Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Entertainment


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 09-09-2008, 10:02 AM   #1 (permalink)
Kick Ass Kunoichi
 
snowy's Avatar
 
Location: Oregon
I have a library card and I'm not afraid to use it!

After years of being too occupied with finishing my English degree (which required a lot of reading), I finally have time to read for pleasure and self-improvement, and so I went and got a library card for my public library. I am enjoying it thus far, but I would appreciate some recommendations.

So, in a similar vein to Halx's "I Have Netflix" thread, I would like to ask the general TFP audience--what should I read? Here is a link to the library catalog, should you desire to double-check that the book in question is in fact in the collection prior to your recommendation: Library.Solution PAC - Search

I would ask that you avoid recommending 1) Ayn Rand and 2) British literature from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Pretty much anything else is fair game. Thanks in advance!
__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
snowy is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 10:11 AM   #2 (permalink)
Submit to me, you know you want to
 
ShaniFaye's Avatar
 
Location: Lilburn, Ga
I didnt think I would enjoy this, but I am, a lot

Nikki Sixx's Herion Diaries....Im reading that and Tori Spellings auto biography

oh and I just finished a really good book called I, Vampire by Michael Romkey, its the first in a series and it was a fun read
__________________
I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!
ShaniFaye is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 10:15 AM   #3 (permalink)
Functionally Appropriate
 
fresnelly's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
Christopher Brookmyre.

If you like crackling thrillers like Snatch (but set in Scotland), he's your man.

My just-about-favourite-book of all time is Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. Each chapter describes a world where time runs differently and the effects are both strikin and poetic. Despite the premise, this is not a technical or science fiction-y book. Its real focus is on human nature and how we live our lives. It's not preachy or sappy or new-agey either.
__________________
Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

Last edited by fresnelly; 09-09-2008 at 10:48 AM.. Reason: its it's
fresnelly is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 10:27 AM   #4 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
There's this little known author called J.K. Rowling. I think you might like her work.

Have you ever read Orson Scott Card's Ender series?
Willravel is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 10:43 AM   #5 (permalink)
Kick Ass Kunoichi
 
snowy's Avatar
 
Location: Oregon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel View Post
There's this little known author called J.K. Rowling. I think you might like her work.


Quote:
Have you ever read Orson Scott Card's Ender series?
I've heard about it but haven't read it; I was too busy reading "girl" books growing up that I didn't even get to The Lord of the Rings until college. Consider it on the list.

And Einstein's Dreams sounds really interesting, fres. I'll have to see if we have it.

Thanks for all of the recommendations so far; they're much appreciated.
__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
snowy is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 11:55 AM   #6 (permalink)
Junkie
 
sapiens's Avatar
 
Location: Some place windy
Off the top of my head:

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

or

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Both are good reads.
sapiens is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 02:44 PM   #7 (permalink)
Who You Crappin?
 
Derwood's Avatar
 
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
at the risk of sounding like a jerk....

We now have 3 threads about books (in the top five threads in Entertainment at the time I'm posting this). Do we need so many threads or can we consolidate them into one?
Derwood is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 03:56 PM   #8 (permalink)
Kick Ass Kunoichi
 
snowy's Avatar
 
Location: Oregon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Derwood View Post
at the risk of sounding like a jerk....

We now have 3 threads about books (in the top five threads in Entertainment at the time I'm posting this). Do we need so many threads or can we consolidate them into one?
I don't want to know what you've read lately; I want to know what you think I should read--they're two entirely different questions/topics, and only merge together if what you've read lately is what you think I should be reading. And as I said in the OP, this is meant to be more of a counterpart to Hal's Netflix thread than any of the other book threads. Besides which, we have tons of threads about movies--far more than books. So I think the book thread thing still has room to grow, though those with similar topics should probably be consolidated.

And sapiens, thanks for the recs; I'll take a look.
__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
snowy is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 04:31 PM   #9 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Derwood View Post
at the risk of sounding like a jerk....

We now have 3 threads about books (in the top five threads in Entertainment at the time I'm posting this). Do we need so many threads or can we consolidate them into one?
Party pooper!
Willravel is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 04:35 PM   #10 (permalink)
All important elusive independent swing voter...
 
jorgelito's Avatar
 
Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia
What's wrong with Ayn Rand?

Wait, you only got a library card now?

