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Books!; Yummy, yummy words
Topic Started: Nov 22 2011, 01:18 PM (545 Views)
TheOneInYellow
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The Audiophile
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Not posted here before, but these are the books that I feel are GREAT READS and are the best I have ever come across.:

  • The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King (seven books in major series, Marvel currently doing the backstory in hardback Comic book form :D ). Amongst the greatest epic stories written, and his magnum opus.
  • Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. An autobiography by Chang about her family history in China, from her grandmother, her parents, and herself living in pre/during/post Chairman Moa. The best book I have ever read, but it is a pretty devastating read and a hardcore book :(( .
  • The Egyptian Series by Wilbur Smith (four books). Pretty awesome reads, with great historical accuracy blended with stupidly good amounts of superstition and supernatural forces, but he is a big pervert, sometimes ANNOYINGLY so...>_>.
  • Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. The film was good, the Manga was...weird, but the original novel is seriously epic, and very political about issues prevalent in Japan circa the late '90's. Also, very violent and bloody throughout the book :thumbup: .
  • The Sprawl Trilogy by William Bibson (three books: Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive). The second best cyberpunk story I have read, though I still need to read the third book. This series influenced, alongside Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell and Philp K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, our current sci-fi industry :nod: . It was also one part of four works that the Wachowski Brothers took influence from to create The Matrix, the other three were Katsuhiro Otomo' Akira, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's Neon Genesis Evangelion (also includes the original anime TV series by Hideaki Anno), and Ghost in the Shell :D .
  • Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow (or in the Japanese way of writing surnames first, Shirow Masamune. Also, this is his 'pen name', his real name is Masanori Ota) (Ghost in the Shell by Mamoru Oshii was one of four anime films that I watched for the first time, and I decided to read the manga that it was based of. This, then, is also my first real manga book, and though highly difficult to read, especially the manga sequel's, the cyberpunk noire backdrop and police-style investigations was incredibly detailed and startling. The series went supernova with the film and its sequel, and the alternate universe anime series is still regarded as one of the best anime TV series ever produced. Will always be held dear to my heart. As a second point, the original film's opening credits scene had green lettering moving horizontally; this directly influenced and was used by the Wachowski Brothers for their film The Matrix, which had similar green lettering moving vertically instead!
  • Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba. Seriously, I have read much manga and watched a lot of anime to know that many people still frown upon them due to fan service elements or OTT violence/mecha/supernatural/and so forth. This series, also adapted as an anime, was a massive kick to the anime industry due to its story line. You have the Shinagami (Death Gods), separated from the human world, who use Death Notes to write human names in to kill them (usually by heart attack). They are not evil; it's part of their job. One shinagami has two books (he should only have one), and he supposedly drops one into the human world (he did this for a laugh. No, seriously). A human school boy picks it up (Light Yagami). What happens, he becomes a super-intelligent serial killer, who tries to do justice against those who he deems evil. Not in a stupid anime way, but in a cold-calculating bastard type of way using his incredibly IQ and wits, where in which he calculates everything, EVERYTHING, to make sure the right criminals he deems worth killing, and how to keep himself a secret from those finding out. INTERPOL cannot figure out why so many people around the world have cardiac arrest, even those in police protection, forgotten by the rest of the world. They enlist a shadowy detective who they use ONLY for the most difficult crimes ever conducted (detective goes by the name L). They can never contact him, but he contacts INTERPOL. He deduces where the serial killer is killing from (the area in the world), conducts a test to prove it (someone actually dies in the test), and a race occurs between the two, using wits, detective skills, and other pawns to see who catches who.
    If there was ever a Japanese type of medium to convince that anime/manga is not full of panties and sex and curtsey shit, this is IT. I also know most won't buy the series or watch the anime, so here is a link to read online. Don't thank me, and DON'T TELL ANYONE, all right? Good. Moving along.... :whistle:
  • Watchmen by Alan Moore. Alright, I am going to ask this; do I really, REALLY, need to explain this to ANYONE at all? No, GOOD. As a note, the hardback version is far superior to the paperback version, both in art quality and size, and has extra content, but is OBSCENELY priced. Glad that my copy was signed then by Alan Moore! :P
I can't remember any other literature to list now because my head hurts using all this BBCode shit (I can tell that some of you are rejoicing at this moment of time), but I hope that some of this graces your eyes and fingers, as these are some exceptional books that have received critical acclaim and has influenced me greatly, especially my gaming life.

