BattleMaster Community
Community => General Talk => Topic started by: Heq on July 03, 2012, 07:45:34 AM
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I was surprised this topic has not come up before, or maybe I just didn't go far enough down the necropost.
Many of us here are avid readers and intellectuals, so what's your favourite book (and why if you care to offer)?
I'm a Moby Dick man, I suspect because it was the first real book I learned to read and grew up by the sea. There is virtually no topic to which Melville does not apply, and it is far more respectable then my love of Wuthering Heights.
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"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking, because its the best single book on astrophysics for the common reader.
Note- One of my friend got the "50 Shades of Grey" trilogy. It can be my next favourite :-P
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*yawn*
Lord of the Rings. End of thread. ;D
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I don't really have one favorite book, so here's some recent good ones I've read:
Elmore Leonard - '52 Pick-up
Elmore Leonard - Rum Punch
And I've started the ASoIaF series, working my way through the first book now... good stuff so far!
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Many of us here are avid readers and intellectuals, so what's your favourite book (and why if you care to offer)?
You ask the impossible!
For the longest time I would probably have said Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Now I'm just unable to give that title solely to that. So many competitors have cropped up. Too many to start listing here.
Also, shouldn't this be under General Talk instead of BM General Discussion?
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I don't have favorite books because all of my favorite books are part of series.
Here's my top 3 series/books I've ever read:
1. The Kingkiller Chronicles (2 of 3 books released)
2. The Wheel of Time (13 of 14 books released)
3. A Song of Ice and Fire (ie. Game of Thrones) (5 of 7 books released)
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I tend to have favorite authors rather than books. And for me, there can only be one:
Lois McMaster Bujold.
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Put me down as another who couldn't just pick one. That said, I will offer up something a little less well know that's a favourite.
Anyone read The Blade Itself (and sequels) by Joe Abercrombie?
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Anyone read The Blade Itself (and sequels) by Joe Abercrombie?
Yup. Very good books.
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What a loaded question!
However, I'd say my favorite book, in terms of just one I could read over and over again, would be a 4-way tie between:
1. an anthology of Icelandic Sagas (Egil's and Njal's especially)
2. The Tale of the Children of Hurin, Tolkien
3. The Napoleon of Notting Hill, Chesterton
4. Cyrano de Bergerac, Rostand (technically a play; whatever)
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I too cannot pick a single book, however a selection series I thoroughly loved reading:
The Dreamers, by David & Leigh Eddings
Dune, by Frank Herbert (and to a lesser extend, the sequels/prequels by his son)
Discworld, by Terry Pratchett (mainly stories about The Watch)
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I too cannot pick a single book, however a selection series I thoroughly loved reading:
The Dreamers, by David & Leigh Eddings
Dune, by Frank Herbert (and to a lesser extend, the sequels/prequels by his son)
Discworld, by Terry Pratchett (mainly stories about The Watch)
If I was going to pick something from Eddings it would probably be the Elenium; didn't really enjoy the Dreamers. Dune is brilliant and I can't think of anything else in the genre that stands up to it, sadly including its sequels. Big fan of Terry Pratchett, read most of the Discworld novels.
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uhhh...difficult. Not a single favorite book...thats impossible.
Authors:
Micheal Swanwick: most shortstories; The Iron Dragons Daugther, Stations of the Tide
Frank Herbert: Dune
Gene Wolfe: The Knight/The Wizard Knight
Alfred Bester:Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! (Also known under 'The Stars my Destination')
Mary Gentle: Rats and Gargoyles
Barbara Tuchman: The Guns of August)
Ceasar: Civil War (not meant as 'look how impressive I am' - it truly is an excellent book/autobiography/history/propaganda piece)
John Hemming: The Conquest of the Incas
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Shardik, or anything by Richard Adams.
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Some of my other favourites:
*"The Immortals of Meluha" and its sequel "The Secret of the Nagas", two great mythological fantasy tales.
*"The Affair" and "Killing Floor" by Lee Child
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No one has mentioned The Dark Tower yet? C'mon, Vellos even signs his letters "Long Days and Pleasant Nights".
I envision Dwilight as the continent where the world has moved on.
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No one has mentioned The Dark Tower yet? C'mon, Vellos even signs his letters "Long Days and Pleasant Nights".
I envision Dwilight as the continent where the world has moved on.
Curious bit about that.
I've never read the Dark Tower.
I stole the sig from Metis Highland, founder of Triunism. One or two other Triunists use that signoff too. Metis took it from The Dark Tower, I have since learned, but in BM it's kind of a Triunist thing. Since Hireshmont's conversion to Sanguis Astroism, he's actually gotten a sort of a semi-cease-and-desist request from one Triunist, as well as a few Astroists asking him if he's "really" converted, given his signature.
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I stole the sig from Metis Highland, founder of Triunism. One or two other Triunists use that signoff too. Metis took it from The Dark Tower, I have since learned, but in BM it's kind of a Triunist thing. Since Hireshmont's conversion to Sanguis Astroism, he's actually gotten a sort of a semi-cease-and-desist request from one Triunist, as well as a few Astroists asking him if he's "really" converted, given his signature.
Well thats a bummer because I was thinking about stealing that awesome signoff but if I will get in trouble with the religious folks I probably shouldn't.
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Well thats a bummer because I was thinking about stealing that awesome signoff but if I will get in trouble with the religious folks I probably shouldn't.
Just convert to Triunism! :)
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I would have to say my favorite is Sandy Mitchell's Commissar Cain series of books.
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For those of you who are avid readers and love all things Medieval, A Distant Mirror is a wonderful book on the history of the 100 Years War leading from the early 1400s until the late 1500s, about 600-700 pages if I'm not mistaken. I found it in my father's old book collection when he died, sitting among an absolutely maddening number of Tom Clancy novels. I think he had every single novel Clancy has ever written. <_< I lost them when our shipment container sprung a leak halfway across the Atlantic on its way to Brazil, but oh well. I read them a looong time ago. I no longer actually HAVE this book, but I can guarantee its a hell of a read and offers some pretty deep insight into life, politics, war, art, and culture of the time.
I read it when I was about 9, maybe 10, and I still haven't found a book on medieval times that can best it.
EDIT: Found it, but my version is a black hardcover and looks very different. Huh.
http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Mirror-Calamitous-14th-Century/dp/0345349571#reader_0345349571
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Be warned, its ridiculously-dense at times. The amount of detail imparted is absolutely breathtaking at times.