I'm on a posting frenzy.
I'm not sure this belongs here. It might be better in entertainment.
Here's what I have read (fiction only) to give you an idea what I like to read -- which is non-fiction, manga, and good classic fiction.
Kidnapped -- Robert Louis Stevenson
A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist -- Charles Dickens
Ivanhoe
Mutiny on the HMS Bounty
The prince and the pauper
The three musketeers
The man in the iron mask
The count of Monte Cristo -- Alexandre Dumas
Ender's game -- Orson Scott Card
Speaker of the dead -- Orson Scott Card
The Blue Nowhere -- Jeffrey Deaver
Congo
Jurassic Park
The Firm -- John Grisham
The Pelican Briefcase -- John Grisham
Conan the cimmerian The hyborian Chronicles
Permutation City -- Greg Egan
Dracula -- Bram Stoker.
The Hobbit -- Toliken
Flowers for Algernon
A Time to Kill -- John Grisham
The Green Mile -- Stephen King
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Mark Twain
Don Quixote
The Red Badge of Courage
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Interview with a Vampire -- Anne Rice
Frankenstein -- Mary Shelly
SeaBiscuit
Angels and Demons -- Dan Brown (Thanks to Jaimey for reminding me.)
Forgive me if I have mispelled a title or not gotten the title right.
This is a short list of what I have read. There is more, I just don't quite remember right now. I'll probably add more titles as my memory gets clearer.
Drats, I wish I knew the author to most of these titles.
I definitely want to hear from Jaimey in this topic. I'm pretty sure she'll have like a gazillion books to list. ::)
Honestly, she sounds like a bigger book nerd than Shieska of Full Metal Alchemist. :D
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin. One of my favourites.
Quote from: Lokaeign on May 31, 2008, 07:42:28 AM
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin. One of my favourites.
I read that some time age, I was curiously drawn to the characters, I didn't know why at the time .. :angel:
Her mom wrote a pretty interesting book too, based on her dad's research.
Tekla, can you give me a vague idea what you have read? I'm just dieing to know...
I've read lots and lots of history, both prime and secondary source stuff. I love classical lit, and true crime, and mystery stuff. And I can always find time to read Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Richard Feynman's lectures - they sit beside my bed.
Tekla likes science? I'm big into history myself. Or at least thats what I think I am. I used to sit for hours and read from history books. That's how big a weirdo I am. ;) Whether it be world history, american history, or my state's history, I read it and attempted to comprehend it as best as I could -- which wasn't much.
Ever thought to write some of your own history, Poly? Do you journal? If so do you ever go back and re-read it? Might be an interesting thing for you to do.
And I have loved The Left Hand of Darkness since the year it was published. Such a very wonderful read. I wanted for a long time to be a Genthen. But even then I wanted to be fixed in kemmer as the female. *sigh*
N~
I was an undergraduate science major (physics) long ago, over the hills, and far away. Then I moved over to the history of science and technology for grad school.
tekla used to be Joseph Needham!!! :laugh: :laugh: Nice area of study, tekla.
More of a Lewis Mumford type.
I love to read. Sometimes fiction, but mostly non-fiction these days. I've read a lot of philosophy, religion, feminist and queer studies (hmm I wonder why), biographies of musicians, Russian novels, Yiddish writers, Mark Twain, poetry, beat authors such as Ginsberg, Kerouac... I read a lot of sci-fi when I was in my teens, Le Guin, Bradbury, Asimov, etc.
Zythyra
I'm something of a literary omnivore like Z. The last literary book I read happens to be Gravity's Rainbow. I have a weird taste for reference works (e.g. encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks); I like them because you can get a lot of knowledge quickly.
QuoteI was an undergraduate science major (physics) long ago, over the hills, and far away. Then I moved over to the history of science and technology for grad school.
Call me a real nerd, but if you're into science, here is three titles I recommend. I'm sure I'm going to get weird looks for liking a math book.
The foundation and fundamental concepts of modern mathematics -- Howard Eves
Concepts of modern mathematics -- Ian Stewart
Prime Obsession -- John Derbyshire
I just had to recommend these three books because reading all of them opened my eyes a bit wider.
God I feel really bubbly right now. Like I will begin to start floating away or something.
I have very little time to read, but when I do get a chance to read it is usually paperback fiction.
