Book Recommendations

nelison · Post by **nelison** » 4/29/2003, 12:42 pm

Well Animal farm was written before 1984... it's length is to hide the true plot within the confines of a childrens story but it is a fantastic story none the less.

Cat's Cradle was a great book I thought. Vonnegut is quite the unique writer, but watch it though, after reading Cat's Cradle every other book for a while will seem very very long and boring because Cat's Cradle is like 180 pages long but it has 132 chapters so you feel like you fly through the thing

emily · Post by **emily** » 4/29/2003, 5:32 pm

I know, I'm reading God Bless You Mr. Rosewater right now and it seems like it's taking forever. I like books with a lot of really short chapters. I dunno, I just feel like I've accomplished something, and I like to quit reading when I have to, at the end of a chapter. I also read Slaughter-House Five before Cat's Cradle.

Post by **saman** » 4/29/2003, 11:33 pm

Aerin wrote:
saman wrote:Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. best historical fiction/fantasy ever

Good, but not his best. I'd go with Ender's Game or Wyrms. But then I'm more into Sci-Fi than fantasy.

me too, but i loved enchantment. you can tell he was writing it with a movie in mind lol

Automatic_Flowers · Post by **Automatic_Flowers** » 5/1/2003, 4:41 pm

You should try a book by Robin Cook.. his books are kinda science fiction medical thrillers.. I know that doesn't sound like a good topic.. but they're awesome, I've read about 9 of his.. I don't remember which one was the best one though. Some titles are.. "Vector", "Mutation", "Coma", "Abduction".. he likes one word titles I guess. Have you read Catcher In The Rye? Best damn book I've ever read.. it's funny about that book though, half the people who read it hate it and half the people like it. I just finished reading *Strangers* by Dean Koontz.. pretty good, a little long, and he doesn't get to the point until about the 500th page, but it really was worth the wait.

megxyz128 · Post by **megxyz128** » 5/1/2003, 4:51 pm

Yeah, I've read Vital Signs by Robin Cook, it was good. I've also read Catcher In The Rye, i'm personally indifferent towards it, didn't love it, didn't hate it.

soccerchick · Post by **soccerchick** » 5/3/2003, 3:19 am

Contrary to what somebody wrote, Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels are just plain bad. The characterization is awful, the writing is unrealistic. It's nearly impossible to feel close to any of the characters. Plot is adequate, but barely.
I've only read the first book, but that was enough for me.

If you're looking for a good fantasy epic series, try Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time - excellent character development and amusing, and George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series - more political, and less fantasy, so it would appeal to a lot of people. Be warned - Martin isn't afraid of killing off main characters like most authors are. A great series, though.

Other great authors:
Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Kate Forsyth, David Eddings, Andre Norton
I liked Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale.

Non-fiction:
Douglas Coupland's A Souvenir of Canada is wonderful (about things uniquely Canadian), John Griffen's The Search for Schroedinger's Cat is about quantum mechanics, Norman Cantor's In the Wake of the Plague is very interesting (it's on the bubonic plague of 1348-49)

emily · Post by **emily** » 5/3/2003, 7:00 am

Run. Now.

lora · Post by **lora** » 5/3/2003, 8:38 am

Susan · Post by **Susan** » 5/3/2003, 9:05 am

Now look at what you've done.

Post by **saman** » 5/3/2003, 1:04 pm

handmaid's tale is evil.

eddings is good though.

happening fish · Post by **happening fish** » 5/3/2003, 4:43 pm

I'd take Emily's suggestion immediately.

:mad:

finding emo · Post by **finding emo** » 5/3/2003, 5:18 pm

I really liked "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley... "Like Chocolate for Water" wasn't that bad (I had to read it for English)... the only part I hated was how the character was a good cook and that was symbolic; however, there were so many freaking recipes in the middle of the book.

