Books

[Nahrallah]

What books are you reading at the moment?

I usually have several books on the go as then I can read whatever happens to suit my mood at the time.

I'm re-reading The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb because I just introduced two friends to the works of this writer and decided that I needed to revisit the The Six Duchies. Hobb's books are beautifully crafted and it is easy to lose oneself in her mesmerizing narrative flow. Although the books have the common medieval fantasy setting, they are anything but ordinary! They centre on the life of FitzChivalry who is a royal bastard ... and very much more.

I just discovered the novels of Lian Hearn and am reading his Tales of the Otori. I'm up to Brilliance of the Moon. Hearn's books are quite entertaining and the prose has a peaceful, rhythmic flow. The story, which is set in medieval Japan, follows the life of Takeo the heir to the Otori clan. It is a tale of intrigue, betrayal and love. There are four books that make up the Tales Of The Otori and I'm currently reading the third.

A friend lent me The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This is a bittersweet story about the family of a fanatical evangelist who seems determined to single-handedly convert the whole population of the Belgian Congo. Set during the fight for independence, the novel examines human frailty but also the capacity for hope and change.

Thread exists. Please use the search function before creating new threads. Posts merged.

 

[box100]

i've been reading "wings to awakening" by thanissaro bhikkhu

it's not a novel or anything.... it's sort of a study of the pali canon

 

[Neriko]

Ahh! I just finished a really creepy book not to long ago.. its call the The Descent by Jeff Long. Its about a race of mutants that live under the earths surface and a group of scientists are sent to discover more about them. It sounds kinda corny but its a really good read. alot higher of a level of a read them I first thought it would be. Definitely a science fiction novel.

 

[ploumid]

QUOTE (Nahrallah @ Mar 10 2007, 10:33 PM)

I just discovered the novels of Liam Hearn and am reading his Tales of the Otori. I'm up to Brilliance of the Moon. Hearn's books are quite entertaining and the prose has a peaceful, rhythmic flow. The story, which is set in medieval Japan, follows the life of Takeo the heir to the Otori clan. It is a tale of intrigue, betrayal and love. There are four books that make up the Tales Of The Otori and I'm currently reading the third.


LIam Hearn? Has he any relation to Arcadio Hearn, the Greek-Irish writer that lived in Japan and wrote the traditinal Japanese stories?


I`m trying to read Clive Barker`s Abarat

 

[Nahrallah]

Oh! I made a typo ... just fixed it.

It's actually Lian Hearn. Lian Hearn is an Australian author.

 

[samthebear]

i've read the series too! (tales of the Otori) but i didn't finish the last book cuz i sorta lost my intrest in it - I first read it when there was only 2 books out and it took like 3 years for the 3rd book or something =/ i read book 1 and 2 in yr seven and the 3rd book just came out last year...

Anyways i've been reading 'Garden of the purple dragon' it's a sequel to 'Dragon Keeper' and it's written by Carole Wilkinson. it's pretty good but i've read better, more suited to the 12-13 age group =/ i mean the story is great but the way it's written is more directed to the 12-13 age group.
I've also been reading New Moon By Stephine Meyer - it's the sequel to Twilight both are exceptionally well written (with a very good story line) have very good action scenes (it's written so well you can actually picture the story as it goes. in great detail too.) and the best thing is that it make you feel a well written story for me needs to make you feel and this one does.

 

[noob]

Macbeth
Macbeth
Othello
Hamlet
Antony and Cleopatra
King Richard III

Don't ask me why, but I probably have had to read more than those.... but for some reason, i remember those the best.

 

[Nahrallah]

Ah! The Immortal Bard. Actually, I was wandering through Romeo and Juliet just the other day as a friend had it with her at a rehearsal. Yes, Macbeth does deserve a double mention. Fantastic play! It has everything you could want ... murder, deceit, love, lust, madness, guilt ... I could go on. [Guess which of Shakespeare's characters I have a soft spot for ... hint - see Avatar]

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing. — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5)

Tom Stoppard wrote an absolutely brilliant and hilarious play based on two minor characters who appear in Hamlet ... Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead! If you've never read it then it is well worth a look ... I promise that you will not regret it! Ah, word tennis.

Guildenstern: I think I have it. A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself.
Rosencrantz: Or just as mad.
Guildenstern: Or just as mad.
Rosencrantz: And he does both.
Guildenstern: So there you are.
Rosencrantz: Stark raving sane. — Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead! (Act 2)

noob, you didn't mention one of my favourites Henry V.

Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives,
Our children and our sins lay on the king!
We must bear all. O hard condition,
Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath
Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel
But his own wringing! What infinite heart's-ease
Must kings neglect, that private men enjoy!
And what have kings, that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony? — Henry V (Act 4, Scene 1)

 

[noob]

"I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

"Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,
then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account?--Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him."

I didn't read Henry V just yet... I might read it sometime soon, depending on how much "free" time i get.

 

[4th_k]

i'm not an avid reader, and when i do read, i normally choose books based on the author instead of the storyline.
i like;
angels and deamon by dan brown
the godfather by mario puzo
the last don by mario puzo

 

[chiisai_hana]

Macbeth is for sure my favourite Shakespeare play. Am kind of disappointed I didn't study in Hamlet in school, but my teacher decided to do King Lear instead (also not a bad play, but Hamlet seems to be referenced more).

