Books and Novels

[Mirabilis]

Rather than creating a new topic, I might as well revive an old one.

Since the movie Twilight came out, I was wondering how many of you guys watched it. And how many of you guys read the book before watching the movie and how many of you guys read the book after watching the movie.

I came to ask this questions because recently when I've been browsing on the local bookstore, I noticed that the Twilight series was completely out of stock, unlike before the movie came out, there were bundles in the front shelves of the book store. Even tried looking at other stores and can't seem to even find the fourth book "Breaking Dawn". Well, I was one of those people who read the book first before the movie came out, so I don't have the dilemma of hunting the book. What about you guys?

I read the first two but stopped because I heard my favorite character fell in love with a four year old.

I did read them before I saw the film, and overall I was disappointed with it. Not because of the casting but because of their acting, lack of the proper use of CGI and such, and leaving out major things, like Alice's back ground and such.

As far as the novels I like: the Deltoria series, Eragon, Warcraft, StarCraft, Animorphs, Left Behind, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings. I cant say that I have the same respect for all those other authors, that I have for J r r Tolkien.

I have aboslute and total respect for that man. He truely was the creator of our now present Fantasy World.

Edited December 10, 2008 by Mirabilis

[*Kenji Murakami]

Huh, and after all this time, I had all but dispaired of finding another Animorphs fan around these parts. It's nice to see that not eveyone's forgotten how good that series was.

[Mirabilis]

Huh, and after all this time, I had all but dispaired of finding another Animorphs fan around these parts. It's nice to see that not eveyone's forgotten how good that series was.

Well I saw my brothers reading it, and they said it was good. I started reading it, and then the show came on, I think Nickelodoen? Or however, you say it lol. It was very amazing, I fell into its awseome story and fantasy. Those who havent read it, or even heard of it. I recommend it 100% However, Kenji I didnt read all of them I must admit and its been far to long for me to remember every little detail in the books.

Edited December 12, 2008 by Mirabilis

[*Kenji Murakami]

Well, there were 54 books in the main series, not counting the Chronicals and Megamorphs - which occasionally become part of the main storyline. How far in did you get?

[Mirabilis]

Well, I was only able to read the ones my brothers had at the time. So I think it was maybe up to 7? I dont really remember all the ones I read though, been far too long. I actually have them in a box in my basement atm. I should prob go read them again.

[LordSpleach]

I've only read the first five Animorph books.

[*Kenji Murakami]

Then you both missed a lot of very interesting developments.

[Mirabilis]

Really? My brothers told me there were only ten books. I was 7-10 at the time the series came out. i think the last time I put the book down was about 10 maybe 11. So yeah, its been a while lol. I still remember how cool the series was though. I remember the brother of the one Andalite that got eaten. I remember that the main charcaters could never give their full names, and some stuff like that.

[*Kenji Murakami]

Nope, there were definately 54 books in the main series. I know because I have them all. There are also four Megamorphs, two of which take place in a weird, self-contained alternate continuity, and three Chronicals: Andalite, Hork-Bajir, and Visser.

[durendal]

Lo and Hello. It's me again reviving yet another old topic. I'm currently reading The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton. It was a really cheap book (like 0.20 cents, because it was a clearance sale from a book distibutor), so I picked it up. So far, I find the concept interesting. Just recently started so I haven't really gotten into the gist of the story.

[*Kenji Murakami]

Well, as I said on one of my other topics, I've started reading Eric Flint's 1632/Ring of Fire series. It's very engaging, I'd definately reccomend it to fans of both alternate history, and sci-fi. It's about this mining town, called Grantville, that finds itself transposed with an equal-sized mass of land from 17th century Germany.

[durendal]

Well, I've finished reading the great train robbery. And it was very interesting. One of the greatest crimes committed in Victorian England (circa 1850's), and it was interesting how the robbery was planned out.

[ErutanXiku]

Looks like it's my turn to revive this thread

I've read a range of books - it's one of my favourite past-times, when I have the time anyway. I've mainly read stuff that interest me like Crime; Mystery; Fantasy; Sci-Fi...Most are usually one-shot titles like The Blooding or Eastend Murders, but a few series titles I've read are:

The Sword of Truth Series - I have two more books to go...I think. I really like it, but it seems to be struggling and I hate how selfish some of the characters have become - complete opposites to how they used to be in the beginning. But despite my negative feelings, I plan on finishing it out of principle and to see how it ends.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Still have to read The Hobbit; Children of Hurin and the Silmarillion...but I loved the trilogy, despite being a little too heavy on the details...

The Shannara Series - I think I might have read all three parts of the first arc; The Sword; The Elfstones and The Wishsong. Yeah, I'm sure those make up the first arc. I loved it and have been meaning to read the rest.

