As I indicated in another thread, I read almost exclusively Trek.
So I'm wondering..
Those of you that read non-Trek, what do you read? Who are your favorite authors?
Feed me some non-Trek ideas :)
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As I indicated in another thread, I read almost exclusively Trek.
So I'm wondering..
Those of you that read non-Trek, what do you read? Who are your favorite authors?
Feed me some non-Trek ideas :)
I've read most of Neil Gaiman's books. He does a good job of telling old stories (or at least stories with an old feel) in a contemporary setting. They all deal with the supernatural at some level. Neverwhere is a good place to start and will tell you if you like his style.
There's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and its four trilogy-mates, of course. Written by the late Douglas Adams, may he rest in peace. Science fiction humor at its best, and if you haven't read them, shame you you! :D
I read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon after purchasing it on impulse. I just liked the cover, I guess. :rolleyes: The ending felt rushed (even after a thousand pages!) and a bit forced, but the rest of it was very interesting and highly worthwhile. I've been meaning to read more of his work, but haven't gotten around to it.
Richard Feynman wrote two books, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" , which are collections of anecdotes and stories from his life. They are very funny, often educational, and if you put them together, a pretty good autobiography of a reluctant public figure.
Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley hooked me faster than any book I've ever read before or since and it never let go. It's that good. I read it before the movie came out still haven't had the chance to see it so I can't make any book-movie comparisons, but this is an excellent book.
Personally, I don't read much Trek, and very, very rarely pick up a Trek-related novel.
I tend to follow a few book series, like the Star Wars New Jedi Order series, which is, by my own account, very hit-and-miss at best. I also pick up the other Star Wars novels (such as the prequel novels), as they appear. Some I like, some I don't, but I've been following the Star Wars book series since Splinter of the Minds Eye, and I figure that I might as well follow it to its eventual conclusion.
I also read R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels, as I am a fan of Drizzt Do'Urden. I recently picked up the three different republished collections of Drizzt tales, as my old copies have become lost over the years, as well as Book 1 of the War of the Spider Queen series that Salvatore is supervising (but not writing). I've never really gone for the bulk of the TSR / WotC novels, but I tend to enjoy Salvatore's works, and continue to follow them (even though I can't stand to roleplay in the Forgotten Realms when we play D&D...go figure!).
In between the new releases for those series that I follow, I occassionally sift through the History of Middle-earth Series, in an effort to further my Tolkien-geekdom to heights unimagined!
For school and educationally-related enjoyment, I read a variety of Political Science / Political Philosophy / Political History books, such as Hamilton's Republic by Michael Lind, Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, The Bill of Rights by Akhil Reed Amar, and A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter Irons. Favorites in this category that I go back to every now and then are Tom Paine and Revolutionary America by Eric Foner, Faith of My Fathers by Senator John McCain, The Greatest Generation and The Greatest Generation Speaks both by Tom Brokaw, as well as various works by Thomas Paine, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and other political thinkers.
That about covers it for me, in terms of books, but there's also magazines, journals and whatnot, though those are mostly for school (with the occasional Dragon issue tossed in).
Greg
Some of this I haven't read in ages but here goes...
Isaac Asimov - His Foundation and Robots series (two separate series) are the foundation of much of modern science fiction. I'd especially suggest The Caves of Steel, which features a humanoid robot who might remind you a little of Data
Frank Herbert - Dune is one of the hallmarks of science fiction. A future without computers, where the goal is to advance humanity while minimizing technology. Though shalt not build a machine to replace man. Sequels range from ok to bad, with the first few sequels being best - in my opinion.
Frederik Pohl - One of the grandmasters of science fiction. His novel Gateway, about an alien space station with FTL starships that humans can barely control is a great starting point.
Jack Williamson - Another grandmaster, I'd suggest his stories The Humanoids (robots with a dangerous desire to protect man from harm) and Darker Than You Think.