I just finished up two books by Dale Brown - Plan of Attack and Act of War, both follow ups to The Flight of The Old Dog. I have read quite a few of his books.
Anything by Clive Cussler.
The original James Bond series by Ian Fleming.
Most of John Grisham's books.
David Baldacci's books.
Any novels along these lines I really like. I have quite a few similar to the above laying around from various "no one has ever heard about" authors.
For my job I usually have my face stuffed into some kind of dry technical manual trying to learn how to do something, so these books are wonderful, light "who done it" escapes from the technical stuff.
QuoteMost of John Grisham's books.
God, I love reading books by John Grisham. That's the author I was trying to remember. Thank you for reminding me.
By the way, I don't read as much as I used too either. I can't seem to get into a novel anymore. I just wish I knew why.
I like to read fantasy and some science fiction. I like to write about the same thing. I also like poetry, but I much prefer writing poetry than reading it. Here's one of my more recent poems, and I like reading anything with a similar style:
http://www.fictionpress.com/u/506774/VeryGnawty
Elemental
by VeryGnawty
Hardened anchors on the earth
Roughly rigid in our worth.
Flowing free like ants and bees,
Yet rugged mountains block the breeze.
Rugged mountains soaring high
Reaching up into the sky.
Cleaving clouds like sharpened knives,
Ever upward mountain strives.
Ever upward in the wind
Eagle soars up yet again,
Fighting drift and gust and gale,
Rising high above the vale.
Darkened clouds with pregnant might
Forming deep into the night
Burdened with the threat of rain
Falling down to earth again.
Roaring winds and thunder clap,
Ripping bark and spewn tree sap,
Boiling heat in thunderous blaze,
Flames that flick and dance and raze.
Wisps of smoke and dust and steam
Falling down amidst a dream
Settling down upon the earth
Burned and torn and robbed of worth.
Earthen arms with wide embrace
From its stone heart grants them grace.
As the trees are yet reborn
To let them see another morn.
Nice poem, Gnawty. I found myself wanting an umbrella yet unable to tear myself away from the splendor of the storm. Very cool!
As far as favorite reading materials...
I like Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mysteries, Political Fiction/Adventure stories, History and Historical Fiction. I also like the Good vs. Evil supernatural stories.
In addition to authors mentioned above, I like Orson Scott Card (Alvin the Maker series is a Must-Read), Dean Koontz, Frank Peretti, and nearly anything from Anne McCaffery (any of the million Pern novels). I could add more to this list, but I'm at work and can't see my library from here.
And, I admit it, I enjoy reading the fashion magazines.
....L
Wow, nice poem Gnawty. :o You make my poetry skills look like crap.
Another author I like is Iain M. Banks. I really get a kick out of his Culture novels. I'd love to live in the Culture!
most of my reading has to do with me trying to understand or learn stuff very rarely read for fun
Harry potter
the "Joshua" series of books by Joseph Girzone
Bible
programing books
Leunig cartoons
why men don't listen & women can't read maps - good book to show me that I'm fairly balanced but mostly fem
Kinkly likes to do computer programming? :o
I have quite a few computer books lieing around. :D
Even have a book on operating systems since I'm such a huge nerd it seems.
I find computer programming to be fun if you're into solving problems. Of course It can be quite a pain in the ass sometimes.
C++, assembly, and Java are my main languages.
Thanks for sharing Kinkly; I always enjoy hearing from you.
I used to read for entertainment a lot more. Now the bulk of my reading is academic. I teach English so I read a lot of grammar books, textbooks, books on teaching, and magazines. I also like to keep up-to-date with my original discipline, electronics engineering, although I haven't had much time/space/resources for practical work in the last couple of years.
Then there's my heathen homework, although that's a pure joy as much as a responsibility: the Eddas and Sagas, but books on history and scholarly analyses as well as myth, folklore and devotional works. I read a lot of modern magic texts too.
Good books. :D
Science fiction, fantasy, some old stuff (say, back to Chaucer -- whose blog has at times been downright hilarious, with things like griping about spam in Middle English), a variety of academic works (quite a few humanities Ph.D. dissertations are pretty interesting and readable for someone not in the field) and books written by academics for a more general audience (Feynman, anyone?). A good computer program would work as well (in the spirit of Knuth's literate programming), but it's been a while since I last read one just for the fun of it.
