Well, seeing as how the old Literature thread went out with the previous admin on the forums, i thought it appropiate to start one.

Books I've Read Lately and Their Reviews:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Read this one cuz a friend nagged me to do so, and in return, she read a book of my choosing. Honestly, Harry Potter's quite mundane. The author's style, in my opinion, is bland. She doesn't use much details (which is ok if your fanbase includes most young teens and pre teens), a fact that I find annoying considering i'm USED to reading stuff that's more descriptive than "he wore a cape". The story isn't bad, but it is quite rushed (im guessing the lack of detail is part of the problem there). And finally, I don't think i've read a book before that is virtually IDENTICAL to the movie aside from a bit here and there. I mean really, you read something like the Lost World and realize that Hollywood crapulizes most movies, leaving them completely unlike the books at all, but HP lacks that whole approach. So if you didn't like the movie, don't even bother trying to book out thinking that MAYBE it's a whole new world.

 

Thief of Time

Hot damn! My new personal favorite of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchet. I'm not going to spoil anything about it, but it has the usual Discworld goodies in it (DEATH, magic, weirdness, you name it) as well as a few new bits (fighting time monks, for one). The story is somewhat more deep than the first two books in the series, but it's managed quite nicely by being told through several different perspectives at the same time. You really have to read this one .

 

Still to read:

Alice in Wonderland

Maquiaveli's The Prince

Foundation books 1 & 2

Reaper Man and Eric (Pratchet's Discworld)

Last 2 Dune books from F. Herbert

 

Feel free to post your opinions, ideas, etc on books and bookly matters

about harry potter.. well you have to have in mind that its a book written for children, so yeah it tends to be more easy to  read, i personally could never read past the 4th.. tryed like 2 or 3 times but i always got too bored in a part and left it

mmhh.. alice in wonderland would be interesting to read, too many weird stuff, maybe the book has more and much more detailed stuff.. interesting concept, lol

well maybe im not that much of a reader if i think about it.. there have been lots of books that i never finished.. Silmarillion for one (ish ashamed for not finishing it) Angels and demons by Dan Brown, and actually 1 of the "Myst" books, i think it was the book of Ti'ana, but yeah i guess books must really be something to catch my attention... but then my attention loves to run away...

still to read: all my unfinished books, the "Tears of the night sky" Kagonesti, second generation, da vinci code, what else?? no i think those are all the books.. that belong to me.. that i still havent read

Alice in Wonderland:

Good book, good story. Lewis Caroll was seriously into the Green Fairy when writing this one, but he was a genius anyway. The book is actually a very pointed critique of the English school paradigm of those days. Prepare to go "What the funk???" a lot.

Machiavelli's "The Prince."

Save yourself the time and trouble. I'll sum it up for you: If you want to rule, prepare to behave like a complete asshat. The political ends justify the moral means. End of book.

If you're going to be pigheaded and read the book anyway (who am I to criticise people who don't take my advice.... after all, the only thing better than giving advice is saying afterward, "I TOLD YOU SO!"), be prepared to go into the internet often in search of historical referrences. And if you have the version with Napoleon Bonapart's footnotes (a guilty pleasure to read, and very educational) so much the better.

Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune.

Wierd plots, wierd settings, wierd extrapolations of the post-Golden Path universe, wierd Bene Gesserit, wierd Duncan Idahos, and, at the end of the series, the single most "WHAT THE FUNK???" book ending of all time. Resist the temptation to read ahead. You have been warned. For me, the series ends with God Emperor; I don't find Super Duncan Idaho and the Even More PMSy Bene Gesserit interesting at all. But the n-space concept is cool.

Dude. Thats the crappiest sum of the book ever. Yet also the most common by the communal consciousness. And surely, you would find it pretty cool to go and Re-read (or read) the book. Still, wherever you got the idea of the Bonaparte Notes version has some merit.   Regards, Mike

 

¨Stern, but fair. And drunk.¨

Yes, its the version with bonaparte's footnotes and some added references so that you know just what the hell they're talking about.

