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My favorite teams
Just finished House of Leaves.... That book is certainly something else.
Your favorite books:
- Thread starter Gator29
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One of may all time favorites. Doesn't hold up as well after the first read, but its an incredible achievement. Also, probably the only book I ever read that gave me for real nightmares. Like night terror level shit.
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My favorite teams
That one has been on my to read list for awhile now.
Wintermute
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changed my fucking life.
You, sir, win the internet. One of the best collections of essential wisdom spun into the guise of science fiction social commentary.
+100000000
Wintermute
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Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers?
Wintermute
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Dune - Frank Herbert
Neuromancer - William Gibson (also internesting was how the film Blade Runner affected Gibson at the time)
Hyperion Series - Dan Simmons
Dialogues with the Devil - Taylor Caldwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
The Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Tales of Terror - H.P. Lovecraft
The Stand - Stephen King
Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Neuromancer - William Gibson (also internesting was how the film Blade Runner affected Gibson at the time)
Hyperion Series - Dan Simmons
Dialogues with the Devil - Taylor Caldwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
The Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Tales of Terror - H.P. Lovecraft
The Stand - Stephen King
Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
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I've always enjoyed Terry Brooks. The Shanannara Series as well as Kingdom for Sale series. Tom Clancey, in particular "Patriot Games" because while reading one of the most exciting parts of the book, HW Bush was in town to give a speech and the Secret Service/military was running helicopters over my house the entire time. Added something to the reading. I dip into the complete works of O'Henry. John Grisham has written some great stuff.
Blah blah blah "Catcher in the Rye", stuff I had to read in college and HS... However, I did enjoy, "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis.
Blah blah blah "Catcher in the Rye", stuff I had to read in college and HS... However, I did enjoy, "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis.
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Romance of Atlantis, Earth is our Lords, and Dialogues with the Devil - Taylor Caldwell
Taiko & Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa
Tales of the Otori Series - Lian Hearn
Cloud of Sparrows & Autumn Bridge - Takashi Matsuoka
The Vampire Chronicles (particularly Memnoch the Devil) - Anne Rice
The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Taiko & Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa
Tales of the Otori Series - Lian Hearn
Cloud of Sparrows & Autumn Bridge - Takashi Matsuoka
The Vampire Chronicles (particularly Memnoch the Devil) - Anne Rice
The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Burque
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I am going to try to read a bunch of the classics over the winter this year. I have about 6 or 8 books to finish before I start this project. I wasn't much of a reader when I was younger so I really missed some of the books that it seems like everyone has read.
Is there someone that has a list of classics, or knows what the majority of them are off the top of their head?
I am trying to get a list together of which ones I want to read this winter. I suppose I could google it, but might be good for other people here that want to read/reread them.
Is there someone that has a list of classics, or knows what the majority of them are off the top of their head?
I am trying to get a list together of which ones I want to read this winter. I suppose I could google it, but might be good for other people here that want to read/reread them.
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My favorite teams
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My favorite teams
Lots of "best of" lists out there, but you definitely start seeing lots of common patterns towards the top. One example of that:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2681.Time_Magazine_s_All_Time_100_Novels (a lot of best of's will closely mirror this)
Alternatively, here is a list compiled by a bunch of votes on Reddit from multiple discussions (tends to be a little sci-fi heavy at the top):
nicer format - https://books.google.com/books?uid=..._coll=1002&source=gbs_lp_bookshelf_list&hl=en
original thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/raerth/comments/cpxkq/reddits_favourite_books/
Really just depends what you enjoy reading, lots of good stuff on both those lists though.
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My favorite teams
You'll make wickerkat a very happy man whenever he sees this.
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Any of you people ever read any Murakami?
The Apostate
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Two that I can never read straight through.
I read for a bit, then have to put it down and think. After a while I pick it back up, read some more, put it back down and think some more and so on.
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
I read for a bit, then have to put it down and think. After a while I pick it back up, read some more, put it back down and think some more and so on.
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
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Going thru these now
Red Storm Rising - Clancy
Without Remorse - Clancy
The Little Drummer Girl - le Carre
The Man in the High Castle - Dick
Ready Player One - Cline
Red Storm Rising - Clancy
Without Remorse - Clancy
The Little Drummer Girl - le Carre
The Man in the High Castle - Dick
Ready Player One - Cline
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Wow, thanks. Made my day.
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I have. My favorite, by FAR, is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Really good—dark magical realism, paired with a secondary plot/story that is almost a historic documentary about war and this zoo, really good.
