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Post by rabidbite on Mar 9, 2014 12:24:00 GMT -5
Just for fun, I'm starting a thread to discuss books. This is not a recommendation thread. I think there is one of those already. The idea is to post books for discussion and review by folks. This has a few advantages as it helps us readers understand better an author's work. If anyone has ever seen threads like these and know how to make them work, contact me. I've never tried it before, so this is a shot in the dark for me. I don't want a flame fest. RULES: 1. We pick a book list TOGETHER to discuss. The books on the list are the topic of the thread. We will go down the list discussing each book (or book series) until the discussion is closed by me or any moderator/admin that decides to close it. Please respect that decision. Be COOL.  2. No personality critiques. That means that if you're going to say "Hah, you like it because you're an idiot" or "You hate it because you don't understand anything", I will ask admin/moderators to remove your post, no matter how informative other data in that post is. Not sure if the post will be removed, but just giving you early warning. I haven't met ANYONE on these forums I don't like. So let's stay friendly. OK then, to start it off. These are my 5 initial suggestions. If you want other series discussed post it. I'll rework the list until we find something aggreable. There will be a 1 week suggestion time limit or a 7 post suggestion limit, whichever comes first. (That way we can move along beyond debating what to talk about dudes  ). Yes, you can choose books you've already seen on other people's option lists. The ones that are most popular will be discussed first.
1. Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber. (Earth has been destroyed. Humanity is hiding on its last secret colony, Safehold.)
2. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. (First Law series: No heroes, just people. No NOBLES, just nobles. One of my favorite series.)
3. Old Man's War by John Scalzi (1st book of Old Man's War universe. Really good book.)
4. The Magic of Recluse by L.E. Modesitt (Recluse Series: Book about 2 forces of Magic, Black Order and White Chaos. Pretty complex.)
5. Red Thunder by John Varley (A book about 1st ship to Mars)
xdesperado
1. Armor by John Steakly (Mostly a flashback book of a very strange and deadly soldier)
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Do I need to describe this book? )
3. *
4. *
5. *
dayan
1. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
2. Armor by John Steakly
3. Legends of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
4. Stardrive by Diane Duane
5. Anything Babylon 5 related by Strazinsky and David <----- Not sure what book would be appropriate to start with.
Sweet Polly Purebred
1. Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen Series) by Steven Erickson(EXTREMELY complex series with a heck of a ton of books.)
2. Night of Knives (Malazan Empire books) by Ian C. Esslemont
3. *
4. *
5. *
ntsheep
1.War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
2.The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
3. *
4. *
5. *
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Post by xdesperado on Mar 9, 2014 13:48:44 GMT -5
Armor by John Steakly intense storytelling that is about the characters personalities and motives as much as it is the action. Single book instead of series so easier for those who've not read it yet to get into the discussion with a sleepless nights reading. Enders Game by Orson Scott Card Original Novella and full length re-write. While I'm a fan of the series, the originals are something special that deserve their own discussion. rabidbite surprisingly the Magic of Recluse is the only series on your list I've read and that was a few years back. Going to have to go to the library and order some books.  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 13:55:31 GMT -5
I guess I'm a bit of a philistine, I don't recognize one of those titles.
My list includes:
* Starship Troopers: Not only interesting for its sci fi and military aspects, but social commentary on who exactly should get a say.
*Armor: Seemingly a take on Starship troopers, this focuses more on the tribulations of combat itself than Troopers.
*Legends of Dune: Epic struggle for all of humanity, the trilogy also tries to focus on just what humanity is. Also for Erasmus, amazingly both an innocent and yet utterly horrific character that demands both empathy and absolute outrage. If theres a way to empathize with a mass murderer, only Rabid Rabbit seems to come close.
*Stardrive- The Harbinger Trilogy: by Diane Duane and Based on the now defunct Alternity game setting, this series has one of the most well written and likable casts of characters to me since, to me, Babylon 5.
*its a stretch, but Any of the canon Strazinsky and David Babylon 5 adaptations. Originally written as screenplays, the novels continue the series for several decades after the last season to wrap up several storylines. And to any of you who know the show, they are storylines that needed closure. Easily my favorite sci fi setting simply due to the rich writing, Babylon 5 has been called Hamlet in Space.
