Good Books

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06-09-2009, 04:04 PM
Numbr2intheWorld

Good Books

I stole this idea from a sports forum i post on. I'm trying to read a lot more and i've kind of run out of idea for books to read.

Anyone know of any good books? I've really read nothing so even really well-known ones you should post.
06-09-2009, 04:13 PM
bode

fiction or non-fiction
06-09-2009, 04:21 PM
kingnat

A couple threads I unearthed...

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ighlight=books mrhappy333's book suggestion thread

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ighlight=books XTR1000's book suggestion thread
06-09-2009, 05:07 PM
Robb

Ender's Game by Orsen Scott Card. There are 10 total books in the Ender series, if you like the first short/easy read.

The book is technically sci fi, but it's about kids saving the world. And it's not hard core sci fi, so don't let that scare you off unless you REALLY despise sci fi.

Interesting thing, the movie company that bought the movie rights to the book let their option run out, and a new movie production team bought the rights. Should be an Ender's Game movie in a couple years, and if it's done right it'll be a hot flick maybe somewhat like Matrix or Lord of the Rings.
06-09-2009, 05:11 PM
bikes

The Great Gatsby is a favorite of mine.
06-09-2009, 05:12 PM
Numbr2intheWorld

I actually have read all the enders books including the enders shadow series, all very good books i'd recommend them to anyone.
06-09-2009, 05:16 PM
Numbr2intheWorld

thanks for the links kingnat, i never use the search lol
06-09-2009, 05:41 PM
WillburForce

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bbickes

The Great Gatsby is a favorite of mine.

great book .must read. and very short.
06-09-2009, 06:28 PM
UG

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigred

the things they carried by tim obrien

this was from one of the other threads, read this about a month ago before I did my Vietnam unit, it's a good read.
06-09-2009, 06:47 PM
bode

i just read 1984 for the first time and would def. recommend it. I don't know why i didn't read that in H.S., thought it was standard for alot of schools.
06-09-2009, 07:04 PM
Robb

Quote:

Originally Posted by Massimo

I actually have read all the enders books including the enders shadow series, all very good books i'd recommend them to anyone.

Have you read Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy? Great if you enjoyed OSC. And he wrote the robot series (The Will Smith "I robot" movie was nothing like book - but it couldn't be. The plot was developed from a short story in the first book of the robot series.)

In the library, you'll find some of these classics from the 60's, 70's and 80's:

Alistair MacLean's Guns of Navaronne + 20 other books. He wrote thrillers mostly about WW2 and big criminal conspiracies.

Robert Ludlum's "Bourne Identity" and other Bourne novels. If you hated the movies, no worries, since they didn't even vaguely resemble these classic spy thrillers. Plus a gazillion other good reads from him.

Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. Spenser is a private detective unlike any other you'll read. There was an old TV series based on the books that was old when I was young. Parker now has two new detectives, Sunny Randal (girl private eye) and Jesse Stone (police chief in small resort town Paradise, Massachusetts).

Andy McNab is a more modern thriller writer. He's an ex-commando from Britain's elite SAS unit, and he writes about commando turned solider for hire Nick Stone.
06-09-2009, 07:27 PM
bigred

Quote:

Originally Posted by bode

i just read 1984 for the first time and would def. recommend it. I don't know why i didn't read that in H.S., thought it was standard for alot of schools.

This. Check out Brave New World as well. Along the same ideas about society.
06-09-2009, 07:37 PM
BennyLaRue

Larousse Gastronomique
06-09-2009, 08:20 PM
kingnat

Kurt Vonnegut is the Awesome. Cat's Cradle at/near the top and definitely a good place to start... but lots of very very good books that he has written.

If you want to read another very good book that is also a classic: Catch 22. I plan to re-read it this year...
06-09-2009, 09:07 PM
Ash256

The Pleasure And Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton - pleasant philosophical musings that open your mind to the world around you..
06-09-2009, 10:00 PM
kingnat

Quote:

Originally Posted by bode

i just read 1984 for the first time and would def. recommend it. I don't know why i didn't read that in H.S., thought it was standard for alot of schools.

Animal Farm is also a very excellent read by Orwell.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
06-09-2009, 10:24 PM
BennyLaRue

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingnat

Kurt Vonnegut is the Awesome. Cat's Cradle at/near the top and definitely a good place to start... but lots of very very good books that he has written.

If you want to read another very good book that is also a classic: Catch 22. I plan to re-read it this year...

