[AVReidy]

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell is fantastic.

[fromTheSprawl]

eclipsed4utoo, on 26 July 2012 - 12:14 PM, said:

I've read the Hunger Games trilogy, which I thought was a great trilogy. I'd definitely recommend it to anybody.

Then I recommend you read "Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami. Also, the next Hunger Games in terms of popularity, as I mentioned before, is predicted to be the Divergent by Veronica Roth. Why not give it a try? That one is easy to read.

strawhat89, on 26 July 2012 - 12:42 PM, said:

I hated Lisey's Story. It was too big and too boring. Absolutely no idea how I finished it. Only King book that I hate.

Never hated a King book, but I've never read that book yet. The only book from him I can remember losing some interest in is "The Dark Half", but it picked up in the end, and I like how gory it is.

Nykc, on 26 July 2012 - 12:52 PM, said:

Way to slow for me, I am about 100 pages in and feel like I am reading from a Buick 8 - it hurts my eyes to get to the next page.

I read the first pages of Buick 8 and it wasn't that bad, maybe you're not fond of King's non - horror writing? See: Different Seasons. 3 of his best stories are in there, and the last one I still feel was just tacked in. "Apt Pupil" was the most exhausting read from King I've experienced. Too gloomy.

S-John, on 26 July 2012 - 01:22 PM, said:

I would recommend an abridged copy.

But I'm the type of person who wouldn't treat an unabridged book the one written by the author, so I'm going to read the full story anyway. Plus, I'll learn some French?

jon.kiparsky, on 26 July 2012 - 01:48 PM, said:

The drawn-out style, for me, is a large part of the charm. If you like this style, Steven Brust has written a series of books very consciously in this style, and he really nails it.

I'll check out his books, sounds interesting.

And... I don't know if I'll continue "Invisible Monsters" or "Haunted" by Chuck Pahlaniuk. On the latter I'm in the story where the new "in" is poverty. The story before that, the one with the TV guests, I find awfully generic. Guess I'll pick up Murakami's collection of stories again and try and see if I can make sense of any one of them.

[Nykc]

I am a huge King fan, I just didn't care for those stories in particular. I read Under the Dome in 2 weeks and polished off Cell within a week. Apt pupil (never read the short story, skipped it when I came across it in Different Seasons because the movie bored me as well.

I also don't care for the Dark Tower series, although I was a lot younger last time I started it - probably some 20 years or so ago so I will re-attempt it.

I enjoyed The Regulators - many didn't care for that one either, and Insomnia was good. 81 had many From a Buick 8 overtones in it and I also found that a good read, I think it was just drawn out and the characters were too hard to embrace.

I am also a fan of Philip K Dick - I need to read more of his work though, just scratched the surface of his work.

I have been finding myself more and more fascinated with Scientific and Business oriented books lately. So I will most likely be laying off the fiction for a bit.

This post has been edited by Nykc: 26 July 2012 - 07:47 PM

[fromTheSprawl]

Whoa, I read The Regulators and I loved it too. Then I watched the "Desperation" movie and I found it to be pretty generic, in terms of plot. I've read "The Waste Lands" first before "The Gunslinger", so I guess the books get better as they go along as I kind of struggled finishing the latter even though it was just a thin book, while I read the former quite enjoyable even if I haven't read the other books. By the way, books are better than movies with regards to the movie boring you thing, because in movies you're just a passive observer while on books you seem to be living them.

PKD books are hard to come by where I live. I never had the chance to buy one. SF is a great genre, I bought quite a lot of books after reading a Resnick and a Heinlein.

[supersloth]

Nykc, on 26 July 2012 - 08:45 PM, said:

I am also a fan of Philip K Dick - I need to read more of his work though, just scratched the surface of his work.

a scanner darkly is one of my favorite books ever. i enjoyed do android dream of electric sheep when i read it, but that was a while ago. haven't read anything else yet.

[strawhat89]

@AnalyticLunatic Thanks for the link. Can't wait for The Doors of Stone! Any idea when it'll be out?

