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Tiferet
2006-05-28, 05:20 PM
I saw a thread earlier that was talking about what makes a 'good' book, and I got to thinking about the fact that I haven't read any really good books lately, so I thought I'd ask what everyone's favorite books are to get some ideas.

I like fantasy novles myself. My all time favorite series are the Legacy of Drizzt books by R.A. Salvatore. Homeland is my favorite of the series.

Anyone got any suggetions? (Sorry if this is a repeat topic, I'm new to the board.)

rdmflash
2006-05-28, 05:35 PM
well if you like fantasy there is a place online that has some free stuff.
other than that I am out.

Morden
2006-05-28, 05:42 PM
Try www.baen.com and check out their free library.

Favourite series atm would have to be Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" and pretty much anything by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

The Drizzt books were good, but now they suffer from the same problem as Tolkien. They used to be original, but now there are so many copies, they just seem ordinary... sucks, but that's how it goes when you become popular.

Shea Landford
2006-05-28, 06:18 PM
I like the Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks. A very good read.

Thiel
2006-05-28, 07:29 PM
www.orbitbooks.co.uk has alot of samples if you bother to look for them.

Archonic Energy
2006-05-28, 07:53 PM
hmm this question looks familiar....

Issac Asimov's Foundation.

Read it, is all i can say!

Tom_Violence
2006-05-28, 08:10 PM
I never was a big fan of fantasy novels myself (except perhaps for the Discworld books, but I think that's probably more for the humour than anything else, and it being quite different to most fantasy helps), though I do enjoy fantasy in general, just not so much the literature.

Probably my favourite author at the moment is Bret Easton Ellis (of American Psycho and Glamorama fame), mainly just for the way he writes, over the actual plotlines, which are still excellent though.

Another book which I've just re-read recently, and remember how awesome it is, is Joseph Heller's Catch-22. If you've not read it then you seriously owe it to yourself to read it. Very funny, and at the same time so damn serious. Most definitely in my Top 5.

CelestialStick
2006-05-28, 08:21 PM
If you haven't read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings yet, I reccomend it. It's been my favorite book (it was released as a triology but that annoyed Tolkien as he considered it only one book) for the past 30 years or so. As companions to it I recommend The Hobbit (first) and The Silmarillion (afterwards). The Silmarillion covers earlier periods of history in Tolkien's Middle Earth, but because it tells many stories rather than just one, and therefore has many more characters, I think people don't tend to enjoy it as much as The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, both of which focus on relatively smaller groups of characters. I personally love The Silmarillion, which among other things tells the stories of the divine beings know as the Valar in the very beginnings of Middle Earth.

I also second the call by Archonic Energy for Issac Asimov's Foundation books. Indeed any fiction by him is pretty much awesome. I also strongly recommend the two Amber series of books by Roger Zelazny, the Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer, almost anything by Piers Anthony, and if you haven't read it yet, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, an excellent version of the Arthurian legend. For another excellent version, told from the women's (and pagans') perspective, I recommend Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. That all should keep you reading for a while. :)

Oh, skip the Sword of Shanara and other trash by Terry Brooks. It's a total ripoff of Lord of the Rings.

Oh, I also recommend the books about Ender by Orson Scott Card. Very well done. And the Dune series by Frank Herbert is excellent. I can't attest to the stuff written by his son, but the original books were superb. I don't know how old you are; if you're a teen you might not like the sequels as well as the original. As a teen I read Dune, loved it, and then read Dune Messiah, and hated it. I also read Children of Dune as a teen and though it was mediocre. At that time the later Dune books didn't exist (God Emperor of Dune is the only one that comes to mind). About 15 years later I read the series and found Dune Messiah superb. At the age of 15 I just didn't have the maturity to appreciate its subtlety. Of course, someone else at the age of 15 might have more subtlety than I did. :D

Quantum
2006-05-28, 09:53 PM
For a really inovative fantasy, go with George R. Martain's A Game of Thrones, the first of the song of ice and fire series.