Happy reading ^_^
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Braythor
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TheOneInYellow
Dec 7 2011, 02:03 PM
Not posted here before, but these are the books that I feel are GREAT READS and are the best I have ever come across.:

  • The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King (seven books in major series, Marvel currently doing the backstory in hardback Comic book form :D ). Amongst the greatest epic stories written, and his magnum opus.


Totally agree with that. I was fortunate in that, despite being a King fan since I was about 10, I didn't read the DT books until about a year ago so (a) I didn't have to wait for any to come out, and could instead read them all one after the other, (b) I'd read the Stand for the second time about a month or so beforehand, and Salem's Lot before that, which really enhanced the DT story for me, and (c) I now enjoy spotting all the stuff in his other work that's also in the Dark Tower books, eg at the moment I'm reading Insomnia, which has some very closely connected stuff in it.

Edited by Braythor, Dec 7 2011, 02:14 PM.
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snarwhal
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The Dark Tower was great. I've had to wait for all of them since the Wastelands. Everyone in Orono was very worried when he was run over by a car in 1999. Lots of stories of the unfinished Dark Tower Series on the local news then. I really enjoyed the scary appearances of The Crimson King in The Stand and Eyes of the Dragon. Very fun portrayal of how dogs get around in the world in that novel. Also, when I encountered this creature, I immediately thought of Oy!

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Binturong
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The Gengo
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I really enjoy Murakami Haruki - currently reading 1Q84. I've read every thing he has written that has been translated -AND- released in the states. There are however four books that were translated into English that have never been sold outside of Japan. I recently got my hands on one of them (haven't yet read it), and I am actively trying to get the other three. Amazon Japan won't ship them out of the country for some reason.

I also love Vonnegut. Again, read everything I could get my hands on. I even have a signed first edition of Bluebeard, in addition to a first edition of Cat's Cradle.

Another author I've read quite a bit by is Robert Anton Wilson.

But there are many authors that have individual books that stand out.
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snickerdoodle
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i've only read two stephen king books - The Green Mile (one of my all time favorite books, hands down) and Lisey's Story. that was weird.
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porottaja
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TheOneInYellow
Dec 7 2011, 02:03 PM
  • Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba. Seriously, I have read much manga and watched a lot of anime to know that many people still frown upon them due to fan service elements or OTT violence/mecha/supernatural/and so forth. This series, also adapted as an anime, was a massive kick to the anime industry due to its story line. You have the Shinagami (Death Gods), separated from the human world, who use Death Notes to write human names in to kill them (usually by heart attack). They are not evil; it's part of their job. One shinagami has two books (he should only have one), and he supposedly drops one into the human world (he did this for a laugh. No, seriously). A human school boy picks it up (Light Yagami). What happens, he becomes a super-intelligent serial killer, who tries to do justice against those who he deems evil. Not in a stupid anime way, but in a cold-calculating bastard type of way using his incredibly IQ and wits, where in which he calculates everything, EVERYTHING, to make sure the right criminals he deems worth killing, and how to keep himself a secret from those finding out. INTERPOL cannot figure out why so many people around the world have cardiac arrest, even those in police protection, forgotten by the rest of the world. They enlist a shadowy detective who they use ONLY for the most difficult crimes ever conducted (detective goes by the name L). They can never contact him, but he contacts INTERPOL. He deduces where the serial killer is killing from (the area in the world), conducts a test to prove it (someone actually dies in the test), and a race occurs between the two, using wits, detective skills, and other pawns to see who catches who.
    If there was ever a Japanese type of medium to convince that anime/manga is not full of panties and sex and curtsey shit, this is IT. I also know most won't buy the series or watch the anime, so here is a link to read online. Don't thank me, and DON'T TELL ANYONE, all right? Good. Moving along.... :whistle:
Death Note is unbelievably clever and great series.