Thomas Covenant; The White-Gold Wielder - Again, I've only read the first three books that make up the first arc. There are 6 more to go through, but I also enjoyed this series.

Broken Sky - This is a set of Anime-Style books. They were quite good and interesting, but I hated the ending. The author was a fan of Anime and decided to write a series that reflected that, and so he had an illustrator do character designs and cover art in Anime-influenced Western style.

Aside from that, I've read bits and bobs from other authors. The following are on my reading list (currently in my possession):

Too Close to Home

No Time for Goodbye

White Tiger

Change of Heart

The Post-Birthday World

Temeraire

And a whole bunch of others I can't remember right now. I'll update this post later.

Oh! I've read some Classics such as Dracula; Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights and maybe one or two more...I really should pick up more classic titles. Also, have read To Kill a Mockingbird and most of Shakespeare's works; some Stephen King and I was an avid fan of the Point Horror and Goosebumps series of books as a kid. I've read one or two Animorphs books - whatever my school library had.

Currently, I'm trying to hunt down a book that I was reading in my Secondary School but never finished, and I can't remember what it was called. I remember the cover quite vividly and I remember some of the elements from the story, but I just can't seem to track it down...Also, I've been meaning to finish reading the Sunrunner Series...that one book I read was quite good, and I've been meaning to give Anne Rice's works a look. I was convinced to read Twilight and I hated it - I disliked it before I read it, because I skimmed it while working at my previous job which was in the books department of a shop in Heathrow. I hate the movie as well, though I admit it was worse than the book. Jasper did not look at all as I imagined he would - he looked quite creepy, despite what his powers are. I tend to think it sounds like a Shoujo Manga - it would have worked better that way, but I'd still hate it. Not so interestingly, it has been made into a "Manga" but I disagree completely with the art style chosen, as it is based on the movie's actors.

Edited April 4, 2011 by ErutanXiku

[durendal]

I've never read Lord of the Rings. Though I've read Silmarillion, or Sillymarilion as I would like to call it. hehe. They summed up the entire lord of the rings trilogy into a few pages.

Can you give a short description of the book you're looking for? I've read a fair share of classics, perhaps I've read it.

You should really try the vampire chronicles of Anne Rice. I guarantee you, it's the complete opposite of what you'd imagine of Twilight. If you hated twilight, I think you might love the Vampire Chronicles. Lestat was already a cool vampire before Twilight. If you've seen the movie Queen of the Dammed, forget everything you saw in that movie as the movie sucked. It tried to compress 3 books into one movie, so it will obviously fail. Too bad Anne Rice stopped writing horror books and concentrated on religious stories instead.

[ErutanXiku]

Actually...I have more respect for Anne Rice than I do Stephenie Meyer. For one, she's a more accomplished author and I've always been meaning to give her Vampire Chronicles a read, just never got around to it haha. I did like the Interview with a Vampire movie, but since I haven't obviously read the book I can't compare...only watched a few minutes of Queen of the Damned and didn't like it anyway :/ Had no idea the two were related, until I saw the books on a shelf next to each other...

The book I've been searching for isn't a Classic...it's a Fantasy novel, but I'll describe it just in case. It tells the story of two people - one is a girl who is the daughter of a Sheikh and a Water Nymph he took as a mistress one time, as such she's beautiful but has blue skin; hair and eyes, and can't stay out in the Sun too long. The other person is a middle-aged Elven male who is a bounty hunter or something...I read a few chapters in, up to where the girl was having a marriage proposal from a neighbouring tribe, but don't know how the two separate characters become connected :/ I was reading it during my exams, which is why I never got to finish it.

The cover of the book is split - the left half is the face of the Sheikh's daughter and the right half is the Elven male.

What interested me about the book was the role of the Elf - he was different from the usual stereotype :/

[durendal]

Sorry I can't help you with that. I'm not much into fantasy books, only Sci-fi like Dune and Lensman.

As for Anne Rice, I think you should read it. The movie interview with a Vampire is done much better, but the book gives you a more detailed account of the story. Also, Interview of a Vampire only deals with Louie and how he encountered Lestat. It's a good prologue of a series. But the good stuff comes on the next book, The Vampire Lestat. Since the story is being told by Lestat himself and let's you see his actions behind what we see as monstrousity in the first book. Also, Anne Rice wrote the Vampire Chronicles with Tom Cruise in mind for the character Lestat. You can skip the first book and read The Vampire Lestat. That guys is a cool Vampire, and to be honest, if you pit Lestat and Edward Cullen against each other, Lestat can whip his ass even with both hands tied behind his back. Heck, Lestat was already a badass even before he became a vampire.

