In light of all the discussion of libraries, books, and reading I have decided to give the whole group a membership to Valanice’s book club! (You know Valanice the famous talk show host from Daventry, she hangs out with Dr. Otar) This month she’s taking suggestions, so what are folks reading? What should we all be reading? Valanice wants to know!
All time best author: C.S. Lewis (Great Divorce, Narnia, Space Trilogy, Screwtape Letters, etc)
All time best fantasy story: Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)
Other worthy Fantasy authors:
Roger Zelazny (Amber Series)
Patricia Mckillip (Riddlemaster of Hed)
Terry Brooks (Shannara and Magic Kingdom for Sale)
Terry Pratchet (Discworld books)
Other worthy Science Fiction authors:
Stephen Lawhead (Dream Thief)
Larry Niven (Ringworld and other short stories)
I recently just got done reading Bruce Campbell's autobiography of sorts, "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor". It's a great read... no cheesy rags-to-fame stories, no brushes with death and/or drugs, no horrible scandals... just numerous tales of young friends from the random Midwest who had dreams to make movies armed with nothing but shoestring budgets and large amounts of bizarre creativity... and managed to do it quite well.
As for other books and authors, I'll wait until I'm home and can spend more brain cells on the matter. :)
Peace & Luv, Liz
I just started One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez. Can't tell you too much about it, because I'm only 6 pages into it. ;)
Roger Zelazny is an amazing author. The Chronicles of Amber, A Night in the Lonesome October, and Lord of Light are all must reads for any fantasy fan.
Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is very good as well.
The Time Traveler's Wife! ;D Very good book.
ok well im reading Harry Potter 4 and Deadly Unna
Although im only reading deadly unna cos my english teacher is making me :-\
hmmm.... I'm reading the bible (again) ...but I'm not really far yet (just finished genesis) ...but I really enjoyed it the previous time, it was very helpfull ; ) ...excellent!!
Other favorite books are fantasy books from tolkien, brooks, etc. most of my favorite writers are already posted here...
you are reading the bible? talk about interesting...
I was in a catholic school all my life, I think I've read enough about it to read it again...
welll at least you read it ; ) a lot of people don't ; (
well... reading it doesnt neccesarily means I know it by heart or that I fully got to understand it, as a matter of fact the old testament IMHO is the most amazing part of it, as well as the apocalypse :P
that is so true! a lot of people read it but don't understand a thing! ...that's sad imho, cuz the true value is hidden from them ; (
Indeed, thats exactly why I said it lol, because I remember my loooong hour classes on it myself lol, it was like, minutes reading hours explaining, oh well ;)
Oohh btw, I forgot to comment on the book Im reading RIGHT NOW which is:
Porter, M., Kotler, P., and others. (1997). Rethinking the future. Nicholas Brealy.
Interesting book about rethinking the business principles, competition, control and complexity, leadership and market field <3
I'm in the middle of the third Harry Potter book...I've got to read it for a class. I must say I have NEVER enjoyed an English class as much as I'm enjoying my Fantasy Lit class. The best thing is that my professor is a conservative and a Christian...which puts a new spin on things. Most of the professors, at least in my school, are liberal. Not to say there's anything wrong with liberals, but I am a Conservative so it's nice to see the viewpoint of an educator who has the same views I do!
Cat
Quote from: koko_99_2001 on March 20, 2004, 10:36:50 AMThe best thing is that my professor is a conservative and a Christian...which puts a new spin on things. Most of the professors, at least in my school, are liberal. Not to say there's anything wrong with liberals, but I am a Conservative so it's nice to see the viewpoint of an educator who has the same views I do!
Cat
Aren't Christians usually conservative? Anyway, how does being a conservative or a liberal affect the way someone teaches? I'm neither conservative nor liberal.
I would think the only subjects where conservatism vs. liberalism would possibly have a major effect would be in science , health/sex ed, and social studies/politics, myself. (Although it might have a minor effect in English classes due to teacher book choice, and a teacher possibly having an (IMHO) unprofessional bias about assignments that involve student choices in books or topic.)
