Books -1984 and others

[capriceman]

I know that maybe some of us read but most of the time i love to i just dont find time and i try my best to read alot of books.

Anyway i re-read George Orwells 1984 and totally understand it at a new level. It never ment much to me but I finally understand how and why he wrote it.

You guys have read it right or am i the only one. if you havent read it you should! and i wont ruin it for you unless some people really want to discuss it.

Other great books.

Grapes of Wrath

The great Gatsby

Catcher in the rye- Caufield reminds me of BV in a way for some reason

A Walk in The woods - love it to death

[SuperSport623]

i absolutley LOVE the great gatsby... my school is in the real geographical location of "East Egg"

[Farkas]

Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors, all his books are great in my opinion.

If you liked 1984 or books of a similar vein, try White Noise by Don DeLillo. Very good book.

Edited April 25, 2008 by Farkas

[Cory Wolfe]

I have two books and they are pretty much the only ones I've liked. A Separate Peace and Rainbow Boys.

[cletus8269]

brave new world is a really good one as well as lord of the flys. i liked cold mountain as well but i live in that region and have met the author

[capriceman]

i need to read brave new world again i forgot about that one

[vonVeezelsnider]

1984 is always a source of avid discussion and argument among my friends (Philosophy and History nerds) Lately we've all decided to try to read and discuss "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. I've decided I'll get around to it when I'm less busy.

[mustang84]

1984 is one of my favorite books, along with The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, both by Ayn Rand.

1984 was way ahead of its time too; the videoscreens and black helicopters predated his era. My favorite part of the book was when he discovered that history book and it described how the world formed into three superstates. And if you look at the world today, the European Union has basically become a superstate, and of course there is the North American Union proposal, which I am against.

There was an article in the UK Daily Mail about how some politician named Brown is pushing to eliminate the names "England" and "Great Britain" from maps, and the English Channel would be renamed "The Channel Sea." An area of land along southern England and northern France will be known as "Manche," with Paris becoming the district capital (over London as well). Then there is the "North Sea Region" that will encompass eastern England, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, etc. and the "Atlantic Region" which will include western England, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, etc.

I don't get why people over there aren't up in arms over this...it sounds like Britain is losing its soveriegnty to the EU.

Edited April 25, 2008 by mustang84

[Enzora]

I love philosophical literature, so I'm a big fan of science fiction. Yet I've never read 1984. I should really fix that soon.

[Croc]

The only one of those I may not have read is "A Walk In The Woods," but it just sounds so familiar, so maybe I have. The others I definitely have, and I love them all except "Catcher." Not a big fan of that one. "Gatsby" is my favorite literary work, though. So amazing on so many levels. Who's your favorite Gatsby character? I find Daisy to be most fascinating/interesting.

[avant1963]

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

English major - heavy reader (Mark Twain is one of my favorite for social commentary). Right now I am heavy into American History, so I am reading books about the founding fathers and the Revolution and Constitution (because in these times, so many people love to distort history about the founding of the country and the men involved).

I just read 1984 again late last year and it as someone has said, Orwell was psychic. Cheney has 1984 is his breast pocket as a "How to" guide.

Kurt Vonnegut's work is also very good and "psychic".

[Camino LS6]

Books complete the top three list for me with the other two being cars and music.

I can't live without any of them.

I recommend:

Illusions by Richard Bach

Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer

Among many,many others.

[CARBIZ]

One of the best books is Gulliver's Travels - no kidding. When read against the background of Swift's contemporary Europe, it is a biting political satire, not the kid's story many believe. In his day, you could not openly criticize the Courts of Europe, so he invented fantastic worlds where gigantic people or tiny people existed and then skewered the Kings and Queens of Europe.

I am a big, big reader of SF. Sadly, I threw out my collection of paperbacks (3 bookcases full) when I moved 18 months ago. I've ready virtually everything by Niven, Asimov and Heinlein, of course. An old, old book called The Earth Abides (written in '47, I think) was one of the earlier masterpieces, IMO. A great post-apocalyptic book about a man trying to resurrect Modern civilization after a plague wipes out 99% of the world's population.