@fromTheSprawl If you haven't read Lisey's Story, then don't. It sucks. But King's new one, 11.22.63 is pretty good.

Also for fantasy lovers, 'The Demon Cycle' trilogy by Peter Brett is pretty cool. The first book is called 'The Painted/Warded Man'.

[Nykc]

supersloth, on 27 July 2012 - 02:18 AM, said:

a scanner darkly is one of my favorite books ever. i enjoyed do android dream of electric sheep when i read it, but that was a while ago. haven't read anything else yet.

Second Variety is pretty good - the movie in relation was Screamers. (also available for free via Amazon)

I haven't read yet but heard The Man In The High Castle was really a good book. I have also been meaning to read the two you mentioned as well.

This post has been edited by Nykc: 27 July 2012 - 06:21 AM

[S-John]

Also, if you're looking for a heavy, hardcore, thought-provoking read I would recommend Ayn Rand's books. You can start out with Anthem (basically a short story because it's only about 100 pages) and work your way through The Fountainhead.

Quote

I have been finding myself more and more fascinated with Scientific and Business oriented books lately. So I will most likely be laying off the fiction for a bit.

If you want to meld your fiction and business together and also want your world to be turned upside-down you could read Atlas Shrugged.
But I would not recommend the movies...they kinda blow.

[jon.kiparsky]

Oh, lordy lordy.
If you can stay awake through Rand's turgid prose and muddled thought, you deserve a medal, a collection of Raymond Chandler's novels, and a quick course in economics.

[modi123_1]

Ugh.. Ayn was amusing in high school with a pretty little utopia, but in practice is a pretty cruel system.. oh well.

I really dug William Gibson's Big End trilogy..

[Nykc]

I was referring to business books in the sense of:
The Lean Start-up - Eric Reis
The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham
etc...

And Scientific books along the lines of:
Alice in Quantumland - Robert Gilmore
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
etc...

[S-John]

jon.kiparsky, on 27 July 2012 - 06:49 AM, said:

Oh, lordy lordy.
If you can stay awake through Rand's turgid prose and muddled thought, you deserve a medal, a collection of Raymond Chandler's novels, and a quick course in economics.

Do you have a medal for me? I actually enjoyed the Fountainhead because I have a vivid imagination and enjoyed toying with what the buildings Roark made might look like.

Quote

Ugh.. Ayn was amusing in high school with a pretty little utopia, but in practice is a pretty cruel system.. oh well.

That's exactly why it is fiction. While her idea of the system is flawed it is an excellent experience to find out for yourself what the issues are with her ideals and those of the Utopian concept so that you may apply them to your own life. You need to know what's wrong in order to know what is right. How can one know what is right if they've never experienced wrongness?
**Insert more stupid philosophical babble here**

This post has been edited by S-John: 27 July 2012 - 08:26 AM

[modi123_1]

Quote

**Insert more stupid philosophical babble here**

Ah yes.. and another reason to be avoided - the typical groupies that carry a worn copy of Rand's book and some dog eared novel by Pynchon.

Quote

How can one know what is right if they've never experienced wrongness?

Wrongness can be found with less droll avenues...

[jon.kiparsky]

S-John, on 27 July 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

jon.kiparsky, on 27 July 2012 - 06:49 AM, said:

Oh, lordy lordy.
If you can stay awake through Rand's turgid prose and muddled thought, you deserve a medal, a collection of Raymond Chandler's novels, and a quick course in economics.

Do you have a medal for me?

No. There's a difference between deserving and getting.

AVReidy, on 26 July 2012 - 04:47 PM, said:

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell is fantastic.

Meaning he made it all up?

[S-John]

Darn I really wanted a medal...

@Modi123_1

Quote

Wrongness can be found with less droll avenues...

Like spending a week in the Detroit projects? That would be exciting.

There should be a separate link for each genre of books we’ve referred. This is getting quite extensive as is my “to read” list.

This post has been edited by S-John: 27 July 2012 - 08:57 AM