So...What have you read?

Avareis · Post by **Avareis** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:40 pm

So....Has anyone read any good books? I'm saddened that there are few 'interesting' books out. I've read my share of Paulo Cohello, specifically The Alchemist, Veronica Decides to Die.
I've read Rowling, King and Lewis. And I'll say it. Some of their work are overrated, even poor. Steven King has stopped trying all together, you know?
I was wondering about what books you would like to read and WHY. The old AL forum didn't have many reader. Actually there wasn't much interest in anything over there. I'm sure there are more literate people here. Tell us your thoughts on the books and your favorite title, werewolf or not! Step up and read...write......whatever!

Set · Post by **Set** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:51 pm

Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Linskold (I think that's how you spell it...) is quite good, though I never finished reading it. It's about a girl who was raised by a pack of large wolves, called Royal Wolves, who she could talk to. Someone ended up finding her and she had to learn to live in a human society.

Mercedes Lackey writes some good stuff. I've read the Black Gryphon and it's sequels and I loved them.

I don't have as many books as I used to, though what's still on my shelf is the best out of what I had. I've got several books composed of short stories written by different people. They're good. The Ultimate Dragon, Flights Of Fantasy, Creature Fantastic, A Wolf At The Door, and A Glory Of Unicorns.

There was one I read years ago that I liked but can't remember who wrote it. The Westing Game.

I have some of Tolkien's stuff as well. I still haven't finished The Book Of Lost Tales.

What else is on here? The Dragon, The Earl, and The Troll, Peter Pan, Marlfox, Halloween Echo, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Alien Secrets, Aliens Ate My Homework, Into The Land of the Unicorns, The Hatchet...

Aki · Post by **Aki** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:39 pm

Recently, I've been reading "Dies The Fire". I forget the author's name and in my current laziness, won't get up to read that, hehe. Cool book. About what happens to the world when the rules of the universe suddenly change and BAM - electronics no longer work. And to add insult to injury, gunpowder doesn't work either! Humanity is left without his most powerful tools!

Makes for a good read, heh. Especially when you have two main characters leading two different existences in the setting.

Before that I read through the first Ringworld Book (Larry Niven, Sci-fi stuff), which was nifty.

Oh, and World War Z. Because Zombies are cool and stuff.

Avareis wrote:So....Has anyone read any good books? I'm saddened that there are few 'interesting' books out. I've read my share of Paulo Cohello, specifically The Alchemist, Veronica Decides to Die.

I read the Alchemist for summer reading.

'Twas awesome.

Set wrote: A Wolf At The Door.

Heh. I have that. It was amusing.

Lukas · Post by **Lukas** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:44 pm

lets see now:
Infantry aces
panzer aces 2
Korean war
Iwo Jima
all 7 harry potter books
the 2 Eragon books
the 2 age of fire books
Battle(actully name of title)
Blood make the grass grow greener(a tale about a year with team America)
this man's army
Ivan's war
Sea biscuit
soldiers war
50 weapons that changed warfare
thats about the jest of it

Midnight · Post by **Midnight** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:42 am

I second Set's recommendation of Mercedes Lackey... she's a good writer. Nothing earth-changing but she can tell a darned good story. Give "Oathbound", "Oathbreakers" and "Oathblood" a try.

Anything by Terry Pratchett is recommended. Any of his "Discworld" series are highly recommended. Good starting points include: "Equal Rites"; "Guards! Guards!"; or "Mort". (The "Discworld" books include half a dozen different sets of continuing characters; the three books named are the first major works of three different sets).

As for werewolf stories... give the following a try if you haven't read them yet:
Robert McCammon, "The Wolf's Hour"
Kelley Armstrong, "Bitten"
Peter David, "Howling Mad"

BlackWolfDS · Post by **BlackWolfDS** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:37 am

If you want a good wolf book, try reading "The Sight". Kind of sad, but it's a good story in it's entirety.

MoonKit · Post by **MoonKit** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:09 pm

My new favorite author is currently Charles DeLint. Specifically "Widdershins" though "The Onion Girl" is the first book of that. Its about faeries and the dreamworld and shapeshifters and it very awesome!

Avareis · Post by **Avareis** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:59 pm

YES! I'm so glad people read here. You have no idea...

