56 replies to this topic

[GeorgeBright]

I had to read Tortilla Curtain in college. It was interesting, especially because I live in California and it hit close to home.

I'd recommend the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, recently approved for a full season tv adaptation on HBO.

[Alexiel]

I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and would rate it a perfect 10/10 stars. Or 11/10 just to show how good it is.
Definitely my new favorite book, and I don't see how anything will replace that as the number one spot any time soon.

Here's what Amazon has to say about it (though I don't think words can fully do it justice):

From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.

[iargue]

Enders Game.
Enders Shadow.


ORSON SCOT CARD. Period.

[artificial]

We get it! You're a fan of .net programming.

I just picked up a new book today called The Fabric of the Cosmos. Only $10 and there's about 550 pages of wonder.

[generalgsus]

I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and would rate it a perfect 10/10 stars. Or 11/10 just to show how good it is.
Definitely my new favorite book, and I don't see how anything will replace that as the number one spot any time soon.

Here's what Amazon has to say about it (though I don't think words can fully do it justice):

From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.

I think the part about the Mafia controlling pizzxa delivery, and a samurai/delivery guy/hacker all in one really snagged my attention. Sounds great, and super creative!

Thanks for adding the reviews though and brief summary too, I appreciate this! Keep them coming guys, I've got them all written down so hopefully my library will have them in stock. My library is like 3 stories tall and gigantic, so I'm pretty sure there will be.

How about the Scarlet Letter, guys? Is it really as good a book as some say? I'm intrigued since I'll be having to read this two years from now by a professor.

[zzz777zzz]

I've always been into fiction so...

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Wonderful use of imagery and metaphors. The big "reveal" in the end is what did me in and my prediction of the true outcome was off by a few metaphors. Still... some of the imagery used in the book still bothers me until now. If only I could talk to the author.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- Although I don't recommend to practice with it for your SAT's. It's just everything about it comes in smooth: from the plot to the fluid language.

those are good books but i myself liked twilight just a little better but was a close call sci fi has always been one of my favorite things to watch or read about

[StefanKai]

I've always been into fiction so...

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Wonderful use of imagery and metaphors. The big "reveal" in the end is what did me in and my prediction of the true outcome was off by a few metaphors. Still... some of the imagery used in the book still bothers me until now. If only I could talk to the author.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- Although I don't recommend to practice with it for your SAT's. It's just everything about it comes in smooth: from the plot to the fluid language.

Both excellent books for Jr/HS

Right now I'm reading "The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work" by Ted Leonsis

The man is a genius.

[Volition]

Perfume (its more interesting than the title makes it look like)
The Metamorphosis
Siddhartha
The Divine Comedy
Crime and Punishment

[Alesha]

TWILIGHT

[zzzzzzz]

I'm currently listening to The Foundation series by Issac Asimov, good stuff.

[Bryan]

I've gotten into the habit of going into a Barnes and Noble, picking up a random book and reading it on the couch. I have yet to find one to rave about, but it's interesting seeing some other writing besides what makes it on to the best seller list.

[redlion]

My all time favorite book is "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Taste.

Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Best set of books you will ever read (if you're a fantasy nut).

Been there, got tired of it. Really good fantasy until Pillars of Creation. That was his last good one, really.

Enders Game.
Enders Shadow.

ORSON SCOT CARD. Period.

Those are good primers. Children of the Mind and Shadow Puppets are his really political stuff. Good fiction though.

Perfume (its more interesting than the title makes it look like)
The Metamorphosis
Siddhartha
The Divine Comedy
Crime and Punishment

Taste. I actually have 4/5 of those on my bookshelf right now, and the bookshelf is only a fraction of my library, but I've never heard of Perfume.

[BuckFutter]

Being a Philosophy minor, there's waaay too many books for me to list that I like.

If I had to pick one book that stood out the most to me though from casual reading rather than for class, it's definitely House of Leaves. No good as an eBook, you definitely need to have an actual copy of it to experience its full potential.



EDIT: Though if I had to pick something Philosophy related, it would probably be something on Stoicism. Today's use of the word "stoic", though somewhat relative to the original Stoic ideas, does not really do justice to the Stoics overall.

