Jump to content

-- HabsWorld Official Book Thread --


Doktor Kosmos

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 119
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 4 months later...
  • 4 months later...

I just finished East of Eden and I think it's the greatest book I've ever read by far.

Two Girls, Fat and Thin - Mary Gaitskill

One of my all-time favourite books, it's a heavy read about two sexually/mentally/physically-abused women who come together and form a (unhealthy) relationship. There are also flashbacks on their past/childhood. All in all, a great read and I highly recommend it, although it's not for the squeamish.

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martins

Probably my favourite fantasy series, I can't say enough about it. Instead of your typical high fantasy series with clear divisions between good and evil, this is a very dark and gritty series. Very few (if any) characters are portrayed as strictly good or evil, but instead fall in the middle as there is a redeeming quality for each damning quality and vice versa. Also, it's low-magic, so don't expect wizards running around casting fireball.

Haha. That's funny that Faerie liked that series, my sister is really into it and one of the sequels is actually sitting right next to me right this second. I didn't think many people knew of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of interesting ideas on here, which is good to see. I wonder if the books that Jets read (X-Men, Res. Evil, Halo, Magic, etc) are really any good. I'd be curious to try out one or two to see how they are. PM me Jets, if you get the chance, and let me know more in-depth info about those ones. I've read some DragonLance and related books, and some are pretty good. (Salvatore comes to mind.)

Not surprised to see Tolkien listed here (though someone get the guy an editor - Tom Bombadil? Really? Editors today would have cut that faster than an army recruit's hair), as well as George Martin (the Song of Fire and Ice series is actually extremely well written). Rowling's epic (lol!) Potter books are fun, if not particularly challenging, though the last is a cop-out, in my opinion.

Niven is a particularly ingenious writer and his Ringworld books are intelligent and fascinating. Zahn's books, Star Wars and otherwise, are all very well written and quite in depth. Anyone who reads Adam's Hitchhiker's series and doesn't crack a smile may actually be proven clinically dead. Asimov was an absolute genious, and the Foundation books were (and still are in many ways) light years ahead of others of the genre in complexity and design.

I've never been a fan of Grisham, Crichton, or Clancy. Dan Brown I like least of that bunch. His grade 6 vocabulary and simple sentences were enough to bore me to sleep - thank gawd he at least has some concept of pacing and his ideas are good. The rest, formulaic at best, and Clancy tough slogging because he's so technical at times (thankfully he got better the longer he went).

I was shocked and pleased to see someone had read Steinbeck, who has to go down as one of the best writers I know of. While I haven't yet read East of Eden, I do know that Grapes of Wrath, while a tough book to deal with, was superb. His best, mind you, were Cannery Row and the follow up, Sweet Thursday.

To Kill a Mockingbird was probably one of the best I've ever read. I won't describe it, but suffice it to say that, if read, it'll really make you think.

If you want to try something way off the beaten path (and really challenge yourself), try Thus Spoke Zarathustra, by Nietzsche. I read it with an atheist, a priest and one of the priest's congregation, and that let to some fascinating discussion.

Hemingway's In Our Time is a wonderful indictment of his time period, and The Old Man and the Sea is a fantastic character study. Interestingly enough, he writes that very simply, but you never notice it because the ideas are so complex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Colin, don't get me started on the final Harry Potter book. It was far and away the best! I've told you, there was no possible way the story could have completed itself if Harry had stayed at school.

Oh, by the way, I've read for one of my classes this year and I liked them: A Raisin in the Sun, The Joy Luck Club, A Glass Menagerie and Twelve Angry Men (though I'd already read it and seen the movie before this). Hard to pick a favourite out of those, but I really liked the ending to Raisin, so that might be my favourite.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ BTH, you're not at Vanier, are you?

lmao... no way would I ever go to the same school you go to, I prefer to avoid you like the plague. :) I'm going to Dawson, my sister takes a class at Vanier though and she's about your age (she's 20) so maybe you've seen her there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lmao... no way would I ever go to the same school you go to, I prefer to avoid you like the plague. :) I'm going to Dawson, my sister takes a class at Vanier though and she's about your age (she's 20) so maybe you've seen her there.