 

[ploumid]

With all of this Shakespeare talking my mind drifted to a quite old... anime? I`m not sure it was anime or cartoon

Gargoyles.
I loved the fact that there, so many Shakespearean characters would appear as todays heroes and villains...

Please, don`t mind me, I have too much free time at the moment, so my mind makes some extra rounds...

 

[orofena-chan]

Ploumid, are you familiar with Cavafy's work? His complete name is: Kōnstantinos Petrou Kabaphēs I'm quite envious since you can read him in the original...me, I'm stuck with reading in translation...T_T He's got some very heady yaoi stuff, but I'm more in love the poems in which he reflects about life in general...

 

[Nahrallah]

I went looking for my copy of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead! last night and have not been able to locate it ... I could have cried! Thank goodness for the internet. I discovered a copy online: Том Стоппард. Розенкранц и Гиндельстейн мертвы (engl) (I'm so happy to have found it that I could just kiss the person who put it up ... on both cheeks! Yay Russia! Yes it is in English not Russian)

Rosencrantz: Did you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it?
Guildenstern: No.
Rosencrantz: Nor do I, really. It's silly to be depressed by it. I mean, one thinks of it like being alive in a box. One keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one is dead, which should make all the difference, shouldn't it? I mean, you'd never *know* you were in a box, would you? It would be just like you were asleep in a box. Not that I'd like to sleep in a box, mind you. Not without any air. You'd wake up dead for a start, and then where would you be? In a box. That's the bit I don't like, frankly. That's why I don't think of it. Because you'd be helpless, wouldn't you? Stuffed in a box like that. I mean, you'd be in there forever, even taking into account the fact that you're dead. It isn't a pleasant thought. Especially if you're dead, really. Ask yourself, if I asked you straight off, "I'm going to stuff you in this box. Now, would you rather be alive or dead?" naturally, you'd prefer to be alive. Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You'd have a chance, at least. You could lie there thinking, "Well, at least I'm not dead." (bangs on lid) Hey you! What's your name? Come out of there!
Guildenstern: (pause) I think I'm going to kill you. - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead! (Act 2)

noob: I also found a complete copy of Henry V online: Henry V: List of Scenes

chiisai_hana: King Lear is a truly heart breaking play. It makes me teary eyed every time I either read or watch it. Poor Cordelia! "This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows That ever I have felt."

MIT has put all of Shakespeare's works online: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

ploumid: Are you talking about Gargoyles by Greg Weisman? If so, then it was a cartoon which aired in the US from 1994 to 1997. More information is available at: Gargoyles (TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

orofena-chan: Are you talking about Constantine P. Cavafy? He certainly wrote some very sensual poems.

 

[luigiroxu]

i love mystery novels, one of my fav writers is dan brown, angels and demons, da vinci code, digital fortress i love the suspense, u think u have it figured out, then everything gets turned upside down.

 

[Nahrallah]

luigiroxu: If you happen to have an interest in horses as well as mysteries then Dick Francis has written over 40 books. Fairly easy reading but quite entertaining.

Of course it's hard to go past Agatha Christie! I must say that I'm quite fond of her shrewd (and arrogant) little Belgian detective. With over 30 novels and more than 50 short stories one has many adventures of Hercule Poirot to enjoy. C'est magnifique!

 

[ploumid]

QUOTE (orofena-chan @ Mar 11 2007, 04:54 PM)Ploumid, are you familiar with Cavafy's work? His complete name is: Kōnstantinos Petrou Kabaphēs I'm quite envious since you can read him in the original...me, I'm stuck with reading in translation...T_T He's got some very heady yaoi stuff, but I'm more in love the poems in which he reflects about life in general...
He,he Orofena,not only I`m familiar with his work but I know some of his poems by heart..

You`re right about his sensual work, it`s exellent but to tell you the truth I love more his historic poems because they were mirroring the political facts of his own time...
Analyzing them at class was the best for me.
Waiting for the barbarians and Alexandria are his most famous work...
And now I need to find his book and read it again...

Nahrallah I don`t know if it is of Greg Weisman`s work but probably we`re talking about the same one since the year matches....

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, isn`t there a movie with that name? It`s been years since I `ve watched it but I liked it and have never known that it was actually a book.

 

[Nahrallah]

ploumid: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead!, written by Tom Stoppard, is a play which was first performed in 1966. In 1990 a film version (starring Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfuss) was released. If you want to have a look at the play I posted a link. It's well worth a read. Of course the movie was gloriously executed!

 

[Clowd]

Right now im reading books in the "artimis fowl" series. If you liked enders game then youd like this

 

[noob]

QUOTE (chiisai_hana @ Mar 11 2007, 02:37 PM) Macbeth is for sure my favourite Shakespeare play. Am kind of disappointed I didn't study in Hamlet in school, but my teacher decided to do King Lear instead (also not a bad play, but Hamlet seems to be referenced more).
School... lol, so we both had similar reasons to read Shakespeare's plays.... I wonder if I'm the only one in here who was forced to read more than 3 Shakespearian play's cuz of school...?