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      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
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Story: Monday, June 20, 2016

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And for the record, I HAVE read the Hobbit, and tried to read Lord of The Rings. I found myself too bored to get through the latter, which I find a shame, because I'd like to be able to say I've read it.

Apart from the Tom Bombadil chapter, which is totally out of place, I don't find The Lord of the Rings boring in the slightest. However, The Silmarillion was a different story. That book is a snoozefest and a half.

 

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When ever I take one of those what have you read test for fantasy and SF* if it's pre 2000 and notable I normally have read it.  And a lot of post 2000, just not as likely.

For non fantasy/SF I tend to score in the middle of the pack, and the more non Anglosphere writers you include in the list the more likely I am to score low.

I read a lot.

*And yes I am one of those people that think there is a difference between SciFi and SF.

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Suggestions? Okay ...

Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series
Stephen R. Donaldson - anything he's ever written
Jack L. Chalker - the Well of Souls and Soul Rider series

Start with those, then check back for more.

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If those are all the books you've read in your entire life, then ye gods, Dan!

That said, keep in mind, folks, Dan doesn't actually read the forums (or so he claims) so if you want to bring something to his attention, assemble a list and send it via one of the contact options. Definitely send a list if you're using email: I don't think he'll appreciate one person sending him 100 emails each suggesting a single book.

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The question was about book series, not standalone books, so I'm pretty sure he's read more books than what he listed.

I have just ventured onto Twitter, despite having missed the last episode of Game of Thrones and thus risking the horrors of spoilers, in order to make a couple of suggestions.

Now, back to wandering the cold lonely streets, peering through windows in hopes of finding someone watching the episode so I can get caught up before the series finale next week....

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Not much I can say in terms of books I've read. I've read a few of the Star Trek novels during elementary and high school, same with The Hobbit and The Crysalids for English class, beyond that, much of my reading was Nintendo Power, PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, PC World, etc.

 

BTW, Anyone else finding Amanda dressed like Harry Potter sexier than usual? Or is it just the scarf?

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1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Suggestions? Okay ...

Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series
Stephen R. Donaldson - nothing he's ever written in his life.
Jack L. Chalker - the Well of Souls and Soul Rider series

Start with those, then check back for more.

There, I fixed it for you.

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1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Stephen R. Donaldson - anything he's ever written

 

1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:


Stephen R. Donaldson - nothing he's ever written in his life.

 

10 minutes ago, mlooney said:

There, I fixed it for you.

Well, now I have to read it.

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10 minutes ago, WR...S said:

Well, now I have to read it.

Want a list of great books?  Look for a list of banned books.  Next best source of interesting books worth giving a try?  Look for heated arguments about a book, or for a book with both a lot of five-star ratings and a lot of one-star ratings.  Whichever side you end up agreeing with, you'll be better for the experience!

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31 minutes ago, WR...S said:

Well, now I have to read it.

The "everything/nothing" part is probably wrong though.  Donaldson is one of those writers whose reputation - good or bad - is almost always drawn entirely from one of his works (in his case the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant).  Some of this other stuff is so different that it's hard to see how anyone could have the same opinions of both.  I personally really disliked most of the Covenant books, but some of his other work was pretty enjoyable, and I'd actually recommend his short story collections - Daughter of Regals and Other Tales, and Reave the Just and Other Tales.

 

 

 

 

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Harry Potter, one of those series where it is assumed everyone has read. To discover the true bibliophile, you need to list more obscure books.

I would suggest Discworld, but there are a whole lot of books. I started from the beginning in 2013, and now, I'm only up to Going Postal.

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6 minutes ago, malloyd said:

The "everything/nothing" part is probably wrong though.  Donaldson is one of those writers whose reputation - good or bad - is almost always drawn entirely from one of his works (in his case the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant).  Some of this other stuff is so different that it's hard to see how anyone could have the same opinions of both.  I personally really disliked most of the Covenant books, but some of his other work was pretty enjoyable, and I'd actually recommend his short story collections - Daughter of Regals and Other Tales, and Reave the Just and Other Tales.

Funny how different some authors' works can be.  I've been meaning to go re-read George R. R. Martin's Fevre Dream, which I remember really liking when I read it.  I don't think it was much like his better-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series, but it's been so long I feel like I should confirm that.  Anne McCaffrey also had a few series that were very different from her best-known Dragonriders of Pern series.

