Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Andreas on December 06, 2004, 07:16:00 am
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I guess I still haven't asked this :D So what are your favorite books (fiction)? And as for me, I just simply love Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and R.L.Stevenson's Treasure Island.
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All of Tolkien's books and The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
and some assorted children's books that bring back fond memories.
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The New Rulers of The World - John Pilger
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Dune.
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LOTR - Tolkien
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen Donaldson
Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker
Weaveworld - Clive Barker
Imajica - Clive Barker
The Faded Sun Trilogy - C J Cherryh
Once - Jame Herbert
The Shannara series - Terry Brooks
All Dicworld stuff - Terry Pratchett (Genius)
Black House - Stephen King/Peter Straub
Dune - Frank Herbert
Gai-Jin - James Clavell
The Choirboys - Joseph Wambaugh
Mirror - Graham Masterton
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the cat in the hat!
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Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
First Evidence by Ken Goddard
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The Sword of the truth series by Terry Goodkind
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Runelords series by David Farland, great stuff.
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Hitchhikers Guide (the big 4 book trilogy-in the onebook- version, but especially ), 1984 (for ideas rather than entertainment value), Calvin & Hobbes "It's a magical world" (sentimental reasons; it's the lastbook I have from what could be considered childhood - i.e. just about the point where before life stopped being all about fun - and also because it;s the last one ever as well.)
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Anything marked 'Tolkien'
Narnia series (Lewis)
Discworld series (Pratchett)
Amtrak (Tiley)
War of the Worlds (Wells)
Gormenghast (Peake)
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Gormenghast rocked on TV!
I have to add that to my book list now....
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Birds of Europe.
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Star Wars: X-wing books by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston
Eragon by... someone
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
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Perdido Street Station and The Scar by China Mieville.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Hitchhikers Guide (the big 4 book trilogy-in the onebook- version, but especially ), 1984 (for ideas rather than entertainment value), Calvin & Hobbes "It's a magical world" (sentimental reasons; it's the lastbook I have from what could be considered childhood - i.e. just about the point where before life stopped being all about fun - and also because it;s the last one ever as well.)
"A trilogy in five parts."
Thats the omnibus edition that I have.
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Dune
1984
The Road Ahead
Animal Factory
most stuff by Tom Clancy (although the recent one is getting too politically driven)
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Great Expectations
The Phantom Menace
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The New jedi Order series from the expanded Star Wars universe
And All the star wars books from Timothy Zhan
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Star Wars: Heir to the Empire trilogy, Spectre of the Past and Vision of the Future (Timothy Zahn), all of the X-Wing books save Isard's Revenge (Micheal A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston), I, Jedi (Stackpole again).
BattleTech: Anything. Everything. But to hell with MechWarrior: Dorkage...I mean, Dark Age.
Most Tom Clancy, but particularly Red Storm Rising, and Patriot Games.
The Starfist series, by David Sherman and Dan Craigg.
Anything by Dick Francis. Haven't read a book of his I haven't liked.
The Berserker series, by Fred Saberhagen, with the exception of Berserker Fury. (Which is a thinly disguised recounting of the Battle of Midway with a crap extra plotline thrown in.)
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Anything by Roald Dahl.
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LOTR, Harry Potter, Clancy's Jack Ryan books, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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Fahrenheit 451, the Foundation Novels(or anything else by Isaac Asimov), Speaker for the Dead and its sequels.
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Foundations' Edge - Asimov - for about the 5th time.
The Runelords novels - David Farland - Fantasy with a twist, and it begs a second series, great use of 'magic with a price' here.
The Science of Discworld - Terry Pratchett / Jack Cohen. Half comedy about a wizard (Rincewind, who else) viewing the evolution of the Earth in fast forward, half easy to understand scientific documentary on what current thinking in on what is actually going on.
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Operating System Concepts 6th ed. Silberschatz, Gilber, Gange.
oh wait this isn't a least favo(u)rite books thread.
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The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Blows Tolkien and those furry little hobbits outta the sky, IMO. :D
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Anything Michael A. Stackpole has written.
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ALL HAIL STACKPOLLA!
...and I'm not even on a BattleTech forum. That's vaguely scary.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Hitchhikers Guide (the big 4 book trilogy-in the onebook- version, but especially ), 1984 (for ideas rather than entertainment value), Calvin & Hobbes "It's a magical world" (sentimental reasons; it's the lastbook I have from what could be considered childhood - i.e. just about the point where before life stopped being all about fun - and also because it;s the last one ever as well.)