Sometimes you say stuff and I think that I wrote it.
06-09-2009, 10:34 PM
bode

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingnat

Quote:

Originally Posted by bode

i just read 1984 for the first time and would def. recommend it. I don't know why i didn't read that in H.S., thought it was standard for alot of schools.

Animal Farm is also a very excellent read by Orwell.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

i read animal farm ~10 years ago maybe. Thats one that i would like to reread but due to studying for tests and my already 10 book tall "read next" pile, i probly wont reread it anytime soon.
06-09-2009, 10:35 PM
bode

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingnat

Kurt Vonnegut is the Awesome. Cat's Cradle at/near the top and definitely a good place to start... but lots of very very good books that he has written.

i've read slaughterhouse 5 and breakfast of champions (which was weird as hell), and i have Cats Cradle, just haven't gotten to it yet. Def. love his style though.
06-09-2009, 11:00 PM
Galapogos

Quote:

Originally Posted by BennyLaRue

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingnat

Kurt Vonnegut is the Awesome. Cat's Cradle at/near the top and definitely a good place to start... but lots of very very good books that he has written.

If you want to read another very good book that is also a classic: Catch 22. I plan to re-read it this year...

Sometimes you say stuff and I think that I wrote it.

^^ I was going to make the same post.
06-09-2009, 11:07 PM
BennyLaRue

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galapogos

Quote:

Originally Posted by BennyLaRue

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingnat

Kurt Vonnegut is the Awesome. Cat's Cradle at/near the top and definitely a good place to start... but lots of very very good books that he has written.

If you want to read another very good book that is also a classic: Catch 22. I plan to re-read it this year...

Sometimes you say stuff and I think that I wrote it.

^^ I was going to make the same post.

*head asplode*
06-09-2009, 11:34 PM
bjsaust

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robb

Quote:

Originally Posted by Massimo

I actually have read all the enders books including the enders shadow series, all very good books i'd recommend them to anyone.

Have you read Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy?

Lol, was just about to suggest those myself. I've had the first two books for years, just picked up the rest a week ago and working my way through.
06-09-2009, 11:36 PM
bjsaust

Pretty much any books that were on the reading list at highschool that you missed would probably be good now. Funny how good these 'classic' books are if you dont actually have to study them.
06-10-2009, 05:51 AM
Parasurama

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigred

Quote:

Originally Posted by bode

i just read 1984 for the first time and would def. recommend it. I don't know why i didn't read that in H.S., thought it was standard for alot of schools.

This. Check out Brave New World as well. Along the same ideas about society.

Um no.

http://sirjorge.com/blogx/2009/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell/
06-10-2009, 08:29 AM
daven

i dunno much about how you read, but classics are classics for a reason ;) I suggest the first group as great for enjoying reading again...

For simple but beautiful reading:
Old man and the sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull - Richard Bach
To Kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee
Pi - Yann Martel

For other beautiful reading:
Midnight's children - Salman Rushdie

For "he didn't just write Fear and Loathing"
The Rum Diaries (easily his best book) - Hunter S. Thompson

For old sci-fi from a seeming-misogynist
Glory Road or Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

For good sci-fi (or is that cyber-punk?!)
Neuromancer - William Gibson

For a crazy play from a long time ago
Peer Gynt - Henrik Ibsen

For pseudo-philosophy:
The Glass Bead Game - Herman Hesse
Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho

For political satire/commentary on future state:
1984, animal farm, lord of the flies, brave new world, etc

For interesting history:
Mi pais inventado (kinda translates as my created country) - Isabel Allende

For intense and dense great for a mindfuck
Thus Spake Zarathustra - Fredrich Nietzsche

For what I'm reading right now cos of its title:
the gambler - dostoevsky

and yes to Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions..

Quote:

Originally Posted by bode

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingnat

Kurt Vonnegut is the Awesome. Cat's Cradle at/near the top and definitely a good place to start... but lots of very very good books that he has written.

i've read slaughterhouse 5 and breakfast of champions (which was weird as hell), and i have Cats Cradle, just haven't gotten to it yet. Def. love his style though.
06-10-2009, 04:46 PM
mrhappy333

The HitchHikers guide to the Galaxy was suggested to me in the thread I started, and I read it and LOVED it.
06-10-2009, 06:08 PM
bode

i've had several people recomend The Gambler daven, i need to pick that one up.
06-11-2009, 03:31 PM
Parasurama

The Average American Male and The Lie by Chad Kultgen
06-11-2009, 03:52 PM
a500lbgorilla

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrhappy333

The HitchHikers guide to the Galaxy was suggested to me in the thread I started, and I read it and LOVED it.

ship