Your opinion on books

Hi there…
well here is a book I would recommend everyone to read…

The Dice man by Luke Rhinehart ! :smile: (I am now reading the second part called: The Search for The Dice Man). :wiske:

Best book I read so far and that have changed a lot on my views and thinking.
Well read something about it first of course.

THIS BOOK CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE, IF YOU DARE TO TRY IT! (Quoting from the back of it, however I fully agree with that statement).

Highly recommnded!!!
:content:

well, since your into fantasy books i would recommend forgotten realms books to you (ive read allmost all of em >.<) and especially books written by R.A salvatore, such books as highwayman, drow´s legacy, icewind dale trilogy, spearwielders tale,hunters blades trilogy, dark elf trilogy and also althalus…myself ive read all those books and more and i realy enjoyed em alot :happy:

As always when this question comes up:

Jeff Noon!

Great psychedelic trippy dreamy sci-fi.
I recommend either the book “Vurt” or his short stories “Pixel Juice”. I am really sad that I now have read just about anything Noon wrote, I think he´s the only author I would consider myself a fan of.

Then there is Brave New World and 1984, but I assume you heared of those already (first one by Huxley, second one by Orwell). Both some sort of society-sci-fi.

edit:
Have you ever really read Lewis Carolls two “Alice” books?

The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov


Look inside this book

I seriously believe Bulgakov got possessed or something and therefore wrote The Master and Margarita as it is of pure genius. He worked on it for 12 whole years, and the last changes for it he dictated to his wife in his final weeks, as he lay dying of nephrosclerosis. The Master and Margarita is a dazzling Gogolesque fantasy. Witty and ribald, and at the same time a penetrating philosophical novel wrestling with profound and eternal problems of good and evil. I can make no examples of the unique way how Bulgakov incorporates the mundane within the divine, and the divine within the mundane. It supposedly complies to a genre called magic realism and personally I keep it right between Carroll’s Alice books and Goethe’s Faust in my bookshelf :smile:

The Master and Margarita was banned until 1966-67 when it was published in an egregiously censored form (first unexpurgated release was only in 1973), but till then it travelled secretly hand to hand as so called samizdat (clandestinely printed and distributed editions). I haven’t read the english translation myself and I’m very concerned about what it’s like, because of the style in which the book is written, some things just may not make it into another language (I praise God I have studied Russian). Anyway, I think it’s really f#&*!%g hilarious and everyone should read it at least once. And don’t let the Russian person’s and geographic names confuse You. And I really do recommend checking out Middlebury College The Master and Margarita site, a lot of in-depth analysis and background information.

Here is a couple of “screenshots” from one of the many editions of this book :wink:

Enjoy,
ivi

Hey, I just looked at Master and Margarita yesterday and am considering buying it myself. Maybe that’s another indication that I should…

Anyway, I’ve read a lot of awesome books in my lifetime. My favorite books follow:

Fantasy:
-just about anything by David & Leigh Eddings (except their first two books)
-Robert Jordan (though they are lengthy and have a continual story line)
-J.K. Rowling (that goes w/out saying)

Sci-fi:
-Frank Herbert: probably the greatest sci-fi author ever! Warning: his books are not for the faint of heart and do require attention.
-Piers Anthony: excellent author, though not for younger audiences.
-Orson Scott Card: “Enders Game” will thrill you!

That’s all I can think of right now… That disappoints me. Oh well.

-Amé

the only fantasy author i’ve ever enjoyed is terry goodkind, writer of the “sword of truth” series - brilliant characters, intense stories and fantastic… fantasy.

other than him, stephen fry and oscar wilde are always a good laugh is you’re after something funny, engrossing and not too heavy; don delillo is worth a look if you want something a bit deep whilst still being pleasant to read; john keats and lord byron proffer enjoyable poetry, and the marquis de sade and vladimir nabokov are the best bet if you fancy a bit of a grandiloquently rude giggle.

House of Leaves

it’s very interesting and bizarre… only on page 110.

Thanks ivi, I order that one, your description really made me curious.

And Piers Anthony? Didn´t he write the Xanth series? (Xanth is humorous fantasy, perhaps a little bit like Pratchet)

Oh, I can rattle off a whole list of good fantasy books for you - it’s my favourite genre!

  1. Anything by Diana Wynne Jones. I mean anything - she’s that good, especially if you like Harry Potter. I especially recommend “Charmed Life”, “Aunt Maria” and “A Tale of Time City”. My favourite author by a long shot.

  2. Pier’s Anthony’s Xanth series, especially the first book, “A Spell For Chameleon”. But you have to put up with an endless stream of references about female breasts and appearance (ie, for every female character, no matter how minor, in every story), which gets incredibly boring and annoying if you’re a girl, believe me. Somehow the men always escape these detailed sexual descriptions. It’s not so bad in the first few novels, though, and it’s a great series overall. The “Blue Adept” series is also very good and is more like science fiction but I think it gets crappier as it goes on.

  3. “Villains by Necessity” by Eve Forward. This is probably quite hard to get hold of, but it’s one of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read. Basically, the world is in danger of too much goodness and a bunch of bad guys have to save it. Very funny. :content:

  4. “Space Demons” and “Skymaze” by Gillian Rubinstein. These are sort of a cross between sci-fi and fantasy and are really good. They’re about strange ‘live’ computer games that feed off of and can even change people’s personalities.

