This thread is to talk about a book you've read, whether you liked it or hated it, and to get input from fellow members on what they thought about it (if they've read it). But really I just wanted to talk about this book I just read for my "Literature of Evil" class and didn't want to devote a whole topic to one book that nobody might have read. :D

So feel free to bring up other books you want to discuss and keep the thread going!

I just read "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James (very wordy and difficult to read) and thought it was okay. But I was surprised to learn that there were two ways to interpret this story. Before I go on, I want to suggest to anyone who hasn't to read it before you read my own opinion, in order to come up with your own interpretation.

I simply assumed that the ghosts in the story were real and the governess was trying to help them escape these evil sprits. Come to find out it's also been interpreted as the governess being crazy and deceitful and the ghosts not being real but made up by the governess. I still can't even understand how anyone could interpret this. It just seems ludicrous to me.

If anyone's read it, feel free to throw in your two cents. I want to know what you all think of this book. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone in my class when they were discussing the governess as the evil character and her wanting to get closer to the children's father. I soooo didn't pick that up at all.

And any other books you want to discuss that other members might have read throw them out there, too.

Cool topic, Aaron!

Here's a few books I've read recently:

The Stand by Stephen King - I read this last spring and it was really good. Very, very long...but hey, it made a few of my lectures more bearable, lol! Very interesting look at human nature...slightly depressing...but overall a good read. Earlier this semester, my roommate and I got a hold of the TV miniseries and watched it. Also pretty good, but the endings were slightly different.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - I really enjoyed this. It was also kind of depressing towards the end, but an interesting look at society from a troubled youth's eyes who's just looking for something...well...real.

I read those two earlier in the summer/end of last semester (spring), and I've read a few over the summer, but I won't go into too much detail with those. If anyone else has read them, though, they are: 1984 (George Orwell), The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), Everything's Eventual (short stories, Stephen King), Hearts in Atlantis (Stephen King), and Partners in Time #1: No Time Like the Present (Kristen Sheley).

Currently reading Prey by Michael Crichton and Bag of Bones by Stephen King.

^ You've listed a few books there that I love.

Stephen King's 'The Stand' is my favourite Stephen King book but I haven't read it in ages. Strangely enough though I was looking at my copy only last night, thinking I should read it again!

Everything's Eventual is probably my second favourite Stephen King book!

1984 is another personal favourite. I have read it so many times! I also enjoyed Animal Farm and Keep the Aspidistras Flying but not as much as 1984.

Has anyone here read Jane Eyre? I found it really hard to get into at the start (I studied it for English Literature) but once I was there I couldn't stop reading it! I feel it has it all, romance, adventure (of a kind!) and scariness! :)

And I'll second that; Cool topic, Aaron :88:

I've read Jane Eyre, also in the English Lit class I took in high school. It was a very long book--I probably only say that because I had to read most of it in one weekend before a reading test, lol!--but very enjoyable as well. I thought the romance in it was very interesting and sweet.

I just finished Prey yesterday...very good, especially towards the end. The suspense is crazy! I had gotten a little bogged down in the middle of the story with explanations of how 'nanoparticles' are assembled and how they work, but once I got past that, I couldn't stop turning the pages, lol. You might like it, Kath--it has a similar message as The Stand, I'd say.

The only Michael Crichton book I've read was "Airframe" because someone bought it for me. It was one of those books which I couldn't put down. Looking back, the subject matter was pretty dull, but he managed to make it thrilling!

On my "to read" pile (currently 5 feet high!) I have two Crichton books, "The Terminal Man" and "Binary". I think I'll give Binary a go, since it's the thinner of the two!

I don't read as much as I used to, since I got broadband! :D

I've read Binary, Rising Sun, Disclosure, Jurassic Park and Timeline by Michael Crichten.

I think he's a great writer although I do agree with LWD that he does sometimes get so bogged down by the technical detail that he forgets the story for a while!

I really recomend 'Timeline' though - it's great!

What's Airframe about? I have a feeling I have read it but can't remember what it's about... so maybe I haven't! :unsure:

If I recall correctly, a Hong Kong passenger jet crashes and the female crash investigater has to work out what went wrong.