I blame everything on John Wyndham's The Crysalids: the first book I ever read without a teacher holding a gun to my head. After that, I read the Kraken Awakes, then in the summer of '74 started devouring the SF section in my localy library. In fact, I enjoyed tackling my grade 12 teacher a couple years later, who argued that SF was not serious writing at all.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to read like I used to. I spend too much time on the internet or working.

[mustang84]

An old, old book called The Earth Abides (written in '47, I think) was one of the earlier masterpieces, IMO. A great post-apocalyptic book about a man trying to resurrect Modern civilization after a plague wipes out 99% of the world's population.

Hmm, that's probably where Stephen King got his inspiration for The Stand, another one of my favorites. It sounds like basically the same concept, except King introduces a "good" civilization that forms in Boulder and an "evil" civilization headquartered in Las Vegas and armed with all the old leftover nuclear missiles.

Edited April 25, 2008 by mustang84

[Camino LS6]

Hmm, that's probably where Stephen King got his inspiration for The Stand, another one of my favorites. It sounds like basically the same concept, except King introduces a "good" civilization that forms in Boulder and an "evil" civilization headquartered in Las Vegas and armed with all the old leftover nuclear missiles.

The Stand is King's masterpiece.

"The trashcan man" is a memorable character that pushed the boundaries.

Carbiz: "the Last Question" by Asimov is the best short story I have ever read. I first read it in about 5th or 6th grade and it has affected my thinking ever since.

[SuperSport623]

i was always a reader, and between 8th grade and 10th grade, i read James Patterson and other detective novels like that religiously... i gotta start reading again

[CARBIZ]

Hmm, that's probably where Stephen King got his inspiration for The Stand, another one of my favorites. It sounds like basically the same concept, except King introduces a "good" civilization that forms in Boulder and an "evil" civilization headquartered in Las Vegas and armed with all the old leftover nuclear missiles.

You have to read The Earth Abides. If you don't have a lump in your throat at the ending (the Last Man on Earth who is 'educated' is piggy-backed on the back of one of his grandsons while what is left of SanFrancisco burns to the ground), then you are not human. This book more than others influenced my own writing (yes, I once fancied myself to be the 'new' Stephen King) and the type of books/movies I enjoy.

[daves87rs]

I need to read 1984 again....

[zhawk]

The Stand is King's masterpiece.

"The trashcan man" is a memorable character that pushed the boundaries.

Carbiz: "the Last Question" by Asimov is the best short story I have ever read. I first read it in about 5th or 6th grade and it has affected my thinking ever since.

Agreed. I always enjoyed reading those anti-utopia stories. Made the really think.

Asimov, though had to be one of the best writers in the history of mankind. I picked up one of his nonfiction books, thinking it was fiction and found the entire thing interesting. Been a major fan ever since.

[A Horse With No Name]

I'm glad other people here like to read, I thought maybe I was the only one.

I do want to re-read Gullivers travells. Read it as a boy and loved it. Right now I am reading Bleachers by John Grisham and Monkeytown, a novel about the Scopes trials.

Chris

[CARBIZ]

Agreed. I always enjoyed reading those anti-utopia stories. Made the really think.

Asimov, though had to be one of the best writers in the history of mankind. I picked up one of his nonfiction books, thinking it was fiction and found the entire thing interesting. Been a major fan ever since.

I've re-read the Foundation series about 4 times. (What was he up to? Six books? Seven?) Every time he wrote a new one, I'd have to go back and re-read all the previous ones.

Pick up Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, I think. It spawned 2 or 3 books in the series.

[Camino LS6]

I think that there are more but here's at least a partial list.

Prelude to Foundation

Foundation

Foundation and Empire.

Second Foundation

Foundation's Edge

Forward the Foundation

[capriceman]

i think i have enough new titles for a year now.