For even more inovative fantasy, read Wicked. A facinating read.

quantum

The Vorpal Tribble
2006-05-28, 10:43 PM
Oh, I also recommend the books about Ender by Orson Scott Card.
Hear, hear! Definetely my favorite series. The split into the Bean saga is also top notch.

Like mentioned above I'm not much of a fantasy reader, though the Discworld series is probably my 2nd favorite.

The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings mustn't be left out either.

I honestly can't say beyond that which are my favorites because I'm an absolute book junky and my room is basically a small library. Too many to choose from.

6079smithw
2006-05-28, 11:21 PM
1984, followed increasingly closely by The Great Gatsby.
I mean, I loves me some Philip K ****, but literary classics are considered great for a reason. They're unbelievably deep and powerful, and stand up to endless re-reading.

Also Vonnegut. Because Vonnegut's great.

CelestialStick
2006-05-29, 12:21 AM
Hear, hear! Definetely my favorite series. The split into the Bean saga is also top notch.

Like mentioned above I'm not much of a fantasy reader, though the Discworld series is probably my 2nd favorite.

The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings mustn't be left out either.

I honestly can't say beyond that which are my favorites because I'm an absolute book junky and my room is basically a small library. Too many to choose from.
My whole condo is like that!

I'd also recommend anything by Larry Niven. His Known Sapce novels had good sci fi with a great sense of humor. I don't know if he's still writing, but he was popular back in the last 1960s and early 1970s.

Oh, I just checked on Amazon.com and he's got some fairly recent books too. One of the oldies I recommend is Ringworld, and now I see that he's written several sequels as well. I'm going to have to do some new reading myself I see! :D

Docta_Dillon
2006-05-29, 01:06 AM
Probably my favorite fantasy series is: Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Its lengthy though, twelve books so far.

A fantasy series that was pretty good, but some of the books made me want to find the author and give him a good talking to, but the most recent book was awesome: The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind

I just (the last two days) read the Halo Series, which was pretty good, if you are looking for a quick and lite sci-fi and like the games.

And to agree with CelestialStick and Archonic Energy, pretty much anything by Asimov is superb, including the books that are about actual science.

-Dillon

CelestialStick
2006-05-29, 01:22 AM
Probably my favorite fantasy series is: Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Its lengthy though, twelve books so far.

A fantasy series that was pretty good, but some of the books made me want to find the author and give him a good talking to, but the most recent book was awesome: The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind

I just (the last two days) read the Halo Series, which was pretty good, if you are looking for a quick and lite sci-fi and like the games.

And to agree with Archonic Energy, pretty much anything by Asimov is superb, including the books that are about actual science.

-Dillon

Actually Archonic just mentioned Foundation; I'm the one who recommended anything by Asimov. :)

Docta_Dillon
2006-05-29, 02:18 AM
Sorry about that, shouldnt let your good tastes go unnoticed.

I thought about it some more and some other good books are:

Dawn by Octavian Butler

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. ****

bosssmiley
2006-05-29, 03:43 AM
1984...<trimmed stuff>

Seconded. Read that book when I was about 14, and haven't looked at the world the same since.

Probably the defining modern classic of the Cold War period. Heck, you could even determine whether a nation was a democracy or not really easily; did they ban "1984". "Yes" = police state.


WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

You know, Ingsoc isn't so bad when you're an Orc.

"Thag comforted by thought of Big Brother always watching over him" ;D

Ted_Stryker
2006-05-29, 03:53 AM
Limiting myself to fantasy and science fiction:

I'd have to put the LotR trilogy at the top of my list. The Silmarillion has its charms, too.

I really like all of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books until King Kelson's Bride, which was OK but if suffered from the problem that basically any and all problems can be solved by making someone a duke/duchess.

I'm a big fan of the first 6 books from the WoT series. Everything from Book 7 onwards is pretty uneven. I really need to be Jordan-hungry to read The Path of Daggers and Crossroads to Twilight.

I'm not much of a fan of the rest of his work, but I really like Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series. The Nature and God ones are only so-so, but everything else is pretty good.

