0RI0N

I finished reading the little engine that could. It was very inspiring.

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Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who...

YOU WILL NOT ENJOY THIS......
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bada-bing

love ben elton, i know the guy gets some stick and criticism but i always find myself engrossed in whatever he writes....dead famous, high society to name a couple.

Just now though i have finished reading 'Yes Man' by Danny Wallace, i know the film has been released but i forgot i had the book (published in 2005). His stlye of writing is great and very funny. I am easily pleased.

Maybe an idea to think about if its not been done already....Books turned into films, good or bad?

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Funky

RedDeath9

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is amazing. I finished half of it in one day.

1984 is also a must-read.

If you're a fantasy fan, I suggest reading Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire.

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CYOA: Awakening

Mr. La Fritz

I'm readin Lolita by Nabokov again at the moment along with Lord of the Rings for the billionth time.
It's nice to have some variety.

Then I'm going to read the major works of Oscar Wilde along with The Silmarillion, Notes From Undergound - Dostoevsky, Haunted - Palahniuk, The Metamorphosis - Kafka and Perfume Patrick Suskind.

I've been buying books but not having the time to enjoy them due to school work/work but now I'm getting time off so I can get through those. I managed to get all of those books cheap due to a friend of mine working in a bookshop, I'm quite spoiled really.

I have just under 100 books in my library and I couldn't name a favourite. IT by Stephen King is the first in my mind, along with most of my Pratchett collection (The Colour of Magic, Guards!Guards!, Going Postal etc. being some of my favourites).

About dystopian novels, I just finished reading Brave New World and I was underwhelmed to say the least, the idea was excellent behind it but the characters annoyed me and the ending was dire. I must just not be a fan of dystopian novels though because I felt the same way about 1984...
Animal Farm, I thought, was a lot better than 1984, I read it in a night.

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RMF


I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

freddaahh

I'm not in the mood to run through my list of favourites, as I've done so in nearly every book thread that comes around.

But I finished reading Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell, it's easily in my top five favourite books. It's effectively Orwell's memoirs of living in poverty and destitute in Paris and London. Very funny, grim and an amazing portrait of poverty in the two cities.

I've started American Scream - a biography of Bill Hicks, very interesting, nicely written, although I know half of the story already.

To read next:

Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell
Hell's Angels ~ Better than Sex - Hunter S. Thompson
On The Road - Jack Kerouac.

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rabidguitarist

I am reading 'A History of God' by Karen Armstrong, and Will Self's 'Psychogeography'. Both of which are excellent.

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uhh_me?

i started The Road by Cormac McCarthy the other day, but i'm not too far into it. i'm not understanding the praise for him, perhaps that will will when i am more than 15 pages along.

i'm also taking a class on William Blake where we are reading pretty much everything that he has ever done. really intriguing stuff. i suggest that you at least read something by him, it is all easy to get your hands on.

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If we got married would that be cool?

cmakkidguitar

Reading Fear and Loathing at the mo, not quite finished yet but so far it's infinitely better than the film, and i'm gonna go out to get Kerouac's On The Road pretty much the second i finish it

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Craigo

PRETENTIOUS BIG TEXT ALERT

Just getting your attention. This is Orwell's best book. Screw 1984, screw Animal Farm, this book is fantastic and beats both.

I'm currently reading Confessions of a Crap Artist by Philip K. Dick which is an interesting read I guess. After that I'm bashing through To Kill A Mockingbird, IT, The Picture of Dorian Gray. If I don't try bashing through the Dark Tower series after that, I'm gonna get through The Birth of Tragedy by Nietzsche and hopefully a range of Sartre, Russell and finish off reading The Republic, a book I've given up on a few times as, well, it's actually quite bad.

Going through the classics in my Waterstones, a book caught by eye. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It was huge but it captured my interest. Any word on this?

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Where you going riding, boy?

LastToKnow

At the moment, amongst quite a few others, I'm mostly reading Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'. I thought I'd hate it because I've read some of her short stories and found her really, really annoying to read. But I'm reading this and so far I'm enjoying it. Seems to work a lot better as a concept than the short stories I've read. Blatantly majorly Orwellian, but that's a good thing in my books. Having said that, I'm only on chapter 8 or something, I may well hate it by the end.

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Musically ignorant. Seeking education.

Am female. Finally have bass!

As cunning as a fox who has just been made professor of cunning at Oxford university.

Muse = genius.

Craigo

I'm gonna have to say that Songs of Innocence and Experience is one of the greatest books ever written. It's poetry and is probably worth further reading to get a greater grasp of the writing. It's astonishingly good.

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Where you going riding, boy?

floppypick

I'd have to disagree with one suggestion, it being The Great Gatsby. That was a terribly boring book, I don't think anyone should have to read it. It's a well written book in the sense of being more going on than meets the eye, but the actual story of it is quite dull.

Hehe even my grandfather, who is an avid reader, said didn't enjoy it.

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uhh_me?

your large text has gotten me interested. i'll put that on my "to read list"

as for W+P, it is worth the read, if only for these reasons:
1. to say you have read it
2. the sense of accomplishment you feel when you are finally done with it
3. you will never be intimidated by another book for as long as you live
4. it is actually pretty darn good


i just finished (re)reading that for class and i was actually going to suggest that as a starting point for Blake. i also have really enjoyed The Book Of Thel.

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If we got married would that be cool?

Craigo

So... To feed my ego? I'm sold

I hate having big reading lists though

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Where you going riding, boy?

slidething31

So I know as far as Kerouac goes, On The Road gets the most attention generally, but I think that Dharma Bums was actually much better.

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It's Only Rock and Roll, But I like It

uhh_me?

i actually couldn't finish On The Road, but from what i have heard i am willing to give Dharma Bums a shot.

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If we got married would that be cool?

[-=-[D-Roc]-=-]

i'd have to agree with...who ever said "To Kill a Mockingbird", that is a great book, i've read it twice now. i think it defines that "stand for what you believe, even if you stand alone" mentalilty

another good book...er...series i guess is the Eragon books, if you like that dragons n magic stuff, i have yet to read the third one tho...im getting there.

Edit: and The Outsiders

Cal UK

Just reading a Rebus book by Ian Rankin. The specific name escapes me, but tis good, I've not read a nice thriller for a while.

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Currently reading Something Happened by Joseph Heller

[Arran]

The Wheel Of Time books are brilliant for fantasy fanatics. Masterpieces in my opinion.

My dad told me that a book called "The Mote In God's Eye" is a good sci-fi book, but I have yet to read this.