Novels

[Magik-Waffle]

They say the best way to learn is through observation. So give me some good novels to read, with a gripping story, descriptive narration, etc. Just give me the name, author, genre, and why I should read it.

Okay, go.

[Magik-Waffle]

At 9/18/09 12:01 PM, evan210 wrote: Artamène

Yeah... What's that?

[cHunter]

If you haven't read all of Dan Brown's novels then you should. I haven't read his latest one, but all the rest are fantastic.

[WeirdJamFace]

Like World War II?
Try 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' and 'Goodnight, Mr Tom'

sad tales...

[evan210]

At 9/18/09 12:02 PM, Magik-Waffle wrote:

At 9/18/09 12:01 PM, evan210 wrote: Artamène

Yeah... What's that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artam%C3%A8 ne

[mrty]

If you like Stephen King, I'd suggest you read "Dead Zone" if you haven't. It'll take you a long time, but it's just great.

[Tobi]

At 9/18/09 12:04 PM, evan210 wrote:

At 9/18/09 12:02 PM, Magik-Waffle wrote:

At 9/18/09 12:01 PM, evan210 wrote: Artamène

Yeah... What's that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artam%C3%A8 ne

2,100,000 words? Even a scholar wouldn't have that patience!

[Ass-Crumb]

http://www.amazon.com/Darkly-Dreaming-De xter-Vintage-Lizard/dp/0307473708/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253289957&sr=8 -1

http://www.amazon.com/Men-Are-Better-Tha n-Women/dp/1416953817/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 &s=books&qid=1253289987&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/If-Chins-Could-Kil l-Confessions/dp/B0002Y6AC6/ref=sr_1_1?i e=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253290027&sr=8-1

All fucking awesome.

[Scarab]

My recommendations might not be all that great, but I've had a look through my collection to find a few with particularly interesting stories anyway. I've found it tricky to really slot these into genres, but hopefully the descriptions are helpful enough.

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks: a dark humoured, grizzly tale that hides its meanings at many points. It fucks with your mind a bit, particularly at the end, but I bet that if you gave it a shot you'd look back on it and see it as rewarding. It's fairly short so you can brush through it, but it's not a good idea to rush it, since you might miss the sly humour and the few details needed to understand the basic plot. Perhaps give it a miss if you love animals.

Glamorama - Bret Easton Ellis: a satire of the celebrity culture that works on so many different levels. Like American Psycho (also great, but I want to be different while talking about Bret Easton Ellis), it's hilarious, gruesome, and it doesn't really make much sense at some points. Work through it, but it's probably for the best that it's not to be taken all that solidly as a story. There's also a fairly drudging sex scene (or two) in it if that helps.

The Collector - John Fowles: almost a thriller in which a man who's made a fair bit of cash becomes somewhat "intrigued" by a girl he's been watching. I don't want ot say too much, but it's well-written, entertaining and the actions of both of the main characters are described in their different voices to great effect. The atmosphere works well throughout. Again, not too long if you're strapped for time.

It - Stephen King: for the horror fan in all of us. It is my favourite Stephen King novel, though it's one of the longer ones (not a problem, since it's used to an advantage). It's fantastically frightening to say the least. The usual horror monster conventions are played around with, and the main characters are likable. Give it a shot if you haven't got into King before.

I don't know if any of these are appropriate to you though. What have you been interested in so far? What would you like to learn more about, so to speak? While I love novels like Naked Lunch and works similar to the more hallucinatory sections in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, they're definitely not for everyone, especially if you're looking for something with a coherent story.

Expanding your experience of reading is always good, but try some books by writers you've enjoyed before too. I noticed Lord Of The Rings on your userpage, maybe give The Silmarillion a go if you haven't already, or something.

Hopefully you found something useful here anyway :)

[junkietomato]

MISERY by Stephen King.

Reason: It's MOTHERUCKING STEPHEN KING.

Just do it. Trust me.

Well, fuck it, just buy all his books.

[Hero123Nami123]

Try the book theif its set in ww2 and its about a nazi girl called liesel who doesnt agree with her upbringing.Its great even tells you how to swear in German saukerl

[Ericho]

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. It's easier to go for things like "Slaughter House-Five", but I'd have to say that "Galapagos" is his best underrated novel.

[Magik-Waffle]

At 9/18/09 01:03 PM, Scarab wrote: Helpful stuff.