What? Has Watterson stopped doing Calvin and Hobbes then? I didn't know that...
Calvin and Hobbes is my favourite comic strip of all time. It's intelligent, incredibly funny and at the same time conveys some very serious messages. Fantastic stuff. If what you say is true, then I'm gutted. I started reading the books when I was the same age as Calvin (6), so I kinda grew up with him (even though he stayed six forever, and I didn't).
Oh, man - hearing that has actually upset me. Damn.... :blah: :(
Erm, favourite books. Tricky one. Apart from Calvin and Hobbes, here's some of my favourite fiction:
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman (Meant to be a trilogy for children, but the story is so powerful on so many levels that anyone would love it. The daemons are quite possibly my favourite device in any book ever. The story is wonderful, and it's hugely moving. I cried....)
Against a Dark Background - Iain M. Banks. (IMO his best book. Great characters, vicious plot, magnificent imagery.)
Look To Windward - Iain M. Banks (Again, a great book. It's got some fantastic creatures - dirigible behemothaurs - and the themes are brilliant - love, death, regret and classical music...)
Swallows And Amazons series - Arthur Ransome (happy childhood memories of this. They're rather dated now, being written and set in the 1930s, but they're all good, and the earlier ones are classics - Sallows and Amazons, Swallowdale, etc.)
A Call to Arms - Alan Dean Foster (bloke who wrote Alien originally. It's the first of a trilogy called "the Damned". It's basically sci fi about alien invasion and galactic war, but it's got some great ideas, none of which I'm about to give away here :p. I first read this when I was about 12, when my mum got it for me from the library. I loved it, read the rest of the trilogy, and then forgot about it for years. I spent a long time trying to find it again, but was hampered by the fact I couldn't remember what it was called or who the author was. I eventually found it again after hours of googling, as I could only remember the name of one of the alien species - the Massood. Was worth it though - I bought it and read it again, and it's as good as I remember...)
Currently reading Paradise Lost by Milton. Hard work, but very good.
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Originally posted by pyro-manic
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman (Meant to be a trilogy for children, but the story is so powerful on so many levels that anyone would love it. The daemons are quite possibly my favourite device in any book ever. The story is wonderful, and it's hugely moving. I cried....)
D'oh. How could I have forgotten those books? Yeah, those are definitely on my favorites list too...
Oh, and pyro...Calvin and Hobbes stopped being published a few years ago. Anything you see in newspapers are old. :(
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Hmmm, off the top of my head...
Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks - A culture novel, the structure of the book is neat and the story is interesting and varied. Worth reading a couple of times.
The Bridge - Iain Banks - A non-culture novel with an interesting interweaving storyline. Very good, though it will confuse you.
Renrenrenpo No Enshuu/A Sea of Deceits (The book has a Japanese and English title printed on the cover, the titles don't mean the same thing) - Hiroshi Mori - Part of a mystery series by Hiroshi Mori (a professor at Nagano University). One of my favorite books from the series so far (I also liked Yuugen to Bishou No Pan/A Perfect Outsider).
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - If you haven't read this, you've just gotten your geek license revoked. ;)
Takedown - Tsutomu Shimomura - Great story about a computer hacker (the author) who tracks and captures the cracker Kevin Mitnick.
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Nightfall
Star Ship Troopers
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
LOTR
Calvin and Hobbes
Zits
Fox Trot
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[list=a]
- The Art of War - Sun Tzu
- The Halo Book Series
- I, Jedi - Michael Stackpole
- Farenheit 451
- Animal Farm - Orwell
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The Wheel of Time.
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
Discworld.
LOTR.
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Addition: The Dirt - Motley Crue. About all the crazy stuff they got up to. Brilliant read.
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"War Day" - Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka
"Nature's End" - Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka
Side Note - Everybody who participates in our varying political threads really ought to read those two books.
"The Dark Tower Series" - Stephen King
"Dune" - Frank Herbert
"The Silmarillion" - Tolkein (hard to read, but boy would I love to see Peter Jackson make it visual)
"The Green Futures Of Tycho"
"The Chronicles of Amber"
"The White Mountains/City Of Gold And Lead/The Pool Of Fire"
any of the Harry Pott-ah books
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Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Blows Tolkien and those furry little hobbits outta the sky, IMO. :D
You've got to be kidding me. Half of Jordan's stuff is either directly or indirectly ripped from Tolkien. I've read two of the books, and they're nowhere near Tolkien's league. Plus, the guy has written about eleven novels about the size of dictionaries, and where I'm at in the story now, I see no feasible way of drawing out the story that long. Read my lips: the medium of fantasy works best with the trilogy. Always has, always will.