*cough*My avatar*cough*
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PhoenixVakarian
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i am a huge fan of Phillip Pullman, i love his dark materials trilogy, really epic books, and i got on to a writer called G.P Taylor through phillip, G.P is from yorkshire, and he writes amazing fantasy novels, its alot more dark-edged then most fantasy, and it tackles alot of underlying subjects, but it all just comes together amzingly. I would definately recommend him, if you're interested, start on a book of his called Wormwood :)

Ploughing through the halo novels at the moment, then hopefully going to get started on the mass effect novels, maybe the gears books aswell. I think the novels that are based of games are always great, and give so much to the experience of the games aswell.

Plus, we cant forget classic sci-fi novles like enders game and 1984 XD
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snickerdoodle
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LC_NOBLE_7
Dec 7 2011, 04:12 PM
Plus, we cant forget classic sci-fi novles like enders game and 1984 XD
:five: for Ender's Game! also one of my favorites. :love:
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ASLANS R0AR
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reading Halo: Glasslands currently with Halo: Cryptum in the queue. Enjoying Glasslands, but not as good as Ghosts of Onyx (which it is a sequel to)
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TheOneInYellow
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The Audiophile
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@ Snarwhal: :cloud9: KAWAIIIIIII!!!! <3 I WANT A BILLY-BUMBLER!!! :wuv:

@ Snicks: If you have the time, read the Dark Tower series. Braythor hit a point that in reading other King books, he experiences greater story of the DT series. That's because EVERY Stephen King book IS part of the DT series, they are offshoot alternate realities of many worlds circling the Dark Tower itself, and many characters re-appear in many of the books. In fact, The Man in Black is probably the most overused character King uses, and he goes into other worlds under different pseudonyms and alias, such as Walter o'Dim (I won't reveal the other names due to spoilers).
Also, I have yet to read The Green Mile, so yeah, I am at a significant litreaturley loss :bag:

@ Poro: Yes, I know you love Death Note, so much so that you have a significant character as your avatar called:
Spoiler: click to toggle

@ Gengo23: I now have a new book to read, so thanks for the heads up (sourcing a copy of 1Q84 NOA!!), and I know of Vonnegut, so I shall see if my local libray has any books from him. :thnx:

@ LC Noble: One of my friends years ago recommended to read Phillip Pullman, so again, his books are also on my 'to read ASAP' list, as is EVERY SINGLE Halo book. I also feel ashemed that I have not read Ender's Game or 1984 (though I now almost everything about 1984 from friends/interwebz, and still think the cartoon's ending was SHIT). On that note, I might as well throw in Heller's Catch-22. Sigh...
Edited by TheOneInYellow, Dec 7 2011, 05:02 PM.
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porottaja
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Too bad Halo books aren't sold in Finland and shipping from abroad is so damn complicated and expensive.
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snickerdoodle
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ehhhh i think the stephen king series is very far down on my list, if i even read them at all. i'm not huge on horror novels so they tend to take a low priority, really.

i actually want to try to read the halo books so i got the first one on my kindle, now to read it.
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Scruff 815
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The Arbiter
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Death Note - I have seen the first film, and I enjoyed it greatly. I have the second one stored away on my Sky+ box awaiting me. I'm not really a fan of comics graphic novels though; I much prefer either film or plain text as a storytelling medium; so it's unlikely I'll ever read the Manga.