I think the Harry Potter books are a must read when it comes to fantasy books, though it's not the most popular in my 'book'. The same goes for Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and Narnia. Some books are a necessity to read in a lifetime.
What I read the past summer was the the two Inherency books. Eragon and Eldest. I read it, but the more I read it the more I realized that the two stories had too many similarities to Star Wars. Really compare them to each other. There are too few differences. The third one is going to come out soon. I saw the bookmark for it. It's a yellow dragon. I might not read it until I get a review, something I usually ignore and give my own review, but it's a must for this one time.
Oddly, I've been seeing more werewolf books over vampire books lately. It's not that I've been 'looking'. It just happened to turn out that there have been more werewolf books out. The ratio at this time is 2-1. I might be reading a few of your suggestions. I want to see how other writers portray wereceatures from the ones I've read. Thanks a lot everyone!

MoonKit · Post by **MoonKit** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:46 am

Avareis wrote: Oddly, I've been seeing more werewolf books over vampire books lately.

Good to see that Im not the only one who noticed this.

Kalira · Post by **Kalira** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:23 pm

Almost everything by Mercedes Lackey
some Stephen King
all the Harry Potter goodness
John Grisham
Kelley Armstong
Tolkien
Jane Lindskold- Through Wolf's Eyes and currently reading the second book Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart
Melanie Rawn- fantasy, magic dragons and the like
HP Lovecraft

Sebiale · Post by **Sebiale** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:34 pm

Well i'm an 'A for Effort' kind of person so i have alot.

Jennifer Fallon
Terry Brooks
Diane Duane
C.S. Lewis
Robert Jordan
Jonathan Stroud
Stephen King
Emily Rodda
K.A. Applegate
Kelley Armstrong
Joanne Bertin
The DragonLance Series
The Halo Books
Kohta Hirano
Rumiko Takahashi
Richard A. Knaak
Hiroyuki Takei
Steve Perry
Masashi Kishimoto
Tatsuya Hamazaki
Patricia C. Wrede
Margaret Weis
Stephenie Meyer
Hilari Bell
Raymond E. Feist
Terry Goodkind
The Warcraft Books
AvP Universe Books
Forgotten Realm Books
Carole Wilkinson
Richard C. White
Cornelia Funke
Robin McKinley
Garth Nix
Lloyd Alexander
Philip Pullman
David and Leigh Edding's
Brian Jacques
Angie Sage
Dan Abnett
Ken-Ichi Sakura
Christopher Paolini
Tolkien
Eoin Colfer
Tamora Pierce
Mercedes Lackey
Dan Brown
J.K. Rowling
R.A. Salvatore
Kentaro Yabuki
John Flanagan
Laurell K. Hamilton
Todd McFarlane
Neil Gaiman

That was all the ones I own, now on to the ones I haven't bought yet.

Eileen Wilks
Cathy Clamp
Rebecca York
Rob Thurman
Lucy Monroe
Karen Whiddon
Christine Warren
Gina Farago
Lois Greiman
C.T. Adams
Susan Krinard
Nina Bangs
W.D. Gagliani
Arthur Keri
Donna Simpson
Patricia Briggs
Warren Murphy
Lori Handeland
Stephen Cole
Linda Jones
Jim Butcher
Patrick Jennings

Now for the FanFiction Author PenNames, or at least the exemplary ones.

CiraArana
Deviant Nature
Erised Burning
Miranda Flairgold
wolfsong
Shezza88
nuhuh
Jeremy
AJ-Writer
scarred by a grizzly
Jezaray

That's about it.

Aki · Post by **Aki** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:49 pm

Avareis wrote:YES! I'm so glad people read here. You have no idea...
I think the Harry Potter books are a must read when it comes to fantasy books, though it's not the most popular in my 'book'. The same goes for Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and Narnia. Some books are a necessity to read in a lifetime.
What I read the past summer was the the two Inherency books. Eragon and Eldest. I read it, but the more I read it the more I realized that the two stories had too many similarities to Star Wars. Really compare them to each other. There are too few differences. The third one is going to come out soon. I saw the bookmark for it. It's a yellow dragon. I might not read it until I get a review, something I usually ignore and give my own review, but it's a must for this one time.