Anyways, in the "Read Any Good Books Lately" thread there are tons of great recommendations. Go check it out over there or maybe we can merge threads. I don't want to have to relist all the good reads over here.
__________________
"The race is not always to the swift, nor battle to the strong, but
to the one that endures to the end."

"Demand more from yourself, more than anyone else could ever ask!"

- My recruiter
jorgelito is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 04:51 PM   #11 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jorgelito View Post
What's wrong with Ayn Rand?
She's the Ron Paul of authors.
Willravel is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 05:14 PM   #12 (permalink)
The Reverend Side Boob
 
Bear Cub's Avatar
 
Location: Nofe Curolina
Wait, so how does this library card thing work? Do you put the number into Google or something?
__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.
Bear Cub is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 05:49 PM   #13 (permalink)
Kick Ass Kunoichi
 
snowy's Avatar
 
Location: Oregon
Quote:
Originally Posted by jorgelito View Post
What's wrong with Ayn Rand?

Wait, you only got a library card now?

Anyways, in the "Read Any Good Books Lately" thread there are tons of great recommendations. Go check it out over there or maybe we can merge threads. I don't want to have to relist all the good reads over here.
I live with two Ayn Rand fans, so I've had plenty of recommendations in regards to her. Any time something remotely Randish comes up, I get the "You should read [insert Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead here]." I'll get to it, really I will--but my boyfriend has to read Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, The Living End by Stanley Elkin, and White Noise by Don DeLillo first.

As for not having a library card--I just graduated with an English degree. I haven't had a lot of spare time to read literary works for pleasure, cheap romance novels sure, but not more serious things. I had the university library when I needed it, and it's fairly comprehensive when it comes to reading the canon. But I'd like a glimpse outside of that canon. Plus, I'm a complete book whore, but now that I'm poor, I'm not able to buy books outright like I once did.
__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
snowy is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 06:01 PM   #14 (permalink)
Functionally Appropriate
 
fresnelly's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
I still have my hometown library card that I got while in elementary school.
__________________
Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life
fresnelly is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 06:31 PM   #15 (permalink)
Une petite chou
 
noodle's Avatar
 
Location: With All Your Base
How I Became Stupid by Martin Page
PopCo by Scarlett Thomas
and I recently enjoyed Booty Nomad and The Big Happy by Scott Mebus for bathtub reading.
I doing The Full Cleveland now.
I only do library books. I'll keep up my list.
__________________
Here's how life works: you either get to ask for an apology or you get to shoot people. Not both. House

Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
Just realize that you're armed with smart but heavily outnumbered.
The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand
noodle is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 07:08 PM   #16 (permalink)
big damn hero
 
guthmund's Avatar
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel View Post

Have you ever read Orson Scott Card's Ender series?
Good start. Just kind of avoid everything else. Pseudonyms included.

I always recommend Dune. I've been told the series as a whole is a bit of an acquired taste, but the first book, I believe, is solid enough for just about anyone. It's no Ayn Rand, but then again.....
__________________
No signature. None. Seriously.
guthmund is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 07:21 PM   #17 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
Ah, Dune, of course. I find that it's best people stop at Chapterhouse Dune, but stopping at Children of Dune would probably be fine.

All non-Frank Herbert Dune is heresy.
Willravel is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 09:33 PM   #18 (permalink)
Kick Ass Kunoichi
 
snowy's Avatar
 
Location: Oregon
Quote:
Originally Posted by fresnelly View Post
I still have my hometown library card that I got while in elementary school.
I do too, actually. Unfortunately that's two towns ago now. I have mine from teenagerhood somewhere as well.

And please do, noodle.

I am amassing quite a list.
__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
snowy is offline  
Old 09-09-2008, 09:59 PM   #19 (permalink)
All important elusive independent swing voter...
 
jorgelito's Avatar
 
Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia
Try the Alchemist. It;s a wonderful book. You will love it. Highly recommended.
__________________
"The race is not always to the swift, nor battle to the strong, but
to the one that endures to the end."

"Demand more from yourself, more than anyone else could ever ask!"

- My recruiter
jorgelito is offline  
Old 09-10-2008, 12:09 AM   #20 (permalink)
With a mustache, the cool factor would be too much
 
Fremen's Avatar
 
Location: left side of my couch, East Texas
We live outside the city limits, so no library card for me.

