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Post by Songlian on Jun 13, 2014 22:16:26 GMT
Here be thread where we talk about books. Because they are important and we love them. <3 I thought it would be nice if every Friday (or whatever) one of us would ask the others a question (books related). The one who asks the question also gets to nominate the next person to come up with a question the next Friday. So basically - every Friday, a new question. In the meanwhile, we answer them, make recommendations, etc. Like a book club. Ok, I'm done being obvious. My question for this week is: What is your favorite all time book? And the one to asks us another question next Friday, I nominate Andarian. Meanwhile, my answer to this week's question is: ShÅgun, by James Clavell This was recommended by my dad and it took me a few years until I got to it, but when I did, I couldn't stop. I think it does twists and deaths even better than GRRM, you just can't put it down. There's also a beauty to it that comes from thew way James Clavell builds up sentences. Biggest strength, though, I think, is that you can't help fall in love with every character, even though some of them are purely psychopaths. You'll love them even when they do horrible things, because every character is right, in his own way. All in all, I highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't gotten to it yet. So what is everyone else's favorite novel?
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andarian
Kobold
Computer Scientist and Fiction Writer
Posts: 63
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Post by andarian on Jun 21, 2014 2:37:35 GMT
Here be thread where we talk about books. Because they are important and we love them. <3 I thought it would be nice if every Friday (or whatever) one of us would ask the others a question (books related). The one who asks the question also gets to nominate the next person to come up with a question the next Friday. So basically - every Friday, a new question. In the meanwhile, we answer them, make recommendations, etc. Like a book club. Ok, I'm done being obvious. My question for this week is: What is your favorite all time book? And the one to asks us another question next Friday, I nominate Andarian. Did the week go by that quickly? I guess it did, and that it's my turn to pose a new question. I assume that my doing so shouldn't discourage folks from answering previous questions if they want, but didn't get to during the "designated week." First, though, let me give my answer to last week's question. My all-time favorite book is Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, which I read for the first time many years ago. It's very much a philosophical novel (almost a philosophical mystery), and the ideas in it have had a profound influence on my life ever since. Among other things they helped to kindle my own life-long interest in ideas, which has also very much influenced the choice of themes for my own writing. Leaving its philosophical merits aside, it's simply a great story. It's a mystery filled with intriguing and often larger than life characters, and dramatic conflicts and events. It's also by far the single best book I've ever read from the perspective of the author's skill at plot-theme integration -- the importance of which as a literary device, I think, is typically very much under-appreciated. Here's my suggestion for a new question of the week. What kind of scenes do you find most engaging in a work of fiction? Granted that it's difficult for a book to work at all without a good integration of different types of passages, but what kinds do you find engage your personality the most? Is it evocative description, interesting dialogue, or dramatic action? Or something else that I haven't named? For myself, I tend to lean toward dialogue, with action a fairly close second. Although I love everything about good fiction, I find the interaction between personalities to be the most engaging part of any story -- and dialogue to be the most effective way to convey it.
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Post by Shades of Night on Jun 22, 2014 0:45:59 GMT
I think I've already put an answer to something similar to this in the three facts thread, but no harm in going here too My faaavvourite book is actually four books. The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin. It was given to be I think when I was 12. And as usual I took a year or two to actually read it, because I'm terrible when people tell me to read this or that book However when I did finally read it I really loved the story, the characters and just the way it's written. I've read it several times, I'd say my favourite book of the four in it is The Tombs of Atuan most of which takes place in pitch black tombs. I think I recall reading that Le Guin has a big interest in cultures and people, you can certainly see this in her work. Another nice thing for the time that it was written is that the main character, and indeed most of the people populating the world that it is set in are not white. And it's not made to be an issue, it's just normal, which is great. I don't actually read a lot of books. I used to when I was in my early teens, but these days I don't buy a book unless I know it is quality (so I'll buy a book by an author whose books I've read before). I actually find reading good quality fanfiction preferable in general because I can specifically hunt down whatever I'm looking for. Anyway, because of that it's hard for me to pin down what scenes I like the best. I mean if I'm writing something I love writing really painful emotional moments for characters, so I guess I like reading the same. Ones that really make you feel for these people created out of text on a page or screen (I can still recall one such moment from the Earthsea books). And despite whatever crushing thing that has happened to them they usually get up and continue on.
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