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Post by kagerou on Jan 4, 2007 20:01:41 GMT -5
I LOVE BOOKS. Books are very wonderful, and if I didn't read I'd probably be a slavering zombie. So having said that, what are everyone's favorites? In no particular order: Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko The Blue Moon series by Simon R Green American Gods by Neil Gaiman All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson The Crow: The Lazarus Heart by Poppy Z Brite The Rachel Morgan series by Kim Harrison Echo by Francesca Lia Block The Prestige by Christopher Priest Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey The Shadow War trilogy by Chris Claremont Yeah, I cheated by series, but wouldn't you? ;D (Oh, and I'm always in need of a good book, so if you would include a summary or link to a summary for your favorites I would be much obliged. If anyone wants me to I shall, but I don't intend to bore anyone, so I'll wait. )
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Post by punctuator on Jan 4, 2007 21:55:26 GMT -5
I'm more of a "style" person than a "book" person-- I'd read an auto manual if the right person were writing it-- so here are a few of my favorite authors: William Shakespeare. Just William. THE MAN. Shakespeare. Anthony Burgess ("Clockwork Orange," of course, and "The End of the World News") Ian McEwan ("Atonement" is amazing.) Cormac McCarthy (especially "The Border Trilogy") Martin Amis (He's almost too sharp. He scares me. That's pretty cool.) Mark Twain (The first master of dialect. "A Tramp Abroad" is plenty of fun. And no one should get out of here alive without reading "The Literary Sins of James Fenimore Cooper," which was a flame post about two hundred years before Al Gore-- it was Al Gore, wasn't it? -- invented the Internet.) William Faulkner (If the opening hundred pages of "The Sound and the Fury" don't mess up your head, ain't nothin' gonna mess up your head. Here's to guys who wrote drunk-- and did it well.) Emily D[/li][li]ckinson (One word: economy. And hail, mighty naughty-word-catcher!)
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Post by Amanda on Jan 5, 2007 2:12:53 GMT -5
My favorite book of all time is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. And let me tell you, that is one bold statement coming from someone who read over 13,000 pages in the past year. I've only read it once, and that is my only regret. But I'm working on it for a second time right now! If only that pesky The Wind That Shakes the Barley script would stop bugging me....
But yeah, that's my recommendation, kagerou. Make sure you've plenty of tissues for the last fifty pages.
Oh, and by the way, punctuator, I just thought I'd tell you this: In my tenth grade English class, my teacher was explaining to us how William Shakespeare was the greatest writer to ever live. A tenth-grader got in an argument with her about it. My English teacher nearly failed her. I spoke in iambic pentameter for about six weeks of the class and passed with an A. x)
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Post by punctuator on Jan 5, 2007 2:58:29 GMT -5
Teachers like that-- and I nearly was a teacher myself-- make me nuts. As an instructor, I would've gotten a hell of a kick out of that argument. My favorite language arts teacher in high school was tough as nails but fair: he'd say, "You're not entitled to your opinion. You're entitled to your informed opinion. Back it up!" Those "greatest" pronouncements always make me flinch, 'cause the people who make 'em are just asking for it. Shakespeare: sweeping, magnificent, twisty, melodic wordplay... but, as an instructor, one would be well advised to steer clear of the "greatest" label. There are no "greatest"s, just those who make an impact. And Shakespeare's impact just happened to be on the scale of the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs. Just spoiling for a fight, wasn't she, your teacher....
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Post by filmbuff on Jan 5, 2007 9:49:49 GMT -5
Amanda, I agree, The Time Traveler’s Wife, was awesome. And it is an excellent recommendation! I haven't checked lately, has the author written another book.
Lately I’ve been reading fiction and historical novels that have been translated from Japanese. One of them, Silence, is supposed to be made into a film by Martin Sorcesse. It will be a sad film. Time period 16th century. The pesky Jesuits have been running around converting Japanese and causing all kinds of trouble, resulting in a ban on Christianity and lots of mass murder.
I am about ready to jump into Tale of Genji (known as the first novel) its very long and complicated with print so small that I needed to buy a new pair of reading glassed just to get started.
I must admit that I like the murder/serial killer/mystery genre. The authors Thomas Harris and Jonathan Kellerman are favs. And who can forget Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow, what a twist --- it gave me whiplash.
One way I judge a good book is if I am sad when I finish, not based on a unhappy ending necessarily, but that I will miss the characters.
