Books, and the Discussion there of.

[Jer-oh-me]

I'm finishing up reading "Without Remorse" by Tom Clancy & was thinking that no book beforehand had grappled onto me and not let go. It's inspired me to feel the complete range of human emotion. I highly suggest it if you appreciate historical fiction. Perhaps not a best known title, but certainly a best seller. I can go on, but my current UI is limited for this forum. Anyway, similarly moving titles, your own thoughts on the book, favored authors, etcetera.

[superluser]

You know who I'm going to mention:

Thomas Pynchon.

So I'll just pass that over and say that I've been reading a lot of technical stuff now, so I don't have much to offer in terms of narrative works, but I do suggest Edward Tufte to...well, everyone.

[Jer-oh-me]

You want technical?

Currently in my possession: INTERTEC Small Diesel Engine service manual 3rd edition, Principles of Modern Radar Systems (Carpentier, Michael H.), Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits Vol. 1 (Graf, Rudolf F.)

All checked out locally.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

The Illiad. Opened my eyes when I went through it with a classics guy, about how say, the climax of the work is when Achillies decides to give the body back, not the duel with Hektor. (Think about it, both Ajax and Diomedes manage to fight Hektor to a draw, and we know that Achillies is much tougher than they are. The fight with the Trojan champion is supposed to be a foregone conclusion).

[Ryudo Lee]

I've read the complete Dune series, including the prequels.  It was some fairly heavy reading, as I was in high school at the time.  I still think of it as quite possibly one of the best sci-fi series I've ever read.

The other set of books in that category is the Ender's Game series, and the parallel series, Ender's Shadow.  Card seems to like to really go into a whole lot of detail, probably more than is called for.  I preferred Ender's Game over Ender's Shadow though.

And I've said this before in a previous book thread, but the Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony was one of my favorites.  He mixes a sci-fi world with a fantasy world, and he does it well.  It starts with the book Split Infinity.  Another series that he had done that I thoroughly enjoyed was the Incarnations of Immortality series, which I think I mentioned earlier as well.  I really enjoyed the way he got into the heads of the Incarnations.  I couldn't put it down.  It starts with On A Pale Horse.  And you can't talk about Piers Anthony without mentioning Xanth.  I think my mother has just about every single one of those books.  Though I find Xanth to be much easier reading than any other fantasy series.  Xanth just doesn't seem as deep.

[Cogidubnus]

Scar Night, by Alan Campbell, Iron Angel by the same, and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss are three recent reads that did not disappoint.

[Lysander]

Anything in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. The triliy of the 1st books were the first books I'd ever read without school requiring me to read something. They are mostly focused on fantasy but mix in sci-fi in a very smooth way.   

[Jer-oh-me]

Just because no-one's said it, I enjoy the works of Terry Pratchet fantastically, wonderfully thrilling! I've only read a handful, but I loved the Original "The Colour of Magic" particularly the part when the characters lose cohesion in their universe and wind up in ours. I'm a devoted fan of Orson Scott Card, so I've read both series. I find the added detail fascinating. He didn't invent nor name many of the aspects and concepts of his books, but for me they're my experience of them. I find the Ansible to be a worthwhile goal, and a necessary step toward exploration of the cosmos.

I'm also a big fan of Michael Crichton, "Airframe" and "Sphere" being my favorites. The first because of the thrill of the hunt for those persons and happenstances that would bring an industry of both intricacy & enormity to its knees. The humanity of lead I found especially poignant. The latter title because of its exploration of that well known proverb, "Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts, Absolutely" Sane intellectual people are given Gods' powers and it destroys them. No wonder Greek Gods were off.

[superluser]

Just because no-one's said it, I enjoy the works of Terry Pratchet fantastically, wonderfully thrilling!

Which is more or less why I didn't bother to mention it.  Someone else would, eventually.

If you like Pratchett, you'll get on just fine here.

[Brunhidden]

TP is probably one of the most read items here.


i would suggest my personal favorites, the 'night watch' books he does, takes crime/mystery to a new level.

my second favorite is the 'death'  novels, he always gets the best dialouge

[Esnel Pla]

No one should ever read The Night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga.

[Damaris]

I am a huge fan of "A Star Called Henry" by Roddy Doyle. 

Another amazing book- "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant, which is a fictional account of the life of the Old Testament's Dinah.

[superluser]

I am a huge fan of "A Star Called Henry" by Roddy Doyle.

I looked it up and found the book blurb, but that didn't explain much.  It sounds like an interesting book, but I'd be very interested to know why you like it.