Recently I've been reading...a lot. I've polished off about 5 or 6 books in the past few weeks. We're talking a ridiculous amount of reading.

Among that reading was "Chainfire" by Terry Goodkind, "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein, "Queen of the Blades" by Aaron Rosenberg, and "The War of the Ancients: Well of Eternity" by Richard A. Knaack.

The first is a continuation of the Sword of Truth series (I don't think anyone here is familiar with it) which I reccomend with every fiber of my being. Excellent series, and the book steers it better towards the story than the previous two (the last two books were POLITICS POLITICS LOL which is annoying...I want fantasy novella, not a political dissertation on capitalism v socialism). A very worthy successor and I can't wait to get my hands on Phantom (the next in the series). The only thing that saddens me is that I have quite the wait ahead of me for the next novel (though, to Goodkind's credit he's put out like 11 or 12 novels in the past 6 or 7 years, a monumental achievement for any author, especially since the novels are all class).

The second is a classic novel from a classic novelist. It also fuels the (horribly inaccurate and lame) movie of the same title. Robert Heinlein, to most, is better known for books such as Stranger in a Strange Land, but this one definitely shines. An awesome novel (story-wise) it also strikes you with intensely subtle jabs towards the very fabric of our society. Very well written, and worth much of the critical acclaim it has been given.

The next two are both game-based novels from Blizzard's own pride and glory: Starcraft and Warcraft (respectively). The first novel is an excellent extension to the actual Starcraft game (bridging the gap between Starcraft and Broodwars quite well, as well as delving into the story wondrously) and even though it pretty much presents material that you'd already covered if you've played Starcraft and the expansion, it still seemed to hold my attention. Very wonderful book, very wonderfully done.

The last novel I purchased on Friday and just finished tonight. Again, it's set in a Blizzard game and goes over some of the already-known parts of the Warcraft storyline (with a very interesting twist). Even though it's a part of a trilogy, it's done very well and ends on an excellent standing point that leaves you satisfied with the book, but not for the story. I plan on going to Hastings (my local book/music/game/movie store extraordinaire) and purchasing the last two novels in the trilogy, as well as three more books (Legend, by David Gemmel and the two following it). All in the trilogy are written by Richard A. Knaack, easily one of my FAVORITE authors of all time (he has an excellent grasp of basic human traits which shows through in his writing), and though he excels more in the Dragonlance Saga (in which I knew him first) it's obvious his talents which show through in the Warcraft Saga (he also wrote Lord of the Clans, another Warcraft novel entailing Thrall's past and detailing his rise to power). The man has a way with storylines that leaves you mystified that anyone could present something so mythical in such a grandiose and awesome way as he does.

Until I get my next novels I have a couple to keep me company. One of which is called "Eisenhorn" and is set in the Warhammer 40k universe. I've been whittling away at it (only on page 80 or so of seven hundred and some odd pages) when I have nothing else to do, and now that computer is down (bleh) I have little else to occupy my time except Animal Crossing: Wild World, Starfox Adventures and reading. As you may be able to tell from what I've shown you in this topic, that I do a lot of the latter is obvious. Other than that I have "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk (lent to a friend of mine) which I'm eager to get at when I can (though I expect to plough through it in...days...if that.)

Pretty much, though, I'm running out of material. And fast. I've gone through every author I know and even some I don't trying to find new facets in which to spread my library (which is becoming far greater than I thought it would in so short of a time) and with money abound from my job I find myself sneaking up to Hastings to buy 2-3 books at a time every few days to a week or so.

If anyone here knows of any good (or preferrably excellent) novels that they would offer up, let me know, but know that each of these novels I've listed are excellent choices (I even liked Queen of the Blades better than Liberty's Crusade, another great Starcraft novel, though not as much as Speed of Darkness which is yet another Starcraft novel written by Tracy Hickman, another Dragonlance novelist (of Weiss and Hickman fame) who has showed his talents in other areas).

Suggestions?

I Jedi. I will say no more.

The Giver and The Dark Side of Nowhere are two awesome books. Lowry and Shusterman are gods.

I ALREADY GAD DAMN TOLD YOU I HATE THE GIVER.

AND STOP GIVING THE LOCH NESS MONSTER MONEY!

Gad damn woman.

>_<

I started reading the New Jedi Order series. I was suprised how good Vector Prime was. It may not be the best concept, but some of them are very well written.

I also got about halfway through Free Culture in spring quarter. I'll finish it, eventually.

The Giver was an awesome book. If you don't like it, you must hate good literature.

Sword of Truth series is my favorite. Still waiting to get my hands on Phantom.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]The Giver was an awesome book. If you don't like it, you must hate good literature.[/QUOTE]
It's a good book, but do you read anything outside of what you're assigned?

Corran Horn is overrated

Never trust Corellian Jedi

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]The Giver was an awesome book. If you don't like it, you must hate good literature.[/QUOTE]
That or I don't like copycat books which draw from true classics in a rather obvious way.