CS Forester - I love nautical stories - Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars. I haven't read them all but I'm working my way through them.
J.R.R. Tolkien - Not a big fan of the napkin scribbles his son has published, but The Hobbit is one of those books I read every few years. Lord of the Rings is the inspiration for countless imitators, all inferior in my opinion.
David McCullough - Author of Truman and John Adams, very good at brining historic figures to life.
Ambrose Bierce - Another history writer - I prefer his non-WWII books like his book on Lewis & Clark.
Robert Leckie - History writer, did a great job writing a concise WWII book.
John Keegan - British military historian, you'll find him on PBS history shows a lot. Does a good job explaining what goes on in various wars, especially his book on WWI.
Harry Turtledove - I love alternate history, especially his take on the Great War between the USA and CSA.
Neil Gaimian - Both his comics (Sandman) and text novels (American Gods) are great examples of Urban Fantasy.
Charles de Lint - Another great urban fantasy author, brings magic into everyday life.
Orson Scott Card - His novel Ender's Game is about gifted children being recruited to fight a way against bug-eyed monsters. A fantastic book, but I dare not give anything away. The sequels range from great (Speaker for the Dead for example) to pretty good. I only wish his characters were a little more three dimensional - they are often pure good or evil.
My current fav is George RR Martins Songs of Fire & Ice :)
Can't wait for book 4.... grrrr....
Ooh, just saw Greg mention Founding Brothers - fantastic book in my opinion, discussing the early years of the USA.
Forgot to mention the non-Trek stuff I've read (though you can find it in another thread)
Aftermath by Levar Burton (picked it up because I saw him touting it on datyime tv)
and the 4 Tolkien books that everyone's read.
I've decided my "to read" list is going to consist of the following the next time I hit the book store
I, Robot
1984
Brave New World
The Time Machine
Never read any of them, except for BNW. I've seen the movie productions (mostly the older ones) for 1984, BNW & TTM.
Thinking about going on a "classics" splurge soon :)
Aside from other RPG books, the only non_trek books on my active reading list are "The Quotable Harry Truman" and "The Prince."
What don't I read... Hrm. ;)
Okay, this week:
- Purity in Death by J.D. Robb. Yup, that's Nora Roberts by another name. She has a semi-sci-fi futuristic mystery series with a cop and a man richer-than-Hades cracking crime. It is mind candy of a calibre capable of rotting teeth at fifty paces, but dear Goddess I'm hooked. I bow to Tracey, master Goddess of reccomending books to me. For those interested, the first book is Naked in Death.
- The End of Gay - Bret Archer. He's got an interesting ability to diffuse and discuss sociological terminology and how the language - and the attitudes - are changing. Quite frankly, I'd give it more credit if he wasn't constantly pointing out his previous flings and how he learned from them. Okay guy, you got around. Shut up and get sociological, damnit.
- Eternity Row - The latest S.L. Viehl novel, continuing the "Stardoc" series. She can really tick you off with her cliffhanger endings, and yet, I still want to eat this one in one big gulp.
- Summer Knight - Jim Butcher. Contemporary-set fantasy at its wittiest and grittiest. Sort of like Anita Blake -meets- Douglas Adams. It's the "Dresden Files" series, following the only magical wizard listed in the Chicago yellow pages. It's a blast, and started with Storm Front.
- Tea - I wish I could remember the author's name, but I can't - bad bookseller, bad bad! I snagged this off the bargain pile because it offered a queer character and tea. How strange is that? Anyway, I actually am enjoying it, but it's my walking book - the book I read on the walk to work and back. Not exactly a nonstop pageturner.
- Lovely Bones - Not because Kelly Ripa (sp?) said so, but because I love a good fantasy/ghost story. Man this book reeled me in, actually made me sniffle, and I put it down with a few new ideas in my head. I really enjoyed it. Especially wonderful is the inclusion of the whole "personalized Heaven" details that she came up with. And again with the bad bad as I cannot recall her name. Starts with an S.