Hold on, I'll dig the book out......
*Sounds of piles of books falling over*

Here we are..
*Adopts deep 50-a-day trailer-man voice*

"Three passengers are dead. Fifty-six are injured. The interior cabin virtually destroyed. But the pilot manages to land the plane...
At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies is paramount in the public mind, a lethal mid-air disaster abord a commercial twin-jet airliner bound from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation."

Good stuff, eh?

Well, you're right about one thing, it was dull! :P

I don't like Crichton or King. IMO, both have sloppy writing styles and aren't very good at advancing the plot (seems like they have to fill out a certain word count a lot of the time to me). I read about 3/4ths of Airframe and realized that I didn't give a shite what the answer was. I started reading Timeline and didn't find it interesting at all. The Shining was senselessly drawn out and dull, building up my boredom rather than my suspense, and let's not speak of It.

To be fair, I enjoyed reading The Lost World when I was younger, but I probably wouldn't like it if I read it again. Needless to say, I'm very critical and more a fan of "short and sweet" and not mind-numbingly long with little plot advancement. But that's just me. :D

I read it in high school, but don't remember much about it now, except that I think I might like it if I read it again.

1984 I read in school. I'll have to read it again to refresh myself of an opinion about it.

I started reading Alice in Wonderland but never finished it (was switching between that and Peter Pan, which I never finished either, but did read the very short Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - I was on a children's fairy tale kick at the time ;)).

I have the whole hard-covered collection of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, which are my favorites and the original book is pretty different from the movie, which I'm not a huge fan of (although I do admit that it's a good movie).

And I love Ethan Fromme. :wub: It's my favorite book ever!

I'd definitely agree with you about Crichton having a sloppy writing style. His short sentences nearly drove me nuts! He'd start a sentence with "Because" but only give the cause, not the result. The result would be in the previous sentence, thus he could've just used a comma...ahh, too snippy! I guess it's not always okay to write like how you talk.

I wouldn't say King has a sloppy style, though...it's pretty unique, I think, and takes a little while to get used to it. I can definitely see where you're coming from, though, about the filling out a certain word count--he does, in fact, write 2000 words a day. I actually stopped reading Bag of Bones because the exposition was boring me to death. It seemed so redundant and drawn out.

I think that's the only King book I've read so far, though, that I haven't been able to stay with. I read Misery last semester--that was a good "short and sweet" book, also very suspenseful and scary. Funny, though, when I read The Stand (which is a huge book!) I don't recall being bored at all, really.

I'd like to finish Bag of Bones, though, as I've heard it's good.

You know what's funny, I didn't really finish The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland either--I stopped shortly after I started the Through the Looking Glass part. I think it just got to be so strange that I lost my interest.

I've read Alice in Wonderland. Is sort of hard to follow, I though, but read it a long time ago, so I don' remember too well.

One of my favorite books is Holes by Louis Sachar. I like his style, gets a picture in my head of what's going on. There's alot of flashbacks and things like hat in it, but it's easy to follow and has a good storyline.

Eh? "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and "Through The Looking Glass" are two seperate books! If you started the latter, you must have finished the former! :)

I really like Lewis Carroll. "Jabberwocky" is one of my favourite poems. The way he constructs such beautiful sounding couplets without any of it making sense - genius.

Also, I went to the same school as him!...

:)

Ha, true enough. :happydoc: The copy I had, though, had both stories in one book, so I took it more as one rather than two separate books.

^ Is that the same as the Disney movie 'Holes'? Because if it is, I LOVE that movie, and I'd so love to read the book.

I really have to start posting here more often...

Hi, LonePineKath, it's been a while since we conversed! :D

Anyway, I'm reading quite a few books at the moment:

Valis - by Philip K. Dick

The Outsider - by Colin Wilson

Ginsberg: A Biography - by Barry Miles (this is a biography of American poet Allen
Ginsberg; he was a member of the beat generation, and was a close friend of Jack Kerouac's and of Neal Cassady's - Neal Cassady was the character of Dean Moriarty in Kerouac's novel "On the Road."

