New Harry Potter

Off Topic
61

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
CC, I’ve read the entire HP series twice, with some books more than that lol. You recommend LOTR or anything else comparing to HP?

So since this thread seems to be turning into book talk (lol), I’ll recommend Shutter Island. I read it right before the movie came out. Surprisingly, the movie was just as good as the book[/quote]

I can’t count the times I’ve read the series, when a new book would come out I’d reread the whole thing. Read the last book twice in the same week. /nerddom

I’m not CC, but I’d recommend the Discworld series if you haven’t read it.

62

[quote]chimera182 wrote:

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
CC, I’ve read the entire HP series twice, with some books more than that lol. You recommend LOTR or anything else comparing to HP?

So since this thread seems to be turning into book talk (lol), I’ll recommend Shutter Island. I read it right before the movie came out. Surprisingly, the movie was just as good as the book[/quote]

I can’t count the times I’ve read the series, when a new book would come out I’d reread the whole thing. Read the last book twice in the same week. /nerddom

I’m not CC, but I’d recommend the Discworld series if you haven’t read it.[/quote]

Lol, a buddy of mine and I would do the same thing. Reread the series before a book came out, and go to the midnight release at Barns N Noble (nerd)

I’ll check that out. Summer is getting boring and lifting can only takes up so much of the day :wink:

63

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
CC, I’ve read the entire HP series twice, with some books more than that lol. You recommend LOTR or anything else comparing to HP?
[/quote]

I’d recommend trying something quite different for a change… Altered Carbon, then Woken Furies by Richard Morgan, and maybe Market Forces (by Morgan again). Darker, more violent etc and sci-fi (well, Market Forces isn’t really sci-fi compared to the others). Those are some of my recent favs… Bit of a mix of cyberpunk, sci-fi, detective/noir (in the case of altered carbon), military (woken furies, at least partially)…

Fantasy-wise, with magic and everything, I really enjoyed Markus Heitz dwarves (Die Zwerge) series… But I read it in German, not sure if the English language works well for that one.
It has a bit of a LOTR’esque story, except that it’s not like 8 out of 10 main chars are wimps :wink:

Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series is a nice read, basic LOTR-type storyline again but with a main char who is perhaps a little over the top powerful… Series has it’s problems but whatever. If you’re real patriotic and all about democracy and freedom, you’re gonna love the latter books haha.

Then there’s House Atreides, House Harkonnen and House Corinno (prelude books to the Dune series, written after the main thing by the son of the original author and some other guy, I liked the characters and writing style better than the ones in the actual dune arc) for some more sci-fi, one of my fav series… This one I also read in German, so dunno about the English version (though it’s written in English originally).

64

[quote]chimera182 wrote:

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
CC, I’ve read the entire HP series twice, with some books more than that lol. You recommend LOTR or anything else comparing to HP?

So since this thread seems to be turning into book talk (lol), I’ll recommend Shutter Island. I read it right before the movie came out. Surprisingly, the movie was just as good as the book[/quote]

I can’t count the times I’ve read the series, when a new book would come out I’d reread the whole thing. Read the last book twice in the same week. /nerddom

I’m not CC, but I’d recommend the Discworld series if you haven’t read it.[/quote]

Pratchett’s discworld novels are fun for sure. The style of humor gets a little old after you’ve read like 20 of the 60 or however many there are, but who cares…

He has some more story-focused stuff (the watch books for example), and some which are mostly humor.

65

Hmm. If the damn search engine weren’t so bad and I could find Fatty’s book thread, I’d revive that one instead of cluttering this one up…

66

[quote]Artemisia wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]sardines12 wrote:

I’m not butthurt, don’t gave a problem with Jman, and for the record the entire world disagrees the so called literary world look at the numbers moron.[/quote]

I think this was a sentence, but I’m not sure. What numbers about what exactly?

And you once again failed to respond to any of my points or answer any of the questions.[/quote]

I would just like to point out that the Bible is the bestselling book of all time.

…

But the Christianity is apparent and poorly placed!!![/quote]
I’m aware the bible has sold more. I was trying to get across that Harry Potter has sold more books than Narnia.

67

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Hmm. If the damn search engine weren’t so bad and I could find Fatty’s book thread, I’d revive that one instead of cluttering this one up…

[/quote]

Here you go, my friend:

68

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Hmm. If the damn search engine weren’t so bad and I could find Fatty’s book thread, I’d revive that one instead of cluttering this one up…

[/quote]

Didn’t know of it, damn

The first set of books you mentioned, are they anything like Stephen King? I got really into him for a while and read The Mist, The Long Walk, Cell (pretty decent zombie-ish book), The Green Mile (beats the movie), and am currently reading Everything’s Eventual (short stories). I have Under The Dome, and the Gunslinger series but have yet to crack them

69

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:

[quote]chimera182 wrote:

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
CC, I’ve read the entire HP series twice, with some books more than that lol. You recommend LOTR or anything else comparing to HP?