At any rate, I've had teachers all over the spectrum, from Christians to Jews to secular folk, to even a Wiccan who taught my 9th grade Geometry class.
And here in MA it's actually not really uncommon to find people who are devout Christians but have liberal/democratic leanings. (And I know a Jewish lady who's a Libertarian politician.)
Peace & Luv, Liz
Quote from: Jeysie on March 20, 2004, 02:02:16 PMAt any rate, I've had teachers all over the spectrum, from Christians to Jews to secular folk, to even a Wiccan who taught my 9th grade Geometry class.
I wouldn't know what position on the spectrum the teachers I had were on. For one I wasn't interested in politics at the time and for another there never was any talk about politics. What I
do is that they were Catholic, because I was in a Catholic school in both elementary and high school (college was a-religious and a-political). Not fundamentally Catholic, but Catholic enough to have classes in (Catholic-)religion.
I don't know whether it just has something to do with the area I'm in (which is supposedly the Bible Belt), but most of my professors, who express views on anything, are the far left-wing liberals...and, as I said before, I'm a conservative, so I don't like them pressing their views to us...just like I wouldn't push my views on anyone else. But anyway, I'll let ya'll get back to any debating ya'll want to do ;D
Cat
Koko: It depends on the setting, for me personally. If there's some "dead time" in class and the teacher wants to fill it by having some class discussion about some potentially "biased" matter, it doesn't usually bug me. And whenever there's an actual class topic that's at least somewhat subjective, even a careful teacher is going to have a hard time keeping their own beliefs (or lack thereof) out of the matter. But I find any teacher who colors the bulk of their teaching with obvious biased political/religious views to be unprofessional, whether conservative or liberal. (I.E., even if I agreed with the teacher's views, I would find the behavior inappropriate.)
And truth be told, I'm not entirely surprised your professorial base tends to be liberal... unless you go to a specifically religious-based college, colleges/universities traditionally/stereotypically have something of a liberal bent to them. Just be thankful you're not in CA or MA. ;)
I'm not entirely conservative or liberal myself... I feel I'm fairly conservative in how I conduct my own behavior, but I'm fairly liberal in how I feel about what others choose to do.
Peace & Luv, Liz
Hum, it would seem the Bible is the book of choice. I consider myself Christian (Lutheran) but at times have also found the bible interesting (and it’s many translations and permutations) for historical reasons.
Somebody commented on “not†reading the bible, I know from folks I've met that can be dangerous… agree with it or not people should know what it says… so many seem to assume what’s the says Bible and form their ideas from there. Donno my two cents…
Anyway as they say (someplace I’m sure) shall we beginning at the beginning….
*sits down to discuss*
Stranger in a Strange Land is an amazing book, I loved how he synthesized all the religions and formed his own unique religion.
Having 'been' in a Catholic school for about 15 years of my life, I probably read at least several portions of the Bible. Don't remember if I read it completely. Now I don't remember anything of it either, and I probably won't have to re-read it anytime soon. My level of Catholicism has seriously decreased. 8)
I remember many of the stories in detail, a lot of the minor stories are forgotten though. I tried reading through the Bible one time, but gave up when I got to the "begots".
(And so and so begot so and so, who begot so and so, etc.)
I read the bible once from begin to end and I have read a lot of passages/books seperetly... I think I must have read the bible like 2 times at least but a lot of passages goes way beyond that number ; )
I suggest you can read this book that was released in 2000 (or before), ugh cant seriously remember its name cuz it was borrowed and I had to reaaally make a quick fast reading :(, it was about the lost passages?
huge... controversial book in its time, some call it blasphemy... some others just one of the greatest best sellers of the year lol :P
if you get offended easily please dont read it... if you are curious you should at least check it out, it also had a part about the "secret code of the bible" lol, that part I must admit was a bit way off, hard to understand but extremely interesting to read...
DaVinci Code perhaps?
Sounds interesting ;D, i wanna read it !!!
I once saw a documentary (on BBC) on supposed secret messages in the bible (IIRC). Bit of controversy between those who say there is, and those who say there isn't. Ofcourse, it's easy to find secret messages to things that already happened, it's harder to find secret messages to things that haven't happened yet.
