Probable Redundant Thread: Your Favorite Book

[requiem]

Nobody's mentioned it yet, but my favourite is

'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo. All praise for this book is superfluous and the thought of musical and film versions gives me nightmares.

Also up there is

'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde,
'Great Expectations' by Dickens,
and, of course, 'Lord of the Rings'.

 

[Russell]

Originally posted by Xtokalon
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky- I feel Raskolnikov's pain! (Dostoyevsky is one dark and morbid fellow- a must read for intellectual death metallers imo)

I had to read that in 2 days for school (me, leave it till the last minute ) And I was amazed! Brilliant book.

But my favourite has to be Chuck Palahniuk - Invisible Monsters

Along with a few like -
The imnportance of being earnest - oscar wilde
The Hobbit - Tolkein
Lord of the flies - william golding (??)
Animal farm was good as well. And do Niel gaimens sandman graphic novels count?

Short storeys -
The judges house - bram stoker
And one of edgar allen poe's (I think) about a man stuck in a dark room, that I read ages ago and haven't been able to get my own copy

 

[Slynt]

George R.R. Martin's

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE

trilogy


"A Game of Thrones", "A Clash of Kings", "A Storm of Swords"


Incredible.

 

[Russell]

I got a game of thrones for £3 from a special cheap shop - in hardback. And god was I impressed. I also got the second book in the trilogy, but had kinda grown outof fantasy books by the time the third one was released so never got it

 

[Hannu Mutanen]

And one of edgar allen poe's (I think) about a man stuck in a dark room

I presume you are talking about "The pit and the pendulum". Very good, yet not one to be included in my "Poe canon".

 

[Russell]

Originally posted by Hannu Mutanen
I presume you are talking about "The pit and the pendulum". Very good, yet not one to be included in my "Poe canon".

That was the one (I think) I read it when I was quite young and that was really all I could remember of it. I really liked it tho and haven't been able to find a copy since

 

[Bleakest Harvest]

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Green Mile - Stephen King (waaaay btter than the film)
Animal Farm - Orwell

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Animal Farm was the last book I read (that was a few months ago, too...) and I recently purchased a shiny new copy of Brave New World which is up next... if I ever get around to it.

Oh yeah, and I really enjoyed Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as one might suspect. Lords of Chaos was interesting, too.

 

[Melancholia]

Originally posted by Bleakest Harvest
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Oh,I finished reading this book on Saturday.... Kinda overwhellming,but i didn't really like the end...

And how could i forget Lords of Chaos very interesting book,indeed... though one has to be a bit careful and thoughtful while reading it...
When this book came out Varg Vikernes had written some comments on the burzum site.... i don't remember much of it,though..he was correcting some dates and stuff etc and

 

[requiem]

Originally posted by Hannu Mutanen
None of you has yet mentioned Edgar Allan Poe's writings! Sob. He is my absolute favourite

Didn't he marry his 13 year old cousin? He was a pretty weird guy and I think it comes across in his writings.

 

[Hail Eris!]

This is the coolest book ever written...I highly recommend everyone to read it....
The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea


The Hicthhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is funny as hell. It is the Monty Python of books. Brillant absurbity.

The Lord of Rings By Toilken.

The Gunslinger books by Stephen King. These fucking rule. Everything else Stephen King has done pales in comparison (even The Stand). If you have not read these, do so. ( If you havent read The Stand, that one does kick ass.)

 

[S4R]

Originally posted by Hail Eris!
The Hicthhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is funny as hell. It is the Monty Python of books. Brillant absurbity.

Indeed. I absolutely love that book.

 

[Raven777]

Your Erroneous Zones - Dr. Wayne Dyer

This book literally saved my life. It teaches you how socitey enforces negative thinking and how you can put an end to it.

Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Long Walk - Stephen King
(The Dead Zone is also one of my favorite King novels)
Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Real Frank Zappa Book - Frank Zappa

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Originally posted by Raven777
The Real Frank Zappa Book - Frank Zappa

Rock on! I loved that book... even if you don't know who Frank Zappa is, its hilarious.

some excerpts:

The Anthropology of the Rock and Roll Band

Very few people choose to play the bass... because he has to play repeated figures. Electric bassits are often failed guitar players, demoted to this duty after a band meeting in a garage when they were thirteen.

Drummers often exhibit an attitude which advertises: "I play the drums because I am an animal - watch me beat these! Girls, are you paying attention now? I am beating very hard!"

Keyboard players project an aura of frustration because they are not guitar players. (In fact, many musicians are convinced that in order to get "The Blow Job" after the show, they have to play lead guitar.

I respect musician's idiosyncrasies - they add "texture" to a performance. Musicians tend to generate better "texture" when they get "The Blow Job". Yes, I want them to find that elusive cross between a waitress and an industrial strength vacuum cleaner.

But they should get it the honest way - they should earn it, and sometimes they try to cheat, and folks, it's not a pretty sight. For instance, there are a lot of reasons why musicians like to play solos on stage - but the usual reason in rock and roll is to get "The Blow Job". One way to ensure that you look like the greatest thing going when you play your big solo is to make sure that you end you solo by going up the scale, then grab that last note and repeat it as fast as you can.

The statement is the same on any instrument: "Oh, I'm squirting now!" (clever subtext to audience)

 

[Hannu Mutanen]

Didn't he marry his 13 year old cousin? He was a pretty weird guy and I think it comes across in his writings.

That is all very true; he was peculiar and married his cousin Virginia who died of tuberculosis, after which Poe lived three years in poverty before dying. His life was rather contributory to the legend of the true, suffering artist with his mental illness, woeful personal relations and magnificent art. He himself had actually commented upon his enemies' claims of him being manic depressive, drug addicted and sado-masochistic by saying "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. During these fits of absolute unconsciousness, I drank...my enemies referred the insanity to the drink, rather than the drink to insanity." This is, as you see, no negation to the aforementioned claims - he was manic depressive, drug addicted and masochistic - these qualities were intertwined with his stunning intellect, literal eloquence and traumatical youth and early adulthood. His whole life is reflected in his tales, some scholars even suspect that the intellectual, ethereal and non-sexual nature of all love portrayed in his tales pertain to sexual impotence. That is mere speculation, but what is sure that through his female characters he deplores the losses in his life: his mother died of tuberculosis when he was still young, Virginia died not many years into their marriage. Ligeia, Berenice, Madeline Usher - all tragic female characters that tell a grim tale of loss. We can also see Edgar himself very clearly in many of the tales: the depressed, opium addicted husband whose bride Ligeia - a beauty of unparalleled proportions with an unrivalled intellect - has perished to...what else but a fatal malady.

 

[Morgana]

The Eight by Katherine Neville
Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien