[WMCoolmon]

1)The Hand of Thrawn duology by Timothy Zahn
2)Many Isaac Asimov books, chief among them the Elijah Bailey novels
3)I,Jedi by Michael Stackpole

[Stryke 9]

1984- favorite of all time. I can't believe you put that piece of overrated ****, Catcher in the Rye, in there, and left 1984 out. Shame! But that's just me, and my bias against people who write a book to capture the collective personality of teenagers and end up with a completely inaccurate, stereotypical, and worst of all insulting paranoid lunatic. I know myself, and this ain't it.

Other than that, I'd venture... hmm. Tricky. I've got several dozen books vying for first place in my mind, few, if any, of which you'd have heard of. Ah well...

For mindless entertaiment, nothing beats Gibson's Cyberspace Trilogy or Virtual Light. Whatever happened to cyberpunk?

[NegspectahDek]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
1984- favorite of all time. I can't believe you put that piece of overrated ****, Catcher in the Rye, in there, and left it out. But that's just me, and my bias against people who write a book to capture the collective personality of teenagers and end up with a completely inaccurate, stereotypical, and worst of all insulting paranoid lunatic. I know myself, and this ain't it.
 

he wrote it to inspire the serial killers of tomorrow

[Stryke 9]

Explains a lot, doesn't it?

[CP5670]

1984- favorite of all time. I can't believe you put that piece of overrated ****, Catcher in the Rye, in there, and left it out. But that's just me, and my bias against people who write a book to capture the collective personality of teenagers and end up with a completely inaccurate, stereotypical, and worst of all insulting paranoid lunatic. I know myself, and this ain't it.

As I said earlier, The Catcher in the Rye is the worst book I have ever read in my life. What can I say; it is a complete POS in every way. As you said, the main character is so unbelievably, indescribably moronic, he can be downright insulting at times. There wasn't much of a plot either; it basically told the story of some half-crazed lunatic as he went through his daily life (if it can even be called that).

All the books I had to read for school have been total garbage. These are the three worst books of all time for me:

1:Catcher in the Rye
2:Romeo and Juliet
3:To Kill a Mockingbird

(all of which are school-picked titles)

These English departments are terrible; can't they ever pick anything interesting?

Oh BTW, this isn't a novel, but still one of the best books I have read: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It is a very comprehensive, detailed and compelling account of just about every aspect of the Nazi empire; it's a bit big, but I would definitely recommend it.

[NegspectahDek]

i think youre just reacting to the fact the english department is making you read those books.  To kill a mockingbird is a classic, ask anybody that really understands it.  While I'm no shakespeare fan, R&J is pretty good, I liked tybalt's character.  

Now be glad you don't have to ... haven't read anything by Charles Dickens or James Joyce .  With the exception of A Tale of Two Cities, which is pretty damn good, anything else by those two will have you offereing your head to the Vasudans.  Trust me.

[Sandwich]

Another 3 of my favorites are by A. E. Van Vogt - anyone ever read him? He was of a previous generation, so you'll probably find his books in used bookstores. My favorites of his are:

- Slan
- both of the Null-A books

[icespeed]

"Now be glad you don't have to ... haven't read anything by Charles Dickens or James Joyce . With the exception of A Tale of Two Cities, which is pretty damn good, anything else by those two will have you offereing your head to the Vasudans. Trust me.
"NegspectahDek
That's so not true about Charles dickens... he's cool
you've never read  Oliver or a Christmas Carol, have you? His style might be old fashioned or whatever, but that means nothing- not really. it's the characters and the plot which are good.

on the subject of books... every book is a good book... except for those that aren't. seriously, though, it just depends on your perspective.

[Setekh]

Hah, this was begging you here, wasn't it ice.

Favourite books... favourite books. I tend to grow towards liking any books that I read. It's deliberate - I enjoy them more that way.

