Superbook Topic

[Hi no Seijin]

Well, we have a super topic for music and movies, but we don't have one for books, and I just now realize how much that irks me, especially since I'm almost always looking for new books to read.

Right now, I'm about halfway through reading The Wheel of Time series, an epic fantasy written by the late Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (for the final book, as Jordan died before finishing it).  With loads and loads of characters, it makes for quite a complex story.  However, despite every book having fifty plus chapters each, it's rather enjoyable to read, even when just about every character is holding the Idiot Ball.

[DW]

I read a bunch of Orwell earlier in the year. I liked Animal Farm and 1984 a lot.

[Hi no Seijin]

Animal Farm was a good book, even if you didn't tie it in with the rise of Communist Russia.

I never did get around to reading 1984, though; I suppose I should add it to the list of books I ought to check out from the library.  Which I ought to start.

[The Glamour Nazi]

I recommend 1984 also, very good book.

I'm gonna say the Haruhi-ism novels, in my opinion it's much better than the anime.

If Visual novels count then Clannad.

and when I'm talking normal books, my favorite books ever are, The Count of Monty Cristo and Robinson Crusoe.

[Hi no Seijin]

Why should visual/graphic novels and comic books not count?  Sure, they have pictures, but they're in a book format and have to be read.  Don't hesitate to bring them up.

[The Glamour Nazi]

Then I'm gonna put the Chobits manga on my list, because, despite being a little bit on the mature side it has a pretty good moral to it.

But on the Haruhi note, avoid the Manga, get the books.

Also 20,000 leagues under the sea was good, I liked it a lot.

And for visual novels if you want something that makes you think so much your brain explodes, while also giving yourself nightmares, there is the Higurashi novels.

Hey, I was also wondering if anyone here can just go into a library or bookstore, randomly pick up a book and read it. I can't do it so it makes finding books hard.

[Uximadesk]

It depends on the bookstore's own policies. I do remember a library that had it's own Starbucks inside and you could read any book in it while drinking coffee.

Also, right now I'm reading the first book of the Dark Tower series, and so far it's good. King's crude style can be found throughout every paragraph.
As for books I've read recently, Graceling was good, very intense and I would dare say it has superior narrative than Eragon.

[The Glamour Nazi]

It depends on the bookstore's own policies. I do remember a library that had it's own Starbucks inside and you could read any book in it while drinking coffee.

I wasn't clear, sorry, I mean like, walk in pick up a random book and be interested in it.

[Hi no Seijin]

I don't think Barnes and Noble mind customers reading books, just so long as you don't leave the store with a book you didn't pay for.  Whenever I'm in an area with a Barnes and Noble, I usually go in and skim over some books I think I might be interested in (usually, it's the books in the humor section I'll crack open; everything else I just read the back cover), and then I write down the title on a slip of paper.  No one has stopped me yet.  And if you still don't feel comfortable with doing that, just write down the title and look it up online later.

Of course, with libraries, you can just check out the book, free of charge (supposing you aren't late returning it or damaged it somehow), if you can't finish reading it while in the library.

[Fishalicious]

Well, I'm definitely one of those "comics are totally books gaize" people; it's an art form all it's own, though. It's all about the little spaces between panels; we don't entirely know what happens in that centimeters long space... comics are actually really intriguing because of that, imo. We just take for granted that action a flows from action b, or has some significance. (haha I will cut it off here because I don't think this is the topic for typing a three page essay on comics)

But here is a list of books I am reading:
Memoirs of a Geisha (currently about halfway through)
Frankenstein (I actually already read this one... but I'm re-reading it for English AP and picking up some stuff I missed the first time)
Creature Tech (comic book! finished, but I keep flipping back through it cause it's awesome)

I think everyone should read these:
Blankets - Craig Thompson (comic. but be warned, it has a bit of nudity/otherwise mature content! it's definitely worth it.)
Maus - Art Spiegelman (comic. but if you haven't read this, PICK IT UP NOW. warning, it's about the holocaust)
Creature Tech - Doug TenNaple (comic. no adult stuff, JUST BEWARE OF AWESOME.)
Sold - Patricia McCormick (novel. about prostitution, so..... yeah.)
Saint Iggy - KL Going (novel. about drugs/inner city kid)
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (lololol WARNING FOR EVERYTHING EVER. very graphic and sexual and violent and in some countries you have to be 21 to buy it)
The Notebook, The Proof, and The Third Lie - Agota Kristof (... okay so this is what Mother 3 was based on. except it's NWS to the highest degree. no, seriously, it has everything +1 that's in GTA.)

[Moonleaf13]

Some of the books that i've read recently and really liked would be;

Hush, Hush -Becca Fitzpatrick ~Centered around Fallen Angels and Nephilim (half angel, half human) and so has some mentions of things in the Bible, though I couldn't say how accurate those are.

The Mortal Instruments - Series by Cassandra Clare ~ They deal with the Nephilim as being a society of 'Shadowhunters', the ones who kill demons. There is plenty of action, hordes of evil, and bordeline good guys all through these.

Blue Bloods - A series by Melissa De La Cruz ~ Wherin Vampires are not evil, just rich, and never really die (suposedly). Deals with fallen angels again, but in a totally differant way than Hush, Hush.

The Host - Stephenie Meyer ~ Set in a time where the only real humans left are the wild ones and everyone else is just playing the part. Planet hopping aliens have taken over, planet, body and soul. It follows a Soul (one of the aliens) who's host is not fading like she should. I don't think that Meyer is capable of writing anything that does not have at least some slightly mushy romance, so be warned of that along with the fact that it's a bit slow.

On a side note, despite the fact that she uses the same style for both The Host and the Twilight saga, all of the dead boredom in the world could not make me want to read past the first book in the saga, but I read The Host twice.

[DW]

I did read "Watchmen" over the summer, while I was in Scotland actually. It was amazing to me. Everything was so well planned out...far better than most normal books.

[alical]

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (lololol WARNING FOR EVERYTHING EVER. very graphic and sexual and violent and in some countries you have to be 21 to buy it)

I loved American Psycho, although there are some parts that were... unpleasant to read I still thought it was utterly brilliant. But it made me dislike my English teacher even more when we had to bring in a book we had recently read and when she saw I had that she was all like, "it's disgusting, you have to be mental to read it!" But she has awful hair, so you know, swings and roundabouts.

For my English coursework I have read Brideshead Revisited (by Evelyn Waugh), which is just so beautiful, I then talked to my (other) English teacher about it, and said I was interested in the way religion was 'discussed' so she suggested I read Moon Tiger (by Penelope Lively) as my coursework companion text. I looked it up and it looks good, so that (along with re-reading Brideshead) is next for me. 

[Hi no Seijin]

So, I recently finished re-reading the four Michael Chrichton books I have (Jurassic Park; The Lost World; Sphere; and The Andromeda Strain), and now I checked out J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion for a more in-depth look into Middle Earth's history.  So far, it has me considering having one of the settings in my books have a more mythical beginning; you know, a creation myth, all of that razz-ma-jazz.

Oh, and in the event that I fail to find 1984 when I'm done with The Silmarillion, can someone recommend a sci-fi/fantasy book for me?  I'm already in the middle of The Wheel of Time series, and I just finished Rhapsody, the start of the Symphony of Ages series, a month or so back.

[The Glamour Nazi]

The Haruhi novels (only 2 are out so far, another is released july) are a scifi story, uh, not sure of anything else.

New book for me I need to add, from the geniuses at Key, in fact there are 2.

Little busters, and Planetarian.

Both made me bawl like a baby.