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Author Topic: Books to read?  (Read 5083 times)

LegoLord

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #45 on: September 22, 2009, 06:31:53 pm »

it isn't that good. The first series is OK (not extraordinary, though). The second trilogy jumped the shark. The third one nuked the fridge.
Nuked the fridge?  Where'd that phrase come from?
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"Oh look there is a dragon my clothes might burn let me take them off and only wear steel plate."
And this is how tinned food was invented.
Alternately: The Brick Testament. It's a really fun look at what the bible would look like if interpreted literally. With Legos.
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userpay

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #46 on: September 22, 2009, 06:59:37 pm »

it isn't that good. The first series is OK (not extraordinary, though). The second trilogy jumped the shark. The third one nuked the fridge.
Nuked the fridge?  Where'd that phrase come from?
Wasn't there something about surviving a nuclear bomb by hiding in a refridgerator?
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Davion

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #47 on: September 22, 2009, 07:09:47 pm »

Nuked the fridge?  Where'd that phrase come from?

Probably from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In one scene Indiana Jones escapes the bad guys by hiding in a town out in the desert, only to realize that it's a mock town constructed for weapons testing. Basically, it's going to be blown up by an atomic bomb. So he hides in a fridge and survives the blast, though him and the fridge are thrown a couple of miles away. He even manages to climb out of the fridge and turn around and look at the mushroom cloud.

It's also the point where a lot of people probably walked out of the movie theater or turned off their DVD player.
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LegoLord

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #48 on: September 22, 2009, 07:59:57 pm »

It's also the point where a lot of people probably walked out of the movie theater or turned off their DVD player.
Not when I saw it in theaters, actually.  I mean, the heroes have been saved by magic before (Worst is in the second movie).  Really, after Temple of Doom, nuking the fridge is nothing.  "The torch snaps him out of the trance-thing?  What?"

Anyway, books . . . There's this series by Scott Westerfeld that starts with a book called the Uglies, but I've only read the first (summer reading), and while it was interesting, I wouldn't exactly say it's the most entertaining book ever.  I still feel it was worth my time, though.  It takes a lot of the usual worries about new tech, but then manages to tie them in with worries about modern obsession with beauty (the latter being something that really bothers me).  It also does a neat transition from Utopian future to Distopian future. That's all I can think of at the moment.
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"Oh look there is a dragon my clothes might burn let me take them off and only wear steel plate."
And this is how tinned food was invented.
Alternately: The Brick Testament. It's a really fun look at what the bible would look like if interpreted literally. With Legos.
Just so I remember

ChairmanPoo

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #49 on: September 22, 2009, 09:35:56 pm »

Quote
I mean, the heroes have been saved by magic before

Are you suggesting it was a magical fridge?
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Gorjo MacGrymm

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #50 on: September 22, 2009, 10:34:56 pm »

Indiana Jones 4............southpark said it best.

back on topic -

more fantasy books:
katherine kerr - the deverry novels

Glen Cook's Black Company series - seconded

Michelle West (also goes by Michelle Sagara):  The Sun Sword books - they're a bit soap-operish, but also quite amazing.  has some of my favorite characters ever written.

Anything by Melanie Rawn

I am not really a Raymond E. Feist fan, I read him in jr high so kinda look at him that way.  But his spin off books that he co-authored with Janny Wurts are great - The Empire Trilogy.  You have to read his very first trilogy to get them tho.

L. E. Modesitt's books are all interesting, although i think the first books in his series are always better then the later ones.

I suggest avoiding Terry Brooks - just my opinion.

Same goes for Stephen R Donaldson - the first book is ok, they only go downhill tho IMHO

Elizabeth Moon - THE DEEDS OF PAKSENARION.  r e a d i t :)

****************************
After reading The Lord of the Rings, you must read "Bored of the Rings" by National Lampoon - its great
After you read Dune - you must read "Doon" by National Lampoon - even funnier

More Sci-Fi:
John Ringo
Travis S. Taylor
Starfist series by David Sherman and Dan Cragg
David Weber - again, he is too good to not mention

Historical Fiction:
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
The Walking Drum by Louie Lamour (its not a western- really, its not)

i will add more later
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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #51 on: September 23, 2009, 11:03:55 am »

Children of Hurin is another Tolkien I've read.
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umiman

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #52 on: September 24, 2009, 01:58:58 am »

You could try reading some non-fiction.

I'm currently going through Dr. Oliver Sacks's series of books on clinical neurology cases. There's one book called "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" which sells for quite cheap on Amazon.ca. Very good book. Details exceptionally peculiar neurological problems like the title describes. Other clinical tales included, with provided diagnosis and analysis by the good doctor... who is an exceptional writer, include things like people who no longer understand the concept of left. I.e: they cannot percieve ANYTHING in left-ness. They cannot turn left. They ignore the entire left half of their body. They can only eat the right half of a dish. When asked why they do so, they don't know what you're talking about. If you record their face in real time and display it on a monitor, they will be completely horrified and attempt to rip off the left side of their face.

Another one that comes to mind is the story of the disembodied lady. After suffering from a certain form of seizure, she lost total control of body functions that should come naturally to a person. For example, she is no longer able to unconsciously move her hands, face, mouth, eyes, fingers, feet, etc. unless she expressedly wills her body to do so. If, she attempts to board a bus and for one instant, is distracted from looking at her feet, she will crumple into a heap like a broken doll. What she lost was her proprioception, the essential sense of connection between her body and her mind.

Good stuff. You should check it out.

IndonesiaWarMinister

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #53 on: September 24, 2009, 05:13:47 am »

Any body has read the book 'Year of the Rice and Sun'?

It's supposed to tell a world that has the Christians' extinct... from an overpowered Black Death.

Then funny stuffs, like the Emirate of Celts, is made.
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Vester

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #54 on: September 24, 2009, 05:16:20 am »

I for one would love to see an alternate history story where the Council of Nicaea never happened. It would be a cool look at a world with a Christianity that is unrecognizable and Islam being far more dominant.
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Jackrabbit

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #55 on: September 24, 2009, 05:19:30 am »

It'd be the same, methinks, but with more people actually going to church.
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Vester

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #56 on: September 24, 2009, 05:32:20 am »

Heh, nice one.

I actually enjoy reading fiction about things taken to their rhetorical extremes - it's why I love the Imperium of Man so much. Part cautionary tale, part insanity.
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Mr Tk

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #57 on: September 24, 2009, 07:17:50 pm »

Any body has read the book 'Year of the Rice and Sun'?

I've read it. The part which I always get stuck in my head is the alchemist who tries to trick the lord into thinking that he has found a way to convert lead into gold. However the lord isn't dumb, explains the trick to him straight away and then cuts off his right hand.
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JoshuaFH

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #58 on: September 25, 2009, 03:17:29 am »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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TheNewerMartianEmperor

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Re: Books to read?
« Reply #59 on: September 25, 2009, 04:51:52 am »

Dear sweet gods. Is that an actual book?
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