Jokes on you mahn, I'm not in Vanier anymore - already graduated. I'm @ Concordia now (but will be done next Friday! :o).

I'm only asking because my girlfriend is actually @ Vanier and she read the book you were talking about in class - so I thought it'd be funny if you guys were in the same class or something along those lines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
just picked up a copy of The Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut. Anyone read this? Thoughts?

Wow. Dude, you are in for a treat! :wub:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

So I went to the library today and checked out two books:

Paul Auster's The Brooklyn Follies

and

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

I'm going to read Auster first. I look forward to reading Bradbury. It's one of those books I've always heard is one of the best and one you have to read before you lay down for the final dirtnap, but other than that it's some sort of dystopian book along the lines of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, I don't know anything about it. And I like that feeling; there are lots of books and movies that I would love to be able to enjoy again for the first time, if you catch my drift.

(PS. I can't find the old book thread. Have a lot of old threads been deleted?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(PS. I can't find the old book thread. Have a lot of old threads been deleted?)

Can't of been, I was reading it to other day looking for reccomendations on books to get out of the library that I can read during my vacation this weekend.

EDIT: Right here http://forums.habsworld.net/index.php?show...407&hl=book

Edited by jetsniper
Link to comment
Share on other sites

THat's weird, I can only see two pages worth of threads. :wacko:

Anyway, who's a moderator around here? You can merge this with the old book thread. No point of having two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, I know what the problem is. You'll have to set the forum to showing all threads instead of just from the last 30 days. If you go to The Lounge, all of that stuff is at the bottom of the page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I went to the library today and checked out two books:

Paul Auster's The Brooklyn Follies

and

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

I'm going to read Auster first. I look forward to reading Bradbury. It's one of those books I've always heard is one of the best and one you have to read before you lay down for the final dirtnap, but other than that it's some sort of dystopian book along the lines of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, I don't know anything about it. And I like that feeling; there are lots of books and movies that I would love to be able to enjoy again for the first time, if you catch my drift.

(PS. I can't find the old book thread. Have a lot of old threads been deleted?)

Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is one of the best books I've ever read. A little short but Bradbury is an absolute master at creating a visual picture with his words. It's amazing that he wrote this book in the 50's and essentially describes many technologies you see today. I think it's an absolute must read...too bad it's banned in Ontario schools...it's almost funny considering the topic and content of the novel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, I know what the problem is. You'll have to set the forum to showing all threads instead of just from the last 30 days. If you go to The Lounge, all of that stuff is at the bottom of the page.

Ah, I see. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know what, I might as well ask. I'm looking for a good fantasy book (even a series works since we just put out the patio furniture so I could do some reading after the weekend as well) for my vacation. Something with magic and knights and dragons and all that stuff.

I guess I'd be looking for the middle ground between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. And I don't want to read His Dark Materials or Eragon. HDM because I saw Golden Compass and liked it so I know I'll read the book and the movie will be nothing like it which will just dissapoint me. Eragon just because I've heard they're all terrible books (movie sucked too)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, I used to play role-playing games (Dungeons & Dragons and that kind of stuff) when I was a teenager, but I haven't really read a lot of fantasy literature. All I've basically read is Tolkien and David Eddings (namely The Belgariad and The Malloreon as well as the related Belgarath the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress and The Rivan Codex. I highly recommend those though, I remember one time I got a couple of them for Christmas and I read Eddings' books cover to cover, hardly even stopped for food and sleep. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, my sister is trying to get the first book from the series A Song of Ice and Fire back from her friend so I can start reading them. I've heard other posters like Faerie say they loved them in this thread so apparently they're pretty well known. I believe the author's name is George R.R. Martin but I may have made that up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, my sister is trying to get the first book from the series A Song of Ice and Fire back from her friend so I can start reading them. I've heard other posters like Faerie say they loved them in this thread so apparently they're pretty well known. I believe the author's name is George R.R. Martin but I may have made that up.

No, you're right.

I've read the first one and thought it was alright but it's not quite what I'm looking for. I want like full on fantasy. Dragon battles and stuff. My stupid library doesn't have any of the series anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions DK, I'll check them out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...