The thread all about good books

[Cancambo]

What you might do here:

Suggest a book to the community
Ask the community for a book you might like
Just give your opinion of a book, either good or bad
etc.


I personally suggest two books that I read recently.

The first is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Narrated by a fifteen-year-old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions.

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions, and cannot stand to be touched. Gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. "I do not always do what I'm told," he admits. "And this is because when people tell you what to do it is usually confusing and does not make sense. For example, people often say 'Be quiet' but they don't tell you how long to be quiet for..."

At fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork and is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents' marriage. As Christopher tries to deal with this crisis within his own family, the narrative draws readers into the mysterious workings of Christopher's mind.

At once deeply funny and heartbreakingly poignant, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years.

I personally LOVED this book. It was interesting to see life through the eyes of someone who suffers from autism and it gave a new perspective on the world. I am not going to say much more because I do not want to spoilt the plot.

The second I would suggest would be The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary — and literary history.

The compilation of the OED began in 1857, it was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.

I suggest because it is also incredibly interesting because it also focuses on someone who sees the world differently, and it is a mixture of a feeling of sympathy and great admiration for one of the characters at the same time. It also gives a good background on the English language which is also quite interesting. Again, I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give away to plot.

[Infection]

I have a lot of books on my reading list. Let's see..

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

The novel is about the conflict between two highly evolved men - Randolph Jaffe and Richard Fletcher - over the mystical dream sea called Quiddity. Jaffe hopes to tap into Quiddity's power while Fletcher wants to prevent it from being tainted. The conflict between the two men spills into the real world in a decades-long feud, distorting reality and affecting the entire human race.

Douglas Coupland fiction is great, too. A lot of them aren't written like traditional novels, though, just in case you guys go for those more. Here are three:

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland

Generation X is a framed narrative, like Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales or The Decameron by Boccaccio. The framing story is that of three friends—Dag, Claire, and the narrator, Andy—living together in the Mojave Desert in California. The tales are told by the various characters in the novel, which is arranged into three parts. Each chapter is separately titled rather than numbered, with titles such as "I Am Not A Target Market" and "Adventure Without Risk Is Disneyland".

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

Set in the early 1990s, it captures the state of the technology industry before Windows 95, and predicts the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. The novel is presented in the form of diary entries maintained on a PowerBook by the narrator, Daniel. Because of this, as well as its formatting and usage of emoticons, this novel is similar to what emerged a decade later as the blog format.

jPod by Douglas Coupland

JPod is an avant-garde novel of six young adults assigned to the same cubicle pod at Neotronic Arts, a fictional Burnaby-based video game company, by someone in Human Resources through a computer glitch. Ethan Jarlewski is the novel’s main character and narrator, who spends more time involved with his work than with his dysfunctional family. His stay-at-home mother runs a successful marijuana grow-op which allows his father to abandon his career and work as a futile movie extra. Ethan's realtor brother Greg involves himself with Asian crime lord Kam Fong who serves as the plot's crux of character connection.

[Razzberry]

The first is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon


I personally LOVED this book. It was interesting to see life through the eyes of someone who suffers from autism and it gave a new perspective on the world. I am not going to say much more because I do not want to spoilt the plot.



Yup.
That was a good book. I haven't read anything recently, but I'm about to get some from the library.

[Rob]

I request the format be as Matt posted.

[Jon]

This weekend I got Stephen King's new book Under the Dome. So far, 7 or more people have died within a ten minute span, and I'm only 60 pages in (out of 1074)! This is the first Stephen King book I've read (yes, I know, what a deprived child I must've been) and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

EDIT:
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

[TøbiasBlack]

The series of books by Paul Christopher ive enjoyed, though up to Aztec Heresy ive yet to read. pretty decent stories, but nothing too profound.

[Turtally]

Flipped was amazing when I read it, but that was a few years ago.

[Rob]

Out - Natsuo Kirino

http://sp5.fotolog.com/photo/37/14/64/jeremierda/1219992650914_f.jpg

A suburban Tokyo woman fed up with her loutish husband kills him in a fit of anger, then confesses her crime to a coworker on the night shift at the boxed-lunch factory. The coworker enlists the help of two other women at the factory to dismember and dispose of the body. Readers beware--Kirino's first mystery to be published in English (it was a best-seller in Japan) involves no madcap female bonding. The tenuous friendship between the four women, all with problems of their own even before becoming accessories to murder, begins to unravel almost immediately. Money changes hands. The body parts are discovered. The police begin asking questions, and a very bad man falsely accused of the crime is determined to find out who really deserves the punishment. The gritty neighborhoods, factories, and warehouses of Tokyo provide a perfect backdrop for this bleak tale of women who are victims of circumstance and intent on self-preservation at all costs.

I thought the book was excellent. Suspenseful writing, nice character development, extremely well-done dark atmospheres and some gore that even Stephen King would envy. Furthermore, how the dark side of the japanese culture is described in a way we don't see in anime, manga, pictures or travel magazines is clearly one of its best resources. However, if you can't stand blood and cold hearted people, this book is a no-no. I would recommend anyone interested in this culture or simply fond of suspense novels to read this, I'm sure you'll love it.

