Favorite Books

Salanis wrote:

neon4891 wrote: ...Paloini (Earagon...)...

Oh geez. Seriously? It's Star Wars! It's berkeleying Star Wars! A princess, who is part of an organized rebellion, steals item that could dethrone the evil emperor, before the Emperor's right-hand-man can capture her, she launches it away (we'll call this, Saphira-D2). It is found by a young orphaned farm-boy being raised by his uncle. We'll call him Eragon Skywalker. He ends up getting connected with the last remaining member of an ancient order of mystical knights, Obi-Brom-Kenobi. Brom sees that this young man has the potential to be one of these knights, and begins training them in their ways. Do I need to go on? Because I can actually do this for the entire god damned book.

Thank you!

I was about to make a snide comment on how there's better Star Wars books around...

I'm only tempered by the fact that Star Wars ripped off tons of other things. Seriously, though, it's Star Wars. I couldn't even read finish it. I've got a sneaking suspicion that if it wasn't some "ZOMG child protege" writing it, it'd have ended up not even a cult classic, much less a terrible, terrible movie.

Salanis wrote:

neon4891 wrote: but in this star wars fan-fic, luke is obi wans son

Wait, Eragon wasn't Brom's son. He was some other bad-guy's son, wasn't he? Didn't the sword he's given turn out to be his dad's too? I don't think I ever read that part, I just mentioned to a kid who liked the series, "Watch, the sword turns out to have once belonged to his father, who fell and turned evil, so Brom had to fight and kill him." Kid: "Yes! How did you know?" Me: "Because it's Star Wars!"

book 3 spoiler, Murtagh is his half brother, his mother, Selena, had a thing with Brom. This is why Selena had to return to palencar valley and leave Eragon there, because Eragon WASN'T Morzan's son.

This is why Brom went into hiding in Carvahall, to try and be able to watch over his son.

But I'm not going to argue that it is a Starwars fan fic.

At least it is not a searies about vegan(ish?) vampirers that gliter in sun light.

And yes, the movie is absalute crap

Snowdoggie wrote:

Spitsix wrote: Just finished "The art of racing in the rain". really enjoyed it.

+1 on the Art of Racing in the Rain. A dog named Enzo explains the Zen of high performance driving, and life.

That looks really good. But I can't bring myself to shell out the dough for it in hardcover edition.

ddavidv wrote: "Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck. Amazing. "White Fang" by Jack London.

Both are fantastic books. I reread 'Grapes' a while back, it still has the same power.

I read 'Ghost Soldiers' a while back, the true story of survivors of the Bataan Death March and their rescue ahead of the Allied invasion of the Phillipines. It has many pictures of the characters taken in the camp and during/after the rescue, a fantastic book.

I'm going to have to get 'Truck'.

I've read just about everything Stephen King ever wrote. The 'Dark Tower' series started out great then went to pieces with Blaine the Train. Was King experimenting with psychedelics, or did he just have to write something to get his publisher off his back? I still think he hit his peak with 'The Stand'.

My kid has both of the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' books, those are great! There's a third one coming out, can't wait.

If you've never read it, 'Alive' is a straight from the shoulder honest book.

James Dickey's 'Alnilam' holds first place on my 'crappy book' list. I got to chapter 3, put it down and have never been able to pick it up again. He devotes most of the first chapter to describing his protagonist's bowel movement outside in very cold weather. Hard to believe this came from the same guy who wrote 'Deliverance'. All joking about Ned Beatty and banjos aside, that's a great book.

'Slaves in the Family' by Edward Ball is not particularly well written, but the subject material is gripping. Ball's family goes back to the 1600's in the Charleston area. He decided to do some geneaology research and discovered his forebears were some of the largest slave owners of Colonial times. In the book, he visits some of the old plantations which belonged to his family and their peers, but most interesting of all he visits the descendants of his family's slaves and recounts the conversations. A deep look into the truth of race relations in the South today.

'To Kill A Mockingbird' is a fantastic book and the movie with Gregory Peck is well worth watching, if only to see Robert Duvall in his first starring role.

My favorite escapist sc fi books were 'The Stainless Steel Rat' books written by Harry Harrison. Imagine 007 with 30th century technology.