Lake Wobegon Days - by Garrison Keillor

Al Capone Does My Shorts - by Gennifer Choldenko

Books I'm hoping to start reading soon are:

On the Road - by Jack Kerouac

Radio Free Albemuth - by Philip K. Dick

Anyway, I'll just explain about one book, Valis, which I find remarkable. It's a very confusing tale, and it's narrated both in the third person and the first person. The main character of the novel is called Horselover Fat, but the writer, Philip Dick, puts himself as a character in the novel, as a friend of Horselover Fat's and he explains that he and Horselover Fat are actually the same person. Part of the book is based on experiences that Philip K. Dick had in February/March of 1974, when pink light was fired at his eyes and he had some halluciations. He spent the rest of his life trying to work out whether this was some kind of mental breakdown or revelation, and apparently never really found out which it was. Anyway, the themes of religion and mental illness are prevalent in the novel...right now, the character of Horselove Fat is in a psychiatric hospital. The book is very confusing, but I'm finding it great, so far. Valis stands for "Vast Active Living Intelligence System" - and later on in the novel, Fat, Phil and their friends go to see a movie called "Valis" and draw from it references to events going on in the world. It's probably the craziest thing I've ever read, but I love craziness.

And on a sidenote, I remember there was a member of bttf.com with the username VALIS - seems he/she was a fan of the book too.

Oh dear! Sorry! I posted twice by mistake. :unsure:

Yeah. It is. I like the movie; I have it, but the book's even better. Very good reading.

I read a really fun book a short while ago and when I stumbled across this thread tonight I knew I just had to mention it!

"Around Ireland With A Fridge" by Tony Hawks

It had everything I want in a book - it was funny and sometimes serious. It makes you think and it makes you relax! It also makes you seriously consider going around Ireland with a fridge too ( ;) ) until you realise that half the population of the UK have probably already done this since the late eighties! LOL!

So a big thanks to Madstunts who recommended it (and probably wishes he hadn't now because I won't stop banging on about it!).

^ I can't believe you like Michael Crichten, Kath! Blech! I tried to start Timeline but just couldn't will myself forward. I read at least 3/4ths of Airframe and had no desire to finish it. And I really don't like Stephen King, but I haven't read The Stand. I very much did not enjoy The Shining, though. And I read a lot of It when I was younger and lost patience with it. Also read Carrie, and while it was pretty short, still didn't find it to be a very good read.

But I will read "Jane Eyre" now and see what I think of it!

And I really wish someone else on here had read "Turn of the Screw!" I still believe firmly that it was ghosts. I can't imagine it being anything else!

^ Yes I do like Michael Crichton! We'll just throw that one on the absurdly huge pile of stuff we don't have in common, Aaron! :lol:

Robert Llwellyn (Kryten in Red Dwarf) wrote one of my favourite books - The Man in the Rubber Mask. However, my ultimate favourites are 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' first four books though, so I'd recommend those above all else. :)

^ I'll read a Galaxy book if you read an Oz book, Kath!

^ You show me where I can get one and you've got yourself a deal.

You need to read The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy first, Aaron. The other three (four) are sequels.

^ Maybe the library. Here's a paperback version of Ozma of Oz at Amazon.co.uk if you wanted to buy it (I recommend it if you plan to only read one - it's the third in the series).

They are kids books, Kath, kind of. They're not written down to kids by any means, but they're more novellas and, of course, deal with fantasy and all that. If you read it, you'll have to tell me what you think of it! I am going to try to get my hands on "Hitch Hikers" when I get the chance, and I'll do the same!

^ I'm currently bidding on a copy on ebay as we speak, Aaron :)

Here's a link for you - time to put your money where your mouth is! :D

A Book Everyone Should Own

^ Got a nicer one from Amazon. I'm afraid my ebay account my be suspended anyway, since I stopped paying attention to the e-mails they sent me!

Now we have a deal. You read Ozma and I'll read Hitch Hikers and we will both let each other know what we thought of it (maybe we'll have better luck about agreeing on something this time! :lol: ).

^ I believe that the movie "Return To Oz" was based on the second and third books in the Oz series - is that true? I love the movie.