Salvatore's books are decent.
All this talk of faith and history leads me to wonder this, how many have seen “The Passion Of The Christ� It’s not really on my list but I’d love to hear impressions.
Quote from: etgadsby on March 25, 2004, 08:35:34 PMhow many have seen “The Passion Of The Christ�
All I can say is: not me. 8)
I saw it.
I havent seen it :-\
Books again!! ; )
I read a few books a while ago ie 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' by Stephen Donaldson and I kinda liked them, I still haven't read the last part though ; \ ...anyone else know the series? or has a read a good book lately??
The Riddle-Master Trilogy is awesome, I reread it just recently. :) By now I've read it maybe 3 or 4 times, maybe more. :D
Here's a review of the trilogy:
http://www.littlefolktales.org/reviews/riddle-master.html
hmmm... I think I read that triology a long time ago, I only remeber it when i read the review, but yeah it was a kwel serie!! (i think ; )
...hmmm, i might reread it again to refresh my memory ;-D
I rarely read new books, I normally wait till they're old(cheaper).
If books without a plot count, I've recently read a book about XP(I don't remember the title).
'The joys of incompatibility'? ;P
And you stayed awake though this whole book?
Then again it might have a plot...
"One upon a time a company called M$ created Windows 95/98, a 32 bit extension and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprossessor...*
Then they M$ stole the code for a "modem" OS from IBM and called it Windows NT. Realizing that NT was ugly they stole a pretty GUI from Apple and made a magical thing called Windows XP..."
*In part adapted from urbandictionary.com
I thought when they stole the GUI from Apple they made Windows itself. XB
QuoteAnd you stayed awake though this whole book?
Nope. I had to sleep LONG before I finished it. XD
Back on topic(I didn't mean to warp this thread, into a Xerox one). ;]
I grew up with the book
The Big Thicket. I've lived near the Big Thicket(it's a real place), all my life. I've never been there though. :(
It's a story about the animals that live there. It's based in south-east Texas(that used to be part of Louisiana).
Anyone else have a favorite book/story from their childhood?
Quote from: Louisiana Night on August 10, 2004, 02:07:22 AMAnyone else have a favorite book/story from their childhood?
I remember asking my dad to read The Neverending Story to me quite often. ;D
Peace & Luv, Liz
I remember I used to love a nursery rhyme book my grandma would read to me called Alligator Pie. :)
I loved Cinderella. I remember having some black shoes like Cinderella did (in the Disney movie) and just pretend that I was her! :)
I had these two books I adored as a kid called "Gnomes and monsters" and "Dragons and knights" which were like a collection of stories about the above titles.
Dr. Zeuss.
I overheard my mother one day refer to them as the "Stepping Stones of Learning" (or something to that effect).
So, being the brilliant child I was, I threw our Dr. Zeuss books on the floor of the basement and used them as "stepping stones" across the room. XD
I got Leo Laporte's 2003 Technology Almanac yesterday. Leo Laporte worked at TechTV(The Screensavers), before everyone was fired. :'(
Time to unleash it's POSTING POWER !!!
I HIGHLY recommend Letters from an American Farmer, written by J. Hector St. John De Cre'vecceur(excuse spelling). 8)
It was written, by a Frenchman, that lived(immigrated?) in England, Canada and America. When he translated the book, he hadn't used french in so long, that he had to almost relearn it(a detail I find very interesting).
I just started reading Zelazny's Jack of the Shadows. So far, its good.
Are people not reading anymore!?(interrobang)
Well, anyway, I just revived this thread to say that I just started reading Terry Pratchet's Discworld series.
Quote from: EL Pollo Diablo on January 16, 2005, 06:20:02 PM
Are people not reading anymore!?(interrobang)
Actually... I've been reading magazines more than books lately( so I've had nothing to post in this thread ). :P
I am reading the best book ever, also called THE ULTIMANT HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.
It has all the Books in the series. i can't wait till the movie comes out me and Jump in well and my other freinds are going to see it first day ;D :stabs:
I know you KQIX people are an intelligent group, and love to read. I wanted to give you all a chance to recommend books, discuss books, and lambaste/compliment authors.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
-"Piratica" by Tanith Lee - LOVED IT!!!