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Post by Sweet Polly Purebred on Mar 9, 2014 22:24:18 GMT -5
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. I think there are 10 or 11 books in the series but it makes a complete story arc.
There are also some companion novels by Ian Esselmont. You could probably spend a couple of years discussing these!
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Post by rabidbite on Mar 10, 2014 7:16:15 GMT -5
I've been reading up on Book Club rules and ideas, and the predominant rule is "Choose A BOOK" not a series. So I'm changing my options to reflect the 1st book of a series, if that series is listed.
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Post by ntsheep on Mar 10, 2014 7:29:43 GMT -5
I'm going old school and voting for my two favorite books by H G Wells, The War of the Worlds The Time Machine edit: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (read the first, never got a chance to read the others) Doe the World according to Garp by John Irving count as sci-fi, it did have a guy that became a woman  |
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Post by rabidbite on Mar 11, 2014 8:25:47 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure we'll be talking about ARMOR, as no other book has been listed twice. A few questions that we can start thinking off are:
1. Which character do you like the most and why? The least and why?
2. What passage from the book stood out to you?
3. Are there situations and/or characters you can identify with, if so how?
4. Did you learn something you didnt know before?
5. Do you feel as if your views on a subject have changed by reading this text?
6. Have you had a life changing revelation from reading this text?
7. What major emotion did the story evoke in you as a reader?
8. At what point in the book did you decide if you liked it or not? What helped make this decision?
9. Name your favorite thing overall about the book. Your least favorite?
10. If you could change something about the book what would it be and why?
11. Describe what you liked or disliked about the writers style?
Hmmmm ....
This feels like homework. O.O
I might have to rethink this.
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Post by Sweet Polly Purebred on Mar 16, 2014 18:38:02 GMT -5
I've never read Armor so I just bought a copy. It's not available on Kindle so I got a paperback. It will take me a little longer to read since I won't have it with me all the time like I have my Kindle books.
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Post by Crimson on Mar 19, 2014 0:11:56 GMT -5
I have read most of the books mentioned.
There are many compelling fantasy and sci fi out there.
Time god by L.E. modesitt is one of my favorites. A less polished version was made first called dawn of paratine. I do not recomnend the original. The story is much more fragmented. Both are unfortunately hard to find.
Magic of recluse and the black order engineer are my favorite stories in the recluse series. I read most of it but not all.
The eye of the world by robert jodan was very compelling. The author died before finishing the series but eas finishes by another author for the last book or 2. To be honest i quit after the book 5or or 6. The story was split up amongst too manycharacters after the first book.
My Crimson is short for crimson shadow which is named afrer the crimson shadow series. Its. Starts with a book called the sword of bedwyr.
This series was an awesome read
The last dragon lord by Thorarin gunnarrsson was very good series as well.
The sword of truth series starts with the wizards first rule by terry goodkind and was also very good series.
The deeds of pakksennarion by elizabeth moon starts off another compelling series.
As for science fiction,
The ship who sang by anne McCaffrey
the crystal shard by anne Mccaffrey
Sassinak by elizebeth moon
The rowan by anne mc caffrey
For love of mother not by alan dean foster
Star bridge by a.c. crispin
Are just some of my favorites that spawned a pretty good series of books.
The enders game series was compelling as well.