I'm reading Eragon for a class in school, actually and there's a good reason for the similarities.

The Hero's Journey.

The Hero's Journey is an eight-step process thought up by this one fellow whose name I forget that applies to basically any story you can think of. Both Lucas and Paolini (that's the Eragon dude's last name, I think..) were big on this thing. And both their stories follow it perfectly, running through all eight steps sequentially (even though they don't need to run through them sequentially), so much of the similarities can be explained with that.

Though, other bits, like how both have an evil empire, guy who betrayed his order of exclusive defenders of justice with supernatural powers and then took over to make the evil empire, the whole "mentor-figure is one of the last of the betrayed order who trains the kid to be one as well" thing, etc. That's a bit more valid, since, y'know, it's more obvious.

As to Hobbit and LOTR, they've got a nice story and such, but I'm not a big fan of Tolkein's writing style. He's REALLY descriptive. Which can be irritating for me when it takes two pages to talk about Aragorn using the prints on the ground to track down the uruk-hai or something.

Sebiale · Post by **Sebiale** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:09 pm

Are you referring to Monomyth, Aki?
If so, that pattern was originally described by Joseph Campbell in his 'The Hero with a Thousand faces' book. Technically there are seventeen stages to that; 3 Main stages, Seperation, Initiation, and Return, those three can be broken down into seventeen more, thougn not every Monomyth uses all the steps.
Another Monomyth is the Twelve Kingdoms series, written by Fuyumi Ono, only one book has been translated and sold in the U.S. so far though, it was also made into an anime.

Silverclaw · Post by **Silverclaw** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:02 pm

I have way too many books to list. My 7ft tall book shelf is filled up, and I have a few stacks on the floor

I still have a lot of them I have yet to read, lol.
I need to take a pic or two.

Some of my favorites is Watership Down, Tailchasers Song, Harry Potter, Wolf Moon, Blood and Chocolate, Silverwing, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH...

Most of them are from an animals-point-of-view books. I have a good amount of werewolf books. Also books from dragons POV.

I tend to buy more than I can read

I'd like to start reading some from Terry Pratchett, Mercedes Lackey
and Stephen King

If you want a good wolf book, try reading "The Sight". Kind of sad, but it's a good story in it's entirety.

Loved that book

Just got the new sequel in, "Fell"

KittyRose · Post by **KittyRose** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:24 pm

Besides reading a ton of books for school (mostly classical literature and plays) I'm reading The Warriors by Erin Hunter. It's a book series (children's or young adult), about four clans of cats who live in a forest. Each clan must defend their own borders, land, and clan. The stories are based around loyalty, leadership, bravery, and society. It's a great series, especially if you enjoy talking cats

As for school, I'm reading mostly Herman Melville (Moby Dick, Billy Budd, etc), I just finished a great play called Tea and Sympathy, the Dubliners by James Joyce, and Equus (the play that Danille Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter, posed with a horse, half naked, for). Oh and there's Jane Eyre, which I really liked because it's unique and not so cliche with most romantic literature written during the time it was published (Austen's books, for example).

MoonKit · Post by **MoonKit** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:29 pm

Currently reading:

"The Master and Margarita." by Mikhail Bulgakov

And when I say currently reading I mean very very slowly. I dont have the physical book. I have the text on screen and I hate reading for long periods off a computer screen. Unfortunately if I print, its like 300 pages!

IndianaJones · Post by **IndianaJones** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:24 pm

Heres my list of the books that I read.

The Saxon Werewolf trilogy - by Alice Borchadrt
The Silver Wolf
Night of the Wolf
The Wolf King

Liveship Trilogy - by Robin Hobb
Ship of Magic
Mad Ship
Ship of Destiny

Halo Book Trilogy
Halo: Fall of Reach
Halo: The Flood
Halo: First Strike

Lord of the Rings Trilogy - by J.R.R. Toikken
The Hobbit
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
LOTR: The Two Towers
LOTR: The Return of the King

Moon Called - by Patricia Briggs

The Fox Woman - by Kij Johnson

Our Mortal Days - by Elizabeth Blackson

Scars

Currently Reading
Lonely Werewolf Girl - by Martin Millar
Ivy Cole and the Moon - by Gina Farago
A Whisper of Wings - by Paul Kidd

Faolan Bloodtooth · Post by **Faolan Bloodtooth** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:20 am

I'm probably going to sound like a total moron for saying this but

Legacy of the Force: Tempest (Set about 40 years after Return of the Jedi, basically about the Solo children's brush with the Dark Side)

Forgotten Realms: Year Of Rogue Dragons Trilogy (Good trilogy bout a Half-Golem and Dragons that go C-razy!)

