Books!

[Fenris]

OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU??

Good books come and go but Belgariad is forever. Thanks so much for mentioning them

They are the reason I got interested in books and fantasy genre and most things I do in my free time in general!

Those books are so cliche, but there is just SOMETHING about them that I like. I guess the dialogue and characters?

Same for me (they were the first Fantasy books I read). I think its mostly the characters, dialogue and writing in general. I've always found them to be very easy to read (both the Norwegian translation and the original English). I keep getting back to the series with some 3-4 years in between.

[OrigamiOwl]

She was Neil Gaiman's sort of mentor, too. They were good friends. She actually based some of Nick's characteristics (from Deep Secret) on Neil's habits XD And wrote Hexwood based on something he wrote, and dedicated it to him. (And Neil Gaiman in his turn is pretty close with Terry Pratchett! All my favourite authors know each other in some way, yay!)

Oh oh oh before she died, she and her editor put together a book full of essays and articles that she wrote. It's a treasure trove for writers and writers-to-be<3 Reflections on the Magic of Writing is what it's called. Reeeally good.

Give yourself a good block of time, and figure out that library. Go as slow as you need to Libraries are too good to be scared of<3 And no one minds if you ignore every one else. It's an introvert's place, after all.

Oooh, have you named a lizard after Howl?

Oooooh! I'll give them and the library a look! After Monday. Last-exam-Monday.
I usually looooove libraries but this one weirds me out..

And pffffft I wish I had a lizard!! He could be a lizard wizard! X'D and of course I would call him Howl!!!!!!!!

But alas. I meant a book spine ;______;

[Clayres]

The latest book I've read was The Peculiar from Stefan Bachmann. I bought it in the train station bookstore, because it stood out from the glittering books in the Fantasy shelf with his simple red leathery cover.

Reading it was really worth the while, two unlikely and equally reluctant heroes that are quite different from each other somehow need two overcome all the odds... Different from the usual stuff, but in a good way.

And all that talk about Howl makes me want to read the books, too, but first I need to find out where to get them from (sadly not from the libraries, I've checked already).
I've seen the Ghibli version of Howl's Moving Castle, but I couldn't quite get into it.

[Fimbulvarg]

The latest book I read was Pinet's Invitation to Oceanography. Worth reading for a number of reasons ... Yeah, I suppose people are mostly interested in talking about works of fiction.

[Sunflower]

The latest book I read was Pinet's Invitation to Oceanography. Worth reading for a number of reasons ... Yeah, I suppose people are mostly interested in talking about works of fiction.

No, go ahead and recommend a non-fiction book if you think it would interest the forum. 

I just re-read a good one:  "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" by Laurence Gonzales.
The author is a journalist who had written a lot of stories about adventure and disaster (plane crashes, mountaineering accidents) for magazines.  With this book, he stepped back to analyze the common factors among those who lived and died. 

Gonzales works in a lot of recent psychology research about "hot cognition" and "cold cognition" -- how your instincts and intellect work in tandem to either help you (e.g. as the Oresund Bridge began collapsing, Tuuri's steering reflexes probably kicked in crucial milliseconds before her intellect could take stock of what was happening) or trip you up (Emil foolishly pitching the Cattank's mirror; Lalli getting momentarily distracted before the Glurrrrr Monster grabbed him).

Even for risk-averse armchair adventurers like me, it's a fascinating read.  And it gives valuable insights into why people react the way they do in risky situations.

[ThisCat]

No, go ahead and recommend a non-fiction book if you think it would interest the forum. 

I just re-read a good one:  "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" by Laurence Gonzales.
The author is a journalist who had written a lot of stories about adventure and disaster (plane crashes, mountaineering accidents) for magazines.  With this book, he stepped back to analyze the common factors among those who lived and died. 

Gonzales works in a lot of recent psychology research about "hot cognition" and "cold cognition" -- how your instincts and intellect work in tandem to either help you (e.g. as the Oresund Bridge began collapsing, Tuuri's steering reflexes probably kicked in crucial milliseconds before her intellect could take stock of what was happening) or trip you up (Emil foolishly pitching the Cattank's mirror; Lalli getting momentarily distracted before the Glurrrrr Monster grabbed him).

Even for risk-averse armchair adventurers like me, it's a fascinating read.  And it gives valuable insights into why people react the way they do in risky situations.

In psychology I recommend Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. It taught me so much about my own mind.

Am I allowed to recommend Richard Dawkins here? Because his The Greatest Show on Earth and The Ancestor's Tale are both great reads for anyone interested in biology and evolution.

