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[DesertEater]

I finished Catch-22 couple of days ago. It was a bit confusing at first. After couple of chapters though I fell in love with the book. It is now one of my favorites.

I'm reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at moment.

 

[big ander]

Semi-OT, sorry, but I'm having a Christmas shopping problem. I'm going to get my little brother a book, but I don't know what to get him. He's 12 and he has read and enjoyed:
-All Hunger Games books
-All Diary of a Wimpy Kid books
-The first 4 HP books, he's going to read the rest in the future and we already own them
-Most of the Artemis Fowl books

He has, of course, read more, but I know he's liked those. And he enjoyed Hunger Games the most. What would be a good book for him?
Disclaimer: we also own all of Pendragon, Narnia, and Series of Unfortunate Events so buying those also isn't an option.

 

[Max]

Got a bunch of books for my birthday;

Not even halfway through and it's already one of my favourites of his. So much better than that Flow My Tears nonsense.

Reading this alongside Ubik as a break from sf. I'm liking it a lot more than I thought I would.

As well as Dying Inside, The Man In The High Castle, and Neuromancer. First birthday I've gotten books rather than video games :lol

 

[nakedsushi]

Semi-OT, sorry, but I'm having a Christmas shopping problem. I'm going to get my little brother a book, but I don't know what to get him. He's 12 and he has read and enjoyed:
-All Hunger Games books
-All Diary of a Wimpy Kid books
-The first 4 HP books, he's going to read the rest in the future and we already own them
-Most of the Artemis Fowl books

He has, of course, read more, but I know he's liked those. And he enjoyed Hunger Games the most. What would be a good book for him?
Disclaimer: we also own all of Pendragon, Narnia, and Series of Unfortunate Events so buying those also isn't an option.

Here are some of my recommendations for kids his age:

The Golden Compass: The first book was excellent, the 2nd book, less excellent, the third book just plain weird! I think if he reads the first one, he'll *have* to read the rest just because of cliffhangers.

Another good fantasy book is Brave Story. It's really long, but full of adventure. It reminds me of a Japanese RPG (which is funny because I guess it was made into an RPG later) and it does feel very Japanese at times (the main character's not some happy-go-lucky boy who's always ready for adventure -- sometimes he's quite depressed).

Does he strictly want stick with fantasy? If not, I recommend the Ender's Game series. I read it as an adult but wish I had read it when I was younger.

Steampunkish, but more like "let's have adventures on hot air balloon animals!" but I really enjoyed Leviathan. Female protaganist, not sure if it matters, but she's disguised as a boy the whole time.

 

[Burger]

Semi-OT, sorry, but I'm having a Christmas shopping problem. I'm going to get my little brother a book, but I don't know what to get him. He's 12 and he has read and enjoyed:
-All Hunger Games books
-All Diary of a Wimpy Kid books
-The first 4 HP books, he's going to read the rest in the future and we already own them
-Most of the Artemis Fowl books

He has, of course, read more, but I know he's liked those. And he enjoyed Hunger Games the most. What would be a good book for him?
Disclaimer: we also own all of Pendragon, Narnia, and Series of Unfortunate Events so buying those also isn't an option.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Blew my mind as a young boy. Really really good.

 

[big ander]

Here are some of my recommendations for kids his age:

The Golden Compass: The first book was excellent, the 2nd book, less excellent, the third book just plain weird! I think if he reads the first one, he'll *have* to read the rest just because of cliffhangers.

Another good fantasy book is Brave Story. It's really long, but full of adventure. It reminds me of a Japanese RPG (which is funny because I guess it was made into an RPG later) and it does feel very Japanese at times (the main character's not some happy-go-lucky boy who's always ready for adventure -- sometimes he's quite depressed).

Does he strictly want stick with fantasy? If not, I recommend the Ender's Game series. I read it as an adult but wish I had read it when I was younger.

Steampunkish, but more like "let's have adventures on hot air balloon animals!" but I really enjoyed Leviathan. Female protaganist, not sure if it matters, but she's disguised as a boy the whole time.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Blew my mind as a young boy. Really really good.

Thanks for the awesome suggestions guys!
He's already read Hatchet and Ender's Game, both at my behest. I believe he read some of the Hatchet sequels, but I told him reading anything but Ender's Game was probably not a good idea at the age of 12. I barely understand Xenocide now :lol He loved both Hatchet and Ender's Game, though.
We also already own the Golden Compass. I should probably get him to read it, because I remember enjoying it. I don't know if I ever read the sequels though.
I'm looking at Leviathan and Brave Story now and they look pretty cool. Thanks a ton.

 

[Kraftwerk]

Finished The Fall Of Hyperion today, time for the third book : ENDYMION!