The geopolitical backdrop of this book is dated, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Contact by Carl Sagan.

happyjenn97
2006-05-29, 04:44 AM
Random sampling of some stuff on my shelf:

- Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (non-fiction)
- Lies Across America and Lies My Teacher Told Me, both by James Loewen (non-fiction)
- Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked, but it's better than Wicked, IMHO.)
- Closer by Patrick Marber (it's a play, not a novel)
- The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White (author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, but this is my favorite of all three)
- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (play, not a novel)
- any mystery/suspense novels by the following authors: G.M. Ford, Earl Emerson, and Laurie R. King.

... and there's lots more where those came from.

CelestialStick
2006-05-29, 07:29 AM
Seconded. Read that book when I was about 14, and haven't looked at the world the same since.

Probably the defining modern classic of the Cold War period. Heck, you could even determine whether a nation was a democracy or not really easily; did they ban "1984". "Yes" = police state.


"Thag comforted by thought of Big Brother always watching over him" ;D
Orwell was a British socialist who, like a many other western socialists, went to the Soviet Union to see the great workers' paradise. Unlike most of the others, who let themselves be led around by the nose by Stalin's minions to see what they wanted to see, Orwell obvserved the unaparalleled evil (in western Europe up to that time only the French Revolution's Reign of Terror even compared fractionally to Stalin's tortures, stavations and mass murders) and came back profoundly disillusioned, writing both 1984 and Animal Farm about the Soviet Union. In the introduction to Road to Wiggan Pier, Orwell even said that most socialists are idiots, though he never abandoned his desire for democratic socialism. As Wiggan Pier was published by a socialist publishing company, the publisher was so incensed at Orwell's remark that the publisher wrote a "Forward" to the book that amounts to an Orwell-bashing, Communist-apologizing little book itself. It's really hysterical, or would be if the evils justified by that little publisher hadn't been so great. So I recommnend the Road to Wiggan Pier along with Orwell's better-known works, 1984 and Animal Farm.



Limiting myself to fantasy and science fiction:

I'd have to put the LotR trilogy at the top of my list. The Silmarillion has its charms, too.

I really like all of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books until King Kelson's Bride, which was OK but if suffered from the problem that basically any and all problems can be solved by making someone a duke/duchess.

I'm a big fan of the first 6 books from the WoT series. Everything from Book 7 onwards is pretty uneven. I really need to be Jordan-hungry to read The Path of Daggers and Crossroads to Twilight.

I'm not much of a fan of the rest of his work, but I really like Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series. The Nature and God ones are only so-so, but everything else is pretty good.

The geopolitical backdrop of this book is dated, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Contact by Carl Sagan.
It's forgotten about the Deryni books. They weren't bad, though I wouldn't put them high on my list, and after one or two of them they get pretty repetitive.

Now Carl Sagan did right some great fantasy, totally hysterical for its total divorce from reality. What makes it hysterical is that Sagan actually wants to you take his ideoogical rot seriously! :D



Random sampling of some stuff on my shelf:

- Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (non-fiction)
- Lies Across America and Lies My Teacher Told Me, both by James Loewen (non-fiction)
- Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked, but it's better than Wicked, IMHO.)
- Closer by Patrick Marber (it's a play, not a novel)
- The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White (author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, but this is my favorite of all three)
- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (play, not a novel)
- any mystery/suspense novels by the following authors: G.M. Ford, Earl Emerson, and Laurie R. King.

... and there's lots more where those came from.
I tried to read Waiting For Godot once, but I got tired of waiting. ;)

Arian
2006-05-29, 08:05 AM
Oh, skip the Sword of Shanara and other trash by Terry Brooks. It's a total ripoff of Lord of the Rings.

I agree. So derivative that I have to stop myself from making bad calculus jokes. :P


As a teen I read Dune, loved it, and then read Dune Messiah, and hated it. I also read Children of Dune as a teen and though it was mediocre. At that time the later Dune books didn't exist (God Emperor of Dune is the only one that comes to mind). About 15 years later I read the series and found Dune Messiah superb. At the age of 15 I just didn't have the maturity to appreciate its subtlety. Of course, someone else at the age of 15 might have more subtlety than I did. :D

That's interesting. I read the Dune series as a teenager myself, and enjoyed none of them aside from Dune itself. Maybe it was a lack of literary discernment. I'll try them again.

