5
Post by Dragge on Sept 22, 2007 20:22:31 GMT -5
There's going to be a third book in the Eragon series. To Kill a Mockingbird- had to read it last year in 8th grade and liked it. The Great Gatsby- Have to read it in Freshman Honor English soon after The Once and Future King, and as for that book meh hate it. It's about King Arthur, Lacelot, Merlin ect. but we have to do questions for it and I hate doing that. Had to read half of it during the summer and do questions and failed the first two tests on it which sucks a lot.
|
|
|
Books
Sept 22, 2007 20:26:50 GMT -5
Post by ravenf6 on Sept 22, 2007 20:26:50 GMT -5
Oh man, I love "The Once and Future King" . I remember doing a report on that in high school. Haven't been able to find it until a few months ago. It's still just as good as I remember it. Yeah, I have to agree, having to do questions and tests tend to take the fun out of reading books, especially if it's on a subject you don't particularly like.
|
|
Frankenpetey
Gorubeshu
Official MMLS Genre Sage
"It's for the family!"
Posts: 220
|
Books
Sept 23, 2007 0:54:21 GMT -5
Post by Frankenpetey on Sept 23, 2007 0:54:21 GMT -5
Dude, topic revival. Whatevs; I wasn't here last year and I'm a book junkie. I'm exhausted, so let's see if I can write a post that makes sense. ravenf6: I never got around to "The Once and Future King," but I did read "Mists of Avalon" and enjoyed it. I'll have to check that out sometime; I haven't read anything to do with Arthurian legend in a while. Dragge: The only series from your list that I've read is Narnia. Those were the books that got me into fantasy, though, about ten years ago. I read them in chronological order rather than publication order, though, so I think the impact of a few of the books (like "Magician's Nephew") was lost on me. I might have to re-read them in the proper order some time. darfox8: I read a couple of Harlen Coben's book a few years back. Mystery is a genre I only read occasionally, but you might like Joan Hess's "Maggody" series. It's set in a small town in Arkansas, and it's narrated by the town's sheriff. She's such a smartass, I just love her. The other characters are hilarious, too, and the plots always have plenty of weird twists in them. "Misery Loves Maggody" is my favorite out of the series, but they're all good. As for me, I read whatever tickles my fancy, but I have a few authors I gravitate toward. I love Oscar Wilde, especially "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Importance of Being Earnest." Just looking at how different the two stories are, and seeing the amazing range the man had make me wonder what could have been if things had gone differently in 1895. P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" series (or is it Wooster and Jeeves?) can pull me out of the worst mood, no matter what. It's a very polite, very British comedy of manners. Wacky hijynks, goofy characters, that sort of thing. It reminds me of Legends, in a way. Wooster, the narrator, is a wonderful dork; it's impossible not to love him. "Thank You, Jeeves!" is my favorite, mostly because it had the interesting plot twist of Jeeves resigning as Wooster's valet. ("Noooo! Jeeeeeeeves!") I love fantasy of a certain sort. I read the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, but I don't think I could do it twice. Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series is always fun. He's the only author I know of who can have vampires, trolls, dwarfs, witches, zombies, pixies, werewolves, and humans living together in one city and have it all make sense and seem natural. And he gave the world Reginald Shoe, the zombie policeman and undead rights activist. I love "The Last Herald-Mage" trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, though I never really got into any of her other trilogies. Van, the hero, starts the trilogy as an unpleasant teenage jerk, and it's interesting to watch him change over the course of the books; you grow really fond of him by the end. The ending is very bittersweet, but very satisfying nonetheless. I like Lackey's magic system, too. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is one of my favorite books, period. Ray Bradbury's style takes some getting used to, but it's so worth it. Mr. Dark is one of the best villain's I've ever read. If he were real, I'd be scared to death of him. That library scene gives me shivers every time... It's a quick read, too, and everythings so right about it. <3 "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrill" by Susanna Clarke is the best book I've read this year. Her writing style is a really beautiful pseudo-ninteenth century, and the characters are so developed it seems like they're alive. It's 800 pages, but it goes by so quickly. I love stories that blend fantasy with the real world like this one does. I also love the fairies; they're so.... Evil doesn't even begin to describe the fairies; they're so alien that human morality doesn't have any bearing on them. So, so awesome...