But, I have a lovely book recommendation for you, Snowy. The Name of the Wind

It's the first of a trilogy.
__________________
Google
Fremen is offline  
Old 09-10-2008, 02:14 AM   #21 (permalink)
Submit to me, you know you want to
 
ShaniFaye's Avatar
 
Location: Lilburn, Ga
Snowy, if you want to read some really good romance books I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Lynn Kurland, she rights scottish time travel books (not as deep as the outlander books but very entertaining and not as predictable as you normally get with romance books) I really cant say enough good things about her stuff
__________________
I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!
ShaniFaye is offline  
Old 09-10-2008, 03:59 AM   #22 (permalink)
You had me at hello
 
Poppinjay's Avatar
 
Location: DC/Coastal VA
After I graduated, I read almost everything at my branch library. I still hit it up regularly.

I strongly back up Sapiens' Confederacy of Dunces recommend. Until you've read that, you haven't read American lit. Not to sound condescending, but wow. What a book.

Also, Tropic of Cancer, Canticle for Liebowitz, everything Sinclair Lewis wrote but especially Babbit, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Jude the Obscure is a definite, Crime and Punishment, graphic novelist Peter Bagge would be in line with your region - he's great, also Will Eisner - a former Disney GA who drew the most amazing graphic novels about the development of ethnic life in NYC - Dropsie Avenue is stunning, and Maus I and II.

From more recent times, Richard Russo is very good at describing the current climate on upstate New York. With him though, he tends to write the same book over and over, but the details are good.

Yeah, I don't get out much.

edit: Persepolis I and II. Marjane Satrapi rocks my world.
__________________
I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet
Poppinjay is offline  
Old 09-10-2008, 09:54 AM   #23 (permalink)
Devoted
 
Redlemon's Avatar
 
Donor
Location: New England
How about Harry Potter Light?

Seriously, I just read the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events books. It had a very Potter feel to them, in that they are self-contained books, but contain a narrative arc that covers the whole 13 book series, and get more complex as they go on (no magic, however). They are easy reads, but the author has a lot of fun with language nonetheless.

Great books to get from the library, because it would cost a lot to get all of them, you can finish each one in a couple of hours, and you probably wouldn't read them a second time.
__________________
I can't read your signature. Sorry.
Redlemon is offline  
Old 09-12-2008, 09:51 AM   #24 (permalink)
big damn hero
 
guthmund's Avatar
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel View Post
Ah, Dune, of course. I find that it's best people stop at Chapterhouse Dune, but stopping at Children of Dune would probably be fine.

All non-Frank Herbert Dune is heresy.
So say we all.




I'm picking up the third book in Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy this afternoon. The first two were a bit plodding in places, but were still a pretty enjoyable read.

Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason is pretty good as well, although you can certainly get bogged down in the details, especially when she starts talking history.

For lighter reading, I just finished Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller for the second time. Mostly fluff, but full of that dry British wit that he and Stephen Fry do so well.
__________________
No signature. None. Seriously.

Last edited by guthmund; 09-12-2008 at 10:01 AM..
guthmund is offline  
Old 09-12-2008, 10:50 AM   #25 (permalink)
Functionally Appropriate
 
fresnelly's Avatar
 
Location: Toronto
Another great read that I recommend is Patrick Suskind's Perfume. Perhaps you saw the movie adaptation with Alan Rickman in the cast.

It's set in 18th century France and follows the life of a man with a freakishly heightened sense of smell. The effect of this is not what you might expect.

At the very least, I recommend the movie.
__________________
Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life
fresnelly is offline  
Old 09-13-2008, 01:03 AM   #26 (permalink)
All important elusive independent swing voter...
 
jorgelito's Avatar
 
Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia
Quote:
Originally Posted by fresnelly View Post
Another great read that I recommend is Patrick Suskind's Perfume. Perhaps you saw the movie adaptation with Alan Rickman in the cast.

It's set in 18th century France and follows the life of a man with a freakishly heightened sense of smell. The effect of this is not what you might expect.

At the very least, I recommend the movie.
Second recommendation for Perfume. I haven't seen the movie, didn't even know they had one, but the book is great.
__________________
"The race is not always to the swift, nor battle to the strong, but
to the one that endures to the end."

"Demand more from yourself, more than anyone else could ever ask!"

- My recruiter
jorgelito is offline  
 

Tags
afraid, card, library

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:41 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360