Hard sci fi, Arthur C Clarke. 'Rendezvous with Rama' is particularly good. Asimov's 'Foundation' books fall in this category as well. I will probably be excommunicated for this, but Frank Herbert's 'Dune' is the second worst piece of crap I have ever tried to read. The movie was painful to try to watch.

I used to read all the time, I have tons of paperbacks. Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler occupy a lot of my paperback shelf along with Robert Ludlum.

I've read just about everything Stephen King ever wrote. The 'Dark Tower' series started out great then went to pieces with Blaine the Train. Was King experimenting with psychedelics, or did he just have to write something to get his publisher off his back? I still think he hit his peak with 'The Stand'.

Yeah, so it stretched a little in the middle. Still probably the best twist ending of any book/movie/series, ever. I didn't see it coming, even though afterwards it's hard to look at it and see how it could end any other way.

Also, since no one else has mentioned it, I'll throw out "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson as possibly the best true-crime, historical-novel-nonfiction-type book ever.

Another vote for Grapes of Wrath here. High School is too early to read it, reading it as an adult gives a lot more insight. Tells a lot about how people got through a terrible economy, why unions were necessary, that sort of thing. Lots of lessons even today. Also by Steinbeck, I loved East of Eden. Other must-reads: Sophie's Choice, Catch-22, Rabbit Run, Watership Down, Candide, Robison Crusoe. If you haven't read those you absolutely should - they're classics for good reason.

As a more contemporary novel, you can't go wrong with The Corrections. It's a very funny look at a family that has to deal with essentially American middle-class problems.

I'm a big sucker for anything Annie Dillard ever wrote, but then I'm a sucker for the written word, and Dillard is a master of the quotable phrase, in the style of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I like Holy the Firm, nonfiction, and The Living, fiction, which is probably the best "winter read" I have had in years. She's quite harsh, doesn't leave the reader much to imagine in terms of the violence of life. But she's also religious, and there's a struggle there, between the violence of life and God's will, that I want to see play out.

On audiobooks, you can't go wrong with David Sedaris, or if you like history, you'll love Sarah Vowell.

neon4891 wrote: for sci fi I go with Heinlein, Douglas Adams And for sheer berkeleyed up, Battle Royale by Koushu Takami, its a great movie too.

I take issue with Douglas Adams being sci-fi. He's way more into "fantasy" than "sci fi". Hell, Elf Sternberg is more sci-fi than DNA. (If you don't know who Elf is, his stuff is 100% online, and about 95% NSFW and about NC-40, but he also has neat things like binoculars that use force fields and oil instead of hard lenses... but he lost me with all of the nanotech crap)

I saw BR after reading that an actress got her part in Kill Bill (Gogo Yubari) mainly on the weight of her work in that movie. Yes, it is sheer berkeleyed up in only the way a Japanese movie can be.

I liked Battle Royale too. Great fun.

I'll also agree with previous posters that Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a great read, but only if you enjoy philosophy a bit. Very Thoreau-esque. Also, have to agree with the Watchmen, it's a helluva story and I hope the movie don't screw it up.

My favorites are:

• Stephen King, mostly the early stuff, please. I think he peaked with The Stand. The original The Stand, not the rewrite where he added pages and tried to make it more 1990. Oh wait, add The Green Mile in there, too.....

• Does anyone else think Stephen King is a way better short story writer than a novelist? I think his best work seems to be the short stories. There are some ideas that he's dragged out to a novel length tome that really should have just been a short story. LOVED Night Shift!!!!!

• +1 for Neal Stephenson. Re-reading Snow Crash now.....

• +1 for William Gibson. Except that I bought two recent novels where he's writing about advertising/marketing and about a few years past 9/11. Haven't gotten through either one yet (Spook Country and Pattern Recognition), but I'll get back to them after Snow Crash..

• I'm surprised that with the Sci/Fi / Futurist recommendations already given that no one has mentioned Harlan Ellison. Just finished Shatterday, a collection of short stories, and like all of the other stuff, just loved it!!! Would have to say that Stephenson, Gibson, and Gaiman all read Ellison and assimilated him.

• I'll be the geek/snob/dweeb here and recommend Ayn Rand. Specifically, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. If you care about doing your best work in this life (or you hate having your hard work taken advantage of by the looters of the world), you need to read Ayn Rand.

