Anyone here read books?

[hapoo]

So i got some time off and thought i'd read a book. What are some of your favorite books? What would you recommend?

[boba world]

Im currently stuck in the first LOTR volume and its some good reading. For a great international thriller/adventure, try my fav book: The Day After Tomorrow, by Alan Folson (Folsom?)

[OC]

I've just started re-reading all the Star Wars books, starting with Heir to the Empire.

The Rama series from Arthur C. Clarke is good too. There's a new book out that I want to get - it's called Year Zero. Hit B&N and look it up. :)

-OC

[Hiro]

Ender's Game series
Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Wyrm
The Hot Zone
Domain

Those are some of my favorites. Although the two highest would be "Wyrm" and "Domain".

"Wyrm" was written by Mark Fabi and "Domain" was written by Steve Alten.

[Freelance Superhero]

depends on what kind of reading you want to do...

my favorite book is hermann hesse's "steppenwolf," but it's kinda heavy.
if you want something more story-like, you could read pearl s. buck's "the good earth."
and if you're not in the mood for a novel, i'd recommend the short stories of Fitzgerald, Gogol, or Borges...

people all have different tastes of course, so here's some other suggestions:
"chronicle of a death foretold" - gabriel garcia marquez
"the bluest eye" or "song of solomon" - toni morrison
"crime and punishment" - fyodor dostoevsky (i just finished it 2 nights ago myself)
"the stranger" - albert camus

i dunno... there's a lot man. and i'd say anything you skipped over in high school, try going back and reading now for pleasure, and you'll have a different experience.

[sho.gun]

Ender's game & Ender's shadow by Orson Scott Card were really good books, hey Corsec listed those too :)

Then when I'm in the mood I bust out a little Rogue Warrior action by Richard Marcinko.

[hapoo]

I love suspense.
Sci-fi is cool but only if its realistic, dragons and stuff isn't my thing.
I haven't really read anything outside Sci-fi/suspense so i can't really comment on other stuff.

[Freelance Superhero]

then read vonnegut, or huxley's "brave new world" (high school reading?) or "ape and essence", or orwell's "1984"

[LPMiller]

dragons and stuff aren't sci fi. That's fantasy.

As for realistic...well, you have to take that with a grain of salt. Star Trek was showing stuff in the future, like data storage and communication, that we do better and cheaper now. And hell, the Enterprise still doesn't even have a decent trackball/mouse.

[jase71]

Depends on what you want to read...

Steinbeck is always good, East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row.

Dashell Hammett for some old detective stories that are still a great read.

The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

Shogun by James Clavelle

or for Sci-fi, try Otherland by Tad Williams (really good, very realistic, especially if you're an internet addict) or maybe Dune by Frank Herbert.

[topane]

Unfortunately, it seems I only read magazines anymore. However, I recently read The Fountainhead and Anthem by Ayn Rand. Both were excellent. The last sci-fi book I read was called The Forge of God by (I think) Greg Bear. Another good one was The Giants Novels by James Patrick Hogan. I know you're not into fantasy, but Michael Moorcock's Elric novels and Roger Zelazny's (sp?) Amber novels are also good.

Maybe we can start a got|apex? book exchange. I got rid of a bunch of books, but I still have a ton gathering dust.

[NuTs62]

thats sick! books = *puke* :P

[dbax791]

I read a lot of the popular fiction - Grisham/Clancy etc. I just finished Grisham's latest "Painted House", it was pretty good. I used to read a lot of Stephen King, but his last few have not been as good.

One of my Fav books of all time is "replay" by Ken Grimwood.

[Windsor]

I 3rd the Ender series, about 5 books now? All pretty good. Clancy I like, umm...Lilian Jackson Braun writes The Cat Who -- series and I like them, light mystery reading stuff. For fantasy I recommend Christopher Stasheff, but that might not be thing, I suppose.

[oblongmelon]

I enjoy historical books, preferably biographies, civil war,ww II stuff I find fascinating..Not too long ago I read The Fall of the Third Reich (for like the fourth time)..and right now I am reading a book called Fire of the Covenant-about the Mormon hand cart passages to Utah from New York..it's surprisingly good. If anyone is interested in a really fascinating book-it's The Story of My Experiments With Truth-by Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi..very very insightful. My kids found a first edition in the original dust cover one year for my birthday because they know that I in awe of Gandhi. It was a GREAT gift.

[Ladogaboy]

The next on my list is the Wisdom of China and India, bye Lin Yutang (sp?)...

Anyway, since I work in a library, I could give you the rundown on what is really popular right now, but then, for that you could just go to the NY Times bestseller list. :shrug:

I've always been a big fan of Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams.

[GraingerGuy]

I like these authors

Clancy
Robin Cook (A medical mystery writer...really good one too.)
Feist (Fantasy - Krondor and what not)
Goodkind (Fantasy - Sword of Truth)
Orsen Scott Card (Fantasy - Ender's Game)

And there are a few others that I don't remember....:)

[Hiro]

Originally posted by cpugeek04
i love tom clancy, timothy zahn, mike stackpole, arron alinston, and other star wars authors
Timothy Zahn was the best of the Star Wars authors.

[DaFunkyUnit]

do cereal boxes count?

[coleslaw]

Anything by Neal Stephenson is great, as is any Asimov fiction (or heck, even non-fiction), especially the Foundation and Robot series.

Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is a lot to absorb, but well worth the effort. Atlas Shrugged is not quite as good as the former, but an interesting story nonetheless.

[Memo]

Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions :)

[GraingerGuy]

Heh...forgot to mention...

CS Lewis...I just reread the Narnia series...and I still love it. :)

[theHNIC]

Originally posted by dbax791
I read a lot of the popular fiction - Grisham/Clancy etc. I just finished Grisham's latest "Painted House", it was pretty good. I used to read a lot of Stephen King, but his last few have not been as good.

One of my Fav books of all time is "replay" by Ken Grimwood.

I have read just about all of Grisham's books, I am currently reading "The Brethren", which is pretty good so far.

P.S. Reading is fundamental

[frenchbread]

if you had to read one book in your life, read RAMA II by Arthur C. Clarke. Best god damn book i have ever read. And if you got some time, read the whole series (4 in all).

[Jenny]

I read constantly. Depending on whether or not I have any books around that I haven't read recently, I usually spend 2-3 hours a day reading. Most times, it's an hour or more before going to sleep.

I read romance for the most part, but about 40-50% of the time, it is police detective mysteries, murder mysteries, PI mysteries, bounty hunters (recently found a great new series - new to me anyway - with a female bounty hunter named Stephanie Plum!), medical mysteries, etc.

I have a few favorite authors, so if you are interested, lemme know. :)

[Lolita]

Originally posted by Freelance Superhero
then read vonnegut, or huxley's "brave new world" (high school reading?) or "ape and essence", or orwell's "1984"

1984 was hands-down the best book I read. I'm just waiting for some time to pass so I can forget what happens in the book, so I can read it again :D

[whitak24]

Originally posted by Lolita


1984 was hands-down the best book I read. I'm just waiting for some time to pass so I can forget what happens in the book, so I can read it again :D
1984 was good, but personally, i preferred orwell's "animal farm" to 1984.

[hapoo]

Originally posted by Lolita


1984 was hands-down the best book I read. I'm just waiting for some time to pass so I can forget what happens in the book, so I can read it again :D



yeah, i never read it in high school so i picked it up a while ago and i really really loved it.


Thanks for the suggestions guys, i'll check it out!

[JackHammer]

John Steinbeck's East of Eden. The book not the movie.

[Cantacuzene]

I only read history books. Right now I'm reading Maurice's Strategikon and Digenis Akritas. I doubt anyone else here would get much out of either of those.

One historical book people here may get something out of is Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. Its a really great story, even if you don't believe the religious aspect of it.

[CynJon]

Originally posted by overclocked
The Rama series from Arthur C. Clarke is good too.-OC

The Rama series is awesome--way ahead of its time. I've read almost everything Clarke has written, with the exception of some his more recent collaborations.

I mainly read techno-novels (hey, I'm military...) and my favorite authors are Dale Brown and Stephen Coonts. Way better writers than Clancy IMHO. If you want a good laugh read Marcinko like Sho.gun said...the guy is full of $^*t but his arrogance is amusing.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by Cantacuzene
One historical book people here may get something out of is Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. Its a really great story, even if you don't believe the religious aspect of it.

I loved that book, though, as for historical accuracy... let's just say that Mark Twain took some liberties. ;)

[Pinkgirl36]

I LOVE to read, I would read all day if I could. I read anything I can get my hands on. Right now I've been strapped for cash and haven't been able to buy books in the longest time, but I don't mind going to Barnes and Noble and just sitting there and reading. :)
I need to do that more often.

And my favorite writer is V.C. Andrews, atleast the stuff she wrote before she died. :rolleyes: I like to read books about people and the past though, so I may have to check out some of the ones you guys suggested.

On a side note, my dad made me read the Grapes of Wrath one time...something like I was ungreatful or something, but I don't remember it, but everyone says it was a good book, so I may actually have to re-read it.

[Freelance Superhero]

Originally posted by Pinkgirl36
I LOVE to read, I would read all day if I could. I read anything I can get my hands on. Right now I've been strapped for cash and haven't been able to buy books in the longest time, but I don't mind going to Barnes and Noble and just sitting there and reading. :)
I need to do that more often.

you should really go to the library... :) i haven't gotten around to it yet :D but that's because i still have a lot of books i actually own that i haven't read yet.

[GraingerGuy]

Originally posted by Pinkgirl36
I LOVE to read, I would read all day if I could. I read anything I can get my hands on. Right now I've been strapped for cash and haven't been able to buy books in the longest time, but I don't mind going to Barnes and Noble and just sitting there and reading. :)
I need to do that more often.


You should try and see if there are any half-price book stores near you! Those are great!

And yeah...the library is a good place to go to. :)

[Pinkgirl36]

I am going to the Library sometime this week, not sure when though. :)

[Cantacuzene]

Originally posted by Ladogaboy


I loved that book, though, as for historical accuracy... let's just say that Mark Twain took some liberties. ;)

Oh definitly, it wasnt above Twain to create fictional characters that move the plot along. If anyone is interested in a historically accurate biography get Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words. Basically, they take all the quotes she is known for a fact to have said and arrange them in a linear timeline to tell her story as if it was an autobiography. The editor whose name escapes me did a tremendous job on it and the book is really amazing and inspiring.

[dbax791]

Originally posted by Pinkgirl36
I am going to the Library sometime this week, not sure when though. :)

The library is probably the best "deal" in the world...with the costs of books these days, you can save so much money by "renting" for free! :D