As for Catcher in the Rye, (someone ^^^ mentioned it)... I loved that book. Mostly because when you read it you think that Holden is a normal teenager, yet he's really not. He's more extreme than most of us. So extreme that he had to go to a mental institution. The thing about the book that most people hated was the fact that it keeps building and building on what's going to happen to him and nothing ever really happens. However, its much more about Holden's inner struggle. That struggle over whether he should become an adult and enter the world of complex relationships with people who he distrusts very much or try to stay a child forever. Holden always had this struggle of being an adult. He distrusted them... In fact, the only people that Holden actually LIKES were his little sister Phoebe and his dead brother Allie. I really liked Salinger's use of sarcasm in that book. It was really obvious sarcasm too... Like when Ackley told Holden that his hunting hat was a deer shooting hat and Holden's like "No. It's a people shooting hat." OR... when he was reading a book and Ackley came in the room and was like, "How's your book?" And Holden's like, "Well this goddam sentence is terrific!" I just really liked Salinger's writing style... he really created a lot of credibility in the character of Holden. Most teenagers are kind of like Holden, especially with the tangents. I mean, I can be talking to someone and be thinking about something else, like Holden and the ducks. But yeah, it is incredibly hard to do that stream of consciousness writing style. I tried once, but it didn't really work out well.

Automatic_Flowers · Post by **Automatic_Flowers** » 5/3/2003, 6:24 pm

Yeah, I loved the book because Holden seemed like a real person, and I liked how he was sarcastic. I was cracking up when he was talking to that one kids mom on the train telling her what a great guy he was when he was really a jerk. I was quite disappointed by the ending though. I think Salinger should give the rights to the movie, that would be such a good movie, I'd watch it 23856754089 times.

Axtech · Post by **Axtech** » 5/3/2003, 6:49 pm

soccerchick wrote:Contrary to what somebody wrote, Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels are just plain bad. The characterization is awful, the writing is unrealistic. It's nearly impossible to feel close to any of the characters. Plot is adequate, but barely.
I've only read the first book, but that was enough for me.

Firstly, you can't judge all the books by one... The plotline in Wizard's First Rule is quite straight forward, which makes sense as it was his first novel.

I found the characterization quite good. I thoroughly enjoyed Zedd in particular. I also felt quite close to the characters. I don't know, maybe I'm just more susceptible to human emotions...

In what way(s) is the writing unrealistic. Keep in mind that it is a fantasy novel, after all.

Axtech · Post by **Axtech** » 5/3/2003, 6:51 pm

Oh, and the series gets very political later on. (you mentioned that you enjoyed that in another series).

clumsychild_ · Post by **clumsychild_** » 5/3/2003, 9:47 pm

i'm a big murder mystery fan...Agatha Christie and stuff like that

...currently reading 'B' is for Burglar by Sue Grafton...

One-Eye · Post by **One-Eye** » 5/4/2003, 12:31 am

Mmmm, Agatha Christie. I've been wanting to read And Then There Were None for the longest time, but I can't ever find a copy!

Anyone ever read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? Great book. :nod:

Axtech · Post by **Axtech** » 5/4/2003, 9:04 am

If you can't find And Then There Were None, get Ten Little Indians. Exact same book, different title (I think).

finding emo · Post by **finding emo** » 5/4/2003, 12:34 pm

Automatic_Flowers wrote:Yeah, I loved the book because Holden seemed like a real person, and I liked how he was sarcastic..

He seems like a real person, to a point. Not all of us are THAT extreme in our "we hate all the phonies" thing... Holden hates all of the phonies, yet what is he? He's probably the biggest phony of them all. He's nice to all of them people that he can't stand, etc, etc.

lora · Post by **lora** » 5/4/2003, 1:13 pm

.:ClumsyChild:. wrote:i'm a big murder mystery fan...Agatha Christie and stuff like that ...currently reading 'B' is for Burglar by Sue Grafton...

my friend raves about sue grafton all the time. i think she's read all her books. :freak:

i suggest: george orwell - down and out in paris and london