I ordered 8 books from my library... panicked when they all came in at once... read them all in the two week time period given... and am currently out of books. What should I read?
[ July 15, 2004, 09:54 PM: Message edited by: gwan ]
Posted by Ben (Member # 6117) on :
Perks of being a wallflower by Stepehn Chbosky.
Heartbreaking Work of staggering genius by Dave Eggars
The Manhattan Loverboy by Arthur Nersessian?
Eye of the prophet by Kahlil Gibron.
Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Me Talk Pretty One Day by Dave Sedaris
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
Have you read Lord of the Rings yet? If not, rectify that immediately.
Then read "The Laughing Sutra" by Mark Salzman.
Then "The Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Then "Wild Seed" by Octavia Butler.
Next read "Cordelia's Honor" by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Finally, read "Watership Down" by Richard Adams, if you have not already done so.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Lord of the Rings is a much lower priority than the whole Bujold canon. If you have not read it, you should.
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
*torches King of Men*
Posted by Erik Slaine (Member # 5583) on :
quote: All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and when ever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you: digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed. --Richard Adams, Watership Down
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
I assume you've read stuff by OSC...
Rose Daughter, Spindle's End, The Outlaws of Sherwood, or anything else by Robin McKinley is good.
The Pendragon Cycle (starting with Taliesin) by S.R. Lawhead.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
The Earthsea Trillogy by Ursula LeGuin.
Posted by drumsntolkein (Member # 6095) on :
read I am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action It's like my favorite book.
[ July 16, 2004, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: drumsntolkein ]
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
quote:*torches King of Men*
Easy, comrade. Tolkien is, in all honesty, vastly overrated. Certainly, he invented the fantasy genre; so what? Edison invented the gramaphone; are you going to give up on CD players because he was first? And yes, I do feel that Bujold is to Tolkien as CD players are to gramaphones.
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
Edison also invented the light bulb, are you going to give up on those?
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
The type Edison invented, with a lifetime of about three hours? I am indeed.
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
You see, it got better with time. Maybe that wasn't the best example, though. But you get my point.
[ July 15, 2004, 11:22 PM: Message edited by: Eruve Nandiriel ]
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Um, actually, that was my point. The fantasy genre got better with time. Newer writers are better than Tolkien.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
Not so, King of Men! Tolkien is unsurpassed! You may be a king but you have no taste! Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
Actually, at the Edison winter home in Florida, the original light bulbs used by Edison there are still burning. At least, that's what the museum folks told us.
Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
Also, I like Robin McKinley's earlier works (The Blue Sword, The Door in the Hedge, The Hero and the Crown, Beauty) better than her later ones.
I was very frustrated with Spindle's End. In fact, if anyone wants my copy, I'll trade it for something.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Only if all your taste is in your mouth...
Go read some Robert Jordan, or Dennis McKiernan and tell me fantasy writers ahve gotten better...
Bujold is great, if you like your fantasy spoon fed to you. I think most of them are written at a 8 th grade reading level.
I found that Cooper and Alexander were better writers, and they write juvinile fiction.
IMO, of course....but it tells you how serious I am when I tell you that I have over 900 fantasy novels in my collection, and only have 3 Bojold...and they came from a tag sale, before I knew better....
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Jordan was OK until he sold out, certainly better than Tolkien. I'll grant you that from number five or so it's pure pap and filler.
Bujold written at the eighth-grade level? I have to say, I just don't understand where you're coming from on that one. I don't have my collection here; could you quote something to show what you mean? It just doesn't make sense to me.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I found the books I read from Bujold to be very easy reads, and didn't care for them at all. I don't even remember which ones i own...The Spirit Ring sound familiar? It was fair at best, and that is being generous.
I remember enough that when I go to the book store I never even look at those books, as I didn't care for any of the 3-4 I tried to read.
I was done with them in well under 3 hours, and felt like I had wasted my time. I am serious when i say that I am much more likely to reread Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, or even C.S. Lewis than to bother with Bujold again....and they are juvenile authors.
Just my opinion...