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- Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer)
- Earth's Children Series (Jean M Auel)
- His Dark Materials series (Philip Pullman) (Religious subtext might get annoying, fair warning)
- anything written by David Gemmell
- The Book of Atrus
- The Book of Ti'ana
- The Book of D'ni

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If Dan hasn't read a lot of series, I'm trying to think of things that are a relatively fun, light read, just to get him started reading again.  Not necessarily fluff, but not something that's intimidatingly long, or really dense, difficult writing (like LotR).

Artemis Fowl would certainly fit the bill.  P. N. Elrod's Vampire Files are fun, if a bit violent in some books, but then again the Dresden Files can get rather violent, too.  The Parasol Protectorate is light and easy to read, although some scenes might make him blush.

Anyone else got something that's relatively light and fun?

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Ok, I have some suggestions. I'll probably post some version of this on tumblr or e-mail it to Dan later.

As CritterKeeper points out, Dan is not used to reading, so I've chosen books that are easy to read. My favourite author is Thomas Mann, but I would not recommend his difficult books to someone who only has read Harry Potter and The Dresden Files.

1. The Earthsea series by Ursula K. Leguin. Begins with The Wizard of Earthsea. Classic YA fantasy. Has an influential depiction of a Wizard's school, which was written 30 years before Harry Potter.

2. Momo by Michael Ende. Technically a children's novel, but can be read by adults without any loss of enjoyment. One of the best novels I've read about how we use the time we're given. The Neverending Story by the same author is also excellent, albeit longer and somewhat more demanding than Momo.

3. The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren. Also a children's book that can be enjoyed by adults. One of the first fantasy novels I've read and still one of the best.

4. The Martin Beck novels, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Begins with Roseanna. Seminal crime fiction, if you want to explore outside the SF and fantasy genres. Easy to read and very entertaining, but with deep social commentary.

5. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Influential urban fantasy. I can also recommend Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. There is also of course The Sandman, but then we're getting into comics and I should also probably end this now before I start recommending my entire library.

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Okay, first of all let me get this out of the way:

Absolutely read the Discworld Books.


You don't have to read them in order, but I'd recommend them as there's subtle references planted in later books to events in prior books, and I would definitely recommend reading a series within Discwork in order, if possible. 

There's a general 'rule' about reading them 'in order' if you're into that sort of thing - start with the first book of a protagonist you like, and read forward from there all the books they're in.  There's:

Rincewind: An inept wizzard (note spelling) who sometimes travels with an idealist named Twoflower, almost always travels with an intelligent and malignant luggage, tends to be paired with the Wizards of Ankh-Morpork, and always, always runs away from his troubles, constantly, forever, and somehow it works out anyway.  Start with "The Color of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic", which are the first two books in Discworld, though are both a bit more 'goofy fantasy' than the latter books.

The Watchmen: Specifically Samuel Vimes, but this follows the city guard of the principal Discworld town of Ankh-Morpork, as they evolve to try and keep up with the demand for city protection in a world with constant influxes of magic and literary references.  A lot of then play out like fantasy detective novels, which is great.  Start with "Guards, Guards!", which contains dragons. 

Death: Terry Pratchett's Death appears in almost every book he wrote, and is, bar none, the best grim reaper ever.  He also has a daughter named Susan who takes over for him sometime, but he alone is a great enough character that I'd highly recommend reading these books.  Start with "Mort", where he takes on an apprentice. 

The Witches: Especially Esme Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg.  Think of them as essentially the answer to all of the stereotypes of witches that have ever existed, turned on their head, and magnified tenfold.  Granny Weatherwax is a no-nonsense woman who takes no prisoners and gets things done.  Nanny Ogg has 30 children (or more) and acts exactly like you'd expect an old lady who has had that many children to act.  There's also some other witches that come and go, and this branches into the YA "Tiffany Aching" books.  Start with Equal Rites, but keep in mind that it's a bit less about the witches than the rest of their books, and is practically non-canon with the events that take place later, so consider starting with "Wyrd Sisters" instead. 

The Wizards: They don't really star in their own series, but they're *very* prominent in other series.  Over time, the wizards of Ankh-Morpork have become their own set of unique characters.  Worth looking into if you like wizards, no particular book to recommend as a 'first' though.