It's a shame Out is one the only books by Kirino translated to English (or Spanish in my case). Kirino is a respected suspense/thriller writer in Japan, and she has been awarded with the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction, one of the most important detective fiction awards in that country.

[Cancambo]

Out - Natsuo Kirino

http://sp5.fotolog.com/photo/37/14/64/jeremierda/1219992650914_f.jpg

A suburban Tokyo woman fed up with her loutish husband kills him in a fit of anger, then confesses her crime to a coworker on the night shift at the boxed-lunch factory. The coworker enlists the help of two other women at the factory to dismember and dispose of the body. Readers beware--Kirino's first mystery to be published in English (it was a best-seller in Japan) involves no madcap female bonding. The tenuous friendship between the four women, all with problems of their own even before becoming accessories to murder, begins to unravel almost immediately. Money changes hands. The body parts are discovered. The police begin asking questions, and a very bad man falsely accused of the crime is determined to find out who really deserves the punishment. The gritty neighborhoods, factories, and warehouses of Tokyo provide a perfect backdrop for this bleak tale of women who are victims of circumstance and intent on self-preservation at all costs.

I thought the book was excellent. Suspenseful writing, nice character development, extremely well-done dark atmospheres and some gore that even Stephen King would envy. Furthermore, how the dark side of the japanese culture is described in a way we don't see in anime, manga, pictures or travel magazines is clearly one of its best resources. However, if you can't stand blood and cold hearted people, this book is a no-no. I would recommend anyone interested in this culture or simply fond of suspense novels to read this, I'm sure you'll love it.

It's a shame Out is one the only books by Kirino translated to English (or Spanish in my case). Kirino is a respected suspense/thriller writer in Japan, and she has been awarded with the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction, one of the most important detective fiction awards in that country.

That looks really interesting, if I can get my hands upon it I will read it after I read my new book I just got. It is a pretty interesting book so far, and I am really looking forward to finishing it.

The book is Flight by Sherman Alexie.

Sherman Alexie’s first novel in ten years is the hilarious and tragic portrait of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a violent search for his true identity.

Sherman Alexie is one of our most gifted and accomplished storytellers and a treasured writer of huge national stature. His first novel since Indian Killer is a powerful, fast, and timely story of a troubled foster teenager—a boy who is not a “legal” Indian because he was never claimed by his father—who learns the true meaning of terror.

The journey for this young hero begins as he’s about to commit a massive act of violence. At the moment of decision, he finds himself shot back through time and resurfaced in the body of an FBI agent during the civil rights era. Here he will be forced to see just why “Hell is Red River, Idaho, in the 1970s.” Red River is only the first stop in a shocking sojourn through moments of violence in American history. He will continue traveling back to inhabit the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Bighorn and then ride with an Indian tracker in the nineteenth century before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. During these frantic trips through time, his refrain grows: “Who’s to judge?” and “I don’t understand humans.” When finally, blessedly, our young warrior comes to rest again in his own contemporary body, he is mightily transformed by all he’s seen.

This is Sherman Alexie at his most brilliant—making us laugh while he’s breaking our hearts. Time Out has said that “Alexie, like his characters, is on a modern-day vision quest,” and this has never been clearer than in Flight, where he seeks nothing less than an understanding of why human beings hate. Simultaneously wrenching and deeply humorous, wholly contemporary yet steeped in American history, Flight is irrepressible, fearless, and groundbreaking Alexie.

So far it is really interesting because it makes you wonder really how bad a person's life can be and how much a young mind can be manipulated. Again, I won't really reveal much about what I have read because I don't want to spoil the plot.

[Beaner]

This weekend I got Stephen King's new book Under the Dome. So far, 7 or more people have died within a ten minute span, and I'm only 60 pages in (out of 1074)! This is the first Stephen King book I've read (yes, I know, what a deprived child I must've been) and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

EDIT:
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.


if you like stephen king, i recomend the first book i read from him: Tommyknockers, i loved it and its still one of my favorites. not as gory as what you describe, but it is full of mindfucks and twists. definitely worth a read.


While walking in the woods near the small town of Haven, Maine, Roberta (Bobbi) Anderson, a writer of Wild West-based fiction, stumbles upon a metal object which turns out to be the slightest portion of a long-buried alien spacecraft. Once exposed, the spacecraft begins releasing an invisible, odorless gas into the atmosphere which gradually transforms people into beings similar to the aliens who populated the spacecraft. It also provides them with a short-sighted form of genius which makes them very inventive, but does not provide any philosophical or ethical insight.

[Mark]

Oh man. I have a good book for you all. If you like horror and suspense than you should check this out:

http://i45.tinypic.com/bg1qmp.jpg

R.L. Stine really knows how to give the chills. I love this book up to this day. Pretty much all of his books are excellent reads.