My own favourite writer of SF&F is Lois McMaster Bujold, the author of the Vorkosigan series (SF) and the Chalion series (F). Brilliant writer, characterisation deep enough to drown in ... I can't find words to express how good I think they are, and for such a verbal (heh, or verbose?) creature as I am, that's saying something.

CelestialStick
2006-05-29, 10:04 AM
I agree. So derivative that I have to stop myself from making bad calculus jokes. :P
Heh.



That's interesting. I read the Dune series as a teenager myself, and enjoyed none of them aside from Dune itself. Maybe it was a lack of literary discernment. I'll try them again.

My own favourite writer of SF&F is Lois McMaster Bujold, the author of the Vorkosigan series (SF) and the Chalion series (F). Brilliant writer, characterisation deep enough to drown in ... I can't find words to express how good I think they are, and for such a verbal (heh, or verbose?) creature as I am, that's saying something.

Let me know how the Dune series works out of you the second time around.

I'm not familiar with Bujold. Is he any relation to the Geneviève Bujold, who nearly stared as Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager?

The Vorpal Tribble
2006-05-29, 10:38 AM
Heh, I loved Dune and liked Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune. Hated everything afterwards. I read them as a young teen and my current mid tweens, and my opinions haven't much changed ;)

As for 1984, it had a good message, but personally I hated the book. Now Fahrenheit 451, that'un I've read many many times.


Favorite classics of mine also include the Count of Monte Christo, Dracula, and Gulliver's Travels.

Arian
2006-05-29, 02:11 PM
I'm not familiar with Bujold. Is [s]he any relation to the Geneviève Bujold, who nearly stared as Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager?

Not as far as I can ascertain. Geneviève is Canadian, and reportedly pronounces her surname in the French way, whereas Lois is American - I'm not sure where her former husband was from - and pronounces her surname as "Boo-jold".

I do know that Lois is the daughter of Robert McMaster, who (quoting Wikipedia) "was editor of the monumental 'Nondestructive Testing Handbook' generally referred to as McMaster on Materials."

happyjenn97
2006-05-29, 03:45 PM
Am I the only one here who read Dune and hated it?

InaVegt
2006-05-29, 03:53 PM
A school for sorcery by E. Rose sabin

Morden
2006-05-29, 04:10 PM
Ooh, oh, I forgot: King Rat by China Mieville and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
The kinda book I wish I could forget when I'm done with it so I can read it again for the first time ;D

Stinkoman
2006-05-29, 05:38 PM
i personally like the Dragonlance books

6079smithw
2006-05-29, 08:48 PM
Am I the only one here who read Dune and hated it?

I hated it the second time I read it. As far as I could tell, the only reason I liked it the first time was that I was distracted by all of the obsessive world building and minutia, and missed Herbert's glaring weaknesses. (No, I'm not going to list them. I can't imagine that would lead anywhere but a flame war.)




Seconded. Read that book when I was about 14, and haven't looked at the world the same since.

Probably the defining modern classic of the Cold War period. Heck, you could even determine whether a nation was a democracy or not really easily; did they ban "1984". "Yes" = police state.

If it helps, a lot of American schools banned it. Apparently, the parts with Julia were too dirty for clean minded, healthy American students.

Rex_Hondo
2006-05-30, 12:43 AM
For fantasy that gets away from the Tolkien mold, I recommend Michael Stackpole. Some of his earlier stuff drags slightly in spots, but beyond that, exemplary.

Personal favorite authors are, as with many, Robert Jordan, virtually any Conan I can lay my hands on, Peter David, Douglas Adams, Arthur C Clarke...

My favorite classic, hands down, has to be Don Quixote. I also enjoyed Inferno, Gilgamesh, and Beowulf.

CelestialStick
2006-05-30, 05:26 AM
Not as far as I can ascertain. Geneviève is Canadian, and reportedly pronounces her surname in the French way, whereas Lois is American - I'm not sure where her former husband was from - and pronounces her surname as "Boo-jold".