I agree with TH on the fact that god emperor was THE book in the Dune series, but i guess I still just wanna read into the last two books... just so i can actually go "well, i DID read them, even though they were weird/sucky/bad/good" whatever the case may be...

Alice in Wonderland is an interesting book, I read it like 4 months ago and enjoyed it. What I can't wait for is for the American Magee's Alice movie that was announced a long time ago. Thats ganna be a freaky movie!

I well I got my pay  check so I just need to see about getting my bank account in order. Then i might see about picking up The War of the Twins and reading that.

Books to recomend:

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (Like one of my favorite books ever)

Villains by Necessity by Eve Forward (Really awesome book!!!

With the banishment of Evil from the realms, the final victory of Good is assured-unless a few stalwart antiheroes can save the world from a serious and potentially fatal imbalance. First novelist Forward explores the complications that arise from a surfeit of "goodness" in the world. The result is a skewed version of the epic fantasy that features an assassin, a thief, an evil sorceress, a dark knight, and an implacable druid as the villains-turned-heroes who must restore the delicate balance of opposing forces before their world disappears in a blinding flash of Goodness and Light.

So basicly the heros are the villains who need to save the world by bringing evil back into the world.)

Twitch? are you still talking about dragonlance here?? or you just stopped at war of the twins?? lol i kinda got lost there

The prince:

A study of strategy and form. What does it take to move people around you, and the form behind the values of the man of yesterday which keeps faithful to reality today. The strength of the military in the state, the relationship between man and faith. The discrepancy between the man and the ruler, the nature of objective planning and the administration of resources. Not only does it touch this themes, but it also paints a fairly energetic version of the world in the moment it was written, it paints a face of the world from the center of the world in a time where it actually WAS the birth place of kings and nation theory.

Drizzt and The Salvatorre Series:

Great, great books. I loved the fact that for once i got to see the stories of Faerun in movement. I loved the series because they have a nice rhytm to themselves, and can be evocative of the world of magic and elves of Faerun, but it can also grab you because the story is a solid one. I love the characters even if sometimes they become a kind of riff on themselves. All around, their adventures are not super epics, and character centered which is always a plus for me, in the way that the whole take of the stories doesnt become too big to actually give a hoot. This people fail, and sometimes they do the wrong thing, im only about to start reading 1001 orcs of the Hunter´s blade series.

Fables:

A series about a world gone wrong, where every fairy tale has been forced by the attack on their homelands into the real world, where they hide in the middle of the world and live in great soap opera fashion rekindling old stories into modern human drama and oddly entertaining stories. One of the pigs from the three pigs slacks around in the Big bad wolf´s department cause he feels he owes him from the persecuttion all the way in the past, Prince charming is a douche bag who lives trickin women out of their money, The toad that turned into a prince is the janitor of the main house of the Fables, there is a revolution in the farm where the animal fables hide from the spying eyes of men. Great stuff.

The Red Dragon:

I liked the movie. But the books is tops. A great evocative way of storytelling as it sinks down the stories of men who are interlaced on great crimes, and even greater investigations of the spiritual genoma of the human soul and the fears that riddle them and bend them to be who they are.

Top Ten:

A series by Alan Moore, it explores the intrincacies of policework in a world of superheroes, the art is superb, the writting is top notch and one of the best features are the ending writtings, 5 or 6 page prose writtings that are even more detailed of the lifes of the charactes in the series which include A dog in humanoid cybernethic proxies, a Robot, an otherworldy barbarian ogre-child, a sci fi cowboy, an electric superhero and a toy maker second generation superhero. Great characterization, great parody on funny books, great stories.

V for vendetta:

A case study on independent thought and the nature of perception and the world of internal and external politics. The book has great storytelling, it makes you think and revalue the world as it stands for its face value a dig deeper into the meaning of the happenings of our lives, makes you think:What is revolution really?