[Cancambo]

Oh man. I have a good book for you all. If you like horror and suspense than you should check this out:

http://i45.tinypic.com/bg1qmp.jpg

R.L. Stine really knows how to give the chills. I love this book up to this day. Pretty much all of his books are excellent reads.

I read a couple of Goosebump stories when I was younger and, to be honest, I didn't really enjoy them. For a children's horror book it was pretty well written though.

Does anyone know of any books that involve people with a mental disorder (i.e. my first two books involved an autistic person and a schizophrenic person). Those types of books are my favorites.

[Mark]

I read a couple of Goosebump stories when I was younger and, to be honest, I didn't really enjoy them. For a children's horror book it was pretty well written though.

What do you mean? I am still horrified to this day by his stories.

[Cancambo]

What do you mean? I am still horrified to this day by his stories.

They never really scared me. That, and I have only seen them in children's sections, so it appears they consider it a children's book too.

[Jon]

if you like stephen king, i recomend the first book i read from him: Tommyknockers, i loved it and its still one of my favorites. not as gory as what you describe, but it is full of mindpineapples and twists. definitely worth a read.


While walking in the woods near the small town of Haven, Maine, Roberta (Bobbi) Anderson, a writer of Wild West-based fiction, stumbles upon a metal object which turns out to be the slightest portion of a long-buried alien spacecraft. Once exposed, the spacecraft begins releasing an invisible, odorless gas into the atmosphere which gradually transforms people into beings similar to the aliens who populated the spacecraft. It also provides them with a short-sighted form of genius which makes them very inventive, but does not provide any philosophical or ethical insight.
Ooh yeah, I'll definitely have to check that out. I'm also thinking about giving his Duma Key a try.

[Rob]

Does anyone know of any books that involve people with a mental disorder (i.e. my first two books involved an autistic person and a schizophrenic person). Those types of books are my favorites.
actually, if you like that kind of books you might consider reading "the secret window" by Stephen King... The movie adaptation was good, the book, even better.

[Cancambo]

actually, if you like that kind of books you might consider reading "the secret window" by Stephen King... The movie adaptation was good, the book, even better.

I've just always been hesitant to reading Stephen King. I tend to not like horror because it just doesn't interest me. I like to have a main character I can sympathize for, but at the same time I don't want to be reading a horror story.

[Russt]

Offtopic: I saw this thread and at first thought it said "The thread all about good looks."

[Cancambo]

Offtopic: I saw this thread and at first thought it said "The thread all about good looks."

Offtopic reply: You could go make one in the funhouse. I wouldn't mind.

[Dual]

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. It's one of my favorite books. :f2: It's a murder mystery that takes place on an island. Here's the book's back cover.


First there were ten-a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to any of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal-and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder, and one by one they begin to fall prey to an unseen hand. As the only people on the island, unable to leave and unable to call for help, they know that the only possible suspects are among their numbers. And only the dead are above suspicion.

[Rob]

I've just always been hesitant to reading Stephen King. I tend to not like horror because it just doesn't interest me. I like to have a main character I can sympathize for, but at the same time I don't want to be reading a horror story.

Actually it's not REALLY a horror story. Yes, it has horror elements to it, it's freaking Stephen King, but an excellent book regardless.

[bio9205]

A book I just finished last week:

The Princetta and the Captain by Anne-Laure Bondoux

On the eve of her arranged marriage, 15-year-old Malva, Princetta of peaceful Galnicia, hides inside a wine barrel to be smuggled out of the palace. Malva yearns to choose her own future, and gleefully embraces shipboard life as she sails to freedom in another land. Treachery is afoot, however. Young Orpheus McBott sets out to rescue the Princetta, and the two join forces in an odyssey that carries them far beyond the Known World, into the mysterious Archipelago–the realm of the fearsome Catabea. Joined by an eccentric band of comrades, the two must survive a horrifying series of trials that test their courage and loyalty. Rich descriptive language enhances this swashbuckling fantasy, which is chock-full of action, as the Princetta and her followers encounter sharks, pirates, fierce gales, monsters, villains and temptation.
I know all this probably sounds cliche, but it's a really good book with many twists, and I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Definitely a good read.

I've just started reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman (I got interested in his books after seeing the movie Coraline), any comments on this book?

[Rob]

The Sigma Protocol - Robert Ludlum.

Robert Ludlum's trademark skills of intricate plotting, breakneck pacing, and high-wire drama are all on display in this gripping thriller. After his twin brother dies in a plane crash, Ben Hartman reluctantly takes his place in the investment firm started by their father, a Holocaust survivor. But then an old college buddy tries to kill Ben on a crowded Zurich street, setting off a chain of events that ultimately leads Ben into the thick of a worldwide conspiracy. Behind it is Sigma, a multinational cartel built on the rubble of World War II by industrialists and financiers bent on exploiting wartime technology and protecting their wealth from the threat of communism.

Accompanied by a beautiful American justice department agent, Ben eludes the assassins on his trail and follows Sigma's tentacles across Europe, to Argentina*, Washington, and finally to a sanitarium known as the Clockworks in the Austrian Alps, where the horrifying agenda of a perverted new world order is revealed. Ludlum, who died between the writing and publishing of this book, was a master of the genre he helped popularize, and The Sigma Protocol shows him at the peak of his craft.

