Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Okay, this thread is to talk about books or manga. Comics too if you want, but I’m not interested in those so much as the other two.

ANYWAY, I constantly browse the internet for science fiction reading suggestions because, I’ll be honest, most of those literary circles are fairly incestuous. If you’ve found one list, you’ve found 75% of every other recommended reading list online.

I actually enjoy some things more when people hype them up for me first. Doesn’t always work, but I like it when someone sells me on a story. I have already whored out Berserk to anyone who will listen. So far, none of them seem disappointed so…yeah: if you haven’t, go read Berserk. It will knock your teeth in and make you like it.

But I digress. If you’ve got a suggestion for me, I would love to hear it. Obscure science fiction and violent horror manga are usually my flavor, but I’m open to suggestion. Hell, Gabe got me to read “The World God Only Knows” and I enjoy the Hell out of that too.

I am currently reading “Gantz” on the manga side. It’s…okay. It has its moments. I’ll tell you what’s fucking better than okay, and that’s what I’m reading on the book side: “The Fuller Memorandum.” It’s hard to describe except to say that the main character has an iPhone modified to hack into magic seals and his girlfriend has a violin made entirely from the bones of innocents (probably children) who were tortured to death and also has unspeakable superpowers too.

I also read Uzimaki lately. That’s some good old high octane nightmare fuel. For anyone who’s read that, I was listening to the climax of “Season of the Witch” during the climax of the pregnancy arc. And that’s all I can safely say about that.

So bring me your tired, your poor, your amorphous huddled non-Euclidean masses yearning to breathe free.

The Hitchhicker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Really halarious and kind of thought provoking.

Probability Moon, The Giver, Ender’s Series, and A Wrinkle in Time…..for starters. All Sci-fi

Oh…and “Childhood’s End”

Starting with manga, please tell me you’ve read/are reading Mirai Nikki. If not, get on that. Not horribly gory, but every character is insane or getting there. I’m sure some people might find it a little silly, but I am devoted to it.

As for books, you might like Chuck Palahniuk. Very violent and sexual. He is a little bit ranty for me but when he gets to it its perfect. My favorite is Kurt Vonnegut. His books are all very bleak, nihlistic, and somehow very cheery. He is the one who convinced me to be an avid evolutionist, so if you’re religious, nevermind.

@xIrony, if you like Adams, you’d like Vonnegut. Very much in the same vein but not as silly.

I’m sure you’ve already heard of/gotten bored with all of these, but I do what I can.

Dune is a very good Sci-fi book. I’ve got three book of the series (the prequels) and man, is it awesome!

Oh and a nice little funny online Sci-fi comic is called Spacetrawler.

Read Edgar Allen Poe’s anthologies… I read them for a laugh, and have now re-read them six times. Really thought-provoking stuff.
Also, don’t bother with Hitchhiker’s Guide beyond the third book; it just becomes a random series of disconnected events after tat.

I know you will hate me for these suggestions, but Moby Dick (The Whale) and Les Misérables are fantastic books. ^_^

I would also advise you to check out Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, if you have not already. They are also, possibly, not in your vein, but nonetheless they are great literary endeavours. A particular book I might suggest is Hogfather (‘tis the season), or Going Postal.

Terry Pratchett is the greatest literary genius that Man has seen for nigh on twenty years ^_^ Alzheimer’s hasn’t stopped him from producing amazing works of literature, and for that I bow down to him. I recommend starting with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, as it introduces the whole world of his; his characters sort of wind between all the books, making cameo appearances etc. It’s exactly Jerk’s style of humour.

Ok, lets see…

As a werewolf fan i’ve only come across one book thats really worth reading. It’s called Blood and Chocolate. I know they made crappy movie of it so please ignore that. Really nice emotional book with a hint of murder miststery. a tale of the differenct between lust and love, i highly recommend it.

Another book i highly recomend, Jurassic Park. The movie was good but it dosn’t hold a candle to the book. the book uses a large amont science behind the plot. He really makes you feel like this could happen and is possible. Get the book and read it, Now. also the sequal is good, Lost World. Not as good a the first but still uses the scientific method of the first.

Lats all for this post, i’ll wrack my brains for all the good ones and also dig through my e-mail for the ones Shannon recommended.

you’ve probably all the stuff i have *500,000,000,000 but one of the less well known ones that was sorta decent was calculating god by robert sawyer.

Dan Brown…that’s all i gotta say…

Whenever you say Sci-Fi, I thought Star Wars, I have lots of those books =D

A haiku to describe all of Dan Brown’s books:

Big conspiracy
Europeans are evil
Give me your money

^_^

I’d recommend Stephen King myself, The Stand is a great book & the original book version of The Shining is much better than the movie (and I liked the movie).