All that helped. I enjoy fantasy, sci-fi, and anything with a good twist, and the novels you mentioned seem to fall into the latter category. I'll give them a look.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

[ViZi]

RedWall

[SaltshakerClock]

At 9/18/09 01:03 PM, Scarab wrote: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

I tried reading that in 5th grade. The amount of swearing and general negativity scared me off.

I'll have to try reading it again.

Although you have probably read it, The Giver is a fantastic, short, easy to read book.

[Alamadu]

I just read "The Road" it was incredible I highly recommend that

also I have been reading Neil Gaiman lately too he is very good as well

[yurgenburgen]

Title: Naked Lunch.
Author: William S. Burroughs.

Non-linear accounts of substance abuse and horrific fantasy all blended together in a surreal mix of craziness.

[DELUCA2400]

At 9/18/09 02:39 PM, Alamadu wrote: I just read "The Road" it was incredible I highly recommend that

also I have been reading Neil Gaiman lately too he is very good as well

Damn you I was going to recommend that.

Um how about the "Street Lawyer" by John Grisham, or "The Portrait of Dorian Grey" by Oscar Wilde.

[EvilerBowser1001]

American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis

This is basically a satire of the 80s and the materialistic, self centered culture of corporate America.
It's also, as the title suggests, about a horrible psychopathic serial killer.

It has some very graphic depictions of sex, and some very disturbing violence.
It also happens to be darkly funny, and has quite a sharp wit.

[Magik-Waffle]

These are all great suggestions, guys. Keep 'em coming.

[TheSilverGuitar]

Brave New World is a very frightening book.

[AlphaCentauri]

Jurassic Park: Michael Chrichton.

It's basically a story where dinosaurs eat people and a guy punches a velociraptor in the face. Well, it is actually a lot more, just read it.

[Ericho]

The Phantom Tollbooth is easily one of the best children's books I've ever read. It has so much wit and intelligence, it should be enjoyable for all (or at least most) audiences.

[Scarab]

At 9/18/09 02:14 PM, Magik-Waffle wrote: Thanks. Much appreciated.

You're welcome! I mentioned Iain Banks at the beginning: as a side-note, he's written a load of sci-fi under Iain M. Banks. I've only ever read The Wasp Factory, but I can imagine his sci-fi stuff is good too.

At 9/18/09 02:39 PM, SaltshakerClock wrote: I tried reading that in 5th grade. The amount of swearing and general negativity scared me off.

I'll have to try reading it again.

I recommend it. Even if you finish it and find that you've not really enjoyed it, you might have picked up one or two things from it, whether it's an interpretation or something technical in the writing, etc. I agree that it's definitely not easy on the eyes and mind though at times... some of the reasons behind the writing are equally interesting/obvious. Check out the film version if you haven't before too. It's pretty different from the book in some ways, but it's still possibly the most depressing film to do well at the Oscars, so it's a bit iffy to some.

At 9/18/09 04:56 PM, TheSilverGuitar wrote: Brave New World is a very frightening book.

Oh yeah, and this is a great recommendation too. It's a fantasy dystopian novel, so you might enjoy it on that front, OP. I'm not saying much more, but you know what I think the most curious thing about Brave New World is? It could easily be describing a utopia to many.

[Slightly-Crazy-Dude]

Finally another decent book thread. Huzzah!

I heartilly recommend these.

George R R Martins, A Song of Ice and Fire Saga. Medieval fantasy I suppose, but there's not much fantasy at all. It has everything, backstabbery, murder, incest and pretty much everything I can think of. Currently five books and the sixth is on it's way (been like that for two and a half years *sigh*). You'll be suprised at how attached to the characters you get and you'll genuinly feel sorrow when they die, and they will die.

Anthony Durhams - Acacia. Is another fantasy novel that is splendidly written and an absolutely fucking fantastic read. Along the same lines of ASoIaF (above) but there's more fantasy elements involved. Currently waiting on books two and three to be released.

Patrick Rothfuss' - The Name of the Wind - The Kingkiller Chronicles. There's nothing to say about this book that hasn't already been said. Rothfuss' first novel and it reached the bestsellers list instantly. This book is interesting in the way it's told. The main character Kvothe is a lowly bartender trying to live out his life in secrecy and is doing it well until a chronicler appears at his bar, asking about his past. It's through Kvothes eyes you see this book and indeed his past adventures leading up to why he's living in secrecy in a shitty town.

All epic fantasy novels and if you like the genre and you haven't read them, get them. Get them now, because you'll never read any better fantasy saga's than this.