*F'ucking silly reviewer on Amazon said they've been to Brazil. lrn2readyourbooks

Like a lot of Robert Ludlum's books, this one is thrilling, fast-paced and mind-blowing. The book features various plots at the same time, making your head multi-task while reading in the same chapter what's going on in Paris, Brussels, London and New York simultaneously. Published after Ludlum's death, the book excels in every field Ludlum is used to. If you liked the Bourne trilogy (movies or books, the same), this book won't let you down.

[Kawasari Mimoto]

Stephen Colbert's "I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!)". Man, this is one of the best reads ever. He talks about politics, sex, etc., you name it. This is a very intelligent man with a great sense of humor, I suggest this book to people that also has a sense of humor and wants to enjoy a good read.

[Greg]

http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/lens4240552_1240531352twilight_book_cover.jpg

I'm sure you've all heard of Twilight, a series of vampire books written by Stephanie Meyer. Frankly, these books are just terrible, and there should only be two kinds of people reading them: 12-year-old girls, and people seeking to read something humorous. I say humorous because it is; the writing is so bad, it's comical. These books are seeking to destroy any glimmering hope that today's youth will emerge as a literate, intelligent generation. Being a part of that generation myself, that only depresses me.

I want people to understand how horrible these books are. Truly and honestly just plain bad. Stephanie Meyer just does not write well, and I guess her editors are third graders. Or giraffes. I don't know how these books could land on the shelves, but they have, and they are filled with a copious amount of glaring and awful mistakes.

[Rob]

Hey, Greg, this is funny and all, but I prefer GOOD BOOKS in this thread.

[Greg]

Hey, Greg, this is funny and all, but I prefer GOOD BOOKS in this thread.

I know man, and I'm sorry, but I haven't really read a GOOD book in a long time. Twilight just happened to be one of my first skims in a long time. I read through like half of Angels & Demons, but kept putting off finishing it, and now it's just sitting there on the same desk its been sitting on since last year. ;~;


Just give your opinion of a book, either good or bad

[Rob]

I know man, and I'm sorry, but I haven't really read a GOOD book in a long time. Twilight just happened to be one of my first skims in a long time. I read through like half of Angels & Demons, but kept putting off finishing it, and now it's just sitting there on the same desk its been sitting on since last year. ;~;

Oh, I didn't see what Matt posted anyway, sorry.

I can assure most of the books in this thread are good reads, trust me.

[Greg]

I can assure most of the books in this thread are good reads, trust me.

Iono man, I never finish my books, even if they seemed good from what I had read already. When I was in elementary school, we'd go to the library once a week, and I'd always get a different Goosebumps book and never read more than half of it. The only kinds of books that I barely enjoy reading are biographies/autobiographies. I read one on Slash (Guns n' Roses guitarist) two years ago and it was great. That was the last book I actually finished... baww...

[Kawasari Mimoto]

Oh, I didn't see what Matt posted anyway, sorry.

I can assure most of the books in this thread are good reads, trust me.

Except what Greg posted.

[Rob]

Iono man, I never finish my books, even if they seemed good from what I had read already. When I was in elementary school, we'd go to the library once a week, and I'd always get a different Goosebumps book and never read more than half of it. The only kinds of books that I barely enjoy reading are biographies/autobiographies. I read one on Slash (Guns n' Roses guitarist) two years ago and it was great. That was the last book I actually finished... baww...

If you're into auto/biographies, I'd recommend the one about Andre Agassi, and every one you can find about Tricky/Red Hot Chili Peppers/The Beatles/Pink Floyd.

Awesome reads dude.


Except what Greg posted.

No need to get so technical :F3:

[CarpeDiem]

http://a0.vox.com/6a00e398af4589000100f48ceb06b80002-500pi
Love this author! No formal uptight guy, but someone who provides humor and a non girly "diary entry". Begins with a man named A.J Jacobs who begins to follow the laws and rules of the Bible word for word. He also describes himself in the book without being that boring type of person that tells you what they did every single minute of the day, nor is he afraid to tell you his flaws. He also took on the challenge of reading the entire Britannica Encyclopedia in his other book. In closing: Amazing read.

[Cancambo]

So today I finished Flight and I almost cried. I was really moved. I really think you guys should read it, and don't worry, it is a fast read. I think it took me 4~5 days to finish.

I think my favorite part was how it was written. It was written in stream-of-consciousness.

[Beaner]

stephen king books everyone should read.

The Dead Zone.
Johnny Smith is injured in an accident and enters a coma for nearly five years. When he emerges, he can see horrifying secrets, but he cannot identify all the details because of an area of his brain being dead.

Needful Things
Set in the small fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, a new shop named "Needful Things" opens, to the curiosity of the townspeople. One by one, they start to come into the shop, drawn there by something they want more than anything else.