If you can't tell, I'm a Tolkien fanatic. :D I also loved C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia (it's good no matter what your age) and Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). My other favorites include the Sabriel trilogy by Garth Nix (Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen--could be considered children's books by some, but they tell a great story with some unique elements) and the Hitchhiker's Guide (can't beat a classic :)).
Originally posted by pyro-maniacHis Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman (Meant to be a trilogy for children, but the story is so powerful on so many levels that anyone would love it. The daemons are quite possibly my favourite device in any book ever. The story is wonderful, and it's hugely moving. I cried....)
I completely agree with you. A great trilogy with some very touching elements.
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His Dark Materials
The Boxes
Calvin & Hobbes
Dune
Chronicles of Narnia
Hot Zone
Anything by Dave Barry
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1984>All
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Originally posted by PhReAk
Operating System Concepts 6th ed. Silberschatz, Gilber, Gange.
oh wait this isn't a least favo(u)rite books thread.
Is that the one with the dinosaurs sitting in a coffehouse on the cover ?
My favourites:
"HHGTTG - A trilogy in 5 parts" - Douglas Adams
"The call of Cthulhu and other weird stories" - H.P Lovecraft
"Blade Runner" - Philip K. Dick
Every Gary Larson collection
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Originally posted by pyro-manic
What? Has Watterson stopped doing Calvin and Hobbes then? I didn't know that...
Calvin and Hobbes is my favourite comic strip of all time. It's intelligent, incredibly funny and at the same time conveys some very serious messages. Fantastic stuff. If what you say is true, then I'm gutted. I started reading the books when I was the same age as Calvin (6), so I kinda grew up with him (even though he stayed six forever, and I didn't).
Oh, man - hearing that has actually upset me. Damn.... :blah: :(
Uh-huh. I never knew till recently, but apparently the last one was made & published on '95. Apparently he (Bill Watterson) is pretty much a recluse nowadays.
This was the last one; it's kind of touching if you grew up reading the strip & come back to it years later.
(http://home.eol.ca/~dord/caltob02.jpg)
EDIT; image fixed with other link
Originally posted by Col. Fishguts
Is that the one with the dinosaurs sitting in a coffehouse on the cover ?
Oh, that one.........
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Tolkien>Jordan :p
Oh and:
Swallows And Amazons series - Arthur Ransome
I had completely and utterly forgotten reading those, they were great. :cool:
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Robin Hobb and her trilogy of trilogies.
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Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds
The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings
Raft by Stephen Baxter
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
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Anthing by:
David Baldacci (but esp Saving Faith )
Patricia Cornwell
Jeffrey Deaver
Jonathon/Faye Kellerman.
And all Poirot.
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aldo - I've got all the books up to It's a Magical World. Shame about Watterson - he's a great talent....
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Originally posted by PhReAk
Operating System Concepts 6th ed. Silberschatz, Gilber, Gange.
oh wait this isn't a least favo(u)rite books thread.
For Operating System junk I found the Minix OS book to be very cool...
Speaking of programming I'm reading Software Tools by Brian Kernighan. Great book (writing all the utilities in C though, the book uses Rational Fortran).
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Err, don't give away the ending....
Right now, I'm reading The Dark Tower by Stephen King - the whole Gunslinger idea kicks ass. :yes:
I just wanted to mention Fearie Tale by Raymond E Feist, which is awesome...:D
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Ummmm....
Playboy.. March '03
Fiesta .. June '02
...
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Originally posted by pyro-manic
aldo - I've got all the books up to It's a Magical World. Shame about Watterson - he's a great talent....
Magical World was the last one...
..and i notice that image has been swallowed by the demon spawn Tripod, so I guess it only worked for me first time round because it was cached or something.
Poorer quality version; http://home.eol.ca/~dord/caltob02.jpg
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[color=66ff00]Rama series - Clarke
Foundation series - Asimov
Prelude to Space - Clarke
Dune - Herbert
I, Jedi - Stackpole
Player of Games - Banks
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