Becky's Official Summer Reading Recommendation and Book Discussion Thread!

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Woot! It's that magical time again - when all of us college students are out of school for the year and actually have free time to read whatever we'd like! *squeals

The purpose of this thread is to discuss good books you've read lately, and reccommend your favorites!

Well, I don't know about you all, but I have stack of Bret Easton Ellis novels waiting for me, plus like 8 back issues of S8 I'm still trying to catch up on...and yes, oh yes...some trashy Anne Rule crime novels (love those)

and of course....Battlestar Galacitca! And Gossip Girl...and the first season of True Blood...

So, who has read a good book lately? Bring it on!

 

[Buffy Summers]

I'm reading "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and all I can say is AWESOME. It's hilarious how they've inserted the zombie storyline into the adventures of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy lol! I can't wait for the movie...

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I'm reading "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and all I can say is AWESOME. It's hilarious how they've inserted the zombie storyline into the adventures of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy lol! I can't wait for the movie...

I saw that book in the window of Barnes and Noble the other day and I was curious about it. Sounds like a hoot! I'll have to check it out.

So, wait...is Wickham a zombie? Because that would be hilarious. I never liked him 🙂

 

[Miss Universe]

All I read are Douglas Coupland novels. He's Canadian. I love him.

He has so many great books.

Bret Easton Ellis. He wrote American Psycho, right?

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Bret Easton Ellis. He wrote American Psycho, right?

Yes indeed. And quite a few others. Four of this books have been adapted into films: Less Than Zero, American Psycho, Rules of Attraction,and most recently, The Informers.

 

[itsxpaperdoll]

When I'm lost as to what to read during summer, I always go back to books I read when I was younger. It's always nice to re-read books you read when you were ten. I think this strategy might keep me going for quite some summers to come, because I read A LOT when I was young.
Anyway, I'm now reading the Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer again. I must admit when I started, I was a bit scared. I loved them so much! But they didn't disappoint me, I still love them.
Other books I still have on the shelf; Dead until Dark (on which the True Blood thing is based). I actually started reading that one already, and so far, it's really good. Harris has a very easy, but good, writing style. But then my mum came over with the Artemis Fowl's so I sort of stopped.
Another book i read recently, and really enjoyed, was the Gun Seller, written by Hugh Laurie. It is basically a spoof of the spy-genre, and yet it is very thrilling. If I weren't reading it in bed, I would at times literally be sitting on the edge of my seat. It is also very funny. I mean, Hugh Laurie wrote it! It is really like one, long, Fry & Laurie sketch.

 

[MinwaraYana]

The only thing I read, beside Buffy novels and Harry Potter is The Devil Wears Prada. I wasn't disappointed though. I love it. 🙂

 

[Revolver]

If anyone is feeling nerdy, they should try reading "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin, and it's sequel novels. I've just recently caught up (which is good I didn't start when they were new because GM takes his sweet time between novels). It's fantasy, but with cursing, rape, good characters getting killed off, and overall just a lot of darkness. HBO is making a series out of this soon, so I thought I'd see what the fuss was about.

 

[Bluebird]

If anyone is feeling nerdy, they should try reading "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin, and it's sequel novels. I've just recently caught up (which is good I didn't start when they were new because GM takes his sweet time between novels). It's fantasy, but with cursing, rape, good characters getting killed off, and overall just a lot of darkness. HBO is making a series out of this soon, so I thought I'd see what the fuss was about.

I've got that book, since Lurker recommended it. 😛 But I've still not got past the prologue or whatever. I should give it another try...

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

First of all, summer break? Not yet, one more month to go 🙁
I'm having a Dan Brown phase right now. His books are all pretty much build after the same scheme, but I like that 😀 Right now I'm reading 'Deception Point', but I do intend to reread his other books over summer? Why? (besides the obvious 'they rule'). A new book will be published this September (again with Robert Langdon), so I want to catch up on all the backstories while I still have the time.
Other than that I want to use reading more as a language approvement. In pratice this will mean I'll try to read just any Dutch books to get a bit of a broader voabulary, and some high rated real literature books in English for a bit more complex language.

 

[Friendly Lurker]

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones is the first book) is AWESOME! My mission in life is to make everyone on BB read it. Well, not the younger members.

I also have to say that it's not good because of the things Revolver mentioned but because it has good & believable characters and an interesting plot. It's also very well written. 😛

 

[Revolver]

Well, I mentioned those things specifically because those are reasons both why some people should read it, and why some people definitely should not. Just letting them know what they're getting themselves into.