That said, if you asked what I read the most: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Canadian Authors, Queer-Positive Fiction, Sociology and Psychology studies (have to make my degree count for something), Simplified Science (I'm willing to admit that my working knowledge of science doesn't work too well), and the occasional title that grabs my notice even though it's none of the above.
The Doc
Actually, I'll tack on a shameless plug for my fledgling reviews on Amazon.com. Click here .
The Doc
I read a little bit about everything. Main non-fic interests are ancient Egypt, WWII (esp. U-Boats), the American Civil War, and assorted bios.
Fiction-wise, I'm trying to get through Tolkien's LOTR, but it's slow going.
I read Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series once a year, just because they're so good.
I like Stephen King's The Stand and his Gunslinger series, but few of his other works.
I like silly books too - classic Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and Bloom County.
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, just cause it's so well-written.
All the Star Trek Strange New Worlds anthologies because, well, it's research! :) Gotta know what's been done already so I don't accidentally repeat a story in the ones I'm writing and submitting.
That covers the major stuff. I'll lose myself for hours in a book store given a chance. :)
I tend to read military sci-fi, when I can find some passable stuff. My favourites;
-The Falkenberg Series by Pournelle (all time fav)
-Starship Troopers Heinlein
-Hammer's Slammers Drake (haven't read them in long while)
-I find the B Tech passable, lately, and I want to see how the Davion Civil War finishes.
-Honor Harrington Weber (just getting into this really good series)
-Sherlock Holmes Doyle
-Beowulf
-LotR Tolkien
Assorted Gaming Materials
For University (currently)
Life in the Ancient Near East
Myths of Mesopotamia
Ancient Egyptian Literature
Ancient Greece
I also read alot of Military History
-Roman
-WWII
-Military Philosophers
Art of War Sun Tzu
Vom Krieg Clausewitz
The Prince (haven't read it yet)
The Book of Five Rings Musashi (only read bits and pieces)
I guess that covers most of it.
I actually read very little Trek -- most of the novels aren't that good, for my tastes.
For me its Neil Gaiman, Patrick O'Brien, Robertson Davies, Ursula LeGuin, Margaret Atwood, and Charles De Lint.
I get my Trek through movies & tv :)
[...doing a bit of judicious editing...]
I get ideas from a lot of history books (I had great fun pulling notions from Napoleon's Italian & Spanish campaigns for their sheer mayhem & confusion, both political and military), as well as the authors noted above (although Margaret Atwood plays a pretty small role in my Trek games).
If I limited myself to the military aspects, I would never get that real "Trek feel", so I go to National Geographic, Stephen Jay Gould, and Dougal Dixon for science thoughts. Surprisingly, I have also found some fascinating seeds in Studs Terkel's book "Working". Great social history there to draw on.
Star Trek has never really been "military" to my mind, but more "humanist", so the sources are almost limitless. :D
Right now?
The Starbuck Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell ( the Sharpes' Rifles guy) -- it's his Civil War stuff. Cracking good reads.
Ray Kurzweil's 'The Age of Spiritual Machines" -- this is the guy if you want a good idea of what's coming on the AI horizon.
About a million books on Victorian London; research for the game supplement I'm writing.
Favorite Authors:
Arturo Perez-Reverte: Spanish mystery writer who does phenomenal character studies, and who always choses strange background ideas for his books (Vatican troubleshooter, art restorer, book investigator [movie The Ninth Gate was based on The Club Dumas]). Read him, he's brilliant!
Bruce Sterling: best sci-fi author out there short of...
Greg Egan. Great sci-fi!
Anything by George MacDonald Fraser -- best known for Flashman.
Any histories by Thomas Pakenham or cantrememberhis first name Farwell: Victorian era. (See a pattern?)
