Please recommend a book

How about Ben Bova? Anybody read his books? Some titles Mars, Reture To Mars, Moon Rats, and more.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

Have you read Le Morte D'Arthur. Now *that's* a classic.
You should read my favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez...it's great!

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"What you have lost will not be returned to you. It will always be lost. You're left with only your scars to mark the void. All you can choose to do is go on or not. But if you go on, it's knowing you carry your scars with you." -Charles Frazier


"I would kill someone in front of their own mama for a ten speed. And if anyone testifies against me I'll gouge their eyes out."

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - everyone must read this book as soon as possible before the politically correct changes are made, it's brilliant.
Dark Moon and Echos of the Great Song by David Gemmel are great, fun fantasy novels.
James Clavell is also great as far historical fiction goes, Tai-Pan, Shogun and King Rat being the pick of the bunch.

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Mr M Rides Again

MoFo Survivor - r3port3r66 wins!!!!!!

Try Iain Banks, if you want something slightly unusual. He also writes sci-fi as Iain M. Banks. Another contemporary British author I would recommend is Toby Litt.
Two completely different books you might find interesting are Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell & Marti Joan de Galba, and Way Past Cool by Jess Mowbray, the first tells the story of a Catalan knight,and the second the story of a gang of black teenagers in Oakland.

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Let us go, Through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster shells

From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S.Eliot

I need to chime in here....

Jordan's Wheel of Time books are not something to jump right into unless you know what you're getting into. It is an extensive series of books to be sure. I have read eight of these novels and then I quit reading the series. The first six books were very good, at some points reaching amazing. My problem is with Jordan, and his decision to try and drag this series on for as long as he can. Way back in the day, Mr. Jordan had speculated that his series would be six books long, then it became eight, then ten, etc. etc. As of this writing book ten is out and the series hasn't wrapped up yet.

Starting with book seven, the man's writing style started to change. All of a sudden we were treated to five page long descriptions of a character's clothing. Dozen's of new and uninteresting characters are introduced, while characters you had come to know and care for were set aside, sometimes not appearing at all in an entire book (Mat Cauthon comes to mind with book seven). Jordan had killed off a few characters by this point but he decided none of his characters should die and brought them ALL back.

So, What had started out as a story about a would-be hero and some friends embarking on a fabulous quest turns into a story about dozens of uberpowerful Aes Sedai (magic users) and Forsaken (evil wizards) battling and killing each other only to have them all return to do it again and again and again...

..

yawn ....OH! I'm sorry I must have nodded off for a second there. Anyway, that said I would still recommend at least reading Eye of the World, the first book, as it is just one of the best fantasy books I have read. I think all the books up to book six, which btw contains one of the coolest scenes/chapters (The Dumais Wells) I have ever read in any book. Still, I hold Geroge R.R Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire series above basically anything fantasy, including LotR! I have mentioned this fact to others when recommending the books, and was invariably met with taunts and japes about my taste in fantasy, until they read the books that is. Martin's stuff is just stellar, and I feel he has blown everything fantasy out of the water, setting a new standard.

So check out Martin! He has three books in the series so far with another due out in July. I can't recommend the series enough.

_S

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I concur with this one as well. I think it is strong commentary today, even more-so than when it was written, as the whole Soma concept pinpointed the use of drugs to keep people even, or complacent. Hopefully I don't need to pint out the correlation with today's society....

_S

How about The Book Temple? Sorry but I don't know the author.

PC changes? What grim news can you give me about this outrage? I hadn't heard anything about this.....

Please elaborate...

