[joshs]

keylime, on Mar 9 2006, 05:04 PM, said:

I go through a lot of books concurrently through the year; I can't sit down and read ONE book through - brain doesn't work that way.

Thats what happens when you mix Havarti Cheese, Danish Ham, and Key Lime.

[Elianna]

Wow, a lot of people are mentioning authors whose books I couldn't stand.

For example, Kurt Vonnegut. Haven't read anything by him in 5 or 6 years, but I couldn't stand Slaughterhouse-Five or Breakfast of Champions. I don't remember them very well (who knows, maybe I'd change my mind) but I remember hating their depiction of women, and just feeling dirty and upset after reading them.

Isaac Asimov - Foundation series. I started reading the first book, and couldn't even stand to finish it, it was too aggravating. All this talk about something being math, when really i felt it was sociology (and statistics) and not too complex or interesting. And again, I couldn't stand the people in the books.

I guess that's the good thing about books: There are so many that reach so many different types of people, that we can agree/disagree about the merits of millions of books!

[Echognome]

I kind of feel the same way about Guns, Germs, and Steel. Fantastic ideas and was really interesting... and then went on and on and on. Just a bit too long winded for my tastes.

I found Why Do Elephants Have Big Ears more interesting.

[suokko]

Tad William's Shadowmarch
Ian Irven's The view from the mirror
Margareth Weiss' Death's gate cycle
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time

And of course the classic books - LoTR.


All these aren't jsut a book but series of books where story flows I love them. There is many other that I like a lot but these are from the top of the list.

All of them are magic fantasy with variant degree of magic. The world in Wheel of time and Death's gate cycle are built on magic and great powers unlike in our world. The magic is everyday happening in them that nearly everybody have to know how to use.
Shadowmarch has it's own setting where magic is very strong in the shadow world that is blocked from men
The view from the mirror has very strong magic but it is very restricted in the world that story begins from but there is hints that in other world magic flows freely and the mirracles are easy to archive.

All the books include riddless and many turnings before in the end good wins. Heroes born in middle of story from the small people who happend to make rigth choices. The victory can come with great lose. It is the victory that can be celebrate later.

[badderzboy]

Magician by Raymond Feist
Daughter of the Empire Series by Feist
Drizzt D'Urden/Menzoberran books by Salvatore
Mote in Gods Eye - Niven & Pournelle
Anything by Robert Heinlein
Foundation & Dune Series ( although both get wacky by the end!)
Legend by David Gemmell ( some of the others are great too).
Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis/Hickman.


Steve

[AceOfHeart]

LOTR trilogy

Momo--Michael Ende, i had it for literature in school love the simple story.

Harry Potter 1-6. Easy read

Sherlock holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle various books-- I like detective type stories, a classic


Newer books I like (technical ones)

--Excel 2003 programming(savior for my project)

[mike777]

Hmm based on these lists I do not understand why Bridge has such a nerdy image.


When Lord of the Rings and Excel are our favorite books .............
I see bridge players tend to not watch/read much science fiction.

[luke warm]

shogun is my all time favorite novel
lonesome dove is my all time 2nd favorite novel

[hrothgar]

Couple other books worth mentioning:

Last Call by Tim Powers. (Virutally anything by Tim Powers is worth reading, however, Last Call is especially good if you play bridge/power). I also strongly recommend his novel "Declare"

The Last Coin by James Blaylock

[luke warm]

Jlall, on Mar 10 2006, 01:47 PM, said:

or perhaps "Confessions of an Heiress" by Paris Hilton.

oh wow, that's HOT

[Mr. Dodgy]

amazed that Douglas Adams hasn't rated a mention yet. Nor Terry Pratchett.

[Blofeld]

Mr. Dodgy, on Mar 10 2006, 07:59 PM, said:

amazed that Douglas Adams hasn't rated a mention yet. Nor Terry Pratchett.

I mentioned both of them! Edit: Oops, no I missed Adams. Had meant to include h2g2 in my list.

Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang, is an absolutely fantastic set of short (speculative fiction) stories that I read recently. Probably makes my list.

[GeeGee]

The Aubrey/Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian, except for the last few.

The Heliconia trilogy of Brian Aldiss

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Most of Charles Dickens

[Badmonster]

I love too many books to pick.
However, I think it's important to point out that Terry Pratchett plays bridge. I didn't catch that the first time I read The Light Fantastic. This thread seemed as good a place as any to mention it.

By the way for those of you who have a developed sense of humor and like Pratchett try Christopher Moore.

[GeeGee]

Just finished reading 'The Worst Journey in the World' by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. It's about Scott's Antartic expedition of 1911-12, and it's an amazing read. The author was on the expedition.

The opening sentence is: -
' Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.'

Incidentally, Scott's journey to the pole (and almost back) is not the worst journey in the world of the title.

Geoff

[Gerben42]

Quote

However, I think it's important to point out that Terry Pratchett plays bridge. I didn't catch that the first time I read The Light Fantastic. This thread seemed as good a place as any to mention it.

Here are some relevant quotes from The Light Fantastic:

Quote

On the other side of the door the heavy voice said: 'DID YOU SAY HUMANS PLAY THIS FOR FUN?'

'Some of them get to be very good at it, yes. I'm only an amateur, I'm afraid.'

BUT THEY ONLY LIVE EIGHTY OR NINETY YEARS!

To read more, you'd need to buy the book hehe.

Okay one more:

Quote

'What, playing with cards?'

'It's a special kind of playing,' said Twoflower. 'It's called—' he hesitated. Language wasn't his strong point. 'In your language it's called a thing you put across a river, for example,' he concluded, 'I think.'

'Aqueduct?' hazarded Rincewind. 'Fishing line? Weir? Dam?'

'Yes, possibly.'

[Gerben42]

Quote

The Heliconia trilogy of Brian Aldiss

Hmm... Have not read it but just reread Foundation (Asimov!) and of course one of the planets mentioned there is Helicon. I'd think this would be suspicious if not both were named after a mountain in Greece...

[JeanR]

I love mystery books, and particularly those that are in a series. Some of my favorites are:

Elizabeth George
Ian Rankin
Ruth Rendall
James Grippando
Sue Grafton

[Aberlour10]

Kurt Diemberger ( a famous Austrian climber) - "K2- Traum und Schicksal"
(eng. "The Endless Knot - K2 Mountain of Dreams & Destiny")

A great mountaineer book about living and dying on K2 in the "black summer" of 1986

Robert