Book Thread, v2...[]

You have Good Omens!

I do! If I can copy and paste from the books on my E-reader I will post them here, or at least try.

Actually, don't worry: I have a hard copy of Good Omens. But thank you.

Oh, that's even better!
Do I sense an awesome book discussion in the near future, then?

You MIGHT do. I hope you do anyway.

I have all my books in physical form. This may be due to paranoia.

Also, I have Good Omens in the Neil Gaiman edition.



Also I'm always just a little off topic.

Some posts were deleted, because I don't want the thread to derail to much, at least not yet.

Seeing how most people seemed to have read Pratchett's books, should we have some sort of discussion? I've always wanted a book club type group.

Let's make a thread on it!

I've read some, at least. (Mostly because I refuse to read them, or indeed any books, in Dutch. Everything sounds so childish and wrong then.)

Is song of fire and ice any good? I hear lots of things about it :3
Also if we do have book discussions like a club would, I don't see why we can't have them here.

I can safely say that A Song of Ice and Fire is the best thing I ever have, and probably ever will, read. After reading the series the first time (book 1-4 at the time, I read them all again when the 5th one came out), I was a bit disappointed with everything I read after it for months because even though they were good books, they just weren't good enough.

I also constantly recommend it to everyone who mentions even the slightest interest in reading.

I'm actually watching Game of Thrones in my sci-fi and fantasy group on Wednesdays. It's really good!

It is, but read the books too, they're even better. You also get more backstory that way for all the characters and more history on the events that lead up to it all. He's basically expanding the story both forwards and backwards in time, if you can pick up on the subtle pieces of information he weaves into the ongoing storyline. They get more and more frequent as the story progresses.

Terry Pratchett is my favourite author, I've read almost all of his books.
Still have to read;
The Last Hero (Discworld series),
Johnny and the Bomb (Johnny Maxwell series),
Trucks,
Diggers,
and Wings. (???)
Oh, oh and the Carpet People.

(Not to mention numerous supplementary works for the Discworld series that I haven't read...)

The Last Hero was actually the first Terry Pratchett book I ever read. I even have the illustrated version. Truckers, Diggers and Wings were the ones I read after, because they were the first other ones I could find

ASoIaF is amazing...must read...and, as always, the books are better. []

Waaait I forgot to include The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents!

The Last Hero is excellent; the illustrations really bring it to life.

I got the full size hardback edition from Poundland.

Cute Sparkly Hobo Wizard wrote:Waaait I forgot to include The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents!

That's Pratchett!? I had no idea!

Ok, let's do this.

My review of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

The book was first published in 1932 and it's considered one of the best dystopian novels, often put on the same on the same level as Orwell's '1984'. In general it was a good read, albeit a slightly difficult one, considering Huxley's sometimes complex writing style and vocabulary (this could be partially attributed to the book's age)

The plot itself then. The book is set several hundred years in the future, and mankind has done it's very best to achieve complete and utter social stability through artificially engineering every aspect of a human's life, from social to biological. Even before a child is conceived, or rather 'manufactured', since everything happens in a factory now, it's destined to become part of a particular social caste. It's embryonic growth is either stimulated or impeded, depending on it's destined caste and all are conditioned through so called 'sleep teaching' or 'hypnopaedia' to, among other things, be happy about their role in the social body and basically to live the kind of life the 'world controllers' want them to.

Lower caste humans are used almost as machines, manufactured identically and by the thousands to perform unimportant or undesirable tasks to make life easier on the higher caste members. History is censored or altered, morals are adapted to fit the new social landscape and emotions are kept to a bare minimum, since emotion creates instability, and instability leads to chaos. All is centered around a world of heavy industrialism. Immense efforts are made to keep everyone consuming as much as possible, for example, all sports that do not require a minimum amount of extra tools or machinery are banned.

There are some colonies of "savages" left, and this will be key in the plot of the book. These savages are normal humans, not affected by civilisation and are an amalgamation of different cultures. They live primitively, have tribal rituals and religion.
One of the main characters in the book is Bernard Marx, who, through some defect, doesn't fit in with the existing social norms. His need for individuality is greater than the others', yet he doesn't know how to cope with this strange and "antisocial" mindset. He hates that his behaviour makes others mock and shun him and he wants to fit in, but at the same time he still despises them as mindless sheep. This duality gets stronger and stronger towards the end of the book as things get more and more hectic around him.

The cause of all his problems, or his salvation, depending on your point of view, is John, a savage he brought back from the colony he visited. John read the works of Shakespeare and quotes them many times throughout the story as he tries to deal with this strange world he's been brought in to, through the emotions expressed by the Bard.

What really makes you think most about the ideas expressed in the book is the fact that while writing it, Huxley, who was a fan of eugenics himself, had no idea if he was really writing a satire or a manual. There are parts of the story where he clearly goes overboard with the satire, making fun mostly of the industrial consumer mindset. This was because he modelled it on the USA and what he saw as the rampant consumerism and promiscuity he witnessed on his trips there. He didn't like this kind of future at all, but the discourse given by some of the characters in the book about the improvement of human life through science and engineering seems much more serious than his descriptions of the new technologies ("It was a trio for hyper-violin, super-cello and oboe-surrogate that now filled the air with its agreeable languor.")

In the end, I very much liked the book and the way it makes you decide for yourself if he's describing a utopia or doing quite the opposite. The perpetual monotony of a world where there are no more problems for you to worry about, like wars, diseases, or indeed, free will outside of the small box you're allowed to mentally move around in by both society and your conditioning or a world where diseases, old age, empathy and sadness are still reality, but where these misfortunes can be overcome and bring with them an intense feeling of happiness and satisfaction. A world that still has concepts like nobility and heroism.

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them … But you don't do either. You just abolish the slings and arrows.

tl;dr: It's good, you should read it. Also, what are you doing in the books thread if you don't like reading?

I got A Game of Thrones from the library today although I have yet to start reading it. I'm currently reading Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson.

@Gorgro: Want some soma? A gram is always better than the alternative.

@Jonny: You won't regret reading AGoT.

Currently reading The California Voodoo Game by Niven/Pournelle. []

i've gotten into the girl with the dragon tattoo series, which is actually called "millennium" by the author and it was meant to be a longer series than 3, but the author died so that wont happen.
i'm usually not into books unless its fantasy or sci-fi or horror related. but i like this series, its a mystery thriller type thing. it takes place in sweden where i guess sexism is even more rampant than it is in the U.S. the female protagonist is a gothic looking skinny girl, but she refuses at any point to remain a victim to anything. the best parts of the book are when she gets vengeance of one kind or another on her enemies.
its a good series and i recommend it to both men and women because its not all about feminism either. remember the author was a guy.

I'm finishing up The White Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey, one of my favorite Authors. It's part two of the Mage Wars. I'm also reading ASoFaI on the side but it's slightly confusing at the start.

Tacoline wrote:i've gotten into the girl with the dragon tattoo series, which is actually called "millennium" by the author and it was meant to be a longer series than 3, but the author died so that wont happen.
i'm usually not into books unless its fantasy or sci-fi or horror related. but i like this series, its a mystery thriller type thing. it takes place in sweden where i guess sexism is even more rampant than it is in the U.S. the female protagonist is a gothic looking skinny girl, but she refuses at any point to remain a victim to anything. the best parts of the book are when she gets vengeance of one kind or another on her enemies.
its a good series and i recommend it to both men and women because its not all about feminism either. remember the author was a guy.

Excellent series. The movies were decent. They've made an American version of the first, coming out in theatres next month. []