So since this thread seems to be turning into book talk (lol), I’ll recommend Shutter Island. I read it right before the movie came out. Surprisingly, the movie was just as good as the book[/quote]

I can’t count the times I’ve read the series, when a new book would come out I’d reread the whole thing. Read the last book twice in the same week. /nerddom

I’m not CC, but I’d recommend the Discworld series if you haven’t read it.[/quote]

Pratchett’s discworld novels are fun for sure. The style of humor gets a little old after you’ve read like 20 of the 60 or however many there are, but who cares…

He has some more story-focused stuff (the watch books for example), and some which are mostly humor.

[/quote]

I see what you mean, but for me I’m just corny enough to love all his books though some are definitely much better than others with the watch series being up there as the best.

The most recent one wasn’t on par with his work, but the guy has alzheimers, so what can you do.

70

[quote]sardines12 wrote:

[quote]Artemisia wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]sardines12 wrote:

I’m not butthurt, don’t gave a problem with Jman, and for the record the entire world disagrees the so called literary world look at the numbers moron.[/quote]

I think this was a sentence, but I’m not sure. What numbers about what exactly?

And you once again failed to respond to any of my points or answer any of the questions.[/quote]

I would just like to point out that the Bible is the bestselling book of all time.

…

But the Christianity is apparent and poorly placed!!![/quote]
I’m aware the bible has sold more. I was trying to get across that Harry Potter has sold more books than Narnia.[/quote]

Books sold does not equate to value of the literary works. Twilite sells lots of books and the writing is horrible. Besides, the The cronicles of narnia have been selling well for 70 years.

The lion the witch and the wardrobe is on TIME’s list of 100 greatest novels. Scholars and critics agree that they are some of the greatest works of children’s literature ever. Period. HP is not on that list for a reason.

And tolken and others were critical of the children books because they didn’t want him writing children literature all together, not because the books were bad.

71

How many people have read James Joyce’s Ulysses? And yet it is regarded as a great literary masterpiece.

72

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Trust you guys to turn this into yet another PWI-style thread :wink:

[/quote]

You’re right, back on the topic (kinda):

73

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Hmm. If the damn search engine weren’t so bad and I could find Fatty’s book thread, I’d revive that one instead of cluttering this one up…

[/quote]

Didn’t know of it, damn

The first set of books you mentioned, are they anything like Stephen King? I got really into him for a while and read The Mist, The Long Walk, Cell (pretty decent zombie-ish book), The Green Mile (beats the movie), and am currently reading Everything’s Eventual (short stories). I have Under The Dome, and the Gunslinger series but have yet to crack them[/quote]

I read through just about all of King’s stories as well… Has some real good ones, but damn does he have to demonize and kill off dogs all the time? Asshole :wink:

The Richard Morgan books aren’t really like King imo, some similarities here and there though… They (altered carbon, woken furies, fallen angels… The takeshi kovacs novels basically… market forces is a stand-alone and not set in the same “world”) explore (sort of) some interesting philosophical questions too (but not like certain Anime’s/Manga’s which literally can’t stop bombarding you with philosophy), such as near-eternal life and what it does to a person’s mind (all technology-based, mind you, there’s nothing supernatural in those).
I’m not so great at describing books (or using brackets, apparently), just go read them :wink:

Imo well worth buying (or use certain web sites, if you want, but I gotta say I enjoy reading an actual book more than reading an ebook for some reason).

74

[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Hmm. If the damn search engine weren’t so bad and I could find Fatty’s book thread, I’d revive that one instead of cluttering this one up…

[/quote]

Here you go, my friend:

Thanks, brother.

I bow to your superior search-engine skills.

75

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]sardines12 wrote:

[quote]Artemisia wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]sardines12 wrote:

I’m not butthurt, don’t gave a problem with Jman, and for the record the entire world disagrees the so called literary world look at the numbers moron.[/quote]

I think this was a sentence, but I’m not sure. What numbers about what exactly?

And you once again failed to respond to any of my points or answer any of the questions.[/quote]

I would just like to point out that the Bible is the bestselling book of all time.

…

But the Christianity is apparent and poorly placed!!![/quote]
I’m aware the bible has sold more. I was trying to get across that Harry Potter has sold more books than Narnia.[/quote]

Books sold does not equate to value of the literary works. Twilite sells lots of books and the writing is horrible. Besides, the The cronicles of narnia have been selling well for 70 years.

The lion the witch and the wardrobe is on TIME’s list of 100 greatest novels. Scholars and critics agree that they are some of the greatest works of children’s literature ever. Period. HP is not on that list for a reason.