-"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace eh?
I admit I leafed through a few pages and abandoned it forever! Why? I actually cannot recall but judging by the scale of such a mighty tome, it will be a while yet (this is coming from the man who read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmirillion within the space of 8-9 weeks, every evening without fail...I felt they were that good!)
Anyone interested in military warplanes? "The Great Book of Modern Warplanes" (Bill Gunston) is a pretty nify in-depth look at many warplanes, covering stuff that is not easily gained through more general resources.
What? You stopped reading War and Peace?!? You have to read it! Yeah, it can be a little slow at first, but I loved it! My favorite character was Natasha Rostov.
MORE RECOMMENDATIONS:
-"Wicked" by Gregory MacGuire
-"A Step From Heaven" by An Na
I am currently reading Night Masks, By R.A. Salvatore. I highly recommend his books to anyone who loves fantasy novels, especially The Dark Elf Trilogy.
I just finished "The Wind Singer" by William Nicholson. It is sooo good and everybody has to read it! ;D
Also:
- "The Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare
- "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" by Salman Rushdie
- "Oh the Glory of it All" by Sean Wilsey (great EXPOSEE!) ;D
I'm sick of reading novels :P right now i'm reading "Seven Years of Highly Defective People" by Scott Adams. It's a Dilbert collection with some commentarys on the characters and strips. It's awsome!! :stabs:
Everything you ever wanted to know about Gaim(it's not so much about Gaim as... well I'll just let ya'll read the overview/reviews). ;)
Open Source Messaging Application Development:
Building and Extending Gaim (Paperback) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590594673/002-7166039-1839256)
Everybody HAS to read The Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson:
-"The Wind Singer"
-"Slaves of the Mastery"
-"Firesong"
Did I mention the Claidi Journals series by Tanith Lee? Well, read them!
Eragon and Eldest were great!
I read the book Tuesdays with morrie and it was amazing!
Quote from: MATTANDALEX on November 08, 2005, 05:45:10 PM
I read the book Tuesdays with morrie and it was amazing!
:DÂ My dad almost never reads for fun, but he loved that book.
Here are some of my favorites:
1) Anything by C. S. Lewis, especially
Mere Christianity and
Out of the Silent Planet2)
Lord of the Flies (most people seem to hate it, but I loved it in high school)
3)
Waterlily (historical fiction concerning a Lakota woman)
There's more, but I can't recall them.
Quote from: Moodyblues on November 08, 2005, 05:56:31 PM
Quote from: MATTANDALEX on November 08, 2005, 05:45:10 PM
I read the book Tuesdays with morrie and it was amazing!
:D My dad almost never reads for fun, but he loved that book.
Here are some of my favorites:
1) Anything by C. S. Lewis, especially Mere Christianity and Out of the Silent Planet
2) Lord of the Flies (most people seem to hate it, but I loved it in high school)
3) Waterlily (historical fiction concerning a Lakota woman)
There's more, but I can't recall them.
I'm sorry but I was forced to read Lord Of the Flies once and I hated it out of the obvious reasons that their main goal is to kill each other.
Quote from: Deloria on November 11, 2005, 12:10:11 PM
I'm sorry but I was forced to read Lord Of the Flies once and I hated it out of the obvious reasons that their main goal is to kill each other.
If I remember correctly, that wasn't their original goal. At first, the boys wanted to work cooperatively, but everything fell apart because of the leader of the choir.
I agree, though; that book was
very violent. (Poor Piggy! :'()
Writings from the european enlightenment are very interesting: Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Anthony Cooper, and John Locke. The whole slew of the feminist historians during that period are also intriguing. The true modern woman was born from that group, they really were changing the world.
It's amazing to see the clash between the thinkers of the time and the founders of classical thought. Two secular groups of people searching for the truth and never being satisfied. Amazing.
I find the modern secular world much too pathetic these days, they can't even put up a fight that well. I just run into a bunch of indoctrinated college students that just regurgitate what they've read and been told.