Also, House of Leaves. Man, been trying to read it for years, started and stopped several times. It's a book you have to really respect and give it your full attention. I think when I finally can do that, I'll be amazing.
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I talk about neo-noir a lot, so here is my list of essential voices up at FLAVORWIRE.
http://flavorwire.com/388913/10-essential-neo-noir-authors
And, here's my list of essential Stephen King at BUZZFEED:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/richardthomas/essential-stephen-king
ALSO, I have a reading list that I share with my students, so here it is as well. Let me know if you have any questions, happy to elaborate.
Richard’s Incomplete Reading List of Dark Fiction:
Horror, fantasy, science fiction, Southern gothic, neo-noir, and literary fiction.
(Updated March 15, 2016.)
Baer, Will Christopher – Kiss Me Judas, Penny Dreadful, and Hell’s Half Acre
Banks, Iain – The Wasp Factory
Barron, Laird – The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and The Croning
Barker, Clive – Weaveworld and Books of Blood
Bell, Matt – Cataclysm Baby and In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods
Danielewski, Mark Z. – House of Leaves
Datlow, Ellen (editor) – Best Horror of the Year (annual)
Davidson, Craig – The Fighter, Rust & Bone, and Sarah Court
Dick, Philip K. – The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Cain, Chelsea – Heartsick, Sweetheart, Evil at Heart
Card, Orson Scott – Ender’s Game
Clevenger, Craig – The Contortionist’s Handbook and Dermaphoria
Cronin, Justin – The Passage
Ellis, Bret Easton – American Psycho
Evenson, Brian – Windeye, Immobility, and The Open Curtain
Flynn, Gillian – Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl
***, William – I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down
Gaiman, Neil – American Gods and Anansi Boys
Gaitskill, Mary – Bad Behavior
Golding, William – Lord of the Flies
Gran, Sara – Come Closer
Gray, Amelia – AM/PM, Museum of the Weird, THREATS, and Gutshot
Guran, Paula (editor) – The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (annual)
Hall, Tina May – The Physics of Imaginary Objects
Harris, Thomas – The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, and Hannibal
Homes, A.M. – The End of Alice
Hunter, Lindsay – Daddy’s, Don’t Kiss Me, and Ugly Girls
Johnson, Denis – Jesus’ Son
Jones, Holly Goddard – Girl Trouble
Jones, Stephen Graham – All The Beautiful Sinners, Ledfeather, After the People Lights Have Gone Off, The Ones That Got Away, and Bleed Into Me
Kelly, Michael (editor) – Year’s Best Weird Fiction (annual)
Ketchum, Jack – The Girl Next Door, Off Season, Offspring and Peaceable Kingdom
King, Stephen – It, The Stand, Salem’s Lot, The Long Walk, Pet Sematary, The Dead Zone, Night Shift, Needful Things, Different Seasons, The Shining, and The Dark Tower series
Koontz, Dean – Whispers, Phantoms, and Watchers
Lehane, Dennis – Mystic River and Shutter Island
Malerman, Josh – Bird Box
Matheson, Richard – I Am Legend and Hell House
McCammon, Robert R. – Swan Song
McCarthy, Cormac – The Road, Blood Meridian, and Outer Dark
Mieville, China – Perdido Street Station
Minor, Kyle – In the Devil’s Territory and Praying Drunk
Murakami, Haruki – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
O’Connor, Flannery – The Complete Stories
Palahniuk, Chuck – Survivor, Choke, Diary, Lullaby, Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, and Rant
Percy, Benjamin – Refresh, Refresh, The Wilding, Red Moon and The Dead Lands
Phillips, Jayne Anne – Black Tickets
Pollock, Donald Ray – Knockemstiff
Rice, Anne – Interview With the Vampire
Straub, Peter – Ghost Story and Floating Dragon
VanderMeer, Jeff – The Southern Reach Trilogy (especially Annihilation)
Welsh, Irvine – Trainspotting
Wilson, F. Paul – The Repairman Jack series
http://flavorwire.com/388913/10-essential-neo-noir-authors
And, here's my list of essential Stephen King at BUZZFEED:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/richardthomas/essential-stephen-king
ALSO, I have a reading list that I share with my students, so here it is as well. Let me know if you have any questions, happy to elaborate.
Richard’s Incomplete Reading List of Dark Fiction:
Horror, fantasy, science fiction, Southern gothic, neo-noir, and literary fiction.
(Updated March 15, 2016.)
