My favourite novel would be Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I first read BNW because of a classroom theme assignment in Gr. 12 and I really loved it. It was written in 1931, and that's a part of it's charm as it portrayed a future that in many respects is similar to the one we live in now, with the same themes and threats being applicable.
WZ Book Club
- Thread starter HBK-aholic
- Start date
I just finished reading Jaws. I have been a big fan of the movie for many years and I felt it was time I actually read the book that came first. To be honest I was a little let down by the book. It wasn't that it was poorly done or anything, it was honestly just how it ended. Very anti-climatic.
I did however love the love triangle between Ellen, Brody, and Hooper. It would have been very interesting to see that on screen, but alas we will never know. The characters were written very well from Larry Vaughn to the great white shark. All of them had characteristics that made them very unique to read. I especially loved Brody's character. He just kept getting shit on the entire book, it was nice to see him get closure in the end, at least to an extent.
However, the ending was very anti-climatic and that really soured the book for me. Personally, I enjoyed the movie much more, but the book was still a nice read. I had never read Peter Benchley before, but I don't think it will be the last time. I love sharks and he has a couple more shark books out. I will most likely read them in the coming weeks. As for now, I am turning my attention to either Michael Crichton's "Next" or re-reading a Hunter Thompson book, either Fear and Loathing or The Rum Diary. I haven't decided yet.
I did however love the love triangle between Ellen, Brody, and Hooper. It would have been very interesting to see that on screen, but alas we will never know. The characters were written very well from Larry Vaughn to the great white shark. All of them had characteristics that made them very unique to read. I especially loved Brody's character. He just kept getting shit on the entire book, it was nice to see him get closure in the end, at least to an extent.
However, the ending was very anti-climatic and that really soured the book for me. Personally, I enjoyed the movie much more, but the book was still a nice read. I had never read Peter Benchley before, but I don't think it will be the last time. I love sharks and he has a couple more shark books out. I will most likely read them in the coming weeks. As for now, I am turning my attention to either Michael Crichton's "Next" or re-reading a Hunter Thompson book, either Fear and Loathing or The Rum Diary. I haven't decided yet.
Cactus~Clothesline
The Last Gunslinger
Ok Stephen King fans....you need to read, The Passage by Justin Cronin
I just finished over the weekend and this was a really great book. King actually endorsed it which helped me find it in the first place. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on at first and slowly, by page 170ish it all came together. It really picked up...and then all of a sudden the theme changed completely.
What pisses me off though is that I found out it's a trilogy, not just one book. It didn't ruin the end, but we have to wait till 2012 for the 2nd, and 2014 for the 3rd.
Anyone else give this a shot? If you like somewhat science/super natural fiction and you like Stephen King in any way at all, you must read this.
I just finished over the weekend and this was a really great book. King actually endorsed it which helped me find it in the first place. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on at first and slowly, by page 170ish it all came together. It really picked up...and then all of a sudden the theme changed completely.
What pisses me off though is that I found out it's a trilogy, not just one book. It didn't ruin the end, but we have to wait till 2012 for the 2nd, and 2014 for the 3rd.
Anyone else give this a shot? If you like somewhat science/super natural fiction and you like Stephen King in any way at all, you must read this.
ThUnDeRpHoEnIx
Proud Team Bring It Member
K i havent read most of the thread so sorry if this series was mentioned.
I was reading just before Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Its a great fanatasy novel series that currently has 5 books out.First three are a trilogy and the other two are the first two of the thired trilogy.Its actually a good read.
I was reading just before Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Its a great fanatasy novel series that currently has 5 books out.First three are a trilogy and the other two are the first two of the thired trilogy.Its actually a good read.
Spidey Revivey
Porn is okay here long as it ain't dudes.
If you're a fan of a novel that plays with the horrors of vanity, I recommend The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I am almost finished with it and its a damn good gothic story; kind of like Faust but also a play with hedonism that wasn't well known in Wilde's time.