In terms of authors, some that haven't been mentioned yet (in alphabetical order):
- Jane Austen
- Lois McMaster Bujold
- Patrick O'Brian
- Fred Saberhagen (whose Dracula Tapes is way more consistent than Stoker's version of the same events)
- John Varley
- P.G. Wodehouse
- Roger Zelazny
Plus a bunch of others who aren't really available in English.
Nfr
Quote from: polymorphic on May 31, 2008, 07:36:46 AM
I definitely want to hear from Jaimey in this topic. I'm pretty sure she'll have like a gazillion books to list. ::)
Honestly, she sounds like a bigger book nerd than Shieska of Full Metal Alchemist. :D
Maybe I won't answer after all... :P Bet my list isn't anywhere as long as yours though! HA! (of course, if I were at home, it would be longer because I'd see my books...)
Mostly, I read MANGA! Lots and lots of manga! But you already have that list! As far as regular books, here goes...
ANYTHING by Diana Wynne Jones...she's my favorite author!
-Howl's Moving Castle
-Castle In The Air (sequel to Howl)
-Chronicles of the Chrestomanci (all six of them...or more...I can't remember)
-Homeward Bounders
-Fire and Hemlock
and all the others I haven't read yet
I also like Haruki Murakami.
-Kafka on the Shore
-Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
and again, all the ones I haven't read. His stuff is really...different. I don't know any other way to describe it. But it's awesome.
I also like southern writing.
One Mississippi - Michael Childress
Fried Green Tomatoes - Fanny Flagg (but I didn't like "can't wait to get to heaven"...it sucked)
Hmm...I would say I have quirky reading habits. Some other books I like are:
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen
Neverwhere - Neil Gaimen
Tales of the Otori (all 4 of them) - Lian Hearn
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
Catcher on the Rye - Salinger
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky (my fave for a long time before Diana Wynne Jones)
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neal Hurston
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Manuel something...starts with a 'p'...
Bimbos of the Death Sun - Sherry...something. I don't remember.
As Simple As Snow - Gregory Galloway
Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
Now Is The Hour - Tom Spanbauer (one of my favorites)
Twilight (the series) - Stephenie Meyer
What Happened to Lani Garver (main character is androgyne, in my opinion, anyway) - Carol Plum-Ucci
I don't like sentimental drivel, science fiction (even fantasy is limited for me), 'chick lit', or anything long winded. I things that are quirky and/or whimsical. I also HATE authors that try too hard. When I listen to audio books at work, I have to pick things that are fast moving like mysteries, and so I listened to 'Angels and Demons' and 'Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown. First of all, I was totally let down by the hype of "da vinci code' and because 'angels and demons' was a lot better. My main complaint with 'A&D' is that he tries too hard to be ironic at the end. The real bad guy made the story ridiculous. It would have been better if he hadn't gone there. Generally, I don't like mysteries or horror either.
What can I say, I'm a book snob. :D But I used to work in a bookstore, so what do you expect. heh.
As far as manga goes, I tend to lean towards light hearted love stories. I also like yaoi. But really, I just like a good story. I read everything from Hellsing to Skip Beat to Samurai Deeper Kyo to Fruits Basket. I just like a story that makes me feel good.
So did my list live up to your expectations? I might be a little bit of a book nerd... :icon_bumdance-nerd:
First of all, I was totally let down by the hype of "da vinci code'
Read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Its the book Dan ripped off for his book.
well, i only picked it up because i can't listen to the books i would normally read while i'm working...for some reason they put me to sleep. i never understood the hype anyway because it's fiction and everyone acted like it was truth. but it's not the 'mythology' of it (not the right word, but oh well), but the crappy quality of his story telling. i actually don't have much interest in the holy grail or any of that crap. i just wanted an exciting story and with the hype of that one and 'angels and demons' (which really was good for the most part), I thought it would be all right. plus i don't think the library has holy blood holy grail on audio book (i would consider it if they did).
Try Holy Blood, Holy Grail, it is a very interesting book.
IMO, try Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco and Illuminatus! & Schroedinger's Cat by Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea.