I do know that Lois is the daughter of Robert McMaster, who (quoting Wikipedia) "was editor of the monumental 'Nondestructive Testing Handbook' generally referred to as McMaster on Materials."

Lois? Where did she come from? I don't recall talking about a Lois.


Am I the only one here who read Dune and hated it?
Fortunately for Frank Herbert, yes. ;)



i personally like the Dragonlance books
I enjoyed the first dragonlance trilogy, but after that they seemed to get highly derivative so I lost interest.


For fantasy that gets away from the Tolkien mold, I recommend Michael Stackpole. Some of his earlier stuff drags slightly in spots, but beyond that, exemplary.

Personal favorite authors are, as with many, Robert Jordan, virtually any Conan I can lay my hands on, Peter David, Douglas Adams, Arthur C Clarke...

My favorite classic, hands down, has to be Don Quixote. I also enjoyed Inferno, Gilgamesh, and Beowulf.

Yes, I have to second the recommendation for Douglas Adams. He's best know for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series (and to this day I still look for excuses to say "so long and thanks for the fish") but actually I liked his Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective series better, especially The Dark Tea Time of the Soul. You gotta love a story where a detective is tracking down what's gone wrong with the Nose gods! :D

By the way, I've never heard of any American schools banning 1984. Perhaps that happened in Bizarro America, where Superman is stupid, weak and ineffectual. ;)

Arian
2006-05-30, 05:31 AM
Lois? Where did she come from? I don't recall talking about a Lois.

"My own favourite writer of SF&F is Lois McMaster Bujold, the author of the Vorkosigan series (SF) and the Chalion series (F)."


You gotta love a story where a detective is tracking down what's gone wrong with the Nose gods!

The Nose gods are one pantheon never seen in OotS. ;-)

CelestialStick
2006-05-30, 05:35 AM
"My own favourite writer of SF&F is Lois McMaster Bujold, the author of the Vorkosigan series (SF) and the Chalion series (F)."

Oh, that Lois. I was secretly hoping we were talking about Lois Lane, especially the Teri Hatcher version. :D

P.S. You know, it just occured to me that in the third season when she hacked off all her hair I was profoundly less attracted to her. :(

P.P.S. I really like the Erica Durance version too, but alas she's too too young for me. :'(

Arian
2006-05-30, 05:44 AM
P.S. You know, it just occured to me that in the third season when she hacked off all her hair I was profoundly less attracted to her. :(

Um, that could have been predicted, no?

Or is the negative emoticon attached to "she hacked off all her hair" rather than to "I was profoundly less attracted to her"?

CelestialStick
2006-05-30, 05:45 AM
Um, that could have been predicted, no?

Or is the negative emoticon attached to "she hacked off all her hair" rather than to "I was profoundly less attracted to her"?

Yes to all three. :)

Oh, and while we're on the topic of favorite books, I must say that I also get disappointed when some very shapely woman like Teri Hatcher gets famous and then succumbs to the Hollyweird obsession with skinny women and then burns her breasts away with excessive exercise. That's just so sad. I think the people of the world should unite to prevent this horrible travesty!

we are the worms
out on the sidewalk
We are the ones who make a squishy mess
So watch where you walk.
It's a chance we're taking
Leaving our homes underground
Though it's true we'll get a better tan,
Just you and me.

Rex_Hondo
2006-05-30, 05:55 AM
Oh, and while we're on the topic of favorite books, I must say that I also get disappointed when some very shapely woman like Teri Hatcher gets famous and then succumbs to the Hollyweird obsession with skinny women and then burns her breasts away with excessive exercise. That's just so sad. I think the people of the world should unite to prevent this horrible travesty!


Well... books, boobs... almost the same thing. Just one letter off anyway.

Totally agree though. No more stick girls!

Arian
2006-05-30, 06:11 AM
Yes to all three. :)

I could ask you to explain that a bit more ... but what the heck, let's just get back to books.


Oh, and while we're on the topic of favorite books, I must say that I also get disappointed when some very shapely woman like Teri Hatcher gets famous and then succumbs to the Hollyweird obsession with skinny women and then burns her breasts away with excessive exercise. That's just so sad. I think the people of the world should unite to prevent this horrible travesty!

