Books

[my porsche]

In search of reading material, I like Hemingway, was somewhat disappointed by Crime and Punishment, like fiction but not sci-fi type stuff, the late 1800s to mid-early 1900s seems like a good time period to read about, what've you got for me? :D

[johnnynumfiv]

Ever read any of Kurt Vonnegut's works? It's not the time frame, but they are good reads.

[wwgkd]

Sorry dude. Most of what I read is science fiction (usually not sci-fi) or fantasy.

Edit: If you like alternate history harry turtledove has some great stuff and harry harrison had one that was epic about an alternate civil war.

[NSXType-R]

I like science fiction, but they're mostly classics- anything by Jules Verne or H.G. Wells is fair game. But I do think that I don't read as often as I should.

Harry Potter is a nice read too.

[f6fhellcat13]

Huck Finn
Have you read Farewell to Arms?
That's good Hemingway.
Picture of Dorian Gray
I like some of Gogol's stories
Heart of Darkness

[my porsche]

Huck Finn
Have you read Farewell to Arms?
That's good Hemingway.
Picture of Dorian Gray
I like some of Gogol's stories
Heart of Darkness

Read Huck Finn, not Farewell to Arms though, might order that.

Heart of Darkness my English teacher mentioned once, it also is an extremely rocky trail at Whistler that made my hands numb. :p Going to look it up now.

Looked it up, reminded me, Africa. I like the idea of Africa, any significant English or American novels that take place in Africa?

[Zytek_Fan]

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is excellent.

As far as classics go, I like Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe.

[LTSmash]

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is one of my favorites.

[f6fhellcat13]

Looked it up, reminded me, Africa. I like the idea of Africa, any significant English or American novels that take place in Africa?

A Bend in the River
This is what I'm currently reading. It's a new book, but it's about Africa post-colonialism. It's by VS Naipaul, he apparently won the Nobel Prize in literature.

EDIT: I agree with Johnny, Vonnegut is quite interesting.

[The_Canuck]

Hmm i've got Heart of Darkness here beside me but i haven't had the time to start it yet. Joseph Conrad seems like an interesting fellow from the bio though...

[#1 Mustang Fan]

Wilbur Smith has written some great novels that take place in Africa, namely the Courtney series.

[baddabang]

WTF is a book?

[wwgkd]

WTF is a book?

What you'd expect from a sooner.

[whiteballz]

Not sure if its up your alley -

Neil Stephenson - Snow crash

Orson Scott Card - Enders game

[wwgkd]

Not sure if its up your alley -

Neil Stephenson - Snow crash

Orson Scott Card - Enders game

The enders game series was great. Read that in fourth grade and didn't sleep for 3 days (didn't want to stop reading.)

[roosterjuicer]

michael shaara (sp?)-the killer angels

Jeff Shaara-gods and generals

[Rockefella]

Top 100 Fiction Books of All Time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0)

[Rockefella]

lol serious link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/may/08/books.booksnews)

[wwgkd]

Top 100 Fiction Books of All Time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0)

lol


lol serious link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/may/08/books.booksnews)

A lot of those aren't really that good a read, just important historically.

[Rockefella]

A lot of those aren't really that good a read, just important historically.

Shows how much I know. I don't read books.

[wwgkd]

I read too much. My parents never had trouble getting me to read, they had trouble getting me to stop (I'm currently doing 1 or 2 a week.) In school when other kids would have a comic book inside the book we were supposed to be reading, I'd have "the complete works of mark twain."

Man, I am such a nerd.

[cmcpokey]

probbaly my favorite book of all time is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Absolute brilliance. I would also say Vonnegut, which can have some similarity, but with more insanity than Heller.

[johnnynumfiv]

probbaly my favorite book of all time is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Absolute brilliance. I would also say Vonnegut, which can have some similarity, but with more insanity than Heller.
Another classic, I'd recommend it. All we read senior year was Vonnegut and Heller.:cool:

[wwgkd]

You should read some Terry Pratchet Discworld books if you're into weird lulz.

