What Books are you reading/recommend

[navychop]

VAN-

Thanks for the suggestion on Naomi's HMD. I read the excerpt and will check it out from the library. It's only $7.50 at the amazing dot com store so I may later buy it. Looks real good.

 

[Van]

Oh its definitely a good read, and I was reading through her website and found out that the story has been optioned by Peter Jackson for movie production amongst other things.

I was thinking about the statement made that scifi/fantasy readers tend to read at a higher level, I have to agrea with that because when I was in thrid grade I had a 1st grade reading level because I never read anything. At the end of the school year my teacher gave me a scifi book and asked me to read it over the summer and bring it back to her when school started, well when I came back I had read it along witha couple dozen other scifi and fantasy books and by the end of the 4th grade year I was reading college level books albeit scifi and fantasy mostly. That same year I read " We were there on the Nautilus" a story written by a Navy sailor who served on the first nuclear sub, I also read a really great adventure book that I highly recommend any parent or uncle or aunt get for they're son or nephew called " Lost in the barrens". This is an excellent adventure survival story about two teenage boys ( anglo and native american ) who get lost in the barrens of northern canada and have to learn how to survive. It is such an incredible story to read and I have read it a dozen times over the years, the author escapes me right now and Im not sure where the book is but I know that I saved it with a few of the others that I saved prior to the move south.

But to get back on topic, scifi and fantasy definitely have a much greater hold on the imagination out of most any other story that I have read and for any kid imagination is powerful and if you can spark a kids imagination then your in like flin. Kids today just arent encouraged to read like when I was a kid, there was the book fair and the catalog you could take home to order books, the bookmobile came to the park I lived in once a week and there was always PSA's pushing parents to encourage kids to read. I loved books more than I did movies or tv back then and I wish that I read as much now as I did then but there is work and family and this damned internet.

 

[icstephen]

No this isnt going to be a girls book club I have decided to start reading again (I use to try and read a book a week) I am starting out with a series that some consider kids books, but I think this series is very well writte..The chronicles of Narnia. I have Grapes of wrath lined up after that. So what Books are you reading?

if you can find them the early Ellery Queen books are great if you like mysteries. I would recommend these to start

The French Powder Mystery
The Roman Hat Mystery
The Siamese Twin Mystery (I am re-reading this one)

I also like Micky Spilane & Raymond Chandler for mystery/crime

If you like Adventure W.E. Johns books cronicaling the adventures of Biggles are good.

For something more traditional Stephen Kings older works are really good I have read "pet cemetery" & "the dark half" several times (please dont base the quality of these stories on the movies...the movies didn't come close).

If you want a good learning book Harlan Hogan's "tales and teqniques of a voiceover actor" is both informative and entertaining...I have read this one 2 times and plan to read it again.

Hope that helps

 

[JamesJ]

icstephen I may take you up on the ellery queen books, I love mysteries (I use to read the three investagators in junior high for study hall.)

 

[icstephen]

icstephen I may take you up on the ellery queen books, I love mysteries (I use to read the three investagators in junior high for study hall.)

Ellery queen is awsome (the old books mostly...from the 1920's to the 1930's) they are tough to find though but if you can find them it will be worth it. The main thing I love about the old books is he will give all the clues, then at the start of the last chapter he tells you to stop and try to solve the crime yourself (with clues in the story & included diagram) which is added fun...then in the last chapter he solves the crime and explains all the clues and what they meant. The books from the 50's & 60's are more strait crime and not as good...I don't know if they are written by the same people (the original Ellery queen was 2 brothers or cousins I can't remember).

 

[Bogy]

I really cant say I prefer one over the other right now, If it is really well written with a good story I have usually read it straight through, there has been one book that I havent finished in my whole life, and I forget what it was, if I think of it I will edit this thread, by the way, I am loving this chronicles of narnia series!

If you like Narnia, you might want to try Lewis's space trilogy. Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. If you like those, and you have not already read them, then you should read Tolkein's The Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you have read Tolkein, and not Lewis's space trilogy, you might want to try them. Lewis and Tolkein were friends, and collaborators. Particularly when you get to the final book, That Hideous Strength, Middle Earth makes an appearance.

For mysteries, IMO you can't beat John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series. Not exactly Sherlock Holmes (I went through a period where I read every SH Doyle wrote), but lots of action and twisty turns. I also enjoy Ludlum, especially the Bourne series.

For westerns Louis L'Amour is good, if a little stilted in some of his dialogs, and if you don't mind a few sermons about how good it used to be when men were men and women weren't. His Sackett series is good.

Andre Norton/Andrew North was also one of my favorite authors growing up. Along with Bradbury, Asimov (can anything really beat the Foundation and Robot books?), Clarke & Heinlein. While not necessarily a science fiction book (more of an apocalypse book), is Pat Frank's book Alas, Babylon.

And I am currently reading some Stephen King. If you have read some of King's books, and have not done so yet, you should read his Dark Tower/Gunslinger series. If you start now you can read all 7 without the long periods between books that others had to endure. Many of the characters you met in other books will make appearances, and some loose ends tied up. I am currently reading The Black House, which King wrote with Peter Straub. I was well into it when I realized I should have read The Talisman first, but it is now next on my list. These two books also relate to the Dark Tower books. But so does The Eyes of the Dragon, a book I really recommend. Written in 1987, this book was a departure for King, much more a fantasy book than a horror story. Flagg, who some of you will remember from The Stand is a primary character, as well as appearing in the Dark Tower books.

That's enough for now, time to go read some more.

 

[navychop]

Strong second on Alas Babylon - dated but wonderful.

 

[dfergie]

I like the Dale Brown books starting with Flight Of The Old Dog and others http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/dale-brown/

 

[z4ccamaro]

Anything by Dave Ramsey (National radio talk show host)


The most recent is "The Total Money Makeover"
ISBN 0785263268


Lots of common sense advice. And IT WORKS !
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You can also listen to past radio shows at:


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the main page
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[navychop]

If you like "Alas, Babylon" you might like "On the beach" by Nevil Shute. There's also a couple of movies, but I prefer the book. I saw the 1959 movie and may watch it again someday. Not sure I'd want to see the 2000 remake (3 part TV miniseries?).

 

[Jamey K]

First Man-Neil Armstrong

I don't want it to end,