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question: favourive book? (merged)

haste

haste

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May 21, 2000
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Book Worms - what do you recommend?

I'm always looking for new things to read as its one of my favourite hobbys - I choose alot of my books by reading the blurb on the back and if it grabs my fancy, bingo!

But I also like hearing recommendations from people as well - its interesting how people can take away so many things from a written piece of work to make it truelly unique.

Anyway? What are you reading now? What have you read that you highly recommend? What authors do you admire?

This is the book worms discussion thread for all things literary :)

I'm currently re-reading the Magician series by Raymond E Feist - its my thrid time around and it would have to be my favourite in the fantasy genre.

Also reading The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and C. Cutler - very inspiring book so far, though I haven't gotten far into it.
 
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mar Series. Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars.

Awesome sci fi stuff. Very good writer.

Les Miserables - by Victor Hugo

Best book I've read so far in my life. Simply an amazing, vibrant, moving, touching novel.

Mister God, This Is Anna - by Fynn

Very good read, recommended to everyone.

A Lesson Before Dying : A Novel - by Ernest J. Gaines

Just finished this up for school. Kind of lacking in the first half of the book, but the later half is more than enough to make up for it. Very good read.
 
Tibetian Book Of Living & Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche
I'm in the middle of this at the moment and it's really great. I really must stop endlessly reading about meditation and buddhism and actually put it into practise though.

Pegasus Bridge - Steven Ambrose
Standard enough Ambrose fare about a British glider assault on D-Day. I reckon I've read the majority of his books now and even though they can be quite formulaic they're very enjoyable.

London: The Biography - Peter Ackroyd
Huge tome about the history of London. Brilliantly written and incredibly interesting (especially now that I live there).

I've got a stinking hangover so I can't remember what I read before that lot... I'll have a look when I get home.
 
Choke, Survivor, or Invisble Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
House Of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski (My fav book of all time)
 
Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire (A rewrite of the Snow White story, he has also done Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Lost, and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister)

Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Napoleon on the Art of War by Jay Luvaas

Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card (Two sci-fi books I never thought I'd get around to reading)

Aviation Medicine and the Airline Passenger by Andrew R. C. Cummin
 
Currently I'm in the middle of two books:

The Godfather by Mario Puzo, which I love and will reread every year at least once

and also Lord of the Rings :) the Fellowship

but, unfortunately due to schoolwork, I have had to stop reading those books and focus on textbooks.. :(
 
i think everyone must read "the celstine prophecy" by James redfield...it just amde all my thoughts clear and i understand the world a bit better now :)

My two favorite books apart from that is

"the bronze horseman" by Paulina Simmons and

"as the crow flies" by Jeffery Archer

I'm currently re-reading some virginia andrews books because i havent read them since i was 15 so wanted to read them with a fresh perspective...i know they are looked at as trashy unintelligent books but they are enteratining reading and can never put them down

i'm also reading the 2nd book in the celestine prohecy series
 
Have you read the Farseer trilogy and the Tawny Man trilogy? These are a must. I loved them to death. They were completely absorbing. I couldn't put them down...which was a bad thing cause it's two trilogies, but a good thing cause Robin Hobb is SUCH a good writer.
 
I'm a huge nerd so my recommendations probably aren't anyone elses cup O' tea..

Douglas Hofstadter - Godel, Escher, Bach

My favorite book. About art, music and formal systems (in particular godels incompleteness theorem) in relation to AI.

Ray Kurzweil - The Age of Spiritual Machines

Has some very interesting predictions regarding the future of computing and human evolution.

Alan Watts - The Way of Zen
Alan Watts - The Joyous Cosmology
Robert Anton Wilson - Cosmic Trigger
Robert Anton Wilson - Cosmic Trigger II
Robert Anton WIlson - Prometheus Rising
Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain - Acid Dreams - The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties and Beyond
 
ok heres a few that some ppl will probly already know and some that no one will (maybe)

Stephen King - The Dark Tower series

Tad Williams - Tailchasers Song

Tad Williams - Otherland (a set of 5 BIG books)

Agatha Christie - Hercule Piorot (not the actual title, but a set of 5 murder mysteries with Hercule as the detective)

thats all i can think of now, there are others cept for i dont know some authors etc.
 
brothermarcus said:
Zero by Charles Seife... never really thought that much about the number 0 before...
Click to expand...

Just finished it, was very interesting.

My recommendation would be Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. Extremely funny, and a little savage in places...
 
The Ender series by Orson Scott Card, beginning with Ender's Game one of the best books I've ever read.

I second the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

And House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielweski. This book is in a universe of its own.
 
DigitalD, you missed one;

Oscar Wilde: The importance of being Earnest. Its so goddamn funny=D
W. Gibson: Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive.

And of course: War and Peace. (see you in about 7 years;))
 
Sisters of the Extreme -- by Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz

"Sisters of the Extreme captures the drug experiences of women from diverse times, social backgrounds, and professions in memoir, fiction, poetry, song, and art. From the mythic associations of ancient history and the rituals of indigenous peoples, through the rampant opiate intoxication of the victorian era, to the junkies, psychedelic pioneers, anthropologists, and ravers of the late twentieth century, the selections in this book show us that the real experiences of women are far more compelling than antiseptic sociological stidies or sensationalized tabloid accounts."

The Botany of Desire -- by Michael Pollan

"Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires --- sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control---with the plants that satisy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankinds most basic yearnings. And just as we've benefited from these plants, the plants have also benefited at least as much from their association with us. So who is really domesticating whom?"

My favorite fictional series (of all time) is His Dark Materials by the author Philip Pullman, which includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. It is a fascinating series.

You can read more here if interested:
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/pullman/goldencompass/index.html
 
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