Books/Novels Discussion Thread V1: Literary Gems

[Anorion]

hmm Digital Fortress<Deception Point<All the Rest <That symbol book
currently reading Hammer of God by Clarke. Standard top rate SF fare.

 

[@vi]

You liked Lost Symbol ? Hmm, for me Angels and Demons is Besttt

 

[thetechfreak]

Worth Dying for- Lee Child

 

[Anorion]

oh man that was a fail all my angular brackets should have faced the other way, I didnt even read that symbol book haha. They all look liek the same plot. I liekd Digital fortress best, especially the mutants, the guns, the encryption/cryptography sequences and all the technical stuff involved, anyone know any other haXxor fiction? Some of the Artemis Fowl books might count, anyone read the latest one? Theres also an old book called Arcade, published some time in the seventies. There is one called "Stealing the Network: How to own the Box" thats pretty pure penetration testing fiction haha.
Reading NEXT by chrichton now, its got a lot of genetic stuff, sort of liek Jurrassic Park but with genetically modified people, organs/tissues and orangutans instead of dinosaurs

 

[rhitwick]

NEXT is too much of everything related to Gene. Complete the novel and you would know what I mean.

 

[@vi]

^Is it good ?

 

[rhitwick]

^Is it good ?

Its Michael Chrichton, that menas you should read it.

 

[Krow]

Lots of books to recommend. Mostly SF.

Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama is brilliant. Rama II is bad in comparison. I mean Rama II just sucks for 300 pages and then it is good in the remaining. Will only buy second hand versions of the remaining Rama series novels.

Isaac Asimov's robot series novels are good for those who like detective/mystery/sci-fi. I like 'em a lot. Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun are excellent. Reading The Robots of Dawn now. It is good so far (100 pages).

 

[Anorion]

^ haha wait till you get around to Garden of Rama thats when Clarke goes full retard I actually liked Rama II, its fortunately not full of mindblowing concepts, which is something I liekd and reads like a movie. yeah makes sense to buy second hand was meaning to ask here for some time now where do you guys shop for books??

I like the discounts at Atlas, used to pick up stuff around Matunga and Fort but stopped doing that now, I just save of up for trips to Blossom. Thats in Bangalore, its the best one Ive been to so far.

@rhitwick: Just finished Next. Couldnt stop laughing at that orangutan-human or whatever Yeah did you mean the list of suggestions for lawmakers in the end? The situations seemed plausible, and the book seemed liek a heads up of possible fallout of genetic engineering, or you think that was just to make the fiction more solid like the "everything within these pages is accurate" thingy put in that da vinci code book

Reading Psychodrome next, its by Simon Hawke with shapechangers and ninjas and the graphics looks liek its about a virtual reality mmorpg lol

 

[rhitwick]

@Anorion,

This is my earlier review of NEXT,

This book is on genetic research/genetic patenting and therapy.
Reading the book it is clearly understood that he did a great length of research on the subject and may be thats why it seemed to be more of a scientific paper rather a thriller to me.

Well, there is a story and very gripping one, but he had just introduced too many characters that after a time u start to forget them and they start to reappear. I had to actually go back to page 1 to find a character who appeared again in page 257.

In stories/movies when u need to describe complex logics, terms, incidents u make that a conversation between two people. In that case one had to be a layman and another had to be an expert. That way the reader/audience gets the d fact of it.
But in this book most such highly conceptual and scientific conservations occurred between two researchers or such. So, there were jargons which were not that clarified and went over my head.

b/w try "Marker" by Robin Cook, falls on the same league.

My problem with this book was that, each subplot can be made into a main plot of a separate novel. Too little space and too many concepts. None of them evolved or explained properly.

 

[Anorion]

Oooh yueah he did that a lot of those what doyoucallem ensemble those books are liek that didnt read that much into it. It does feel like hes just scratching the surface of the subject, then moving on in some places though.
yeah its true, its very well written irrespective of the subject matter.

 

[bhushanm]

I just completed my Harry Potter marathon - all 7 books - and I would definitely recommend them over the movies. They are not just for children and are brilliantly written. The movies seem like sh!# when compared with the books.

For those who would like more gritty stuff, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is a no-brainer.

For those into non-fiction, check out No Logo by Naomi Klien.

For those who would love fantasy horror that transcends all genre boundaries, then check out the Dark Tower series of novels by the master of horror, Stephen King. The Dark Tower series is the linchpin of all of King's works so far, as all his work ties in with the series in one way or another.

 

[@vi]

I stopped reading HP, with half blood prince

 

[bhushanm]

I stopped reading HP, with half blood prince

Why? IMHO, the last two were the best of the lot. The way Rowling ties everything across all the previous books together is just...indescribable.

 

[@vi]

All of a sudden I started hating fiction fantasy,magic and boo

 

[Krow]

Asimov's Complete Robot short story collection is awesome!

HP was good till book 4. Books 5-7 were not half as good.

 

[Anorion]

I am serious about this. I used to love Asimov short stories and read them over and over again. Especially the stuff in Gold. I wuz turned off by teh Foundation series, didnt read that. Then one day I read Azazel. After that I havent touched a single Sci Fi book Asimov has written. Azazel is almost fantasy, something like what Tom Holt or Douglas Adams would write much later. You will never forgive Asimov or his publishers for dabbling in that robot stuff.

yeah and I thought the Potter series lost something after the fourth book or so yeah. The school stuff was very important, and I would not have been disappointed with simple caper in each book of the series, allowing the story to find its own way, instead of crafting a story that derails everything we liekd about the world.

 

[Krow]

^I pick up second hand books at Fort, near Flora Fountain.

I'll finish Asimov's robot series before I move on to Azazel. Thanks for recommendation.

 

[doomgiver]

Asimov's Complete Robot short story collection is awesome!

HP was good till book 4. Books 5-7 were not half as good.

asimov was a master. read the Foundation, its scary the way everything turns out as predicted by the guy(narrator/social researcher)

he was waaaaaAAAYYYYYY beyond his time. way beyond out time too

 

[Krow]

asimov was a master. read the Foundation, its scary the way everything turns out as predicted by the guy(narrator/social researcher)

he was waaaaaAAAYYYYYY beyond his time. way beyond out time too

Already read (Asimov):

Complete Robot
The Caves of Steel
The Naked Sun
Foundation
Foundation & Empire
Second Foundation

Reading (Asimov): Robots of dawn

In line (Asimov):

Rest of the Robots
The End of Eternity
Pebble in the Sky
The Stars, like Dust
The Currents of Space