OT: Read a book!

Stone Mill · #1 March 6th, 2003, 08:51 PM

Wow- lots of gret suggestions in here, many of which brings back stuff I forgot that I had read!

Quote:

Originally posted by QuarianRex: Also the first mention of power-armour.

The movie disappointed me entirely for lacking this alone.

I like to refer to it as "Beverly Hills Troopers: 90210"

The Novel rocked!

Also, I remember how much I liked the first few Dragonlance...

Oh yes and Cheeze, don't make me get Ariel and OOkla all over your butt!!

gregebowman · #2 March 7th, 2003, 12:08 AM

Even though I read sci-fi and fantasy almost exclusively, I do read other genres. I'm a big Stephen King fan, and my favorite book of all time is The Stand, which I've read 6 times (3x original Version and 3x revised Version). I generally don't re-read books, since there are so many out there I probably will never get the chance to read. But the books I have read again are Dune, War of the Worlds, The Time machine, The Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There might have a couple of more, but after so many years, it's hard to remember every book I've read.

Other authors I read are Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler and Dean Koontz. I also like Alistair MacLean novels, but he died about the same time as Heinlein (1987 or 1988).

I don't remember Starship Troopers the book too much, but I did love the movie. One movie that shouldn't have been made from a great novel was Battlefield Earth. That was one kick-*** book, no matter what you might think of the author's religion. Too bad one of his followers, Travolta, didn't have the brains to adopt the movie into the greatness it could have been on the screen. Instead, he made what has been called the book of the century into one of the worst piles of doo-doo I've ever had the misfortune to see. Hopefully, someone will do a remake in about 10 years or so and do it right.

dogscoff · #3 March 7th, 2003, 02:09 AM

Re Tad williams: Yes, the dragonbone chair was the firs in the "memory sorrow and thorn" series. It was a trilogy, although the third book was split into two for some printings, so it is also a quadrilogy. It's basically a "re-imagining" of the LotR, with all (well, some) of Tolkien's attention to language, mythology and back-history, but with some cool new ideas, some deeper characters and obligatory "underground" chapters to satisfy Williams' fetish for being lost in endless dark tunnels. (Paging Dr Freud)Kinda cute in parts, but then so was the Tolkien stuff.

His newer series, Otherland, is better. That is kind of like fantasy/ quest stuff in a variety of futuristic VR settings. Very enjoyable, a largely believable and well researched vision of the future, although the ending sucks.

His other books that I know of are Tailchaser's song (Standard fantasy quest, but with cats instead of people. Not bad) and Caliban's hour which I haven't read.

Finally, check out www.shadowmarch.com - he's publishing his newest book on the web. You get the first few chapters for free, then have to sign up for the rest. It looks pretty good.

Geckomlis · #4 March 7th, 2003, 04:04 AM

Good books worth a try (I enjoyed them immensely), but not to everyone’s taste…
S.M Stirling/David Drake: The Forge (The General Series)
David Gerrold: A Matter for Men (The War Against the Chtorr Series)
Douglass Reeman: His Majesty’s U-Boat

gregebowman · #5 March 8th, 2003, 02:59 AM

Some series or books I've enjoyed recently are:

The T2 books by S.M. Sterling (if you like the Terminator movies, you'll love these books)

1632 & 1633 by Eric Flint (a modern W. Virginian town is transported back in time to 1632 Europe)

The Lost Regiment series (I keep forgetting the author's name, but it's about a Union regiment that goes through the Bermuda triangle and has to survive on an alien planet with aliens who think humans are finger licking good)

There are others, but I can't think of them right now.

Stone Mill · #6 March 8th, 2003, 04:38 AM

This is interesting... Check out this rather ambitious project:

http://www.iblist.com/

deccan · #7 July 15th, 2003, 12:58 PM

That Harry Potter thread prompted me to revive this thread. What are your favorite science-fiction and fantasy novels and why?

Warning: this post reflects my personal opinions and tastes only.

I've read the standard fantasy fare when I was younger, Tolkien, Zelazny (Amber), Le Guin (Earthsea), Ann McCaffrey (Pern), Moorcock (Elric of Melnibone, Dorian Hawkmoon), even some of the Weis and Hickman AD&D stuff, which I think is really awful.

These days however, I really can't stand the standard high fantasy stuff, though in moments of weakness that embarass me, I sometimes still feel compelled to buy Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" stuff.

I haven't read many science-fiction novels, though that's what I'm mostly interested in these days in fiction. I'm more of a fan of the short story format. I recommend Asimov magazine to such fans.

One author I really would like to plug is Australian Greg Egan. His stuff just blows me away through the sheer richness of his imagination. This is real hard science-fiction though and not for the faint of heart. Egan's stuff is neither plot driven nor character driven. It's purely idea driven and for me this epitomizes the best of what SF means.

http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/