Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Oh ILB you aren’t forcing him, he is

Well Jerk, they really are good books! Fountainhead is shorter and not nearly as good, but that’s an unfair comparison because Atlas Shrugged is amazing.

Pick up Fountainhead if you get the chance though, but I understand that some people don’t want to read it and that’s cool by me.

@ ILB: I really don’t have a valid ground on which to criticize it until I read it. I’ll have to wait until I can speed-read again before I try or I will get bored and play with the colorful juices under the kitchen sink.
@ Ace: I’m afraid that if I start reading Ayn Rand that I will be converted to objectivism ;_; On an unrelated note, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR FOOTBALL TEAM?! *tears out his hair*

But objectivism is so unforgivingly logical. It makes sense to me.

Piano no Mori. It isn’t science fiction, but it’s a beautiful manga.

In terms of Science Fiction and Horror I would recommend Elfen Lied.

Yes Scotch that is the point, it’s very logical, that’s what its founded on. However this is neither the time nor place to discuss this, this is a book chat, not a philosophical forum. (Although Jerk as far as beliefs go, objectivism is one of the better ones IMHO)

And Jerk, dude, I don’t fucking know. In a month I will sit there with something very strong and just stare at nothing, whispering. “God damnit….”

@ Sunday: I stare at Elfen Lied and wonder if my soul can handle the imminent crushing of that story. I don’t know that it can. And shit, I’ll take any manga suggestion.
@ Ace: I prefer to stick with Nietzche and his flamboyant nihilism myself. Also, my dad was one of the people who funded the “Greg Davis is not my standard” banner that flew around the Baylor/UT game. I think Gilbert would make a better runningback than a quarterback. …I miss McCoy, I miss Young… ;_; Did you see Colt McCoy beat Tom Brady? I stood up and yelled, “SUCK A DICK, TOM” for my whole family to see. I may have, and don’t quote me on this, thrust my pelvis while dancing.

The His Dark Materials Trilogy, The Diamond of Drury Lane and all the sequels I haven’t read yet but am sure are good, possible the Adrian Mole series for shits and giggles, Dan Brown, Airman by Eoin Colfer (surprisingly mature reading), Inkheart, The Hunger Games and oddly the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Hope this helps!

@ Jerk: It really is a cavalcade of futuristic things that we would be building right now if we knew how. Stuff like armoured suits that would make SPARTANS weep openly, guns that make naval destroyer cannons look weak, and a plot that would inspire Frank Herbert to say: “Not half bad.”

Everyone should read Christopher Moore’s books.

I’m not sure whether you like Patterson, but try the Maximum Ride series. It’s one of my favorites, but I don’t have a link. The site got shut down Anyway, do yourself a favor and avoid the manga. It absolutely butchers the story by removing crucial story points in an attempt to speed it up.

I agree with you, maximum ride is a great series . The writing style is enjoyable and the plotline has good flow. I kinda avoided the manga for fear of things like that

@Druid: It really is god-awful. Patterson has won my literate affections. There aren’t many people who can effectively and believably write from the perspective of a 16-year-old running for her life with a group of younger kids depending on her.

My sister read the Maximum Ride series and tried to get me to read it. When I did read it, I started banging my head against walls whenever I heard/saw the book.

Sorry you can’t handle good literature Kaxbe. Was it because the book had words longer than four letters? Relax, I’n kidding. Seriously though, what was your problem with it?

OY.. my taste in manga might not mesh with yours Jerk, i stick to the more romantic comedy and harem type myself. the only thing i could think of horror and just messed up like, is Angel Sanctuary, i pick up two volumes of that at a used books store and its just fucked.

Many books from the black library are good.
If you like warhammer anyways…

Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Really great dystopian stories if you like that kind of thing.

Anything by Kilgore Trout

@ Ace: Are we talking Warhammer 40k? *interest* o_o
@ Elliot: It does, thank you.
@ Joobles: We do know how, it’s just a matter of engineering and having no desire to build weapons for interstellar war. Yet. I don’t know. They’ve released some of the weapons testing specs for the rail gun that are pretty neat.
@ Nero: I think the only Patterson book I’ve ever read may have been the beginning of the Maximum Ride series.
@ sammy: I’m writing down “Year of the Flood,” and I’ve already read “Oryx and Crake.” If you want something equally painful as an Atwood book, read “Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang” by Kate Wilhelm.
@ Triplesmex: I plead the fifth. n_n

@ Druid OMG. I wholeheartedly disagree.

You are not veiwing time correctly, therefore you have come to an incorrect conclusion

HA. Nice. Well, it’s true that his stories do not contain any sort of flowing narrative, they’re just snippets of madness, so I suppose you’re right.

Yep jerk they publish both 40k and fantasy, with 40k far more prevalent. I’d suggest reading the Gaunt’s Ghosts series by Dan Abnett ( cool guy in person), and the Horus heresy series if you want to flesh out the history of the space marines and the rise of chaos. If you want a bit more humor with your action I cannot say enough about how much I love the Ciaphis Cain series by Sandy Mitchell. Overall I have only read about 2 books published by the library I didn’t instantly love.

If ya Interest on anime manga this is a good place to star

http://www.mangareader.net/

Bleachexile.com also has a very large manga database/reader.

Jerk, look up “Eternity’s End” by Jeffrey A. Carver. I discovered it at a book sale, and it’s quite good. It deals with transhumanism to an extent, and has a very interesting way of handling interstellar travel. So give it a read if you can find it.

Mobius, you just opened a world of hurt.

Bring it.