And if you read Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, they also did The Messianic Legacy & The Temple & the Lodge
It can be lotsa fun to read some of the more conspiracy theory-oriented lit out there. But I rather prefer the takes on it by the first three authors I mentioned than the more 'lemme tell you about' sorts in the genre.
On a more serious novelist's note, well other than the Eco, I'd recommend Mario Vargas Llosa's The War at The End of The World. It's fabulous.
N~
It can be lotsa fun to read some of the more conspiracy theory-oriented lit out there.
True that, as long as you take it with a pillar of salt. Its pretty hard to prove what happened and why hundreds of years ago when it was done in secret in the first place. Though I love the leap of faith that comes from stringing a couple of facts together and then making some sort of huge sweeping conclusion that is sort of remotely based on those facts.
Its about seeing patterns, and we know that people see patterns even when there are none, its hardwired in us somehow. Its like thinking your Ipod is doing the shuffle play and getting the right songs in the right order, when its just an algorithm designed to create maximum randomness.
And there is something very sexy about that level of certainty in a very unsure world. But, it can also drive people nuts. I watched some of the best historians I studied with go crazy trying to get to the 'truth' of the JFK assassination, and I'm watching some of my best friends from grad school now do the same thing with 9-11.
But, along those lines, for those that like history try At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon William Prange. He spent 37 years doing the research and interviews (and its over 900 pages, so its pretty comprehensive) to try and find out who knew what when, and how/why it was that the information never made it to the people who needed it most, the commanders at Pearl Harbor.
Currently though I'm working my way through the books of Isabel Allende having just finished Portrait in Sepia and will start Of Love and Shadows later when I head out to the pool.
Quote from: tekla on June 02, 2008, 12:11:06 PM
It can be lotsa fun to read some of the more conspiracy theory-oriented lit out there.
True that, as long as you take it with a pillar of salt. Its pretty hard to prove what happened and why hundreds of years ago when it was done in secret in the first place. Though I love the leap of faith that comes from stringing a couple of facts together and then making some sort of huge sweeping conclusion that is sort of remotely based on those facts.
When you finish Isabel you may find the Eco and the Wilson and Shea to your tastes, tekla. In fact, you would surprise me if you hadn't read Wilson & Shea's book. I always considered them 60s-70s counter-cultural classics! Very entertaining and you needn't bother with the piller of salt. Pretty easy to tell that these guys were simply out to entertain. Much moreso, imo, than Dan Brown.
And Eco, with all his semiological insight, has also written a book I found just wonderfully makes the point you have ... except .... da da da da, da da da da, ... was that really a dorsal fin in the water of the pool?
Nichole
Oh I've read Eco, it was pretty popular leisure reading for the people in my grad school program. Always thought In the Name of the Rose is one of the best detective books ever, and though I think they tried very hard, the movie just did not capture the inner essence of the book. But hey, that's almost always true.
I concur with that opinion, even though I quite loved Sean Connery. But, it was difficult in many ways to see that one was the derivation of the other. Although it strikes me that Ron Perlman used his portrayal of the disfigured man as a springboard to doing Beauty and the Beast on TV!!
Anyone who named a main character after Jorge Luis Borges had me at that point anyway.
Borges wrote some amazing short stories, "The Library of Babel" blows me away every time I read it, and "Funes, the Memorious", "The Aleph", and "The Secret Miracle" are among the best stories I've ever read.
I like a wide variety of books but I read mostly fantasy and murder mystery/thriller fiction.
Some of my favorite authors are Patricia Cornwell, Dean Koontz, Jeffrey Deaver, Laurell K. Hamilton.
Other books and/or series I like are:
-Dragon Jousters series by Mercedes Lackey
-All Harry Potter books
-The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart (unfortunately there are only three novels in this series, but the writer planned to have seven total, but became very disappointed with his publishers and stopped writing. I wonder if he could ever be convinced :D If you like historical fiction, chinese mythology mixed with some fantasy and appreciate subtle light-hearted humor these are the books for you!)
-Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
-Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (I only have a very few of these books but I enjoy his style)
-I'm also working on reading Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles in chronological order but it's difficult because my local library only has a few of her books.
-Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer
Quote from: tekla on June 02, 2008, 02:03:27 PM
Anyone who named a main character after Jorge Luis Borges had me at that point anyway.