Bring Back Boobs!
Bring Back Boobs!


we are the worms
out on the sidewalk
We are the ones who make a squishy mess
So watch where you walk.
It's a chance we're taking
Leaving our homes underground
Though it's true we'll get a better tan,
Just you and me.

They call me Dr. Worm.
Good morning. How are you? I'm Dr. Worm.
I'm interested in things.
I'm not a real doctor,
But I am a real worm;
I am an actual worm.
I live like a worm.
I like to play the drums.
I think I'm getting good,
But I can handle criticism.

(and so on) (http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/T/theymightbegiantslyrics/theymightbegiantsdoctorwormlyrics.htm)

Kyle
2006-05-30, 06:49 AM
My favourite books are the star wars books and the lord of the flies.

Death, your friend the Reaper
2006-05-30, 06:51 AM
The Keys to the Kingdom are my personal favorites at the moment.

CelestialStick
2006-05-30, 09:03 AM
Well... books, boobs... almost the same thing. Just one letter off anyway.

Totally agree though. No more stick girls!
Except for Haley. And Celia. ;)

I never refer to breasts as boobs. Boobs are idiots. I've always wondered if women refer to their breasts as boobs out of low self-esteem. In my years of teaching at the university level I've noticed that an awful lot of young women process unpleasantness as "feeling stupid" in situations that have nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence and in which I've never seen a young man refer to himself as "feeling stupid."




I could ask you to explain that a bit more ... but what the heck, let's just get back to books.


Bring Back Boobs!
Bring Back Boobs!


They call me Dr. Worm.
Good morning. How are you? I'm Dr. Worm.
I'm interested in things.
I'm not a real doctor,
But I am a real worm;
I am an actual worm.
I live like a worm.
I like to play the drums.
I think I'm getting good,
But I can handle criticism.

(and so on) (http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/T/theymightbegiantslyrics/theymightbegiantsdoctorwormlyrics.htm)



"Yes to all three" refers to "could that have been predicted?" (yes) does the emoticon refer to the hair getting hacked off?" (yes) and "does the emoticon refer to finding her less attractive?" (yes)

"We Are the Worms" is a satire of the shallow, self-congratulatory, postmodernist falsely-tolerant song "We Are the World." I don't know the lyrics you quoted.

thehothead
2006-05-30, 09:27 AM
A place of silver silence, its good enough that I can still remember almost every detail even though i last read it like... 4 years ago.

I have high reading level ;D

bosssmiley
2006-05-30, 12:54 PM
Well... books, boobs... almost the same thing. Just one letter off anyway.

Totally agree though. No more stick girls!

Have you noticed how a lot of the most fun things in the word start with "boo-"?

Books, boobs, boots, booze, boogie, boogeyman, boojum tree. Okay, maybe not the last... :-/


(re: "1984") If it helps, a lot of American schools banned it. Apparently, the parts with Julia were too dirty for clean minded, healthy American students.

No freakin' way! :o

That's nearly as dumb as the American Nazi Party putting Norman Spinrad's anti-fascist satire "The Iron Dream" on their required reading list because they "...liked the upbeat ending". ???

For those who haven't read the book, the whole thing is a 'what-if' story supposedly written by Adolf Hitler the failed politician and hack pulp adventure writer. It simultaneously savages the tropes of cliched fantasy fiction and the obsessions and unconscious fetishism of the far-right. Spinrad even captures Hitler's repetitive, didactic style of writing. It's the sort of 'so bad its hilarious' book anyone who knows fantasy or sci-fi simultaneously cringes and laughs along with. :)

The "upbeat ending" I mentioned above was a pseudo-orgiastic parody of totalitarian mass rallies.
That whole section of the book *screams* unconscious phallic obsession, leather fetishism and repressed homoerotia (Spinrad's a great writer to write something that sustainedly cliched and *bad*). The passage culminates in a homoeroticised clone army of blonde, blue-eyed, leather-clad aryan poster boys blasting off in modified V2 superphalluses rockets to "fecundate the dark corners of the universe with the aryan seed".