[f6fhellcat13]

probbaly my favorite book of all time is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Absolute brilliance. I would also say Vonnegut, which can have some similarity, but with more insanity than Heller.

this.

[Zytek_Fan]

lol serious link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/may/08/books.booksnews)

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't touch any of those books.
They're just too dry and boring.

Crime and Punishment isn't bad though.

[roosterjuicer]

Animal Farm is a great book. I try to read it once a year, it never gets old and it says soo much.

[cmcpokey]

Another classic, I'd recommend it. All we read senior year was Vonnegut and Heller.:cool:

....that's not a lot of reading.

[wwgkd]

....that's not a lot of reading.

I took a science fiction class my senior year (taught by a freaking hippy) and we read 3 books the entire year. I'd read the book we were supposed to, then move on to my own and forget what the book was about by the time we were quized about it. Drove me crazy, but some of the people in the class couldn't read without moving their lips and only took the class because they thought it would be an easy A.

[cmcpokey]

I took a science fiction class my senior year (taught by a freaking hippy) and we read 3 books the entire year. I'd read the book we were supposed to, then move on to my own and forget what the book was about by the time we were quized about it. Drove me crazy, but some of the people in the class couldn't read without moving their lips and only took the class because they thought it would be an easy A.

to be honest, my senior year i took a class that was similar to this. i ended up asking to read harder books than was required because i was bored.

but that was after my junior year where we read 14 books, and 20+ shortstories, and several hundred poems. i needed a break before college.

[Timothy (in VA)]

You should read some Terry Pratchet Discworld books if you're into weird lulz.

I am so glad that someone brought these up. I love the Discworld books. I'm going to sound like a complete nerd, but I own the complete set (but not the various spinoffs).

Have you by any chance read "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman? Another great fantasy/humor novel.

[f6fhellcat13]

I took a science fiction class my senior year (taught by a freaking hippy) and we read 3 books the entire year. I'd read the book we were supposed to, then move on to my own and forget what the book was about by the time we were quized about it. Drove me crazy, but some of the people in the class couldn't read without moving their lips and only took the class because they thought it would be an easy A.
I wanted to take SciFi vut I didn't get in so I'm taking ModAmLit. A lotta people are taking scifi for the easy A, but I actually enjoy the genre.:mad:

[Kitdy]

Animal Farm is a great book. I try to read it once a year, it never gets old and it says soo much.

Animal Farm and 1984 are both class acts as far as I'm concerned. I haven't read many weighty fiction books and haven't really read anything in years except for non-fiction but I guess based on my limited fiction readings the "best" (not most enjoyable however) would have to be 1984.

Anyways, we have gone way off topic as usual - it happens in car purchasing threads too. Some person says I am debating car X and Y, then we introduce ten other cars they don't want and it ends up being car X and Y at the end. mp asked for turn of the century classics and we have diverted way off course.

[roosterjuicer]

i figure animal farm is pertinent to all time periods.

[wwgkd]

Animal Farm and 1984 are both class acts as far as I'm concerned. I haven't read many weighty fiction books and haven't really read anything in years except for non-fiction but I guess based on my limited fiction readings the "best" (not most enjoyable however) would have to be 1984.

Anyways, we have gone way off topic as usual - it happens in car purchasing threads too. Some person says I am debating car X and Y, then we introduce ten other cars they don't want and it ends up being car X and Y at the end. mp asked for turn of the century classics and we have diverted way off course.

We're just broadening their horizons. ;)

[roosterjuicer]

haha i know im being super annoying (as usual) but lord of the flies is a great book and i think it takes place in the early 20th century.

also. my personal favorite book of all time=where the red fern grows that is an amazing book.

[f6fhellcat13]

haha i know im being super annoying (as usual) but lord of the flies is a great book and i think it takes place in the early 20th century.

also. my personal favorite book of all time=where the red fern grows that is an amazing book.
LoTF takes place in the 50s

[#1 Mustang Fan]

Just to put a few good authors out there (Considering I have read almost all of each of these authors books):

Matthew Reilly - Great action thriller type guy quite fast paced.
Clive Cussler - Read every single one of his books in a year, little over 1 per week.
John Higgins
Lee Child
Dick Francis
Tom Clancy

And as previously mentioned Wilbur Smith..