BTW, the analogy's between old inventions aren't working for you, either. Edison's original light bulb IS still burning, and has never gone out. It is on display at Menlo Park at Greenfield Village, in MI.
I enjoyed Jordan at first, but lets be honest. If Nyeave really pulled her braid as often as he said she did, she would have been bald by the third book.... I still read him, as I am too stubborn to stop now, but the quality has decayed steadily since the third book......and who do you think he was emulating in the first three books, anyway?
Kwea
Posted by Fitz (Member # 4803) on :
quote: Finally, read "Watership Down" by Richard Adams
If you're going to read anything by Richard Adams, read Shardik.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
And Bujold mainly does scifi, anyways, which is definitely her best work.
edit: and its excellent.
[ July 16, 2004, 01:00 AM: Message edited by: fugu13 ]
Posted by Temari (Member # 6708) on :
If you don't mind reading a non-fantasy book, I'd suggest Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Temari is absolutely right. I'm in the middle of reading "Reading Lolita in Tehran" at the moment, and it is an amazing book. In fact I had already decided to recommend it for this thread, and then there it already was listed.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
Fitz, I tried reading Shardik, because I had loved Watership Down so much. I just couldn't get into it at all. It did nothing for me. Maybe I should have been more patient.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
I rarely read non-fiction, but some time ago I ordered three books from a science book club, because they were free (or practically free). One of them was so great I have reread it a couple of times, and am doing so again. It is The Whole Shebang: a State of the Universe(s) Report, by Timothy Ferris.
It is about Cosmology, but what it really does is give an intelligent layman's description and history of the discoveries and theories in physics, astronomy and related sciences over the past century or so, which have contributed to our current understanding of the way the universe works, was created and might end.
This kind of thing is great for me, because I didn't get nearly as much science in school as I should have. I always liked science, but I had two years in a row of really bad science teachers in Junior High, and didn't take any more science classes until my last two years of high school, when I was forced to do so in order to graduate. I have a lot of regrets about that, but I do try to make up for it by reading about science whenever I can. This book has helped me, and kept me interested, more than any other I have read.
Posted by Julian Delphinki (Member # 6686) on :
Dandelion Wine
This Boy's Life
One flew over the cookoos nest
Do black patent leather shoes really reflect up?
Lord of the Flies
These are all classics read them and enjoy them!
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I just wanted to announce that KoM is officially on my "cool newbie" list for his taste in books.
Kwea, The Spirit Ring is not representative. Give her another try -- the Vorkosigan books are excellent, and the start to her new series The Curse of Chalion is marvelous.
Posted by solo (Member # 3148) on :
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor
Read it.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Read any of Asimov's Robot series, as a way of boycotting the rape of their intent in the new movie.
Enjoy his forwards. It might make you want to be a writer.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Well, Bujold's science fiction is better than The Spirit Ring, to be sure, but I'd still take her Ring over Tolkien's any day. And I can't wait for the sequel to Curse of Chalion. Just the name is so cool : "The Currrse of Cha-lion! Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
The sequel, Paladin of Souls is available, though only in hardcover.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I read the Curse of Chalion, and it was OK. Not very memorable though.
You can pick any book in my collection and show me the cover and I can tell you who wrote it, what series it is from, and what happens in the series (not in that book, though...the lines between books in the same series gets blurred a bit in my head... ). My father wanted me to throw out my books, or trade them in, when I was 17 and I told him that. He pulled 6 of them out and I got every one right!
As I read more and more sometimes I forget a book and have to reread it....and when I do I usually remember the book before the end of the third chapter.
I don't even remember what that book was about. Maybe I meant to read it but never got around to doing it...but I think I did and it didn't appeal to me.
I have read 2 of the Vor#%$#(not even going to TRY to spell it!)books, and didn't like them either. They were very simplistic, and a very easy read.
I guess I'll try the Curse again, but if I find it in my collection then I have read it. I don't buy books unless I am reading them.
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I still read him, as I am too stubborn to stop now, but the quality has decayed steadily since the third book......and who do you think he was emulating in the first three books, anyway?