Best and Worst Novel

[WineDarkSea]

Faves: Don Quixote--Cervantes, Three Cornered World--Soseki, and Lolita--Nabokov

Dislikes-- A lot of modern American Literature. Personally, I think that "The Great Gatsby" is one of the most over rated books of all time.

[Statikk HDM]

Old and not so tasty, props for Brave New World. That was a seminal book for me, I read it every year.
I really digged the Kevin Anderson books Hidden Empire and a Forest of Stars.
Dense as a mofo and great world building.
A book that I felt was really overrated though was the Catcher in the Rye. It's good, but I don't see how it ever got that "classic" status.

[OANST]

This is a reply to silver. Clive Barker is a hack. He has absolutely no talent at writing whatsoever. Read one of his novels and look at the grammar. One of the things that drives me crazy is that he will never use the words "he asked". Every time a character asks a question he writes after it "he said". Where is the toilet paper? Jimmy said. An entire book of that is enough to drive me insane. Plus his characters are not imaginative. They are stupid. In Weaveworld the place where most of the characters are from is called the Immacollata. If I feel like having an alcoholic beverage I will go there. Also in Weaveworld the main enemy is a woman who attacks with the power inside of her. Would anyone like to guess what he called this? THE MENSTRUM! God, he sucks. And by the way, Clive. I know your smart. You don't have to use a 10 dollar word twice in every sentence.

[Hobo]

Favorites
Dune-Frank Herbert.

There's a closet here. Let's make use of it

[OANST]

I don't get it. The only gay character in Dune is the Baron Harkonnen if that's what you're getting at.

[Mac the Janitor]

Ender's Shadow was really good. A lot better than Ender's Game in my opinion, even though it is technically the same story. but I really don't like the rest of the series (Shadow of the Hegemon, etc), much too boring.

[Silversnow]

All the books by Clive Barker I've read were translated, so I can't argue with you about the grammar, old. But I don't find the characters stupid. He changes them in strange ways. The character no one paid any attention to in the beginning could in the middle or end become anything else, much more important. And characters you thought were too important to lose can all of a sudden disappear or change to something completely different. I've had a hard time finding other books with the same thing in them, so that's what I like about Barker.

[TheRaisin]

I've read two books by Clive Barker. One was called The Thief of Always, and it was one of the best books I've ever read. The other was called Abarat, and it sucked to a degree that I cannot fully explain in words. Yes, he definitely needs to work on his writing skills. His stories are great, but his writing is SO BAD.

[Rich]

I don't get it. The only gay character in Dune is the Baron Harkonnen if that's what you're getting at.

He's insinuating that you go and make love in a closet as you both like Dune.

[OANST]

Thief of Always is an exception to the rule and is actually a very good book. And oh my god does Abarat suck. You see, I'm an idiot. I constantly go and read more of his books even though I know that they are going to be terrible. I'm like a guy with a sore tooth who can't stop touching it.

[SeaRex]

I'm not such a big reader, although I love to write. I don't know... I guess I just get bored reading novels. It's like I have ADD in reading and nothing else. I'll take a novella or a short story over a novel any day.

Favorite Novel(la)s:

• 1984 by Orwell.
• Animal Farm by Orwell.
• Heart of Darkness by Conrad.

Least Favorite:

• Anything by Melville. B-O-R-I-N-G.
• Light in August by Faulkner. He's a friggin' black Jesus. So what?

In fact, I don't like much American stuff... although I adore Poe. Like someone who posted earlier in the thread, I also have his complete works, and I'm steadily working my way through it. I read "Ligeia" for the first time the other day and loved every minute of it, with the exception of the somewhat slow beginning. I had no idea that Poe included "The Conquerer Worm" in that work. I was startled when the poem popped up.

However, as much as I like Poe, I was still bored to tears while reading "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." That's just how I am...

[soulstice]

'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell is really good.
Another book called 'A suitable boy' is really good too. It's about an Indian girl who is faced with an arranged marriage but has somebody she already wants to marry even though her traditional parents shun love marriages.
Another novel I really love is called 'What the Body Remembers' by Shauna Singh Baldwin.
Basically this is what happens (It's from Amazon, I can't be bothered to type it all up)
Shauna Singh Baldwin's What the Body Remembers begins and ends with rebirth--an apt metaphor, perhaps, for the tragedy of Indian partition that forms the backdrop for her story. Though politics overshadows the lives of all the characters, the heart of this first novel is in the home where Sardarji, a middle-aged Sikh engineer, has brought his new wife, 16-year-old Roop. The only problem is, his current wife, Satya, is less than thrilled about sharing hearth and husband. Satya's inability to bear a child has led to Sardarji's recent marriage, and this fact, combined with jealousy has turned her heart "black and dense as a stone within her." Her rival is not only 25 years younger, but of considerably lower social rank, and her husband's obvious infatuation with Roop rankles considerably:
Can a young woman ever know his friends and laugh with them in that rueful way? How will a young woman know that he breathes deeply when he thinks too much, that he wipes his forehead in the cold heart of winter when the British settlement officer approaches to collect his yearly taxes? How can a young woman know how to manage his flour mill while he is hunting kakar with his English "superiors"? How will she know how to give orders that sound as if she is a mere mouth for his words? How will she know that his voice is angry with the servants only when he is tired or hungry? How can she understand that all his talk of logic and discipline in the English people's corridors and his writing in brown paper files about the great boons of irrigation engineering brought by the conquerors are belied by his donations to the freedom-fighting Akali party?
The rift between the two wives widens when Roop gives birth, first to a daughter and then to a son, and both children are sent to Satya for rearing. Eventually the younger wife demands the ouster of the elder from the household, and Satya is sent away. But her spirit is not exiled entirely, and years later, when Roop and Sardarji find themselves swept up in the bloody partition of India and Pakistan, it is memories of the elder woman's strength and wisdom that Roop draws on to survive. Baldwin develops her characters' personalities and interactions against the backdrop of changing Anglo-Indian relations; sometimes the political bleeds into the personal, as the novel juxtaposes India's struggle for independence with the smaller outrages and betrayals Satya and Roop suffer at their husband's hands--and each other's. What the Body Remembers is a powerful combination of historical and domestic drama, marking a promising debut for Shauna Singh Baldwin. --Sheila Bright--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description:
Out of the rich culture of India and the brutal drama of the 1947 Partition comes this lush and eloquent debut novel about two women married to the same man.

