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Essential Reading
 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:12 am Reply with quote  
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  Dog-Poop_Walker
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Got this idea from some of the other book threads. Instead of posting your 3,000 book collection, let's take it in the other direction.

Give us your best or favorite book recommendations, or series, or genre essentials, whatever. There's not a cap on it, but try to keep it focused.


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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:29 am Reply with quote  
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  Vestara
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My favorite series is Lord of the Rings.
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:10 am Reply with quote  
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  Life Is The Path
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I don't really do favourites, but Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy is pretty high up on my list of preferred reading. It trumps all other Arthur stories, in my opinion.
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:13 am Reply with quote  
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  SidiousThrawn
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My favorite Fantasy Series is The Rune Lords by David Farland; TLOTR by JRR Tolken. Anything by Zahn.

Favorite philosophy: complete works of Plato, Homer, Plutarch, Julius Caeser, Hesiod & the Anthology of Medieval Literature that I bought while in college.

Can't think of anymore at the moment.
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:15 am Reply with quote  
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  Darth Skuldren
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Out of all the books I've read, some of the best ones include...

At the Queen's Command by Michael A. Stackpole - the only book I've ever read and the word masterpiece came to mind. It impressed me that much.

The Edge of the World by Kevin J. Anderson - I know KJA doesn't get a lot of love from some Star Wars fans, but this book made me rethink my opinion of him. This guy has talent. I haven't read many of his books, so I don't know if he just happened to hit this one out of the park or if he has more of this caliber, but it was a great book. There's a lot of stuff to get familiar with, so it was a slow start, but once I warmed up to the story and the characters, it was one of the best books I've ever read.

As for series, all of the Acts of Caine books and the Heart of Bronze collection. Matthew Stover writes some wild stories when he's not doing Star Wars. Very memorable.
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:17 am Reply with quote  
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  Dog-Poop_Walker
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I'll post a fiction and a non-fiction.

Fiction:

House Of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.

I think it's probably the best book of the 21st century. Like all great works of literature it's about how people see themselves and relate to other people. It's also about how storytelling is a defining characteristic of the human experience.

The plot is that a young man acquires and publishes a manuscript from his former neighbor that is an analysis of a movie.

It has three main storylines. The central narrative is the movie which is about a family that moves into a house that's a gateway to another dimension. The other two stories are told in footnotes by the author and the publisher.

It's up to the reader to decide how the stories fit together. Another feature of great literature is that it's not a passive listening experience, but an active and engaging process by the reader.

In the middle of the book is over 25 pages of bibliography and film listings. This is to illustrate three key points of the book: A book is a puzzle that you have to work at solving if you want it to give up it's secrets. A story is an intangible thing created in the imagination of the reader and not in the words on a page. I'll leave the third lesson up to you to find.

It also has different colored text, font, font size, writing direction including backwards writing to view in a mirror, coded messages, poems, diary entries and photographs.

Non-fiction: I'll post that later.


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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:57 am Reply with quote  
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  Reepicheep
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"The Chronicles of Narnia".

That is all. Wink
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:20 am Reply with quote  
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  Jedi Joe
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My favorite book of all time is Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke. It's a hard science fiction, but has breathtaking descriptions of an encounter with an alien vessel. The characters are well done and there is a very good, humbling moral to the story.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is good, too, but isn't nearly as wonderful and mysterious as Rama.


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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:16 am Reply with quote  
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  Caedus_16
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Dog-Poop_Walker wrote:
I'll post a fiction and a non-fiction.

Fiction:

House Of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.

I think it's probably the best book of the 21st century. Like all great works of literature it's about how people see themselves and relate to other people. It's also about how storytelling is a defining characteristic of the human experience.

The plot is that a young man acquires and publishes a manuscript from his former neighbor that is an analysis of a movie.

It has three main storylines. The central narrative is the movie which is about a family that moves into a house that's a gateway to another dimension. The other two stories are told in footnotes by the author and the publisher.

It's up to the reader to decide how the stories fit together. Another feature of great literature is that it's not a passive listening experience, but an active and engaging process by the reader.

In the middle of the book is over 25 pages of bibliography and film listings. This is to illustrate three key points of the book: A book is a puzzle that you have to work at solving if you want it to give up it's secrets. A story is an intangible thing created in the imagination of the reader and not in the words on a page. I'll leave the third lesson up to you to find.

It also has different colored text, font, font size, writing direction including backwards writing to view in a mirror, coded messages, poems, diary entries and photographs.

Non-fiction: I'll post that later.


Ha! I was about to post on this as well.

My recommendation would have to be The White Plague by Frank Herbert. A story about a man who's wife and daughter are killed in an IRA bombing and in his grief deprives the rest of the world of the same by creating a virus that only kills women, attacking the female chromosomes. Its a great story, split between the scientist and the team working on a cure. It gets into a lot of messed up psychology, but its amazing.
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:44 am Reply with quote  
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  SidiousThrawn
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George Orwell: 1984 (great book)

Salvatore's: Saga of the First King. Faces the question of the individual wants over the needs of society (especially during war) head on.

I spelt Caesar incorrectly in my earlier post.

So, one day I might buy a dictionary.
Wink
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:41 pm Reply with quote  
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  Darth Skuldren
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Oh, non-fiction.

Must reads include:

To Hell and Back - Autobiography of Audie Murphy: he was the most decorated American soldier of WWII, and his autobiography is one of the best I've ever read. If you like WWII, this is a must read.

There's a book on the Iraq war that I have, but I don't remember the title right now. I'll have to check when I get home. But it was a very gripping account of the battle of Falluja.
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:45 pm Reply with quote  
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  Taral-DLOS
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Dune, by Frank Herbert.

Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton.

Those are my two favourite books, period. I plan to re-read them soon (after I'm done FOTJ: Apocalypse.)
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:39 pm Reply with quote  
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  SidiousThrawn
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Non-Fiction:
Agree with TH&B add, A Bridge Too Far, The Rommel Papers both are also a must read for WWII.

Memoirs of Cardinal-Duke de Richelieu-he's the first PM of France and he is considered the Father of Modern France. He founded the French Acadamy (I'll use English translation in citing his accomplishments), founded the French Navy, was a patron of the French Arts, helped establish France as a power player in European politics, etc etc.
I could go on about Richelieu but, I won't.

The Bede's History of the King's of Britian.
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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:55 pm Reply with quote  
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  Darth Skuldren
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@Taral: Jurassic Park and Dune = both good picks, I second them.
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"I believe toys resonate with us as humans, we can hold them, it's tactile, real! They are totems for our extended beliefs and imaginations. A fetish for ideas that hold as much interest and passion as old religious relics for some. We display them in our homes. They show who we are. They are signals for similar thinking people. A way we connect with each other...and I guess thats why I do toys. That connection." -Ashley Wood


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 PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:36 pm Reply with quote  
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  comanderbly
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Best is tough. But essential - I'll go with The Stars my Destination. I am pretty shocked that has not been made into a movie...

My other favorite is Soon I will be Invincible - I think its a great one for comic book fans.


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