Poll: BOOKS!!!

[Patrick Dare]

Haroun and the sea of stories is also good. Made by that guy who got a lot of controversy for the Satanic Verses.

I think you're the first person I've "met" who has heard of that book. I loved it. BTW the author you're looking for is Salmon Rushdie. He wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories after the, I believe it was Ayatollah Khomeini, called for his death for being critical of Iran (I think that was what it was for). So he figured "I'm gonna die so wtf, I'll just write this". He had wanted to write Haroun and the Sea of Stories for awhile but knew if he did it would pretty much be his death sentence because the whole thing is basically mocking Iran.

As for the OT: I tend to read in waves, I'll read a lot every day for awhile and then not read much for a while and it just cycles. I just finished reading The Stand and haven't picked anything up again yet, maybe partly because that book is incredibly long (especially since I read the longer uncut version) so I need a break.

For suggestions, sorry if these have already been suggested but tl;dr.

-Adventures of a Simpleton. Old book but still awesome and not boring in the slightest, at the beginning it seems like it's going to be but it gets going quickly.

-Watership Down. Great book, I was sad when it was over.

-The Dharma Bums, may not be for everyone. At first Kerouac's writing style bothered me but I got used to it and now after reading two of his books I can't even remember what it was that bothered me.

-The Road. Do yourself a favor and read the book first or better yet just skip the movie altogether. (I've heard Blood Meridian is a great book and his best work though I haven't read it so I can't vouch for it).

-Free Culture. A non-fiction book but a great read (and you can get it online, legally, for free) about how overzealous IP and copyright law can adversely affect our freedom of speech (and thereby culture). Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the topic or for people in the content creation business.

-David Eddings' fantasy seris (notably the Mallorian and Belgariad series).

-Perdido Street Station. This book has been criticized on a few things, namely being overly descriptive with the scenery, which I can grant is somewhat true but still a great book.

-If you like sci-fi the Lost Fleet series is great and is written by an actual physicist which is cool. I think it's the only space sci-fi I've read/seen that takes into account relativistic effects besides this one short story I read once.

-Of Mice and Men. Personally I loved this book.

Edit: I can't believe I forgot these. The Ender books by Orson Scott Card. Fucking great books.

 

[_Janny_]

I do love horror and mind-fuck books

Same here. A shame there aren't that many books with an interesting mind-fuck out there; at least I can't seem to come across them that often. I just love it when a book stops you around the end and forces you to rethink what you just read.

 

[Berserker119]

Without pictures? I think graphic novels should be classed as books (cos they are books). But anyway yeah, I enjoy me a good book (My favourite series being His Dark Materials and my favourite author being Dean Koontz)

Yeah, Dean Koontz is pretty good. I've been reading mostly Ted Dekker, and biographies of bands. Interesting stuff.

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

I mostly read autobiographies, i just don't find time in the day to relax with a book - I get my enjoyment in life other ways

 

[C95J]

Since the hungry caterpillar doesn't count I would have to say barely, although I used to quite a lot, and plan to in the near future.

 

[ham and red bull]

The monkey wrench gang by Edward Abbey.

Great read

I'm getting this book today, seems pretty funny.
OT: ARTEMIS FUCKING FOWL, READ EM'.

 

[DemonicVixen]

When i was younger i was top of my reading class. 3+ stages ahead of my peers, all because of my love for reading. I got through each of the Harry Potter books within 2-4 hours undisturbed, no skipping of pages or words. I'm fussy on the books i read however so i have to buy them cheap unless i know it will be something i'll enjoy.

So far my favourite books are:

The Railway Children, Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, Little Women, Fallen, Torment (Fallen sequal), Twilight Saga, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson series, Stephen King's Misery and Christine, Megan Trilogy, Hard Cash trilogy, The Time Rope trilogy ...... god the list is endless so i'm going to give up.