Epic story.
Epic story.
II am gonna have to give this a try, i am a hugeeeeee stephen king fan i have about 40 books so far im my SK collection, always collecting, send me it thiss way dude hehe, my fav of all time tho has to be IT to read it took a while but real worth it.
I finished The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold on Christmas Eve, I did spend about 8 months reading it as I didn't dedicate a lot of time to reading this year, especially after finishing The Time Traveler's Wife prior to this. Strange thing was, I had a feeling that because I had spent periods without reading it, I did I'd have to restart but thankfully I didn't.
Onto the point about the book, it's definitely worth the read, there were some elements I wasn't fully satisfied with but the key point is about having to observe your family's life from heaven after passing and knowing there's nothing you can do about it. The book certainly felt real in some parts and some parts just catch you off guard but I would say that you would be satisfied with it as it really is an open minded story. I will no doubt give the film a watch to see how it pans out.
I just started reading Looking For Alaska by John Green today, about 50 pages in and already enjoying it. I definitely feel I can relate to the central character in some aspects but starting off lightly and enjoying it. Given I enjoy watching Green's vlogs I think this book is keeping to my expectations. Books I have lined up after this are Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Awkward Situations For Men by Danny Wallace and Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, so I got some good reads coming up.
Onto the point about the book, it's definitely worth the read, there were some elements I wasn't fully satisfied with but the key point is about having to observe your family's life from heaven after passing and knowing there's nothing you can do about it. The book certainly felt real in some parts and some parts just catch you off guard but I would say that you would be satisfied with it as it really is an open minded story. I will no doubt give the film a watch to see how it pans out.
I just started reading Looking For Alaska by John Green today, about 50 pages in and already enjoying it. I definitely feel I can relate to the central character in some aspects but starting off lightly and enjoying it. Given I enjoy watching Green's vlogs I think this book is keeping to my expectations. Books I have lined up after this are Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Awkward Situations For Men by Danny Wallace and Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, so I got some good reads coming up.
Killswitch1337
Dark Match Winner
my favorite books of all time would have to be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, and its subsidiaries in the second and third in the trilogy. he is a fabulous writer and kept me interested throughout. if you enjoy crime novels, this is for you, if you dont, this is still for you. if only he hadnt died, he could have been one of the worlds best.
also, The Dark Tower series by stephen king is great, seven in all. Its a fantasy story about the last gunslinger and has elements from all his stories including honorable mentions and characters. also has him getting hit by the truck and saved by the main character. these are two great books.
also, The Dark Tower series by stephen king is great, seven in all. Its a fantasy story about the last gunslinger and has elements from all his stories including honorable mentions and characters. also has him getting hit by the truck and saved by the main character. these are two great books.
Hyorinmaru
Sit Upon The Frozen Heavens
Every once in a while when I go to Barnes & Nobles I'll wander around the store for a while and look at anything that catches my eye which is how I found James Clemens' Godslayer Chronicles. There's only 2 books in the series (so far) called Shadowfall (#1) and Hinterland (#2). IF you read post #2 in this thread you'll know I love fantasy books and while the magic system in these books is different than anything I've read before he writes it so well it just works. If had 1 complaint it would be that he left a major cliff hanger and the end of Hinterland (which he wrote back in 2006) and has yet to write a third book. I hope he goes back to this series they really are some of my favorite books.
LitasRevenge79
Mrs. John Constantine
Some of the last books I've read recently:
Marquis De Sade's- The 120 Days of Sodom
This is one freaking out there novel. It was filled with SO much debauchery, and decadence of people doing heavens knows what kinds of things. I am a fan of French literature. But this was all about 4 royal men in their own opulent Eden and fulfilling every sick fantasy with people of every age. I won't give away the ending, for you would have to stomach it yourself, or read Tdig's horror movie tourney to get more information.