[Fen Shen]

Ha, I'm halfway through "The Ancestor's Tale", but I'm always reading it in small bits. The book is just too big to take it with me in the train, and unfortunately I don't get to read at home so often any more.

And I've seen "Thinking, fast and slow" many times, but never actually looked into it... one of my coworkers keeps it at the women's toilet  But honestly, who's got time to read on the toilet - at work?

[Noah O.]

Any of you fans of Arthur C. Clarke?

[Sunflower]

Any of you fans of Arthur C. Clarke?

For a given value of "fan."  I really like some of his stories (e.g. "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Monolith") and novels.  Others are classic Golden Age science-fiction -- that is, the characters are about as distinctive as a set of tin soldiers, but they pose interesting problems in engineering.  Clarke really knew his science, and he anticipated lots of modern technological developments -- including not just satellite TV, but the social impacts of enormous amounts of uncensored content suddenly pouring in. 

Is there something of his you can recommend?

[Noah O.]

For a given value of "fan."  I really like some of his stories (e.g. "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Monolith") and novels.  Others are classic Golden Age science-fiction -- that is, the characters are about as distinctive as a set of tin soldiers, but they pose interesting problems in engineering.  Clarke really knew his science, and he anticipated lots of modern technological developments -- including not just satellite TV, but the social impacts of enormous amounts of uncensored content suddenly pouring in. 

Is there something of his you can recommend?

Hm, well I just finished Rendezvous with Rama, but I'll admit that most of his characters are rather oatmeal-ish. I know that, and yet I can't help but love all of his stories.

[Eich]

For a given value of "fan."  I really like some of his stories (e.g. "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Monolith") and novels.  Others are classic Golden Age science-fiction -- that is, the characters are about as distinctive as a set of tin soldiers, but they pose interesting problems in engineering.  Clarke really knew his science, and he anticipated lots of modern technological developments -- including not just satellite TV, but the social impacts of enormous amounts of uncensored content suddenly pouring in. 

Is there something of his you can recommend?

I never really liked sci-fi, very much.  I think the last book I read was either the first book of the "Michael Vey" series (which featured my favorite superpower so, how could I not read it? ), which was okaaaaay, or "The Lost Gate."  Strangely, both sci-fi.  I remember liking "The Lost Gate," but it felt exactly the same as "Ender's Game," to me, except with superpowers.  Card has a thing for writing insufferable, self-bastardizing, family-hating, children for his lead characters.

[OrigamiOwl]

If anyone really likes over the top action/adventure books, I would recommend Matthew Reilly, specifically his Jack West stories and Temple. Man, the action is so crazy I don't even know X'D

[OrigamiOwl]

I was wondering whether to join this into my previous post, for neatness's sake.....but they're days apart.....oh, i'll just join them up later...

Anywho, I think I've already talked about Jonathan Stroud, but yesterday after my exam i went to the book store and bought his latest book: "The Whispering Skull"
[There was a really long and rambling description here, but it sucked because I was too excited and words just went everywhere...]
So far it's reeeeeeaaaaaally enjoyable. Not to everyone's tastes, but I really like it, and just thought I'd share ;P

[Lenny]

So I was in the library the other day, and came across a Temeraire book I hadn't read yet. And then I realised I'd forgotten all about that series for years. Now I'm on a rereading mission, heheh.

For those of you that love fantasy, and love dragons, and love history (but not for pedantic peoples - history is changed here), the Temeraire series is very good. It's set in the time of the Napoleonic wars (the first, I think...urgh, it's been a while) from the British perspective, and the entire premise of the series is how the world would be if sentient dragons existed throughout history. I've been enjoying the latest book immensely - it brings in a very interesting concept, but no spoilers here~

[Clayres]

So I was in the library the other day, and came across a Temeraire book I hadn't read yet. And then I realised I'd forgotten all about that series for years. Now I'm on a rereading mission, heheh.

For those of you that love fantasy, and love dragons, and love history (but not for pedantic peoples - history is changed here), the Temeraire series is very good. It's set in the time of the Napoleonic wars (the first, I think...urgh, it's been a while) from the British perspective, and the entire premise of the series is how the world would be if sentient dragons existed throughout history. I've been enjoying the latest book immensely - it brings in a very interesting concept, but no spoilers here~

His (or was it Her? bad at history and remembering stuff...) Majesty's Dragons! Yes! I also need to catch up with the latest release. But first, gotta read the continuation of The Peculiar, The Whatnot. So far not so bad. (What am I saying, I love it!)