Watchmen:

The starting point of modern storytelling techniques in a richer fuller characterized fictionites as part of a world that is not white and black. It introduced actual persona into ever single character and made you care for a story as it made you BE part of it. Watchmen made the before and after for a medium long stranded in beeing a pop art window.

Kingdom Come:

A story of old and new, of change and of the difference of views of the world. A nice proxy is used by Waid and Ross on the iconic nature of men, and the evolution of thought into malcontent incoherent ramblings of gods.  A virtual Art fest, with a story to end all stories. I find this graphic novel THE definite version of old icons that have destroyed all barriers and memeticly endow themselves within the minds of generations. Once youve read it. You KNOW forewardly, who each character will always be.

Tom Clancy:The bear and the dragon, the sum of all fears, the hunt for red october, The cardinal of the Kremlin:

I like military political thrillers. I like Tom Clancy. I can say some of them may turn a bit odd in the middle but, if you read them as they are: an extrapolation of actual political international intrigues they become nice novels that put interesting questions and characters in the middle of strongly entertaining scenarios and relationships, a nice writter, if a bit of a slow mover sometimes.

Ellis, Planetary:

The sci fi Book. This is an exploration of the whole gamma of genres watched through the eyes of explorers of the weird. Walking thru the entrails of irradiated giant lizards in uncharted islands on the borders of japan, Soulengines, driftships of the universe powered by the blood of the sacrificed, phantom cops, people shooting people into space from giant guns. Its a weird world, and they love it for it. A must read if you are into old novels and intelectual challenges.

Morrison: The invisibles:

A series that pre-dated The matrix in similar concepts but taken way more heavy handed. The metafiction of the world and the unreality of it all conceived by a revolution in the work to destupidize the world. A nice read, if a bit heavy when read without the basis of reading a lot of the books that spawn the concepts and themes that Morrison touches on his own work.

 

Garth Ennis: Preacher

The most american Slice of american viewed by the eyes of a british writer. Preacher is one of the only books you must read if youre into illustrated novels. A cowboy story in the middle of the United States that turns into a run against god and the way we live our lives, passing thru many stages of life and thru the dilemmas of existence and the effects of the lack of giving a damn. Artwise and storywise, one of the most compelling stories ever told on paper.

WOD The Vampire Series

A nice series of stories with its ups and downs, which I by the way.. have not finished reading.. Its in parts where im truely taken by the story, and others where im turned off of continuing by the lack of zee interest on it. But I think ill still finish it, so at least, i will have a real opinion on the whole series. 

Asimov:

A great scifi Writter. I like a lot of his work, but sometimes it wields down an iron fortress out of clay. Has it great points in decompressing great conceptual work into a fine story. A great auteur, and a nice series of immortal ideas that have cropped up life on their own on the mediums.

I regularly come back to reading Hamlet about once a year, so id recommend it too.  I dont know what is it under it all, but that book has a special place in my lil heart.

Theres a Billion more things.. but right now.. im tired, and long posts make baby jesus kick people in the face. So ill try another run later on. Maybe even some serious reading, not only of the entertaining fashion next time.

Ta-ta!

Cheers & Regards,

Mike 

 

 

Yes I stopped at War of the Twins, see i mentioned WotT as a book I am going to start reading and then made a whole new section in my post titled Books to Recomend, which is where the other books come in. Sorry if I confused anyone.

Nicolo Machiavelli - Il Principe
I liked it, I have a special edition which has Bonaparte's notes but is printed in original language with on the mirror page the English translation with full historic reference. It was quite a purchase that left me with a stinging feeling in my wallet but it was money well spent. It describes the problems you may encounter as a ruler pretty well, and although some people find it moraly lacking, I still think that if you commit to all the advice laid down in it, you will keep everbody happy without hurting yourself. (Which, when ruling an Italian City State can be pretty handy.)