  5. “Trinity Street” by Sally Odgers - another great fantasy/sci-fi book which involves time-travel and deals with a whole lot of moral issues like abortion and genetic selection. This might also be difficult to get hold of, but it’s worth it.

  6. “Wizard’s First Rule” by Terry Goodkind. What can I say, it’s an incredible traditional fantasy story. Amazing. I’d caution about reading the rest of the series, however, as it just gets more and more predictable and cliched, and the characters seem far too perfect and one-dimensional to be believeable. But the first in the series is definitely good reading.

  7. “The Army of Five Men” by Shawn Hicks. This is even harder to get hold of than the others, but it’s so original! This is so far out from any other fantasy book I’ve read that I almost can’t believe he came up with some of his ideas! You need a bit of patience to get to the good bits, however, as it starts off quite slow. It’s also divided into three parts, but they’re vaguely interconnected. Trust me, this is one of the most underrated stories ever.

  8. Phillip Jose Farmer’s “The Dungeon” series. Has about equal amounts of sci-fi and fantasy, and a little bit of every other genre into the bargain. :content: It’s a definite recommendation for people who like something eclectic and very, very strange. Every novel in the series is put together by a different author, but they string together nicely.

  9. “Veronica” by Nicholas Christopher. This is a fantasy set in New York, thus it has a really modern feel. It’s extremely symbolic in nature, and also very dark, even scary at times. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s gothic, though. This is one of my favourite fantasy books of all time.

  10. The “Keys to the Kingdom” series by Garth Nix. I think this is aimed at the same audience as Harry Potter, and it’s equally good in my opinion. It’s hard to explain well - let me just say it’s weird, full of “modern” magic and other worlds, and has a vague emphasis on the seven deadly sins. It’s a series in progress, however, and only the first three books are out as of yet.

  11. “Which Witch” and “The Haunting of Hiram C. Hopgood” by Eva Ibbotson. Both are very funny and very entertaining. Actually, these books are very similar in style to those by Diana Wynne Jones, which is probably why I like them so much. :content:

  12. Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust”. This one’s quite fairytale-ish, with fairies, unicorns, quests and so on. But it’s wickedly funny and much more entertaining than your average fairytale.

I hope that helps. I can always list more if you like - I have an endless supply of fantasy books at home which is constantly expanding. But these are the best in my opinion.

Sweet. . . .
You guys have helped alot. I really appreciate it, i guess since now that highschool is done i accatully like to read on my own time. :content:

If you have more suggestions let me know. Currently i was out of books and i went to a garage sale and picked up “aliens Vs Predator” for $1. it kinda sucks, but if they would have made the movie based on the book the movie might be worth watching.

If you are into vampire type things i would suggest the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. hamilton

The first book in the series is “Guilty Pleasures”

Ender’s Game is a very good sci-fi book and Golden Compass is a wonderful fantasy(tho i don’t like the other 2 books much for their portrayal of God).

Two very strange and beautiful novels:

  • The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov
  • The Swedish Cavalier, by Leo Perutz

Strange and great litterature:

  • Jorge Luis Borges: Labyrinth, Fictions, The book of sand, The Aleph, Doctor Brodie’s report

Fantastic and sci-fi:

  • H.P. Lovecraft short stories: The Call of Cthulhu (that’s me :smile: ), The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow out of Time, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Colour out of Space

Old yet beautiful gothic short stories:

  • Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories
  • E.T.A. Hoffman’s short stories

You should. :content:

… And yes! Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, by Nikolai Gogol: one of the best and funniest book I’ve read for years. :tongue:

I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Mercedes Lackey! Of course, maybe i’m the only one who thinks she’s hugely talented, but seriously, anything of hers is a good read. Should maybe start out with “Arrows Of The Queen” the first book of her Valdemar seies, which has over twenty books by now.

Everything from Ray Bradbury. Especially his “Martian Chronicles” what helped me to discover him and his brilliant style and ideas :wink:

the martian chronicles are very interesting.

Th’at’s right! “The Martian Chronicles” are interesting. And I forgot the “Robots” serie by Azimov. I didn’t read “Foundation”, by the same author, does it worth?

Thanks for recommending The Master and Margarita, ivi. I just borrowed it from my local library and it’s great so far. The translation to my native language was supposed to be good too, although I can never be sure. To study Russian is a neat idea. Hm.

I am a huge fan of the His Dark Materials-trilogy myself, thus my nick, although I think Lyra is a finer character. I just wasn’t feminim enough to take her name though. :smile:

And, no, it’s not very complex literature at all, and I am always careful to recommended it as it might disappoint those who want something challenging. After all it was written for, amongst others, children. But you will find depth, and I seriously encourage people to at least check it out. And hurry, in a couple of years you might be seeing a movie based on the first part, but without the depth and charm and intelligence created by Pullman. Aye, I’m a bit pessimistic perhaps, but I can’t stand all these fantasy books being made into films. Can’t they come up with something new?

oo oo, also Eragon and Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

I just finished reading “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn. I think a lot of you would like it.

I also love the hitchikers guide to the galaxy books (and Dirk Gently ones) and his dark materials trilogy. Thanks for recommending Ender’s game, but I thought Speaker for the dead (the 2nd one) was a lot better.

:meh: hmm… I need to read more…