Oh, I'd be more than happy to regurgitate some of the junk my instructors and professors try to teach me. At least then it'd be out of my system. ;)
Quote from: Say on March 20, 2004, 05:41:49 AM
Really nice insight perspective about e-bussiness and such, another one I HAD to read... again... was:
Kotler, Phillip. (2001). Marketing Management. Pearson Education.
I had to read that exact same book last semester, though I think the one I read was a later edition. I actually emailed one of the authors to point out that the mascot for
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes is Tony the
Tiger (the textbook identified him as a lion).
There are? Where!? XD
I've enjoyed reading this thread up to this point. I for some reason have never posted on here which is a crime because I read so much.
Firstly I'd like to say that I've read a good portion of the books you guys have mentioned.(Oldbushie:The Riddle-Master Trilogy
Liz:The Neverending Story
J-roc:Dr. Seuss
MattandAlex:Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
Also a few people mentioned C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and The Bible,)
Right now I'm reading the Wheel Of Time: Winter's Heart after just finishing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.I'm looking forward to reading more books soon. I am Especially looking forward to rereading the Bible and starting Harry Potter 7.
Yay, you read most of the major books in my collection! :D
Read the Myst books next. ;)
DragonLance Chronicles and Legends trilogy
Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series.
Anne Rice’s Interview with a vampire.
R.A. Salvatore’s Dark Elf series
For humor Robert Aspirn’s MYTH series.
That’s a good start for now.
;D
Quote from: koko_99_2001 on July 24, 2006, 07:19:13 PM
Am I a book addict? XD
ME? Just because I have a few hundred book in my collection 1/3 of them hardback? Nnoooo wht give you
that idea? ;D XB
Quote from: Flubly on November 12, 2005, 05:23:42 PM
Writings from the european enlightenment are very interesting: Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Anthony Cooper, and John Locke. The whole slew of the feminist historians during that period are also intriguing. The true modern woman was born from that group, they really were changing the world.
It's amazing to see the clash between the thinkers of the time and the founders of classical thought. Two secular groups of people searching for the truth and never being satisfied. Amazing.
I find the modern secular world much too pathetic these days, they can't even put up a fight that well. I just run into a bunch of indoctrinated college students that just regurgitate what they've read and been told.
*revives* Funny, I have just been reading Hume, Locke and Descartes. Interesting works, I was expecting more from Descartes somehow. All he really did was establish he existed, then use the old ontological proof of the scholastics (starting wth Anslem) to reason out the existence of God. Ingenious, but I was somehow expecting something more... original. Maybe expectations were too high by the time I actually read him. XD
More to follow later if I or anyone else cares, for now I have school to prepare for tomorrow.
I've read the original Dragonlance trilogy along with the trilogy about the twins, along with the books that have Mina(Mena?) in them. My facorite books for years have been all the Shannara novels by Terry Brooks. His first book was written in the 70s, and is kinda a stereotypical fantasy book (Sword of Shannara) so it may seem a little old when you read it, but he's improved his writing over the years. My FIRST fantasy novels were, of course, The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, who I just recentley learned died earlier this year :(
Right now I am actually not reading any fantasy, but instead I'm reading Red Dragon, the first book with Hannibal Lecter. I've seen all the movies and managed to pick up the book copies of Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal at a rummage sale. When I'm done I'm sure I'll pick up the prequel, Hannibal Rising.
Quote from: koko_99_2001 on March 20, 2004, 10:36:50 AM
I must say I have NEVER enjoyed an English class as much as I'm enjoying my Fantasy Lit class.
I wish my school had a fantasy lit class... that'd be awesome. They are offering a sci-fi class this winter term, but it's not the same and I have to take some fine arts class for a requirement anyways.
Quote from: Lollotte on August 30, 2005, 09:12:56 PM
Everybody HAS to read The Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson:
-"The Wind Singer"
-"Slaves of the Mastery"
-"Firesong"
I read those a few months ago... Little too weird for me. :P
Right now I'm working my way through Feist's 24 Midkemia/Kelewan books, though the fact that neither my home public library system nor the one here at school has some of the books is making it a bit difficult. :P Right now I'm on Servant of the Empire, with 19 more to go.