Currently, I read a lot of Trek novels too. Apart from that :
Terry Pratchett (all of Discworld, plus the Nomes and Johnny trilogies). I just love this author (eagerly awaiting his next book).
Doctor Who novels (well my brother is a fan, plus there are some good ideas in these sometime).
All of these in english (it improves my level and besides, the Trek translations are awful, Pratchett is just not the same when translated and DrWho is simply not translated).
In the past, I've read and enjoyed :
Asimov, the whole Foundation cycle (translated) - my favourites were the first three books.
Dan Simmons, Hyperion and Endymion. Loved the universe... I'm sometimes thinking to make a crossover in my ST RPG adventures.
Agatha Christie, almost all of her work (translated). For me, she is the master (mistress ?) of the genre.
H.G Wells and Jules Verne - hey, they're the guys who started it all, right ?
Emile Zola (19th century socialist French writer) - loved it for historical interest and humanist values, but can be very depressing.
And a few others, like 1984, Animal Farm and Brave New World.
I've read very little Trek sci-fi, or other tie-ins for that matter (no snobbery, I just save my reading time for new settings I don't already get a dose of from TV).
Current/recent reading:
- "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon - story about a fictional pair of comic-book creators working during the birth of the Golden Age of US comic books; an interesting insight into the period, good story, and a brief appearance by Stan Lee!
- "Carter Beats the Devil" by Glen David Gold - fictional account of the career of Carter the Great, a 1920s stage illusionist; a superb read, combining fascinating facts about the great conjuring acts of the early 1900s (such as Houdini), the mysterious death of President Harding, the invention of television, the nature of illusion, romance and a great story to pull it all together. Highly recommended.
- "Dead Air" by Iain Banks - the complicated life of a London shock-jock post 9/11; good, though not a patch on his earlier stuff like The Crow Road, Espedair Street.
- "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell - a study of how social phenomena work like epidemics, and how the snowball-effect can result from a very small change; read this book and see the world around you just a little differently. It's fascinating, full of good examples, and very convincing. Bound to be in every would-be demagogue's back pocket...
- "The Second World War" by John Keegan - a cogent, easily-digestible one-volume history of WW2; an excellent overview if you're looking for a comprehensive history that'll identify areas you'd like to explore further. As always, clearly written, lucidly argued.
- "Redemption Ark" by Alastair Reynolds - set in the same universe as his first few books, about humanity's first encounters with a machine intelligence whose purpose is to wipe out all intelligent life; not a new idea, but very well presented, and with a few new twists. His SF is diamond-hard, but he also does decent characters too. Read this, and the first two as well!
- "The Dragon Waiting" by John M Ford - a story set in an alternate Renaissance history where magic does work; one of the Classic Fantasy reprints, this is a great read. Get this if you can (and proof that good fantasy stories can be one volume long!)
As for stuff I'd put on classic or must-read lists, I generally go by authors:
- Tolkien (of course:))
- Patrick O'Brian - Aubrey/Maturin, also the Golden Ocean and The Unknown Shore
- Iain (M) Banks - His fiction is good, his SF is superb
- Terry Pratchett - Best satirist currently writing (in any genre)
- George RR Martin - Game of Thrones, etc
- Peter F Hamilton - Greg Mandel trilogy, Night's Dawn Trilogy, etc
- David Weber - Honor Harrington series
- Lois McMaster Bujold - the Vorkorsigan saga, particularly the earlier books
- Arthur C Clark - Childhood's End, The City and the Stars, 2001
- Issac Asimov - Foundation trilogy, Robot trilogy, the short stories
- Frank Herbert - Dune, Dune Messiah
- Guy Gavriel Kay - Any and all
I could probably add a dozen others to the list if I put another five minute's thought into it...:)
Anyone who is a fan of comic books would, I believe really enjoy this book. Reading it, I felt like I was living through the 30's-50's. Late 30's/early 40's New York is captured especially well.Quote:
Originally posted by Cdr Scot II
Current/recent reading:
- "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon - story about a fictional pair of comic-book creators working during the birth of the Golden Age of US comic books; an interesting insight into the period, good story, and a brief appearance by Stan Lee!
