books

[timepiececlock]

Here's a short bit of meme...


top ten books read:

1. Dark Tower Series - Stephen King
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
3. The Hobbit - Tolkein
4. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
5. The Jungle Book (& assorted stories) - Rudyard Kipling
6. Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradburry
7. 1984 - George Orwell
8. The Giver - Lois Lowry
9. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
10. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand (though I'm not finished yet, so it's placed low)

Comments

[dragolyn.livejournal.com]

The Giver - Lois Lowry

Oh! I love this book! I bought it when it was first published and have probably read it about two dozen times since then. Did you see there is a... not a sequel, I guess, but a book published by LL set in the same 'verse? I haven't read it... sorta worried that it'll take away from the greatness of The Giver.... but I'll get around to it eventually.

Great books. 1984 is a particular favorite of mine, as is Ender's Game. And Kipling's always good.

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I've only read The Giver once, but it was the first of those "censorship is the first evil" books (of which there are at least three on my list) I read. I think I read it for fun in sixth grade. Never seen the sequel. Anyway, I remember loving it. I read 1984 just last year, by choice for a book report, and it (along with Frankenstein) was far more enjoyable and interesting and thought-provoking a read than any of the stupid old English ::cough::Bronte::cough:: books I was forced to swallow ((how disgusting is it that in the three books of that type I was forced to read, all the supposed "strong women" were only allowed to be happy when they'd suffered much and were finally "rewarded" through their penitence by getting the forgiveness and love of their big, strong, emotionally fucked up man?--sorry, OT rant.))

My favorite ever book quote came from 1984: "Sanity is not statistical." ::shiver:: Love that line! And "doublespeak". Such an appropriate word for today's not-popularly elected political officials.

I got the version of The Jungle Book that I have now, oh-- god-- probably before middle school. I was young. Young enough that I didn't even understand a lot of the subtext. It's a paperback, with three Mowgli/wolf-child stories about about six or eight others, inlcuding Rikki Tikki Tavi. But I loved it--such beautifully worded writing. And the poems/songs in the beginning! Lovely. Makes me want to reread it again.

Ender's game has an untouchable special place in my heart. I read it at 14 and I wished then that I'd known about it at 11, but was also glad I'd found into it before I became any more of a grown up.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Also, if you haven't yet, read the first two on my list. They kick unbelievable ass. For reasons to long and squealy for me to get into right now. They just--do. Stephen King... I swear, if he never writes another page except the last four of the promised Dark Towers books, and throws down his pen promptly after, I won't utter a word besides "Thank you."

[dragolyn.livejournal.com]

I've only read The Giver once, but it was the first of those "censorship is the first evil" books (of which there are at least three on my list) I read.

Me too! I think that's why it stands out so much to me. It opened my eyes in a lot of ways- of course, so did 1984 and in a much more evolved, thorough way. Ender's Game is so special to me, like an old friend, LOL. I even named my kitten Ender, once upon a time.

how disgusting is it that in the three books of that type I was forced to read, all the supposed "strong women" were only allowed to be happy when they'd suffered much and were finally "rewarded" through their penitence by getting the forgiveness and love of their big, strong, emotionally fucked up man?--sorry, OT rant.))

Very, very disgusting!!! GRRR arg... it worries me to no end to think of how many kids in high school are made to read books and are influenced by these sort of paradigms at an institutional level. My little sister is 16 and it seems that she and all her friends have fallen for this way of thinking.... of course it's not the fault of their school, but being taught that strong women = women who are subdued by their men really could not help.

I'll have to check out the Stephen King, haven't read that before. Actually, I avoided his work for a long time because of a trauma (watched Pet Cemetary when I was WAY too young for it and never recovered!) but after reading (and loving) his book on writing, I've been wanting to read his fiction. I do love the movie The Stand- have you read the book? I've been wondering how much it differs from the movie. I'm a sucker for those post-apocalyptic stories (happily they abound in fanfic). :-)

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[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I even named my kitten Ender, once upon a time.

You know, I won't have enough pets in my lifetime for all the names I've got planned. :sigh:

I'll have to check out the Stephen King, haven't read that before. Actually, I avoided his work for a long time because of a trauma (watched Pet Cemetary when I was WAY too young for it and never recovered!) but after reading (and loving) his book on writing, I've been wanting to read his fiction.

I've never read The Stand, or Pet Cemetary. I've read others, including IT, which was phenominally scary but somewhat anti-climactic at the end. Still, very very good. Wonderful use of transitions to flashbacks.

The Dark Tower series is four books so far, beginning with The Gunslinger. It is crucial that you read them in order. They're not SK's typical "horror" books-- they're dark fantasy, with an element of the post-acpocalyptic. They're not quite like anything else I've read, and highly imaginative. Apparently they're also the books that SK receives the most amount of feeedback over.

They're about Roland, and his journey over a dying world in search of the Dark Tower, which lies at the center of all worlds/universes. He's sort of a knight, sort of a cowboy, sort or a lot of things. He's looking for the Dark Tower because something has gone fundamentally wrong with all the universes, and the worlds are slowing dying, and his life's obsession is to find the Dark Tower and fix what's wrong (though he certainly doesn't know what).

Stephen King's first idea for the novels came from the Robert Browning poem "Childe Rolande to the Dark Tower came."