And tolken and others were critical of the children books because they didn’t want him writing children literature all together, not because the books were bad.[/quote]
Wrooooooooonnnnnnnnngggggggggg. Tolkien disliked the random use of creatures and thought Lewis wrote it too fast. The whole idea of ADULTS ranking CHILDRENS books is laughable. I was read Narnia as a kid and remember being bored out of my mind.

76

[quote]chimera182 wrote:

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:

[quote]chimera182 wrote:

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
CC, I’ve read the entire HP series twice, with some books more than that lol. You recommend LOTR or anything else comparing to HP?

So since this thread seems to be turning into book talk (lol), I’ll recommend Shutter Island. I read it right before the movie came out. Surprisingly, the movie was just as good as the book[/quote]

I can’t count the times I’ve read the series, when a new book would come out I’d reread the whole thing. Read the last book twice in the same week. /nerddom

I’m not CC, but I’d recommend the Discworld series if you haven’t read it.[/quote]

Pratchett’s discworld novels are fun for sure. The style of humor gets a little old after you’ve read like 20 of the 60 or however many there are, but who cares…

He has some more story-focused stuff (the watch books for example), and some which are mostly humor.

[/quote]

I see what you mean, but for me I’m just corny enough to love all his books though some are definitely much better than others with the watch series being up there as the best.

The most recent one wasn’t on par with his work, but the guy has alzheimers, so what can you do.
[/quote]

He does? Man, that sucks… The man always reminded me of my own grampa, sad…

77

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:

[quote]chimera182 wrote:

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:

[quote]chimera182 wrote:

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
CC, I’ve read the entire HP series twice, with some books more than that lol. You recommend LOTR or anything else comparing to HP?

So since this thread seems to be turning into book talk (lol), I’ll recommend Shutter Island. I read it right before the movie came out. Surprisingly, the movie was just as good as the book[/quote]

I can’t count the times I’ve read the series, when a new book would come out I’d reread the whole thing. Read the last book twice in the same week. /nerddom

I’m not CC, but I’d recommend the Discworld series if you haven’t read it.[/quote]

Pratchett’s discworld novels are fun for sure. The style of humor gets a little old after you’ve read like 20 of the 60 or however many there are, but who cares…

He has some more story-focused stuff (the watch books for example), and some which are mostly humor.

[/quote]

I see what you mean, but for me I’m just corny enough to love all his books though some are definitely much better than others with the watch series being up there as the best.

The most recent one wasn’t on par with his work, but the guy has alzheimers, so what can you do.
[/quote]

He does? Man, that sucks… The man always reminded me of my own grampa, sad…

[/quote]

Yeah, I think his wife helped write/finish the book…

It sucks though one of my favorite authors.

78

[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:
How many people have read James Joyce’s Ulysses? And yet it is regarded as a great literary masterpiece.[/quote]

Yes, I agree - number sold/read is a poor measure of quality. Take a look at any list of the highest grossing films of all time for evidence of this.

Movies like Citizen Kane, Schindler’s List, and Casablanca don’t even make the list. And look at how low The Godfather is ranked.

79

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Trust you guys to turn this into yet another PWI-style thread :wink:

DD, I’m curious what your favs are in the sci-fi/fantasy/mil genres?

Currently having a bit more time on my hands, so I’m burning through ebooks like crazy…

In the last 1-2 months I went through the complete HP series, LOTR, everything John Ringo ever wrote (not really perfect or anything, but it kept me occupied, and does he have an SM fetish or what?), Markus Heitz’ stuff (German author, and his stuff plus the prelude to dune/house series by the son of F. Herbert are the only book series I can read in German without flinching every 5 minutes at the mediocre translation), everything by Richard Morgan, the sword of truth series, some random stuff I forgot to mention…

Thank god my gal likes to read, too…

[/quote]

I actually read a lot of dragonlance growing up.

But my favorites are classics. Time machine, war of the worlds, journey to the center of the earth, 20000 leagues, 2001 a space odessy (the movie sucks), CS lewis’ space trilogy already mentioned, Frankenstein (once again all movies suck), I like most earlier Michael Creighton books, hitchikers guide, Dune, est.

I’m not sure all those are exactly sci-fi.

I just like reading about future events written by people of a time that has passed.

80

Back to Harry Potter…I think they ruined the Half Blood Prince movie. A few minor changes to to the dialog made significant plot changes. For example, Dumbledore says a horcrux can be any object, but in the book he emphatically denies that based on knowing Voldemort’s personality. How can Harry find the horcruxes if they can be anything? And there is the most significant problem in the movie. The Half Blood Prince is supposed to be all about Voldemort. That’s the part of the series where you learn all about the villain’s psyche. In the movie, we had two flashbacks/memories, that’s it! You don’t get the insights necessary to understand why he is so evil, why he’s obsessed with living forever, or where he might have put the horcruxes.

They should have really made the Hal Blood Prince into two movies also. Big mistake for the studio.