|
|
|
Books
Oct 7, 2007 23:33:09 GMT -5
Post by Pitch on Oct 7, 2007 23:33:09 GMT -5
I just finished reading Dracula. (1, 2, 3... okay that's five words. LEz gO! .. ) How weird would it be if I was like that? Heh. Yeaaah. So Dracula was fun. Great way to start October. XD I'm surprised, very thoroughly, that I knew nothing of this story before having sat down and read it recently(slash trying to read it previously). I cannot remember a time when I didn't know who(or I suppose what) Dracula is. But apart from other stories that have some same stylistic elements(and some names from the Castlevanias), it was all new to me. Of course, I knew Dracula is a Vampire, so I was less than shocked when Van Helsing reveals it, and more than bored as the dramatic build up to that revelation takes place.. but that's okay. It was pretty good. I'm starting to feel I might have a positive bias for older books.. Dracula ends in much the same way as a somewhat more recent story of our time does(I have my suspicions this story may've influenced that one), and I hated that story's ending(I'll just say I “can't recall its name..” ). Not sure why(perhaps its because Dracula had at least something resembling a falling action before the end of the story, which was proportionally longer than the other one's..). But in any case, I had no problem with Dracula ending in this way.. Oi. Trying to be clever is hard, see I'm trying not to ruin Dracula's ending, not only for the sake of not ruining Dracula's ending, but in turn for the sake of not ruining the other story's ending; but by making any of my connections between the two, I might set off a double or even triple ended reaction wherein those who've read Dracula but not the Other, will know how the Other ends, conversely those who've read the Other will know how Dracula ends(slightly less impactive because Dracula's 110 years old and there's no excuse for not having read it yet; but still without my even spoiling Dracula by stating its ending in the open, anyone who'se read the Other story would know it), and then (I'm not sure how)ly, of course some people might, having read both agree(through realization or from having already [not too] long since come to the conclusion), or disagree, or they could even agree to disagree! >_<; Oh yeah.. and some may be totally unaffected(unless I were to state right out Dracula's ending and compare it to the Other story; in that case all would then know both).. This is why we need Spoiler tags. Oi.
|
|
|
Books
Oct 8, 2007 2:54:53 GMT -5
Post by Santa Melty on Oct 8, 2007 2:54:53 GMT -5
Heh. I’d like to say that I don’t fall into that category, but I rather do, in a way. When I begin a story, I must finish it, regardless of how painful the experience may be. It’s as simple as that. This is partly out of curiosity, and partly out of misappropriated optimism... Even if I detest a story, I want to know how it ends. I just feel... incomplete, otherwise. As for the optimism part, I like thinking that even the most seemingly uninteresting story will succeed in capturing my interest by the time I reach the end. Whatever the case, even if it turns out I read through the entire story and still don’t feel satisfied, at least I can say with confidence that I really didn’t care for the story, without having to worry about people telling me that I have to read through the entire thing for the complete experience or something along such lines. I haven’t been able to read a lot of books recently, unfortunately. Nothing really major, anyway. There is a long waiting list for when I come up with the time, though. But for the heck of it: Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Mark me, if you really want to give your vocabulary a workout, old British literature is the way to go. I’ve read a fair bit of the short stories and a couple of the novels (A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four), and I have to say... I found it thrilling. As thrilling as one can find two men being logical from the comfort of their apartment, anyway. Most people probably won’t share my sentiments; a good number of times, the story doesn’t even leave their home. Holmes just sets it up so that everything comes to them. Whatever the case, the sheer logic is staggering, sometimes. I found watching Holmes’s method of analyzing every slightest aspect of the situation fascinating. o.O The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy. An old British novel that takes place during the French Revolution. I actually found out about this via its musical version... I heard a few songs from it, which sparked my interest in the story itself. This is another classic mystery sort of thing... A high-class Englishman going by the name of the Scarlet Pimpernel is sneaking in and out of France, saving innocent nobles from being unfairly executed (as was so popular a pastime during the revolution). It’s a pretty short story, but I liked it. Unfortunately, a few things became fairly obvious some time before they were supposed to be revealed, but it’s an old story, so that’s forgivable to an extent. It also became a little farfetched near the end, such as when the guards decided against taking somewhat obvious preventive measures simply due to a technicality in their orders (That’s what I saw it as, anyway. And I’m trying not to reveal