 

[Koshiba]

 

[coldvein]

just finished consider the lobster (essays) by dave wallace. this man just blows me away. i can't think of a better, smarter, or more interesting writer of recent times. i just shake my head. what a mind.

 

[leroy hacker]

Semi-OT, sorry, but I'm having a Christmas shopping problem. I'm going to get my little brother a book, but I don't know what to get him. He's 12 and he has read and enjoyed:
-All Hunger Games books
-All Diary of a Wimpy Kid books
-The first 4 HP books, he's going to read the rest in the future and we already own them
-Most of the Artemis Fowl books

He has, of course, read more, but I know he's liked those. And he enjoyed Hunger Games the most. What would be a good book for him?
Disclaimer: we also own all of Pendragon, Narnia, and Series of Unfortunate Events so buying those also isn't an option.

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander is one of the all time great YA fantasy series, or at least is the one I liked the most as a kid. It's based on Welsh mythology.
Here's an Amazon link to the first one:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Three-Chronicles-Prydain/dp/0805080481/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292542769&sr=1-1

To me the plot summary of the Hunger Game screams John Christopher. His novels are some of my most fondly remembered books of this type from when I was that age. His notable series are the Tripods trilogy, the Sword of the Spirits trilogy, both of which are post-apocalyptic, the former with a sci-fi bent and the latter with a more medieval one, or the Fireball alternate history trilogy. My favorite of these three was the Sword trilogy, followed by Tripods and then the Fireball. His standalone book The Lotus Caves is also very good, though in a pretty different vein from these being more straight sci-fi.

The original covers for these books are all really cool and here's an example:

edit: Upon further research it seems all of these John Christopher/Samuel Youd books except for the Tripods trilogy are out of print. They seem to be easily available used, but I'm shocked that the Sword of the Spirits books are out of print while post-apocalyptic and fantasy YA fiction are apparently so popular right now.

 

[FutureZombie]

I read the August version of this thread and went to the library to get A Game of Thrones. Now it's December, and I just finished A Feast for Crows last night. On the last page, Martin says he expects the next book to be out in one year. That page is dated June, 2005. Then I looked on Amazon.com and saw there's still no release date for the fifth book!

 

[coldvein]

I read the August version of this thread and went to the library to get A Game of Thrones. Now it's December, and I just finished A Feast for Crows last night. On the last page, Martin says he expects the next book to be out in one year. That page is dated June, 2005. Then I looked on Amazon.com and saw there's still no release date for the fifth book!

the wait has been excruciating. : \

 

[leroy hacker]

For big ander, one more YA fantasy novel, this time a stand-alone:
The Maze in the Heart of the Castle. This one's more obscure and also out of print, with used copies in this case being not cheap at all-I can't find any cheaper than $23 in a quick search. This one is really really good, with a very well told journey that transcends any stock fantasy cliches. I haven't read this one in more than probably 16 or 17 years but I can still recall so many scenes vividly. You can read the rave reviews on Amazon to get a sense of what's so good about it.

Actually, I'm sort of curious about just how obscure this book is. Has anyone else here heard of or read this book?

 

[nakedsushi]

Just got done with



It's a decent coming of age comic, but maybe I got over-hyped on it. I thought some parts were too heavy handed and the main character was too much of a stereotypical geeky outcast.

edit: A bit OT, but a question for goodreads members, would you use a feature that just lets you copy/paste BB code that'll display a link + image to a book? I find myself copy/pasting links and image URLs often and would like a faster way to do it all in one go.

 

[barnone]

I really want to read the Lord of the Rings series. I'm not sure which edition of the books to buy. From looking at Amazon, the recent editions have many typos and printing issues. What are the best editions of the books that I can buy today? I also have a Kindle that I would love to read them on, but, again, there are the issues with the type. Any help is appreciated.

 

[demon]

Just finished my last book. About to start:

Just ordered from amazon:

 

[sparky2112]

just finished consider the lobster (essays) by dave wallace. this man just blows me away. i can't think of a better, smarter, or more interesting writer of recent times. i just shake my head. what a mind.

Did you see that they just published his undergrad thesis? I mean, one of his TWO thesi? Thesises? What's the plural? Anyway, his first novel 'Broom of the System' was one of them, and the other one is some 200+ pages philosophy thingy that apparently holds up pretty well and is actually readable, according to some who have already read it...

 

[thomaser]

Started the original scroll version of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" a month ago or so, and have just finished all the introductory essays (didn't spend much time on it due to exams). So now I've finally started the book itself, and it's slow going. His writing is very breathless and rambling, so I often find myself just racing through whole pages without remembering anything about them, and I have to go back and re-read things all the time. I still love the way it's written - I just have to get used to it before it really clicks, I suppose.

