Must read books

[ndoogoo]

Holy Bible

Who wrote that one?

I can tell you who did not write it... GOD

Who told you that? The same guy who todl you Santa doesn't exist? If so, did you get the last memo? Santa DOES exist.

No one told me. It is just a simple deduction. It was not writen by more one person. Unless you think every one is God, then it might be writen by God. Does that mean I am God?

I never said that God exists or does not exist, just that God did not write the Bible.

 

[MuFu]

The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer.

Good one for engineer-types. Not very technical but pretty inspirational, IMHO.

 

[rashly]

Read anything by Chuck Palahniuk. Try out "Choke". You won't regret it.

 

[OpenGL guy]

"Dune" is probably one of my all time favorite books.

On a whim, I picked up some classics that I never read (but probably should have for class years ago). "Crime and Punishment" is quite good; I can see why it's a classic. The language is a little archaic, but it's quite readable. I also picked up "The Catcher in Rye" and thought it was quite good as well.

Mostly, I read sci-fi stuff. If you're into that, most of Heinlein's stuff is very entertaining. Arthur C. Clarke's "2001" and "Rama" series are required reading for sci-fi fans.

Someone mentioned "The Uplift War" series by David Brin. I couldn't get into the first book, "Sundiver", but the second book, "Startide Rising" is excellent (I actually read book 2 first).

Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne books are very good too if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[aaronspink]

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville
The Scar - China Mieville
King Rat - China Mieville

City Come A Walkin' - John Shirley (quoting William Gibson " John Shirley was CyberPunks Patient Zero") the beginnings of cyberpunk

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Pufs - Chuck Klosterman

Zodiac - Neal Stepenson, a lot of people think its is his best

Distraction - Bruce Sterling

Sellevision - Augusten Burroughs

 

[_xxx_]

Is that Burroughs guy somehow related to William B. (Naked Lunch etc.)?

 

[Captain Chickenpants]

Going postal is not very good, I think. And I didn't like Monstrous regiment very much. The Wee Free Men and A hat full of sky (although intended for a younger audience) are very nice.

But yes, the latest ones are mostly more serious and heavy. Except for Going postal and Monstrous regiment, I think they're good but different. They just aren't as (light-heartedly) funny as the earlier ones.

Hmm, I am currently re-reading Going Postal and finding it as good as when it came out. Night Watch is by far his best book in my opinion, it is definatly less light hearted, but feels like a more real book .

I have yet to figure out what makes 'The Wee Free Men' and 'Hat full of Sky' aimed at younger audience, they read pretty much like his normal books to me, perhaps thats the idea!

 

[Crisidelm]

I'm curious: does anybody here read any kind of poetry?
To tell the truth, I just can't stand prose works...

 

[Mariner]

I, on the other hand, can't stand poetry!

 

[digitalwanderer]

Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne books are very good too if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm not usually a fan of that genre, but I loved the Bourne movies....are the books better and are the movies true to the books?

If so I'll grab 'em.

Oh, and go and read every single one of the original Perry Mason by Earl Stanley Gardner....I think that is the best series I ever read!

 

[John Reynolds]

Julian May's Sage of Pliocene Exile series is a slow start, but well worth the read for sci-fi/fantasy fans.

 

[MasterBaiter]

The Forgotten Soldier is a pretty damn good book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...119-7128608?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

A semi-short description:

This is the horror of World War II on the Eastern Front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier. At first an exciting adventure, Guy Sajer's war becomes, as the German invasion falters in the icy vastness of the Ukraine, a simple, desperate struggle for survival against cold, hunger, and above all, the terrifying Soviet artillery. As a member of the elite Gross Deutschland division, he fought in all the great battles, from Kursk to Kharkov.

 

[OpenGL guy]

Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne books are very good too if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm not usually a fan of that genre, but I loved the Bourne movies....are the books better and are the movies true to the books?

If so I'll grab 'em.

The books are far better than the movies and the movies don't really follow the books... For one thing, Jason's arch nemesis doesn't have any role in the movies. Sad, really.

 

[KBeee]

Murasaki Shikibu's Genji Monogatari is pretty good if you want to see into a REAL alien world.

 

[Geo]

Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne books are very good too if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm not usually a fan of that genre, but I loved the Bourne movies....are the books better and are the movies true to the books?

If so I'll grab 'em.

The books are far better than the movies and the movies don't really follow the books... For one thing, Jason's arch nemesis doesn't have any role in the movies. Sad, really.

The first book, Bourne Identity, is as good an example of its genre as any ever written. IMHO. The sequels don't meet that standard, but this is often the case (look at DUNE, the other that you mentioned, where this is also true.)

 

[Geo]

The first book, Bourne Identity, is as good an example of its genre as any ever written. IMHO. The sequels don't meet that standard, but this is often the case (look at DUNE, the other that you mentioned, where this is also true.)

Oh, and if you want to reach back for some "old school" along those lines, shorter and quicker reads (because publishers required shorter books then), give Alistair MacLean a go. Some of those are really, really good. He's usually best known for three that became movies, Ice Station Zebra, The Guns of Navarrone, and Where Eagles Dare, but in my opinion those aren't his best (but at this late date I'd have to go look to remind myself which titles I had in mind).

 

[Frank]

Or how about Keith Laumer and R. A. Lafferty? Philip Dick is also really mesmerizing.

 

[digitalwanderer]

"Tief-tief!"

I totally forgot about the Retief series 'til you mentioned it!

All of Phillip K. Dick is excellent and pretty much required reading too, the man was the master of the mindfuck. 8)

 

[digitalwanderer]

Oh, and the whole "Myth" series by Robert Asprin will slay you if you want something easy and fun.

 

[Geo]

For some reason I feel I have to throw "Watership Down" by Richard Adams in here. Even if it is a book about rabbits. British rabbits at that.

It absolutely killed me when I mentally translated "Silfay hraka, u embleer rah!" I'm moderately surprised school librarians didn't have a hissy over it.