Scots Taffer on 23/4/2009 at 03:06

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I'm looking for a reason to start reading again people, I used to enjoy it, read a bad batch of books for maybe a year or so straight that just put me right off the horse. So, I'm looking for books that people have valued above all others for their repeat reading and also what you get out of the book.

I don't have many that fall into that category because I'm not a voracious reader but some books that I'd throw into that category:


* Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: brilliantly written, surreal, bizarre, funny as hell yet poignant and reflective in moments.
* Carter Beats The Devil: pseudo-historical rousingly written story.
* Without Remorse: brutal hard-nosed revenge story.
* A Game of Thrones: medieval throne political potboiler ON ACID.
* To Kill A Mockingbird: excellently conceived and written tale of childhood realisation and of the smallmindedness of those who should know better.


Those that don't make the cut are Focault's Pendulum (brilliant but dense), Altered Carbon (gritty, violent but not much to return to), among others.

Anyway, share yours. I'm looking for great things here.

greypatch3 on 23/4/2009 at 04:08

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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I really should say Hitchhiker's, but I think I've actually read Restaurant more times. Life, The Universe, and Everything has its moments, too (the alien that is so bored that it spends its life insulting each and every being in alphabetical order is just such a great idea). They're sarcastically comical, and I like that, but they're also smart. I have to admit, though, ever since they got put onto college reading lists, I've felt bad. Nobody should EVER be forced to read them; they should be enjoyed.

All Terry Pratchett, but especially the City Watch series of books. But something tells me everyone here reads all those anyway, so, moving on...

Moby Dick is up there, and though I had to read it for a class and I admit it is exceptionally long-winded and full of digressions, I actually liked it. Melville's style may be archaic now, but he is masterful of the English language, and some of the digressions in Moby Dick are interesting side stories. But skip over the "These are the different types of whales" chapters unless you absolutely can't stand not reading them.

Poe and Lovecraft are good, as is Dashiell Hammett...only read one of Hammett's short stories, but he's really the originator of the noir detective style that's become such a cliche. Thing is, his style is eminently readable, and he has a great sense of humor. I also recently read a short story called "Wake Not the Dead" by Johann Ludwig Tieck. The story is pedestrian in a lot of ways (a man loses his love, a sorcerer brings her back from the dead, she is an evil vampire, etc.), but has some great quotes: The Sorcerer at one point says, "Consider too, how deep the abyss between life and death; across this, my power can build a bridge, but it can never fill up the frightful chasm." As the protagonist is escaping during a storm, the description reads, "The storm played wildly with the fantastic clouds...it roared among the summits of the oaks as if uttering a voice of fury, while its hollow sound rebounding among the distant hills, seemed as the moans of a departing sinner, or as the faint cry of some wretch expiring under the murderer's hand..."

The Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child series starring Agent Pendergast is good, though the later books are slipping a bit in quality. The first book is The Relic (yes, the basis for the 1996 movie; no, it's much better than that), but I think the best one is "Still Life with Crows," the first one I read. It's creepy, sinister, and doesn't require you to be familiar with the other books to enjoy it.

Also, check out my signature; there's an interesting book on The Circle that might be worth reading...:cheeky:

june gloom on 23/4/2009 at 04:13

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If it's not 80s or 00s William Gibson I'm not interested.

Well okay, I also really liked the Strugatsky brothers' Roadside Picnic but that's 'cuz I'm a big queer for what I call the "Stalker mythos"- though I'm using mythos the wrong way. By which I mean, Roadside Picnic, followed by the Tarkovsky film Stalker, followed by the Stalker PC games. All are divorced from each other in terms of universe, but all share common themes and settings. It's kind of like System Shock 1 and especially 2 having an influence on games later, like Deus Ex (mostly the ocean lab, though an argument could be made for the entire game), Alien versus Predator 2's Marine mode, Doom 3, Bioshock (obviously), Dead Space... probably a few others I haven't thought of.

Oh, and before I forget- House of Leaves. It's very reader unfriendly, but if you can wade through it it's ultimately a very satisfying work. Blame that article about the Cradle for me looking into the book.

rachel on 23/4/2009 at 04:25

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The Great Gatsby 2'ed.

Mostly anything by Jules Vernes.

Foucault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

For sci-fi, Revelation Space

Stitch on 23/4/2009 at 05:33

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Michael fucking Chabon

Also: excellent books in op, you got some taste there bud

edit: except for the george martin horseshit

edit edit: oh wait he didn't go worthless until book three nevermind

edit edit edit: will read everything in Aja's list before summer is upon us.

edit edit edit edit: House of Leaves is a pile of shit, can we please try to aim higher kthnx

also: currently reading The Road, christ