too much here.). Heck, I might have just enjoyed it due to my previous exposure to the story in other media. But as bad as I’m probably making the book sound, I enjoyed it all the same. The Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchett. The first book of the Diskworld series that Petey mentioned. I found it to be an entertaining read. You follow the adventures of a hack-job wizard and a clueless tourist visiting from a forgotten civilization as they are assailed from all sides by dragons, demons, gods, Death, the tourist’s traveling implements, et cetera. The writing style reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams’s (And I mean that as not a compliment or an insult; just a sort of observation.), in that he’ll state entirely absurd things in a seemingly logical way. I found it amusing. Hopefully I’ll have time to get to the rest of the series. Hamlet, by Shakespeare. Required reading. Really good if you like analyzing stuff, not as great if you like being entertained, unless you’re watching a stage production of some sort. I generally try to avoid this kind of stuff (it takes me at least twice as long to chew through the artsy style of writing, after which I’m usually left with an incorrect understanding of what just happened). I found it interesting in some respects, but terminally dull in others. I’d recommend it only if you like this sort of thing. A Beginner’s Guide: Quantum Physics, by Alastair Rae. See explanation for Hamlet. As to the other stuff that’s been mentioned... I’ve heard of many of them, but read so few. o.o Just to respond to a few: I hear LotR is a good book, but I just can’t bring myself to read it. Skimmed through once in the past, but the language looks like too much to bother with. I stopped after the first page. One day, though. One day. As for “Do you smell what The Rock is cooking”, I’m afraid I’ve never really been interested in biographies. I suppose that’s just me though; there just aren’t enough people in the world I’m interested enough in to read a story over. o.o The Great Gatsby: I’ve heard good things about that one. I’ve got it on my to-read list at the moment. As for Harlan Coben... I’ve never heard of the guy, but I like your description. “Every character is a jackass” sounds like a good time. I think I’ll look into this fellow. And I agree with the point that having to analyze a book takes the fun out of it. I’m all for learning about the underlying implications of a story, but the prospect of having to do work just ruins the mood. Oscar Wilde: I actually own The Picture of Dorian Gray. It’s been sitting on my shelf for about half a year now, and I’ve yet to get to it. I hope to read it some time this month, though. I hear the guy was a great writer. Dracula: Same here... I have about zero exposure to that story. I did some reading into the actual person, but as far as the fiction, all I’m aware of is that he’s a vampire. I’ve not seen any movies, nor have I played any of the Castlevania games... Closest thing I can claim is a Donald Duck videogame that I played more than ten years back. Dracula made a cameo appearance as a boss. I can’t say I’m really interested in the book right now, but... I know I’m going to end up reading it eventually. It’s Dracula, after all.
|
|
|
Books
Oct 9, 2007 20:35:11 GMT -5
Post by Pitch on Oct 9, 2007 20:35:11 GMT -5
Though it's definitely not a book(And as such, a bit off topic), I'd recommend trying some of the Castlevanias. Both the DS ones are great.
As for reading Dracula, I'd recommend it. It's a lot less work understanding the plot because half the things that happen you can see coming from a mile away. It's a bit surprising what so little pre-reading knowledge can do; it makes me wonder if half the stuff in Dracula was even supposed to not be predictable(maybe I missed a lot or something x.x). As I've been finding with a great many things these days, it would've been far more interesting if I went in reading it with no previous knowledge. I wish I could find a way(apart from perhaps a good whack on the head) to read things from a fresh perspective like that.. hm.
(unrelated-unrelated note: I forgot that way back when, posts in General Discussion didn't count for Post Count.. strange.)
|
|
|
Books
Oct 10, 2007 1:55:41 GMT -5
Post by UNIT 0918 on Oct 10, 2007 1:55:41 GMT -5
It's a bit surprising what so little pre-reading knowledge can do; it makes me wonder if half the stuff in Dracula was even supposed to not be predictable(maybe I missed a lot or something x.x). As I've been finding with a great many things these days, it would've been far more interesting if I went in reading it with no previous knowledge. That's so much like the fate of Aerith in Final Fantasy VII. I've just finished the first disk and witnessed the scene that shocked so many hearts. Well, it didn't really affect me. Although Aerith's theme playing during the battle with a Jenova piece did have some effect on me, but barely. Now why is that? Because everyone talks about what happened openly that it's hard not to know the spoiler. Coincidentally, I'm reading Dracula for school. It's thankfully not one of those old boring books that I seem to run into whenever I do read a classic. I find it strange how Dracula treats Harker. They're enemies, yet they sort of act politely towards each other.
|
|