_S

Though I don't read much, I do have two favourite Authors, Alastair Reynolds and Neal Asher, they write Sci-Fi. My Personal Favourites of theirs are:

Gridlinked - Neal Asher
The Skinner - Neal Asher
The Line of Polity - Neal Asher
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Redemption Ark - Alastair Reynolds
Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days - Alastair Reynolds (2 short stories)

I don't know of anyone else who has ever read any of their work, and I'd like to know what other people think of their work

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I thought it was just me that got bored with book 7 of this series. I am currently about 2/3rds of the way through with it right now and I find myself speed reading through alot of chapters. I love this series and since I have grown fond of the characters I will probably continue to read it. I do not have a problem with main characters being left out for a whole volume because they tend to be refreshing when they return, and it also allows a little more focus on others. My biggest peeve about book 7 so far is that I wade and wade through it and when a climax comes its in the form of a flashback about two pages long. Still all in all I think it is an excellent series and I hope the book 8 is much better, but according to you it is much the same as 7, bummer. Also, I think it was obvious that the characters you are probably mentioning that were killed off did not really die. The clues were kinda easy to catch, so saying they were brought back is probably not right, they never left. I will say however it gets kinda tiresome, either kill em or not.


It might have been mentioned so far but the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind is one of my favs, along with most all of Salvatore's work.

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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

I would read Blow. i know its a movie, but still, if you havent seen the movie, its real good.

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We're sorta like 7-11, we're not always doin' business, but we're always open.

Slaytan

Ever tried Peter Straub? Floating Dragon is a "Stand" type story yet even darker.

If you haven't yet, try

1). KoKo
From the Publisher
"KOKO......"Only four men knew what it meant.
Vietnam vets. One was a doctor. One was a lawyer. One was a working stiff. One was a writer. All were as different as men could be----yet all were bound eternally together by a single shattering secret.
And now they joined together again on a quest that could take them from the graveyard and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York.....hunting an inhuman ghost of the past risen from nightmare darkness to kill and kill and kill.......

2). Mystery
From the Publisher
After a tragic accident which he barely survives, Tom Pasmore develops an obsession with death--an obsession which leads him to investigate two murders--one in the past and one in the present. And during his investigation, Pasmore learns more than anyone needs--or deserves--to know!



3). The Throat
From the Publisher
A tormented writer, unable to exorcise the demons of his past...an all-American town, plagued by horrific secrets...a beautiful woman, brutally murdered by a twisted killer thought long dead - or by an even more terrifying copycat?



...in that order. They are inter-related and quite brilliant.

Ghost Story is a great one by Straub as well...

I've only read one, and that's Koko. I remember liking it, but it was ages ago. I'll check it out.

Anyway, thanks everybody for replying to this thread, I completely forgot I made it.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Have you read any of Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody series? Excellent stuff and highly addictive.

Also Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire is an amazing take on the Wizard of Oz telling the life story of how the witch became "evil".

And I highly recommend anything by Arthur C. Clarke.

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Wired, which is the biography of the late and great John Belushi. An excellent read.

I think Jose Saramago may just be the most influential writer of our time ... I did a small 2 paragraph book review on his book BLINDNESS so I won't repeat why I think the man is brilliant


http://www.movieforums.com/community...195#post147195

Also I like the way John Grisham writes... I have read all his books but I'm pretty sure they have all become movies by now so, maybe not so much a good read when you know what happends.

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And like that .... he's gone

Book seven was tolerable to me, and still had some good stuff in it, eight just gets silly with the Aes Sedai knitting circle that becomes a focus in the series. I mean really, just how much do I need to know about each person's attire??? I guess I will finish the series eventually, probably when it gets finished. I can't have too many series I am reading where I am waiting years for the next book

_S

I recommend the trilogy "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. I'm just starting the second book "The Subtle Knife" - really superb.

Recently there was a national poll in the UK called The Big Read, and this trilogy was voted into 3rd place behind The Lord of the Rings at #1 and Pride and Prejudice at #2.

The books have a wide audience from teens to oldies, and work on many levels. I recommend you give them a go before they get the Hollywood treatment - rumour has it that Sam Mendes has been slated to direct the film(s).

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In every generation there is a chosen bint

Sword of Truth novels. A bit long but, very good.

Time Travel/Sci Fi

http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/5...is/willis.html