Baer, Will Christopher – Kiss Me Judas, Penny Dreadful, and Hell’s Half Acre
Banks, Iain – The Wasp Factory
Barron, Laird – The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and The Croning
Barker, Clive – Weaveworld and Books of Blood
Bell, Matt – Cataclysm Baby and In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods
Danielewski, Mark Z. – House of Leaves
Datlow, Ellen (editor) – Best Horror of the Year (annual)
Davidson, Craig – The Fighter, Rust & Bone, and Sarah Court
Dick, Philip K. – The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Cain, Chelsea – Heartsick, Sweetheart, Evil at Heart
Card, Orson Scott – Ender’s Game
Clevenger, Craig – The Contortionist’s Handbook and Dermaphoria
Cronin, Justin – The Passage
Ellis, Bret Easton – American Psycho
Evenson, Brian – Windeye, Immobility, and The Open Curtain
Flynn, Gillian – Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl
***, William – I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down
Gaiman, Neil – American Gods and Anansi Boys
Gaitskill, Mary – Bad Behavior
Golding, William – Lord of the Flies
Gran, Sara – Come Closer
Gray, Amelia – AM/PM, Museum of the Weird, THREATS, and Gutshot
Guran, Paula (editor) – The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (annual)
Hall, Tina May – The Physics of Imaginary Objects
Harris, Thomas – The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, and Hannibal
Homes, A.M. – The End of Alice
Hunter, Lindsay – Daddy’s, Don’t Kiss Me, and Ugly Girls
Johnson, Denis – Jesus’ Son
Jones, Holly Goddard – Girl Trouble
Jones, Stephen Graham – All The Beautiful Sinners, Ledfeather, After the People Lights Have Gone Off, The Ones That Got Away, and Bleed Into Me
Kelly, Michael (editor) – Year’s Best Weird Fiction (annual)
Ketchum, Jack – The Girl Next Door, Off Season, Offspring and Peaceable Kingdom
King, Stephen – It, The Stand, Salem’s Lot, The Long Walk, Pet Sematary, The Dead Zone, Night Shift, Needful Things, Different Seasons, The Shining, and The Dark Tower series
Koontz, Dean – Whispers, Phantoms, and Watchers
Lehane, Dennis – Mystic River and Shutter Island
Malerman, Josh – Bird Box
Matheson, Richard – I Am Legend and Hell House
McCammon, Robert R. – Swan Song
McCarthy, Cormac – The Road, Blood Meridian, and Outer Dark
Mieville, China – Perdido Street Station
Minor, Kyle – In the Devil’s Territory and Praying Drunk
Murakami, Haruki – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
O’Connor, Flannery – The Complete Stories
Palahniuk, Chuck – Survivor, Choke, Diary, Lullaby, Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, and Rant
Percy, Benjamin – Refresh, Refresh, The Wilding, Red Moon and The Dead Lands
Phillips, Jayne Anne – Black Tickets
Pollock, Donald Ray – Knockemstiff
Rice, Anne – Interview With the Vampire
Straub, Peter – Ghost Story and Floating Dragon
VanderMeer, Jeff – The Southern Reach Trilogy (especially Annihilation)
Welsh, Irvine – Trainspotting
Wilson, F. Paul – The Repairman Jack series
DMelt36
Bolland > You
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Loved that book. Also a big fan of Ender's Shadowe, which follows the same timeline but is told from the perspective of another character (Bean). Never read something like that, but it was worthwhile. Ender in Exile, the sequel to Game, was also good.
This book is part of a trilogy I just completed, with the third book released earlier this year. The Passage was excellent, and I really liked the Twelve as well. The third book in the series, City of Mirrors, was my least favorite of the trio.
Loved Stephen King's books, think I've read a few dozen of 'em. But I had to take a break from his works for a while after I finished up the Dark Tower series, because I wanted to see what else was out there. But the world created by King in the Dark Tower books is one of the most incredible adventures I've ever been on for a book.
I'm a huge fan of post-apocalyptic type of books, which is why The Stand is one of my favorite books. But if you're looking for more suggestions on those I've got a few, and if any of you have some to send my way, please do so.
Also, a recent read in the dystopian genre, the Red Rising trilogy is phenomenal and I'd recommend it to anyone. Third book came out in late 2015/early 2016, and I re-read the first two in preparation for the release of the third. It's so fucking good, man. So good.
DMelt36
Bolland > You
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Two books that I read this summer that might fall on the list of classics I can't believe I never read were 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Both very, very good. 1984 also a little disturbing to read these days.