Borges wrote some amazing short stories, "The Library of Babel" blows me away every time I read it, and "Funes, the Memorious", "The Aleph", and "The Secret Miracle" are among the best stories I've ever read.
Darn, I'm concurring with you allatime today!! Just did it again. I love Borges.
Suppose the stars are in some weird alignment? :laugh: :laugh:
N~
More like the earth has spun off its axis and is careening though the universe even as we speak.
Quote from: tekla on June 02, 2008, 02:10:23 PM
More like the earth has spun off its axis and is careening though the universe even as we speak.
O, I sorta, kinda thought it was already doing that anyhow, the careening through the universe part. And I suppose that
would make the star alignments a bit weird as well, no?
Nichole
Quote from: Nichole on June 02, 2008, 02:09:05 PM
Darn, I'm concurring with you allatime today!! Just did it again. I love Borges.
Suppose the stars are in some weird alignment? :laugh: :laugh:
N~
Quote from: tekla on June 02, 2008, 02:10:23 PM
More like the earth has spun off its axis and is careening though the universe even as we speak.
Wow, Nichole and Tekla agreeing, I better check my astrological charts to see what's up. ;) Hope it isn't the end of the world as we know it :laugh: :laugh:
hugs to you both
Z
Quote from: Zythyra on June 02, 2008, 02:43:13 PM
Wow, Nichole and Tekla agreeing, I better check my astrological charts to see what's up. ;) Hope it isn't the end of the world as we know it :laugh: :laugh:
hugs to you both
Z
Thanks for the hugs, Z. :) But didn't you mean you need to check your REM playlist to see if its the end of the world as we know it? :laugh: :laugh:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqroT1FZ5Y
And as for agreeing with tekla:
I feel fine!! :icon_dance:
Oh doing the stars is like so Babylon. I prefer the Roman method of hepatoscopy but its kind of messy.
Quote from: Nichole on June 02, 2008, 02:51:26 PM
Thanks for the hugs, Z. :) But didn't you mean you need to check your REM playlist to see if its the end of the world as we know it? :laugh: :laugh:
I was thinking more along the lines of Last Night of the World, by Bruce Cockburn
Z
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Posted on: June 02, 2008, 04:03:13 PM
Quote from: tekla on June 02, 2008, 02:54:03 PM
Oh doing the stars is like so Babylon. I prefer the Roman method of hepatoscopy but its kind of messy.
I read tarot cards too ;)
Z
After considerable thought, I've begun to wonder if this title shouldn't be
What? Do angrogynes like to read???
And Z...Tarot cards? I read the tea leaves and they said not to trust anything the Tarot cards tell you. Then I found out they were from different unions, so I guess that explains it
....L
Quote from: Laurry on June 02, 2008, 04:10:19 PM
After considerable thought, I've begun to wonder if this title shouldn't be
What? Do angrogynes like to read???
Laurry...you just made my day... :icon_weee: I needed a laugh...
:):):)
Oh so many books! Let's see, picking out some of my favourite...
-Anything by Lois McMaster Bujold (the Vorkosigan saga even includes Hermaphrodites, referred to as 'it').
-the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs
-Darkover books by Marion Zimmer Bradley
-Lots of Diana Wynn Jones! I loved Power Of Three so much, I might have, um, borrowed it on a long term basis from my primary school*
-Terr Pratchett, of course
-Also fond of the Elantra series by Michelle Sagara
*I realised this when I was re-reading y copy a few years back and discoverd a 'Billy Bookworm' sticker followed by a bunch of red stars (to show it was in the difficult books section). Don't worry; I bought a load of new books, including power Of Three, and donated them to my old school for the current children to read :)
I am surprised I missed this topic at the time, maybe it was during one of my Susan's Holidays.
I am a rabid reader and my tastes have changed a fair bit over the past few years as interesting books have led to others.
I love eighteenth century novels, so much I am now trying to write one and have read pretty much every major novel from the century - and a few minor ones also. This is supplemented by many biographies, literary criticisms and histories both from the eighteenth century and about it.
My three long term reading 'projects' are to read the unexpurgated Diaries of Samuel Pepys, the unexpurgated Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova and the whole of Burton's, Anatomy of Melancholy.
