Favorite Book and why
- Thread starter Ridergurl10
- Start date
Artemis Fowl, as it is just fun to read, and it burns all previous myths and legends by giving fairies laser guns.
At the moment, "Batman: The Long Halloween", by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sales.
If you're one of those real fans of The Dark Knight, who don't over-hype it to the point where people will stop socializing with you,I'd recommend it if you haven't heard of it.
The plot follows Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent, and Capt. Gordon on a path to take down Carmine "The Roman" Falcone. But a series of murders that take place on holidays are causing a major disruption for Bats and co., and the Mafia. Portions of the story is a revamped Two-Face origin story; much like how TDK is.
There's a cool "Silence of the Lambs" scene with Batman talking to The Calender Man in Arkham. (crazy guy who's obsessed with dates, numbers, etc)
If you're one of those real fans of The Dark Knight, who don't over-hype it to the point where people will stop socializing with you,I'd recommend it if you haven't heard of it.
The plot follows Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent, and Capt. Gordon on a path to take down Carmine "The Roman" Falcone. But a series of murders that take place on holidays are causing a major disruption for Bats and co., and the Mafia. Portions of the story is a revamped Two-Face origin story; much like how TDK is.
There's a cool "Silence of the Lambs" scene with Batman talking to The Calender Man in Arkham. (crazy guy who's obsessed with dates, numbers, etc)
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.
All of Chuck's Books (Invisible Monsters, Choke, Rant, Fight Club, Survivor, Snuff and some others) offer interesting storytelling conventions.
In the case of invisible monsters, there's a few interesting themes that I can identify with. First, you have the idea of utterly changing our basic nature and place in the universe - with Invisible Monsters the main character is a fashion model who shoots her self in the face (non fatally) resulting in severe disfigurement. In another case we have a young man who decides to become a woman. The protagonist of Invisible Monsters even goes so far as to state "'I want out of the labels. I don't want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that's not on the map. A real adventure.' A spinx. A mystery. A blank. Unknown. Undefined". The protagonist in Fight Club expresses the same sentiment when he says "Maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.? In both instances, the characters wanted to redefine who they were without any baggage from their past, and to do that they each do what scared them the most. In fact, this is a common theme of Chuck's work. In Fight Club the protagonist effort for redefinition was found by creating an alternate personality. In both cases in Invisible Monsters, the change is found through intentional self destruction.
There is a certain aspect of intentional self-destruction that I can admire. One's character is rarely tested, and one never seems to recognize those moments in life that are truly important until it's all irrelevent. ("Just remember, the same as a spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter how close you follow the jumps: Continued on page whatever. No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention. Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day. This is all practice. None of this matters. We're just warming up." - From invisible monsters). All our lives we are traped by our past - from the values I was given as a child to the decisions I've made because of them, and it seems that there is no way to truly escape this fact. I like to believe that, given the chance to do it all over again, to start again without all the emotional baggage of my past or the cage of my world perspective, I could become a better human being. But, in the end, I cannot bring myself to destroy the sum total of what I've built of my life to try my hand fresh. There have been times in life where I've stood on the very brink of doing exactly that, of being handed the keys to my cage and each time I've rejected the notion. I'd like to believe that I'm capable of taking the plunge, of casting off my notions of right and wrong and staring anew.
Just as importantly, Invisible Monsters is, at it's heart a love story, but it's one that I at least find plausable. My own experience in romance has taught me that love apparently doesn't exist like it does in the story books. There's something there to be sure, at the edge of my ability to grasp or describe, yet it remains aloof enough that I fear I might never understand it well enough to truly find that "special someone".
All of Chuck's Books (Invisible Monsters, Choke, Rant, Fight Club, Survivor, Snuff and some others) offer interesting storytelling conventions.