Come to think of it, I now realized that Edward Cullen is a carbon copy of lesser quality of Lestat.

[Bobby]

I've been reading Doctor Who books, which are really hard to find, that feature the Tenth Doctor and the Percy Jackson & The Olympians books. I'm in the middle of Book #3.

[ErutanXiku]

Also, Anne Rice wrote the Vampire Chronicles with Tom Cruise in mind for the character Lestat.

I thought when writing the script for the movie, she preferred River Phoenix for the role, but the director (or someone) cast Tom Cruise instead, which she didn't like? That said, perhaps that's why Interview with the Vampire was better as a movie than Queen of the Damned - the script for the former was written with Anne Rice's input. Regarding having written the Vampire Chronicles (book series) with Tom Cruise in mind...wasn't he like 14 when the first book was released, thus a "nobody" at the time?

I did a bit of reading on the workings of the Universe - nothing story-related - and it seems like it was the complete inspiration for the Twilight Series. Practically everything about the Vampire Chronicles was lifted by Twilight. I'm not sure how I feel about certain elements of the Universe, but I'll see what I can do about grabbing a copy of the first two books from my library.

As for Edward Cullen...any vampire can kick his ass - even Count Duckula!

Edited April 5, 2011 by ErutanXiku

[durendal]

Hmm.... I forgot where I got that Tom Cruise thingy info. But when I was reading the later books, I always had Tom Cruise in mind. Perhaps that's the reason why I said that since I saw the movie before I read the book. Sorry about that.

Anyway, good to know that you'll try to pick up the book. I always enjoyed the books of Anne Rice because of her writing style. And just don't grab the first 2 books. Be sure to get the Vampire Lestat and Queen of the dammed as the story of the two books are linked.

[river_chaos]

I like mostly fantasy stories like Eragon and Harry Potter (I know: I'm kinda old for it). I've been trying to get the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series from the school library and there's a long waiting list for every single book. I've read all of the Ranger's Apprentice books so far, and I recomend it for those who love stories.

I absolutly dislike the Twilight series.

As for Edward Cullen...any vampire can kick his ass - even Count Duckula!

Hmmm... Actually, I'm fairly certain that anyone could kick Edward's butt, even a Citissis from Guyver could kill him.

[durendal]

I liked the twilight series when it was just a book. After the movie, where it turned into a phonomena, I started leaning away from the series. In fact, I've already read all 4 books of the series even before they announced a movie for it, and I stopped on the second book because I was disappointed. Well, actually I hated the second book because I found the lead female protagonist to be so fickle minded.

I'm currently searching for other books to read. I haven't had a good book in a long while now. My favorite classic has always been Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. The Gweneth paltrow movie didn't really do the book justice. Now I'm contemplating reading the Songs of the Seraphim series by Anne Rice or the Hunger Games trilogy of Suzanne Collins.

I've always been intrigued by Eragon. How many books is in that series, and is it really good?

[river_chaos]

There are currently three books out for the Eragon series (Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr), and there's suppose to be a fourth one coming out that the author is taking his sweet time with. All three books out are really good; I was addicted to the first when my brother got it for me for my birthday years ago when the movie came out and I still read it. Christopher Paolini knows how to keep the readers on the edge of their seats and at the same time keep readers entertained in detail paragraphs.

All in all it comes down to what you're in to. Do you like dragons and magic? If so, then I would recomend this, because it has a lot of both in there along with some other magical races.

[durendal]

Oh no. I've seen Eragon and Brisngr on the shelves, but I don't think I ever remember seeing Eldest. Is Eldest the second book? If so, I might have difficulty finishing it since I don't know if I'll be able to get that book.

I'm don't usually have any specific interest in the books that I read. As long as the author can keep me glued to the pages, then I'm sold to that author, pretty much like how Anne Rice got me glued to her work. I got bored with Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor, where I actually fell asleep reading it. Hence, I don't read any Tom Clancy.

[river_chaos]

Eldest is the second in the series. If you do read Eragon and like it, be sure to get Eldest before reading Brisingr or you will be lost and confused.

I think you would be glued to Mr. Paolini's series because he portrays the story in a way that you can easily picture it in your mind. I'm kinda of a detail person and I love it when characters and scenes are described out in long lengths and the series has lots and lots of detail in it.

[*Jess♥]

i read eragon, liked it. waited for the second book to come out. started to forget the story. some time later heard about the film. heard that jeremy irons was in it and knew it would be terrible. in time i watched it and confirmed it was terrible. considered the second book and just had absolutely no desire to read it.

now i despise the whole franchise.

the moral here is that when somebody says "no such thing as bad publicity" they are dead wrong. that film destroyed all credibility of that story.