[mustang84]

The thing I've always loved about the anti-utopia stories like The Stand is how the survivors deal with the situation. For example, when the one character was in Maine he had to get gas for his motorcycle from the wells below the pumps since there was no electricity. And they had to search through every house in Boulder to get rid of the bodies so that the city could be inhabitable again. I also liked the part where they talked about how within 20 years or so entire highways would disappear with no maintenance crews to repair them.

King also wrote the book so that it has a very "rustic" feel to it...he often refers to the "old Detroit iron," old Philco radios, and other things that are long since gone. Part of that is because the first version of the book was written in 1978 (and later updated in 1990), but he's great at describing things in his stories. I liked the part in Utah or wherever it was where he went into great detail about push-starting an old abandoned Chevy Nova (or whatever it was).

[Camino LS6]

The thing I've always loved about the anti-utopia stories like The Stand is how the survivors deal with the situation. For example, when the one character was in Maine he had to get gas for his motorcycle from the wells below the pumps since there was no electricity. And they had to search through every house in Boulder to get rid of the bodies so that the city could be inhabitable again. I also liked the part where they talked about how within 20 years or so entire highways would disappear with no maintenance crews to repair them.

King also wrote the book so that it has a very "rustic" feel to it...he often refers to the "old Detroit iron," old Philco radios, and other things that are long since gone. Part of that is because the first version of the book was written in 1978 (and later updated in 1990), but he's great at describing things in his stories. I liked the part in Utah or wherever it was where he went into great detail about push-starting an old abandoned Chevy Nova (or whatever it was).

Absolutely!

That's how he makes the characters real and the story believeable - it's one of his greatest talents.

In The Shining, he starts the reader off with an old VW bug that has a bad fuel pump!

[capriceman]

if your a civil war guy read hard tack and coffee

[Croc]

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

English major - heavy reader (Mark Twain is one of my favorite for social commentary). Right now I am heavy into American History, so I am reading books about the founding fathers and the Revolution and Constitution (because in these times, so many people love to distort history about the founding of the country and the men involved).

I just read 1984 again late last year and it as someone has said, Orwell was psychic. Cheney has 1984 is his breast pocket as a "How to" guide.

Kurt Vonnegut's work is also very good and "psychic".

If you want to read a good Cold War book, check out "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis. He's the top Yale professor who teaches the top-ranked Cold War history course at Yale. It's very engaging, and provides many unique and insightful viewpoints.

[capriceman]

If you want to read a good Cold War book, check out "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis. He's the top Yale professor who teaches the top-ranked Cold War history course at Yale. It's very engaging, and provides many unique and insightful viewpoints.

Really a guy gets paid to teach about the cold war? whats there to say i mean I think the cold war really wasn't that important. I mean it was pivotal but I think it wont hold any value in the future. Its almost exactly as the African front in 1984 they used it as a weapon of fear to scare the civilians. Star wars Project? I mean come on I was involved in the end of the cold war stuff and i think it was damn near planned. I was at the tear down of the Berlin wall. The way it was set up was like a hate speech almost. But I will never forget the looks on people faces being reunited with family and such. the joy of freedom is not something you can truly grasp until it has been stripped from you.

If you want to study shady politics study JFK.

[Croc]

Really a guy gets paid to teach about the cold war? whats there to say i mean I think the cold war really wasn't that important. I mean it was pivotal but I think it wont hold any value in the future. Its almost exactly as the African front in 1984 they used it as a weapon of fear to scare the civilians. Star wars Project? I mean come on I was involved in the end of the cold war stuff and i think it was damn near planned. I was at the tear down of the Berlin wall. The way it was set up was like a hate speech almost. But I will never forget the looks on people faces being reunited with family and such. the joy of freedom is not something you can truly grasp until it has been stripped from you.

If you want to study shady politics study JFK.

The Cold War had the greatest impact on global politics of the 20th century...and WWI and WWII directly led to the Cold War. As an overarching theme, nothing else defined the last century. American culture was dependent on Cold War culture, the 90s were such a feel-good decade because we "won" it and the economy was booming...every decade was directly impacted by it from the 40s onward, and the 4 decades prior directly led to the creation of it.