Moist Von Lipwig: Comes in MUCH later in Pratchett's novels, a former con-man who makes an 'honest living' at odd jobs in the city.  Not sure how I'd characterize this one, but it's pretty good.  Start with "Going Postal". 

The History Monks: A group of monks charged with protecting the very nature of time and space, the greatest of which,  is Lu-Tze, an old man who mostly dispenses Ice Cream Koans and uses the trope of 'never fight an old man with a broom' from martial arts movies to prevent people from taking him on.  But also uses time travel.  Start with "Thief of Time", though this also comes much later in the series. 

There's also some side-books that borrow characters from the rest of the series, but don't necessarily follow any of these groups: "Pyramids", "Moving Pictures", "Small Gods" are just a few of them.  And again, while you don't have to read them in order, you do gain a bit of 'I recognize these characters' from doing so. 

Oh, and he also wrote a neat trilogy that is NOT based in a fantasy setting, and is more sci-fi ish, about a young boy whose active imagination (or maybe not?) transforms the world and people around him. I'd call them "Johnny" books, because the latter two are called "Johnny and the Dead" and "Johnny and the Bomb", but the first one is called "Only You Can Save Mankind", and is one of the best reads I've ever had. 

------------------

 

Okay that was a lot longer than I expected, but moving on:

I recommend "The Hobbit" over "Lord of the Rings", because it's the correct size (one novel, instead of three tomes) and is much more lighthearted book specifically intended for younger audiences (Tolkien wrote it for his kids). 

I also recommend "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" trilogy, a series of five books that is on the 'very absurd' end of sci-fi.  Like, even moreso than El Goonish Shive.  Yes.  It's actually more absurd than El Goonish Shive. 

And for a more serious fantasy setting, I might recommend the "Wizard of Earthsea" books...admittedly I only read the first one, but it's good. 

I'd be remiss not to recommend some non-fantasy, non-scifi literary classics.  "Catcher in the Rye" is a very unique (but very adult) take on story-telling, entirely told from first-person perspective, entirely with a fully-biased first-person view.  "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is equally adult, and is a very engaging and, frankly, horrifying look into what the mental health system was like circa the middle of the 20th century (it's thankfully improved since then).  "Lord of the Flies" is even more horrifying than those two why am I suggesting all of these sad books?!  Um, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is all about growing up in the racially-divided south but is actually a pretty nice book about a pretty nice man.  There's lots of other literary classics I'd recommend, but they're escaping my mind at the moment. 

TLDR: I think Dan would really like the Discworld books, I think you ALL would really like them, and also some other suggestions.

 

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Perhaps a good "soft" entrance to Discworld would be the Tiffany Aching series!  She's the protagonist in The Wee Free MenA Hat Full of SkyWintersmithI Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd's Crown.  These stories are a bit easier, faster read and are neither as sunk into the Discworld mythos, nor as big a commitment as the whole series.  They're *meant* to be a different way to start reading Discworld.

I'm torn about the first Discworld book -- Sir Terry was getting some frustrations with the cliches of the high fantasy genre out of his system, and it isn't nearly as funny if you haven't read any of the series he's making fun of.  On the other hand, the Luggage is one of the most popular and iconic characters in the whole overall series!

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Aside from some already mentioned, I want to recommend the Deltora Quest books and the Rowan of Rin books by Emily Rodda, if you can find them.

Also, for a non-Fantasy series, John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began and sequels. Actually, anything by John Marsden.

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7 hours ago, partner555 said:

Harry Potter, one of those series where it is assumed everyone has read.

And that assumption would be wrong. I've never read any of the Harry Potter books, nor do I intend to.

One series I'd recommend is the Honor Harrington series, by David Weber. It's really good sci fi on the harder side of the spectrum.

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8 hours ago, malloyd said:

The "everything/nothing" part is probably wrong though.  Donaldson is one of those writers whose reputation - good or bad - is almost always drawn entirely from one of his works (in his case the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant).  Some of this other stuff is so different that it's hard to see how anyone could have the same opinions of both.  I personally really disliked most of the Covenant books, but some of his other work was pretty enjoyable, and I'd actually recommend his short story collections - Daughter of Regals and Other Tales, and Reave the Just and Other Tales.

 

 

 

 

To be honest my reading of him is limited to Chronicles, which put him in my "don't read any more" list.

 

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