Is eragon any good? I was thinking of picking it up.

 

Hell yes, Its a watered down version of Lord of the Rings world but filled with much more action Eldest the sequel has awesome epic battles
9 out of 10 stars

 

Eragon is pretty good, but Eldest is better, IMO. Eldest has more action, and explanation of the powers, but Eragon seems like more of a pulled-together story.

 

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. A funny Fantasy world.

 

Not Magic based, but very much in the Sci-Fi genre: Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. If you are one of those people that was required to read Slaughterhouse-Five in High School and didn't like it, try another one. Despite it's popularity, I don't think it was one of his best. A really good one to get started on is Cat's Cradle.

 

Vonnegut is an amazing author... He just recently (as in between 10 and 18 months ago) put out another book. I have yet to read it, however I will be reading it at some point this summer.

Slaughterhouse-Five was a good book, not his best work -- but when your English Department is trying to indoctrinate you against war in any form Slaughterhouse makes a great book to do it with.

I hope that I have not offended any of the liberal posters here with the above -- remember guys, I'm one of you! but in some cases, it's the truth. Last year (and this year as well) in my English class every single book we read was overtly anti-war. Now I'm a pretty peaceful guy, so it didn't bother me much... But in order to have a debate about the legitimacy of violence as a solution you need to accurately -- and equally -- represent both sides.

This year in my English class we spent the bulk of the time listening to our English teacher rant and rave about the Iraq war. Don't get me wrong; I oppose the war 100%... But I oppose any school of thought where only one side of the argument is presented -- hence my loathing of anything even remotely related to FOX"News".

Sorry about this little 'mini-rant' -- but the English department at my school infuriates me.

Oh and for book recommendations I would suggest Stephan King's IT, The Stand, or if your looking for something 'non-horror' Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

If you're looking for something non-King related I would Recommend A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

If you are looking for something that has a less delusional protagonist I would recommend All Quiet on the Western Front, Prometheus Unbound (Percy Shelley's reaction to the Greek drama Prometheus Bound), On Language and Responsibility (Noam Chomsky), or Invisible Man (The Ellison version, not the HG Wells one, although that version is excellant as well).

 

(Off-thread topic post) It is a good anti-war book. I also think it is one of his slightly more "realistic" books which is a big pull for high schools. My high school was definitely not liberal. Also I was in hs way back in the day (well, not really, 7 years ago) and we still had to read it. Some of his books are very much outside the realm of norm and while almost all are politically based in some way, if you're dealing with the average highschool student, its probably safer for them to deal with a more down to earth book. (There is an entire episode of Alias based off of Cat's cradle )

 

Yeah thats true, not a lot of High School students (or teachers) are equipped to discuss more interesting and less 'down to Earth' books.

My High School for instance refuses to TOUCH Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon because it "Portrays black people in a negative light."

EARTH TO MY HIGH SCHOOL! Toni Morrison is a BLACK Nobel Prize Winning Author! And of course had they bothered to [i[read[/i] and comprehend the message of the book they would realize that the only people portrayed negatively are

A) The unthinking masses, both black AND white... Though the white ones aren't mentioned they are implied.
B) The hateful extremists -- both black and white.
C) The bigots.

And of course thats just the surface analysis.

But of course my school district is also trying to stop teaching Huck Finn using the argument that it is a racist atrocity and thoroughly non-satirical in nature.

*sighs*
*ends rant*

But yeah, speaking of good books... Song of Solomon is a GREAT book!

 

I say to get 'Sword of Truth' by Terry Goodkind.

First book is 'Wizard's First Rule' and besides the fluff and occassional plothole, its a well-put-together story with quite a few twists to it. I loved it.

 

I would suggest Alas, Babylon. It's about post-nucluer war Florida and how a man and his family survives. It is one of my favorite books. Also Nubeus, I'm pretty sure your sig is too tall. You bettter change it.

 

I read an awesome book recently: The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

Basically it is a futuristic story where most things are illegal, and the law is heavily enforced. Anyone found breaking even the most pettiest law is put to death. But there are some skilled theives out there who fight the system by guess what? Stealing!

In the first page, the author has a great hook. THere is a robot cop like thing that is coming to get the main character and it shows how he escapes.... Wow.
I won't spoil the plot for you guys but there are so many twists and turns that I read the whole thing in one go.

Oh, and it's written in first person with a LOT of suspense and humor.

This book doesn't have magic, but it does have a special forces guild who capture theives and recruite them. It doesn't have magic but the way the thieves work is like... magic.

 

I quite liked the Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown's other books; they aren't the best, little humour and no magic at all. But there's some action and a lot of conspiricy-type theories that i found quite entertaining. I suggest reading the da vinci code first, and if you like it go on to read hois other books.

 

Terry Brooks Shannara series are good. As are his Landover books.

 

Hmm... Wasn't there some crap going on about how two books had the whole <Insert name here> Code and how the two authors are accusing each other of stealing plots?

 

Hell no.

Holy Blood and Holy Grail was written around 20 years before Dan Brown's book. They were accusing him of not only using there ideas, but not giving them any credit.

 

No, no, no, not those two but I picked up another book that had the word 'Code' in the title. Can't remember what it was called but it was like "The <Insert Name Here> Code". Friend saw me pick it up and gave me a bit of insight on how the author was being snappish at Dan Brown.

 

Sorry, i've never heard of this before. I knew there was some controversy, but that was mainly about the church and it's conspiracies. I just thought it was a good read.

 

Hmm, I'm headin to the library today anyway, so I'll pick up the book then look it up on the internet...

Got nothin else to do anyway. Heh.

 

i HIGHLY reccomend the "Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/
My favorite series so far, believe there are 8 books. Try them. youll love them.

 

I'm reading Peter Paul and Mary Magdalene right now... Basically it outbashes the Da Vinci bashers by pointing out how very little we actually know about any of the individuals.

Plus it has some great Bible "Cutting Room Floor" Material that never quite made it into the Bible... But was written for it waaaaay back in the day.