Book Suggestions

[Rayku]

But what is the point of a book recommendation thread if there isn't any interplay between people with different opinions. If someone thinks that I'm wrong, and have bad tastes in books, I want to know. Maybe I'll be influenced by them, and change my opinion and be better for it.

Anyway, I'm not the only one ignoring the thread holder's request.
How is the tier list of Raitlen's any different from my levels of Hell system? I used my level system to tell what books I thought were bad. He used his tier system to tell which books he thought were bad.

VIEW MY INTESE RAGE!! ummm... not really. If I got angry over books, I'd have stopped reading eons ago.

Yeah, and it's completely unnecessary and unwanted. This thread has basically just become one of the "You think X anime is better than Y anime? You're ****ing dumb. Get a life" threads. Exactly what I didn't want it to become.

The original idea of the thread was to get suggestions for books I wanted to read, personally, but I figured it would be better to try and suggest books that other people would like for other people. I need some good reading material.

 

[Daysoo]

But what is the point of a book recommendation thread if there isn't any interplay between people with different opinions. If someone thinks that I'm wrong, and have bad tastes in books, I want to know. Maybe I'll be influenced by them, and change my opinion and be better for it.

Anyway, I'm not the only one ignoring the thread holder's request.
How is the tier list of Raitlen's any different from my levels of Hell system? I used my level system to tell what books I thought were bad. He used his tier system to tell which books he thought were bad.

VIEW MY INTESE RAGE!! ummm... not really. If I got angry over books, I'd have stopped reading eons ago.

For someone posting in a book recommendation thread, you do precious little reading of other people's posts, Raven_Knight.
The tier list was mine, Raistlin quoted it to express his agreement with the bulk of it, and a difference in opinion with the placement of two of the books I listed.
Note how he didn't set out to "Prove" his opinion was "Right", and that my opinion was "Wrong".

Recommendations are opinions, not facts.

I wrote my list of recommendations in tier list form to show what books I thought were worth reading in some form of order.
The bottom of said tier list contained books that I personally did not enjoy.
This is not to say they are outright awful books, as other people read and enjoy many of the books I didn't care for.

I recommended highly the books I enjoyed.
I did not recommend the books I didn't care for.
On that note, recommendations to avoid certain books are still just that.
Recommendations.
It is my opinion that any time spent reading these bottom tier books would be better spend on reading something top tier.

It is the prerogative of the reader to decide which books they read.
I'm just here to offer a bit of well-intentioned advice on literature.

 

[ph00tbag]

Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Generally, I'm a Stephenson *****, but this goes beyond that. This is one of the most complete and wonderful works of speculative fiction, hard science fiction, and even philosophy, that I've ever read. I just finished it a few days ago, and already I'm itching to pick it up again. It is that detailed and awesome. Anathem is not a NYT #1 Bestseller for no reason. It's one of the best novels I've ever read, hands down.

I'll also put in a few good words for Ender's Game and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Also, Raven Knight, I don't know where you get everying past Ender's Shadow being bad. Shadow of the Giant was beautiful, as long as you realized that Peter had actually been a human being all along.

 

[XIF]

My only problem is the idea that Da Vinci Code is moronic compared to helicopter jumping Angels and Demons. The opinion didnt make sense internally.

Other than that, I think all of the books suggested are pretty legit, at least the ones i've read, I enjoy some more than others, but that goes without saying.

 

[Toobz]

I second the Sword of Truth series as well as Ender's Game.

 

[Caleb Wolfbrand]

I would recommend Haruki Murakami to any and everyone I know. His novels and short stories are both amazing.

"Norwegian Wood" is the book I would chiefly suggest. It's one of few books I can just read over and over again, because Murakami's writing is just that ****ing pro.

I am a writer myself (though of a different variety) and I always appreciate people who can word even mundane things brilliantly.

 

[DFEAR]

clockwork orange is really beast o.o

 

[Masky]

..........

 

[Frames]

godel escher and bach: the eternal golden braid

...done =D

 

[GA Peach]

Sword of Truth and Ender's Game are both phenomenal picks. I also enjoyed Lord of the Rings. Mary Steward's Merlin Trilogy is something I remember reading in high school and thoroughly enjoying. Kara no Kyoukai is a dark, but amazing book. It was made into a series of anime movies, and although done amazingly, the book was better. I just finished a re-telling of Gilgamesh which was very good, as well. I will list more when I think of them, I'm just a bit tired right now.