Sorry for not sticking to the limit. I have many more so i will stop here to not increase the overload
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Post by ntsheep on Mar 19, 2014 7:46:25 GMT -5
Sorry for not sticking to the limit. I have many more so i will stop here to not increase the overload Limit? We don't need no stinking limit! |
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Post by rabidbite on Mar 21, 2014 22:27:41 GMT -5
I have read most of the books mentioned. There are many compelling fantasy and sci fi out there. Time god by L.E. modesitt is one of my favorites. A less polished version was made first called dawn of paratine. I do not recomnend the original. The story is much more fragmented. Both are unfortunately hard to find. Magic of recluse and the black order engineer are my favorite stories in the recluse series. I read most of it but not all. The eye of the world by robert jodan was very compelling. The author died before finishing the series but eas finishes by another author for the last book or 2. To be honest i quit after the book 5or or 6. The story was split up amongst too manycharacters after the first book. My Crimson is short for crimson shadow which is named afrer the crimson shadow series. Its. Starts with a book called the sword of bedwyr. This series was an awesome read The last dragon lord by Thorarin gunnarrsson was very good series as well. The sword of truth series starts with the wizards first rule by terry goodkind and was also very good series. The deeds of pakksennarion by elizabeth moon starts off another compelling series. As for science fiction, The ship who sang by anne McCaffrey the crystal shard by anne Mccaffrey Sassinak by elizebeth moon The rowan by anne mc caffrey For love of mother not by alan dean foster Star bridge by a.c. crispin Are just some of my favorites that spawned a pretty good series of books. The enders game series was compelling as well. Sorry for not sticking to the limit. I have many more so i will stop here to not increase the overload You are well read. Those two books you mentioned from recluse are also my favorites. I particularly like the the crafting explanations for carpentry and engineering Hmm, The Time God is a pair of books that ... I can't quite get into. They felt incomplete, as if there was more yet that more wasn't completed properly. Not sure if I'm making sense on this. I believe the Crystal Shard is not from Ann McCafrey but from R.A. Salvatore. Ann did write the Crystal Singer? I never thought I would find someone else who's read For Love of Mother Not, beyond some dedicated literary club or another. The Sword of Truth ... it kind of got weird after a few books, don't you think? The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan is a good series with grand scope. I did finish it. The last 3 books were written by Brandon Sanderson. I would have agreed with you about the multiple points of view, except that I had no problem following it and the diverse points of view seemed to ADD to the story, not take away. There is 1 book I did dislike because Rand Al'Thor was nothing but a cameo in the entire volume. That one I did dislike, intensely. I suggest NOT reading David Weber's Safehold series if you did not like the character changes in Eye of The World. David Weber took that Safehold series and flushed it down a toilet after the 1st book. I have NOT read My Crimson. I'll look it up. If you haven't read anything from Jack McDevitt, John Scalzi (Old Man's War), Louis McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan series with Miles Vorkosigan is impressive). I recommend a look. The Darkover books might be a good series to read as well. Their scope is impressive. Listed above is the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It is ... huge. It is also VERY confusing and complex. It is more complex than any other series I have ever read. There were times I wanted to burn the darn books because they were so darn difficult to follow. If you're able to finally get the gist of it, the scope of that universe becomes breathtaking. One thing I like about this series is the original monsters that I find in it. Some of these monsters are actually pretty scary in the sense of their makeup and disposition. There is a little known series called Evergence Trilogy. It is, at the time I read it, one of my favorite series of all time. I disclaim that I read it when i was a kid and not sure if it will be as awesome to me now as it was then. The book is about the revenge of a dead alien species on their murderers: Humanity. One old and very powerful influencing sagas, in all of fantasy, is the Eternal Champion series by Michael Moorcock. I'm a huge Elric of Melnibone fan. The bastard is such a murderous SOB. rabid |
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Post by tenbsmith on Mar 22, 2014 11:34:04 GMT -5
Elric. the prince of an ancient, crumbling, evil empire--stealer of souls. I generally have a hard time with protagonists who are on the dark side--antiheros. Even so, I read a bunch of Elric books long ago. Moorcock did a lot of very original things in his writing. He was perhaps the first author to really focus on the idea of a multiverse with many parallel worlds. He wrote of the need for balance between law and chaos. I seem to recall his writing sometimes being a bit disjointed--leaving the reader to fill in some elements.
Rabid, I'm not sure if you had this mind, but I'm supportive of identifying one book at a time for people to read with a target date. Then starting a new thread on that book.
I'll take a shot at getting my hands on Armor--see if they have it at the local used book store. Maybe we should focus on stuff that is in print and more readily available.
Hugh Howley's Wool omnibus is very good.
