Interesting Books

The best book I've read recently (well really it was last year but still) was 'The Lost Army' by Valerio Massimo Menfredi. It is fiction but based on the account of Xenophon an ancient Greek who was enlisted to chronicle the travel of an army of Spartans. The main character is Xenophon himself and the 'barbarian' women who he picks up on the road.
The Spartans are hired as mercenaries by Cyrus to beat his brother Arta-Xerxies (this is set not that long after the movie 300 was set and actually makes reference to the battle at the Thermopylae (Hot Gates)). Anyway Cyrus loses to Arta-Xerxies and to hide their betrayal the Spartans retreat through a mountain range where they get lost and are continually attacked by barbarian tribes all the while the relationship between the two main characters is developing.

It is a very good read, I especially like the ending so if you get the chance read it.

Harry Potter
Artemis Fowl (actually, anything by Eoin Colfer)
Anything by Tamora Pierce
Anything by Matthew Reilly
Discworld
The 'Max' series by James Patterson

That'll do for now.
Just because it doesn't count doesn't mean I can't write it!

Umm I will add Robin Hobb to the mix. Well writen with massive back stories.

WOW go Overlord I have less than three for all of those books and I'll add

1.All Robert Jordan books (WOT series)

2. Anything I write (black panther trilogy) {no you can't see it yet}

3. The Magician series and anything else by Raymond E Feist

4. Peter f Hamilton is okay

5. Sara Douglas is okay

If I Could Rewind wrote:5. Sara Douglas is okay

I agree with this.

Might not be G-rated though

You're all mainstream!!1!

'Cept Darth, who's weird.

Umm I'm fairly sure my number 2 isn't mainstream XD

I didn't count that - I read my own writing (that I did for English, don't get any ideas).

And I was mostly pointing at Overlord's picks (that you ostensibly agree with).

This reminds me of "The Firesword Trilogy" that was going to be written by this guy in grade 9. They had all the physics and stuff worked out . It never eventuated.

Yeah well my series won't be finished until I'm at least in my late twenty's and that's being insanely generous.

What, not the next Paolini?

Edit: I'll be reading you're piece in general later, not feeling like it now.

no I mean I've already planned most of it out and 25 books that are all 500+ pages is gunna take a long time

500+ words? That's almost as much as I can write in half an hour .
I don't mind some of Sara Douglass and Robin Hobb; but their worlds and stories are on pretty large scales - a little bit daunting to those who are busy!

Even the shortest novels, however, should be at least 50,000 words. Any shorter than that, and the novel becomes a novella. Anything less than 10,000 words is a short story.

So, increase it by an order of magnitude or 2. I think it's just a typo?

sorry I meant 500+ pages

Sara Douglass is awesome.

And Overlord book on an epic (large) scale are those worth reading sure occasionally I'll read something light (I recently read The Memiors of Sherlock Holmes and enjoyed them as a bit of light reading) I don't really like books without scale unless they are very well written. I'll admit that 'The Lord of the Rings' has an epic scale, and the combination of poor writing (it definitly isn't J.R.R. Tolkeins greatest work) and over reaching in the plot ruined it. But Sara Douglass books aren't like that and you should always make time to read a good book especially if you're busy.

Also a very good writer is Lian Hearn. She wrote the Otori Trilogy and the sequel The Harsh Cry of the Heron and the prequel Heaven's Net is Wide. I strongly suggest readin the Otori Trilogy and Heaven's Net is Wide they are fantasic books but I felt that The Harsh Cry of the Heron was not quite as good as the others (not to say that it isn't good because it is it just isn't her usual standard) I'm looking forward to reading her nest book Blossoms and Shadows which is currently on my bookshelf but i'm slowly reading my way through several Wilbur Smith books beforehand.

I've been reading Lian hearn's Blossoms and shadows, it is very well written but I must admit the plot is probably not interesting to most people.
19th century Japanese governmental structure and forgein trading scheme anyone?

Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace

I have been reading the great classics. You know the likes of War and Peace,Moby Dick, 20,000 Leages Under the Sea, Dracula, The Time Machine, Twilight. Great great books.

Spoiler:

Kill him now.

Twilight the book series is not that bad.... The reason why I hate the movies is 1. Bad filming and 2. the swarms of girls who freak out over it.

Twilight has 3 main problems, in no particular order.

The plot/lack thereof
The characters/characterisation
The writing/grammar itself

A serious article: http://www.squidoo.com/twilight-sucks
A less serious article: http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight
And my personal favourite:
http://reasoningwithvampires.tumblr.com/archive

Points at spoiler tag and hides.


Aaron fletcher is on my bedside atm. Not bad historical novels.

I'm rereading all the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. You notice the shortening attention span of society. They seem slow compared to any modern fantasy.

If you are interested in Historical novels try Valerio Massimo Manfredi.
An Italian Historian an very good writer. I really liked his book 'The Lost Army'.
very good particularly the ending

To RS on previous page:

Vaguely reputable people tell me it's good; reputable people tell me it's bad. I haven't gotten desparate enough to find out for myself yet.

So, what do you think of Beiber?

And now this page:

Alex Steiner wrote:I'm rereading all the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. You notice the shortening attention span of society. They seem slow compared to any modern fantasy.

Yeah, I'm reading LotR now; and quite enjoying it; I first tried it in primary school, got bored, and gave up. Then I read it one holidays, slowly. This time around, it's reasonably paced, and I appreciate the depth. The Hobbit is a decent speed, in my opinion.