It's some pretty important stuff.

[§carlet §wordfish]

I just read the novelization of My Science Project.

I like to read, mostly sci-fi and military, but I don't do it nearly as much as I should.

[gmpartsgirl]

You guys are making me sad. Reading ismy favorite pasttime but I just don't have time because I get so immersed in the story I cannot put it down. I become totally emotionally involoved in the books. I can read 900 pages in 2 days easy. I've read all the Stephen King books up to his accident, since then I don't like them as much. I'm also a big fan of Anne Rice before she went religious. I downloaded a whole bunch of classic novels from the free online Gutenberg library collection, but I haven't found time to read them. I also read a bunch of Danielle Steele novels back in high school. I'm not a fan of romance novels now, but one of her books called Wanderlust is fantastic!! Dan Brown books really suck me in, I love the subject matter. Any suggestions of authors based on my love of the above mentioned authors?

[Camino LS6]

You guys are making me sad. Reading ismy favorite pasttime but I just don't have time because I get so immersed in the story I cannot put it down. I become totally emotionally involoved in the books. I can read 900 pages in 2 days easy. I've read all the Stephen King books up to his accident, since then I don't like them as much. I'm also a big fan of Anne Rice before she went religious. I downloaded a whole bunch of classic novels from the free online Gutenberg library collection, but I haven't found time to read them. I also read a bunch of Danielle Steele novels back in high school. I'm not a fan of romance novels now, but one of her books called Wanderlust is fantastic!! Dan Brown books really suck me in, I love the subject matter. Any suggestions of authors based on my love of the above mentioned authors?

Caleb Carr

[Blake Noble]

I am reading a novel currently by an author named Joe Hill, titled Heart-Shaped Box. It is a pretty good book, and his writing is just as good (if not better in places, actually; although I cannot exactly put my finger on how) as what his father writes (and he is an author I believe many of you here are familiar with). Previously to that, I purchased a collection of his short stories and I wound up not leaving one story unread.

Check out some of his stuff sometime.

[Robert Hall]

I love reading...lately, I've been reading Robert Ludlum spy novels. A few years ago, my favorite genre was crime fiction, so I was reading everything by Michael Connelly, James Ellroy, Robert Crais (mostly all LA-themed), James Patterson, Donald Harstad (very interesting Iowa police procedurals), the Minnesota guy (can't recall his name--the 'Prey' series), and Ed McBain.

In the past, I've read 1984, most everything by Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, The Virtue of Selfishness, etc).

I enjoy auto-industry and auto adventure (The End of Detroit, Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry, Cannonball, On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, etc), computer industry historical and themed books (The Soul of a New Machine, The Devouring Fungus, Dreaming in Code, Hackers and Painters, Where the Wizards Stay Up Late (since I'm in the life, I like reading about the life)...also, anything by Thomas Friedman (Lexus and the Olive Tree, Lattitudes and Attitudes, The World is Flat)...and economics related books (Freakonomics) and books about the rise of suburbia (Edge City, etc).... also travelogues--anything by Bill Bryson (In a Sunburned Country, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, etc) or William Least-Heat Moon (Prarie-Erth, River-Hose, Blue Highways), Larry McMurtry (Roads: Driving America's Great Highways).

Edited April 30, 2008 by moltar

[Robert Hall]

The Cold War had the greatest impact on global politics of the 20th century...and WWI and WWII directly led to the Cold War. As an overarching theme, nothing else defined the last century. American culture was dependent on Cold War culture, the 90s were such a feel-good decade because we "won" it and the economy was booming...every decade was directly impacted by it from the 40s onward, and the 4 decades prior directly led to the creation of it.

It's some pretty important stuff.

Agreed..... the events of the last 60 years particularily the Cold War are some of my favorite to read about, both fiction and non-fiction.

Edited April 30, 2008 by moltar

[Camino LS6]

Blue Highways was a good read.