Books:
The Seems series
Charlie Bone series
Keys to The Kingdom series

Manga:
Sgt. Frog series

Light, Jerk isn’t a twelve year old.

@sammy That’s as obvious to me as the sun in the sky. I am fourteen and those are books I like. Now stop putting annoying comments shit-head.

I think Jerk was looking for suggestions to fit the criteria he is interested in, more so than a personal selection of tweenager reads.

snoop dogg did once say,
“when the pimp’s in the crib ma,
drop it like it’s hot”

that’s my favorite haiku

Jerk is over twenty years older than you, in that case. Since we are recommending books for HIM, YOUR interests are irrelevant at this stage. And insulting me is really pointless.

*Ten. Not twenty. ^_^

Oops *hides face*

maximum ride (trilogy) by james patterson

i wish jerk was my grandpa too.

@ xIronny: I’ve read the first book, but I wasn’t sure I could really get into the series. Iunno, maybe I should since the whole thing was a pretty big deal.

@ Purin: Oh yes, the Ender’s series is already a pretty high priority for me, and Childhood’s End is a classic. Oh fuck, you know, I hate talking about Ender’s Game sometimes because I had a first edition copy of it signed for my then-girlfriend’s birthday (my sister is a childhood friend of Card’s niece). IT SLIPPED RIGHT THROUGH MY FINGERS x[

@ Scotch: I’ve heard good things about Palahnuik’s short stories. I probably will pick up something by him early next year. Our senses of humor are similar. n_n

@ Tyas Master: Seriously? I’ve already read the first Dune and I have the entire rest of the series checked out now and I was hoping it’d be good. All the Herbert stuff anyway. We… don’t talk about his son.

@ sammy: I spent the first two weeks in my first apartment with an infected wisdom hole (or whatever you call where your wisdom teeth should be), no internet and a copy of Poe’s complete works. Yet the only coherent memory I have of that time is popping painkillers and going wandering around campus and the look on the face of the driver that almost hit the stoned retard on the bicycle. :.D I need to pick up Terry Pratchett.

@ ILB: “Les Miserables” was one of the best books I’ve ever read. I do like Victor Hugo.

@ (nameless): I read a lot of Stephen King as a kid. The Stand is where I picked up a fetish for post-apocalyptic literature (and in cinema as well, to be honest).

@ Light: I’ll look into those. I feel that some of the people in here would be severely disappointed in me if they knew all the manga that I have tabs on. :.D

@ Baconator: I used to read those. Some of my favorite writers have come out of the Star Wars scene. The guys at Penny Arcade made some crack about Harlan Ellison writing some of those when they met him in person, and I guess it made him pretty mad. Like Tycho can even pretend not to have been influence by the guy. But yeah, I’m not going to pull any elitist douche crap like that.

@ Drakes: Maximum Ride, you say? Hm. Iunno. It’s probably been a decade since I touched anything by Patterson, but maybe it’s time I started.

@ Lark: DUH! Shit, Jurassic Park should’ve been on my list in the first place. What kind of bullshit are the critics trying to pull by keeping that one off the list. Hell, practically no one outside a laboratory could tell you what DNA was until they made that into a movie.

I think I want the Prose Edda to be the first book I read next year. I have a thing about starting the year with some kind of epic. I at least need some well-told version of the Gotterdamerung.

You have read Les Misérables? I thought you avoided books from that age in general. ^_^

But I am glad you agree. That is, quite possibly, my favourite book of all time.

Books:
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Mostly anything by Chuck Palahniuk as well.

As for horror manga, which is the only kind I can stand to read anymore, if you haven’t looked into more of Junji Ito’s stuff, you should for sure. Mail is also pretty okay, along with Parasyte.
My favorite though would have to be the Fuan no Tane series. Some of the stories have left me sleepless for a day or so.

Trigun. Thats all there is to say.

Ok, manga i regedmend.

Immortal Rain. a tragedy/romance. The tale of a man who has been cursed and his search for a way to save himself and humanity. Sounds cleci right? Not quit so, i highly suggest that this be read.

Fruits Basket. I know, but it really is a good story and should be read. A little sappy but i truly enjoyed it.

@ ILB: GRRRRR I didn’t always. I have a list of every book I’ve read since 2005.
@ Carmen: That’s exactly the kind of recommendation I’ve been looking for. :.D
@ snoregore: Trigun Maximum?
@ Lark: Maybe not. I mean, I can’t comment obviously. I haven’t read either yet. Maybe I should.

