Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Discussion/Appreciation Anyone..??

[Trek_Girl42]

i've only got about 15 pages of ender's game left and i'm going to start reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" today, it was recommended to me on another forum after the movie was announced, it won the pulitzer for fiction in 2007, so it must be pretty good,
anyone read it?

Both those books are AWESOME.

The Road is an amazing book- just a warning, it is extremely depressing. My mum actually threatened to never read anything I recommend ever again after I passed that one on because she thought it was ridiculously depressing and how could anyone possibly like it, let alone make/watch a movie of it..... But I absolutely loved it, amazingly powerful book with a unique writing style.

But anyone who doesn't want to read 200+ pages of hopelessness should probably stay away.

[AvatarIII]

Both those books are AWESOME.

The Road is an amazing book- just a warning, it is extremely depressing. My mum actually threatened to never read anything I recommend ever again after I passed that one on because she thought it was ridiculously depressing and how could anyone possibly like it, let alone make/watch a movie of it..... But I absolutely loved it, amazingly powerful book with a unique writing style.

But anyone who doesn't want to read 200+ pages of hopelessness should probably stay away.

it's really good so for, i'm finding it hard to put up with the amount that the dad and kid say "okay" but other than that i like it. and a book that can invoke any emotion good or bad is a good book in my eyes. and what's with the lack of speech marks eh? i hope the movie is good
http://the-road--trailer.blogspot.com/
viggo mortensen plays the dad, pretty good casting i think

[Anubis69]

and what's with the lack of speech marks eh?

As is my understanding of things, he doesn't believe in punctuation lol.

[Iffy]

I would like to say that I have been dligently reading sci-fi lately, but in fact the only thing I read was all the remaining 16 books in the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Truly the best work of historical naval fiction ever written, no wonder it has so many accolades. But I am teeing up some great scifi classics (all stuff I read anywhere from 15 to 35 yrs ago) and I will be very interested to see if it is good second time around.

Iffy, did your copy of Forever War arrive? Was it the unabridged version? Hope you enjoyed it!

It's the unabridged editon. Have yet to start it.

As is my understanding of things, he doesn't believe in punctuation lol.

Punctuation is a wonderful thing. As is lower case letters.

[Espeon1962]

I keep meaning to read those! I absolutely LOVE the movie Master and Commander and I'm pretty sure I'll like the books.....when I get to them. I mean to read the Hornblower series as well. At some point.

I just started reading The Sharing Knife: Beguilment by Lois McMaster Bujold, I've never read anything by her before.

A few points from my perspective as an avid fan:

a) While I loved the fact the movie was made, it was in fact a put together plot from 3 of the books (where the sections stolen to make the movie occurred at widely disparate times in the literary series) and notwithstanding Russell Crowes fine performance (Gladiator forever!) it was but a pale reflection of the perfection of Patrick O'Brians literary work.

b) Horatio Hornblower was the inspiration for a many a piece of science fiction, in fact Honor Harrington of David Webers fabulous series is so named in tribute to Horatio Hornblower (sharing of initials and qualities). Well over a dozen sci-fi authors have cited CS Forester as a primary inspiration. But, although CS Forester came first, O'Brian in fact did it it better, much better.

I suggest reading both, but you will find O'Brian's work more detailed, and also encompassing the humour of the age, which Forester's work completely lacked. But for great thumping battles between ships, with tactics, personalities and more, either will completely satisfy, and I am certain you will find why it is so easy to transition from one genre (historical naval fiction) to the other (science fiction) as they both require virtually the same elements and qualities to be successful.

C) Many pages ago in this thread, I listed a series by Lois McMaster Bujold as one of my favorites of all time - The Adventures of Miles Vorkosigan and it is generally considered one of the best literary Sci-Fi series ever (in support of my opinion this one series has 7 or 8 Hugo and Nebula awards). I have to confess I have not dealved into her fantasy work, but she is a fabulous writer and the Sharing Knife series seems to be current focus so I suspect it is likely very good. But read the Miles series if you want outstanding reading, especially if you really want a great bellyaching laugh right from the gut, as some of the humour is that good (the situations the main character gets himself into are indescribable and it is how he gets out of each one that in part makes every book in the series such a joy).

If you want to ask any questions about either the Aubrey/Maturin series or the Miles Vorkosigan series including reading orders, etc don't hesitate to message me or post in this thread.

In the meantime, HAPPY READING!!

Hi Iffy, how is it going? I was away on business for a couple of weeks again, and yesterday was my first opp to post since early June. But I did read up a storm while travelling.

[Iffy]

snip

Hi Iffy, how is it going? I was away on business for a couple of weeks again, and yesterday was my first opp to post since early June. But I did read up a storm while travelling.

I'm tired, long day at work.

Traveling what fun. For work or pleasure?

[Espeon1962]

I'm tired, long day at work.

Traveling what fun. For work or pleasure?

Work. Sigh! And it was not exciting work related travel either, just annoying. Tonight is R & R night, meaning music, posting, reading and wine!

[Iffy]

Work. Sigh! And it was not exciting work related travel either, just annoying. Tonight is R & R night, meaning music, posting, reading and wine!

Bummer. Hope yo enjoyed you evening in.

[Krichton]

Both those books are AWESOME.

The Road is an amazing book- just a warning, it is extremely depressing. My mum actually threatened to never read anything I recommend ever again after I passed that one on because she thought it was ridiculously depressing and how could anyone possibly like it, let alone make/watch a movie of it..... But I absolutely loved it, amazingly powerful book with a unique writing style.