Philip Pullman eh? His Dark Materials was great, I especially loved how none of the language in the first book is explained until the second one, and religious significance yadda yadda, but the ending to the trilogy made me want to burn every book ever written. I have yet to find anyone who agrees with me, but I think the ending to the HDM trilogy is SUCH a pointless cop-out and it made me feel like reading the whole series was a complete waste of my fucking time. Grr. :curse:
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porottaja
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Scruff 815
Dec 7 2011, 06:17 PM
I much prefer either film or plain text as a storytelling medium; so it's unlikely I'll ever read the Manga.
Watch the anime?
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Scruff 815
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porottaja
Dec 7 2011, 06:27 PM
Scruff 815
Dec 7 2011, 06:17 PM
I much prefer either film or plain text as a storytelling medium; so it's unlikely I'll ever read the Manga.
Watch the anime?
Perhaps. I dunno, I really liked the movie, I don't feel like it really needed improving on :)
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CallUpChuck
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I mainly read nonfiction books if not downright textbooks. Here's a list of just one shelf:

The Red Queen - Matt Ridley. book on sex and evolution; sexual selection, not natural selection
For the Glory of God - Rodney Stark. book about religion, more specifically monotheism, perpetuating advances in technology and human rights
Politics & Technology - John Street. well, politics and technology!
Cocaine - Dominic Streatfeild. from the birth of cocaine to its criminalization in the West
The Firm - John Grisham. young lawyer sucked into a corrupt law firm
Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes. a strong government!
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse. promotes promiscuity and chasing the almighty dollar, at least to me
Trade-Offs - Harold Winter. political economy
Marketplace of the Gods - Larry Withim. Love this book, religion = economics
Beer & Circus - Murray Sperber. Collegiate athletics is really professional athletics.
The Invisible Hook - Peter Leeson. The invisible hand, with pirates, arrrrg!
Second Treatise of Government - John Locke. yep
The Universe in a Nutshell - Stephen Hawking. Love theoretical astrophysics
The Supreme Court - various authors. A big 500 page history book about the US Supreme Court
The Road to Reality - Roger Penrose. love Penrose, huge 1000 page book that "dumbs down" all the current laws of the universe.
Man, the State and War - Kenneth Waltz. Political realist, levels of analysis
That Used to be Us - Thomas Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum. economists on the status of U.S. today
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The Gengo
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Yellow,

If you have never read Murakami before, you might start with Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World. It is still my favorite by him and I think it is one of his most accessible books. Then again, it might sour you on his other works as well. While he is not quite a traditional Japanese author - his books would not be considered Western either.

IF I were to categorize his books into three different styles (there are short stories and non-fiction, not included here) they would be (with examples):

Action / Adventure- Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World - The Wild Sheep Chase - Dance, Dance, Dance

Surreal Romance - South of the Border, West of the Sun - Norwegian Wood - Sputnik Sweetheart

Surreal Epics - Windup Bird Chronicle - Kafka on the Shore - 1Q84

The epics are usually comprised of three volumes, and while all have a surface story - they are also allegories for larger issues from Japanese history. Windup Bird Chronicle for example has a lot of oblique commentary on Japan's behavior in WWII.
Edited by The Gengo, Dec 7 2011, 09:20 PM.
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snickerdoodle
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thanks to cuddlebug, i now want to reread the Chronicles of Narnia. <3
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TheOneInYellow
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I shall take your advice, and proceed to acquire said books from my library to try them out. :thumbup:
I <3 Western and Eastern books, no problems there, but I also like many types of genres; for me, a book succeeds if it can simply immerse me into the narrative. That is my only one rule, so yeah, I don't mind romance, action, gratuitous violence, sexualised narratives, history, supernatural, horror, political, surreal, socio-political, western, whatever. It must be unique and well written, with good inflections in the writing style, to allow me to bathe into its world.

I will read Murakami's work starting with 1Q84, then his action/adventure stuff, then his romance. Hopefully I can start this week...

So yeah, :thnx:
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snarwhal
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snickerdoodle
Dec 7 2011, 05:37 PM
ehhhh i think the stephen king series is very far down on my list, if i even read them at all. i'm not huge on horror novels so they tend to take a low priority, really.

i actually want to try to read the halo books so i got the first one on my kindle, now to read it.
The Dark Tower isn't horror though some of the characters are quite creepy. It's more of a post-apocalyptic, fantasy, western story. The first three novels are pretty short and quite good. You'll never look at a lobster the same way again!
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