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Post by Amanda on Jan 5, 2007 13:22:14 GMT -5
Punctuator, said teacher was also one of the "crazy" ones at school, which is why I loved it so much. We had things called "skip day," but rather than skipping class or school, we actually skipped down the hallway in celebration for... whatever exactly it was we were celebrating. She had a lazy eye and at Christmastime she had a dancing Santa Claus that would turn on as soon as someone walked in front of it. All of those things put together, plus the Shakespeare argument... well, you can just imagine. It was brilliant, and her class was probably the most fun I'd ever had in a class (excluding drama of course). My senior Biology teacher had the "informed opinion" idea, too. It was the very first day of class, and here where I live in the Bible Belt, you can't just say things about how evolution is real! It'll cause an uproar! But my teacher did anyway, and she said, "If you don't believe in evolution... well, you don't know enough to make that decision." She was probably one of the smartest women I've ever met, though, so I love her, too. Filmbuff, according to Amazon.com, Niffenegger's written three other books. I'm particularly interested in The Three Incestuous Sisters! Has anyone read the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton? The first few of them are extraordinary, but then toward the last ones she kind of turns smutty and turns all of her characters on their head and you can't really recognize them from the first book at all, but they're still good reads. Compare it to the turn-around that Hermione did in the sixth Harry Potter book. Shudder. I don't even want to think about it.
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Post by punctuator on Jan 5, 2007 16:06:06 GMT -5
Punctuator, said teacher was also one of the "crazy" ones at school, which is why I loved it so much. We had things called "skip day," but rather than skipping class or school, we actually skipped down the hallway in celebration for... whatever exactly it was we were celebrating. She had a lazy eye and at Christmastime she had a dancing Santa Claus that would turn on as soon as someone walked in front of it. All of those things put together, plus the Shakespeare argument... well, you can just imagine. It was brilliant, and her class was probably the most fun I'd ever had in a class (excluding drama of course). Okay: cool! Sorry I misread you there, Amanda. Glad you had such a bright experience! This is going to be a weird question: Does anyone else out there have trouble reading first-person narratives...? I know I just wrote that mini-journal thing over on the Fic side of the board, but I have real difficulty reading stories told from the first-person perspective. Maybe I'm just super old-fashioned or something: every time I pick up a piece of fiction with "I" leading the charge I flash to William Holden floating face-down in Gloria Swanson's pool in "Sunset Boulevard." Dunno: it's like a two-way cheat: either the narrator is going to survive, because he or she is telling the story; or the narrator, through a ha-ha-gotcha! on the author's part, is "speaking from beyond the grave," as it were. Which worked very nicely that once on film in 1950 (the documentary feel of the black and white photography in "Sunset Boulevard" helped, too), but-- and I know the "I"s seem to have it these days in the fiction section-- Well, anyway, it really saves on book bills. Don't have that much time to read, and I'm more of a nonfiction fan anyway. "The New Yorker": always some tight writing in there! (And yeah, I know "Clockwork Orange" is first-person. Excuse: it's an exercise in linguistics [and it's fun to read out loud, to boot]. I just get wrapped up in the rhythm in that one! "Moby-D[/li][li]ck," too: that was first-person, and I loved that book. Maybe it's the heightened level of familiarity these days. I really don't know. Guess these modern "I"s make me uncomfortable...!)
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Post by Amanda on Jan 5, 2007 16:45:49 GMT -5
I generally do get irritated with first-person narratives, too, but sometimes I get books that just knock me flat of my face and tell me to stop being so silly about it. Like The Time Traveler's Wife, for instance. That's told in first-person, but the great thing is that it's told in first person from both characters' perspectives! It's got the days and times and things all written out and separated for you so you don't get confused. I think the reason I like it so much is because, I guess, in order for a good first-person narrative to work at all, the author has to be really inside the character's head. It just won't work if it's a half-baked personality.
My favorite quote ever in the world from TTTW is below, and it's a pretty good example, I think, of Henry (who, by the way, would be PERFECTLY played by Cillian opposite Clare by Rachel McAdams--I'm just sayin'!).