[wwgkd]

LoTF takes place in the 50s

But they're english kids, and english kids in the 50's were kind of throwbacks to the 20's. :)

[whiteballz]

Rofl.

Matthew Reily is my hero.

[cmcpokey]

another turn of the century is The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. A good, if a bit disgusting, book that directly led to the Food Safety Act of 1906.

[Rockefella]

another turn of the century is The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. A good, if a bit disgusting, book that directly led to the Food Safety Act of 1906.

Is that the one in relation to meat-packing plants?

[cmcpokey]

Is that the one in relation to meat-packing plants?

yeah. pretty graphic

[LTSmash]

Animal Farm and 1984 are both class acts as far as I'm concerned.

I second this, you must read these two books.

[Rockefella]

Perhaps this link is better:

rickroll, or is it?! (http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books-the-essential-mans-library/)

[whiteballz]

I clicked it before I read it.. And was tempted to shut down the window before it loaded after i saw it.

Smartarse.

But thats a pretty decent list.

[wwgkd]

Man, I hated the republic. Plato has some crazy ideas.

BTW Rocke, awesome avatar.

[Rockefella]

Man, I hated the republic. Plato has some crazy ideas.

BTW Rocke, awesome avatar.

Reading it for philosophy wasn't the greatest time I've had. And thank you.

[cmcpokey]

in Phil 101 i wrote a paper comparing the allegory of the cave to the Matrix. pretty bad ass.

[f6fhellcat13]

I've read a surprising number of those books.
If nobody reccommended Steinbeck, I am doing it.
Haven't read Republic, but Symphosium wasn't great.

[wwgkd]

When I read it we were in a room that was exactly like the cave. We all sat there with a wall with windows (set at a weird height that really made this work) behind us and people walking past the windows would cast shadows on the board. When I pointed this out and asked if we could get out of the cave a few minutes early, my professor was not amused.

[ilikefast]

Two must reads imho:

If on a winter's night a traveller - Italo Calvino
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

[wwgkd]

You know what really freaked me out when I was a kid? Edgar Alan Poe's The Raven.

[ErWin76]

Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy
Some of his detective stories are good, but weird.

[Kitdy]

I second this, you must read these two books.

LT, I don;t want to pigenhole you but did you like them for their "anti-socialist/communist" message or for their own merits?

This is preachy, but if you didn't know, George Orwell was a socialist and actually volunteered to fight for the Republic in the Spanish Civil war - his message was not against socialism/communism, but against the form adopted in the USSR that was co-opted by a dictatorship.


Two must reads imho:

If on a winter's night a traveller - Italo Calvino
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand is a douche.

EDIT: No help for you Colin, but Catcher in the Rye was pretty good - the only book in school I actually enjoyed and one of the few I read completely. We read such trash in school.

EDIT 2: This does help you though Colin. Ulysses by James Joyce is apparently pretty good - Modern Library named it the best English language novel of the century. It's supposed to be an epic masterpiece - it is between 600-1,000 pages depending on the format and every June 16th is celebrated as Bloomsday in honour of the book. We read (I didn't becasue I hated it) The Portrait of an Artist as Young Man by Joyce and it was hard to get through but if oyu want some high-class turn of the century writing (it's form the late teens) then this is maybe worth a look.

[wwgkd]

This is preachy, but if you didn't know, George Orwell was a socialist and actually volunteered to fight for the Republic in the Spanish Civil war - his message was not against socialism/communism, but against the form adopted in the USSR that was co-opted by a dictatorship.


Orwell was an interesting guy. Say a show on him on the history channel and ever since then I've wanted to find a good biography of him to read.

[Sledgehammer]

On Killing - David Grossman. Good book about learning to kill in war and society.