Edited by BuckFutter, 02 June 2010 - 12:52 AM.

[ToxicS]

Enders Game.
Enders Shadow.


ORSON SCOT CARD. Period.

QFT

Currently reading Alvin Maker, on the fourth book.

[Tsunade]

John Dies at the End by David Wong
Vurt by Jeff Noon
High Society by Ben Elton
Once by James Herbert
The Poet by Michael Connelly

[Kokuen]

Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead.
And I like The Oath by Frank Peretti.

[Bryan]

Just because they are English Classics doesn't mean they are any good....

You can make yourself sound like some smarty-pants and say your loved "Wuthering Heights" and "David Copperfield" but personally, I'd think of you as an asshat secretly. I hate books that have a bunch of "secret meanings" because the author was a nutjob and was able to give us millions of things to talk about in High School english class.

The reason I never liked reading was because I was brought up on boring ass books.

As for books that I personally enjoyed...
Pretty much all of the Roald Dahl books that I read as a kid
The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins
The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead (because books with Russian references and Vampires are always awesome)
Edward Eager's Magic series (Childhood reads)
The House of Night Series by P.C and Kristin Cast (because I have a vagina)
Dan Brown's books
The Harry Potter Series (DuhHHH)
The Wake, Fade, and Gone Trilogy by Lisa McMann

That's all I can remember off of the top of my head xD

Dan Brown totally doesn't have any hidden meanings in his books.

[Warriors]

my top books

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond - The book attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations have survived and conquered others, while attempting to refute the belief that Eurdasian Hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral or inherent genetic superiority.

The Once and Future King- T.H. White - Story of King Arthur..great story...

On the Genealogy of Morality, Beyond Good and Evil, The Anti-Christ - Friedrich Nietzsche - political works of art..

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

The Politics of Obedience: A Discourse on Voluntary Servitude - Ettiene De La Boetie - A 19 year old French kid questioned why Tyrants have power and struggles to answer why citizens give them power.

The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx - Displays the economic and class problems between the bourgeois and the people.

1984 - George Orwell

A Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

[Sweeney]

Dan Brown totally doesn't have any hidden meanings in his books.

Dan Brown doesn't have hidden meaning in his books.
He takes "hidden meaning" from other sources, and mashes them into your face.

[jcrdude]

Dan Brown doesn't have hidden meaning in his books.
He takes "hidden meaning" from other sources, and mashes them into your face.

Damn. Beat me to it.

I'll just add that he also enjoys taking conspiracy theories and running with them until they're a bastardized version that's scarier than the original conspiracy theory.

[devil669988]

The Last Templar

[redlion]

Being a Philosophy minor, there's waaay too many books for me to list that I like.

If I had to pick one book that stood out the most to me though from casual reading rather than for class, it's definitely House of Leaves. No good as an eBook, you definitely need to have an actual copy of it to experience its full potential.

EDIT: Though if I had to pick something Philosophy related, it would probably be something on Stoicism. Today's use of the word "stoic", though somewhat relative to the original Stoic ideas, does not really do justice to the Stoics overall.

"Being a Philosophy minor" what kind of intro is that? I thought I was going to major in philosophy, until I had to pay for my own rent. And what has that to do with the books you like? Do you only like them because you are a philosophy minor?

I'm only messing with you because I've been in the same state of mind - let's look at this philosophically.

BTW House of Leaves was incredible. People talk about genre busting, well that book was medium busting. Can you use the page as a canvas? Why not?

My favorite philosophy is analytic. It has to be - logic is analytic, and logic is the future of philosophy. It's what makes our current conversation possible, after all. All those ones and zeros zooming through the internet were created, stored, and transmitted using logic routines that were created by some analytic philosopher in the '50s just before computers became programmable. Before IT techs studied logic circuits, some philosopher had to design the logical components.