Darren Shan Saga (Puts a new spin of the Vampire myth, and presents a very good situation based around Destiny)

RedEye · Post by **RedEye** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:02 am

I went to my first small library (the one with the paperbacks in it, not the hardbound ones).
It stretches from a foot off the floor to the ceiling, is six feet wide and at least two layers thick.
I took off my shoes and calculated the number of books there, and the possible numbers of authors.

My answer: Quite a bit; and the book I just put down is titled "Man into Beast; studies in proto-therianism".
When you write fantasy, you have to stay abreast with what's happening; or it might turn into fact while you're in editing.

Bummer, that.

lone-wolf · Post by **lone-wolf** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:26 am

I've been readin an alien series book over the last few days its called: Aliens Nightmare asylum, its written by a guy called Steve Perry. its a very descriptive book, great if you love a bit of gore

Shadow Wulf · Post by **Shadow Wulf** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:47 pm

Has anyone mentioned Angels and Demons? That book is Excellent, Grade A stuff! I love the involvement of religion, conspiracy, and science.

Dreamer · Post by **Dreamer** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:34 pm

I'm reading I Am Legend. It's pretty good so far.

ravaged_warrior · Post by **ravaged_warrior** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:40 pm

Right now I'm reading Isaac Asimov's I, Robot.

fredriksam · Post by **fredriksam** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:57 am

Lets see.

This is going to be a loong list. I have all the books on the list.

Philip Pullman:
Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
(all three is about "The Dark Materials". Golden compass will soon begin in cinema. Strange no one here has read these.)

Stephen King: Creepshow (comic)
Cujo
Cycle Of The Werewolf
Desperation
Dolores Clairborne
The Green Mile
It
Nightshift
Shining
Skeleton Crew
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

Dean Koontz:
Cold Fire
Darkfall
Dragon Tears
False Memory
Fear Nothing
Frankenstein
From The Corner Of His Eye
Midnight
Mr Murder
One Door Away From Heaven
Phantoms
Seize The Night
Shadowfires
Sole Survivor
Twilight Eyes
Watchers
Winter Moon
As you can see i really like Dean koontz book. The first one i bought was Watchers. Its the best of them all.

J.k Rowling: All the 7 books in the series.

Michael Crichton:
Congo
Jurassic Park
Lost World
Prey

Whitley Strieber:
The Wild
The Wolfen
War-day
Wolf Of Shadows
See there. 3 books about wolfs/werewolfs. Cool.

Kelley Armstrong:
Bitten
Stolen

Linda Godfrey:
The Beast Of Bray Road
Hunting The American Werewolf.

Peter Benchley:
Jaws
Beast

James Herbert:
Fluke (So Sad!!!!!!!)
The Magic House
Haunted

Anne McCaffrey:
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
Moreta
The White Dragon

Dan Simmons:
Children Of The Night
Summer Of Night

C.S.Lewis
The Narnia Trilology All collected in one book.

Tolkien:
Lord Of The Rings All Three Books In One Package

Christopher Paolini.
Eragon
Eldest

Susan Kay: Phantom

Annie Proulx: Brokeback Mountain

Douglas Preston: Relic

Christopher Golden: Prowlers

Col Bailey. Tiger Tales.

I have quite some more books in my collection, but here i mention these i really like and have read some times.

Avareis · Post by **Avareis** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:35 pm

Well, I haven't read much since the Harry Potter series. Though, I saw something in Barnes and Noble that got me moving to the Eragon site. It was a bookmark with a yellow dragon's head, next to the blue and red dragon bookmark. So, the next book will have a yellow dragon on the front.
But that's not all...Watch the video on his site, but if you haven't read the second book, there will be spoilers on certain characters.
http://www.alagaesia.com/kvetha/
Now, I don't know about you guys, but this man is overselled as a writer in my opinion. I actually saw this coming.

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