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So, sharing personal mundanities on the interweb is not, like, in the highest echelon of personal preference. So I won't.
I will, however, outline the result of what would be yet another story about the women, and the Solar Coronas, and the little Danish Gypsies with square toes, and Western Pennsylvanian Blue Crabgrass.
I GOT THE BOREDOM POWERUP AND CAN READ THE BOOK!
In the event that doesn't make any sense, I can now, and for the next while read books. With words. And not pictures. Anymore. For eight hours straight each day.
I fancy myself a fairly prolific reader, but what I'd like, from such a fanciful and diverse group as yourselves, is a bunch of fanciful and diverse reading picks. Except from Jeff. I don't need suggestions about "Deer Killing For Dummies" or "Lego Anonymous: Self Help in twelve easy instruction steps."
Please?
Choose like, the best books, you've, like, ever read or shit, yo. Like maybe the 5 that made you consider to shun the female loving for the stead of finishing the bookies.
[ June 24, 2002, 17:11: Message edited by: Ultimate Magnus ]
Registered: Oct 1999
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Well, I'd suggest a whole load of UK SF authors you'd never be able to get hold of, but instead I'l just suggest Tad Williams' Otherland series. 4 nice long books, should keep you going.
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What type you want? There's a different section for each genre, and of each sub-genre of the sub-genre.
Crime fiction is my current thing.
Thus: American Tabloid ranks highly. But only if you wish to know such things as why Hoffa called JFK the 2.4 minute man, or how many bullets it takes to win an election. The Cold Six Thousand is it's sorta kinda sequel.
Science fiction is in a drought right now. So I've been reading the Jack Williamson collections, named, uh, The Jack Williamson Collection, Vol 1-4. It's like reading a time warp into the Gernsback Continuity, what with the special Bismuth Coils and evil multi-faceted eyes.
The Selfish Gene is always good for heavy thinking on a monday. It sets up the whole meme of the Meme, which you'll hear about a lot about on the net by psuedo-intellectuals who never read the book that started it.
Elves make some people puke blood. So if you read Fantasy: George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice is pretty good. No elves at all. Based upon the War of the Roses, but with really explicit murders, it's more than decent.
Ask me again tomorrow and those recommendations will likely all change.
Registered: Jan 2001
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The Complete Stories of Roald Dahl. Not for kids!
"How Few Remain" -- Harry Turtledove (If you like it, there's sequels)
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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Never read Ludlum. Was going to go to the movie later tonight though...
James Ellroy is probably my favorite author right now. Based upon the synopsis of some of Ludlum's books at Amazon, you'd probably like him, if you haven't tried it yet.
The first one of his I read was Killer on the Road, which is written from the serial killers POV. Far better than Thomas Harris' superman Hannibal Lecter books, where Lecter might as well be one of Batman's archenemies. (Red Dragon wasn't that bad, though)
Ellroy makes Los Angeles of yesteryear a hard boiled nightmare, where killers walk the streets and the police are even worse. One of the fantastic things is that there never are happy endings for the protagonists. They may win, but they don't come out clean, like they always seem to in Dean Koontz's books.
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Fotty: I did read How Few Remain. I liked it. And then I made the mistake of reading the first book of the whole Aliens Attack The Hitler. I'll read the What If? compendiums if I need alternative speculative historical alternate history speculation, I think.
"Never read Ludlum."
Lousy dual-prounciation/dual-meaning English.
[ June 24, 2002, 19:45: Message edited by: Ultimate Magnus ]
Registered: Oct 1999
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The film doesn't do the novel much justice, I'm afraid. Although it's not without merit.
Registered: Oct 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
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I have a thing for Peter H�eg. Other than Smilla's Sense Of Snow, however, he is entirely very abstract. Borderliners is very much like that, so you might enjoy that as well. H�eg writes about the aberrations of the psyche very well.
I also like Martin Cruz Smith, specifically his Arkady Renko series (Gorky Park, Polar Star, Red Square, Havana Bay). They're Soviet murder mysteries. Very cool to me.
For escapism, there's Clive Cussler's NUMA books--all the Dirk Pitt novels & the newer Kurt Austin books. He's...starting to repeat himself, but like I said. Escapism.
Standalone books: One Last Time by John Edward; Mister Roberts by Thomas Heggen (what the play & the film were based on); Private, Parents Keep Out! by Austin Stevens (great if you have kids, but fun nonetheless); Warday by Whitley Streiber & James Kunetka (not an alien book, but a nuclear war book); Future Noir: The Making Of Blade Runner, Paul M. Sammon; Dream Brother: The Lives Of Jeff & Tim Buckley, David Browne
[ June 24, 2002, 20:05: Message edited by: Shik ]
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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"I can now, and for the next while read books. ... For eight hours straight each day."
What, did you get fired, or something?
Anyway, read anything by Neal Stephenson. Except maybe The Big U, which I haven't read and therefore can't speak for. And maybe Zodiac, of which I've only read ten pages. But it seems good so far.
Also, read anything by Douglas Adams.
And, if you happened to like Fight Club (even the movie), I understand Chuck Palahniuk's other books are of the same mind-boggling sort.
That covers just about everything I can see offhand looking around my room from my chair. If I think of anything else, I might let you know.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Just finished "Syrup" by Max Barry, who ever-so-cleverly went by Maxx Barry for the purposes of the book, the reasoning for which is abundantly obvious after reading it. But I'm recommending it quite highly. And he's Australian, so you can feel all internationalist by reading it. Even though the book takes place in LA..
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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