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Post by Crimson on Mar 23, 2014 10:08:33 GMT -5
[/quote]You are well read. Those two books you mentioned from recluse are also my favorites. I particularly like the the crafting explanations for carpentry and engineering Hmm, The Time God is a pair of books that ... I can't quite get into. They felt incomplete, as if there was more yet that more wasn't completed properly. Not sure if I'm making sense on this. I believe the Crystal Shard is not from Ann McCafrey but from R.A. Salvatore. Ann did write the Crystal Singer? I never thought I would find someone else who's read For Love of Mother Not, beyond some dedicated literary club or another. The Sword of Truth ... it kind of got weird after a few books, don't you think? The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan is a good series with grand scope. I did finish it. The last 3 books were written by Brandon Sanderson. I would have agreed with you about the multiple points of view, except that I had no problem following it and the diverse points of view seemed to ADD to the story, not take away. There is 1 book I did dislike because Rand Al'Thor was nothing but a cameo in the entire volume. That one I did dislike, intensely. I suggest NOT reading David Weber's Safehold series if you did not like the character changes in Eye of The World. David Weber took that Safehold series and flushed it down a toilet after the 1st book. I have NOT read My Crimson. I'll look it up. If you haven't read anything from Jack McDevitt, John Scalzi (Old Man's War), Louis McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan series with Miles Vorkosigan is impressive). I recommend a look. The Darkover books might be a good series to read as well. Their scope is impressive. Listed above is the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It is ... huge. It is also VERY confusing and complex. It is more complex than any other series I have ever read. There were times I wanted to burn the darn books because they were so darn difficult to follow. If you're able to finally get the gist of it, the scope of that universe becomes breathtaking. One thing I like about this series is the original monsters that I find in it. Some of these monsters are actually pretty scary in the sense of their makeup and disposition. There is a little known series called Evergence Trilogy. It is, at the time I read it, one of my favorite series of all time. I disclaim that I read it when i was a kid and not sure if it will be as awesome to me now as it was then. The book is about the revenge of a dead alien species on their murderers: Humanity. One old and very powerful influencing sagas, in all of fantasy, is the Eternal Champion series by Michael Moorcock. I'm a huge Elric of Melnibone fan. The bastard is such a murderous SOB. rabid [/quote] rabidbiteThe dawns of paratime had the problem you are describing worse. I wish mr. Modesitt would have continued it to fill in some of the gaps after his revision with the time god. I still thought the time god was a good stand alone book even with some of the missing details. I agree with that part. You are correct it was crystal singer. Crystal shard was good book as well. I was going off of memory. I was in Turkey last week on business. I have read some of the malazon and elric books. So far so good. I have read most of the darkover books from marion zimmer bradley. They were good. Vows and honor and oathbound kicked off the valdemar series by mercedes lackey. They were interesting for the most part. I will try some of the others you mentioned The Pit dragon series by jane yolen was good too. The mageborn series by michael manning was pretty good. There are a bunch of others especially on my phone since i went all ebook lately. Crimson |
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Post by Crimson on Mar 23, 2014 10:14:47 GMT -5
rabidbiteThe sword of truth series did get wierd towards the end. The author took too long in trying to conclude the series just as with what happened with Robert Jordan's series. The 1st 3-4 books were pretty solid. Crimson
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Post by rabidbite on Mar 23, 2014 17:32:53 GMT -5
Elric. the prince of an ancient, crumbling, evil empire--stealer of souls. I generally have a hard time with protagonists who are on the dark side--antiheros. Even so, I read a bunch of Elric books long ago. Moorcock did a lot of very original things in his writing. He was perhaps the first author to really focus on the idea of a multiverse with many parallel worlds. He wrote of the need for balance between law and chaos. I seem to recall his writing sometimes being a bit disjointed--leaving the reader to fill in some elements. Rabid, I'm not sure if you had this mind, but I'm supportive of identifying one book at a time for people to read with a target date. Then starting a new thread on that book. I'll take a shot at getting my hands on Armor--see if they have it at the local used book store. Maybe we should focus on stuff that is in print and more readily available. Hugh Howley's Wool omnibus is very good. Oh, dude, if you have experience doing Forum Thread based book clubs, please share the knowledge. I'm swinging a little blind here. rabid |
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