Marquis De Sade's - The Misfortunes of Virtue
Another of Sade's stories. A young girl basically has the crappiest luck. She drifts aimlessly from one place to another. She is on the lam with one person, then gets accused of murdering her boyfriend with her co-hort. Then she happens upon a monastery of amorous monks. Well, it basically reads like a trashy soap opera. The poor dear's life seemingly can't get any worse. Good book overall.
Jodi Picoult's- The Tenth Circle
A book about a girl who is assaulted at a party. The strain it puts on her parents' marriage as she recovers.
Chris Jericho's - Undisputed
Fantastic book!! Great follow up to Lion's Tale. I loved the tales he had about his time in WWE and about his inter-personal relationships behind the scenes. I even read it all in one day. Highly recommend it to anyone.
Greg Gutfeld's- Bible of Unspeakable Truths
The gentleman is one of the hosts of the Fox late night news show, Red Eye. A hilarious spin on politics, news, and pop culture. I adored this book. His rants on everything from Jeremy Piven, the the Nation's Healthcare, the politics. Its so amusing to read. If anyone wants to read someone's no-nonsense views on life, I would recommend you pick it up.
Marquis De Sade's- The 120 Days of Sodom
This is one freaking out there novel. It was filled with SO much debauchery, and decadence of people doing heavens knows what kinds of things. I am a fan of French literature. But this was all about 4 royal men in their own opulent Eden and fulfilling every sick fantasy with people of every age. I won't give away the ending, for you would have to stomach it yourself, or read Tdig's horror movie tourney to get more information.
Marquis De Sade's - The Misfortunes of Virtue
Another of Sade's stories. A young girl basically has the crappiest luck. She drifts aimlessly from one place to another. She is on the lam with one person, then gets accused of murdering her boyfriend with her co-hort. Then she happens upon a monastery of amorous monks. Well, it basically reads like a trashy soap opera. The poor dear's life seemingly can't get any worse. Good book overall.
Jodi Picoult's- The Tenth Circle
A book about a girl who is assaulted at a party. The strain it puts on her parents' marriage as she recovers.
Chris Jericho's - Undisputed
Fantastic book!! Great follow up to Lion's Tale. I loved the tales he had about his time in WWE and about his inter-personal relationships behind the scenes. I even read it all in one day. Highly recommend it to anyone.
Greg Gutfeld's- Bible of Unspeakable Truths
The gentleman is one of the hosts of the Fox late night news show, Red Eye. A hilarious spin on politics, news, and pop culture. I adored this book. His rants on everything from Jeremy Piven, the the Nation's Healthcare, the politics. Its so amusing to read. If anyone wants to read someone's no-nonsense views on life, I would recommend you pick it up.
Dowdsy McDowds
Sally was here
That was the main thing I remember from the book too and made me not look at Hooper the same way when I watched the film after reading the book. It may have been overkill if they had put it into the film too, but if there's a remake of Jaws in 15 years or so I'm sure they could write it in somehow.
My favourite author at the moment is Kurt Vonnegut who writes some surreal stuff, but once you get used to his style and sense of humour then it's hard to go back! I started with a collection of short stories called Welcome to the Monkey-House which have some real gems but a few stinkers too.
What made me discover him was my favourite singer Dallas Green had written a few songs based on Vonnegut's work, one in particular called Happiness by the Kilowatt which is based on a story where 3 part-time radio workers manage to tap into a signal of euphoria in space, but the euphoria is so intense that it is debilitating to whoever is tuned into it.
Also worth reading are Slaughterhouse 5, Breakfast of Champions, Timequake and Sirens of Titan. Timequake is probably only just my favourite out of them, but each have their own great moments.
If we can include graphic novels, I'd highly recommend The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman. The visual style is very striking and it took me a few reads of it to really appreciate how much attention and dedication was put into it. The ending teases a sequel of sorts that will be about lawyers and I really hope it comes to fruition!
Pax Romana is also worth a read if you like TNN.