The Green Mile
The Green Mile is Cold Mountain Penitentiary's Death Row. Paul Edgecomb has seen many men come and go through E Block, but none quite like John Coffey. The giant, sentenced to death for a horrifying crime, reveals a fascinating truth to Paul, shaking the very foundations of his world.

The Long Walk
One hundred teenage boys (picked at random from a large pool of applicants) are chosen to participate in an annual walking contest called "The Long Walk". Each walker must maintain a constant speed of no less than four miles an hour or risk being shot by soldiers monitoring the event.


those are my favorites from all of his books i have read. of course the short stories in Skeleton Crew, Nightmares & Dreamscapes and Everything's Eventual are top quality too. i actually like his short stories more than most of his books.

[Rob]

I'm gonna get addicted to this thread. lol

Kafka By The Shore - Haruki Murakami

Joining the rich literature of runaways, Kafka On The Shore follows the solitary, self-disciplined schoolboy Kafka Tamura as he hops a bus from Tokyo to the randomly chosen town of Takamatsu, reminding himself at each step that he has to be "the world¹s toughest fifteen-year-old." He finds a secluded private library in which to spend his days--continuing his impressive self-education--and is befriended by a clerk and the mysteriously remote head librarian, Miss Saeki, whom he fantasizes may be his long-lost mother. Meanwhile, in a second, wilder narrative spiral, an elderly Tokyo man named Nakata veers from his calm routine by murdering a stranger. An unforgettable character, beautifully delineated by Murakami, Nakata can speak with cats but cannot read or write, nor explain the forces drawing him toward Takamatsu and the other characters.

God, this book was awesome. After reading Norwegian Wood from Murakami, I wanted more. I found myself reading my own imagination. This book was like a long run-on sentence, as I finished its 730 pages in just a week. It was like a trip. The best part of this is that after finishing it, it's even better! I'm still asking myself what happened, why people got to relate to each other the way they did, how did that happen, etc.

Awesome read. I look forward to read more from this author.

[Cancambo]

I'm gonna get addicted to this thread. lol

Kafka By The Shore - Haruki Murakami

Joining the rich literature of runaways, Kafka On The Shore follows the solitary, self-disciplined schoolboy Kafka Tamura as he hops a bus from Tokyo to the randomly chosen town of Takamatsu, reminding himself at each step that he has to be "the world¹s toughest fifteen-year-old." He finds a secluded private library in which to spend his days--continuing his impressive self-education--and is befriended by a clerk and the mysteriously remote head librarian, Miss Saeki, whom he fantasizes may be his long-lost mother. Meanwhile, in a second, wilder narrative spiral, an elderly Tokyo man named Nakata veers from his calm routine by murdering a stranger. An unforgettable character, beautifully delineated by Murakami, Nakata can speak with cats but cannot read or write, nor explain the forces drawing him toward Takamatsu and the other characters.

God, this book was awesome. After reading Norwegian Wood from Murakami, I wanted more. I found myself reading my own imagination. This book was like a long run-on sentence, as I finished its 730 pages in just a week. It was like a trip. The best part of this is that after finishing it, it's even better! I'm still asking myself what happened, why people got to relate to each other the way they did, how did that happen, etc.

Awesome read. I look forward to read more from this author.

You really like Japanese books, eh?

[Smooth Criminal]

The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde


The story's title character is an exceptionally handsome young man who, both in the eyes of the artist tasked to paint his portrait, Basil Hallward, and in those of their somewhat older friend Lord Henry Wotton, epitomizes perfect beauty and is coveted by both men for that very reason. Seduced by hedonistic Lord Henry into believing that beauty can literally justify anything, including any act of immorality, Dorian sells his soul for maintaining his beautiful appearance, letting his portrait age in his stead. (In that, his character resembles Goethe's and Marlowe's Faust.) He then quickly turns from an innocent youth into a cruel and calculating man whom society, in its shallow adherence to appearances, nonetheless never associates with any of the results of his cruelty, never looking beyond the surface of his handsome exterior and assuming that a man so beautiful must necessarily also be good.


God, this book was awesome. I recently finished this for a high school Western Literature class. Oscar Wilde's wit and sarcasm found in epigrams and some of Lord Henry Wotton's dialogue kept the book actually fresh and somewhat humorous at times for me. Lord Henry Wotton is definitely one of classic literature's more interesting characters. What I really liked about this was how excellent Wilde is at presenting Dorian's gradual changes in character and the impact of the painting on himself as it builds slowly towards the revelations at the ending. However, the one thing I dislike about this book is the large amount of ambling, directionless conversations that appear within the book; but the rest is pretty riveting and thrilling to me. Wilde himself said that he did not like for morals to mix with art due to the aestheticism movements going around in England during his time, so I'm not entirely sure of this, but I felt that the story moves in a direction where the reader is almost hoping for some sort of moral justice to satisfy them at the ending due to Dorian growing increasingly cruel.