 

[CajoleJuice]

just finished consider the lobster (essays) by dave wallace. this man just blows me away. i can't think of a better, smarter, or more interesting writer of recent times. i just shake my head. what a mind.

This is going to be my next read. I've already read A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again and it was unbelievably good. He really was amazing.

 

[Maklershed]

After 3.5 months I've finally finished The Stand. And I'm still working on The Gates of Fire.

 

[BanShunsaku]

Just finished:

Absolutely loved it - its been a while since a book made me cry like a little girl :lol

Just started:

Wanted something a bit lighter/shorter to burn through before my Christmas holiday, where I plan to get stuck into:

 

[Dan]

Semi-OT, sorry, but I'm having a Christmas shopping problem. I'm going to get my little brother a book, but I don't know what to get him. He's 12 and he has read and enjoyed:
-All Hunger Games books
-All Diary of a Wimpy Kid books
-The first 4 HP books, he's going to read the rest in the future and we already own them
-Most of the Artemis Fowl books

He has, of course, read more, but I know he's liked those. And he enjoyed Hunger Games the most. What would be a good book for him?
Disclaimer: we also own all of Pendragon, Narnia, and Series of Unfortunate Events so buying those also isn't an option.

What about one of the early books from the Redwall series by Brian Jacques?

 

[coldvein]

Did you see that they just published his undergrad thesis? I mean, one of his TWO thesi? Thesises? What's the plural? Anyway, his first novel 'Broom of the System' was one of them, and the other one is some 200+ pages philosophy thingy that apparently holds up pretty well and is actually readable, according to some who have already read it...

i think it's theses. heh. anyway, yeah! somebody just picked it up for me today actually. called Fate, Time, and Language (an essay on free will). i've only briefly looked at it. think it's gonna be pretty heavy/academic/challenging for me, but i'll definitely get into it sooner rather than later.

 

[Drewsky]

On the 6th chapter of:

Pretty decent so far.

 

[siddx]

Just started

Have the following up next

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
It's the first in a trilogy about the colonisation and terraforming of Mars.

 

[evilpigking]

Having temporarily run out of SF/Fantasy books to read while I wait on shipments from amazon, I picked up to read while I wait.

 

[Joel Was Right]

 

[ymmv]

Just finished:

It took me more than 200 pages before I got hooked. Powers' forte is mixing real history with fantasy. In "Declare" he's mixing the supernatural with spy fiction a la John LeCarre. Unfortunately Powers got too carried away by his cleverness because it sure took a time before the plot started making sense. It didn't really help that the chronology was all mixed up (it took 450 pages before a key event that was constantly being referenced was finally described) and that Powers kept throwing more weird stuff into the mix instead of focusing on the plot. The ending of the book was a bit of an anti climax too, although the epilogue made up for it.

Maybe I come off more negative than I should because I did like the book (it is clever stuff), but I can't help comparing Declare to his other novels which were absolute page turners.

Now reading:

 

[MrBig]

Fantastic. I love writers who actually give a shit about what they are writing rather than hiding it under obscure or overly done styles.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Gates of Fire and about to start Galileo's Daughter

 

[coldvein]

thanks to nitewulf's big post, picked up and started the big sleep by raymond chandler. digging it so far.

 

[nakedsushi]

I read this b/c it got so many recommendations on GAF:


The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

Pretty good! The way the story is laid out is very classic, and the story is predictable, but the main character is hilarious. I especially enjoyed the fight around the tea table. Thanks for the recs, gaf.

OT: I put in a new BBCode feature on Goodreads! Now if you go to a book page and you want to post about it in a forum (like here), just click the "share" button on the top right and copy/paste the BBCode to the forum. It includes an image and link to the book.

 

[Maklershed]

Testing ..


Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel

EDIT: Nice! Thanks for that nakedsushi. BTW - do you help run that site or something?

 

[Relix]

Name of the Wind and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just arrived.

Time to read

 

[eznark]

 

[jonnybryce]

Started it in August but had to read so much for school this semester that it had to wait. It's very simple and not that compelling but an easy read and a fun world to explore nonetheless.

My sister picked this up. It's hysterical and only 100ish pages so it only lasts a couple hours. But it is very silly and has provided a lot of laughs.

After #4 I'm revisiting some Orwell stuff.

 

[nakedsushi]

Testing ..
EDIT: Nice! Thanks for that nakedsushi. BTW - do you help run that site or something?

Yep, I'm one of the developers!

 

[nakedsushi]

Started it in August but had to read so much for school this semester that it had to wait. It's very simple and not that compelling but an easy read and a fun world to explore nonetheless.

Are you reading it in preparation of the movie? I thought about reading it too, but the trailer for the movie looked *so* bad.

