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[A Killing Sound]

Hey everyone!  I wanted to create a forum where people could post their favourite books, and share their like of certain books.  To get the ball rolling, here are a few of my favourites.

Shogun by James Clavell
The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
The Dark Tower by Steven King
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Gulliver's Travels by Johnathon Swift
Various Conan stories by Robert E. Howard
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

There are many more, but this is a good start.

[Seagloom]

My favorite is probably Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Others are...

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
The Faerie Queene - Edmund Spenser (A poem technically, but meh.)
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin (Whole series so far.)

A bajillion others... some fiction, many not. I'd have to think about it carefully. The above are what immediately sprang to mind.

Edit: ~Reads Archdemon Cthulhu's post~ Wait? Graphic novels count? In that case I need to give a nod to the Strangers in Paradise series.

Modifié par Seagloom, 13 février 2010 - 08:53 .

[Chained_Creator]

A Killing Sound wrote...
Shogun by James Clavell

That book was so long.

My favorite that immediately springs to mind is The Last Centurion by John Ringo. The book is just funny as hell.

[Seraosha]

The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson

Nothing comes close to that master work of epic fantasy. 

[DarthCaine]

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series

[Vansen Elamber]

Agree about The Malazan Book of the Fallen series, however I would also like to add a few more...

George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, many things in Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins were inspired by Martin's work, in fact in the old DA forums that were still at Bioware's regular forums had a topic where some of the Dev's even said that series inspired lots of things in DA. In the very opening cutscene you will see a child sitting high up on the walls in the city watching the soldiers march below....Brandon Stark the climber kid in A Song of Ice and Fire....

Anything written by Gene Wolfe, without a doubt in my mind Gene Wolfe has the most unique style of pretty much any fantasy author out there....

Stephen R Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, those books are wonderful to read...

Modifié par Vansen Elamber, 13 février 2010 - 04:48 .

[KneeTheCap]

My all time favorite has to be "Blood of Elves" by Sapkowski. It's definately worth reading.

[Vansen Elamber]

KneeTheCap wrote...

My all time favorite has to be "Blood of Elves" by Sapkowski. It's definately worth reading.

Is this the same Polish Author that wrote the books that inspired the RPG, The Witcher?

[KneeTheCap]

Yep. His books are being translated to english only recently though. It's a shame I don't speak polish. But atleast the short stroy collection "The last wish" and novel "Blood of Elves" are in english.

[Statulos]

Pfeeeeeeeew; this is a complicated, very complicated one so... I´d ask; which genre? I´ll start with the essays:



*Foucault - History of Sexuality, Discipline and Punish.

*Nietzsche - pretty much everything but Beyound Good and Evil is among my top 3.

*Claude Lévi-Strauss - Tristes Tropiques, The Savage Mind, Mitologuiques.

*Durkheim - Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

*Campbell - Hero of the Thousand Faces.

*Calasso - Ka.



And many, many, many more. Novel or theatre, some other day.

[Caozen]

Flooty Hobbs and the Jiggling, Jolly Gollywobbler.

[Steel Moon]

I majored in English Lit. so I have a ton of favorites. So I'll just post 5 of my favs from the Fantasy genre, or else things could get out of hand...

Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

Song of Ice and Fire - GRR Martin

Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb

Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Poison Elves - Drew Hayes

[AshedMan]

He was a beautiful butterfly!



1984

[Vaedhiv]

A Song of Ice and Fire - by Martin...



Wiedźmin ( I mean The Witcher) - by Andrzej Sapkowski



I like Eragon too...



Drizzt Do'Urden! ;D but only first books... the rest is boring ;/

[Archdemon Cthulhu]

Statulos wrote...

Pfeeeeeeeew; this is a complicated, very complicated one so... I´d ask; which genre? I´ll start with the essays:

*Foucault - History of Sexuality, Discipline and Punish.

As an English Lit and Cultural Studies student I have to say these texts are EXTREMELY useful in an academic forum.

Anyways, onto my favorite novels:
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
FIrst Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells

Favorite Short Story Collections:
Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (I know, cheating, but still..)
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Favorite Comic Series/Graphic Novels:
Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman
Preacher Series by Garth Ennis
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1 and 2 by Alan Moore
Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (Duh)
Life's a ****: The ****y **** Chronicles by Roberta Gregory

I also recently read "I Kill Giants" by Joe Kelly and I recommend it to anyone.  Anyone at all who is capable of reading comics.

[Statulos]

Theatre; my fave artistic genre, or at least one of the "official" forms of art:



*Aeschyilus - The Persians.

*Pretty much everything from Aristophanes but Lysistrata and The Assemblywomen are my top two.

