Re: Literature Thread

by **S7 Epic** Sat May 25, 2013 6:14 pm

AtrumX wrote:Yeah, I think Percy Jackson is the best comparison. If you see the show first, not bad at all. Nothing amazing, but not bad.
If you read the books first... then you REALLY have to not mind drastic changes between the two.

The TV series was awful. I only watched it because the books were so good that I felt I had to... Shame because I think it could make a great TV series. Things always go up sh1t creek, but unlike GoT, they're actually resolved to a satisfactory measure without everyone getting killed off.

Seriously need to give them a re-read at some point. Still reading through this series though... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen

Highly recommended! There are 10 books and the series is finished, so you can do a full read through!

by **S7 mrmiller** Sat May 25, 2013 8:41 pm

No Science Fiction eh? I would have said read any of the Michael Crichton books you may not have read, as they are perfect summer book material. Most of the best ones would be considered Science Fiction. I say get the Walking Drum by Louis Lamar. You will not be disappointed and most likely will be surprised on how good it is.

~mrmiller

by **DeadSockPuppet** Sat May 25, 2013 10:45 pm

S7 mrmiller wrote:I would have said read any of the Michael Crichton books you may not have read, as they are perfect summer book material.

I agree with this.

by **S7 OC** Sat May 25, 2013 11:07 pm

Ill most likely pick up the walking drum. Keep the recommendations coming. For reference my most recent reads have been the first two of the Seeker series by Terry Goodkind, the Steve Jobs book, the war room a New England patriots book, world war Z and a helmet for my pillow

by **S7 OC** Sat May 25, 2013 11:08 pm

I have read some of crichton's books but some are to sci fi for me.

by mr.shifty Sun May 26, 2013 8:33 am

Depends on what you are looking for. If you like fantasy, try Talion: Revenant by Michael Stackpole, or The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. If you like military history, check out The Lions of Kandahar or Marine Sniper. For semi historical fiction I will second the Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour. For an interesting one off scientific book read Everything You Know is Wrong by Lloyd Pye. If you are into health, try Wheat Belly by William Davis. I have tons of others I could recommend depending on what you are looking for.

by **DeadSockPuppet** Sun May 26, 2013 10:56 am

I'll try to go downstairs and go thru the bookcases to find some more suggestions for you.

by **The JDG** Sun May 26, 2013 11:39 am

I just started The Boys from Brazil. Good so far.

by **S7 OC** Fri May 31, 2013 10:30 am

I just downloaded the walking drum.
Ay other suggestions?

by **The JDG** Fri May 31, 2013 10:52 am

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy: here's a sample....

"A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners, coats of slain dragoons, frogged and braided cavalry jackets, one in a stovepipe hat and one with an umbrella and one in white stockings and a bloodstained wedding-veil and some in headgear of cranefeathers or rawhide helmets that bore the horns of bull or buffalo and one in a pigeontailed coat worn backwards and otherwise naked and one in the armor of a spanish conquistador, the breastplate and pauldrons deeply dented with the old blows of mace or sabre done in another country by men whose very bones were dust and many with their braids spliced up with the hair of other beasts until they trailed upon the ground and their horses' ears and tails worked with bits of brightly colored cloth and one whose horse's whole head was painted crimson red and all the horsemen's faces gaudy and grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hillarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet that the brimstone land of christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools."

by mr.shifty Fri May 31, 2013 10:58 am

I have loads of suggestions, all depending on what you enjoy reading

by **Atrum** Fri May 31, 2013 11:11 am

OC, have you read The Catcher in the Rye? Pretty quick read, if you haven't I'd recommend it. It's pretty interesting.

by **S7 K1ll3rKlown** Fri May 31, 2013 12:27 pm

AtrumX wrote:OC, have you read The Catcher in the Rye? Pretty quick read, if you haven't I'd recommend it. It's pretty interesting.

Read this many, many years ago in the late 1970's when it was still on the "censored" list (because who doesn't want to read what they're told not too?). Still considered one of the best of the all time.

Opine: boring; kid fails out of prep school in PA, then wants to "save children from adulthood"...blah, blah, blah the end.
Don't waste your time. Only "ultra famous" because it was banned not because it's great.

by **S7 Sticky** Fri May 31, 2013 12:32 pm

i read today .... if you count reading this topic.... which i do XD

by **Atrum** Fri May 31, 2013 12:34 pm

S7 K1ll3rKlown wrote:
AtrumX wrote:OC, have you read The Catcher in the Rye? Pretty quick read, if you haven't I'd recommend it. It's pretty interesting.
Read this many, many years ago in the late 1970's when it was still on the "censored" list (because who doesn't want to read what they're told not too?). Still considered one of the best of the all time.

Opine: boring; kid fails out of prep school in PA, then wants to "save children from adulthood"...blah, blah, blah the end.
Don't waste your time. Only "ultra famous" because it was banned not because it's great.

And Ghost in the Shell references it!

by **S7 OC** Fri May 31, 2013 1:28 pm

Yes Atrum Ive read it a few time

by **Atrum** Fri May 31, 2013 2:06 pm

Hmm... they're teen books, but the Percy Jackson series is actually very good.

by **S7 OC** Fri May 31, 2013 4:41 pm

Nothing against people who read the teen books but that just really isn't my thing.

by **Atrum** Fri May 31, 2013 4:53 pm

If you like historical books Breaking Open Japan is a great account of Commodore Perry's 1850's interaction with Japan.

Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of happiness is also an invigorating read.

by **S7 OC** Fri May 31, 2013 5:16 pm

Thanks ill check them out

by **The JDG** Fri May 31, 2013 7:01 pm

AtrumX wrote:If you like historical books Breaking Open Japan is a great account of Commodore Perry's 1850's interaction with Japan.

Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of happiness is also an invigorating read.

If you like books about Japan, Shogun by James Clavell

by **S7 Interseptor** Fri May 31, 2013 7:59 pm

"I thought what I'd do was..."

by **DeadSockPuppet** Fri May 31, 2013 8:29 pm

What about Farenheit 451. One of my all time favorite books.

by **S7 OC** Fri May 31, 2013 9:07 pm

I've read that one puppet. Ray Bradberry is a good author.

by **DeadSockPuppet** Fri May 31, 2013 9:54 pm

Albert Camu's The Stranger or Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. I read them in HS but if I remember right they were good.

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