[NegspectahDek]

i tried to read Great Expectations.  even skipping pages, I couldnt make it past 100.  But tht might have something to do with the fact that I was in 9th grtade at the time.  And I did say A tale of two cities is pretty good.  Even if I'm better suited to read Dickens now, I'd rather go watch grass grow.

[Styxx]

Ah, anyone here read Solaris by Stanislaw Lem? That thing is one of the fines examples of sci-fi ever! I still get shivers up my spine when I think of that book...

[Setekh]

Oh, and I might as well add to the Tolkien praise. What I've read of J.R.R.'s work is stunning.

Anyone know what those initials stand for?

[wEvil]

I can't stand those quaint, twee 19th century peices.

They just bore me to tears, even the TV dramatisations.


the Silmarillion - now theres a book with scope.

I also liked the BOOK (not film) of Stephen Kings' the Running Man.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Setekh
Oh, and I might as well add to the Tolkien praise. What I've read of J.R.R.'s work is stunning.

Anyone know what those initials stand for?

hard to spell, and I don't have any book at hand but I'll try:

John Ronald Reuel I think

[CP5670]

i think youre just reacting to the fact the english department is making you read those books. To kill a mockingbird is a classic, ask anybody that really understands it. While I'm no shakespeare fan, R&J is pretty good, I liked tybalt's character.

Now be glad you don't have to ... haven't read anything by Charles Dickens or James Joyce . With the exception of A Tale of Two Cities, which is pretty damn good, anything else by those two will have you offereing your head to the Vasudans. Trust me.

Well, I was the only one in my class who did not like it, but that can be said about the other two titles as well. The thing is, in most cases, I don't really like titles that focus too much on some insignificant individuals whose lives don't mean much in the big picture. This is what made Foundation unique and set it apart from almost all of the others out there. In TKAM, the plot was not very intriguing either; it definitely was not the kind of book I just had to keeping reading "one more page" to find out what happens, such as with some other titles I have read.

Shakespeare's works aren't all bad - Julius Caesar is actually very good in my opinion - it's just his love stories that bore me to death. (as do anyone else's)

Oh BTW four more books that are not novels but I really like nevertheless:

Calculus with Analytic Geometry and Multivariable Calculus
Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics
Differential Equations with Variational Calculus
Mechanisms and Mechanical Devices Sourcebook

[Setekh]

Originally posted by CP5670
Foundation

Are you referring to Asimov's work?

[CP5670]

Yeah, the one regarding the fall of the empire. The first book in the series is probably the best novel I have read.

[Gortef]

The Hitchhiker's Trilogy
The Saga of Mallorea - David Eddings (including all the books that go into that world)
Rainbow Six
Dragonlance
Susikoira Roi - Jorma Kurvinen (this one is Finnish )

there's few

[castor]

Originally posted by Styxx
Ah, anyone here read Solaris by Stanislaw Lem? That thing is one of the fines examples of sci-fi ever! I still get shivers up my spine when I think of that book...

  that's great. Also "The Invincible" was kinda fascinating.

Some more favs, kinda mixed bag:
  Conrad, Joseph -  Nostromo
  Stapledon, Olaf - Last and First Men
  Gogol, Nikolai - The Overcoat
  Butler, Octavia - Xenogenesis Trilogy
  Lawrence, D.H. ...any
  James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
  Asimov, Isaac - Foundation etc...
  Goncharov, Ivan - Oblomov
  Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights
  Clarke, Arthur C. - Rendezvous With Rama etc..
  Chekhov, Anton ...any
  Card.. the Enders Game Series

[Grey Wolf]

Originally posted by mikhael


Gordon Dickson isn't bad, but Mercedes Lackey? How many times can that woman tell the same tale in the same world through a different character's eyes? Its fluff fantasy.

That said, I think I have all of the Valdemar novels and short stories up through... um.... 1998 or so. Oh the shame....

I meant the SERRAted Edge books, the Urban Fantasy books... Actually, the ones I like best she did in conjunction with another author. Hmmm...... that's odd......