# Book recommendation?



## sezna (Dec 14, 2015)

I'm a college student, and it is Christmas break, so I've got some time. I am having trouble finding good material though, because my taste is a little weird.

I like older books, not huge into modern novels, although I will make an exception if someone is insistent! Books I have liked in the past include The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, This Side of Paradise, Moby Dick (although I don't think I could finish another book of that size during this break..). I love everything Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

Any ideas?


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## Winspear (Dec 14, 2015)

I love Tolkein and CS Lewis too, and my favourite books by far are the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Wikipedia says it better than I could; "the trilogy functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic _Paradise Lost_,[1] with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing, original sin."
Excellent gripping fantasy books that just keep getting better throughout.
If you saw the movie of the first book - forget it and don't judge. If you didn't see the movie, just don't.


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## sezna (Dec 14, 2015)

EtherealEntity said:


> I love Tolkein and CS Lewis too, and my favourite books by far are the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Wikipedia says it better than I could; "the trilogy functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic _Paradise Lost_,[1] with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing, original sin."
> Excellent gripping fantasy books that just keep getting better throughout.
> If you saw the movie of the first book - forget it and don't judge. If you didn't see the movie, just don't.



I read that a while ago actually. I was very young, though. I remember finishing the first book and not getting through the second. I also have heard bad things about the third one. 

I might get back into it - do you recommend all three?


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## Sumsar (Dec 14, 2015)

I love reading, but as I am Danish, and therefore primarily read books by danish or scandinavian authors, you probably will not be able to get a hold of them.

For English books though I am currently reading through all the Game of Thrones, which is great. They are popular for a reason, they are seriously great (and better than the tv-series), so yeah if you haven't read any of them I recommend them 

Yes they are quite long, but again worth it - I have been reading about 2000 pages the last 2½ months (in the middle of the third book) and I am not getting tired of it yet


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## dan the man (Dec 14, 2015)

I've recently read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. Loved it.


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## Lorcan Ward (Dec 14, 2015)

The Dark Tower by Stephen King is really good. It mixes so many styles together.

A song of Ice and Fire is incredible BUT the future of the series and final two books are in a state of limbo at the moment. 

The Dark Elf and Icewind Dale Trilogy by RA Salvatore is a favourite of mine. Its hi-fantasy but still has a very griping story and memorable characters/settings.


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## HoneyNut (Dec 14, 2015)

Lord of flies and Animal farm are a must read for anyone with an intellect if you haven't already! They could have been in your middle/high school curriculum though.

Easy reads, but very powerful.


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## Winspear (Dec 14, 2015)

sezna said:


> I read that a while ago actually. I was very young, though. I remember finishing the first book and not getting through the second. I also have heard bad things about the third one.
> 
> I might get back into it - do you recommend all three?



Fair enough! I do, I would say each one is better than the last, personally.


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## Explorer (Dec 14, 2015)

I always ask people for recommendations, and am always open to reading new things. 

I recently read, for the first time, East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It was amazing. 

I also highly recommend All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren.


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## lelandbowman3 (Dec 15, 2015)

The Plague Dogs
Watership Down
both by Richard Adams
They're similar to the American Realism period, but have fantastical elements, such as the characters.
It's like taking Steinbeck's realism with Orwell's Animal Farm.


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## sezna (Dec 16, 2015)

lelandbowman3 said:


> The Plague Dogs
> Watership Down
> both by Richard Adams
> They're similar to the American Realism period, but have fantastical elements, such as the characters.
> It's like taking Steinbeck's realism with Orwell's Animal Farm.



That actually sounds really interesting. I am reading the preview on my kindle right now...I'll update you in a few days.



Explorer said:


> I always ask people for recommendations, and am always open to reading new things.
> 
> I recently read, for the first time, East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It was amazing.
> 
> I also highly recommend All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren.



I have! That book is really good. I like most things by Steinbeck, but I have to read them during the summer when I have enough time to contemplate the rather dark storylines without getting too sad about it...




Lorcan Ward said:


> The Dark Tower by Stephen King is really good. It mixes so many styles together.
> 
> A song of Ice and Fire is incredible BUT the future of the series and final two books are in a state of limbo at the moment.
> 
> The Dark Elf and Icewind Dale Trilogy by RA Salvatore is a favourite of mine. Its hi-fantasy but still has a very griping story and memorable characters/settings.



I've actually seen the comic version for this at the store, it looked interesting. I enjoy hi-fantasy (I assume that is synonymous with high fantasy?). 



dan the man said:


> I've recently read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. Loved it.


Just looked it up. It isn't quite from the "classical" time period of english writing that I am enthralled by, but it does look like a killer fantasy novel. I'll put this at the top of my list right now (sorry other repliers!). 