La divina Comedia Dante Alighieri
Great book, want to lift your spirits, want to contemplate all the good in the world, feel like you want to sing out in joy of the magnificent works of the lord? Read this, and you will be cured. It still is a good read tough, and offers a good perspective on the era, plus you have to remember that most of the work Dante wrote was probably a bit cynical.

The art of War Sun Tzu
Just picked this one up and haven't really started reading, but I'm looking forward to it. This edition has included copies of almost all the original texts (not that I can read ancient Chinese) and the notes it gathered over the years.
Want to know how to keep a marching army happy? Feeling like the enemy is closing in but your in an open field? Sun Tzu will know what to do. (Although in the last case he will probably write: "How did you get in that position? Run you fool!"

Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
Book ten in the Wheel of Time saga, which finally picks up the pace as the last to books were pretty slow with not a lot of story progression. This one's really good again, although I think it's probably not a good sign that the books without the lead character are the best. Marching armies, conspiracies everywhere and last but not least a very important role for the saga's best character Mat Cauthon.

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lol np, i tend to do that sometimes.

about ASIMOV: ive never actually read any of his books, though i saw the covers on all the books i have of him.. dang now he has lots of books, i wonder if i even have em all... my dad has all those books, lots and lots of Issac Asimov, of Arthur c.clarke, Tom clancy, stephen king, frank herbert, anne rice and lots and lots more. the covers of the books are soo weird, pics are interesting. i love how old old books smell *grin* btw who was reading the Dune books? think it was archer, i though there where about 3 of the dune series i saw about 5, and some other of same writer but have no idea if its also about the dune stuff..

*looks out the window*

Yay its raining again!! love it when it rains with the sun, im off

@Twitch, I know this is getting annoying, but how far you into the Sword of Truth books? I liked the first three parts with Richard and Kahlan getting closer and closer and Richard becoming cool kickass mage baby! But have you read Pillars of Creation? If so, I would like to hear your opinion on it.

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Some other things to read that may push you to try them out, some serious, some plainly funny stuff.

Roleplaying books:

Mage, Technocracy, Hunter, Wraith, Werewolf, changeling and Vampire Revised. Victorian Age. The Forgotten Realms many area setting books. Macross. Conspiracy X. Transhuman Space (One of the best things i have read recently). Alternity. Project Twilight. Draconomicon. The complete book on ¨Insert here things¨ for the DnD wordls. Infinite Tapestries. Fear to Thread. The Book of Madness. Call of Chtulu 5th and 6th ed. Seventh Circle. New york, Mexico and Children (0f the) by Night.  Aberrant. Pulp. Besm and the rules of anime. Discworld. Hackmaster. Munchkin d20. D20 Modern. Delta Green. Engel. Godlike. Sword and Sorcery books. Transylvania Chronicles. Gehenna/Ascencion Endbooks. Gamma World. Icon.

Nice work on the insert stories that work well with the background and the context of the games, and sometimes, one of the strongest parts of the games are the evocative writtings on them on their books. Read one of the list that you havent read before just for the kicks, I trust you will not be dissapointed. 

Regards,

Mike 

It's fine Popo, I like talking about books. Unfortunatly I have only read up to a few chapters into the book after The Blood of the Fold. At that point in my life I was being overloaded with work and school and stopped reading or enjoying myself at all and I havn't gotten back into the Sword of Truth in a long time.

My brother on the other hand has read ever single SoT book and loves them all, we have pretty much the same taste in books so I bet it is pretty good. 

I asked because I thought PoC was a pretty weird book, with a strange story and a couple of really strange characters. I don't know if it's the most recent book out by Goodkind, but I was hoping someone with, I believe, the same taste in books could give me a disenting opinion.

I'm currently looking forward to the paperback of Pratchett's (now what was it called, Monster Guard or something) anyway, I want it!

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