• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Your favourite novels

 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 579
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Recently i finished Atlas Shrugged.Its my favourite reading so far.
I liked The Fountainhead,The Alchemist as well intersting.Illusions rather disappointed me.Now i am reading Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.
What about you?
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 8945
Firefox Browser Spring Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I dont read novels.
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 3640
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Nowadays I am reading "Satya Na Prayogo", which is auobiography of Gandhi in Gujarati.
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: Chetan Parekh ]
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 389
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I am reading Blink by Malcom Gladwell. At first it was interesting but later I got bored so I am planning to stop reading it. Now I am planning to read "Tipping Point" by the same author.

-- Srikanth
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 5399
1
Spring Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by Chetan Parekh:
Nowadays I am reading "Satya Na Prayogo", which is auobiography of Gandhi in Gujarati.



Have you read "Satyagraha in South Africa" ??

This book changed my views about M. Gandhi ji, now I respect him more than I used to do.

I heard that "The Making of the Mahatma" by Shayam Benegal is based on the mention novel.
 
R K Singh
Ranch Hand
Posts: 5399
1
Spring Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by agrah upadhyay:
Recently i finished Atlas Shrugged.Its my favourite reading so far.



I liked Fountainhead better than Atlas ..

I think, She saw world is in black & white. She forgot to see/mention grey areas.
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 266
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Contact by Carl Sagan. Science fiction at its best.
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1419
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
_Unintended Consequences_, by John Ross. If you like Ayn Rand, you'll probably like this one.
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: Frank Silbermann ]
 
Trailboss
Posts: 23778
IntelliJ IDE Firefox Browser Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are probably the best two books I've ever read. I cannot decide which is my favorite.

I never finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I thought the first third of the books was fantastic. I thought the pages that followed were a mix of "way over my head" and "yak yak yak" boring. I quit reading about 3/4 of the way through.

As for the black and white of "Atlas": I think that was part of the genius art of the book. Kinda like a massive detailed painting 20 stories high - all black and white. No gray. No color. Plus, imagine if she had used gray or color: the book would have to be 20 times larger!!! By limiting the book to black and white, Rand was able to pack a powerful, rich message into one (large) book.

Rand may be the greatest artistic genius of all time.

As for other books: The Harry Potter series is exceptionally well written. So digestable. So colorful. It is amazing how you crave the arrival of the next book. Although the books have been getting so dark ....

If you like to have a good laugh, get books by Carl Hiaasen. Maybe start with "Native Tongue" or "Sick Puppy."

I'm sure everybody here has read everything written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?

Gregory MacDonald's Fletch series is a fun read.
 
Sheriff
Posts: 11343
Mac Safari Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
House of Leaves* by Mark Z. Danielewski.

Warning: Post-modern "art" novel with unconventional formatting.


* The "Remastered Full-Color Edition" has all strikethrough text in red. Otherwise, it looks the same to me.

[
[ February
[ February 20,
[ February 20, 2007:
[ February 20, 2007: Message
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by:
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: marc
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: marc weber
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: marc weber ]
 
Leverager of our synergies
Posts: 10065
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Ok, I kept my mouth shut long enough. I can't do it forever! My apologies in advance.

I tried to read "Atlas Shrugged". Twice. I gave up after a few pages on the first try, because I thought the writing is pathetic. I made myself to read it again, because so many people I respect love it, so I wanted to understand what it is that make them love the book. I worked really hard, but I still gave up after few more pages. I just couldn't make myself to read it.

I think, this woman has no writing talent whatsoever. She suffered through severe recurrent episodes of graphomania. A decent high school freshman would kick her ass.

Can somebody tell me what I am missing?
 
paul wheaton
Trailboss
Posts: 23778
IntelliJ IDE Firefox Browser Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I thought her writing was really good. Especially since english is not her native language.

Her native language .... Map .... is Russian!
 
lowercase baba
Posts: 13089
67
Chrome Java Linux
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I read The Fountainhead. I don't get it. I did not find the book entertaining at all.
 
Mapraputa Is
Leverager of our synergies
Posts: 10065
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Paul: Her native language .... Map .... is Russian!

I know. And I tried to read her in both English and Russian translation -- didn't help.

I thought her writing was really good. Especially since english is not her native language.