When I am down, requiring cheering up or I need a palate cleanser between other books I tend to read Samuel Johnson's 'Rambler' essays which would definitely be one of my desert island books. (Another would probably be Tristram Shandy, because you could read that a hundred times).
On the whole, I don't like nineteenth century/Victorian novels, although I do love Dickens, even though I find him hard to read because I am so seething with jealousy over his talent.
As for more recent novelists, I used to be a huge Vonnegut fan and have reread everything he wrote many times over, PG Wodehouse usually makes me laugh and I like a smattering of nonsense and comic verses.
The modern(ish) author I have most recently got into is TH White. I completely recommend The Once and Future King to anyone (even though the Book of Merlyn is a tad didactic) and The Goshawk was also mindblowing.
At the moment I am picking through Hester Thrale's Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson DDL but finding her style to be rather irritating.
I write a mainly book based blog, The Grub Street Lodger.
Wodehouse is a lot of fun; I recently played in a Wodehouse based LARP (that seemed to involve a lot of people accidentally getting engaged to the wrong person. Also pigs.)
Ooh, I recently bought Once and Future King, I should read it!
Oh jeez...Let's see here. I'll just put author's last name, then title.
Card's Ender's Game, Westerfeld's Uglies, King's The Dark Tower, Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, Bodhu's In the Buddha's Words, Newspaper Blackout, Captain America comics, Tolkin's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, annnd a whole lot more!
I absolutely love to read mostly sci-fi and a little fantasy.
Herbert's Dune, and subsequent novels are some of my favorite
I'm kind of a sucker for Warhammer 40k books especially Dan Abnett's work
Just started reading A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
I liked Asimov's Foundation series
also enjoyed some of Phillip K. Dick's stories
a good quick read is the original Planet of the Apes
A Song of Ice and Fire
the classic Tolkien stuff
I'm a really big fan of Lovecraft
Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentleman, From Hell, Watchmen
Grant Morrison's The Invisibles
Jennifer Government and the other books by Max Barry
some of the non-fiction I've read:
The Denial of Death by Ernst Becker
The Little Book of String Theory
Pirate Utopias and T.A.Z. by Peter Lamborn Wilson aka Hakim Bey
The Tao Te Ching and the Chuang Tzu
The Book of Pleasure and all the other writings of Austin Osman Spare
I read a lot of Phil Hine
The Voudon Gnostic Workbook by Michael Bertiaux
Manly P. Hall's The Secret Teachings of All Ages
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
I also do a lot of research on history, anthropology, cultural studies, psychology, and whatever happens to strike my fancy
I used to read a lot a lot a lot. I woudl consume two books on a weekend and one or two during the week. Now unfortunately, I have this thing where when I start reading, if it's not during my lunch hour, I tend to fall asleep in a very short time. Still, I do love reading. I have a big pile of books from library sales. I'll buy 20 books and then get through five of them plus a couple of ebooks and a couple of rereading things I already own before the next sale.
Science fiction, not so much space opera but large-scale what-ifs seen through the eyes of interesting characters. Fantasy too; the bigger the sense of wonder and history about it the better, though sometimes I just like a good clever rogue. But I really love a good crossover between them.
Science, especially cosmology (not cosmetology) and the very small, but occasional random things like materials science, meteorology, chaos theory, synchronization, symmetry. The history of civilization's technologies (more so than wars and migrations): books, time measurement, cooking.
Futurism, the possibilities of a post-scarcity economy, technology changing what it means to be human (and I like that in fiction as well). So often it gets less and less about likelyhood or plausability and more like reading someone else's daydream, which is fine too.
I don't read a lot of older books aside from Tolkien, but I do go back to Thoreau or Lewis Carroll at times.
Modern magic/witchcraft stuff occasionally.
More recently, books on metalsmithing and jewelry making, though mostly for inspiration and learning and reference than because they're particularly thrilling. :)
I've read a few books on gender, and most of them are either amusing or depressing or both. I have pretty much stopped.
Currently: re-reading The Silmarillion for at least the fifth time; The Hobbit movie pulled me back into the mythos. I'm also going very gradually through T. Thorn Coyle's <i>Evolutionary Witchcraft</i> and need to read that book about jewelry soldering that I got for Christmas.
Hi Kia!