 

[Fireblend]

A friend lent me these so I'm working through them

 

[Alucrid]

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Started reading this. The fact that it's a compilation of short stories is going to help me get back into the habit of reading.

After that it's onto this...


Hyperion by Dan Simmons

p.s. thanks nakedsushi for the info. This is much easier than having to google image search.

 

[eznark]

Yep, I'm one of the developers!

No shit? Very cool.

Spoiler

ipad app now!

 

[Jugendstil]

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander is one of the all time great YA fantasy series, or at least is the one I liked the most as a kid. It's based on Welsh mythology.
Here's an Amazon link to the first one:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Three-Chronicles-Prydain/dp/0805080481/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292542769&sr=1-1

To me the plot summary of the Hunger Game screams John Christopher. His novels are some of my most fondly remembered books of this type from when I was that age. His notable series are the Tripods trilogy, the Sword of the Spirits trilogy, both of which are post-apocalyptic, the former with a sci-fi bent and the latter with a more medieval one, or the Fireball alternate history trilogy. My favorite of these three was the Sword trilogy, followed by Tripods and then the Fireball. His standalone book The Lotus Caves is also very good, though in a pretty different vein from these being more straight sci-fi.

YES! Excellent recommendations. I only ever read the Tripod series as a child, I'll have to look for Sword of the Spirits.

Another great YA series (again from a UK author):

]The Dark Is Rising[/URL by Susan Cooper. So sad the movie was such garbage, the books deserve better.



The old cover illustrations were fantastic too. Sad to see the new versions have totally horrid Photoshop filtered garbage on the covers instead.

 

[coldvein]

just finished the big sleep by raymond chandler. loved it! great style. ending reminded me of neuromancer. ha. would love to read more in this series.. is there a particular order i should be going in? nitewulf?

started winter's tale by mark helprin. quite excited about this. the fantasy-ish new york world is really interesting, as are the characters. already thinking this could be a book of the year contender for me.

 

[nakedsushi]

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Started reading this. The fact that it's a compilation of short stories is going to help me get back into the habit of reading.

p.s. thanks nakedsushi for the info. This is much easier than having to google image search.

No problem! I really liked that Chiang book and picked it up from a bunch of recommendations on this thread. My favorite two stories are probably Story of Your Life, and Tower of Babylon.

Between working at a book site and this thread, my to-read list is getting unwieldy.

 

[Maklershed]

Yep, I'm one of the developers!

Oh cool. I use it all the time. I like it a lot more than Shelfari.

 

[jonnybryce]

Are you reading it in preparation of the movie? I thought about reading it too, but the trailer for the movie looked *so* bad.

:lol Does it? I started reading it because I like scifi and action and my brother recommended it when EW posted an excerpt in preparation for it's release date. Like everyone else, I knew a movie was planned before it even came out but I'm reading it to read it. What don't you like about what you saw? Generally speaking.

I've been avoiding all movie previews, trailers and interviews. I don't want it to ruin how I picture the world in my mind or give it the chance to spoil anything I'm not up to yet. Sucks that it looks bad, I hope I disagree when I take a look soon :/

The book isn't that great though so it makes sense that the movie would suffer the same fate. It can be pretty cheesy, the writing is low level and the story progression is extremely spaced out. A lot of the mythology of the book is simply odd (in a silly manner) rather than interesting. It's "good" at best, but I bought it and it's not terrible so I shall move onward.

 

[FStop7]

Currently reading:

 

[nakedsushi]

:lol Does it? I started reading it because I like scifi and action and my brother recommended it when EW posted an excerpt in preparation for it's release date. Like everyone else, I knew a movie was planned before it even came out but I'm reading it to read it. What don't you like about what you saw? Generally speaking.

I've been avoiding all movie previews, trailers and interviews. I don't want it to ruin how I picture the world in my mind or give it the chance to spoil anything I'm not up to yet. Sucks that it looks bad, I hope I disagree when I take a look soon :/

The book isn't that great though so it makes sense that the movie would suffer the same fate. It can be pretty cheesy, the writing is low level and the story progression is extremely spaced out. A lot of the mythology of the book is simply odd (in a silly manner) rather than interesting. It's "good" at best, but I bought it and it's not terrible so I shall move onward.

I think cheesy is the key word here. The trailer (hope I'm not spoilering it for you) makes it sound like a Harry Potter (You're the only one who can stop the bad bad bad guy!) meets Twilight (You're also the broody heart throb who's pursuing a love life with a human girl). The trailer even has slow-motion walking away from giant explosions.

I'm interested in the mythology of the books, but the low level writing and forced pacing is a turn off for me, if what you say is true =(

 

[dvolovets]

I'm reading the first book in the Enderby series by Anthony Burgess. GREAT stuff, I'm really enjoying it and highly recommend it.