People rag on philosophy because there is no product of our work. And it's true, we don't make clocks, or paint landscapes or put out fires. But it is incorrect to say we have no products. Throughout the ages it was philosophy that pushed the envelope, literally giving name to new fields. Before there can be lab testing, there must be theory. Where do you think the ideas came from for AI, advanced circuitry, and economic indicators? Why, from a philosopher who could describe the world in symbolic logic. What's more he could write a proof that could be replicated, tested, and verified in other experiments. We were scientific before science was.

So yeah, I'm all for self-reliance (which is close to 'stoic' translated) but I'll take logic any day.

Currently reading Alvin Maker, on the fourth book.

Heard about those, but I haven't read them yet. I don't have the leisure time I used to

Just because they are English Classics doesn't mean they are any good....

As for books that I personally enjoyed...
Pretty much all of the Roald Dahl books that I read as a kid
The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins
The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead (because books with Russian references and Vampires are always awesome)
Edward Eager's Magic series (Childhood reads)
The House of Night Series by P.C and Kristin Cast (because I have a vagina)
Dan Brown's books
The Harry Potter Series (DuhHHH)
The Wake, Fade, and Gone Trilogy by Lisa McMann

That's all I can remember off of the top of my head xD

Right. Well it's basically a definition debate. Classic, when capitalized, usually evokes certain connotations. It varies from place to place, but it usually implies an older work with some shared cultural worth, something everyone can agree took talent or effort to produce. Consider the Iliad. Now, even if you've never read it, a quick google or wikipedia search will tell you that the Iliad was composed in dactylic hexameter. The whole thing. I'd like to see Roald Dahl do that. Not that I've anything against Roald Dahl, but James and the Giant Peach is a far sight from Achilles and Agamemnon.

Of course Classic doesn't have to be that old. Generally anything that retains popularity past the death of the author can be given the classic characterization, although some (myself included) would argue against it. Take, for instance, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Written in 1949 and first performed in 1953, it outlived Beckett (who died in 1989) by two printing sessions. It's still going strong

Then again, you've used another adjective that befuddles the issue. You see you called them 'English Classics', which implies a country or language of origin. The only problem is both the works I've used as examples are undoubtedly classics, but neither were originally written in English. Greek and French (yes, look Godot up, it was French first) and many other languages have literature, and growing bodies of it too.

Anyway, if you didn't like reading for 'hidden meaning', read the book your own way. No one can make rules about what a book means to you. If they want you to draw some mundane image out of Shakespeare and call it archetypal, by all means regurgitate the information for the grade. But that doesn't have to be what you think of the book.

Bah, I suppose I should list a few out so you all can get on with your library lists.

Let's see...

I'm currently rereading a couple Garth Nix books... They are, in order of the series, Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. Oh, and a slightly easier reading level, same author, would be the Keys to the Kingdom series.

Elsewhere in the house, I have a bookmark in Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival, which is a great read about imperialism. For those of you without an idealistic streak, I'm also reading Diderot's collected works, including Rameau's Nephew and D'Alembert's Dream. Diderot is old, and the words themselves are probably out of copyright, which means you could get it for free online. The only problem is again, they were originally in French, so the translation might have copyright issues. I have a trade copy published by Hackett, translated by Barzun and Bowen.

Consider the first line of the introduction in my copy: "One of the many pleasant things about reading Diderot nowadays is that no one is obliged to read him except for enjoyment or instruction. He has not yet become the hero of any fashionable literary or intellectual cult..." After the shit that comes to us through literary cult (read Oprah Winfrey's The Secret) its refreshing to get some good old fashioned advice and conversational style from a Frenchman.

Thats enough for the moment I guess.

[Sweeney]

I'm currently rereading a couple Garth Nix books... They are, in order of the series, Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. Oh, and a slightly easier reading level, same author, would be the Keys to the Kingdom series.

Singularly fantastic fantasy () books, the Old Kingdom. There's also an anthology called Over the Wall, which, while not entirely part of the series, contains a couple of related tales.

Keys to the Kingdom is also excellent, even though it's aimed at younger readers. The last book just came out, and it concludes the series in a truly interesting way. Similar, now I think of it, to the Neverending Story.

[devil669988]

sweeney when did they release the last book i've been trying to find it for ages. Beyond a doubt keys to the kingdom is a good read. Though i think it was made for teenagers