Thread: Books you read over and over?

Originally Posted by Bruno

I have them all, and plan to re-read them sometime.
But I will never re-read Naked Empire. I don't know what got into Terry as he was writing it, but it is filled with page after page of preachy drivel. And the book has no point in the series, except moving some characters in position for the next book.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, but at least he could have made a decent story out of it instead of filling 600 ish pages with verbal pus.

For that matter, pillars of creation is not much better.
With some minor modifications he could have skipped both volumes and the series would have been better for it. I feel that after the first 5 volumes, he fell in the same trap as Robert Jordan: making thing overly complicated to the point where it is a chore just to keep the story going, and writing volumes for the sake of making the publisher happy.

Luckily he got his act back together with chainfire, although imo he never reached the quality of his first books again. The last 3 volumes are still great, but they become a bit predictable.

I couldn't read this series, mainly because, well...It was like he WAS trying to copy Jordan, in weird ways (the secret dark sisters trying to control the boy magic user with REAL ULTIMATE POWAH, yadda yadda yadda...) and then, there's the whole weird Moralistic undertone, with Goodkind denying that his books are fantasy...I don't know, itr just didn't do it for me.

Should I give him another try?

Originally Posted by JimR

I couldn't read this series, mainly because, well...It was like he WAS trying to copy Jordan, in weird ways (the secret dark sisters trying to control the boy magic user with REAL ULTIMATE POWAH, yadda yadda yadda...) and then, there's the whole weird Moralistic undertone, with Goodkind denying that his books are fantasy...I don't know, itr just didn't do it for me.

Should I give him another try?

Well... If you didn't like the first book(s), then there is no point in reading the rest.
The first couple are good (imo), the next few not so much, and the last 3 are good again, but fairly predictable.

If I may give you some advice: try the first volume of 'A song of ice and fire' by George RR Martin. It's called 'A game of thrones'. It is by far the best fantasy series I've ever come across. The characters are diverse and complex, and the story is consistent. It is also told from the pov from various of the characters, which makes it really interesting.

I could go on some more, but a single post cannot express why I think this series is so great, no matter how much I explain my reasons for liking it. Just give it a try.
Imo that would be a much better investment of your time than picking up Terry Goodkind again if you didn't like him the first time around.

One book I come back to often is called 'An oral history of the zombie war.' By Max Brooks (The son of Mal Brooks) It is a fictional oral history account of survivors of a world wide apocolyptic war with zombies. I come back to this book for two reasons. Firstly it is entirely plausable, apart from people coming back from the dead. And the second reason is that sometimes it is fun to read something that dances on the grave of the world.

Anything by Damon Runyon and the Tarzan series.

Brian

Originally Posted by bj64

Anything by Damon Runyon and the Tarzan series.

Brian

I forgot about Damon Runyon. I might need to go back and reread the book of short stories I have.

Stranger in a strange land

The Bible, The Prince, The Anti Federalist papers, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, 1984, Robert Ludlum and Frederick Forsythe for fun and then there is always Twain. As well as good doses of American History. Jack London is good too.

As a student there isn't much time for me to re-read things. Usually I'm putting off reading things for the first time. But at one point in my life, Go Dog Go saw lots of use. Oh wait a second...

As far as works I love to read.

I have given this book away many times and still love it.
"Before Night Falls" by Reinaldo Arenas

Going to sound crazy but a story of a gay man's revolt and eventual escape from Cuba and Castro is wild... he is able to see beauty in all human beings and in the worst of places, a pretty amazing thing to me, I find it hard enough finding beauty or good things in my simple life.

No I have never seen the movie nor do I intend to let a crappy movie ruin my read lol

A la recherche du temps perdu Marcel Proust
Ulysses by James Joyce (also annotated notes as well)
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
White Noise by Don Dillio
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
Walden By Henry David Thoreau
'Speech at Havard" Ralph Waldo Emerson
Germinal Emile Zola
Sea Wolf Jack London


excerpts and scripts I like to read over n over.

Schopenhauer anything really.
Ontology Popper
Cave Allegory Plato
Conversation with Phaedrus Plato

cheers
D

James Joyce - Portrait, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake
Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow
Robert Anton Wilson - everything
Marshall Mcluhan - everything
Tao Te Ching