 

[Kean]

I can't seem to stick with one book at a time so right now I'm reading two. A Place Apart by Dervala Murphy and Veronika Decides to Die by Paolo Ceohlo.

A Place Apart I'm really enjoying, although it's a bit heavy in the sense that I really have to think about what I've read after. Dervala Murphy is an Irish travel writer and she spent a summer during the 70's cycling her bike around Northern Ireland. She was just meeting the people and exploring the communities but it was at the height of the Troubles. Her take on what is going on is icredibly refreshing and honest, she doesn't take sides which is also refeshing. Although it is over 30 years old the mind frames and ideologies she encounters are still present today and it really makes for a fascinating read. Especially when you consider where your own beliefs fall within it all.

Veronika Decides to Die I'm really enjoying too. The thought that someone would try to kill themselves because their life was too "ok" is really interestng, that mediocrity was essentially killing her, there is something very honest about that but pathetic too. It sounds like a wholly unenjoyable read but it's not, really! I swear! lol

Oh, and I just finished How the Irish Saved Civilization, I expected this to be a bit of a farce but it was actually incredibly interesting. It's about how after the fall of the Roman Empire at the hands of the Barbarians and the world moved into the Dark Age how the Irish monks reproduced the great texts, at least those not lost in the Fall. From Greek philosphy to religious works, pretty much everything. It was really very interesting.

😀

 

[Mumrik]

I can recommend the "Zamonia" novels (especially "The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear" and "The City of Dreaming Books") by Walter Moers to anyone who likes a good cross between Fantasy, Adventure, has lots of humour and doesn't take what he/she reads too seriously (even though the town in "The City of Dreaming Books" is a caricature of the literacy business). I read them in German so I don't know how well the translation is but I heard they even "translated" the character "Qwertz Uiopü"'s name - which are the letters on the first line of the German keyboard - into "Qwerty Uiop" so I assume it's pretty good.

There are five novels thus far - The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear, Ensel and Krete (a new spin on the fairytale "Hänsel & Gretel"), Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures, The City of Dreaming Books and Der Schrecksenmeister to which there isn't a translation yet.
All of the novels are set on a fictional continent named Zamonia, which consists of every climate conditions you (or the author) could think of.
They are mostly independent stories with a unique set of characters but some of them make an appearance in more books. For example, "Ensel and Krete" and "Der Schrecksenmeister" are novels translated from the Zamonian language who were written by Optimus Yarnspinner (Hildegunst von Mythenmetz in German), who also is the protagonist of "The City of Dreaming Books" (this being the first two chapters of Yarnspinner's 10,000 pages long autobiography) and of whom Captain Bluebear is a fan.

The books are a crazy, fun read and you'll never get out of "ooh"-ing and "aah"-ing at what Moers was spinning there. They have a nice, easy, well-written narrative and you can read them very fast without thinking too much - except if you want to because there are usually some hidden layers beyond the fun exterior.

 

[Tasha]

i just read the Birthing house, and it's absolutely crapppp!

 

[inthedoorway]

The Song of Fire & Ice is my second favorite series. Theyre so detailed and interesting. I cant wait for the next one.
My all time favorite series is The Farseers Trilogy by Robin Hobb. They're writen in first person and totally sucks you in.

 

[Friendly Lurker]

The Song of Fire & Ice is my second favorite series. Theyre so detailed and interesting. I cant wait for the next one.
My all time favorite series is The Farseers Trilogy by Robin Hobb. They're writen in first person and totally sucks you in.

The Farseer trilogy is great too! Probably my second favorite series. 😉 It's more suitable for the ickle ones too.

 

[inthedoorway]

Yeah, almost any age can read them.
It's amazing how attached to Fitz you get, and how much he goes through, with so little recognition.
He's totally not your typical hero, but you relate to him more because of it.
I read alot, and I know not every book is for everyone. But I really stress everyone to pick up the first one, "Assassins Apprentice", and give it a fair chance. It may seem kind of odd at first, but you will love it, I garentee.

 

[Blondie Bear]

I've been unpacking my book boxes and almost everything I take out is something I want to read again. On the I-haven't-read-this-yet list, though, is A World Lit Only By Fire by William Manchester and Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell. Right now I'm working my way through my collection of everything Mercedes Lackey has ever written, and as soon as I get my school ID, I'm hitting the library and checking out Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Thanks for the reccomendations, guys!