Sumsar said:


> I love reading, but as I am Danish, and therefore primarily read books by danish or scandinavian authors, you probably will not be able to get a hold of them.
> 
> For English books though I am currently reading through all the Game of Thrones, which is great. They are popular for a reason, they are seriously great (and better than the tv-series), so yeah if you haven't read any of them I recommend them
> 
> Yes they are quite long, but again worth it - I have been reading about 2000 pages the last 2½ months (in the middle of the third book) and I am not getting tired of it yet



I am actually of Danish heritage! Pureblood! But my parents never spoke it around me, and I don't know any of it.. I tried to pick it up once or twice, but the pronunciation always kills me. And that's coming from a person who speaks english and mandarin chinese. 

I have heard good things, but I tried watching the first episode and got rather bored. Hm... I suppose the book is probably rather different.


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## gnoll (Dec 16, 2015)

Jeesan said:


> Lord of flies and Animal farm are a must read for anyone with an intellect if you haven't already! They could have been in your middle/high school curriculum though.
> 
> Easy reads, but very powerful.



These are great suggestions! I was about to post Lord of the Flies myself actually. I'm not much of a book reader at all, but I really like that book alot. Animal Farm is also great.



lelandbowman3 said:


> The Plague Dogs
> Watership Down
> both by Richard Adams
> They're similar to the American Realism period, but have fantastical elements, such as the characters.
> It's like taking Steinbeck's realism with Orwell's Animal Farm.



I actually haven't read the books, but I have seen both movies directed by Martin Rosen, and they're both some of my favorite movies ever! I'm sure that the books are great too, but regardless if you read them or not I highly recommend the movies.


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## lelandbowman3 (Dec 16, 2015)

gnoll said:


> These are great suggestions! I was about to post Lord of the Flies myself actually. I'm not much of a book reader at all, but I really like that book alot. Animal Farm is also great.
> 
> 
> 
> I actually haven't read the books, but I have seen both movies directed by Martin Rosen, and they're both some of my favorite movies ever! I'm sure that the books are great too, but regardless if you read them or not I highly recommend the movies.



the book ends differently for Plague Dogs, I know. But I haven't watched Watershed Down. I can only imagine how horrifying it is to actually see all the stuff happen.


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## OmegaSlayer (Dec 26, 2015)

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone
Frank Herbert's Dune


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## leftyguitarjoe (Dec 26, 2015)

Old scifi is my favorite. Huxley, Wells, Asimov, Lovecraft (kinda).

But if you do want to get into some newer stuff, House of Leaves is my all time favorite book.

And if you want something fun, the Hitchhiker's Guide series is brilliant.


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## Given To Fly (Dec 26, 2015)

"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is a good read. 
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain is one of my favorite books. His satirical books are quite amazing.


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## BuckarooBanzai (Dec 26, 2015)

OmegaSlayer said:


> Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone
> Frank Herbert's Dune





leftyguitarjoe said:


> Old scifi is my favorite. Huxley, Wells, Asimov, Lovecraft (kinda).
> 
> But if you do want to get into some newer stuff, House of Leaves is my all time favorite book.
> 
> And if you want something fun, the Hitchhiker's Guide series is brilliant.



I've been catching up on all of the classic sci-fi that I missed over the years... I just finished the third Dune (which is as far as I'm going since I heard that the ones after are pretty garbage). My Mom got me Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" for Christmas; I'm very much looking forward to it. 

Of all the books that I've read recently, however, I most enjoyed Heinlein's "Starship Troopers." While the 1997 film used to be one of my favorites I now understand why Heinlein fans hated the movie. Trust me, the book is very different: awesome action and sci-fi elements as well as very atypical political ideas that are still intriguing even if you don't agree with them. I trucked through it in two days and I now count it among my favorite books of all time.


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## fps (Dec 28, 2015)

sezna, I like a lot of what you've written there, and I was completely blown away by Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Great world-building, an array of characters of different races, really immersive and ambitious writing, no sugar-coating or talking down to the audience, a great story with great characters from a febrile imagination on full.

I hope you found something to read, at any rate.


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## ZeroS1gnol (Dec 28, 2015)

If you're into reading about young people that set the tone for a generation to come, you should first read Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road', after that Tom Wolfe's 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'.

On the road is basically the 'Beat' generation bible (1950's) beautiful autobiographical story about the writer moving around the States, with colourful characters, crazy parties, all in search of some purpose in life. Acid Test to me is a logical continuation, it follows Ken Kesey's (author of One Flew over a Cuckoo's Nest) gang of Merry Pranksters - a crazy bunch (heavily influenced by On the Road) that go on a road trip while using loads of LSD (and other substances), trying to 'liberate' their minds, (and later other's), from society's 'games'. You could call it: how the beat generation transforms into the hippie movement.


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