Roop is a young girl whose mother has died and whose father is deep in debt. So
she is elated to learn she is to become the second wife of a wealthy Sikh landowner in a union beneficial to both. For Sardaji’s first wife, Satya, has failed to bear him children. Roop believes that she and Satya, still very much in residence, will be friends. But the relationship between the older and younger woman is far more complex. And, as India lurches toward independence, Sardarji struggles to find his place amidst the drastic changes.

Meticulously researched and beautifully written, What the Body Remembers is at once poetic, political, feminist, and sensual.

[The Marching Mudokon]

I love the original Dune novels by Frank Herbert as well.

[TheRaisin]

I started reading Dune. I got fairly far into it. I kept expecting it to become interesting. It never did. I should pick up a copy from the library and see if I find it any better now that I'm better equipped to read it. What with my ASTOUNDING vocabulary.

[ANN NEELY]

Best:
The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy-Sheer genius.
Coraline-Read this 15 times, it is very dark and probably the best book I have read.
Redwall-Very creative.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-The best HP book.
Raptor Red-About a Utahraptor's life. Amazing.
Jurassic Park- MUCH better'n the movies!
Bored of the Rings- A LOTR parody; very funny.
My Side of the Mountain-Read fer school. Quite a good read.

Worst:
The Giver- Had to read this in school, it is boring.
Abel's Island- A mouse stranded on an island?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-Plain boring
Stargirl- Read fer school. Very boring.
The Island of the Blue Dolphins- Read fer school. About an indian girl surviving by herself.
Sing The Moon Down-Indian girls escaping slavery. Bo-ring.
ANYTHING by Madeline L'engle-Her books are boring and hard to understand. Including....
A Wrinkle In Time- I read this at least ten times, and I STILL cannot figure out what the Hell is going on!
The Young Unicorns- Did not even bother to finish. Wait-a blind girl? A gang? A genie? A pope? WTF?!?
A Wind In The Door- WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?

[The Marching Mudokon]

Best:
Raptor Red-About a Utahraptor's life. Amazing.
Jurassic Park- MUCH better'n the movies!

Yay! You red the Raptor Red book as well. I loved that novel and I also loved Jurassic Park. I think the book was a lot darker (and better) than the movie.

[thatbluebastard]

herbert - dune
heinlein - stranger in a strange land
heinlein - starship troopers
burgess - a clockwork orange
nabokov - lolita
lovecraft - the case of charles dexter ward
king - the stand
bradbury - fahrenheit 451
nietzsche - thus spake zarathustra
hesse - siddhartha
hesse - steppenwolf
king - the dark tower series
heller - catch 22
vonnegut - slaughterhouse five
vonnegut - cat's cradle
thompson - fear and loathing in las vegas and other american stories
adams - hitchhiker's guide



harry potter is still cool with me. i enjoyed the books a lot and i enjoyed the movies when they came out. the movies aren't EXACT, but they never are.

also, i'm reading angels and demons right now and it's pretty cool. da vinci code was pretty cool. it has some interesting theories. i think it's ridiculous to claim that it's all factual though. as much of a conspiracy fan i am, it's kind of hokey. but it's a fun read, nonetheless.


other than was i listed above, i tend to gravitate towards classic literature, contemporary surrealists, philosophy, and just fun reads. i've read a lot. i can't remember a lot of what i've read, even if i liked it.

[soulstice]

I'm not too fond of Harry Potter, LOTR books etc... I guess I have a bad imagination and I'm not really into magical books-I like books about reality and drama more.

[TheRaisin]

Raptor Red is a great book.

Ann, you are evil and inhuman. The Giver was fascinating and meaningful and cool.

Madeleine L'Engle, I will admit, can get a bit tiresome. I used to think her books were the greatest things ever, but upon re-reading them, I found them . . . lacking.

[thatbluebastard]

I'm not too fond of Harry Potter, LOTR books etc... I guess I have a bad imagination and I'm not really into magical books-I like books about reality and drama more.

wheeeeere's yoooo heaaaaad aaaat where's yo head at where's yo head at