Yeah, Dan, the research is superb (und utterly unobtrusive - you pick it up without noticing). I was also fascinated about the way it described how the comic book phenomena exploded after Superman was first created - and it illustrated how it was possible for Schuster and Segal to die without seeing more than a fraction of the wealth their creation produced over the years. Quite shocking :( .
It must also be the first time that a Pulitzer prize-winner has credited Jack Kirby for teaching him all he knows about storytelling :cool:!
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Of late I've been reading Zecharia Sitchin's wacky Earth Chronicles series of fringe theory. Between him and Erik von Daniken, conspiracy and "ancient astronaut" aficionados have never had it so good. Penned between 1980 and the early 1990s, the five-book series is one of the most amusing I have read in ages. The titles, for those of you who are curious, are The Twelfth Planet, The Stairway to Heaven, The Wars of Gods and Men, The Lost Realms and When Time Began.
On the more serious side, I've been reacquainting myself with the classic medieval Arthur and Roland tales, from Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur and Eschenbach's Parzival to Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and beyond. :D
Sounds as silly as the Left Behind series ;)Quote:
Originally posted by RaconteurX
Of late I've been reading Zecharia Sitchin's wacky Earth Chronicles series of fringe theory. Between him and Erik von Daniken, conspiracy and "ancient astronaut" aficionados have never had it so good. Penned between 1980 and the early 1990s, the five-book series is one of the most amusing I have read in ages. The titles, for those of you who are curious, are The Twelfth Planet, The Stairway to Heaven, The Wars of Gods and Men, The Lost Realms and When Time Began.
I forgot to mention Anonymous Rex and Casual Rex, by Eric Garcia. These are hard-boiled detective stories about dinosaurs masquerading as people by wearing rubber suits. Once you accept the basic premise and go with it, they're actually pretty well thought-out. Many American football linebackers are brontosauri in disguise. :D
Mostly I read non-fiction & game books. An awful lot of weird reference books. (You can't imagine the looks you get from the B&N countergirl when you're buying "Jane's C^3I Systems 1995-96" and "Teach Yourself Japanese" at the same time...) I've also got an assortment of mystery writer guides to trauma and such-like. Fiction that I read, is mostly military sci-fi. I used to like Harry Turtledove's alternate histories, but finally got fed up with them having so many gratuitous sex scenes. I don't know if he had to write for Harlequin to make ends meet or what, but it gets damn annoying to have to stop the plot for several pages of boinking that have little or nothing to do with the story. I also read an assortment of books by authors who'll be at cons I'll be attending so I'm not entirely clueless when I get there. (I met Neil Gaiman twice before reading any of his books...) Most recently, I read a collection of Misty Lackey's short stories prior to Crescent City Con.
Let's see. Listing all the books would take too long, so, in no particular order:
S-F/Fantasy Authors:
Harry Turtledove
Neil Gaiman
Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein
Larry Niven
Wayne Douglas Barlowe
Dougal Dixon
Douglas Adams
Diane Duane
Peter David
Arthur C. Clarke
Jack Chalker
Fred Saberhagen
Roald Dahl
(and dozens of others I can't remember now)
SF Genres:
Alternate History
Time Travel
Short Story Anthologies
Other Materials:
Gaming Books
Trek
White Wolf
Comic Books
Exiles
Punisher
Ultimates
Ultimate X-Men
Spectre
Lucifer
Hunter: Age of Magic
Transformers: Armada
Transformers: G1
Fables
Marvel Mangaverse
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Elseworlds Stories
Other interesting Crossovers (Superman/Aliens II, for example)
Secret Files
Let's see. I constantly read and read books by George Orwell.