I don't think it matters here. You can write something interesting even if your command of the language isn't that good. (Actually, sometimes it only makes you sound more interesting). Or you can write platitudes in a perfectly readable language.
[ February 20, 2007: Message edited by: Mapraputa Is ]
 
marc weber
Sheriff
Posts: 11343
Mac Safari Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
... I tried to read "Atlas Shrugged". Twice. I gave up after a few pages on the first try, because I thought the writing is pathetic. I made myself to read it again, because so many people I respect love it, so I wanted to understand what it is that make them love the book. I worked really hard, but I still gave up after few more pages. I just couldn't make myself to read it...


That's interesting, because I went through exactly the same thing trying to read William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch. Eventually, I found an audio CD of Burroughs reading some of his shorter works (Spare-Ass Annie and Other Tales). When I heard his delivery, I suddenly got it! I was reading his words, but completely missed the satiric deadpan driving it. Once I understood where he was coming from, everything changed, and Burroughs quickly became my favorite author.

Now, I have to admit that I haven't gotten to Rand yet, so I can't directly address her novels. But I am suggesting that certain works require a fresh approach on the part of the reader, and I'm glad I didn't give up on Burroughs.
 
Sheriff
Posts: 67746
173
Mac Mac OS X IntelliJ IDE jQuery TypeScript Java iOS
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
OK, in contrast to the high-brows here, I'm a fan of Sci-Fi. Some of my old-time favorites off the top of my head:

Dune (Herbert)
The Mote in God's Eye (Niven,Pournelle)
The Gods Themselves (Asimov)
Hellstrom's Hive (Herbert)
Colossus (Jones)
The Humanoids (Williamson)
Childhood's End (Clarke)
Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke)
To Say Nothing of the Dog (Willis)
 
author and iconoclast
Posts: 24207
46
Mac OS X Eclipse IDE Chrome
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
This thread comes back every couple months, doesn't it?

Let's see: since the last time this came around, I was on a sci-fi jag again for a while. In the last couple of months I've read or re-read a bunch of Asimov's Robot Series: I, Robot; Robots of Dawn; and Robot Dreams, which is a story collection (well, so is "I, Robot", really.) I also read a big fat book that collects all the Douglas Adams "Hitchhiker" novels and stories. Right now I'm reading the new Amy Tan, "Saving Fishes from Drowning".
 
Mapraputa Is
Leverager of our synergies
Posts: 10065
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Marc: When I heard his delivery, I suddenly got it! I was reading his words, but completely missed the satiric deadpan driving it. Once I understood where he was coming from, everything changed, and Burroughs quickly became my favorite author.

Ah, that's what I am asking for! For somebody to explain what part I am missing.

EFH: Right now I'm reading the new Amy Tan, "Saving Fishes from Drowning".

That's not fair - *I* was going to read it!
 
Chetan Parekh
Ranch Hand
Posts: 3640
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by R K Singh:


Have you read "Satyagraha in South Africa" ??

This book changed my views about M. Gandhi ji, now I respect him more than I used to do.

I heard that "The Making of the Mahatma" by Shayam Benegal is based on the mention novel.



Thanks RK, I will have look at that book.
 
agrah upadhyay
Ranch Hand
Posts: 579
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Have you read "Satyagraha in South Africa" ??


i have read his 'Autobiography' as well as 'Satyagraha in South Africa' many years ago in Hindi.But those i do not consider as novels.They are classics
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1241
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Originally posted by Bear Bibeault:
.. I'm a fan of Sci-Fi. Some of my old-time favorites off the top of my head...

Nice list. Dune is probably my favourite there. Does anyone else find the prequels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson to be pretty awful and suspect that their Dune sequels will be similarly bad? Given that Frank Herbert never properly finished the Dune series, I'm intrigued to see how it will all finish, but the prequels were so bad that I'm not sure I want to read their version of how it all ends. I'm betting that they bend the story to make their Omnius idea more important than whatever Frank Herbert actually had in mind.

Back to good Sci-Fi, among my favourites are:

* The Dispossessed - Ursula Le Guin
* Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
* Iain Banks - Use Of Weapons

I've just finished reading the first four books in the Ender's Game series, which were also quite good, especially Xenocide.
 
Wanderer
Posts: 18671
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
[agrah]: But those i do not consider as novels.They are classics

It's possible for a novel to be a classic, and it's possible for an autobiography (or any biography) to be a classic. But novels and biographies are two different things.