 

[Raven_Knight]

godel escher and bach: the eternal golden braid

...done =D

I read that book this summer, and it's amazing. Hofstadter is going to be giving a speech at my college in the next few months. My dad is an email correspondent of his and was the one to ask him to come down here, so he will be eating at my parents house mid-fall as well.

Clockwork Orange is an amazing book, especially the American edition which doesn't have the pathetic ending of the original British edition.

 

[Finch]

Cat's Cradle

Juan you are going to be an English major I swear. If you ever want a book recommendation ask me and you will probably like whatever I tell you.

 

[Raistlin]

Harry Potter wasn't a BAD series, but I personally didn't enjoy it as much as all of my friends seemed to.
It seems like I should like it more since it's contemporary fantasy, which is awesome, but I really didn't get into it that much.
I found the movie "Wizard People, Dear Reader" to be far superior in all aspects of Harry Potterdom.
It's been a year or two since I've read any of the books, though.
To be fair, it could possibly squeak into B tier. Maybe.

Dragonlance just wasn't my thing.
The books never really sucked me into their universe.
I finished them, but I don't really remember them.
*shrug*

Fair enough on Harry Potter, and I'll have to look into that Wizard People thing. I can understand that view on Dragonlance, they are really long if you don't enjoy them immediately, you're in for quite a long ride.

 

[Daysoo]

Fair enough on Harry Potter, and I'll have to look into that Wizard People thing. I can understand that view on Dragonlance, they are really long if you don't enjoy them immediately, you're in for quite a long ride.

Wizard People, Dear Reader is a hilarious dub of the first harry potter movie by Brad Neely.
It is the single greatest piece of Harry Potter media I have ever encountered.

--

In regards to Ender's Game: I've heard nothing but good things about it.
I'm not too terribly fond of science fiction and 'futuristic' genres though.
Not sure if I'd enjoy the books because of that.

 

[arbustos]

Potterdammerung is good too

http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com/2007/07/potterdammerung-mega-spoilers.html

 

[White Bread]

I'm reading "A Brief History of Time" right now, it's pretty awesome. But anything by Dawkins is out of this world...

 

[randomscrub]

By Stephen King:
The Dark Tower series (7 books, all fantasy and all amazing)
Salem's Lot
Cujo
The Skeleton Crew
Insomnia
Lisey's Story
Cell
It
Rose Madder
Eyes of the Dragon
The Shining

To name a few. Stephen King is just waay too good.

 

[SleepyK]

Lady of Mazes

Gibson
Neuromancer
Idoru
Mona Lisa Overdrive
idk haven't gotten around to reading the others yet

Gaiman
American Gods
Anansi Boys
Fragile Things
Neverwhere
Smoke and Mirrors
Stardust
idk i can't seem to find anything he's written that I dislike.

uhhh i have a massive star wars collection because i'm a huge fanboy
but most of it is pretty well written imo, so

will more post whne i gat huome

 

[Varuna]

notes from underground
100 years of solitude
love in the time of cholera
silmarillion
hitchhiker's guide
infinite jest
romance of the three kingdoms b/c dynasty warriors was cool
one flew over the cuckoo's nest
nightfall
gulag archipelago
coming of age in samoa
do androids dream of electric sheep?
brave new world
lies my teacher told me
things fall apart
the adventures of augie march
critique of pure reason
and of course the estimable redwall series

edit: my redwall rec was taken :'(

replace the inheritance cycle and sword of truth on that fantasy list with a song of ice and fire and mistborn trilogy

This man is a grown-up.

Also

Ishmael - Daniel Quinn

 

[SleepyK]

ishmael was a good read
nowadays the idea seems kind of overdone tho

 

[Kantō]

my GF is into the twighlight series as is EVERY TEENAGE GIRL ON THE PLANET SEEMS TO BE!
prolly a girl thing , romance , vampires , gay....

 

[Nihongo-ookami]

my GF is into the twighlight series as is EVERY TEENAGE GIRL ON THE PLANET SEEMS TO BE!
prolly a girl thing , romance , vampires , gay....

Kill your GF. It's the only way.

If you ignore everything that you know about vampires already, and then read Twilight, it's actually decent. Then you realize that you just actually READ Twilight, and want to puke.

 

[ama(m/t)]

i read twilight and my success rate with high schoolers and college freshmen has at least 1.5x'd

your mileage may vary

 

[BBQ°]

i read twilight and my success rate with high schoolers and college freshmen has at least 1.5x'd

your mileage may vary

Read Twilight to impress your girl friends and make them think you have a soft side.

