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[neotemplar]

I recently finished an unabridged copy of "The Journey West" a 2000+ page Chinese epic that is hundreds of years old.  I then went and read "Monster Hunter International" in two days.  Both were excellent examples of their own genres.  I feel totally weird that I read them both though given the massive content difference.

Oh my god oh my god

What was your translation?  I've wanted to find a good unabridged and well-footnoted copy of that book since I was a third-grader.


EDIT: Oh, and I'm reading A Streetcar Named Desire right now.  It's so-so.

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Chinese-Classics-Classic-Volumes/dp/7119016636

That one.  I'll Pm you too just to make sure you get my message.  Note there are some misspellings and the 4th volume has some pages out of order (but numbered correctly so you can figure it out).  Otherwise it was an excellent version.  (I'm also reading Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and A Dream of Red Mansions.  Thus all of the 4 ultra great Chinese novels.)

What is this Water Margin you speak of?

Don't you mean Suikoden?

Water Margin is the Great Chinese Novel that I've considered reading the most. Partially because yeah, I like Suikoden (I know, I know they really have almost nothing to do with each other) and partially because like you said, it seems like the most accessible. The other one I've really considered reading is The Dream of the Red Chamber, because I'm insane. It seems like it's the Chinese equivalent to War and Peace though, a study of the aristocracy, and my preferences usually lean towards the psychological.

http://www.amazon.com/All-Men-Brothers-Shui-Chuan/dp/1559213035
(This is Water Margin)
I'm like 2/3 through that massive book. I had to take notes on who each character was to make sense of it lol.  (I love the part where the violent monk gets naked and ambushes the bandit leader by pretending to be his bride in a dark room, hilarious.)  Note this version cuts off the later chapters which were added decades after the original story to make it more palatable to the imperial government.  These later scenes have the bandits rejoining the government and working for them.

I'm only starting vol 1 of 3 for Dream of Red Mansions aka Dream of the Red Chamber.  (Knowing that each book is under several names helps you to find them.)

My copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is abridged, but honestly it seems that might be for the better in this case.

Also Dune is awesome.  I've read it all.  Also try Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt and the Mars Trilogy.  Also A Song of Ice and Fire, and the Wheel of Time. 

Also for the Frank Herbert Lovers, anyone else ever read his Destination Void?
And has anyone read Grunts by Mary Gentle?

[Criptfeind]

So a loooooong time ago, (in a place far far away) a wee child of a criptfeind read a book (three books really, I can not recall the other two by name) called the golden compass. (You may know it as Northern lights?)

God damn mind trip for a eight year old. So much I don't really remember them.

I have happened to get my hands on a shipment of books that are soon to be bound for Africa and lo and behold, the golden compass.

The thing is, the beginning is a bit dry, and I am almost afraid to ruin my memories from childhood by reading it again.

What do the formites that have read this book say? Is it good enough I should read it again, even at the cost of my a trippy ten year old prospective?

Or is it not in fact a good book and I will only ruin my memories of it by reading it?

[EmperorNuthulu]

Recently for some reason I've been reading a lot of newish science fiction. Mainly Iain M. Banks and Peter F.Hamilton. Banks is okay, Hamilton made an excellent start to the void trilogy, yet the final book sort of just ruined it for me.

Speaking of reading books that will ruin your childhood memories, don't read the last Narnia book.   

[Strife26]

I never had to read it for school for some reason so I'm currently reading the Odyssey.

Odyssey and Iliad are always good books to be familiar with, lots of tropes. I've always greatly preferred the Trojans, interestingly enough. I'd probably sell one of your guys' souls to get my hands on copies of the rest of the Epic cycle.

Just finished reading the Art of War. I am now an expert on strategery.

Try On War instead. Art of War has a heck of a lot of things that are more along the lines of platitudes, often ones that primarily apply to ancient Chinese warfare. Great for giving a magnificent bastard type character pithy quotes, but for real strategerial mastery, Clausewitz is a better choice.

[Vector]

What do the formites that have read this book say? Is it good enough I should read it again, even at the cost of my a trippy ten year old prospective?

I would read it.  But then, I probably read it three or four times.

[RedKing]

I never had to read it for school for some reason so I'm currently reading the Odyssey.

Odyssey and Iliad are always good books to be familiar with, lots of tropes. I've always greatly preferred the Trojans, interestingly enough. I'd probably sell one of your guys' souls to get my hands on copies of the rest of the Epic cycle.

Just finished reading the Art of War. I am now an expert on strategery.