-jeff d

Used to read a lot before the twins came along - now I'm lucky to finish an issue of the mag before the next one arrives.

+1 for Neal Stephenson

The Gold Plated Porsche was good and helped me get a little perspective as my own project stretched on and on and on... guess I'll have to pick up Truck

This is also the 3rd time in a week that I've seen secret to driving in the rain reccomended - guess I'll have to check it out.

No one's mentioned R.A. Salvatore yet. Just gave my 13 yr old son his first D'rzzt novel, I think he finished it in a weekend.

The Hyperion series was pretty good - not sure who wrote it - Simmons maybe?

Heinlein was already mentioned several times.

Check out Armor by Steakley - it's a quick read, but I find myself rereading it at least once a year.

For nonfiction - Touching the Void by Joe Simpson is simply amazing. Friends go mountain climbing in the Andes and danger ensues.

Jack London's To build a Fire stands out.

Lastly, I agree that King was a better novella / short story writer - The Long Walk and the other Bachman books are still here while all teh other paperbacks went in the yard sale pile.

-Thor

How could I forget - one of my favorites is Robert Asprin's Myth series - my wife won't let those out on the shelf, but I managed to save 'em from the yard sale.

-Thor

To those interested in "Truck"... Sample pages

There is another book currently out that has a similar theme called "Truck, A Love Story". Not the same book. From what I've picked up in reading about it, it's not really about the truck so much as a vehicle to write about other things. Jerome's book may not currently be in print, but should not be difficult to find. I've only ever seen it in paperback.

I also have "The Gold Plated Porsche" which is a rather odd car book. While it's about the Porsche, it's also about a lot of other things, but I found it a fun read.

Brock Yates' book about the original Cannonball is also worth your time.

I'm a fan of "road" books. While it gets bogged down a bit in the writer's mid-life crisis, "Blue Highways" by William Least-Heat Moon is a fun journey. Another in the same genre is "A Walk Across America", which actually continued on to a few more books but I'd probably stop with the first one. The author winds up being an emotional wreck in his personal life as time goes on. "Rolling Nowhere" by Ted Conover is a young writer's journey around the country as a hobo riding the rails, something a lot of us fantasize about.

I'm currently reading "Cesar's Way" by dog rehabilitator Cesar Millan. It's not a training book, more of a study of how dogs are different than humans (duh) and how to deal with that, intermixed with a rather fascinating autobiography. Much better than I expected at halfway through it.

orphancars wrote: * +1 for William Gibson. Except that I bought two recent novels where he's writing about advertising/marketing and about a few years past 9/11. Haven't gotten through either one yet (Spook Country and Pattern Recognition), but I'll get back to them after Snow Crash..

Stick with them, especially Pattern Recognition. It has some common themes to Neuromancer and the writing is just so clean. Definitely not sci-fi - but if they'd been written 20 years ago, they would be.

I'll be the geek/snob/dweeb here and recommend Ayn Rand. Specifically, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. If you care about doing your best work in this life (or you hate having your hard work taken advantage of by the looters of the world), you need to read Ayn Rand.

+1. Didn't wanna be all "Hey, look it me! I like Ayn Rand." Her Non-Fiction was pretty incredible if you could trudge through it. "The Virtue of Selfishness" is one of my faves.

I just ordered 'Truck' looking forward to reading it. I also have 'Gold Plated Porsche' and 'Old Tractors and Men who Love them'. I was thinking of getting '40 acres and a fool' also by Roger Welsch, anyone else read it?

What other cars/motorcycle/tractor/engine/DIY/mechanics/road-trips related books do you guys recommend?

I don't read much, my other half is a book worm though, she made me read 'Deep Survival' she doesn't do that to me and it truly was an interesting book. Now I want to read 'Adrift' and a few other books mentioned in Deep Survival to get the complete story by first hand account.

Snowdoggie wrote:

Spitsix wrote: Just finished "The art of racing in the rain". really enjoyed it.

+1 on the Art of Racing in the Rain. A dog named Enzo explains the Zen of high performance driving, and life. http://www.artofracingintherain.com/ "That which you manifest is before you!"

+2 Its a feel good book for racing and dog lovers for sure.

my two favorites are "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden. The movie was great but this is even better.