Trying to stay current with White Wolf's vampire novels.
Some DnD novels, mostly Greyhawk and Dragonlance.
The two bricks i'm trying to get through right now are:
Peter Berling's Children of the Graal series.
Unix Complete by SYBEX.
I read everything, including that label you aren't supposed to tear off your mattress. (The fine print says it's o.k. as long as you don't intend to resale it.):D
Sci-Fi: Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein. David Drake, William Dietz, William Gibson, Walter (sometimes Jon) Williams. Charles Sheffield, Robert Forward, Hal Clement. Joe Haldeman, Phillip K. Dick. Alan Dean Foster. Niven and Pournelle. Harry Turtledove. John W. Campbell. Others I like but can't think of.:D
MacCaffery, Lackey and a few others..
I am currently reading:
The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope
(I'm working my way through his Pallaser novels)
How to Think About the Great Ideas by Mortimer J. Alder
Trinity: Terra Verde from White Wolf Publishing, because I'm a huge fan of their Trinityverse RPGs.
I need to clear my decks in the next couple months to start my yearly rereading of Lord of the Rings. It's a Christmastime tradition: comfy chair, roaring fire, quiet music, huge hefty red single-volume edition in lap.
Other things I have read which I would recommend to others interrested:
Mary Stuart's Merlin/Arthur novels, begining with The Crystal Cave
Thomas Costain's history of the Plantagenet kings series, begining with The Conquering Family
Ellis Peters's Cadfael mysteries
Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Also her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, which is quite remarkable (using the same rhyme scheme and meter as the original Italian), well commented, and her last work (she died before completing the Paradiso). Make sure you read all three parts, and don't just stop with the Popes roasting in hell in the Inferno.
Anything by P.G. Wodehouse
That ought to keep you reading for a while...
-Chris Landmark
Er, Dan, Ambrose Bierce disappeared in 1913, aged 71 - I'd guess all his books were non-WWII ... unless you know more about what happened to him than anyone else? ;)Quote:
Originally posted by Dan Stack
Ambrose Bierce - Another history writer - I prefer his non-WWII books like his book on Lewis & Clark.
I tend to read games and history books mostly, and not as much as I'd like :( Fictionwise, most of my favourites have already been mentioned, but for the record:
Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe (the series that made Sean Bean famous) mainly, but I'm reading some of his other stuff. Not got to Starbuck yet.
Raymond Feist - the only writer to successfully create a novel from a D&D campaign. The Empire trilogy are especially good.
Neil Gaiman - obviously.
Simon R. Green - it pains me that nobody has mentioned this guy. Of course, he's local to where I grew up :) He's responsible for Deathstalker, which is slightly too dense space opera, but the stuff to look for is his Hawk & Fisher books - very realistic (as in this is what the world might really look like with magic) fantasy - and the tie-in Blue Moon novels. Drinking Midnight Wine came out last year, and is a superb modern fantasy in the same tradition as De Lint.
Charles de Lint - not seen much of his stuff lately - he tends to be a little unpleasant, but it works well.
And a smattering of others as the fancy takes me...
Just discovered J K Rowling :rolleyes: and Nick Hornby (High Fidelity). I'm also getting into political thrillers for light reading :)
D'oh - I meant Stephen Ambrose. :D That's the oddest typo I've made in a while...
ROFLMAOQuote:
Originally posted by Dan Stack
D'oh - I meant Stephen Ambrose. :D That's the oddest typo I've made in a while...
Had me worried too!
Dickens. 'Nuff said.
Robert B. Parker, his Spencer books have cracking dialogue.
Laurell Hamilton. Anita Blake rocks!
Jack Womack. 'Random Acts of Sensless Violence' is a must read.
I've read a few Ambrose works, and saw (relatively) recently the big 'to do' about Ambrose and his alleged plagarism. I looked at his website and read his defense, and reluctant admittance of, the allegations of plagarism, and I have to admit that I was more than a bit disappointed.Quote:
Originally posted by Dan Stack
D'oh - I meant Stephen Ambrose...