Or I could just have different tastes from you. A thought.

Either way I was just kidding. I tried making it painfully obvious. Apparently some people couldn't catch it.

i don't read much... last book i read was Notes of a Sniper by Vassili Zaitsev

if you're into ww2 history it's a good book... and unlike enemy at the gates doesn't throw a bunch of hollywood BS at you

"OMG HE WAS SHOT WHILE JUMPING TEH GAP

OH NOES"

You mean Ed Harris isn't German??

If you don't like The Giver, you don't like books.

Anyone read the sequel to The Giver?

It's called "Gathering Blue" and it's worth a read

Dune.

great book.

Gathering Blue isn't a sequel to The Giver, but it is a good book. It's kind of in the same style and I really didn't like it as much, but it was good. I recall reading it when it first came out. It's about the cripple girl right?

It makes references to Jonas

Sequel

For God's sake read Life of Pi. I love that book. The first 100 pages on their own are worthy of mention, they put a different way of thinking on zoos and religion.

The Forge of God, by Greg Bear. This book is the best science fiction book I have ever read. It had me thinking for a long time. You have to read it. It's a requirement to get into heaven, I think. Better not chance it.

Thats a load of bullocks.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]Thats a load of bullocks.[/QUOTE]

Read the interview in the back of the book.

• A Song Of Ice And Fire ~ George R. R. Martin
• The Drenai Saga ~ David Gemmell
• The Rigante ~ David Gemmell
• The Sword Of Truth ~ Terry Goodkind
• The Wheel Of Time ~ Robert Jordan

You can't go wrong with any of the above. Sadly, David Gemmell just died in July. I'm about to finish "A Feast For Crows" (book 4 in the ASoIaF series) and it's quite good. When I'm caught up on the above authors, I'm going to start reading R.A. Salvatore's work.

The Giver and Gathering Blue are two seperate stories. Gathering Blue might mention The Giver but it isn't a true sequel. The book Messenger is more of a sequel because it brings both of the worlds together in one book. Messenger wasn't a bad book, but I didn't like it, because I REALLY REALLY loved The Giver, and Messenger just made Jonas seem like a different person. He was known as the Leader and all this stuff. The book also left out so many answers and it kind of ruins the ending to The Giver, which in my opinion was a perfect ending.

This review on amazon pretty much sums up my feelings.

In order of awesomeness:

Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
The Things They Carried (O'Brien)
(The Love of) The Last Tycoon (Fitzgerald)
This Side of Paradise (Fitzgerald)

The Great Gatsby is awesome.

"The books! They have pages and everything -- It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism!”

I don't think you understand how right he is.

The Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis is really good and so is The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne.

A tad creepy though. And a bit oppresive.

I'm on my 11th book since August... all Star Wars

Neuromancer-William Gibson
Snow Crash-Neal Stephenson
A Scanner Darkly-Philip K. Dick
Slaughterhouse-Five-Kurt Vonnegut
Anything by Lovecraft
Anything by Heinlein
Anything by Bradbury

I should re-read The Great Gatsby. It didn't really catch my attention when we read it in high school, but that's probably because of our ****ty English III teacher.

I need to buy Cryptonomicon again and read through the rest of it. I borrowed it from a friend and got through half of it but then had to return it. Awesome book, from what I read, and I hear I didn't even get to the best part(s).

I want to second Life of Pi.

Also, if by chance you've never read Les Miserables (the unabridged version!), you need to.

I re-read Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman for the third time. The man is a GOD

If you want an amazing book that will upset you, The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo = amazingness. But it was a book that I put down and said "damn, why did I just read that?"

Speaking of upsetting, even though it was "just a starcraft novel", Speed of Darkness was far and away one of the most touching novels I'd ever read.

So sad

I found Gatsby to be an interesting character driven comedy in the vein of Catch 22, but not that brilliant of a novel altogether. Bad pacing.
Oh, and read Catch 22. The prose is, more or less, the opposite of good, sense, and logic, but it's an awesome book. Same pacing problems as the Gat, though.

-You need to read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, though. Satirical british comedy somewhat like a logical "Hitchiker's Guide" set in a gradually modernizing fantasy world. But don't start at the first book (Colour of Magic), skip to Guards! Guards! or maybe one of the Witches books (I started with Carpe Jugulum) then start reading the series properly.

Gatsby wasn't really a comedy
And it's awesome because of its prose and construction, not because of its storytelling

It "captures the human spirit" (like Fitzgerald always does, which is why I <3 him, but Gatsby does more resoundingly and succintly than some of his other work)

Seemed more comedic to me. I dunno why. The characters, the realism they had, they'r conversations...

-Okay, with the cheating and the murdering and all, okay, maybe more of a dark comedy.

It was supposed to be a romantic tragedy about a guy who abolished one part of his past and tried endlessly and in futile to return to another part, with a concurrent commentary on the american dream and the feeling of gildedness of the times

or something like that