I just finished the Fuller Memorandum. There is so much badass about this book I wouldn’t know where to start except that I’m a little angry at how it petered out toward the end. GO FIGURE.

Also, on a slightly related note, the writing and acting and story in Front Mission Evolved are all fucking terrible. Cliche shit abound. At least the story of Front Mission First was hauntingly tragic. I mean, the kind of revelations that turn your stomach long after the game is over. The gameplay in the former is sufficiently awesome to make up for the terrible story.

Oh well. The styles of Les Misérables and Moby Dick are wholly different, though, so I can understand it if you do not like the latter. ^_^

H. P. Lovecraft. You can’t talk horror and forget him.

Lovecraft, Ellison, and Carroll.

@ ILB: Because Herman Melville is terrible and dull where Victor Hugo is compelling and intelligent.

@ Gameking: Well, obviously. I’m pretty sure I’ve read everything by him, so far, and yet not Poe for some reason.

@ Klaus: I’ve just read Ellison’s 35-year anthology, but even that’s pretty lacking. It’s fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but you really can’t fit all of his best works into one work under two thousand pages.

Yeah, it’s also sad because “best works” is completely subjective, and they’re all good. It’s a shame there isn’t a COMPLETE collection, only authoritative assemblages. Of course, to compile every single one of his works would be like…there’s just too many.

Ehe. I do not think it is, in any way, correct to call Herman Melville “unintelligent”. ^_^

But fair enough, it is your choice. Now, I had another book I wanted to suggest but it seems that I have forgotten about it…

@ Klaus: You really have to make an anthology of his anthologies. I mean, that anthology didn’t have “The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World.” It sure as Hell had “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” though, and plenty of commentary by Ellison himself.

@ ILB: I don’t think he’s unintelligent so much as I think Hugo is smarter than he is, and at the very least a much better storyteller.

As far as science fiction, Isaac Asimov is a pioneer. If you saw the movie “I Robot”, that’s almost like a fan fiction compared to his actual book in terms of story. Also, I forget who it’s by but “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” is a good read, too.

I can agree about the storytelling. Moby Dick sometimes loses the pace, and the long expository chapters are a bit boring from time to time. Again, I think Les Misérables is a much better book (did I say that before? That is what I think, either way ^_^), but The Whale is interesting to me because of its setting. The many snippets of information also catch my attention, so I find myself enjoying it.

@ Gameking: Haven’t read the Robot series yet, but most of the Foundation series and also nearly everything by Robert Heinlein. (“The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” is the best book I’d read, a good comparison would be a latter-day Nebula winner, “Moving Mars,” by Greg Bear who is a subject unto himself.)

@ ILB: I’m honestly probably just comparing it to what I’ve read of “Bartleby the Scribner” if I’m thinking of the right name. That story was like nails on a chalkboard, I couldn’t endure an entire book of that narrative.

Try Honor Harrington. Here:
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/01- HonorverseCD/HonorverseCD/
Let me know if you like, either here or RC.

Mhm. Again, do as you wish. I must say that I still think Moby Dick is worth a read, though. ^_^

I. Hated. Moby Dick. GRRRRRR. darn whale >:[

I enjoyed the sword of truth series by Terry Goodkind actually, (Which is much, muuuuuuuccccccch better than the silly TV adaptation Legend of the Seeker) but if you really want a long and great series, so far The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan is pretty damn good.

…..Also Atlas Shrugged is a masterpiece

Yes, I used to churn through books of crazy sizes in like a week or so, reading sporadically. It’s was great!

Legacy of the Aldenata series, by John Ringo.

First book is “A Hymn Before Battle.”

I cannot let words describe such amazing writing. You owe it to your Scifi nature to check it out. Aliens are real, they’ll be on Earth in a few years, you can either ask us for your wet-dream weapons of future and fight them for us, or you can wait for them to eat all of you in a few years.

@ Nero: That author was on my original booklist but didn’t survive the transition because they weren’t mentioned in the lists I used for other recommendation.
@ ILB: Fiiiiiine ;_; I suppose I do have to read it if only so I can pass judgment.
@ Ace: Hahaha, I ran into my boss outside of work yesterday and she suggested Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead.
@ Joobles: I’m writing that one down. All my wet-dream future weapons are Vernor Vinge-inspired gigadeath-inducing explosives or Atrocity Archives-styled blood magic. Stross also introduced me to causality violation weaponry, that magnificent bearded bastard. <3

No, do not read it because I forced you into it. If you do not want to, then do not. ^_^

I find that forcing myself to read things I do not want to read is usually better for my intellectual health in the long run, otherwise I’ll just be an insulated literary coward.

Ah, that is a wise attitude. But I really do not want to force you into anything. ^_^