The first series of books I read were the 'Rats' trilogy by James Herbert, consisting of Rats, Lair and Domain, with the first set in London in the 1970s and Domain finishing after a nuclear holocaust has hit London. They are quite a creepy set of books, with very graphic descriptions of how numerous characters meet their demise. My oldest sister had to stop after the 1st book as we had a black cat at the time who used to sleep outside her room and after a few too many shrieks in the night, she decided it was best to give the rats a rest.
Going back to my youth, I used to love a bit of Poppy Z Brite and it was her books that made me want to go to New Orleans at Mardi Gras and drink chartreuse. What she wrote about and what I've seen don't seem to match up but she had quite a romantic style of writing and Lost Souls was arguably her best book, although Exquisite Corpse certainly has it's moments too.
BK Styles
Certified Nerd
This was the first Kernick book I read, and it was enough to get me interested, though like you I wasn't 100% sure on him. Deadline is better in my opinion.
If you haven't already, try the Last Ten Seconds. I couldn't get to sleep one night from feeling sick, and picked it up for something to do. From midnight to 9am, I finished it. Really enjoyed it.
Severed is probably my favorite Kernick book though. Haven't read it in a while, but I remember liking it a lot.
Kernick is interesting because, as you say, he isn't the best writer, but when he's good, he's shit-hot. It's just that there's a lot of medium average writing in there too. But for me, the good parts are enough for me to take notice when I see a Kernick book that I haven't read.
Hope that's helped somewhat.
Also, great book that I studied about 5 years ago now...The Beach by Alex Garland. Great read, couldn't put it down (even though I was studying it) and SO much better than the film.
Whilst on holiday, I picked up a book known as ''Lethal People'' by John Locke (seriously, how many people have the name John Locke!?) a thriller which has been a massive hit on Amazon's Kindle device.
The book is about a freelance spy named Donovan Creed (awesome name) who is bascially, a fearless James Bond. The main villain Joe DeMeo doesn't really appear much in the book, which is odd. However, the other ''villain'' is a midget hell-bent on killing Joe DeMeo, also, which leads to various confrontations and confusions over whether really the enemy of Donovan's enemy is his friend.
There are also many sub-plots, like the obligatory romance with Kathleen Gray, a typical woman with an edge... all she thinks about is sex. There's also the sub-plot of his ex-wife's abusive husband and his daughter, which eventually leads to him beating up a hooker, in what is probably one of the most bizarre storylines ever. But, John Locke's satirical style of writing makes it work... somehow.
The things I loved most about this novel was the quirky characters and the way that it actually made me laugh very intensely, at times, something hard for a book to do. It really is a hilarious book. The cons? Maybe the fact that it is short and that it does get quite confusing at times. But, John Locke has definitely hooked me on the series, and I'll definitely be reading the whole series, even if it mean buying a Kindle!
Rohan's rating: 8/10
The book is about a freelance spy named Donovan Creed (awesome name) who is bascially, a fearless James Bond. The main villain Joe DeMeo doesn't really appear much in the book, which is odd. However, the other ''villain'' is a midget hell-bent on killing Joe DeMeo, also, which leads to various confrontations and confusions over whether really the enemy of Donovan's enemy is his friend.
There are also many sub-plots, like the obligatory romance with Kathleen Gray, a typical woman with an edge... all she thinks about is sex. There's also the sub-plot of his ex-wife's abusive husband and his daughter, which eventually leads to him beating up a hooker, in what is probably one of the most bizarre storylines ever. But, John Locke's satirical style of writing makes it work... somehow.
The things I loved most about this novel was the quirky characters and the way that it actually made me laugh very intensely, at times, something hard for a book to do. It really is a hilarious book. The cons? Maybe the fact that it is short and that it does get quite confusing at times. But, John Locke has definitely hooked me on the series, and I'll definitely be reading the whole series, even if it mean buying a Kindle!
Rohan's rating: 8/10
