Book Thread

Zzonked wrote:The Alchemist is supposed to be good.

Rei Andros wrote:The Solitude of Prime Numbers
Dean Koontz's Frankenstein
The Forever War
The Strain
Ender's Game

You could check those out.

Thanks. This should keep me busy for quiet some time.

I will finish my book for uni tonight 'Bastard out of Carolina'.

It's not great, but fairly well written. About 50 pages left to go!

Some good series if anyone is interested

Night Angels
Mistborn
The Painted Man series

NZG wrote:When do you guys read?

before bed.

It's a good way to fall asleep.

+ if you have a good book, you'll actually look forward to bed time. I used to play FIFA before bed & now I hardly ever play it.

Kite Runner is fantastic. I've just got the last chapter to go, and I'm saving it for tomorrow. So tense.

I have just finished reading the Hunger Games Series

Great stuff, however the ending left a bit to be desired

The movie is quite good as well, Jennifer Lawrence is spectacular as Katniss Everdeen

Finished reading In Cold Blood. A really chilling story.

Will buy a table lamp and hopefully reading before bed will get me started.

Chip wrote:I have just finished reading the Hunger Games Series

Great stuff, however the ending left a bit to be desired

The movie is quite good as well, Jennifer Lawrence is spectacular as Katniss Everdeen

I read the first one. It was pretty good. I predict the rest will be them going after the Capitol...

That Jennifer Lawrence chick is so cool, I saw her Letterman, was an awesome interview. She's not fake not most celeb bitches and she's pretty fucking funny as well.

Have you read the Tommorow When the War began series? remands me a bit of the Hunger games but I would say it's better. Although the premise for the Hunger Games is pretty cool

Anyway I'm reading Life of Pi right now.

El_indian wrote:

Chip wrote:I have just finished reading the Hunger Games Series

Great stuff, however the ending left a bit to be desired

The movie is quite good as well, Jennifer Lawrence is spectacular as Katniss Everdeen

I read the first one. It was pretty good. I predict the rest will be them going after the Capitol...

That Jennifer Lawrence chick is so cool, I saw her Letterman, was an awesome interview. She's not fake not most celeb bitches and she's pretty fucking funny as well.

Have you read the Tommorow When the War began series? remands me a bit of the Hunger games but I would say it's better. Although the premise for the Hunger Games is pretty cool

Anyway I'm reading Life of Pi right now.

I read those when i was younger. they were so good

Now, I do not know about you guys, but I divide up my reading schedule, and read two books at once. At night time, I read a book that is pure entertainment: the plots are simple, and the action is entertaining, if a bit predictable, ie fantasy. In the day, I tend to read something more challenging and thought provoking.

Fantasy:
Dwarves by Markus Heitz: A fantastic book, and although it copies LOTR in terms of the characterisation of dwarves, it is still extremely entertaining. 7/10.
Grimalkin by Joseph Delaney: This series (The Spook's Apprentice) was really good for me when I was younger, but the series has grown stale, the writing a bit trite, and, if anything, the books are now too simple. I don't think that I will continue reading this series anymore, as much as nostalgia beckons. 5/10.
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini: A satisfying end to a very decent first attempt at a trilogy of 4 books (odd, indeed). This guy seems to take decades to write each book, though, and that takes away from the continuity of the reading and my overall enjoyment. The book alone is probably a 7.5.

Other books:
Catcher In the Rye: Holden is incredibly arrogant and pretentious, but some of his insights are amusing. 6.5/10.
The Great Gatsby: The imagery and symbolism is unmatched, and make up for the fact that the characters all deserve to die painful deaths. 7/10.
Huckleberry Finn: Amusing novel. 7/10.
Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy: A really good book with fantastically developed characters. 7.5/10.

Does anyone have any recommendations for these two categories?

The Game of Thrones books seem good (A Song of Ice and Fire).

Well it seems you ignored my last recommendation so why should I recommend anything else to you?

BladeGunner wrote:Well it seems you ignored my last recommendation so why should I recommend anything else to you?

I didn't ignore it, I ordered the cheapest one from amazon, but the expected date of arrival is June 19.