Try On War instead. Art of War has a heck of a lot of things that are more along the lines of platitudes, often ones that primarily apply to ancient Chinese warfare. Great for giving a magnificent bastard type character pithy quotes, but for real strategerial mastery, Clausewitz is a better choice.

Different strokes for different folks. I partly blame Clausewitz for the escalation in the destructiveness of war over the last couple of centuries. War for Sun Zi is a tool of statecraft, and he explicitly exhorts commanders to make them as short as possible, to win by strategem rather than force of arms.

[Criptfeind]

Speaking of reading books that will ruin your childhood memories, don't read the last Narnia book.   

Huh. Yeah. It was poorly written compared to the rest of them.

He was okay at only thinly veiled bible stories, but much better at... much heavier veiled bible stories.

Also. Whhhhat the guy wrote more stuff into the trilogy? Why do people do that!?!

What do the formites that have read this book say? Is it good enough I should read it again, even at the cost of my a trippy ten year old prospective?

I would read it.  But then, I probably read it three or four times.

Good enough for me. I hope it is as... Interesting the second time as it was the first.

I still don't understand how you got from overly grim London to antelope riding around on giant nuts.

[Vector]

Were I a sigging man, I would have sigged that.

Wait, he wrote more into the trilogy?  What, seriously?

[Ancre]

I started Les Tragiques by Agrippa D'Aubigné. Well I haven't made it past the introduction yet (which was amazing in itself, the writer whined about all his notes that got burned down during the Commune right after the french-prussian war, my book was published around 1880, awesome!) but it seems to be quite a nice promise so far. It's really terrible that I can't read much at all anymore, with work and the fact that I'm just exhausted and I need vacations. I want to read again. And you guys makes me want to learn chinese. But I can't just yet. Aaargh.

So a loooooong time ago, (in a place far far away) a wee child of a criptfeind read a book (three books really, I can not recall the other two by name) called the golden compass. (You may know it as Northern lights?)

God damn mind trip for a eight year old. So much I don't really remember them.

I have happened to get my hands on a shipment of books that are soon to be bound for Africa and lo and behold, the golden compass.

The thing is, the beginning is a bit dry, and I am almost afraid to ruin my memories from childhood by reading it again.

What do the formites that have read this book say? Is it good enough I should read it again, even at the cost of my a trippy ten year old prospective?

Or is it not in fact a good book and I will only ruin my memories of it by reading it?

Honestly, I think the first book is nice, the second one so-so and the third one let me down (why the ending dammit ?). Neither of them are actually great literature, but it was a fun read all in all. I also say you should always read it if you want to, even at the cost of childhood memories, but that's probably because I hate childhood and nostalgia is just an eternal "I want to do it again" feeling for me I'd say if by the middle or the end of the first book you're not hooked then give up.

Speaking of reading books that will ruin your childhood memories, don't read the last Narnia book.   

Hey the last Narnia book was pretty great I found, much more than the Dawn Treader or others where it justs get silly !

[Fossaman]

Okay, what books would you [people] consider as must-read for a total novice to.. books?

I have read Harry Potter. And Eragon.

'The Hobbit' is a must read. I second the Ender's Game recommendation. I'd also recommend 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It's an excellent book, but having to read it as part of an english class kills it for a lot of people. Find it and read it on your own before anybody has a chance to ruin it for you.

[Tellemurius]

Okay, what books would you [people] consider as must-read for a total novice to.. books?

I have read Harry Potter. And Eragon.

'The Hobbit' is a must read. I second the Ender's Game recommendation. I'd also recommend 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It's an excellent book, but having to read it as part of an english class kills it for a lot of people. Find it and read it on your own before anybody has a chance to ruin it for you.

I hated that stinking english class, also try reading Feed, gives a hint in the future.

[Darvi]

There is a flash that nicely recaps "to kill a mockingbird". Even I, who had to read it for school, think it's awesome now :3

[EmperorNuthulu]

 Yes, some of it was quite silly, I think the golden compass series was alright, it's not the best but hey, at least it isn't some of the stereotype fantasy thats basically: THERE IS HERO, HE KILL DRAGON. YAY. Or, this: THERE IS HERO, HE MAKES FRIEND WITH DRAGON. SOMEONE DIES. YAY.

[Criptfeind]

Were I a sigging man, I would have sigged that.

Wait, he wrote more into the trilogy?  What, seriously?

It looks like they are not 'officially' part of it, but if you have the same players and the same setting...

One prequel and one sequel, with another sequel on the way.

[Vector]

... Which trilogy are we talking about?