In the case of invisible monsters, there's a few interesting themes that I can identify with. First, you have the idea of utterly changing our basic nature and place in the universe - with Invisible Monsters the main character is a fashion model who shoots her self in the face (non fatally) resulting in severe disfigurement. In another case we have a young man who decides to become a woman. The protagonist of Invisible Monsters even goes so far as to state "'I want out of the labels. I don't want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that's not on the map. A real adventure.' A spinx. A mystery. A blank. Unknown. Undefined". The protagonist in Fight Club expresses the same sentiment when he says "Maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.? In both instances, the characters wanted to redefine who they were without any baggage from their past, and to do that they each do what scared them the most. In fact, this is a common theme of Chuck's work. In Fight Club the protagonist effort for redefinition was found by creating an alternate personality. In both cases in Invisible Monsters, the change is found through intentional self destruction.
There is a certain aspect of intentional self-destruction that I can admire. One's character is rarely tested, and one never seems to recognize those moments in life that are truly important until it's all irrelevent. ("Just remember, the same as a spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter how close you follow the jumps: Continued on page whatever. No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention. Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day. This is all practice. None of this matters. We're just warming up." - From invisible monsters). All our lives we are traped by our past - from the values I was given as a child to the decisions I've made because of them, and it seems that there is no way to truly escape this fact. I like to believe that, given the chance to do it all over again, to start again without all the emotional baggage of my past or the cage of my world perspective, I could become a better human being. But, in the end, I cannot bring myself to destroy the sum total of what I've built of my life to try my hand fresh. There have been times in life where I've stood on the very brink of doing exactly that, of being handed the keys to my cage and each time I've rejected the notion. I'd like to believe that I'm capable of taking the plunge, of casting off my notions of right and wrong and staring anew.
Just as importantly, Invisible Monsters is, at it's heart a love story, but it's one that I at least find plausable. My own experience in romance has taught me that love apparently doesn't exist like it does in the story books. There's something there to be sure, at the edge of my ability to grasp or describe, yet it remains aloof enough that I fear I might never understand it well enough to truly find that "special someone".
I rather did like Interview With the Vampire, by Anne Rice. I know it's extremely "OH MAH GAWTH" and all that, but it's just so...descriptive. It's easy to tell hundreds of hours went into it, it's just so great, no matter how much I hate vampire books and goth stuff.
Also, there's this book called "Here, There be Dragons". I don't remember the author, and I'm too lazy to look it up for you. It is an amazing book in general, the fantasy elements, the references to other literature, just all the things that add up to create the most unexpected ending I could have imagined for it make it so great. Seriously, just read it, like NOW.
Also, there's this book called "Here, There be Dragons". I don't remember the author, and I'm too lazy to look it up for you. It is an amazing book in general, the fantasy elements, the references to other literature, just all the things that add up to create the most unexpected ending I could have imagined for it make it so great. Seriously, just read it, like NOW.
I just finished reading Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams... and immediately bought the second book in the series The Long, Dark Tea Time of the Soul... I'm loving it!
The Bible. -Obviously.
When Men Think Private Thoughts - An excellent book regarding being a man in true essence as opposed to the pathetic ideas suggested my modern media image.
Nineteen-Eighty-Four - This work is imperative to read if you need to know the dangers of a super-controlled society. It's the epitome opposite of anarchy.
When Men Think Private Thoughts - An excellent book regarding being a man in true essence as opposed to the pathetic ideas suggested my modern media image.
Nineteen-Eighty-Four - This work is imperative to read if you need to know the dangers of a super-controlled society. It's the epitome opposite of anarchy.
It´s a real shame Adams couldn´t finish he´s third Dirk Gently -novel The Salmon of Doubt. You should check it out as well, if you haven´t already. Besides the unfinished novel, similarly titled posthumous collection has other previously unpublished works, like short-stories, essays and interviews. Interesting stuff, really.Sir_Montague said:
hmm,too many to decide, top 3 has to be
Nuclear Age by Brian Clevinger (absolutly hilarious and the story fits the charecter so well)
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker (non-fiction, but the way this guy writes is beautiful; always adding a humousous spin on things that get a valid point across)
it's 3 books but shaddup; The Night Angel Trillogy by Brent Weeks. (its like assassins creed if aitair were to have a protege and the protege is dragged into crazy nigh-impossible assassinations. a little slower paced that the other two, but i liked it all the same.)