The whole book is a tour-de-force of sausagefestic imagery, rehashed fantasy cliches and bootboy wish-fulfillment. Talk about a lack of self-awareness on the part of the ANP. ;)

happyjenn97
2006-05-30, 03:57 PM
"We Are the Worms" is a satire of the shallow, self-congratulatory, postmodernist falsely-tolerant song "We Are the World." I don't know the lyrics you quoted.

It's a They Might Be Giants song.

Don Beegles
2006-05-31, 06:44 PM
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is probably my favorite trilogy of all time. I don't know what it was, but it just really clicked with me and I loved it.

I agree about Brooks. He has always struck me as very unoriginal and plugging into all of the cliches, despite apparently trying to break them.

The Once and future King was also excellent. It was a great retelling of the Arthurian Legend and it also talked quite a bit about just war and peace on a whole as well.

As for things I've read comparatively recently, I'm reading one of the many 100 Best Books Ever Written List and the top three I'd pick from the 35-40 I've read so far are

1) Cyrano, which is just amazing. I laughed the whole way through, even when I was choking back sobs at Cyrano's death, and I couldn't put it down the whole way through

2) Les Mis, which would have been an absolutely perfect story if it weren't for Hugo's frequent Dickian interludes (named for the random chapters about nothing in Moby ****, my least favorite book). It does a really good job of chronicling how all of the people and events in one man's life can change him, with it's biggest flaw being that half of the time you can't recall what the person he mentions did.

3)The first part of Faust. I love works written in verse-Shakespeare, and Milton being high on the list as well-and I was just caught up in the story and rhythym for the begging of the sotry. By the second half, however, it had gotten way too political/ metaphorical/satirical of things I'd never heard of and I gave up three quarters of the way through.


Well, that's quite a bit to chew on, but you did say favorite books, so I wrote about ehm. Seres you right, I guess.

Genome
2006-05-31, 08:30 PM
1984, probably followed by anything by Timothy Zahn.

pandapandapie
2006-05-31, 11:54 PM
Okay, I'm probably about to sound like a pretty big geek here, but here it goes.

My favorite things I've ever read include:
Various webcomics (which would take far too long to list but I know some very good ones)
Ultimate Spiderman
The script for Serenity
Rising Stars (a series of comics by J. Micheal Straczynski, which is BY FAR, the greatest thing ever written)

Arian
2006-06-01, 12:07 AM
[Doctor Worm is] a They Might Be Giants song.
That's right.

I'm just springboarding again - CelestialStick mentioned a song about worms, so I mentioned another one. ;D

I know the song "We are the World," but I didn't recognise "We are the Worms" as a parody of it till CS said so.

pandapandapie
2006-06-01, 12:20 AM
They Might Be Giants are so awesome that it blows my mind. Earlier I was singing The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas and one of my friends was like, "What are singing? That's so awesome!"

Don Beegles
2006-06-01, 02:41 PM
I don't know that many songs by them, but I concur. I've only heard the Malcom theme song, Experimental Film, and the stupid litttle Disney Channel Songs they had for a little while, but yes, they do rock.

pandapandapie
2006-06-01, 04:12 PM
I don't know that many songs by them, but I concur. I've only heard the Malcom theme song, Experimental Film, and the stupid litttle Disney Channel Songs they had for a little while, but yes, they do rock.
Do yourself a favor and listen to Doctor Worm.

AmoDman
2006-06-01, 07:21 PM
*copied from my myspace 'cause I'm too lazy to come up with a lsit right now*

"I really like fantasy, so my favorites shouldn't be too surprising ;) - The Song of Albion Trilogy, Song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit, Dune, Dark Elf Trilogy, Demon Wars, Chronicles of Narnia, The Farseer and Liveship Trilogies, Neverwhere, the latter 3 Harry Potters, some of the Wheel of Time, Riddle-Master Trilogy, The Prince of Nothing Trilogy, & for nostalgia's sake - a few of the Redwalls ^_^."

I'm also reading The Robe right now. Historical fiction about the Roman centurion who attains Jesus' robe. Pretty good if you like that sorta' thing.