Recommended reading for ED!ots

[Catatonik]

Terry Pratchett: Guards, Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Nightwatch, THUD!, Hogfather, The Monstrous Regimanet, The Truth, Going Postal
Neil Gaiman: American Gods, Neverwhere
Neil AND Terry:Good Omens
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash
James Clavell: Shogun, Tai-Pan, King Rat, Noble House
George RR Martin: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast of Crows


Any questions about the above and I will be happy to answer.

[Oskar von Reuental]

Can you send them to me? :oh

I suppose I'll check those out aside from Martin's stuff. That reminds me, I still have to listen to some stuff you sent. I'm on Therion right now.

[Catatonik]

Send you the books?

Hells no

My books go nowheres!

But yes, you most definitely should check em out. I recommend American Gods first.

[spinstate]

Can you send them to me? :oh


Lol, you could always try to get them on IRC if you want to. :wink

[Catatonik]

Steve Barnes - Lions Heart, Zulu Blood: Set in an alternate America discovered by the great Islamic nations, and focussing on a young Irish Slave and his master'friend, the books are a look at a grim and dark world of slavery where it's the whites who work the fields, and the blacks who rule. Lions Blood is the better of the two for characterization and the feel of the world, but Zulus Heart struggles a little to bring to visuals. Both are excellent reads none the less, and very intelligent.

[Erkekjetter]

I loved American Gods, and Good Omens. So awesome. I've yet to read any Pratchett though.

[Catatonik]

That needs to change

Seriously.

[spinstate]

About Pratchett, would it be better to start from the beginning or somewhere else?

[Efraim Longstocking]

The most awsome thing I've read is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Great book!

Yeah, I don't read much. I've been thinking of picking up James Clavell for some time though..

[Catatonik]

About Pratchett, would it be better to start from the beginning or somewhere else?

Well, as each of the series is independant of the others, I reccomend picking a series (Rincewind, Death, The Witches or the Watch) and grabbing the first book from one of them.

Myself, I recommend starting with the Watch series, first book is Guards, Guards.

[Catatonik]

New recommended reading:

The Burning House (Unlocking the mysteries of the brain) - Jay Ingram

This book is -ing fascinating. I mean, it's scientific, educational and in depth, but highly readable and brilliantly written. Going through studies made on the the human brain, Ingram takes one of the most mysterious organs and shows you how little we really know. They explore the bizarre effects of damage to the brain, how delusions and out of body experiences have shown up through out history, and how little we know of WHY these things happen. The entire section on neglect alone is worth buying the book.

GO. GET IT NOW!

[Erkekjetter]

Steve Barnes - Lions Heart, Zulu Blood: Set in an alternate America discovered by the great Islamic nations, and focussing on a young Irish Slave and his master'friend, the books are a look at a grim and dark world of slavery where it's the whites who work the fields, and the blacks who rule. Lions Blood is the better of the two for characterization and the feel of the world, but Zulus Heart struggles a little to bring to visuals. Both are excellent reads none the less, and very intelligent.

I loved Lions Blood, damn good book.

[Catatonik]

It's a great book, so dark and realistic, and the reversal of roles really highlights how ugly racism is...no matter who's doing it.

[less]

A couple of seminal political horrorstories that need to be read by everyone everywhere:

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley (1932)
and
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" (or "1984") by George Orwell (1949)

The two most cited dystopian novels in the world and a wake-up call so loud you'll probably have a hard time recovering from it. Each novel portrays a different world order: "Brave New World" describing an appearant utopia where all war and prejudice is over, and it's citizens walk around, neither happy nor unhappy, but simply content. "1984" is a more blatant, but equally effective portayal of a state kept in everlasting alert of a constant, unresolvable war and monitored in everyway, all the time, everywhere. Both are brutal and terrible, and both are classics.

[Sakura Kaijuu]

Terry Pratchett: Guards, Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Nightwatch, THUD!, Hogfather, The Monstrous Regimanet, The Truth, Going Postal
Neil Gaiman: American Gods, Neverwhere
Neil AND Terry:Good Omens
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash
James Clavell: Shogun, Tai-Pan, King Rat, Noble House
George RR Martin: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast of Crows


Any questions about the above and I will be happy to answer.

What about Thief of Time or Anansi Boys? Or the Nac Mac Feegle books?

[Catatonik]

I was focussing specifically on the ones with the strongest social critique content.

[Sakura Kaijuu]

I was focussing specifically on the ones with the strongest social critique content.

Fair enough...I don't pay enough attention to anything, sorry...:laugh

In that case: What about Equal Rites? Or Interesting Times?

[Catatonik]

Equal Rites is a good thought, though it's one of his earlier books, so the focus is more gag oriented...not too sure about Interesting Times (though it is a simply brilliant book).

[Voynich]

A couple of seminal political horrorstories that need to be read by everyone everywhere:

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley (1932)
and
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" (or "1984") by George Orwell (1949)

The two most cited dystopian novels in the world and a wake-up call so loud you'll probably have a hard time recovering from it. Each novel portrays a different world order: "Brave New World" describing an appearant utopia where all war and prejudice is over, and it's citizens walk around, neither happy nor unhappy, but simply content. "1984" is a more blatant, but equally effective portayal of a state kept in everlasting alert of a constant, unresolvable war and monitored in everyway, all the time, everywhere. Both are brutal and terrible, and both are classics.

Brave New World was boring beyond belief. And I think that's saying alot for someone who managed to dig through the whole Brönte and Austen collections. I can see the comments on society thing, but it was just too blandly written to make me care.:oh

[Rare]

Hey Less, if you like Dystopian novels, read 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin, if you haven't already. I've got to be honest, it's not my cup of cha, but it was the work that directly influenced Orwell.

I'm going to repeat this for the rest of my life, so it might get boring, but I recommend 'Invisble Cities' by Italo Calvino to ANYONE. It is the most beautiful and glorious book I've ever had the pleasure to read. Basic jist: Marco Polo and Kublai Khan are discussing the various cities that Khan has conquered. Khan can't possibly see them all, so Polo describes them to him, these descriptions come in sections with related sub titles 'Cities and Dreams 1' for instance. Peppering these are brief philosophical discussions between Khan and Polo; the entire work is mesmerising, and exquisite, each city is metaphorical, interwoven and magical, whilst the conversations between the two protagonists are insightful without ever becoming dull or pretentious.

[Catatonik]

Adding the Davinci Code and Angels and Demons.

While both are almost pulp-style, they have really cool concepts and some highly in-depth research, without bogging down on technical jargon.