Me, I'm another SF/F nut, but don't read so much any more, so most of my favorites are not that recent. I like much of Bear's and Dave's lists. (Sorry EFH - Asimov's kind of hit and miss for me, and the HHG books rate as merely good for me, not great.) Favorites already mentioned would include Dune, Childhood's End, the first two Ender books, and The Dispossessed. I'm very tempted to include Mote and Use of Weapons too, but I need to make some space for a few other things:

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
A Game of Thrones and sequels, by George R. R. Martin
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

Dave, I never read any of the posthumous Dune books myself. I have yet to hear anything good about them that would imply they have any real connection to Frank Herbert's actual work.

Currently I'm reading World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Not exactly a classic, but entertaining. I also recently started Triplanetary by E.E. Smith, a classic space opera. (Smith pretty much invented space opera.) Fun, but I got interrupted when the library got in the copy of WWZ which I'd put on hold. Minor scheduling conflict; will get back to it. And I recently finished The Killer Angels, a historical fiction account of the Battle of Gettysburg. Very well done. Hey, wait a minute - how'd a non-SF/F book get in there? Must be a mistake of some sort.
[ February 21, 2007: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]
 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1140
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm saving my copies of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". I will definitely need them when I construct the
invisible book shelves

I prefer non-fiction over fictional works and even among the fictions, I prefer short stories over novels. Some of my favorite novels (among the very few I have read)

  • Alice in wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  • I, Claudius by Robert Graves
  • Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  • Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
  • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavich


  • [ February 22, 2007: Message edited by: Mani Ram ]
     
    ranger
    Posts: 17347
    11
    Mac IntelliJ IDE Spring
    • Mark post as helpful
    • send pies
      Number of slices to send:
      Optional 'thank-you' note:
    • Quote
    • Report post to moderator
    I am also in the same boat with Atlas Shrugged #1 then The Fountainhead #2.

    Mark
     
    Dave Lenton
    Ranch Hand
    Posts: 1241
    • Mark post as helpful
    • send pies
      Number of slices to send:
      Optional 'thank-you' note:
    • Quote
    • Report post to moderator

    Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
    Dave, I never read any of the posthumous Dune books myself. I have yet to hear anything good about them that would imply they have any real connection to Frank Herbert's actual work.

    A few years back I borrowed another Kevin Anderson book from the library and it had almost exactly the same writing style as the Dune prequels (some nice ideas, but clich�d, simplistic and no character development) which makes me think that the Dune prequels are pretty much written by him. It seems he's just cashing in on the "Dune" name to make a bit of money.

    Having read some books by Christopher Tolkien and seen the effort he went to attempting to and give them the same feel as his father's books, the Dune prequals were a huge dissapointment. It would have been better if Brian Herbert had just published his father's notes rather then giving them to a second rate writer to plagarise.
     
    R K Singh
    Ranch Hand
    Posts: 5399
    1
    Spring Java
    • Mark post as helpful
    • send pies
      Number of slices to send:
      Optional 'thank-you' note:
    • Quote
    • Report post to moderator

    Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:

    Her native language .... Map .... is Russian!



    Oh .. I was thinking she was German ..
     
    R K Singh
    Ranch Hand
    Posts: 5399
    1
    Spring Java
    • Mark post as helpful
    • send pies
      Number of slices to send:
      Optional 'thank-you' note:
    • Quote
    • Report post to moderator

    Originally posted by agrah upadhyay:
    i have read his 'Autobiography' as well as 'Satyagraha in South Africa' many years ago in Hindi.



    FYI.. both were written originally in Gujrati
    [ February 22, 2007: Message edited by: R K Singh ]
     
    Mapraputa Is
    Leverager of our synergies
    Posts: 10065
    • Mark post as helpful
    • send pies
      Number of slices to send:
      Optional 'thank-you' note:
    • Quote
    • Report post to moderator
    Mark: I am also in the same boat with Atlas Shrugged #1 then The Fountainhead #2.

    In which boat? There are two of them.

    Anyway, I asked my favorite language blogger about "Atlas Shrugged" and his response was:

    No, you are absolutely correct: she's a terrible writer.



    This means we won.

    His explanation of popularity of Rand's novels was that "her glorification of the Solitary Great Man" appeals to a certain part of the audience. I need to meditate on the meaning of this "glorification of the Solitary Great Man" thing...
    [ February 22, 2007: Message edited by: Mapraputa Is ]
     
    Being a smart alec beats the alternative. This tiny ad knows what I'm talking about:
    a bit of art, as a gift, the permaculture playing cards
    https://gardener-gift.com
    reply
      Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
    • New Topic