I found myself wondering what gets him in the end: is it because he attempts to mix morals into the teachings of aestheticism and the morals he was indoctrinated by society are actually what caused him to die instead of just continuing living on life to the teachings of aestheticism, or is it that he realizes his character is corrupt and any attempts to be "good" are just facades thereby making his attempts for genuine redemption from the weight of his sins worthless and thereby killing himself just to free himself from the burden of his sins for some sort of triumph of morals?
As I mentioned before, the ending may feel satisfying as the moral retribution the reader has been longing for at the end. However, if we look at this from the perspective that perhaps Wilde himself would have viewed it, where Dorian's death serves as a reminder of why art/beauty and morals should never, this also feels conclusive: if we view all of Dorian's hedonistic actions as fulfilling and actually in a positive light despite them seeming "asshole-ish" to our own eyes as a reader, we see that he meets his demise because of morals clouding his judgment and giving him this self doubt and dislike of his soul instead of continuing to act on his desires for pleasure. Still good ending either way.

So, I'm thinking about trying that Kafka on the Shore novel someday. I'll definitely set time one day to get that book from Borders or rent it from the library and read through it at home or during a trip.

[Cancambo]

The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde


The story's title character is an exceptionally handsome young man who, both in the eyes of the artist tasked to paint his portrait, Basil Hallward, and in those of their somewhat older friend Lord Henry Wotton, epitomizes perfect beauty and is coveted by both men for that very reason. Seduced by hedonistic Lord Henry into believing that beauty can literally justify anything, including any act of immorality, Dorian sells his soul for maintaining his beautiful appearance, letting his portrait age in his stead. (In that, his character resembles Goethe's and Marlowe's Faust.) He then quickly turns from an innocent youth into a cruel and calculating man whom society, in its shallow adherence to appearances, nonetheless never associates with any of the results of his cruelty, never looking beyond the surface of his handsome exterior and assuming that a man so beautiful must necessarily also be good.


God, this book was awesome. I recently finished this for a high school Western Literature class. Oscar Wilde's wit and sarcasm found in epigrams and some of Lord Henry Wotton's dialogue kept the book actually fresh and somewhat humorous at times for me. Lord Henry Wotton is definitely one of classic literature's more interesting characters. What I really liked about this was how excellent Wilde is at presenting Dorian's gradual changes in character and the impact of the painting on himself as it builds slowly towards the revelations at the ending. However, the one thing I dislike about this book is the large amount of ambling, directionless conversations that appear within the book; but the rest is pretty riveting and thrilling to me. Wilde himself said that he did not like for morals to mix with art due to the aestheticism movements going around in England during his time, so I'm not entirely sure of this, but I felt that the story moves in a direction where the reader is almost hoping for some sort of moral justice to satisfy them at the ending due to Dorian growing increasingly cruel.


I WAS GOING TO READ THAT! Too bad the library didn't have it then. :f4:

I'll have to check up on it soon because i was really looking forward to reading it.

[Rob]

You really like Japanese books, eh?

Actually, no. They're just some trend I'm following right now. Actually I read only about... 10~15 Japanese books?

[Rob]

Double posting because I read too many books.

The Matarese Countdown - Robert Ludlum

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/Ludlum_-_The_Matarese_Countdown_Coverart.png

Like the legendary phoenix, the Materese are rising from the ashes and are regaining their former power. The new leader of the Matarese is an enigmatic figure named Jan van der Meer Matareisen, according to himself the only legitimate grandchild of Baron Guillaume de Matarese, the founder of the Matarese group. With the help of another shadowy figure known as Julian Guiderone a.k.a. "son of the shepherd boy," who seems to have survived the events recounted in "The Matarese Circle" nearly twenty years ago, they are hatching a new and diabolical plot to plunge the civilised world into total chaos.

Only one man, a CIA operative known as Brandon Scofield a.k.a. Beowulf Agate, can stop them, but he has been retired for nearly twenty years. Brandon Scofield is once again sent into the field together with a CIA case officer Cameron Pryce but this time the enemy is more dangerous.

Yet another book by Ludlum. As I said before, his stories always get me on the verge of a nervous collapse. I get into the books a lot, and I can't stop reading until I devour the last pages.

[RideBMX]

Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Harry Haller is a sad and lonely figure, a reclusive intellectual for whom life holds no joys. He struggles to reconcile the wild primeval wolf and the rational man within himself without surrendering to the bourgeois values he despises. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine. The tale of the Steppenwolf culminates in the surreal Magic Theater — For Madman Only!
The battle of one's self between the outspoken hatred and silent longing of humanity.

ENTRANCE NOT FOR EVERYBODY
This shrinking was in course of time replaced by a sympathy inspired by pity for one who has suffered so long and deeply, and whose loneliness and inward death I witnessed. In course of time I was more and more conscious, too, that this affliction was not due to any defects of nature, but rather to a profusion of gifts and powers which had not attained to harmony. I saw that Haller was a genius of suffering and that in the meaning of many sayings of Nietzsche he had created within himself with positive genius a boundless and frightful capacity for pain. I saw at the same time that the root of his pessimism was not world-contempt but self-contempt; for however mercilessly he might annihilate institutions and persons with his talk he never spared himself. It was always at himself first and foremost that he aimed the shaft, himself first and foremost whom he hated and despised.