I really liked Dune; actually saw Lynch's film first. It finished, and I thought; "I think I liked that, but I have no idea what was going on, so perhaps I'd better read the book to find out". It's not often you can do that with David Lynch. Having read the book, I can see why it doesn't translate well into film; so much of the plot basically takes place inside people's heads, lots of stuff that are basically shifts in perspectives on the paradigm of the world. The sequels I got gradually less keen on as they progressed, until I found it hard to care about Leto's ultimate transformation; but Dune itself I still re-read.
The Foundations series I like, although I tend to assess Assimov's stuff as: not well written, terrible dialogue, but what a fantastic idea. Still, for me, good ideas are really important and I'm much more forgiving of flaws in a book with an interesting premise than a well written book without a good idea. I especially liked Assimov's collection of short stories exploring what's basically a how-dunnits based on a load of logic puzzles.
Afraid I'm not a fan of Song of Ice And Fire, which I know is a deeply controversial opinion. It seemed to be basically a series of books about a bunch of horrible people doing a variety of horrible things to each other, including rape every 5 minutes or so. Bleah, no thanks.
Tolkien I like; I read The Hobbit when I was 6 and was shocked at the fate of the dwarves! I then clamoured to read Lord Of The Rings until my parents finally gave in.
I've actually never read any Lovecraft, but I've played in a few RPGs based on it, and the Cthulhu mythos is prety well know among the people I hang out with. I'm not sure about the books, but the LARPs are really frustrating to play in, because I find I spend all game trying to do things, only to get eaten by tentacled things at the last minute for reasons beyond my control. Futility is really not something I feel like playing, or reading about.
Quote from: Huggyrei on February 05, 2013, 08:39:03 AM
Hi Kia!
I really liked Dune; actually saw Lynch's film first. It finished, and I thought; "I think I liked that, but I have no idea what was going on, so perhaps I'd better read the book to find out". It's not often you can do that with David Lynch. Having read the book, I can see why it doesn't translate well into film; so much of the plot basically takes place inside people's heads, lots of stuff that are basically shifts in perspectives on the paradigm of the world. The sequels I got gradually less keen on as they progressed, until I found it hard to care about Leto's ultimate transformation; but Dune itself I still re-read.
The Foundations series I like, although I tend to assess Assimov's stuff as: not well written, terrible dialogue, but what a fantastic idea. Still, for me, good ideas are really important and I'm much more forgiving of flaws in a book with an interesting premise than a well written book without a good idea. I especially liked Assimov's collection of short stories exploring what's basically a how-dunnits based on a load of logic puzzles.
Afraid I'm not a fan of Song of Ice And Fire, which I know is a deeply controversial opinion. It seemed to be basically a series of books about a bunch of horrible people doing a variety of horrible things to each other, including rape every 5 minutes or so. Bleah, no thanks.
Tolkien I like; I read The Hobbit when I was 6 and was shocked at the fate of the dwarves! I then clamoured to read Lord Of The Rings until my parents finally gave in.
I've actually never read any Lovecraft, but I've played in a few RPGs based on it, and the Cthulhu mythos is prety well know among the people I hang out with. I'm not sure about the books, but the LARPs are really frustrating to play in, because I find I spend all game trying to do things, only to get eaten by tentacled things at the last minute for reasons beyond my control. Futility is really not something I feel like playing, or reading about.
That's exactly how I got into to Dune too! I had always wanted to read the book when I was little because I saw it in a used bookstore with a giant worm and I was mystified then in my teens I saw the movie and thought "there's no way the book that has held my imagination for so long could have been that bad and had such ridiculous eyebrows" so I went and fulfilled my dream of reading it.
Foundation is the only Asimov novels I've read and really because he's heralded as a Bradbury-esque sci-fi god, and regarding Song of Ice and Fire I think the reason you dislike it is the reason I'm such a huge fan. The characters are so developed that they all have things that are good and bad about them, no one is a cookie cutter hero/villain. They're real people and Martin really captures the cultural perspective of Medieval societies, which wasn't very happy-go-lucky like camelot makes it seem. You should really read Lovecraft Dagon (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/dagon.htm (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/dagon.htm) ) is short, sweet, quintessential H.P.
books rock!
I read lots and lots of fanfiction, Tamora Peirce, Neil Gaimen, S.M. Sterling, and lots of fairy-tale fantasy stuff like Howl's Moving Castle.