T Mad
Nuclear Age by Brian Clevinger (absolutly hilarious and the story fits the charecter so well)
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker (non-fiction, but the way this guy writes is beautiful; always adding a humousous spin on things that get a valid point across)
it's 3 books but shaddup; The Night Angel Trillogy by Brent Weeks. (its like assassins creed if aitair were to have a protege and the protege is dragged into crazy nigh-impossible assassinations. a little slower paced that the other two, but i liked it all the same.)
T Mad
You know, I haven't checked it out yet, but I definitely plan on it. I've been back to school so it's been hard for me to find time to read anything but textbooks... But this thread motivated me to take 5 mins and sit down to the long, dark tea time today... Is the hitchhiker's guide series as good as everyone proclaims it to be?Incredible Bullshitting Man said:
The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.
A historical account of the Heian Imperial Court from the point of view of a lady in waiting. An early example of Zuihitsu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuihitsu
Don't waste your time with the Peter Greenaway film adaptation - may qualify as the worst film of all time... what a let down.
By the way, I didn't say The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams as I prefer the actual scripts of the original Radio 4 series, which are, strictly speaking, not a book in the sense that I felt the OP meant; otherwise I would have picked that.
A historical account of the Heian Imperial Court from the point of view of a lady in waiting. An early example of Zuihitsu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuihitsu
Don't waste your time with the Peter Greenaway film adaptation - may qualify as the worst film of all time... what a let down.
By the way, I didn't say The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams as I prefer the actual scripts of the original Radio 4 series, which are, strictly speaking, not a book in the sense that I felt the OP meant; otherwise I would have picked that.
*Any of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
(If I had to pinpoint just one Id say The Dragon Reborn)
*Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's series.
(Again out of the lot the original would be my pick)
*R.A Salvatore Drizzt Dark Elf Trilogy, Ice Wind Dale Trilogy etc.
(Out of the dozen of books that make up all that Homeland or Legacy)
*Finally to go a bit off the beaten path Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series
(Voyager gets the nod as my favorite of that lot)
(If I had to pinpoint just one Id say The Dragon Reborn)
*Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's series.
(Again out of the lot the original would be my pick)
*R.A Salvatore Drizzt Dark Elf Trilogy, Ice Wind Dale Trilogy etc.
(Out of the dozen of books that make up all that Homeland or Legacy)
*Finally to go a bit off the beaten path Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series
(Voyager gets the nod as my favorite of that lot)
That, my friend, you have to find out for yourself. All I can say is that I enjoyed the series quite a lot. It made my sides (and occasionally head) ache from sheer mind-boggling hilarity.Sir_Montague said:
I can't narrow it down to one so heres a few.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series
Batman: Fear Itself
Wheel of Time series
Anything by Stephen King
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series
Batman: Fear Itself
Wheel of Time series
Anything by Stephen King
My favorite book is Faith of the Fallen, by Terry Goodkind from The Sword of Truth sereis.
the main reason for this is the fact that the main character gets kidnapped by an enemy agent, and is taken to the kingdom that he is at war with, and is made to live as a peasant among the enemy, who are suffering under a sort of bizzare communist/totalitarian/socialist regime, and pretty much everything is shit.
he proceeds to make everyone elses life around him better, and more happy, then causes the entire city he's in to rebel, and kick the teeth out of 'The Imperial Order', by carving a marble statue of him and his wife.
it's actually more complicated than that, but it's a rough idea. you'd probably need to read the preceeding books (of which there are 5, at over 600 pages each) to get most of it
the main reason for this is the fact that the main character gets kidnapped by an enemy agent, and is taken to the kingdom that he is at war with, and is made to live as a peasant among the enemy, who are suffering under a sort of bizzare communist/totalitarian/socialist regime, and pretty much everything is shit.
he proceeds to make everyone elses life around him better, and more happy, then causes the entire city he's in to rebel, and kick the teeth out of 'The Imperial Order', by carving a marble statue of him and his wife.
it's actually more complicated than that, but it's a rough idea. you'd probably need to read the preceeding books (of which there are 5, at over 600 pages each) to get most of it
i love you!
I like Steven Kings's The Stand its one of his longest books it took me a year to read but its very good because all of the detail he put into it. Good guys vs. Bad Guys, Aliens, Deadly Viris, just briliant