book

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

well i have again hit a spot where i don't have anything to read. :cry:

o the humanity.

so do any of you have any recomendations?

[infoxicated]

Heck, if I were you I'd spend the time learning to write!

Seriously - I could gulp down a tin of Alphabetti-spaghetti and barf a paragraph with less typos than you make in most of your posts! :lol: ;)

Anyhoo, if that's not your bag I'd recommend The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - available in annotated form in all good bookstores. It's a classic - to the point where you really have to place yourself in the time it was written to appreciate the story.

[Mogaar]

Anything by any of the following authors:

Martin Amis (London Fields or Yellow Dog are very good)
Salman Rushdie
Julian Barnes (particularly The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters)
Milan Kundera
Haruki Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are great and I've heard good things about his new novel Kafka on the Shore)

[lunar]

Books are such a personal thing that its hard to recommend them to other people, but I`d go along with Mogaar`s recomendations, particularly Martin Amis, whose use of language is just spectacular. I avoid Salman Rushdie though. I`ve started quite a few of his books, but usually fall to my knees like an explorer who`s been hacking through the jungle for a few weeks, covered in sweat and blood, panting, "I can`t go on.... no more..... I just want to die...." But as I say its only personal. :wink:

I would also add my favourite book ever: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Another great, more recent Latin American book is The Feast of the Goat, by Mario Vargas Llosa. Both are unforgettable, moving and uplifting.

For a North American I would recommend anything by John Irving, but especially "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and "The Hotel New Hampshire." These books are funny, tragic and wonderful.

If you want a laugh, try Red Dwarf and Better than Life by Grant Naylor.

[Lance]

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The Way of Zen by Alan Watts
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[Lion]

anything by Terry Pratchett
the Dune series by Frank Herbert (might pay to steer clear of the prequels that his son has put out)
and I'm currently working my way through the Amtrack Wars series by Patrick Tilley and enjoying them a lot

[element42]

The Way of Zen by Alan Wattsyes. doubly so. Or possibly 'TAO: the watercourse way' by the same. non-fiction, but essential stuff. :D
"why is a mouse when it spins?"

now who wants to write a Tao Te Ching for Wipeout?
'True speed does not seem fast and thus is truly fast.' hmmm :?

[eLhabib]

If (by any chance) you haven't read it yet - Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Hilarious stuff, perfectly written.

[Drakkenmensch]

My aunt brought me a copy of the first four volumes of HHGTTG waaaaaay back in 1990 when almost nobody had heard about it in Canada yet, and it's been one of my favorite reads ever since. Quirky, funny, it was the series that really honed my skill in reading complex english (my first language is french ;) )

Some of my other favorites:

Harry Potter (of course!)

Every book by David Eddings

"Colony" by Rob Grant

Happy reading :)

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

Thanks for the reccomendations, i still hope that the new bords have spell check on them, and here are a few of my favorites to help.

Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings
The Wheel of Time
Tom Clancy
All of Dan Brown's books

favorite type, Fantasy and epics

[Roger]

Herbert Asbury - The gangs of New York (entertaining and scary historical record)
Stanislaw Lem - Fiasco (hardcore scifi), Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (fun scifi)
Stephen Marlowe - Memoirs of Christopher Columbus (very entertaining!)
Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos (mankind devolves!)

and

Mika Waltari - The Egyptian (my all time favourite book, I've read it in three languages! The original Finnish text is the most melodic in my opinion, but the English one ain't bad either. They made a movie based on it, back in the 50's so it was a Cinemascope production. If only they'd release it on DVD...)

[Sumimasen]

I agree with War of the Worlds. That has to be one of the best books of all time. Forget the films (and to a certain degree the musical version), as the original book beats them all. It's also true that, as Foxxy says, you need to use your imagination to try to imagine what it was like in that period (late 19th century) as that makes the horror of the situation all the more chilling.

If you're after something equally deep, but more modern, try Clive Barker's Imajica, Cabal or Weaveworld.

Or if you happen to be a Star Wars fan, check out the New Jedi Order series. Not too high-brow, but I really enjoyed them. Really dark for a Star Wars series, and VERY menacing.

[uberweng]

If you like fantasy you should try Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever) by Stephen R. Donaldson. Its the first book in what I consider to be the best modern fantasy epic.

Its pretty grim though.

[Hellfire_WZ]

I'd second the suggestion for the Dune series, but if you want something really humourous, go for Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy. Absolute classic.

[Animagic]

John Carter of Mars
Princess of Mars
Gods of Mars
Warlords of Mars

series of books by Egar Rice Buroughs (yes, the guy that invented Tarzan)

The most influential sci-fi literature of the 20th century...
read it and you will see where Lucas got all of his ideas from...

my favorite books ever.

-----

also, if you like Wheel of Time you might like the Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind.

[Task]

favorite type, Fantasy and epics

Well, now that I've got an idea of what kind of book you're after, I would suggest:

Terry Brooks - His "Magic Kingdom: For Sale" series is entertaining.
Dave Duncan - I found his "Man of his word" series to be unputdownable. YMMV.
William King - The Gotrek & Felix "Slayer" series. High fantasy in a grim world of perilous adventure.
Since you mention Clancy, I'd suggest John Sandford, his Prey series is well done.

and also, as a general recommendation to everyone:
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vorkosigan series is fantastic. Read "The Warriors Apprentice" and you will know if you like space opera. If you like it, read the rest of the series. That one's the best of the whole damn genre. 8 )

As a side note, you've really surprised me. I'm right there with foxy, considering your, uh, shally I say "generally atrocious" spelling & grammar I would _never_ have figured you for a guy who read... you know... books. 8 )
So congrats on totally whipping my head around.

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

Yes i read very well and ahead of many my age in that area but my spelling and grammer are about the equivelient of a 5 yerar old. :roll:

thanks for the help, this should keep me happy for a while.

[Lance]

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lol.
you did the mistakes in that last post on purpose [i think]. hilarious spelling of equivalent.
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