I have read the first few pages on the kindle, but I get sick when doing that.

Glen Damon wrote:

BladeGunner wrote:Well it seems you ignored my last recommendation so why should I recommend anything else to you?

I didn't ignore it, I ordered the cheapest one from amazon, but the expected date of arrival is June 19.

I have read the first few pages on the kindle, but I get sick when doing that.

I'm glad to hear this, nothing like the smell of a fresh book. The kindle provides pale shadow of the pleasure.

Eternal Witcher wrote:

Glen Damon wrote:I didn't ignore it, I ordered the cheapest one from amazon, but the expected date of arrival is June 19.

I have read the first few pages on the kindle, but I get sick when doing that.

I'm glad to hear this, nothing like the smell of a fresh book. The kindle provides pale shadow of the pleasure.

Agreed. It is very handy for previewing the first few pages of a book, though.

I kind of enjoy getting used books, I am not quite sure why. The smell of dust, the small tea stains on the front cover. Or, it might be because they are cheaper.

A millennium-old book would be be a glimpse of paradise. Or just one from the medieval ages.

Eternal Witcher wrote:A millennium-old book would be be a glimpse of paradise. Or just one from the medieval ages.

I would love to learn Latin and Greek, and then be able to read such books.

I have a kindle, come at me..

Read Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and Apt Pupil

Shawshank was a good read. Short and satisfying. Apt Pupil was just fucking weird, my mind was all twisted upside-down by the end of it, but it's my understanding that apparently that's his style of writing,.

Just got a Sony tablet so I'm going to do some reading on there.

Gatsby wrote:I have a kindle, come at me..

Same (though it rarely gets used as I don't read much anymore).
But I have my not insignificant library of books spread out all over the house. If I can carry numerous books on one device that reads pretty well , as they go, then I can afford to lose the "book feel" when I go to uni.

Never got the "settle down with a good book" thing anyway. I power through books and one can have me occupied for maybe three to five days maximum, then it's gone and I put the book down for a long, long time.

SBSP wrote:Why England Lose is a fantastic book.

Finally finished this after months.

ricky//habana wrote:

Gatsby wrote:I have a kindle, come at me..

Same (though it rarely gets used as I don't read much anymore).
But I have my not insignificant library of books spread out all over the house. If I can carry numerous books on one device that reads pretty well , as they go, then I can afford to lose the "book feel" when I go to uni.

Never got the "settle down with a good book" thing anyway. I power through books and one can have me occupied for maybe three to five days maximum, then it's gone and I put the book down for a long, long time.

You should look into selling your old books, I have started and the money is decent.

Glen Damon wrote:

ricky//habana wrote:

Same (though it rarely gets used as I don't read much anymore).
But I have my not insignificant library of books spread out all over the house. If I can carry numerous books on one device that reads pretty well , as they go, then I can afford to lose the "book feel" when I go to uni.

Never got the "settle down with a good book" thing anyway. I power through books and one can have me occupied for maybe three to five days maximum, then it's gone and I put the book down for a long, long time.

You should look into selling your old books, I have started and the money is decent.

Might think about that, but a fair number aren't in perfect condition. How much have you made and where did you sell?

I couldn't sell my books, I love re reading.

Gatsby wrote:I couldn't sell my books, I love re reading.

So do I, but considering I'm 18 and most of my books would therefore be for younger years, unless my younger brother develops an extensive reading drive, most of them will just gather dust.
Can't take them to uni either, the amount of other stuff I have to carry.

Add it to your bookshelf. It's good to have a collection of all the books you read, it's nice to look over them.

They don't have much re-sale value anyway.

Perhaps i'll keep the picks of the bunch like the His Dark Materials series with me then.

ricky//habana wrote:

Glen Damon wrote:You should look into selling your old books, I have started and the money is decent.

Might think about that, but a fair number aren't in perfect condition. How much have you made and where did you sell?

I don't know what kind of books you are trying to sell, but I am selling off a bunch of "classic" books plus my dad's theology books, and most books get around 2 dollars, with others getting up to ten, in which case, I sell them on eBay.

Check bluerectangle.com, that prices them decently enough to tell you if they are worth selling.

Just read The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.