The next book i just recently read; The Driver by Alexander Roy. Hes the guy that broke the transcontinental run (32 hours 7 minutes) in a BMW M5. Probably not the best written book, but great story, all about cars and road rallies. Doesnt get much better than that i dont think.

Guess i like books about real events...

Just read about "The Driver" here:

http://www.wired.com/cars/coolwheels/magazine/15-11/ff_cannonballrun?currentPage=all

It's a pretty good story but some part of me doesn't want to like it because it was done on public streets putting several other motorists at risk. Like I said it does make an interesting read.

I'll second Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Anything Tom Wolfe writes is worth reading: The Right Stuff, I am Charlotte Simmons, A Man in Full, take your pick. Someone else mentioned James Dickey, and everyone always remembers him for Deliverance, but To the White Sea is pretty cool too.

I mainly read history, though, so I have to recommend Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris, about the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt. If you're into WWII stuff, as I am, definitely check out Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: it covers the battle of Samar Island, probably the finest hour in the history of the US Navy. Read Given Up for Dead, about the Marines' incredible stand on Wake Island.

Too many to list but most recently enjoyed:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon: Awesome setting and character development, great story.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemmingway: Re-read it on an airplane - still as great as the 1st time.

The ones that stand out:

Science Fiction:

Friday by Robert Heinlein.. This was the book that started me on science fiction a long time ago.

David Weber, anything he writes is good.

John Ringo is another good one.

David Drake, particularly the Belisarius series he wrote with Eric Flint

Fantasy:

Mercedes Lackey, All of them.

David Eddings, All of them

Fiction:

Tom Clancy before he franchised his name to everyone with a pen.

Current Reads:

How to build Motorcycle-engined Racing Cars, by Tony Pashley.

The 5000 Year Leap, by W. Cleon Skousen (audio book while driving)

Storm From the Shadows, by David Weber.

There are probably another thousand or so in the house that are keepers and worth another read but my all time favorite is the next good book I find on the shelf at the book store.

I mentioned Michael Connelly in another thread. Good stuff...full collection.

Robert R. McCammon: Boy's Life, Stinger, etc. Anything he writes, I'll buy.

Stephen King: what other's said, although I was a little let down by the ending of DT. That said, Blaine did spawn one of the better lines: "why did the dead baby cross the road? ...because he was stapled to the berkeleying chicken!" I still get chuckle out of that scene. I'm a fanboi, will buy anything he puts out. Hell, I even buy the stuff that Tabitha writes—it's not bad.

Chuck Pahluniak: I liked fight club and thought Snuff was cute in the same way. Funny, dark, twisted.

Nelson DeMille: anything this man writes.

Scott Smith: A Simple Plan and Ruins. Both were very dark and actually made me a little creeped out by the decisions and endings. Kinda glad he doesn't write that many books.

Current reads: Competition Car Aerodynamics by Simon McBeath.

How to build Motorcycle-engined Racing Cars, by Tony Pashley.

It has been said, but King is good, but he started to forget how to write about 15 years ago. IMO his best stuff is the Dark Tower series, but the books start to go down hill after the 4th book. King also has this annoying habit of killing off the characters everyone likes and keeping around the ones no one likes. I hated the ending

Some one beat me to it but Ayn Randi is my favorite author and Atlas Shrugged is a massive pile of win. So massive that it takes forever to read, and it's not what i would call light reading so it will take some time to finish.

At the risk of being the one guy who refuses to repeat the non-conformist's oath, I'll say Ayn Rand is a miserable fiction writer, worthwhile only if you enjoy slogging through hundreds of pages of pretentious claptrap in search of a plot.

If I want to do that, I'll go read Henry Miller. At least it has dirty bits. And old Henry could really turn the hell out of a phrase, too.

As for good stuff... a lot have already been mentioned, but here's a few more:

For Steinbeck, I've always been partial to The Winter of our Discontent. Maybe not his best work, but it's always worked for me.

I'll second Catch-22. Pure loopy brilliance.

V (Thomas Pynchon) may be the best book I've ever read without having any idea what it's about.

Perfume is a really good book. Good movie, too.

Pretty much anything Vonnegut ever wrote is allright by me, but Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse stand out.

Cash, by Johnny Cash (there's a reason it got a shout-out in High Fidelity)