Who will win, Gabriel or Gabriel? Incidentally, The Andy McNab/Chris Ryan books (I can’t remember the difference, the one who wrote Land of Fire) are pretty good. Not the most uplifting books, so only read if you feel like reading about war, hobo army captains and downing whole bottles of vodka. So yeah

I read graphic novels. Here’s some novels i read ; watchmen, v for vendetta, the league of extraordinary gentlemen, and the killing joke.

And i recommend you to read watchmen. Best superhero novel ever.

Broken Sky was one I enjoyed. Also: Jer, you are letting your thread die!

If Jurassic Park is now on your list, add The Andromeda Strain and Sphere. Both very sci-fi, and miles better than the movies made out of them (I like to pretend the Andromeda Strain miniseries never existed). Bit of a warning about Michael Crichton: he writes technothrillers, so expect LOTS of technobabble.

For manga, a relatively unpopular one I enjoyed was Mushi-shi. Very surreal and highly metaphorical. They made an anime, a move and several games out of it… though he games seem pointless to me as the series is completely lacking in action.

Kudos on reading Uzumaki btw… a manga that, IMO, combines FUBAR and “I think it was made on drugs” in ways I never thought possible.

@ Nero: I’m trying to read more. ;_;
@ Carcharocles: In terms of mindfuckery, Berserk did a good job too. The way trolls and the demon army reproduce are particularly fucked up.
@ Ark: Alan Moore is a genius. <3 Every form of media eventually has someone that comes along and makes an innovation that marks it as a contribution to all literary forms. Alan Moore and what’s-his-face author of The Killing Joke did that with comics. And Neil Gaiman, who just beats everyone.

I’m actually writing all these down, you know.

@jerk : hey, can you tell me some good graphic novels by Neil Gaiman? I want to look for it.

also, read watchmen.

Jerk, you’re not the only person writing these down. I’ve been broed for weeks, aside from BCB.

Alan moore may be brilliant but he is also likely to bite you and attempt to sodamize your soul should you look at him the wrong way

curretnly reading his run of swamp thing, not a bad read

@ Ark: I’m more familiar with his novels than his graphic novels, but I hear good things about Sandman and his Alan Moore-inspired “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”

Oh, and The Wind on Fire Trilogy. On reflection, I probably read far too much for my own good

I’ll have to pull some stuff out to recommend to you tonight jerk!

Off the top of my head, I loved everything in the enders game saga. OSC amuses me, long as you try to avoid his religious overtones.

The there’s most of the books by Terry Pratchett, most of all (these are the only ones I’ve read, I’m sure the others are great as well) the Tiffany Aching series (Wee Free Men, Hat Made of Sky, Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight). Sorry I’m not being much help in the graphic novel side of things.

I’ve read a few books lately I could rant about in here, but I really only need this space for one. “This Immortal” also known as “…And Call Me Conrad” by Roger Zelazny. I was already a fan of Zelazny, “Lord of Light” will cram its foot straight down your throat with its own awesomeness, but you really have to appreciate the sci-fi classics that lent their names to three members of Berserk’s Godhand. To put it in perspective, this is the book that tied with Frank Herbert’s “Dune” for the 1966 Hugo Award. Yes, that “Dune.” “This Immortal” is very good. I don’t know that I’d say “Dune”-good, per se, but easily a classic in its own right.

@ Elliot: Your contributions are appreciated. I’m backlogged on graphic novels anyway.
@ Pantsu: I…try so hard to ignore those. I don’t know, I’m not a C.S. Lewis fan.

If there’s anyone in here who is a fan of C.S. Lewis and not Christian, I would like to hear how you tune it out to appreciate his writing. “LALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU” doesn’t work when I’m trying to read. ;_;

Jerk’s “Avoiding Uncomfortable Viewpoints 101.”

@Jerk: *raises hand* I read C.S., Lewis, am not christan, I focus on the fantasy aspects & I take everything at face value when I read as hard as it is just try not to think to deeply about it. Also helps that I’m agnostic, not atheist (or anything else non-christian for that manner).

How about Animorphs?

Nah, but srsly, ever read Brian Jacques’ amazing Redwall series? Or his Castaways of the Flying Dutchman?

Actually, in my opinion Animorphs rocked. I’m sure it’s not as bloodsy and gutsy as Jerk likes, but I thought they were pretty terrifying. But, then again, I was young.

Mhm. I used to get a little creeped out at the descriptions. But the ending made NO SENSE.

TO THIS DAY

I WANT TO MAKE SENSE OF IT AND FAIL

@ Scotch: You’re joking, right? This is the series that had people mutilated and gutted on a regular basis, if you’ll recall.

@ SushiJaguar: It was about Rocks Fall Everybody Dies Boohoo. But then I kind of grew out of it halfway through.

Oh… “spoiler alert.” :3

TL;DR all the thread, just read the first post.
If you stell want suggestions, I read all of Terry Pratchett’s DiscWorld series which is awesome. It’s mix of adventure and a lot of comedy in a medival/victorian fantasy world. Though not necessary as the books are all independent of each other, I’d recommend reading the series in order so you don’t miss the little inside jokes.

The best of of the series for me was “Pyramids”, though all the ones featuring the Ankh-Morpork City Watch are great, too.

Also, one of Terry Pratchett’s first books before he started the series is called “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch” or just “Good Omens” for short, which he wrote with Neil Gaiman (who was also at the beginning of his carrer back then). That books is a brilliant mixture of comedy and insights into human nature, set in the last few days of mankind as the apocalypse is about to unfold.

If you “TD;DR”ed -> read terry pratchett! awesome author.

Also I was thinking of reading “The Great Gatsby” as I read an abstract about it the other day. Has anyone read it? Is it worthwhile?

A friend of mine told me about Good Omens. I proceeded to read quite a bit of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, but I could never find that book. I need to get on that.

@ Jerk - I apologize, sir. I overestimate your bloodlust.