*Shakespeare - MacBeth (witches, hell yeah!) and Titus Andronicus.

*Everything from Brecht, no exceptions.

*Calderón de la Barca - La Vida es Sueño.

*Molière - Tartuffe.

*Valle Inclán - Luces de Bohemia.

*Buero Vallejo - La Detonación, El Concierto de San Ovidio.

*Peter Weiss- Die Ermittlung, Marat/Sade.

*Stoppard - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

*Artaud - Best performer for Marat EVER.

*Brook - Mahabharatta.

*Ionesco - Anything, basicaly.

*Wagner (yes, he´s far more than opera) - The Ring of the Nibelung.



And many, maaaany more.

[xODD7BALLx]

Watchers - Koontz

Fear Nothing - Koontz

Sieze the Night - Koontz

LOTR and The Hobbit

Eaters of The Dead - Crichton

Timeline - Crichton

The Stolen Throne - Gaider

[GnusmasTHX]

Favorite book/novel: The Silmarillion - J.R.R Tolkien

Favorite short story: The Last Question - Isaac Asimov

Favorite comic: Kingdom Come - Mark Waid



Both Sandman and Preacher were really great, if anything Preacher was at least disturbing. Also a fan of the Lucifer comics, as well.

[Godak]

The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)

The Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan)

Romand of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong)

I'm just getting into the Darktower (Stephen King)

I friggin' LOVE Watchmen (Alan Moore)

The Harry Potter series is what got me reading in the first place (J.K. Rowling)

Modifié par Godak, 13 février 2010 - 11:02 .

[Statulos]

Garth Ennis has writen some of the best stuff I have ever read in comic. The MAX series Punisher is just outstanding.

[Remmirath]

The ones I can remember right now, at least (which means they're probably the top favourites anyhow).

The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Swords Trilogy, The Chronicles of Corum, The Elric Saga - Michael Moorcock
Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune - Frank Herbert
The Darkover series - Marion Zimmer Bradley
So You Want To Be A Wizard, Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry, A Wizard Abroad - Diane Duane
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams
The Dragonriders of Pern series - Anne McCaffrey
The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, the Mage Storms trilogy  - Mercedes Lackey
The Witches of Karres - James H. Schmitz

In the way of comics/graphic novels, all of the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comics, the Sandman series, and A Distant Soil. There are other comics I like, but those are the ones that to me tend more towards the graphic novel side of things.

I always feel like I'm forgetting something whenever I make a list like this, so I probably am.

[Amberyl Ravenclaw]

Statulos wrote...

Pfeeeeeeeew; this is a complicated, very complicated one so... I´d ask; which genre? I´ll start with the essays:

*Foucault - History of Sexuality, Discipline and Punish.

I have yet to get through Foucault, Hegel, Fanon or even Said (whose Orientalism I'm still struggling to finish even after a winter-month-long-break to read it. I agree with Archdemon Cthulhu that it's really useful to have read those beforehand especially in the context of postcolonial studies. Every time I wander into one of those classes I wander out almost immediately because I don't get the references that are being bandied about. Oh well.  

Archdemon Cthulhu wrote...

As an English Lit and Cultural Studies student I have to say these texts are EXTREMELY useful in an academic forum.

We should talk sometime. Heh.

Archdemon Cthulhu wrote...

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

I actually had that book assigned to me for a class this term, but I dropped it and my chance of reading is squandered for the moment (given that I have very little time to read outside material these days). Admittedly, the introduction and subject matter does remind me of Edwidge Danticat's anthology The Dew Breaker, though hers focuses on the history of Haiti and migrations of Haitian-Americans. Have you read that one? 

My own list of favorites by genre:

Sci-fi: 

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, a magico-religious futuristic epic which draws heavily on Hindu-Buddhist literature and legend and is really more fantasy than science-fiction. But still entertaining, philosophical, mindblowing and deeply imaginative nonetheless.

Fantasy: 

The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula LeGuin, whom most have probably heard of. I would describe all four books as four different approaches to the classic coming-of-age tale, all focusing on four different characters (the wizard Ged, cult priestess Tenar, boy-king Arren, and child-witch Tehanu) and their various dilemmas. I adore LeGuin's work because she has the eye and soul of an anthropologist and digs deep into culture, religion, myth and practice as part of her writing. I also have to stress that I especially love Tehanu, the last book of all, which many readers have found disappointing due to its meandering nature, focus on everyday history rather than epic storytelling, and heavyhanded critique of gender politics. Those qualities are exactly what make the book a standout and worth rereading, IMHO.

Nonfiction: 

Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule The World as a SmarthMouth Goddess by Susan Jane Gilman. Funny, sarcastic, witty but insightful manual on the self-sabotage women do to themselves (including unrealistic expectations about dieting, beauty and everyday behavior) and how and why they should snap out of those. I have to say that this book saved my life during my teenage years, and it still does on a regular basis.

History (given that I'm a history major): 

The Holocaust in American Life by Peter Novick, a little controversial given that Novick takens on the question of historical memory and memorializing of the Holocaust, and what he describes as "victim politics". Still, I find it quite insightful and perhaps a little sobering.

Another book in that same category is History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience and Myth by Paul Cohen, who examines the Boxer Rebellion in China at the turn of the 20th century, but also mulls on how the historian's approach of reconstruction is very different from the experience of those who have lived through the event itself - and also how people remember them years later for political and ideological purposes, distorted as those memories may be. Again, sobering.

Graphic Novels: 

Maus by Art Spiegelman - autobiographical, on the subject of the Holocaust and transgenerational trauma.
Watchmen by Alan Moore - the classic superhero-myth deconstructive exercise.
Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel - a long-running series on the everyday lives and loves of an LGBT cast, with Bechdel's take on politics and identities in America alongside the main narrative.

The above three are more than just graphic novels by the way - in each, each author displays a remarkable talent with language and art, and often uses a variety of storytelling mediums (such as Moore's use of "newspaper articles" and "diary entries" to flesh out the narrative). Also, these subjects all speak to issues larger-than-life and which go far beyond mindless entertainment.

Thoughts and comments appreciated! 

/ends very long list

Modifié par Amberyl Ravenclaw, 14 février 2010 - 12:08 .

[Statulos]

Amberyl Ravenclaw wrote...

Statulos wrote...

Pfeeeeeeeew; this is a complicated, very complicated one so... I´d ask; which genre? I´ll start with the essays:

*Foucault - History of Sexuality, Discipline and Punish.

I have yet to get through Foucault, Hegel, Fanon or even Said (whose Orientalism I'm still struggling to finish even after a winter-month-long-break to read it. I agree with Archdemon Cthulhu that it's really useful to have read those beforehand especially in the context of postcolonial studies. Every time I wander into one of those classes I wander out almost immediately because I don't get the references that are being bandied about. Oh well.  

History (given that I'm a history major): 

The Holocaust in American Life by Peter Novick, a little controversial given that Novick takens on the question of historical memory and memorializing of the Holocaust, and what he describes as "victim politics". Still, I find it quite insightful and perhaps a little sobering.

Good to see that someone else is interested on some of the topics I have been researching for years. So, taking them... May I give you some nice titles to read?

-Before reading Foucault, it´s generaly a good idea to read some other French scholars. Lèvi-Strauss is a good idea (Myth & Meaning is quite easy and outlines the structuralist theory quite well). Foucault is, to a great extent, a reaction against many asumptions of the "grandads" of structuralism so reading a bit of said Lèvi-Strauus or Saussere could be a good idea.

-The Holocaust: if you want a serious approach to this topic, you cannot help but read people like Hanna Arend´s "Einchman in Jerusalem", Ally & Heim´s "Architects of Annihilation" and Adorno & Horkheimer´s Dialectic of the Ilustration. As extra materials and artistic forms, Peter Weiss´ The Investigation, the documentary Soha and Mause (you refeered to that one) are must read/see´s.
I actually have Maus dedicated from Mr. Spiegelman himself. 

If you survived Foucault you´re ready to go "major league" with other horrible "bricks" such as Marx or Heiddegger.

[A Killing Sound]

I just wanted to mention that I like the fact this board is being taken seriously and hasn't been closed yet.   I never thought about posting about graphic novels and non fiction, but hey!  Why not?

I'll have to check out a few of these series being mentioned (A song of Fire and Ice seems to be really popular).

Anyway, here are a few other ones I like:

Manhunt:  The Twelve Day Chase of Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson.  One of the fastest and absorbing historical read I've read lately.

Shakespeare's The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, Othello and Merchant of Venice are classic plays

I liked Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (not so much the followups)and Alvin Maker series,  Harry Harrison's Death World, and Frank Herbert's classic Dune.

For graphic novels...I had to read V for Vendetta for a university class and thought it was decent, but I used to read some manga on occasion (sue me) like Akira, Dragon Ball, and Ruroni Kenshin when I was younger. 

And, when I was really young, I always loved Good Night Moon and King Midas Golden Touch.  Man, I still remember these stories almost 20 years after hearing them for the first time.

Modifié par A Killing Sound, 14 février 2010 - 02:59 .