Even though he claims relative innocence, I know, after discussing the issue with my professors, that if a student got caught doing what he has admitted doing, an "F" and probably some sort of academic discipline would be headed my way...
I think it's sad that students are held to a higher standard when it comes to reseach and accurate writing than an accepted author...
Greg
Greg, I'm inclined to agree.
It bothers me that students are held to a standard that says even if you unknowingly plagarize you will be expelled, without any real recourse. (This has happened - at Harvard for example) However, if you are a professional writer, you can simply get away with it.
Another writer I enjoy who has tarnished credentials is J. Ellis - American Sphinx, Founding Brothers. (He made up stories about serving in Vietnam).
I hadn't heard about Joseph Ellis, Dan...apparently yet another author who can succeed with fewer writing restrictions than the standard college student... :(Quote:
Originally posted by Dan Stack
Another writer I enjoy who has tarnished credentials is J. Ellis - American Sphinx, Founding Brothers. (He made up stories about serving in Vietnam).
At the same time, I'm thankful that I've been held to this higher standard. It'll make journal and dissertation writing in the future much more constructive, I think, if I'm not inclined to cheat and take easy ways out when confronted with writing roadblocks.
Still, it's surely disappointing when writers, whose work we often admire, are less reputable, in terms of literary credibility, than the typical college student...
Thems the breaks, I guess!
Greg
The book everyone should read: Farenheight 451. Forgive me if I spelled that wrong, I'm Canadian, so the concept of "degrees Farenheight" is foreign to me. :) Is this book mandatory reading in American schools? It isn't here. It should be.
Let's see, stuff I read...
Cyberpunk
William Gibson (the Burning Chrome anthology, Neuromancer, Count Zero, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties... Mona Lisa Overdrive and Virtual Light kind of sucked)
Neal Stephenson (when the door-to-door disciples come knocking again, I'll tell them I'll read their religious tracts if they read Snow Crash, muahahaha. The Diamond Age is also good)
Bruce Bethke (Cyberpunk!, Headcrash)
Other Sci-Fi
Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars)
Huxley (Brave New World... read it because it was mentioned in Headcrash)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (A Princess Of Mars)
Douglas Adams (Hitchiker's trilogy, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency)
Manga (Japanese comics)
Shirow Masamune (Dominion Tank Police, Ghost In The Shell, Orion, Appleseed)
Kosuke Fujishima (Oh My Goddess!)
Kenichi Sonoda (Gunsmith Cats features "Goldie", a villain who drips with pure evil more than any other, in any media, ever.)
Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo)
Yawn
Orwell's 1984 might have an outstanding message, but it's boring as hell.
Right Now
...I'm trying to read Robert M. Pirsig's "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance", but it's tough going.
Patrick Suskind's "Parfum" was one heck of a read, if you're into sociopathic serial killers in a renaissance period trying to make perfume out of their victims... ;)
Also, Saramago's "Blindness" was amazing. He won the Nobel for it, I believe, and it's the first book I've read - and enjoyed - where no character has a name and there is no quotation mark usage for conversation.
Just two more that occurred to me. ;)
The Doc
Hmmm, I seem to have forgotten a few. :)
I've been enjoying Raymond Chandler's Marlowe detective stories - I'm about halfway through the series - loved all but one so far.
I used to be a huge Clancy fan, but his last few books have lost me - I think he needs a less fearful editor.
I'm not ashamed to have enjoyed the Harry Potter novels. I also really enjoyed CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.
Victoria (my 4-month old) and I have been reading a lot of Sandra Boynton - favories include "Hippos Go Berserk" and "But Not the Hippopotamus". Honorable mention for "Doggies - A Counting and Barking Book". We also enjoy "Goodnight Moon" and "Guess How Much I Love You".