Or you could just declare it as total bull**** right away and bash the movies like everyone does

-Rayku

 

[Player-3]

i just read The Things They Carried

that books legit

 

[dashdancedan]

i read twilight and my success rate with high schoolers and college freshmen has at least 1.5x'd

your mileage may vary

I wish I could just empty quote.

 

[Criosphinx]

I wrote a book...

you should buy that.

This sentence applies to everyone who happens to look at this thread.

Now I'm just typing superfluously so my signature will show up, which contains a link to said book.

Keep in mind that if you buy it, you are supporting a fellow smasher in his MOMENT OF NEED. I'm broke, son. Support a bro.

 

[lord karn]

The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoevsky (such an amazing book)
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut (yeah, he's one of my favorite authors)
A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin (probably the most entertaining series I've ever read)
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is pretty entertaining
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Frederic Nietzsche
The Apology by Plato
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Waiting for Godot (forget the author, but it's a play)
Dune
The God Emperor of Dune (all of the other Dune books were meh besides the first and this one)
Friday by Michel Tournier

 

[Kantō]

its not even cuz id have to read twilight cuz the movie sucked *** too, the new one comming out im being dragged to (ugh) is prolly gunna suck too.

 

[O D I N]

I am very pleased that the Dresden Files series has been mentioned in this forum. Mister is pleased as well (**** cat).

If you are not familiar with the Dresden Files, you should familiarize yourself with my favorite book series of all time. OF ALL TIME!

The Halo novels are also good (except for the Flood. That was terrible).

 

[Pi]

John Jakes has some really good Historical Fiction novels

 

[Master Raven]

Musashi
Cosmos

 

[Beanman]

The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoevsky (such an amazing book)
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut (yeah, he's one of my favorite authors)
A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin (probably the most entertaining series I've ever read)
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is pretty entertaining
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Frederic Nietzsche
The Apology by Plato
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Waiting for Godot (forget the author, but it's a play)
Dune
The God Emperor of Dune (all of the other Dune books were meh besides the first and this one)
Friday by Michel Tournier

Woah woah woah, could you explain this to me? I read the entire series multiple times, each time struggling through GEoD. The book is, IMO, the worst of the series.

Lolita
Battle Royale
Gaiman in general
It, stand, early king
The girl with the dragon tattoo
Lovecraft....yeah, pretty much all of it
Poe has some interesting stuff. His mystery stories are interesting to compare to his horror stories.

Thats about it for now.
Too much SF/Fantasy in this thread IMO

 

[pitskeyblade]

Redwall series
Harry Potter
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
The Lost Years of Merlin
Lord of the Flies
Eragon series

I love me some fantasy. I know there's more, but I can't think of them now.

 

[Pi]

I tried to read moby **** once

 

[Mariabattleaxe]

Not sure if these have been said but for fantasy series, the Black Company series by Glen Cook is really good.
I also really liked the Tales of the Otori trilogy. I think that one is written by Lian Hearn.

 

[Ballistics]

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A Heinlein

This book will change your life.

Some other good books I'd reccomend:

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
Fight Club - Chuck Palahkniuk
Choke - Chuck Palahkniuk
Five Rings - Musashi
The Old Man and the Sea - Hemmingway
The Sun Also Rises - Hemmingway
Wheel of Time Series - Robert Jordan
A Wrinkle in Time
The Color Purple
Beloved
Catcher in the Rye
Rhapsody - Melanie Rawn
The Reader
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Tales of the Bounty Hunters
Maniac Magee
Farenheit 451
Anansi Boys

Wow I need to read some more books

 

[azianraven]

No love for Slaughterhouse Five? D: (Vonnegut)

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley is also mad ballin'

 

[lord karn]

All of Vonnegut's stuff is awesome.

I just finished reading Murakami's 'Kafka on the Shore.' It was pretty amazing. One of my favorite books now.

Also just finished reading 'A Series of Unfortunate Events.' It was also really good.


@Beanman: Nothing really compares to the first, but God Emperor was so fun. The perspective was really unique and there were a lot of really interesting themes. Perhaps it's just because there was a lot of stuff reminiscent of Nietzsche in there, and I'm really into him as a philosopher. . .

But the last few books. . . they were pretty bad. I actually never finished the last one. It's one of the only books I've ever stopped reading before finishing. The whole things with the jews was just too much, imo.

 

[Sandtru27]

Flowers for Algernon