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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: an0n on November 19, 2005, 07:26:51 pm

Title: A Book
Post by: an0n on November 19, 2005, 07:26:51 pm
First and foremost, if anyone has the ebook of At All Costs by David Weber: *nudge nudge wink wink*

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Preferably sci-fi or period, but anything will do. I need my weekly fix of second-hand emotion.

And no, not Romeo and Juliet (unless you've got the DVD - *nudge nudge wink wink*).
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Singh on November 19, 2005, 07:33:14 pm
Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

If you're looking for mass earth-scale disaster tragedy type, then Stephen Braxton's Time's Eye is pretty decent in that department.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: an0n on November 19, 2005, 07:35:27 pm
Nah, I want something character-driven.

Also: Not Dune Messiah
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: delta_7890 on November 20, 2005, 12:09:16 am
The "A Song of Ice and Fire" books are very tragic in parts.  You learn not to become too attached to characters.  <<;  They could die at pretty much any moment, and usually in terrible ways.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Ford Prefect on November 20, 2005, 12:21:52 am
McTeague, by Frank Norris. A sweeping, naturalistic tale of human beings blindly demolishing their own lives with their inescapable greed and vindictiveness.

Although perhaps a little more humorous than what you're looking for, now that I think about it.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Rictor on November 20, 2005, 01:00:52 am
Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Instructions:

1. Walk into a bookstore.
2. Close your eyes and put your hand out.
3. Make a gripping motion between your thumb and fingers.
4. Pay the nice people for their over-priced wares. Or don't. Remember to shake the chip out of the book, otherwise it starts beeping when you walk out (if it does, walk quickly into the night).

On a slightly more helpful note: anything by Kurt Vonnegut. He does that whole innocence lost thing very well. Tragedy abound. Try Slaughter-House Five.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Taristin on November 20, 2005, 01:39:28 am

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Preferably sci-fi or period, but anything will do. I need my weekly fix of second-hand emotion.


How bout the Bible? :p
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Prophet on November 20, 2005, 02:40:14 am
Why don't you try Lord of the Rings? :D
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: pyro-manic on November 20, 2005, 05:47:27 am
Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks is very good. Rather bleak at times, and the characters are great. :yes:
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: an0n on November 20, 2005, 10:24:48 am
Tolkien blows. He spends too much time describing useless bull****. Like in ROTK he has like 2 paragraphs explaining the lay of some random land and by the end I was like "Wait, there's a river that bends westward into the east-facing mountains of the south of the river's north - but only between the hours of 9am and 5pm Mon-Fri?"
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Charismatic on November 20, 2005, 11:00:22 am
How bout the Bible? :p

Lol yep.

-not dune? dune is good.. i like dune.. ahhh dune dune..
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: an0n on November 20, 2005, 11:33:24 am
Yeah, I know Dune is good. I own copies of all the proper books (no ****ty Jihad or House).

But I've already read them all.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Ace on November 20, 2005, 05:24:54 pm

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Preferably sci-fi or period, but anything will do. I need my weekly fix of second-hand emotion.


How bout the Bible? :p

Too much rape, vagueness, and random violence even for an0n's tastes. :p
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Prophet on November 21, 2005, 02:57:28 am
Tolkien blows. He spends too much time describing useless bull****. Like in ROTK he has like 2 paragraphs explaining the lay of some random land and by the end I was like "Wait, there's a river that bends westward into the east-facing mountains of the south of the river's north - but only between the hours of 9am and 5pm Mon-Fri?"
You should be careful when throwing that kind of statements around. Some people consider Tolkien to be god and LOTR his bible.
For you I recommend Bored of the Rings by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney... It should be more fitting for your tastes. Though it too has couple of difficult words :lol:
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Flipside on November 21, 2005, 03:34:51 am
Heh, LOTR was a drag in places, I've read the books and loved the story, but am still convinced it should have been 2 books at most in it's current form, or a 12-book anthology that covered the Silmarillion, The Hobbit and LOTR all in detail.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Night Hammer on November 21, 2005, 03:39:12 am
I dunno if this would intrest you but im reading through Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose (yes the HBO series was based on the book) but its great, lots of loss, hate all that **** you mentioned
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Flipside on November 21, 2005, 03:41:29 am
If you like Fantasy, it's also worth trying the Runelords series by David Farland, lots of graphic scenes of reavers (15ft high Insect things) wading in gore and internal organs, quite a gritty series ;)
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: an0n on November 21, 2005, 11:49:01 am
I dunno if this would intrest you but im reading through Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose (yes the HBO series was based on the book) but its great, lots of loss, hate all that **** you mentioned
I got halfway through it and decided I didn't like being talked at.

It all just kinda blurs together till the battles don't really present anything different from training or pillaging French towns.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Sandwich on November 21, 2005, 11:57:14 am
*nudge nudge wink wink*

First of all, just because we're not on GS anymore doesn't mean our policy towards nudging and winking has changed, m'kay?

Secondly... have you read The Forge of God, by Greg Bear? All I remember is an immense sense of loss and the vivid description of... said loss at the end. Pretty stunning.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: karajorma on November 22, 2005, 02:35:41 pm
Secondly... have you read The Forge of God, by Greg Bear? All I remember is an immense sense of loss and the vivid description of... said loss at the end. Pretty stunning.

Good book that. :) Have you read the sequal Anvil of Stars? It's somewhat different in style but still pretty good :)
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: kasperl on November 22, 2005, 02:38:55 pm
Discworld.

No tragedy, nor hatred, but a ****eload of good fun anyway.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Sandwich on November 22, 2005, 06:15:19 pm
Secondly... have you read The Forge of God, by Greg Bear? All I remember is an immense sense of loss and the vivid description of... said loss at the end. Pretty stunning.

Good book that. :) Have you read the sequal Anvil of Stars? It's somewhat different in style but still pretty good :)

Yeah, although I often confuse that with Eon... Anvil's the one where the kid from Forge is captaining a ship, looking for the baddies that did what it was they did in Forge, and Eon was with that wormhole-in-a-box satellite tube laser beam asteroid thing in Earth orbit, right?
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: karajorma on November 23, 2005, 01:23:54 am
Yep. :)

Eon was good too. Not as keen on the sequel to it though.
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Goober5000 on November 23, 2005, 03:06:08 am
Eon was with that wormhole-in-a-box satellite tube laser beam asteroid thing in Earth orbit, right?

Buh? :lol:
Title: Re: A Book
Post by: Marauder on November 23, 2005, 04:53:54 am
You won't regret taking a look at The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.  It's the story of the son of a merchant, Amir, and his loyal servant, Hassan, and what happens to them before and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  However, this book isn't focused on war, it's focused on Amir's life (childhood to adulthood).

We're studying it in class, and it's a national bestseller here in Canada right now...

*cough* And it made me cry...

Very deep.  Most people in my class felt the sudden urge to jump into the book and do something to help while reading it.  ;)