But anyone who doesn't want to read 200+ pages of hopelessness should probably stay away.

I agree the book is hopeless. It was pretty much what I expected.

[Mimzy]

Finally finished re-reading Song of the Wanderer by Bruce Coville last night. I forgot just how amazing the ending was...I can't wait to finally read the 3rd Unicorn Chronicles book!!

[Care]

I buy a lot of my nieces and nephews books for gifts. I am looking at a few series (series gives me lots of books to buy which I love), but haven't read any of them - yet. I have seen some of them mentioned here and I was wondering if those of you that have read them could give me some info like what age do you think the book level is at and if it was a good read, etc...

Some of the age levels are completely different when I look at books on amazon.com and our local book store.

These are the series I am interested in:

Septimus Heap

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Artemis Fowl

Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, glass, etc..) for my oldest niece (almost 13), but she gets frightened very easily. She won't read Twilight, but Harry Potter was ok. I wanted to read it first but I don't think I'll have time, any scary/freaky parts?


Thanks!

[Trek_Girl42]

I buy a lot of my nieces and nephews books for gifts. I am looking at a few series (series gives me lots of books to buy which I love), but haven't read any of them - yet. I have seen some of them mentioned here and I was wondering if those of you that have read them could give me some info like what age do you think the book level is at and if it was a good read, etc...

Some of the age levels are completely different when I look at books on amazon.com and our local book store.

These are the series I am interested in:

Septimus Heap

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Artemis Fowl

Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, glass, etc..) for my oldest niece (almost 13), but she gets frightened very easily. She won't read Twilight, but Harry Potter was ok. I wanted to read it first but I don't think I'll have time, any scary/freaky parts?


Thanks!

Artemis Fowl! I think I was eleven when the first one was published, I'd say ten/eleven and up is a good range for those. And their classification in YA or Children's really seems to vary- within my own library they can be found in both sections. They're very funny, not scary.

A few other suggestions.....
Another good one is the Bartimaus(sp?) trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, which was really fun. Probably for age twelve and up.

Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke. I'd recommend for 10+ (if the ten year-old is a fairly advanced reader- they are huge books with AMAZING cover art). The same author also has some other wonderful books, The Thief Lord and Dragon Rider, and another series called the "Ghosthunters" (which I haven't read yet but they're quite short books and they look really cute). She's a German author, but the translations are wonderfully done.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (there are 13 books there!)

Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton. This was quite fun, set in England, there are libraries and book stores and all sorts of fun stuff with some magic. It's a book lovers book. And I believe he has a second book being pubished this summer.

And *cough* my two cents, your niece is a smart girl for avoiding the Twilight books.

[Iffy]

I buy a lot of my nieces and nephews books for gifts. I am looking at a few series (series gives me lots of books to buy which I love), but haven't read any of them - yet. I have seen some of them mentioned here and I was wondering if those of you that have read them could give me some info like what age do you think the book level is at and if it was a good read, etc...

Some of the age levels are completely different when I look at books on amazon.com and our local book store.

These are the series I am interested in:

Septimus Heap

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Artemis Fowl

Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, glass, etc..) for my oldest niece (almost 13), but she gets frightened very easily. She won't read Twilight, but Harry Potter was ok. I wanted to read it first but I don't think I'll have time, any scary/freaky parts?


Thanks!

sunsan's Cooper's The Dark is Rising is a great series for kids, reads well for adults too.

Twilight is just lame.

[Care]

Wow, thanks for all the recommendations! Some of the books I know a few of them have read already, but I will definitely look into the others.

You know the Artemis Fowl books are labelled for ages 7-9 here at Chapters. So is Inkheart. I wonder why there is such a difference between here and the U.S.? Usually I always read the books first, but I am in desperate need of help in the real world so I have been reading some parenting type books when I actually get time to read.

[Trek_Girl42]

Wow, thanks for all the recommendations! Some of the books I know a few of them have read already, but I will definitely look into the others.

You know the Artemis Fowl books are labelled for ages 7-9 here at Chapters. So is Inkheart. I wonder why there is such a difference between here and the U.S.? Usually I always read the books first, but I am in desperate need of help in the real world so I have been reading some parenting type books when I actually get time to read.

Very strange. If these books had been published when I was seven I certainly would have been reading them then, regardless of age recommendation. I work in a library so I tend to notice strange discrepancies between what is filed under YA and what is filed under children's- Artemis Fowl being one, Harry Potter being another. Bit frustrating, especially when trying to recommend something to a kid who has moved on to YAs, but you think there's a series they would like filed in with the children's- and the other way around.

The only thing with Inkheart is that it is such a big book that it would probably be a bit beyond most seven year olds, but I'm sure most seven year-olds would absolutely love to have it read to them. It is an absolutely wonderful book, and I think it's the best of the popular children's fantasies that have followed Harry Potter.

And one other series, as if you don't have enough recommendations, is the "Children of the Red King" series- but better known as the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo. I've only read the first three, probably for age eight and up, abouts, again depending on reading level. But I believe the series is coming to an end later this year (seven or nine books, can't remember how many). I really liked what I've read of it and keep meaning to get back them them.



Annnnnnd, my current read, I've just started Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series today, and I'm already hooked, Bought the first two books, need to get the rest. Very soon, even though it'll take ages to get through them all- they're huge! Anyone else read them?

Yesterday finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It is a masterwork on English literature. Absolute classic.