 

[Terror_666]

I like books and reading the only problem is that I am dyslexic so reading is slightly more difficult than for everyone else so it is not relaxing and requires some effort.

 

[ninja555]

I try to average about 1 book every week. Recently finished The Year of the Flood and I'm currently working on Hyperion and The Summer Tree.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

Being an English University student, I have to read an obscene amount of books, short stories, extracts of books, articles and web journals. I find it hard during high volumes of uni reading to get time to read for my own pleasure.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy most of the set texts given to me, but sometimes I just want to read what I want to read.

Which is why, during summer and Christmas I go on a massive binge, reading as much of my own stuff as possible.

The Railway Children,

I bought that for my girlfriend's birthday because she considers it "the best thing ever!" She loves the book and the film so I recently took her to see the stage show in London. It was actually really fucking good. And as ever, she cried at the "Daddy my Daddy!" part.

 

[TheKruzdawg]

You read them?

BTW, by "books" I mean at least 100 pages without pictures...
Just wondering how many Escapists read...

Other Topic: What are some good books?

So by your definition, "Anthem" by Ayn Rand doesn't count as a book? It's only 93 pages, so is it a short story? That's quite a long short story.

If it's good than sure, it can count as a book...

I'm playing devil's advocate here, but how do you define "good"? That's a pretty subjective emotion and I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't think anything Ayn Rand has written is "good", while others adore her works.

 

[crudus]

BTW, by "books" I mean at least 100 pages without pictures...

The books I read are 500+ pages and pictures are on every third page. They are chess books. Do they count?

I don't see why not...

You read those???

Yes, chess is a hobby of mine. Those books really help me get a lot better.

 

[El Poncho]

Every night before I got to bed I read a book.

edit: I like all the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, read 37/38 of them

 

[hurfdurp]

I always have a book on the go, even if I don't have a lot of time to strictly invest in it. I'm currently reading Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence. I love how he describes relationships between males and females, in all of his books.

 

[Koroviev]

Once I pick up a book, you have to fight me to put it back down because I like to finish it in one sitting. Which is making reading LotR so freaking painful.

I can't for the life of me finish a book in a single sitting. I can never sit still for extended periods of time, much less keep my mind from wandering in a million different directions.

I have the same problem. I don't read books because I can't focus. I can't even read a damn magazine article ( regardless of whether it's interesting or not ).

I have a slightly easier time when it comes to articles. I mean, I make myself sit through a full chapter in a book, so making it through an article is about the same in terms of concentration demands. Also, I tend to have an easier time with non-fiction material in general. Next on my list: Young Stalin.

 

[Koroviev]

I like books and reading the only problem is that I am dyslexic so reading is slightly more difficult than for everyone else so it is not relaxing and requires some effort.

I'm very sorry to hear that. Do you ever use audiobooks?

 

[Koroviev]

Every night before I got to bed I read a book.

edit: I like all the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, read 37/38 of them

An entire book?

 

[Koroviev]

I always have a book on the go, even if I don't have a lot of time to strictly invest in it. I'm currently reading Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence. I love how he describes relationships between males and females, in all of his books.

I'm the same way. My mom doesn't understand it. But like I always tell her, you never know when you're going to get stuck somewhere with nothing to do.

 

[Koroviev]

I travel a lot by train and I always take a book with me. I love reading.

You might find this interesting. It's a sketch that was featured in the New York Times a day or two ago. It depicts people of various ages reading and quotes their opinions with regard to their respective reading material.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/19/books/review/19-literary-underground.html

 

[Koroviev]

Holy shit. I am the only one who has never really read a book all the way through. O.O

But, come to think of it, I remember one book I forced myself into reading back in the 3rd/4th grade or something. Some 100 pages or so in bigger-than-small letters. I think my mark depended on it, and internet wasn't yet much available in our country. But that was such a long time ago. Almost feel like I swore to never read again, haha.

Well, that's an unfortunately dubious distinction. What have you tried to read?