And Kath, Are you still obsessed with the man in the rubber mask? (I bet that isn't a question you hear very often :))

If anyone likes the Hitch Hiker books/tv/radio/towel I suggest "Armageddon: The Musical" by Robert Rankin. Rankin's books are quite similar in style to Douglas Adams, but with a more coherant story - he ties up his plot threads better, whereas Adams seems content to let his stories wander to a conclusion. Most of Rankin's other books have a slightly more occult feel, but "Armageddon" and it's sequals are the most accessible. IMHO :)

^ I'm now currently bidding on 3 books in my ebay! Something about Modovans & Tennis ( :lol: ) and the two mentioned above! Something tells me that I'll not be short of reading matter for the next few weeks! :)

Of course! It's still one of my favourite books! :D

iam curently reading the secound sister hood fo the traveling pants it is very good.

^ I looked it up;

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

A proper girls' book! :)

Absolutely true, Madstunts! I just got that movie as an early birthday present! I used to love it as a kid, so much more than the original MGM film! Return to Oz is so much closer to the books, so if you like it, you should like the books (the 14 done by Baum, anyway - I'm not a big fan of those done by another author who continued the series after his death).

Also, I was playing a Hitch Hiker's game on my computer one time, I think. It was like a Role Playing Game, type of thing. I had to find some Aspirin for a headache, try to stop a guy from bulldozing my house, go to a pub with some guy! Is that like the book at all?

^ Yes, that's the start (except for the aspirin) but I won't say any more for fear of spoiling it for you, except to say that Arthur Dent is my hero! :)

Hmmm ... If I could have figured out what to do next I may have already known how the book ends! :lol:

Unfortunately, the world kept getting blown up with me on it!

:lol:

If you thought "Round Ireland with a fridge" was poignant, wait until you get to the end of this one! Don't spoil it by reading ahead!

If you'd read the books, you'd know what to do next! :)

Has anyone read the Dirk Gently novels, also by Douglas Adams? I think that they're even better than the Hitchhiker quintrilogy!

^ I have. I couldn't enjoy them at all. Maybe I should re-read them? I have them on my bookshelf but remember being disappointed with them and leaving them there to gather dust after that first reading! Maybe I just wasn't 'in the right place' at the time I first read them (like when I first saw The Butterfly Effect and hated it! Now I really admire it!). I should give them another chance really...

^ Nah! You're probably right. I haven't read them to be honest.



....Only joking! I have really read them!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

God, I'm bored.

:)

As if I would! :o :lol:

LOL! Seriously though, the Armageddon book arrived the other day and I have got well and truly stuck into it! (I might have finished it by now but for the fact that I have a small internet-addiction problem! ;) )

I'm just waiting for the Moldovans book to arrive....

I get the sneaking suspicion you don't hate Michael Crichten as much as you make out, Aaron! :lol: I bet if I had a sneaky look around your bedroom I'd find at least one of his books in there somewhere! :D

^ And what would you be doing having a sneaky look in my bedroom, Kath? ;)

And that book (The Lost World) is ages old. The only Crichton book I managed to finish! I was young and impressionable and did not realize at the time what a terrible writer the guy was. Don't ask why I still have it on my bookshelf! It was all right, but I couldn't force myself to read it again.

Blimey! You mean, you're actually taking my recommendations? I really hope you like it, if only because I'll probably feel bad for recommending it otherwise!

I still have a couple of Crichton books about somewhere which I keep meaning to read. I buy so many books from charity shops, I have mountains of them! A quick look at my "to read" shelves shows that I have Binary and Terminal Man. Unfortunately, I also have an internet addiction! :(

^ Well look at it this way, you are seriously "in credit" after recommending the fridge book, so even if I hated this one, you wouldn't need to worry! However, I really am enjoying it! So breathe easy, Madstunts!

I've half a mind to just sneak into your house and steal away your book collection! LOL! It would save me a fortune on ebay, it seems! :lol:

Do you look on Amazon as well? I usually find them really cheap for used books. With "Armageddon, The Musical" they have 18 copies at one penny each (+P&P) !!

the book iam curently reading is by meg cabot and its called size 12 isnt fat its such a funny book so far.