I might post some Sci-Fi novels later, if I'm bored enough.

[chainsawmurderer53]

At 9/18/09 12:06 PM, tobi0 wrote:
2,100,000 words? Even a scholar wouldn't have that patience!

And it looks like it's in french!

[Ericho]

Has anybody ever attempted to post fanfics in the form of books? I mean, I've read some popular fanfics and they can be very good. I know of a place with some good fanfic recommendations if you're into that.

[robin1232]

At 9/18/09 12:06 PM, tobi0 wrote:

At 9/18/09 12:04 PM, evan210 wrote:

At 9/18/09 12:02 PM, Magik-Waffle wrote:

At 9/18/09 12:01 PM, evan210 wrote: Artamène

Yeah... What's that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artam%C3%A8 ne

2,100,000 words? Even a scholar wouldn't have that patience!

Id read it in a week (maybe two), it has only 2000 pages... the only difficult part would be to hold it

btw, I can do speed reading

[Upyourface]

Any Discworld novel.
They're all comdies, but when the book gets to the main event, it's told with all seriousness and it works really well.

I especially recommend the ones involving Sam Vimes.

[WritersBlock]

At 9/18/09 01:05 PM, junkietomato wrote: MISERY by Stephen King.

Reason: It's MOTHERUCKING STEPHEN KING.

Just do it. Trust me.

Well, fuck it, just buy all his books.

This was my first read of King's, and I started It a while ago, but time's got the better of me with that book. I really enjoyed Misery, and now I'm wading my way through a whole lot of books at the moment. I'm currently actively reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, loving it so far, and Dracula by Bram Stoker, no complaints so far. I've also got Mary Shelley's Frankenstein on the bookshelf, waiting to be read, as well as quite a few others.

At 9/18/09 02:39 PM, Alamadu wrote: I just read "The Road" it was incredible I highly recommend that

also I have been reading Neil Gaiman lately too he is very good as well

One of my tutors at Uni told me about this book. I actually bought it a few days ago (same time as when I got Fight Club), and she's praised the author as being very compelling and, I can't remember her exact words, but she didn't exactly enjoy some of the content. I love that sort of stuff. King's done it, Palahniuk's doing it, and I hope The Road does it when I read it. You know, that kind of stomach clenching feeling you get when you're reading a story that goes over things you'd rather not read about. Such as drinking your own piss or shoving dried wax down your dick.

Anyway, my recommendations;

The Tomorrow Series, by John Marsden. It's good, hard 'young adult' fiction set around a group of teenagers who get caught up in a war where Australia is invaded by an anonymous country. I guess it really resonated with me particularly well because, being Australian, I'm set so far away from the real wars that are going on elsewhere, and I was... thirteen or fourteen at the time. I read the books again a few years later and they were still just as good. Only problem I had was that I was just wishing that I would be able to read it for the first time again.

The 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, by Philip Pullman. I read the Northern Lights (the Golden Compass) when I was 12. It took me a while to read the next two. Too long. It was just after the Golden Compass movie came out that I read the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass. After I finished the third book, I wanted to get into another book, but I just so thoroughly enjoyed the series I didn't have a clue what to read next, what could compare to it. More fiction aimed at the younger readers.

Neverness, by David Zindell. Science Fiction at its finest. It's set in a futuristic galaxy, which is brimming with social heirarchy, politics, religion, philosophy, mathematics and science. It's a whole universe within a mere bundle of paper. And the plot, spectacularly imaginative and superbly written. It's a more mature read, I got through it when I was 17, and I'm currently making my way through his 'Requiem for Homo Sapiens' trilogy which proceeds from Neverness within the same universe. It's heavy stuff, and it's taken me a while to read his books, but I've loved every moment of it.

I also borrowed a couple of books by John Grisham off my parents, crime/law fiction, and I thought they were really good. I think the ones I read were... the Partner and... the Chamber. I should also read more of his books. I should read more. I've got a few books that I've got that I want to read, but I've already got plenty of other books started and as of yet unfinished, and I really want to trim that number down and actually finish more books. Anyway, I've got Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to read, as well as Orson Scott Card's Ender's game and Raymond E Feist's Magician. I've got Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum barely started, along with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I haven't yet got the Lord of the Rings books just yet or Frank Herbert's Dune, but I intend on getting my hands on them and reading them some time in the future. There are more, lots more, but I'll leave it at that for the time being.