Brilliant books

[Arcesious]

Well, I think the reading bug has bit me this time around. I found "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu on the good old internet and it's simply facinating.

 

What 'Brilliant' books have you recently found/read?

[Sabretooth]

I'm not reading as many books as I should be, but I finished The Man Who Was Thursday a month ago and loved every bit of it. Before that I read Brave New World and that was quite brilliant.

 

Before that I read The Difference Engine, the definitive steampunk novel. While its not the greatest tome I've read, it was very fascinating and unique in its aesthetic and feel.

 

At the moment I'm reading The Fountainhead at a rather lackadaisical pace. :/

[The Doctor]

Pillars of the Earth and its sequel World Without End, by Ken Follet, are both great. But George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is by far the best book ever written, bar none.

[Litofsky]

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is by far the best book ever written, bar none.

 

Concur. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, comes in a close second for me.

[jrrtoken]

Off the top of my head; Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Animal Farm by George Orwell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

At the moment I'm reading The Fountainhead at a rather lackadaisical pace. :/

burn it and play bioshock hth

[Q]

No kidding. Ayn Rand has to be the worst writer of the 20th Century. Her novels are excruciating. Read Orwell instead. He can say just as much as or more than Rand with a fraction of the words.

[JediMaster12]

I read Brave New World and thought Huxley was on something but I see now his point. Gives me a better perspective and comparison with Athem by Rand.

 

Aristotles Poetics I read and found it fascinating particularly the dramatic volume.

 

I did reread Orwells 1984 and thought about whether or not he was like Jules Verne with From the Earth to the Moon; a visionary that saw a possibility even though he was writing political satire. Can't go wrong with Animal Farm either.

[Rabish Bini]

For the third time in a different thread:

Life's Missing Instruction Manual: A Guide you ashould've been given at birth by Dr Joe Vitale.

 

All you need to succeed at life.

[mattig89ch]

I'm re-reading the lord of the rings trilogy. If anyone has read it, I just got to the town with the prancing pony.

[Sabretooth]

No kidding. Ayn Rand has to be the worst writer of the 20th Century. Her novels are excruciating. Read Orwell instead. He can say just as much as or more than Rand with a fraction of the words.

I dunno, I've read Orwell and all, but Rand is also very good. I love her writing so far. :/

[Samuel Dravis]

I agree with sabre, I liked Rand's style as well (and I'll back him up on the quality of The Man Who Was Thursday, an excellent book). I'll add some books: Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund and Lewis' Till We Have Faces.

[Salzella]

i'll go for anything by Terry Pratchett, Iain M. Banks, Neil Gaiman or Chris Brookmyre.

 

classics be damned.

[Pho3nix]

Not really that recent, but The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. Brilliant.

[Cygnus Q'ol]

Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions

 

Trevannian - Shibumi

 

Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game

 

Hemmingway - The Sun Also Rises

[Rev7]

The Odyssey by Homer.

 

Not done with it, but we are reading some of it at school. Some good stories.

 

Tom Clancy isn't bad

[Sabretooth]

Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions

This reminds me, I'm going to read Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five sometime soon. Has anyone here read it? Any thoughts, etc.?

[Tyrion]

This reminds me, I'm going to read Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five sometime soon. Has anyone here read it? Any thoughts, etc.?

 

It's good. Definitely worth the read, anyway - I think it's below 200 pages. I preferred Cat's Cradle to it, though.

[CommanderQ]

Hunt for Red October, definately brilliant. Bravo, Tom Clancy!

[Bee Hoon]

I preferred Cat's Cradle to it, though.

Reading that induced a really surreal mood for the rest of the day I prefer The Sirens of Titan, not the least because I traded Cat's Cradle for it with my sister. Just trying to tell myself that I didn't get cheated

[Q]

I dunno, I've read Orwell and all, but Rand is also very good. I love her writing so far. :/

Don't get me wrong: I love her stories, but her writing style is horrible.

[Rabish Bini]

Hunt for Red October, definately brilliant. Bravo, Tom Clancy!

Ooh, that's a good movie, too.

[Astor]

I like historical fiction, such as those written by Alan Mallinson (Matthew Hervey series), Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe) and George Macdonald Fraser (Flashman).

[Darth InSidious]

The Loved One and A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, Brighton Rock by Graham Greene (watch the film of The Third Man).

[CommanderQ]

OOOH! Seeing as this is a Lucas Forum thingy, Karen Traviss and the Republic Commando books!! AWESOME! {It has also been confirmed that she is writing an Imperial Commando book}