General Literature Discussion

Off-Topic
#1

I decided to create this topic after some discussion about books in the General Visual Novel Topic.

You can chat about anything book-related here, it just has to be literature. Educational books don’t count. And despite light novels being books, they already have their own topic.

Here are some questions to begin with:

  • What are you reading right now?
  • What are your favorite books?
  • What is your favorite genre?
  • What books are you looking forward to?
  • What is the best literature character in your opinion?

Don’t forget to tag [spoiler] for the people who haven’t read the book your talking about.

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#2

Oh I love me some books, hit up Books-a-Million the other day they had a deal buy 2 get 1 free on their clearance section books so I picked up Doctor Who: Ring of Ice, Sword of Shannara and Star Wars: Choices of One. I’m reading through Ring of Ice right now and when I finish it I’m going to move on to Sword of Shannara which I read when I was in school, don’t remember a whole lot about it but I do remember enjoying it.

#3

My all time favorite:

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It’s a very catchy reading, specially from the second half onwards. Alexandre Dumas really knows how to engage his readers and surprise them. It’s interesting to see how all the characters are linked.

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#4

I read to my brother Howl’s Moving Castle a while back. It’s very different from the movie in several ways, although there are some consistent similarities. I would put it on equal terms with the movie in terms of how much I enjoyed it, even though both are very different experiences.

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#5

Currently, I’m looking forward for “The Last Star”, the third book in the 5th Wave’s trilogy, by Rick Yancey. There is also a movie coming out in 2016, and I’m waiting for it. The two first novels are full of plot twists and are a very interesting reading.

#6

Wow, you read my mind! I was just thinking we should get a books topic going :wink:

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#7

Wow this was a good idea. lol

My favorite series still is the Moonlight Bay series by Dean Koontz. Completely bonkers. Still waiting for him to finish writing it.

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#8
  • What are you reading right now?
    Not exactly literature, but I’m reading Fermat’s Last Theorem - Simon Singh.
  • What are your favourite books?
    Many of my favorite works are classic philosophical texts. In no particular order;
    The Critique of Pure Reason - Emmanuel Kant
    The Will to Power - Friedrich Nietzsche
    Being and Nothingness - Jean-Paul Satre
    Burnt Norton (Four Quartets) & The Lovesong of J.Alfred Prufrock - T.S.Eliot
    The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (I prefer the abridged version)
    Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
    My System - Aron Nimzowitsch (not sure if this fits the literature criteria)
  • What is your favorite genre?
    Philosophy & mystery. Anything that makes me think.
  • What books are you looking forward to?
    Quite a few authors that I haven’t managed to get to yet. Most notably, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Franz Kefka & Agatha Christie. First on the list is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Christie.
  • What is the best literature character in your opinion?
    Nope, this question is too difficult.
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#9

I also read the abridged version. It’s really an amazing book!

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#10

Yeah, it was quite common back then that authors were paid per line/per word, so unless anyone wishes to read a few extra pages of “His eyes were as blue as the sea” & The adventures of Chateau d’lf, I would suggest the abridged. Although, the unabridged version isn’t too bad either.

#11

I was never really into books. I only have a few books and they are all about World of Warcraft. I tried reading other stuff like thrillers or other fantasy books but i didn’t like them. I’m more addicted to vn’s/manga :smiley:

#12

I barely ever read books nowadays, but I used to read a fair bit a while ago, and it was pretty much only fantasy.
Favourites that I remember:
Inheritance series (Starting with Eragon)
I spent many years consistently really excited for the next book to come out in the Inheritance series and always re-read the books as the new one came out.
Redwall
The Lord of the Rings (Who doesn’t like LotR?)
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness (Starting with Wolf Brother)
My most favourite was the His Dark Materials trilogy, which starts with the well known book Northern Lights/Golden Compass.
Lyra was probably the first character that I really liked in a “waifu” type way.

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#13

I also have a book “waifu”. It’s Tris Prior, from the Divergent Trilogy. I don’t know exactly why, but I just fell in love with her. And seeing her dying was really painful T_T

#14

Ohhh literary waifus…never thought about that much. As a kid it would have been Hermione nowadays no clue. Hard to say for an overall favorite character but one that would be up there would be Strahd Von Zarovich from the Ravenloft novels. What an awesome antagonistic character he had power and knew it, but when he was over matched he also knew how to buy time until he could get rid of the one who threatened him. Love me some Strahd books.

#15

Book wise, I’m more into Asimov’s scifi. Oldie but goodie! <3 Also, ye good ol’ Tolkien

#16

I recently read the Hunger Games trilogy. Or rather, listened to the audiobooks I got in a Humble Bundle a while back. I like how the narrator had different voices for each character. I’m about to commit blasphemy, but I think the movies were better than the books, especially the second one. The way the interview scenes resembled actual TV shows like American Idol were something that could only be accomplished in a visual medium. They changed some scenes, but still managed to make it work. Like when Katniss meets the second Game Master for the first time, they took out the scene of him showing her his watch, but if you rewatch the scene and listen really closely to the dialogue, you can pick up the subtle foreshadowing. Plus, I liked the ending of the second movie better, where Finnick says the “arc words” to Katniss to show he’s on her side, instead of her simply remembering them. I haven’t seen the latest movie though, so no spoilers please :3

#17

I just finished a book called Night by Elie Wiesel.

Im not sure what I was expecting from this book. Probably “it’s just another holocaust account, I already know how those go.” But this book hits fucking hard. It made me cry. Over and over again. And it all is so very real.

I won’t go into detail, because I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is old enough to understand. All I will say is, this book won a Nobel Peace prize. That should tell you how much effect it has.

#18

Right now I’m reading through Wheel of Time, and inbetween each WOT book I reread a Song of Ice and Fire book in preparation for Winds of Winter :smiley: I’m also reading through the Haruhi light novel series for the second time which I adore. It gets a little weaker towards the end but I feel so comfy and at home with these characters because of how long I’ve known them. Hopefully the next one will come out soon!

I’ve also recently finished The Secret Life of Bees which I absolutely loved, Sue Monk Kidd is brilliant, almost on the level of Khaled Hosseini, almost. (A Thousand Splendid Suns is an unbelievably good novel.)

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#19

We actually have an entire topic dedicated to light novels, if you’re interested!

Not that its wrong to call them literature~

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#20

Thanks for that. Instantly added to my Amazon Wishlist. Sounds amazing.

I realized recently I don’t know much about that particular time in history, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever read about the holocaust other than the fictional account in The Book Thief, and I thought that novel was pretty bad honestly.

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