[Matt]

So today I finished Flight and I almost cried. I was really moved. I really think you guys should read it, and don't worry, it is a fast read. I think it took me 4~5 days to finish.

I think my favorite part was how it was written. It was written in stream-of-consciousness.

After Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and some of Joyce's books, I'm a little tentative on touching stream-of-consciousness again.

[Super_cyp]

I recently read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

When sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games. she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

I found it really interesting, I was a bit skeptical about getting it in the store, but it was really enjoyable and I'm glad I did. I'm dying for the 3rd book.

If you haven't read the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy I also recommend it.. I didn't think it would be my type of book, but I found it funny and very enjoyable.. Mind you I only read 3 and a half. I got sidetracked and never finished it..

One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very very very large and startling place.

The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix was also really enjoyable, it was adventurous, interesting and funny at times, There's also The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix, It's also enjoyable, they're a bit short and simple reads but quite interesting to see the many things Arthur has to accomplish.

One more book I recommend is Monster Blood Tattoo by D.M Cornish
Adventurous, gory.. I loved it.

The vast lands of the Half Continent bear the scars of centuries of conflict between humans and monsters. Only the hardiest of souls now travel the inland ways: merchants, Imperial messengers and bravest of all the monster-hunters. To be a hunter takes great cunning and extraordinary skill, for the creatures are as deadly as they are varied. Bogles, rever-man, grinnlings and nickers any one can kill a human quicker than thought.

Not that Rossamund Bookchild should worry. The orphan boy with a girl's name lives safe within the walls of Madam Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. Safe, at least, until the day he is recruited into the service of the Empire, by a strange man with blood red eyes. This is his story.

Despite what people say I enjoyed Twilight, the imagery was very clear in my head, and is probably why I enjoyed them so much, not many authors can make me imagine a book in great detail, like Stephenie Meyer did in Twilight.(Don't kill me for saying that D:)

I would grab my Garth Nix books for the excerpt out of them but sadly they are at the bottom of my manga and keeping them stable and I'm terrified that if I pull them out the whole stack will fall down.. I really don't need over 100 manga falling on me ^^;

[Cancambo]

After Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and some of Joyce's books, I'm a little tentative on touching stream-of-consciousness again.

Stream-of-consciousness is amazing!


There's also The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix, It's also enjoyable, they're a bit short and simple reads but quite interesting to see the many things Arthur has to accomplish.

I read up to Lady Friday, but I kind of forgot about these books. I thought they were interesting when I read them (Jr. high and early in high school).

Anyways, I am about halfway through Candide by Voltaire and it has a lot of powerful quotes. It is really, really good.

Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan. Fast, funny, often outrageous, the French philosopher's immortal narrative takes Candide around the world to discover that -- contrary to the teachings of his distringuished tutor Dr. Pangloss -- all is not always for the best. Alive with wit, brilliance, and graceful storytelling, Candide has become Voltaire's most celebrated work.

[Sapreaver]

Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Good book ^.^

Any Suggestions?

[Cancambo]

Finished Candide the other day. It was a really good book. The most interesting parts of the book is how it gave what I believe was an accurate portrayal of life in that time.

[Smooth Criminal]

Reading Moll Flanders for literature class, not sure how much I like this...

Hm, I've read an excerpt from Candide, and it doesn't seem too bad compared to how obnoxiously difficult Daniel Defoe wrote Moll Flanders, who apparently thought it brilliant to write everything in vernacular, un-literary, and plain language of the time and decides to ride everything on strong journalistic accuracy and a strong voice to tell this story; hell, I think I found Shakespeare's Macbeth that my class read last month a more comfortable read than this read that makes me feel butthurt everytime I read it. I think I might decide to look into Candide for the heck of it someday.

[Nightclaw]

My favorite books:

Dragon Rider
Treasure Island
Murder Mystery (yes, thats the real name)
Pendragon Series
Axis Institute Series

And one more I can't think of right now.

[Cancambo]

Reading Moll Flanders for literature class, not sure how much I like this...

Hm, I've read an excerpt from Candide, and it doesn't seem too bad compared to how obnoxiously difficult Daniel Defoe wrote Moll Flanders, who apparently thought it brilliant to write everything in vernacular, un-literary, and plain language of the time and decides to ride everything on strong journalistic accuracy and a strong voice to tell this story; hell, I think I found Shakespeare's Macbeth that my class read last month a more comfortable read than this read that makes me feel butthurt everytime I read it. I think I might decide to look into Candide for the heck of it someday.

Do it. To be honest, I never thought I would ever really like books by writers you learn about in school. I gave it a chance, and it was a great book. Short but powerful.

[Tay]

I loved Animal Farm and Watership Down.
:|
PROPAGANDA YAY

[Smooth Criminal]

I loved Animal Farm and Watership Down.
:|
PROPAGANDA YAY

Animal Farm, huh? When I read through that for school, I loved it so much that I bought a personal copy! Same with Art Spiegelman's Maus I and II as well as Catcher in the Rye.

