Thread: best books...ever

the Wheel of times series

non-fiction: the art of war by Sun Tzu

1) Jurassic Park and any other books by Crichton
2) Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary etc by S. King.

Hi all,

this threads been running for a few days but I thought I'd really like to share my favorite books:

All the books that make up the series from 'The saga of the exiles' to 'The Gallactic Milieu' by Julian May, Mark Remiliard is the best charecter any author has created.

Any book by Douglas Adams R.I.P.

and my current lunchtime read, the books 1-4 of 'Otherland' by Tad Williams, in total about 4000 pages but feels much less cos the plot an charecterisation in so good.

Also on the subject of school study material for RE and English we watched:
'Threads' a horrible drama about nuclear war aftermath.
'Boys from the Blackstuff' Drama about Liverpool during the mid-eighties.

Originally posted by aerian
And while speaking about books, don't you know about some free ones? To download at least... because I doubt that someone will send me book, even to my home, for free

Check out Project Gutenberg

I'm very surprised that we are talking about books here...pleasently surprised thought! Not many people read anymore...around my campus at least! I'm probably the only engineering student that is into literature!

anyhow, here is my list:

Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky
Notes From the Underground - Dostoevsky
Love in the Time of Cholera - Marquez
As I Lay Dying - Faulkner
The Prophet - Gibran
and as many of you Catch 22

thats from novels, my favorite philosophical texts are:

Fear and Trembling - Kierkegaard
Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzsche

Everyone should read at least one of the books from this list. I trully recommend any texts from Dostoevsky. Some really, REALLY, good stuff in his writting. Actually, almost all Russian literature since the mid 19th to early 20th cetury is worth reading, from Gogol and Tolstoy, to Turganev and Pushkin...

enjoy READING!!!,

axon

Originally posted by Govtcheez
A while later, he had to read it for class and now he hates it. It's been ruined by overanalyzing.

I agree with this, to a point. I've had my share of teachers/professors who maybe not overanalyze texts, whether it be poems, short stories, or books, but put their own spin on the analyzation. Each student finds the meaning of the text that suites their personality/state of mind/ mood, whatever. When a teacher, esspecially in high school destroys that personal interpretation with their own thoughts, in part is destroying the value of the book for the kid who read it.

This only applies to people who actually enjoy reading and care. But a few years back, when I was in high school, not many cared...but that is another problem.

Reading really opens up in college/university...if one loves to read and discuss, the playing field is huge. People are more mature, and professors can't destroy one's thoughts on anything. Many times it is the students who could persuade the professor to think differently....

axon

>>Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky<<
'tis quite good. Raskolnikov has some interesting thoughts, many of which I've expressed before in a somewhat serious manner, especially in Debate. "We should abolish the welfare system because the majority of the people on the system are a drain to society and therefore do not deserve to live." For those of you who get mad when you read what I just wrote, if you haven't participated in any formal cross-x debates, don't bother to comment.

>>Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzsche<<
I disagree here. I hated that. Degradation of women and religion is not good. For philosophy in a form of a novel, Atlas Shrugged is superb. Plato's Republic is pretty nice, although a bit difficult occasionally. Aristotle's work isn't as good as Plato's, IMO. I found it too tedious and a bit boring - Nichomachean Ethics was a book to put you to sleep.

> Degradation of ... religion is not good.

That's a matter of opinion.

Originally posted by confuted
"We should abolish the welfare system because the majority of the people on the system are a drain to society and therefore do not deserve to live."

This just gave me a thought:

Roskolnikov == Travis Bickle (Taxi driver)

hmmmm....

Originally posted by confuted
Atlas Shrugged
Crime and Punishment
1984
Anthem
Brave New World

Brave New World, I do agree with but why 1984. The idea...er theme is interesting, but the book is like a short story, not quite a novel. The characters and plot develops way too quickly and too simply....actually to think about it, 1984 was a short story at first,(called Fireman?). So, 1984 as a short story OK, as a novel - not really.

axon

The entire Terry Goodkind series Sword of Truth

Originally posted by axon
Brave New World, I do agree with but why 1984. The idea...er theme is interesting, but the book is like a short story, not quite a novel. The characters and plot develops way too quickly and too simply....actually to think about it, 1984 was a short story at first,(called Fireman?). So, 1984 as a short story OK, as a novel - not really.

axon

I like it for the story and ideas, not because it's a big long book Anthem is quite short - ~150 pages of large print, IIRC. Still darn good though.