Clare is standing in the main room by a huge stack of new arrivals. Roger doesn't really like people fiddling with unpriced stuff, but I've noticed that he'll let Clare do pretty much whatever she wants in his store. She has her head bent over a small red book. Her hair is trying to escape from the coil on her head, and one strap of her sundress is hanging off her shoulder, exposing a bit of her bathing suit. This is so poignant, so powerful, that I urgently need to walk over to her, touch her, possibly, if no one is looking, bite her, but at the same time I don't want this moment to end, and suddenly I notice Gomez, who is standing in the Mystery section looking at Clare with an expression that so exactly mirrors my own feelings that I am forced to see--.
At this moment, Clare looks up at me and says, "Henry, look, it's Pompeii." She holds out the tiny book of picture postcards, and something in her voice says, See, I have chosen you. I walk to her, put my arm around her shoulders, straighten the fallen strap. When I look up a second later, Gomez has turned his back on us and is intently surveying the Agatha Christies.
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Post by kagerou on Jan 6, 2007 0:29:17 GMT -5
I have been told I should read TTTW, and apparently I really should. ^^ Also, I love the Anita Blake series, Amanda, smutty or not. ^^;;
Oh, and style over books = agreed, punctuator, but only for the right people. ;D
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Post by filmbuff on Jan 8, 2007 18:54:20 GMT -5
Amanda, just ran across something - TTW is scheduled to become a film!
Rachel McAdams is attached (well that means things could change) to the role of Clare. I'm searching around to see who might play Henry.
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Post by Amanda on Jan 10, 2007 13:27:24 GMT -5
I KNOW! I am so, so excited about it! Rachel would be the perfect Clare, even if her hair isn't red and flowy like in the book.
Personally, I'm rooting for Cillian Murphy to be Henry. Pshh, never going to happen, but he would be PERFECT. He's exactly as Henry's described: Very thin, but with muscles from necessity, intelligent, striking eyes, dark hair, etc. He would be the absolute perfect choice, in my opinion. Even if I wasn't into the idea of him working with Rachel again, I still totally picture him as Henry in my mind.
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Post by aroreiel on Jan 17, 2007 9:26:35 GMT -5
I absolutely, totally and utterly adore The Time Traveler's Wife! My favourite book. It affected me like no book has ever affected me before. It felt so real. I'm scared about them making it into a film, because it is such a complex narrative, especially Henry's bouncing back and forth.
TTTW is also what got me to start reading more novels. I got 'The Lovely Bones', by Alice Sebold, at Christmas and that was an amazingly well written book. Sagged a bit in the last bits, but the book overall I found moving, disturbing and surprisingly optimistic. Another book gonna be made into a film. Peter Jackson doing that so I'm that is more of a relief. I've liked most of his work so far.
I just ordered a book called 'Twilight' by Stephanie Meyer and I'm really looking forward to reading that.
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Post by marilyn on Jan 17, 2007 9:47:17 GMT -5
'The Lovely Bones', by Alice Sebold, at Christmas and that was an amazingly well written book. Sagged a bit in the last bits, but the book overall I found moving, disturbing and surprisingly optimistic. Another book gonna be made into a film. Peter Jackson doing that so I'm that is more of a relief. The Lovely Bones is probably my alltime favorite read. When I heard that it was being made into a film, I was excited but also disturbed, wondering if anyone could properly put this story on screen and not ruin its honesty and beauty. But that rumor has been a rumor for a few years already, and I have yet to find any news on the making and/or casting of it.
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Post by Amanda on Jan 17, 2007 14:53:37 GMT -5
Aroreiel, you are like my soulmate. TTTW is my favorite book of all time, and although I'm a little scared for it to be made into a film as well, Rachel McAdams, I have confidence, if she takes the role, will be an amazing Clare.
Also, I really, really, really liked The Lovely Bones. Did either of you read Lucky by Alice Sebold? It's similarly touching and definitely demands a level of critical thinking and compassion from the reader.
Also, aroreiel, Twilight is WONDERFUL! You should get New Moon, too, because I can pretty much guarantee the fact that you'll want to jump immediately into it as soon as you're done with the first. Stephenie Meyer said herself that she could see Cillian Murphy playing one of the characters! Isn't that wonderful?!
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Post by marilyn on Jan 17, 2007 15:19:06 GMT -5
Also, I really, really, really liked The Lovely Bones. Did either of you read Lucky by Alice Sebold? I read Lucky right after I was struck cold by The Lovely Bones, especially after reading that it was biographical in nature. Ms. Sebold is a mesmerizing writer.
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