Speaking of school curriculum stuff, how about Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None? Pretty nice mystery book and definitely one of my favorites for something I've had to read for school.

[Cancambo]

The Great Gatsby was really good, too. I wasn't a big fan of Huckleberry Fin, though.

[Tremulant]

you should try stuff by james kerouac if you like stream of consciousness. he's one of the better known stream of consciousness writers that kind of pioneered it during the beat generation

[Kurtle]

Atlas Shrugged is a must for anyone seeking intellectual readings. It is the new world Bible that will be the savior of socialistic mentality. LONG LIKE CAPITALISM. LONG LIVE OBJECTIVISM. LONG. LIVE. RAND.

[Rob]

Norgewian Wood - Haruki Murakami

In a complete stylistic departure from his mysterious and surreal novels (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; A Wild Sheep Chase) that show the influences of Salinger, Fitzgerald and Tom Robbins, Murakami tells a bittersweet coming-of-age story, reminiscent of J.R. Salamanca's classic 1964 novel, LilithAthe tale of a young man's involvement with a schizophrenic girl. A successful, 37-year-old businessman, Toru Watanabe, hears a version of the Beatles' Norwegian Wood, and the music transports him back 18 years to his college days. His best friend, Kizuki, inexplicably commits suicide, after which Toru becomes first enamored, then involved with Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko. But Naoko is a very troubled young woman; her brilliant older sister has also committed suicide, and though sweet and desperate for happiness, she often becomes untethered. She eventually enters a convalescent home for disturbed people, and when Toru visits her, he meets her roommate, an older musician named Reiko, who's had a long history of mental instability. The three become fast friends. Toru makes a commitment to Naoko, but back at college he encounters Midori, a vibrant, outgoing young woman. As he falls in love with her, Toru realizes he cannot continue his relationship with Naoko, whose sanity is fast deteriorating. Though the solution to his problem comes too easily, Murakami tells a subtle, charming, profound and very sexy story of young love bound for tragedy. Published in Japan in 1987, this novel proved a wild success there, selling four million copies.

I cannot explain how good this book makes me feel. It's one of those books you have to read over and over and over and over again. I completely loved it. In line with Kafka on the Shore, the other book by Murakami I reviewed in this same thread, the imaginery is perfect, the narrating-style is brilliant, and the characters lovable, to say the least.

I'm still wondering about the ending though, even if I read it for the first time like 2 and a half months ago. If anyone is interested in picking a Japanese author, let it be Murakami with this book, it's pretty western oriented, but Japanese at the same time. Hard to explain.

[MtDewGod]

Brian Lumleys The necroscope series is one of the best book series ever written.



Harry Keogh (born Harry Snaith) is born with the ability to speak to the dead. As he grows up and his power manifests itself, he befriends the dead. From them he learns that death is not the end, that once the bodies die the mind goes on, and the dead continue to do in death what they did in life. From him, the once silent Great Majority learns to communicate amongst themselves, and love him for it. In turn, they offer him their knowledge. From a former maths teacher he discovers his own mathematical genius, and an ex-ex-army sergeant teaches him self-defense.
As the years go by, he has recurring dreams about his mother, dead after an alleged ice-skating accident but in reality murdered by her husband and Harry's stepfather Victor Shukshin. Shukshin is a psychic sensitive, a defector sleeper agent planted by the Soviet E-Branch. In his self-appointed mission to avenge his mother's death, Harry is dragged into a web of espionage (actually, ESPionage) involving the British and Soviet ESP agencies.
This leads to Harry learning to use the Möbius Continuum (from its discoverer, August Ferdinand Möbius himself, at his grave in Leipzig, Germany), which allows him to instantaneously transport himself anywhere in the world, and pits him head to head against Boris Dragosani, a necromancer and fledgling vampire.
From that point on, Keogh, backed by the British E-Branch, works to rid the world of the vampire menace, a mission that will eventually lead him to a parallel world, Sunside/Starside, the vampire world connected to Earth via two grey holes, one in Romania (the original "source" of vampires on Earth) and a second, recent one in the Pechorsk Proyect in the Urals. It is there that Harry Keogh's final death eventually meets up with him, after he has lost his family, his friends, his deadspeak and his numeracy... but not his humanity.
But as Harry knows well, death is not the end. His was a success story, and such stories need to go on. In the Möbius Continuum, Harry's essence explodes in a burst of golden light, and from that explosion a myriad of golden darts, each a part of Harry, come forth.
Each of those golden darts carry a part of Keogh, and can join with a host to grant him some of the abilities of the original Necroscope. Later books in the series tell the stories of individuals touched by these darts; Nathan Kiklu, Jake Cutter and Scott St. John. The darts seek to continue their mission in life, and so bond to individuals who will come up against the Necroscope's old foes, the Wamphyri, or menaces of a similar nature.
Harry's physical remains, infected by the spores of the vampire Faethor Ferenczy, were sent back in time by the Möbius Continuum and ended up in the marshes of the vampire world, ironically making him the source of the vampire plague when his own spores infected Shaitan; the first Wamphyri lord.